Although it may look like outtakes from Macho Taildrop, Le Skate Moderne is a short clip about a two of skaters in rural France who live on a farm. There’s not a lot of actual information, instead it seems to concentrate cinematography. I can’t tell if the clothes are costumes or not, it seems a little like an affectation. Also, these guys seem to have a pretty good sized crew for being out in the middle of the country. All in all though, it’s very well made.

– Thanks to Bevilacqua for the tip.

Simon Woodstock with his ‘Sweet 16-wheeler’ in the Travel Lodge Pool at Lake Cunningham Skatepark during the Indy Truck 30 Year Rally. Lonnie Toft pioneered the 8-wheeler in the 70s and is still keeping the spirit alive with Toft designs..

[Photo: Bryce Kanights]

S&A reader Raddam sent some scouting photos of skateable spots in Instanbul, Turkey. He didn’t see a lot of transition there, but he did spot some worthy street spots.

Three Sims boards in different colorways? No, the middle one is a Speedent, copied from the Sims ‘New Wave’ team deck from 1981 by Bernie Tostenson. The legit Sims images are from (left) eBay Watch March 2010, and (right) February, 2011.

The Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei turned up some history of Speedent:

‘Charles Yeh, CEO of Speedent Corp, has been exporting Taiwan-made sporting goods world-wide since 1975. The first line that Yeh introduced to the international market was skateboards …’

Considering the original date of this early graphic (1981-1982) and Speedent’s origins in 1975, I’d say that Charles Yeh was a pioneer of crappy bootlegs!

Here’s an update from the North County, San Diego project we posted about in January.

Coming along. Sold our shirts that you helped track down for me, that got us a half a truck of crete and donations of a truck each by two separate town residents who now see how cool the project is. This snake run style of the park has 5 foot radius trannys and there are will be no freebie grinds handed out… Skates fast and lose legged and every trick is gonna be worked for. First session today was fun!

UPDATE: Swapped the bail pic for a make.

– Thanks to Ryan Moran for the photos

Dying Scene is reporting that Duane Peters went missing after being released from jail February 13th. Corey Parks is listed as the source:

PLEASE HELP US: @dpdisaster My son’s dad Duane Peters has been missing for the last two days. He was released from twin towers yesterday at 6:00 am and vanished. He is apparently NOT strung out on drugs of any kind, but in fact possibly suffering from some type of mental illness, dementia or schizophrenia, which would explain his recent behavior. He was released in a paper robe with no shoes, clothes, phone or money. His son Schuyler was waiting to pick him up and he literally mussed him by 5 minutes and he wondered down the street. We are all very worried, I have been in contact with his girlfriend and close friends and family NO ONE HAS SEEN HIM AT ALL. We have filed a missing persons report and Rob and I have been searching downtown around the mission and skid row with his photo all day. WE NEED HELP. Guys on skateboards and motorcycles cruising the streets, putting up flyers, PLEASE HELP US FIND DUANE!!! This is serious, something is wrong.

UPDATE: Eric VonArab reporsts via Facebook that Duane has been located in a hospital in L.A.. No other details known.

Photo above is a still from GVK’s Treasure Bowl episode.

I can imagine that a lot of people (including myself) waited for a release like this by Wheezing Maniac, an obscure band out of San Diego that was featured on the soundtrack for H-Street´s Hokus Pokus video with two songs (“Dollar on a platter” and “Don´t come close”). Sadly, this is NOT an LP or CD release, but just a bunch of audio files that can be downloaded via iTunes and probably some other sources. It´s just my guess that this is the complete discography of the band, and hopefully it´s authorized.

Blockparty was an event held last summer in Hamburg, Germany that featured Blockparty Entertainmen and the Hambrug Crew. They built an odd triangular track that even had a temporary fountain incorporated into it. Live DJ and a party too, plus a great Devo song used in the video.

– Thanks to Dennis Stoecker for the tip.

Rue Linois, near the Charles Michel Metro. Looks super fun, especially for found terrain. Even the ramp is banked.– Thanks to Pig-City for the photo.

Steve Schneer was a professional skater in at least 3 decades, and yes he invented one of the more memorable tricks in skateboarding. There’s an excellent Jim Goodrich photo of Steve from 1979 that was a SOTW here on S&A. I only met Steve a couple times, but he was always approachable and bringing smiles to those around him. A celebration of his life planned in Boise on Saturday February 8th at Jumpin Janet’s.

[Photo: EPM]