Thing is, I get distracted easily, and to me, the internet is like a strobe light for epileptics. While trying to track down a copy of the Carvells L.A. Run, I accidentally learned about a Danish relic from the past known as Mabel. These guy look like a bunch of Rod Stewart clones from the Hot Legs era. never heard of them? I guess they didn’t make it that far out of Denmark. Turns out it’s not that expensive to get 7″ vinyl records from Sweden, where I ended up getting this one. I got the hideous cover on the bottom right, which is so bad that it’s actually better than the understated one, which is a full length album. There’s also a Japanese version of the Skateboard Rider single, but the only place is turns up on the internet is a postage stamp sized dead link on someone’s very extensive Mabel fan page. Calling 1978.

Illinois’ legendary skatespot known as the Elgin pipes, named after the town of Elgin where they resided. Legends, myths and truths trickled throughout the Midwest like.. oh I don’t know, hazardous chemicals leaching into the water table? Here’s a few I remember, located next to a mental hospital, someone was murdered there, spikes welded on to keep skaters out… the list goes on. This is Michael Hammecker with a tail stall to nose grab. Let’s hear some Elgin pipes stories. Enlarge-o-rama.

That’s right, fully passing off press releases as content here on Skate and Annoy. We’ve got readers in Canada. F-U hosers! Video after the jump. And, oh yeah, this 16 year old kid named Will Cristofaro rides for Control.

Know what we found out? There’s no money. Know what they found out? There’s a lot of skateboarders.

“Like wo-ow, he must be headed for some kind of cosmic freak out!” OK, I’m quoting Skateboard Madness claymation scene from memory, so maybe that’s not exactly right. These two (1 – 2) iron-on skateboard t-shirt transfers from the 70’s are available where else, but eBay. I beleive it was in the R. Crumb documentary where he revealed that he hated how the hippies had appropriated the “Keep on Truckin” illustration. Not sure what h’d have to say about “Keep on Boarding,” except for maybe Street is neat! Now that the market is saturated in skateboard graphic books, I’d like to see a well done book covering only skateboard t-shirts. Wouldn’t you? Catch these two groovy transfers after the jump, and what the hell, why not watch the Skateboard Madness claymation sequence, as well as a “tribute” after the jump. Hey, look out!

A housing development in El Paso required a large drainage ditch. Skate activists Paul Zimmerman (president of the El Paso Skatepark Association) and another guy who goes by PC (?) managed to get the city and builders on the same page. Instead of a ditch that was accidentally skateable and possibly restricted from skating, the end result is a multi-use facility with tranny added specifically to make it more skateable. Apparently, some funds were diverted from a slab and prefab ramp park, no word on whether or not there are complainers on that front. You can get an explanation of the project here on Skatepark.org and a photo essay on the process hosted on Photobucket. The whole thing was hand stacked. [Source: Austin Skate Notes]

A reader named Ollie (no really) sent in a few shots of his project which goes by the name Candy Ramp because of the piñata used in the christening ceremony. It’s two feet tall with a three foot tall section that goest to vert. Then there’s a six and a half foot tall tombstone made out of a coffee table. Hey, the whole thing was built in under a week, what do you expect? I expect to get hurt when I go over there to ride this thing, but I also expect to have fun. Pics after the jump.

Sorry about the short notice on this one. There is a meeting tonight: Community Budget Information Meeting to discuss the FY 2010-2011 parks budget. I asked if we should show up to talk about our priorities and they said no. I have heard otherwise. Here are some talking points: • Thank Commissioner Fish and Parks Director Zari Santner for their commitment to serving Portland’s youth through the development of public skateboard parks, • Gently reminding them community need is far from met. • Portland’s skaters understand the economic downturn means resources are not immediately available for skatepark development as they were in 2006 and 2007. As a result, • Skaters understand the pace of skatepark development has needed to slow. But, • We look forward to supporting passage of the Parks levy intended for 2010, which will include dollars for the Steel Bridge project as well as skatespots. Details after the jump.

The Benton County Skateboard Association has some updates they wanted pass on. I’ve paired them with some photos from a gentleman who falls within the BCSA jurisdiction. You all know him (and love him) as ColinWalshRules.

I didn’t make any posts on Black Friday, but this works better for Cyber Monday since you might have a hard time finding this in an actual shop. So why not pick up this limited edition Skull and Candy Cane board that is not actually a Blind send up, but something the folks at Powell Peralta cooked up. Out of character? Perhaps. Santa Cruz and Powell appear to be engaged in some sort of protracted nostalgia trench warfare. Get yours at SoCal Skateshop and elsewhere, I’d imagine. – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.