Here’s a short webvert with a skateboard theme for an unlikely business. I don’t wan to spoil the surprise, so check it out after the jump.

Here’s the first of three panels in a cartoon drawn by Keith Knight, which is known as the K Chronicles. He’s got a couple that are skateboard -centric, Return of Ye Olde Skateboard and Skateboarding Is…. That second one looks familiar. MC might have covered it already. The drawing style is half Wizard of Id and half Bloom County.

I’m not sure what the heck is going on with the Gresham, Oregon skatepark plan. At first I heard they were just going to add some banks and more ledges, and make skating legal in the plaza in front of City Hall. Then I heard tale of a possible indoor park. I think the only thing going on there now is a small street spot, and I’m pretty sure the new park is going to be street centric as well, according to the RFP. There’s an official Parks and Rec skatepark meeting tomorrow (January 27th) from 2:30-4:30 PM
at Wall Street Pizza (?). On the agenda, reveal the design team, set up a design workshop and get an update on progress. It’s going to be interesting for sure. I haven’t seen the design but the design team might be a surprise to some. For more info call Justin Cutler at 503-618-2828.

– Thanks to Bjjpdx for the tip.

We’ve covered it before, but another article and video has popped up in the New York Times, who seems to be having a skate-fetish lately. The most interesting part of the article Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion From Desolation is the accompanying video that among other things, talks about the unique position Afghanistan girls find themselves in while skateboarding. Basically, once they reach puberty they will be forced to quit. The video is both fascinating and sad. Another thing that was interesting, The government of Norway was primarily responsible for kicking down the cash to save the program after Skateistan’s founder Oliver Percovich maxed out his credit cards trying to support the project. Can you imagine being the person who literally introduced skateboarding to a country? Don’t forget the official Skateistan web site

– Thanks to Mrs Grover and Ben Thistlethwaite for the tip.

The day after we posted Wally Inouye’s 50th birthday celebration, he ended up breaking his wrist while snowboarding on a 360 that went bad. Seriously Tom, aren’t you a little old to be playing with toys? I imagine you’ll be able to see him hanging around the shop a lot of the next few months. Here’s to a speedy recovery.

[Photos clockwise: Carl Warren, Mike Estes, Warren]

Saturday Starrs are back! After he got the boot from YouTube due to the heavy hand of Dick Clark, Scott Starr is back again. I went through his backlog and only one of the previous seven videos has made it back, but we’re forging ahead anyway. The video is not spectacular in and of itself except that it is in fact the godfather of all skate videos. Skateboarding in the Eighties is a promo vid that Stacy Peralta made and sent out to some skate shops. The response was so overwhelming that he decided to make what would become the first Bones Brigade Video Show. Now, some 25 years later, he’s directing commercials for Burger King and Amp Energy Drink. It’s about eight minutes long and features the skateboarding talents of Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill and Tony Hawk. The soundtrack is kind of funny. It’s half new wave (Ultravox) and half prog rock.

UPDATE: Well that was fast. The video has been pulled already, we have to assume by request of Powell, or even Ultravox? That would be funny. Maybe Midge Ure secretly reads Skate and Annoy.

Check out some more Midwest skateboard action from Ryan Young, the same photog who shot this week’s Shot of the Week. I originally spotted his photos over on the Bacon Skateboards site, and Ryan has been kind enough to share some more. Four photos and one video simply titled “Midwest Movement” after the jump.

The magazine Fast Company is all up in Shaun White’s business. Sure, Tony Hawk was in Success magazine, but leave it to Shaun to appear in a “hipper” business publication like Fast Company. I happend to catch an episode of MTV’s Run’s House where they were trying to figure out in a very contrived way how to make one of Run’s kid’s feel better about being heckled for skating. Run had a contrived inspiration to have Tony Hawk come and visit, but one of his sons had a contrived idea that it had to be someone cooler, like Ryan Sheckler. He might have said fresher or even younger, I can’t remember. Anyway, what a coincidence, Sheckler just happened to have a show on MTV at the time. Poor Tony. First he suffers form age discrimination on MTV, then his Mad Dog pajamas catch on fire. With a name like “Mad Dog,” you’d figure they would be Tony Alva pjs. I think my nephew might actually have a pair of these.

[Source: Boardistan]

With numbers like that, industry insiders say some brands will disappear and the economic undertow will pull down a number of mom-and-pop shops, considered the backbone of the business because of their connection to the core action sports customer.

Extreme!™ Bankruptcy! The San Diego Tribune takes a sobering look at the state of the industry in the article titled Economy wiping out some action sports firms. ASR attendance is down about 50% from what it was last year this time, and “industry insiders” are predicting about a third of action sports businesses will shut down by the end of this year. Bad news for skateboarders? I’m going to say no. Your favorite shop may close, which will suck, but there are shops out there that have weathered the storm on multiple occasions. Most of the core shops are probably going to stick it out. Some big names might decide drop a product line or two, or even pull out entirely, but that wouldn’t be any great loss. They’ve done it before, no need to point them out. Ultimately, the kids (and old men) are still going to ride their skateboards.Skateparks and DIY spots will still be made. Some little guys are going to bite the bullet, but then things will get lean and mean for while, and that’s always when the interesting things in the industry happen anyway.

[Source: Boardistan]

Legendary skater Tom “Wally” Inouye just celebrated his 50th birthday, and he’s still going at it strong. Need proof? Check out the Shot of the Week with Tom at the Donald bowl that was captured just last summer. Tom is the owner of his own skate shop in Hood River, Oregon known as Inouye’s Pool Service. There’s an nterview with Tom in Juice that is recent, at least in terms of Juice! Scholastic News (for the kids, you know?) also has a short profile on Wally, Gelfand, and Larry Bertlemann. Leave it to his friends to post a video with a backhanded complement, “You rip hard for a 50 Year old.” I’d say he rips hard, regardless.