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.

So… they are skateboards covered with shag carpeting. Not the most original idea, but someone’s got to do the work for the lazy people. I’m not sure about the wisdom in naming one of your vehicles “The Lemon.” That’s Shaggo Skateboards.

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.

As seen on Boing Boing, thanks to Mark Pendergrass.

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…

Who does this guy Adam Miller think he is, William Spencer? Backflip off seven stairs, sort of hippy jump style. Circus trick? Yes. Crazy hard terrifying? Yes. Watch the cringe inducing slam video to get an idea of the dues this kid paid for his 15 minutes of fame. – Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip.

There’s some great skating mixed in the lifestyle/fashion shots of this promo video from a… sock company? Er.. yeah. It’a called Stance Socks. Does anyone remember that crappy magazine that Transworld published called… Transworld Stance? Does this trick have a name? Otherwise it’s what, a no-comply to tail on in a bowl?

These are skateboards allegedly benefiting the Strummerville foundtation. I say “allegedly” because I can find no mention of them on the official Strummerville site, and the site for Australian-based Blank Skateboards shows the art on flat prints, not skateboards. I actually approached Strummerville about 5 years ago in hopes of releasing a graphic with the royalties going to the foundation, but they never got back to me, and I didn’t follow up. [Source – The Clash Blog]