…has been Glenhaven. It has been amazing how empty Pier has been. Too many times in the last week I have been in on my own private session, praying that I don’t get seriously hurt in the 11.5″ abyss. I can only imagine the wrath of the local kids as they heckle my bloody carcass. Trying to talk them into hauling said carcass out of there wouldn’t be too fun either. I can’t skate Pier every day, especially not by myself. It simply hurts too much. I am no Mark Conahan. I wish I was, but I am not. I need to take a couple of days off between sessions at Pier, and Glenhaven has become a perfect filler. The mini bowl is great for somebody like me (old, fat and not very skilled) as it reminds me of my Masonite mini-ramp youth. The hip in the center is pure butter. The pool is gnarl, but less gnarl than Donald. There are always great sessions full of kids who are tearing that thing to little pieces. It’s great to see kids half my age able to appreciate (and destroy) pools. I thought that tranny was dead, right? Dave Viera came…

What do you call that trick where you are pushing off on your skateboard and your back leg catches the rear wheel on your skateboard? Oh yeah, it’s called funny! One guy made a documentary about it. What a happy coincidence. Just yesterday I was trying to come up with an excuse to post an old video of I have of House of Neil doing the same thing. The first vid is called “Crash, Burn & Replay: A Segway Documentary” It’s pretty good, even though it flirts heavily with overkill. The second one is a short but sweet star vehicle for Neil titled “The Legends of Stenchtown,” after the Stench Ditch, a seminal, hardcore, locals only, dare I say Extreme™ skate spot in Evanston Illinois, and home to the Stenchtown crew who revolutionized skateboard slams with style.

I’m preempting another “over it” post. This clip is being passed around the web like what’s his name’s girl that is giving that stuff out to all them graffiti guys. Danimal reviewed the Girl Yeah Right! video (on VHS no less) and now the invisible skateboard sequence is all over the Interweb™ again, so you might as well watch it here too. You can catch the invisible section after the jump, or watch the whole dang video due to the magic of Interweb™ piracy and our friend Chompy.

Old people and computers mix about as well as old people and skateboards. Utah’s KLS 5 TV news did a story on the nationwide trend of car surfing, or being pulled behind a car on a skateboard. They call it a nationwide phenomenon because they found four (yes, 4!!!) videos of car surfing on YouTube. Better call out the National Guard! Actually, the term “car surfing” refers to climbing out of your car and standing on top while it coasts, but the fact that there are some 700 plus videos of that on Youtube didn’t deter the aged staff of KLS 5 in Salt Lake City Utah from making up their own terminology and declaring it a trend. (Car Surfing Becoming a Dangerous Trend in Utah!) The guy in the top shot is actually wearing a lei while riding to the soundtrack of the Beach Boys Surfin USA. Of course, there is the obligatory Back to the Future reference. The main point of the news piece is to point out how dangerous car surfing is. They even bring in an “injury prevention specialists” to corroborate the obvious. Lei boy wipes out after his so-called friends start pelting him with sports…

That’s right, Lib Tech is giving away a free skate trip to Sweden to everyone… or at least everyone who wins this contest, which is of the skateboarding talent variety. This ought to be interesting for Mason Huggins, now that he’s no longer on Lib Tech.

Contort was pretty much the king of East coast zines. Everyone who traded zines or went to Boston knew about Contort and Dan Estabrook. He and Contort were constantly being mentioned in Thrasher or Transworld. This is issue #2, when Dan was still doing it with a partner. It’s a pretty straight forward zine with just of hint of the more artsy Swank Zine-like approach it would later morph into. I got this as a “back issue” after meeting Dan when he came to visit his parents, who had moved from Boston to Champaign-Urbana Illinois so his father could take a position at the University of Illinois. Blah blah blah. Dan was rad, we had a lot of fun when he’d visit. Later I would go to Boston to check out his scene. Talk about plate of shrimp coincidences, there are a couple of pictures of our own Mark Conahan in this issue. I wouldn’t meet Mark until after the year 2000. Cue Disney theme song.. It’s a small world after all…

Skate Cool #1 is one of those zines that probably never got circulated outside the group of kids that made it. The only reason I got a copy was because one of those kids was the kid brother of my best friend in high school, Jay Niedzwicki who was the guy I rode my first real skateboard and vert ramp with, discovered punk rock, etc… I had completely forgotten that when it came time to scan this. At first glance I thought was completely stupid, and it is, but I started flipping through it, and as stupid as it is, it’s still amusing. Then I read the credits and found my friend’s brother, Scott Niedzwicki on the, errr.. masthead.

The Ray Underhill benefit auction we mentioned earlier is about to start. The list of items is impressive. Visit the official Ray Underhill site to get the background story and more information, or make a flat out donation. On May 13th (tomorrow) you can start bidding. Grab those hammers – it’s time to break those piggy banks! What may be the largest auction for collectable skateboard items is upon us. Pros and industry notables from the past and present have donated a grip of one-of-a-kind gear to help raise money for Ray Underhill and his battle against a chordoma brain tumor. This auction offers one absolute guarantee that no other auction can offer: zero buyer’s remorse! This sounds cliché, but it’s true–Ray Underhill is one of the nicest guys in skateboarding, and his friends have come out en force to help him and his family in this difficult time. He may be the only pro skater who ever substituted “fudge” for the other naughty word that starts with F. Ray was always willing to step up and help others, and this auction is our opportunity to do the same for him.