Here’s my video wrap up of our mini tour of southern Oregon skateparks that I made with Rich and MC on the occasion of Matt Kline’s BBQ session fundraiser for his bowl in Grants Pass Oregon. With apologies to Steve Grover, because I wouldn’t have brought my video camera if he hadn’t called me up and told me to shoot some “Spring Break” footage. When I lost the photos from this trip I was only able to avoid completely losing my mental health by the calming realization that I at least had some fun video footage. My apologies to the park locals who cooperated for the still photos. Chances are Rich might have some of you if you were in Winston, Matt’s Bowl, Myrtle Creek or Harrisburg. Yes, I am accepting donations towards a steadicam…

We’ve posted about this ABC footage before, but the short clip has since been pulled from YouTube. This instance from Google Video is almost a half hour long, and still doesn’t include the other footage. The actual footage is kind of hard to sit through, but the real gem is the audio track. When you get bored watching it, just leave it running in the background so you can listen to the commentary. It’s interesting to note that most of the “champions” are 12-14 years old. There really isn’t any way to tell from the Google page who uploaded this footage, although there are a lot of Burning Flag Press clips on there from the same user, which would lead me to believe it was either Friedman, or a big fan. – Thanks to K.C. for the tip.

This week’s Shot of the Week comes from POX at Levil Uniform magazine. It’s Ryan Gagner in Portland, Or. Look for Levil Uniform’s latest issue, #11 AKA the Horror Issue Sequel. 32 pages of skating, metal, and horror. Features with Chaz Pineda, Birdo from Consolidated and Miko from CryptiqueTV, the self styled heir apparent to Elvira. They’re also releasing compilation CD’s, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that they have the USRDA of thrash metal. We don’t have a resident metal head at SnA, but that’s ok, Levil Uniform has you covered. Check out the Shot of the Week.

I had four different angles I was going to approach this from, but I couldn’t decide: 1 – When some men reach a certain age, they start to think about all the things they wanted in their youth, things that they equated with success in one’s life. For some men, it may be owning a Cadillac, or sailboat, or a house in a particular neighborhood… 2 – I hopped my neighbors fence last night, and that poser was digging a hole for a bowl he is supposedly going to build. He’s such a kook that I decided to blow it out before its even close to being finished… 3 – I went over to Mark’s house to take a picture of his hole. While I was there, I decided to see what he was digging in his back yard… 4 – A lot of people talk about what they are going to do all the time. Some people decide get up off the couch and actually do it…. Congratulations to MC for taking the plunge for his own backyard DIY concrete bowl! Expect to see many comics about the availability of shovel operators being inversely proportional to the amount of…

We’re checking in again on the status of the revival of the Capitola Classic. The idea has gained some momentum, but with the tanking of the economy, organizers aren’t sure how well the event would be attended, or even of what type of event to hold. It looks like the city is tentatively on board though. The Capitola Classic was be one of the premier downhill events of the 70’s and late 80’s, probably second only to Signal Hill. (Ok, I have to cop to pure speculation here, having never attended either event…) The Capitola Classic also has the recognition of being one of the first “streetsyle” contests. I have to guess the event would be well attended. Economy woes? Those downhill and slalom guys live in their own bubble anyway. I guess Maryhill is the Capitola Classic of today, but I think the downhill community would get behind the event at least once. And who knows, maybe even Thrasher would get behind it once more for Fausto’s sake. The image at top is from the October 1981 issue of Thrasher. You can get Capitola Classic updates on Twitter. While we’re doing downhill, you can listen to/read this NPR story…

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk… The latest skateboard gadget in the grand tradition of sky hooks, rubber bands and magnets is the Ollie Buster, an elaborate setup that allows you to hold the board to your feet with the aid of some rubber tubing, a handle and a gratuitous skateboard wheel thrown in for extra weight. Reminds me a little of those fake yo-yos that were made with an internal spring to expand and contract the string. You know, for the truly lazy. Geez, I guess this is the same concept as Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and I am guilty of enjoying the hell out of those. Did I ever tell you about the time I was the weak link in (almost) every band I was ever in? The best part about the Ollie Buster web site is on the Goin’ Big skateboard moves where the kid opens up his Ollie Buster in the parking lot and nonchalantly throws all his trash to the wind. Now that’s realism! – Thanks to Robert for the tip.

I’m sure there are people out there that can’t stand this guy, but I could watch him skate all day long. I guess that makes me gay. Shades of Simon Woodstock for sure, but without the all the stage props. This is William Spencer’s part from The Denver Shop’s latest video In Color which you can pick up for $16. He gets bonus points for using the theme from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Now if someone could put him on a team with this guy and this guy and this guy… [Source: Boardistan]

Somehow or other we reported on a prefab concrete and metal skatepark being built at Guantanamo Bay by Spohn Ranch, and nobody made any torture jokes. For some reason, Mimi Knoop (with Zach Miller, Adam Taylor and Cara-Beth Burnside) recently travelled there to session the old park remnants as well as some of the new stuff. Photog Athena Lonsdale shot a tour diary, and Spohn Ranch has a set of the concrete shots from Guantanamo Bay on Flickr. – Thanks to Keith Hamm for the tip. [Source: Fuel TV]

I was in the Seattle burbs over the weekend. I did get in a couple sessions at the Sammamish Wa skatepark, which was overrun by scooters and bladers on both occasions. That park sucks. I think I was way to generous in my first review. Still, part of the fun in that park is figuring out how to have fun at that park. One day I happened to be in the neighborhood of the the new Seattle Center skatepark (replacement for the demolished SeaSk8) so I decided to check it out. So far it’s just a flat slab of concrete, which is not what I expected at all. It makes it look like the elements are going to be prefab. But hey, I don’t know anything about skatepark building, except that the only other street plaza I saw under construction still looked like a conventional dig site. There were a couple of guys there who looked like they were painting a ledge that went around the perimeter of the park, something that doesn’t show up in the renderings. All in all, I’m confused. You can check out some not very enlightening photos after the jump, but don’t say I didn’t…

Say hello to Cutbird Skateboards, a company out of Billings Montana owned by Ted Riehl. They sell their boards primarily on the web and in skate shops throughout Montana. In Ted’s own words: We are the new kids on the block without the lame songs; but we still rock jean jackets. That’s Cutbird rider Larry Kucsulain in the photo above. Click to enlarge. I know we’ve got some readers out in Montana, maybe someone can fill us in as to what a “cutbird” is.