There’s a brand new zine out of Richmond, VA called Born Ugly Magazine. Born Ugly is jam packed with color photos and illustrations. The first issue is reminiscent of Jim Phillips’ art direction. In their own words “layouts infused with illustration soaked in masonite dust and beer sweat…” I’d say they succeeded. I’m not sure how wide their distribution is, so if your skateshop doesn’t have any of the (free) issues, you can download the whole thing. Check out the shot of Josh Swyers on the right side. I don’t know how it came to be, but I’m sold. Aside from the first issue, the Born Ugly site has the prerequisite blog too. Check it out. – Thanks to Saturday Skateboards for the tip.

I know this is a long shot, but has anyone heard the rumor that people are skating in the pools of homes that are in foreclosure? This is a close up of a shot of Broken Magazine editor Nick Gates taken in San Clemente, California, as shot by Peanut. Issue #9 of Broken is available for download. Yes, I’m going to make you click on through to see the full frame shot. Check out the Shot of the Week.

See kids, I’m hip, I swear. Issue #12 of Levil Uniform is out, featuring the art of Chris Edmondson and Travis Thompson from Jackalope Tattoo, musical guests Dr. Mastermind and Red Fang, and a skateboarding feature interview with genuine NW ripper Kevin Kowalski, with whom they would like you to believe you can win a date. He’s so dreamy…

As art of the upcoming celebration of 20 years (!!) of John Doe Zine, they’ve just republished some old interviews, circa 1991 with such names as Christian Hosoi, Tommy Guerrero, Ben Schroeder, Bryce Kanights, Jason Carney, Steve Rocco, Armando Barajas, Rick Ibaseta, Tom Knox, Tod Swank, Lance Conklin, Mike Ternasky, Andy Howell, Neal Hendrix, Brennand Schoffel, Chris Pastras, Rick Ibaseta, Mike Taylor and Jim Theibaud. Yowza! Out of date to be sure, but interesting to read in the context of historical perspective and hindsight.. Be forewarned, it’s a short scroll from the interviews to some decidedly NSFW images. They really ought to do an interview with, you know, the real John Doe.

We got a page of trick tips from Versus Magazine. It’s all very NSFW, as you can see from the example above. Who knew a skate zine could have Playmates? Skate and Mate did, actually. I’m sure you can guess what the Stale Fish grab looks like. If you can’t, head on over to the Versus archives and find issue #28.

Clockwise from top left: Fuck Helmets, Longboard Radness, Saktepark Vermin, Kidney Bowl Boxing. Aside from the usually funny commentary shots, there’s also a lot of, you know, actual skating and skatespots the likes of which you don’t see here. Check out John Doe Zine, the web site, straight outta Wyoming. I think they still do print issues too.

I dragged my family down to see There is Xerox on the Inside of Your Eyelids and my daughter Kathleen took this picture of me next to my ‘zine Bodyslam. And that’s a cool shot of Garry Davis from the show. The Portland exhibition ends Friday, October 31 but it is going to New York next. Opening is November 8th at Printed Matter 195 10th Ave New York, NY 10011 (212) 925-0464 opening on the Saturday the 8th from 5 to 7 pm. The show will travel to Holland in January.

Just in case you want your European skate calendars without nudity, you can pick up the new Bailgun Magazine 2009 calendar from their Lulu storefront. The calendar includes images of Jürgen Horrwarth, Chris Miller, Anders Tellen, Sascha Müller, Ben Krahn, Renton Millar and more, as well as still life photos of instruments, amps etc. from the Claus Grabke Recording Studio. That last bit is serious. You know we can’t resist a Claus Grabke reference! UPDATE: It’s actually two separate calendars. One with skate pics and one with shots from Claus Grabke’s studio. Claus must have quite a following.

Maybe I don’t pay enough attention to the art scene. There is Xerox on the Inside of Your Eyelids, a traveling show of 80’s skate ‘zines opened October 1, 2008 in a small gallery at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. I just happened to spot it tonight when I was teaching a class. Somehow I missed the invite and I’m guessing it will come down this weekend. On the first Thursday of every month there is a mass gallery crawl in Portland and all the new shows open that night. If you want to see it I recommend you get down there in the next couple of days. PNCA 1241 NW Johnson St., Portland, OR 97209 More snaps of the installation after the turn.

Sure, we’re all about Japan here, but when are we going to cover something that often gets overlooked, like, oh, i don’t know. Say for instance, the Northwest bowl scene? Bailgun is a video put together by Steve Reeves. So this was submitted (Not by Steve) as a potential palate cleanser after watching the Overground Broadcasting clip. I’ve often wished cheap video cameras were available when I was a wild impetuous youth, but then after watching some of the scenes in Bailgun, I’m kind of glad I didn’t film all my, errr… escapades. Bailgun is not without charm, but it’s a bit long. Did you know the U.S. Army had a weapons program where gun howitzers were tested for firing nuclear bombs in artillery shells? You can see one in action, mushroom cloud included, in the opening credits of Bailgun. Awesome, and very disturbiing. Watch it after the jump. Completely unrelated Bailgun news: Bailgun Magazine #7 is now available for viewing and download. Bailgun is based in Germany, and #7 is the Swedish issue. – Thanks to Daniel Evans for the tip.