One of the highlights of ASR had to be Powells art exhibit celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the Ripper. 58 artists interpreted Vernon Courtlandt Johnson’s (VCJ) classic work that is arguably the most iconic skateboard graphic ever created. There are soem names you will know and some that you won’t. Two Northwest artists were among those whose work was commissioned, Jay Meer and Mark Sellman. I was going comment on how the collection seemed kind of weak until I took a look at the complete installation. The individual pieces as presented isolated in popups don’t really do them justice. If you take a look at the installation you’ll get a better appreciation of the works. Check out the Powell Peralta web site for the whole shebang, including pics from the reception and George Powell’s interesting recollections of the design process.

And no, I wasn’t upset that I wasn’t asked to be included in the show. After all, there’s a fine line between tribute and copyright infringement, as you’ll see after the jump.

Pepsi ran a commercial during the Superbowl that featured a littel bit of skating and surfing. The idea was to contrast the old days and modern takes on different phenomenon. I think there’s even some footage of Gumby on skateboard. I know there is old and more recent episodes of Gumby riding a skateboard. It’s hard to tell because it looks like it’s been cropped at his front ankle.

Here’s a couple instances of skateboarding on the news. ABC’s Nightline picked up on the mortgage crisis story again. I hope mr Peacock is making some money off these news appearances. Nightline even manages to include the horrendous Jake Brown super slam footage in the segment. I hope Mr Brown is making money off that footage. Also up after the jump. Old Man Army got some coverage on a local Fox News affiliate. Watch it and you’ll briefly get to meet the site’s founders and catch some footage of someone in an (excellent) get up. They don’t say who he is, but he must be the OMA equivalent of GVK.

– Thanks to Sarib and Orezona for the tip.

Since we’re talking about Jake Phelps, I thought I’d put up this photo I found in the June 1980 issue of Skateboarder, just a few short months before it became Action Now. I’ve got a September 1980 issue of Action Now, but I don’t know if it was the first. The June issue of Skateboarder has an ad saying a new type of action magazine was coming soon. In any case, this is none other than Kevin Thatcher, the original editor of Thrasher Magazine, appearing in one of the last issues of a magazine whose demise would soon find him employed making a replacement. Kevin once gave me an invaluable photography tip scribbled on note with a batch of negatives he sent back to me: “Use a faster shutter speed and your shots won’t be so blurry. – K.T.” I think of him every time my shutter speed dial slips below 1/400. I’ve looked through a few 1980 issues of Skateboarder, and they all have BMX coverage in them at that point already. While I was searching for an image of the June 1980 cover, I stumbled on the web site of the original photographer, Ted Terrebonne. Ted has 144 pages of recent and vintage skate photos including the Kevin Thatcher shot from Yuvis Dam in San Jose, as well as 38 shots of assorted bands. One thing odd about the site is there are random sprinkles of text links for online casinos. I can’t tell if he was hacked or he’s trying to make a little money from click-throughs.

Just a word of warning, I’m going to be mining back issues of these old skate mags regularly for a while.

This week, Thrasher Magazine’s editor in chief, Jake Phelps, is clearing the air on his famous list of five skaters that he permanently banned from the magazine. This week-long feature entitled “Five Days of Hate” details why Benji Galloway, Tony Farmer, Frank Hirata, Choppy Omega, and Billy Pepper were excluded from coverage.

Love him or hate him, Phelps is maintaining his reputation as an outspoken and brutally honest figure in the skateboarding community.  Will his words expose injustices in skateboarding?  Or will he simply go on a  slanderous rampage?  This week will showcase Phelps in his true form.

Above picture taken from thrashermagazine.com

The album may be from 1997, but that board is pure 1988. I’ve never heard the Dwarves, but they have quite a reputation. You can see the album cover for The Dwarves are Young & Good Looking wherever the CD is sold, or visit the official Dwarves web site. Nash pasties added to keep us work/school safe.

If they are going to build skateparks in Iran, have outreaches in Afghanistan, what’s next, Guantanamo Bay? YES! I don’t know if the presidential shaka is responsible or not, but Sphon Ranch is going to build a bowl and a wedge bank (like the one seen above) in Guantanamo Bay. The “Morale Office” is bringing in some pro skaters for a demo, and they want them to have concrete to skate on. Spohn has been given exactly one week to get the whole thing finished, so there’s really no other way to do it. Pre-fab concrete can’t be beat in a situation like this. No word on who the pro team is, but let’s hope they bring some extra boards for the Subvert Cuba project. While we’re talking about Spohn Ranch, let’s revisit the LA Street Plaza and check out a new Brownsville, Tx skatepark that just opened. I have to warn you, there’s a video after the jump that may start playing automatically. I’m warning you because it’s NSFA, or “Not safe for agnostics,” as in it’s from an organization called SkateBible and as such features some bad Christian folk music and a little gratuitous use of the G-word. Also, after reloading the page a couple times, an advert started playing as well, without allowing me to turn down the volume. Come on Transworld, get your Netiquette act together.

I swear there are less than five pictures of the Long Rider skateboard on the internet. Thanks to a tip from House of Neil I found this one tucked away on page 471 of the 1984 Montgomery Wards Christmas Catalog. It wasn’t as easy as doing a search in Google Images. You know how I’m going through the tedious process of scanning old skate zines page by page? Well, someone else over at Wishbookweb.com with a less narrow obsessive compulsive disorder is scanning and posting entire Christmas catalogs. So far there are about 20 catalogs up there, with dates ranging from 1933 to 1988. I’ve gone through a bunch of likely suspects, and there are a few skateboards in there.

I don’t know what you call this kind of riding, half-ditch? Who cares, it’s rad. This is a closeup of a shot of John John Aguilar skating a ditch type situation in Mexico City, circa 1989. See that concrete halfpipe in the background? John said this was an old closed up skatepark called Dogtown. They had to hop a fence and barge it. The caretaker kept a small amount a sheep on the lot and occasionally skaters would have to dodge the males with horns who were intent on ramming intruders. John lives in Bellingham, Washington now, so the only thing he has to dodge is little kids. See the whole thing after the jump.

Bryce kind of looks like a thug in this still from Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. I snagged this image from Bordistan. This is just a reminder about his show at DOS on Friday the 30th, from 7-10pm. See you there!