We’re checking in on the South African skateboard scene again. There was an article on Helderberg.com about a skateboard contest in South Africa. Near as I can tell, the town was Somerset West in the state or providence or district of Helderberg. I followed a link to the Old School Skatepark which is a brand new facility done in true DIY style. Actually, it’s not very “old school” in terms of skatepark design, but that’s not important. It looks like they hauled a bunch of sand and cinderblocks into a small warehouse and poured concrete over everything. All building up and no digging. You have to check out the pictures in the news and gallery sections. It has an odd looking finish and gestalt that is hard to describe. Definitely not your typical polished public skatepark, but still highly skateable as evidenced by the photos. A unique spot for sure. What’s missing is a good comprehensive shot of the whole layout, so you’ll have to do some exploring on the site, which I imagine is a little bit like skating that park. The establishment has a youth club type aura to it, with the accompanying stance on smoking, drugs and alcohol. Times sure have changed though, one of the prizes at their grand opening contest was credit at a tattoo parlor! Cheers to South African skaters! [Photos: Old School Skate Park]

Skate and Annoy is guilty of negligence. We ignored the story of the closing of a large percentage of skateparks in Nebraska last fall, due to the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision that cities were not immune to personal injury lawsuits on public land. Basically, some lady twisted her ankle in a hole in a field at a public festival somewhere in Nebraska, and since we are the Jerry Springer nation, she decided to sue whatever public municipality held the event. Cities and the like are usually immune from frivolous lawsuits of the “I tripped on your sidewalk” variety, but this possible relative of Cleetus the Slack Jawed Yokel, had her day in court. Suddenly, Chicken Littles in cities and towns all over Nebraska decided they needed to close skateparks until the law changed. Curiously, as near as I can tell, no basketball courts or baseball fields were closed. The aptly named Omaha Sen. Mike Friend, stepped up to the plate (sorry, there’s no skateboard analogy for that. Should it be dropped in? ) and proposed a bill to change that. The bill has passed and the Governor intends to sign it. So please forgive us, last month’s 55 loyal readers in Nebraska, for ignoring your plight. Maybe if a few of you chipped in the occasional comment or two we’d remember you are there. I’ve driven through your great state more than once, there can’t be that much else to do! Video, audio, and more after the jump. [Photo: NebraskaSakteparks.com]

I was reading an article in the Lower Hudson Online about Pioneering Rockland skateboarders still at it in their 40s and I had to chuckle when they got to the part explaining the team’s name.

The Wizards came up with their team’s name to reflect the creative inspiration that came with each move, said Jamaal Bey, the team’s leader. The skateboard was the magic wand, and the skateboarder was the wizard who would perform each new trick.

Now the 70’s sure were a groovy time. Wizards, dragons and unicorns were all very heavy and hip back then. Nowadays the idea of a private skateboard team with a ridiculous name seems laughable, except for the err, uh, Scrotes. I had to laugh again when the article mentioned the team would sneak into empty pools to practice. Practice what? Sneaking into pools? The act of skating the pool is the end reward, not something you practice in anticipation of something else. One of the Wizards has a truly wacky but passionate side business called Bey Boards that err, focuses on things like skate brakes, weird downhill bikes (that I swear I’ve seen before) Nascar-themed downhill boards, lace savers (that take a truly unique approach) and other skateboard related paraphernalia, most of which falls under the conflicting name of Black Sheep Golden Child. Which brings to mind one of my favorite scenes in Repo Man – Did you do a lot of acid back in the 60’s Miller? Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.

Update: The owner of the copyright on the pictures above wanted to get paid, or couldn’t have a chuckle at himself. He wants to bill us for unauthorized use of his photos, even though we were using them to promote the article about him and his friend’s company. So now it’s gone. This marks the second recent occasion where someone has gone out of their way to take themselves too seriously. Sad thing is, this guy actually skates, or used to at least. Must be kind of hard to skate with that pole lodged up his backside.

Here’s the info in case you can’t read the graphic. Battle Ground Skate Park Grand Opening. Saturday June 2. Noon-5 p.m. Skate Demos by Manik Skateboards, Vox Shoes, Rebel Skates, Bacon Skateboards and the Mulkiteo YMCA Skate Team. Music by the Fakies. BMX demo by Northwest Crew at 4 p.m. Prizes and Giveaways

To make up for our overall snotty temperament, we sometimes are sentenced like to do a little bit of public service. In that spirit we bring you this story about Nathan Curry, an American working in Nicaragua who is building a skatepark there in his spare time. I first found out about Nathan’s project in the Bowling Green Daily News. After tracking him down, he agreed to answer a few questions and send in some progress reports. Be the first person to correctly identify the reference in the title of this post and win…

Larry Pescatore sent in another batch of construction pics from the Wormhoudt project in San Jose. The monolith is very… monolithic in nature. 2007, a Skate Odyssey. Check out larger picture after the jump, and since I haven’t had this much fun Photoshopping Sci-fi skateboard graphic crossovers since Blade Runner, take a look at the other teasers I had to choose from.

Word travelled fast, but in case you haven’t heard, Battleground Washington opened this weekend a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Not surprisingly, there was a major rumble between a clan of BMX riders and an irate posse of… Not really. Everyone got along fine. Photo of Mark Conahan from Earth Patrol Media.

That’s right. variety is the spice of life. We’re looking to add another point of view to Skate and Annoy, something we’ve heard is called street skating, as implausible as that sounds, which is not to be confused with street-style, which is being, er, uh, practiced in the shot above that I got from the Chitown Shred archives. But seriously folks. We need to cover the grittier side of skating. I love skate parks, but there’s a different vibe with skating something found as opposed to something made for skating. Help us out, and get in contact if you think you can be our man on the street. Or woman. Geographic locale is not an issue.

I had been pitching an idea for a regular column in Concrete Wave to the editor Michael Brooke for a long time. He kept encouraging me in a vague sort of way, so I finally decided to write up the first installment as a way to help him decide whether to shit or get off the pot. I thought (and still do) that Concrete Wave had a lot of potential because it was still kind of blank slate, and Brooke wanted to provide coverage of all aspects of the sport, kind of like the early days of Thrasher. One thing I thought it seriously lacked (besides cohesion) was personality. Thrasher had it’s columns like Ask the Doctor and Skarfing Material that along with Thatcher’s and other musings gave the mag a real, uhm, personality. I was going to try and shake things up at Concrete Wave a little, help it appeal to people besides the old and the very young, which is ironic considering I run a web site that gets some Barney criticism of it’s own. What better way to make a splash than a somewhat facetious piece about slalom skateboarding, since you know, there’s not enough slalom coverage in Concrete Wave.