Taylor, with his short haircut and businesslike demeanor, doesn’t fit the profile of the average skateboarder, who’s often a teenager with stylishly long hair and a devil-may-care attitude. Taylor’s more the Tony Hawk type, a guy in his 30s who can make money doing what he loves.

He doesn’t fit the stereotype, but they still used This dude’s rad boards ‘feel right’ as the headline for an article about Drifter Skateboards, a small D.I.Y. skateboard manufacturer. Hmm… sounds familiar. Other than that, this article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution is OK, just brief. Hold on… of all the interesting parts of the process involved, they chose a picture of owner Ryan Taylor shrink wrapping an unidentified object. Someone fire that photo editor. Those graphics remind me of a certain Blockhead era. Update: Drifter web site.

You think your scene is bad? At least you don’t have to make knee pads out of palm fronds and bamboo. The Uganda Skateboarding Union Is an organization dedicated towards trying to keep Ugandan youth alive by giving them something positive to do while educating them on social and health issues, like HIV/AIDS. They just got NGO certified, which means your skateboard donations won’t be hit with crippling import tariffs. From the looks of those neon wheels, Uganda is receiving donations from 1980’s era time travelers. They also take cash. Unfortunately they are importing ideology too – now that they have a skate park built, they want to put a fence around it. The skateboard scene in Uganda was started by a visiting South African named Shael Swart who built the first ramp with Ugandan local Jackson Mubiru. Those efforts were discovered by another visitor, a Canadian named Brian Lye. Brian has taken it to a completely different level. Spend some time checking out the pictures. It’s a warm and fuzzy skateboarding experience. Much better than the alternative. Right now the program is active in one small town, which I’m guessing must be in southern Uganda, since children in the North are being kidnapped to fight in the civil war. If all goes well they plan to expand to other towns. [Source: Kingpin Magazine]

Oh great, now I’m not the only wannabe skate-photog lurking in Portland. Hey Rich, how’s that new camera working out for you? Pretty good, huh? Just don’t get in my shots man, or I’ll sic Lil’ Pimp on you. Everyone is a photographer. Why not make the deck a little more crowded by checking out How To Steal My Job by Transworld photographer (I assume, because I don’t have a subscription) Scott Pommier. It’s lenghty and humorous piece filled with good practical advice. Lastly, when you look at the above picture of Chris Nukala, make sure you are humming speed metal and not Blink 182.

Dave Hupp sends along this announcement of a benefit event for Neil’s homecoming. March 31 in McMinnville. Your chance to check out the new Dreamland/Vox video, win prizes, and more.

Also check out Dave’s website. There are some killer new photos up.

I had this post planned for today before I saw Mark’s other Andrecht post. As you can see, he’s still doing them. These are some shots from a quick session at Pier Park over the weekend. It was wet and overcast, but the weed burner enabled a safe entry and exit into the deep end. More after the jump.

Contort’s Dan Estabrook was bored with MC’s Andrechts 22 years ago. Looks like a lively session, though.

Check out this new Bill Danforth interview over at Old Man Army. I had a bunch of his old Alva decks. The tri-tail was the best. He’s got a sort of tribute graphic out on Bill’s own American Nomad.