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 warn you.

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.

Aside from being the guy behind Conspiracy Skateboards, Lindsey Kuhn also runs a thing called Swamp. The Swamp name comes from his beginnings in slikscreening as a fundraiser for Mississippi’s Swamp ramp during the 80’s. He designs and screen prints rock posters, among other things. So it’s no surprise that quite a few of his posters feature skateboarding. You can still buy prints from most of these limited editions. I’ve had my eye on that Devo alien print for a long time. Check out Swampco.

This week’s Shot of the Week is from Rich Burton’s fully functioning memory card. It’s Addikt Skateboards rider Shane Bell, a half hour or so before he broke his leg at Matt’s Bowl benefit BBQ in Grants Pass, Or. This is a cropped version of Rich’s shot. Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.

This is a closeup of a bootleg Powell Peralta deck with a Per Welinder themed graphic on the bottom. If that’s not enough, it has a Tony Hawk graphic on the top. It’s from an old 80’s Brazilian skateboard magazine sent in by Luciano Fleck Peixoto. It’s funny that the bootleggers thought they had to improve on the originals. Thanks to Luciano for sending this in. Check out his new skateboard company called Yerbah.

A couple years back I heard a rumor about a green light being given to a Burnside-style project in Chicago. Having been a long time resident of Chicago, a city famous for corruption, and the political machine, I was hesitant to believe that any alderman would risk alienating the 10 unions that would stand to lose their piece of the pie if skaters were allowed to take the DIY route. It just seemed completely un-Chicago. I don’t know if this Logan Square skatepark project is the reality of that rumor, but it blows chunks. Logan Square is my old hood, I feel for you my brothers…

[Source: Time Out Chicago Photo: Scott Judd]

I went on a really fun road trip last weekend. I went down to Grants Pass for a fundraiser party/session at a private bowl. Along the way I stopped at three brand new skateparks in Oregon, including, Winston, Myrtle Creek, and Harrisburg. I even went to the old Grants Pass skatepark for the first time. I took a little over 200 pictures, and lost them all to a corrupt memory card. Unfortunately, this isn’t an April fools joke. Those three up top were the best I could salvage. I don’t want to hear any arguments about why film is better, because I’ve had catastrophic failures there too. Rich has some shots up from the bowl party, Harrisburg, Or and Winston, Or. I imagine he’ll be doling them out over the next week or so. Still, it could have been worse, I could have broke my leg like Shane Bell did.