This Royce Nelson cell phone photo by Tony Farmer comes to us courtesy of Davoud at Concussion Magazine. A couple years ago I got the idea to do a print zine made entirely of cell phone photos. Like many things on my plate, I haven’t gotten around to it. I’m guessing someone else has done it by now. If not, I am immediately accepting submissions for Does/Does Not Cause Cancer.

The road ahead. Challenges facing the skateboarding community in the coming year over at skateportland.org

Thor was good enough to brave the wrath of John Dalton to give us a photo essay progress report on Battle Ground Washington’s skate park. Looks like it’s getting close. This looks like it will be a great park for riders of different disciplines to mix. Street brethren, bowl bros, we can all get along. All photos by Thor.

Vox Footwear and Dreamland Skateparks made this short video which features the construction of Pier Park, some Wilsonville skatepark footage and a few other extras. I don’t know what the plan is for getting this out to the public but you should try to get a copy of it. The footage of Peter Hewitt going over the mousehole is … words fail me. Dave Hupp shot it.

Update: the disc will be available as a shrinkwrap gift in a upcoming The Skateboard Mag issue and a gift with purchase for CCS that will help the sale of the Dreamland Shoe.

These photos were smuggled to our agents at the cost of many Bothan lives. Grindline is building this at an undisclosed location.

Actual bricks are out because of expense. Costs have also skyrocketed on dyeing the concrete. But Dreamland did do a test on stamping a brick texture into the concrete of the street areabanks. Word is it skated all right. This was a rough test and it’s a little well, rough. Finishing would be better if they go with it.

What do you think? Would you prefer the fastest, smoothest surface possible or some simulation of brick banks or some combination? At lower right is the stamp used to texture the concrete. Please comment on the bricks post at Skaters for Portland Skateparks

The Express-Times has short interview with old Zorlac pro and current Syndrome Distribution honcho Rob Mertz. The article, titled “Skateboard to top not pipe dream” is a short fluff piece, but it does contain an amusing fact – the town mayor was the one who encouraged him to follow his dream of being a pro skateboarder. If like me, you’re still skating as grown man with a family of your own, you can probably relate to hearing this kind of thing from your extended family, and in this case, from Rob’s mom:

All the years, miles and bruises later, Nancy Mertz still worries. “He skates every day on his lunch hour. You know he’s 41?” she sighed. “This is why they have hair dye; I turned gray early.”

More Mertz links after the jump.

Dave Cawdrey was a former pro skateboarder in Seattle during the 90’s. I didn’t get to the Pacific Northwest until late 1998 so I never really heard about him, but maybe you have. Dave is now living out the rest of his brief life in Bend Oregon. I say “brief” because he suffers from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). This Seattle Times article is a long, sad but good read about his life before and after diagnosis in 2000. Skateboarding is a recurring element in the story. Dave’s physical deterioration contrasts the physical development of one of his sons, who has taken up skateboarding. It’s an atypically poignant case of a father living vicariously through his son. It’s a tear jerker for sure. After reading about Dave and his family’s situation, it makes me want to puke when I see guys like this that think they have it bad and want to have everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Hey fellas here is a video from late last summer. I figured I would put it up so we could have something to look forward to. See you at the park. Peace Off.