The Wall Street Journal want’s you to know that Portland, Oregon is Skateboarding Capital of the World. If only my father were alive to read that. Ruining my life, indeed! As soon as I get home from work tomorrow I’m going to actually read it. I’m up past my bedtime. Holy cow if it isn’t S&A reader and sporadic commenter, Tom Miller in one of the photos. Why can’t we enlarge that one? Where’s that Bush Beater we gave you? And no inside scoop either? Miller, Miller, why have you forsaken us? That’s OK. I’m still voting for you when you run for Mayor.

– Thanks to Greg North for the tip.

There’s a teaser up for an upcoming Paul Rodriguez video at Nike SB. There are a couple of celebrity cameos. I enjoyed seeing Lance Mountain as one of the cops. Ice Cube makes and appearance too. It seems Paul Rodriguez is blowing up (even more). Boston.com says he’s “ramping up” his exposure. They’ve got a short interview with Paul that’s informal and somewhat interesting.

Back in June we reported on the Stardolls online Ryan Sheckler dress up doll. It looks like they’ve added Tony Hawk and Bam Margera too. Sheckles must have pitched a fit, because he’s been removed from the site, and hold on, in the short delay since I first found out about the new additions, Tony Hawk has been removed as well, but maybe that’s because his celebrity likeness looked more like the test tube spawn of John McEnroe and Jimmy Carter.

[Source: Examiner.com]

This Rick Howard commercial for Lakai is pretty effing great. I had a hard time picking a still frame because I didn’t want to spoil it for you. Yeah, that’s quite a build up. I’d like to think that skateboard commercials would be this creative. It’s weird enough that there are actual skateboard commercials on TV, even if they are only on MTV, ESPN, or Fuel. And yes, I realize this isn’t actually a commercial for skateboards, rather skateboard shoes. Close enough.

[Source: Boardistan]

Or the same one, I can’t speak Japanese. Actually, probably a different one than MVP’s Louie. He doesn’t use the cheater binding made out of a shoe.

– Thanks to Stephanie Murdock for the tip.

He’s Bobcat! (Cue theme song.) Master of Sleestak, unicorn-lover, Seattle scenester and magick DJ. He’s being interviewed byJohn Doe Zine tomorrow at 5pm Pacific tomorrow (7-22-09), and you can call in to listen live. Get the details over here. John Doe zine has been doing a lot of these call-in phone interviews. It’s intriguing, and with Bobcat on the line, I’m going to check it out. If you want more I’ve got a stream of consciousness history of Seattle skateboarding coming up soon.

Check out the video for “I’m Over It” by Dinosaur Jr. Old Jay is engaged in some street skating in the vid, most likely with the help of a stunt double or two. Most music videos with skateboarding don’t go through the trouble of showing the band actually skating, even if they are posing tricks. He brought along one of his Alien Workshop Dinosaur Jr skateboards and a posse of BMX riders for the shoot. I like the vid, especially if it is posed.

– Thanks to Peter Brown for the tip.

[Source: The Village Voice]

I can’t recall the date exactly, but I’d say this was taken in 1990, or 91. There was a hipster nightclub in Chicago called Shelter. They would have all kinds of events and promotions, and since I was a partner in the silkscreen business that printed for them, I occasionally got to be involved behind the scenes in a minor way. For instance, I got to hang out with some the famous club kids from NYC, before they became famous murderers. Another event that I didn’t understand but certainly enjoyed, was the outdoor miniramp. Someone came up with the promotion to build a miniramp in the outdoor section of the club, whic was really large, if I recall correctly. The club was located in a sort of derelict industrial area, next to some railroad tracks, so noise wasn’t an issue. Originally I was actually supposed to build the damn thing, but somehow it got puled out from under me, and a guy named Sluggo took charge, which was kinfd of annoying as he was an employee of mine at the time. Sluggo? There are a few “Sluggos” in skateboarding scenes across the nation, this guy lives in Chicago. So they set up the ramp and had people skating it on nights when it was open. I don’t think anyone got paid to skate, out side of the opening night maybe, I think you just got in free. Basically, sweaty guys would skate and then drunk girls would watch them, or not. I brought some friends over to skate it a couple of times during the day when the club was closed. It was nothing special, except for the setting. I think maybe 12 ft wide and 5 feet tall, but that’s a guess. This shot is (Is NOT!) Chicago skate legend Steve “Dread” Snyder, the same guy from the famous Alva team ad, and more recently Uprise employee with his own Nike Blazer. The guy in the upper left hand corner is probably Jesse Neuhaus, and the Sessions sticker was for the short lived Chicago location of Sessions. Check out the Shot of the Week.

Poweredge Magazine is hitting the streets again. The first new issue is scheduled to come out in August. It’s a gutsy move when other mags are getting thinner or moving to online-only presences. Hopefully there is room for another. I was a fan of Poweredge back in the day, even when I considered Thrasher the best, it was nice to have a different voices out there. Check out the covers, the last one from 1991 above left, and the new 2009 one is on the right. It would have been cool if they had Todd Congelliere reprise his cover shot for the new volume. Check out Tod in the Santa Cruz vid Risk it! after the jump.

UPDATE: I guess that’s not Todd on the old cover. I assumed it was because his interview has the biggest headline. The guy on the new cover? Dayne Brummet.

The time lapse movie of Conahan’s bowl pour was a big hit, and if you like that, you’ll love this secret, behind the scenes video of one of the world’s most famous skatepark crews in action, obtained by covert actions at Skate and Annoy. Sure, we’re going to really piss some people off, and we may be alienating ourselves from the entire Northwest, if not U.S. D.I.Y. skate community, but we feel it’s worth it to bring the truth to our readers. Explore the myth vs. reality, fact vs. fiction, as we blow the lid off “the great” skatepark builders of the Northwest and this secret project. Sit back and enjoy.

– Thanks to Sarib Khalsa for the tip.