Only a skater can wander around in southeast Portland, and understand the significance of a Sharpie marker- drawn little bird with “Luda Crooks” written underneath.  The graffiti art of Chet Childress shows up in the places where one would expect it to show up the most: dive bar bathrooms, bus stops, skate-spots, etc.  The above picture is an example taken from his myspace page.  Oh, did I mention that Chet Childress rips? Childress will have a showing of his art from 7-10 pm on Thursday, December 18th at the Department of Skateboarding, located at 15 NE Hancock Portland, OR 97212.

The Department is hosting what is supposed to be Portland’s biggest contest this year, AKA the Holiday Havoc which is on December 19th. And Windells would like everyone to know that they are now open for public sessions as well as doing the whole skate camp thing. Flyers after the jump.

Nice painted deck from Aaron Draplin. Dude is a design hero of sorts for this.

I should have made this post on Tuseday. On this date in 1982, (December 9th) Code Of Honor released their debut single, “What Are We Gonna Do?” It was backed by “What Price Would You Pay? Neither track appeared on an album. The San Francisco hardcore punk band released a split album with Sick Pleasure and then one album of their own before disbanding in 1984. The band was formed by Michael D Fox who was a co-founder of Subterranean Records. What are we going to do? From the looks of the cover art, I’d say mostly handplants.

We mentioned this limited edition Jenna Jameson board by Zoo York before, but the board wasn’t actually out yet. It appears to have been released, which is a good excuse to mention that I walked into a Portland area Macy’s a week ago and was surprised to see a large portion of the floor had been allocated to a big display of Zoo York clothing which I found odd, but then didn’t considering it’s much more acceptable in hip hop culture to infiltrate higher end retail shops, as opposed to Shaun White having his own line in Target. While I appreciated the original Zoo York movement detailed in the Deathbowl to Downtown documentary, those roots seem far removed from the current incarnation, as if related in name and location only. In any case, everyone should print out copy of the deck and run down to the nearest Macy’s and ask them when they are going to get the Jenna Jameson board. [Photo: Sakteboard – miniroom549 on Flickr]

Officer Salvatore Rivieri, one of Baltimore’s finest, is in the news again. The results of Baltimore’s internal investigation have yet to be released. The family of the scrawny teenage skateboarder he abused sued Officer Salvatore Rivieri for assault, battery and violation of rights. There was a legal question about the statute of limitations, a paltry 180 days. The family sued after 10 months, but a judge ruled that statute didn’t apply to minors for some reason, and now the $6 million suit can proceed. I’m all for sticking it to this guy, especially since he has a history of being a dick, but $6 million is an absurd amount. Flame on! – Thanks to Stephanie Murdoch and Derek Krasauskas for the tip. [Source: Baltimore Sun]

SoCal Skateparks has a bunch of video from the 80’s vert challenge that happened at some point in time that is probably still sitting unread in my Google Alerts mailbox. Low purse and high fun. Everyone wore neon, and Hosoi complete with spandex and hair extensions should have won best-dressed, although maybe he did, as there was a special cash prize for finishing dead last. Check it out on SoCal Skateparks Skate-TV. – Thanks to JF for the tip.

Joesf sent in this screencap from the credits of the movie Stepbrothers. There’s not much to say here, except I’ve got a busy day and this is about all you are getting. See it larger after the jump, if you must. Nice plastic trucks. I wonder if they had to have someone’s assistant break this thing in on the parking lot to make it look worn.

“On the third day of Marginal Way benefits, my true love gave to me… Three pool trowels, two coping blocks, and a square yard of rebarred concrete.” That’s right. There are three consecutive days of Marginal Way benefits at three different locations this weekend. Information at the online home of Marginal Way.

This week’s Shot of the Week is Johnny Turgesen at Orcas Island as taken by Kyle Bunker. Ihaven’t been to Orcas in a long time. I love that park. Check out the full frame Shot of the Week.