Randy has asked me to post stuff to Skate and Annoy for a while, and I’ve always been a big fan, so I figured it was about time we get started. So, he said why not start off with an introduction. Well, who the Fuck is Jim Gray?

If you care, I’m a guy who was sitting on the deck watching when Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi win contests and I got 29th and was stoked to get a good seat on the deck to watch the finals. I’m the guy who thought it would be really lame and confusing if skateboarding had 500 pro models instead of 50, and I think it is, maybe you think it’s awesome. I am  the kook who showed up in white plaid shorts and blue shoes to the black clothing only backyard pool party. I’m loved, I’m hated, I’m everything in between, but like you I have an opinion, and for some unknown reason, Randy thought it would be fun to have me rattle mine off now and then here on S&A.

My daddy always told me opinions are like Assholes, everyone has one, some just stink more than others…… So, whether you  love mine or think it stinks, life goes on, deal with it. You always have the right to tell me what I kook I am and talk shit about me, but I ask one thing, if you are gonna talk shit, use your real name like a real man. I hate when toughboy29 talks smack, but if Jack Mehoff wants to say you’re a dick Jim Gray, I say bring it.

I started riding one of these little wooden contraptions when I was around 10, and at 50 I’ve never stopped not even for a little bit so that makes about 40 years or rolling, manufacturing, competing, sponsoring, schmoozing, fighting, taking pictures, fighting to get skateparks built, judging contests, shooting video, etc…… so what you will see from me when I get to it (I do drift off quite often—so don’t wait around), is pictures and stories of things I like, hate, support, want to blow up, think you should see, want to make you  see, etc……

Love me or hate me Randy gave me my own password, so Howdy People, welcome to February 23, 2013.. Jim Gray day at Skate and Annoy… haha…

Yeah, yeah, pool coping is the way to go, but if you have to go with metal coping, Diamond Grind might be worth checking out. It appears to give you a little grab without sticking. I’ve never seen or ridden it in person, but the video makes it seem like it might be a good thing. Plus, you can’t put pool coping on a rail.

The quickest way to get your picture on Skate and Annoy? Wear an S&A shirt like Greg Baller. Of course, frontside double trucking doesn’t hurt either. Photo by Christopher Bright.

Another good installment of 7 Seconds at Svitak’s, this time with Dave Hackett. He’s only three episodes in and already lost an expensive wide angle lens to to Hackett’s mini ramp assault. It was Dave’s 52nd birthday, so Kristian probably cut him some slack. Brought to you by Regulator Distribution and 1031.

To keep the discussion “What is Skate Rock?” alive, we now have some obscure vinyl from Sweden for you. At first I thought someone just put a late 70´s / early 80´s photo of a skateboarder on the front cover to gain a bit more attention.

The live stream from the Vans BOWL-A-RAMA™ in Wellington, NZ starts Feb. 16 at 3 p.m. PST and goes to 9 p.m. PST. There’s an embed of the live stream after the jump. I’m sure there will be commercials and whatnot, but hopefully it works. I heard last year’s was pretty good.

Skate and Annoy was mentioned in last month’s issue of Sidewalk Mag via Jim Thompson’s Scene Zine column. Thanks for the love from the UK. Some older Scene Zine are archived online if you are looking for more ways to avoid work or school. If Mark and Neil ever find out they don’t need me, I’m sunk.

Sick of documentaries about skateboarding and/or punk? I don’t care. You must watch this feature on the legendary Big Boys. Don’t worry, it’s only 10 minutes and 33 seconds long. Some early Big Boys records are being rereleased on vinyl this year, and Conspiracy is going to do a limited run of a Big Boys deck. The first true Skate Rock band? Let’s argue about it.

A recent study in Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability suggests that skateboarders in Chicago perform in and transform urban spaces by exploring different terrains and developing unforeseen uses. Waxing ledges is a widespread practice among skateboarders that smoothens ledges allowing for speed and exhilaration, communicating to other skateboarders that ‘here is a cool space’.

Yet far from damaging the environment, this timely article concludes that skateboarders have a different ethic of environmental care: an ‘alternative sustainability’. Focusing on the Chicago skateboarding scene in both sanctioned skate parks and illicit skate spots, it highlights the intersections of skateboarding and the sustainability agenda in the city of Chicago.

‘Waxing ledges: built environments, alternative sustainability, and the Chicago skateboarding scene’ features in a recent Special Issue of Local Environment on Children, young people and sustainability.

That’s from the press release for the Journal. A press release that ironically states “Any views expressed in this Press Release are not those of the Taylor & Francis Group.” So the publisher hires a publicist to promote their work, but doesn’t want to be held accountable for the contents of the press release. Excellent. I’m not sure what’s more boring, over intellectualizing skateboard culture, or what passes as a “skate plaza” in Chicago. Is it just me, or does that look like a tennis court and a couple of prefab turds? This sort of scholarly dissection of skateboarding and skateboarders, although tedious and somewhat ridiculous, still benefits the skateboarding population at large. Every academic endorsement that comes our way makes it easier for the next skatepark to be funded, or absurd law to be repealed.

– Thanks to Darrin Hill for the tip.