My daughter snapped this shot while visiting friends at Oregon State University. Looks like if you cabled two of the rungs together your trucks and wheels might keep someone from removing the board. Is this really a skate rack? I wonder if the thing fills up with longboards during class hours.

This is a Dan Mathieu photo of Kevin Cann skating the more or less DIY fueled skatepark in Notre Dame de L’ile Perrot, a small town outside of Montreal, Quebec. Kevin is the guy who made this park happen, with the help of a host of others. Those of you who read my column in Concrete Wave know the story of this park, if not, I’ll be putting up a version of it here, soon.

Here’s an interesting piece of history. Aside from looking really sharp, this vintage Nash skateboard features clay/composite wheels and something I’ve never seen on a board from this time period, wheel covers. Some people would have you believe these are a recent invention. Check out the auction while it lasts for some larger versions of the pics. A really nice board here. UPDATE: Some 13 years later I’ve added photos of the hubcap bearing protectors thanks to Mark Bader. I’m scratching my head as to why I didn’t post the pics from the auction in the first place.

The Carvelles had a bunch of skateboard songs on their 1977 LP Skateboard Rampage. In fact, out of ten songs, only two are missing the word “skateboard” from the title. Two of those are on the very good This Is Skateboard Music collection. This song, L.A. Run isn’t on that collection. All Music doesn’t have an entry for the Carvells, but they appear to be a vehicle for a guy named Alan Carvell, who had a UK hit in the 60’s and sang backups and harmonies for many well known acts in the 70’s and 80s. This video is a 1977 appearance from Top of the Pops. Check out the stage for assorted skateboard props, a ringer in the audience, and gratuitous stock footage from the U.K.. Who are those guys? The Benji Board team has been suggested, since they are skating U.K. spots. Check it out after the jump.

– Thanks to Eric Shea for the tip.

This year’s Stand up For Skateparks benefit for the Tony Hawk Foundations saw skate action from Bucky Lasek, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Andy Macdonald, Lincoln Ueda, and Kevin Staab. Old man Hawk even landed a 900 himself. The event raised a total of 775,000 dollars to support the Tony Hawk Foundation, including $43,500 in pledges for a skatepark project in the Watts district of Los Angeles. There were many celebrities present, both skateboarding and mainstream, including Erik Estrada, who is a celebrity in both worlds. If you have a soft spot in your heart for Watts,you can donate $5 to the project by texting the word RIDE to 90999. Do it before the end of Tuesday, October 20 if you want the cash to specifically benefit the Watts Towers Skatepark project.

I can’t believe the site has been up for almost 24 continuous hours. This Skatekeyboard is courtesy of Free Art & Technology, AKA F.A.T.. What better way to welcome S&A back to the land of the online living than with a thank you to Daddy Yo for the tip!

I think I was working on Grover’s miniramp when someone in the crew go the call that there was an upside down car in Burnside. I briefly contemplated going down to check it out, but even with supposed firsthand knowledge, it still seemed highly unlikely. Well, someone on the the Jalopnik blog checked it out. Jalopnik is the automotive branch of the Gawker Media blogging empire. You might have noticed a few links to their gadget site Gizmodo on select S&A posts. What happens when a car sits upside down for a period of time? Oil and other fluids start to leak out. Fun! Someone, somewhere, will blame this on BMXers. This is not the first car I’ve seen (secondhand) in Burnside. There’s video footage of some 90’s era hijinks on the punk wall.

Holy cow! This site has been up for more than an hour,without being hacked and I’m actually making an update for the first time in a week. I’m testing the waters here, and I may have just jinxed it.

– Thanks to Dave Arpin for the tip.

I might be changing hosts, possibly as early as the weekend. Had hoped to wait so I could spring a redesign on you at the same time, but the recent incredibly bad customer service I’ve been experiencing during the intermittent server outages of the past week… sheesh! There are actually a couple of tech support guys at IX Webhosting that have been really cool, it’s just the people around them making the decisions that have been the bane of my existence. Who knows, maybe you won’t even be able to read this because the site is down. In the mean time, expect a scarcity of updates in the immediate future.

Two great things happened though. One reader asked if I was experiencing problems that a donation might help. I am blown away and flattered that someone would even consider that, and I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but thanks for the offer Ben! However, I’m not going to pass the hat, not my style. If anyone feels like helping out, there’s always t-shirts for sale.

Second thing, I saw the best video clip I’ve seen since, well, the last great movie clip, say the opening segment from Fully Flaired. There’s no explanation of this on YouTube, but I have to guess that it’s the Lance Mountain segment of the new Flip video, in which case, I’m Extremely Sorry about the copyright infringement. See how many homages to famous Lance Mountain moments you can find. Amazing skating too. Extremely Awesome.

– Thanks to Jeff Haynes for the involuntary tip via Facebook.

Apparently this spot showed up in the bizarro Slovenian skate vid I highlighted last week. I missed it, but 26 Feels Old spotted it. Apparently the location is infected by fixies.

Well, I opened a can of worms with religion, so I might as well tackle present another hot topic, health care reform in the United States. Part two of a series from Austin Considine called Faces of American Health Care features a sobering look at former pro skater Lee Bender.

Number two in a multi-part series: From the heartland, a look at a few of the real people adversely affected by our health care system today. Part two looks at Lee Bender, a former pro skater who was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Despite comparatively good coverage he faces over $36,000 in debt for treatment over the last 18 months.

According to the World Health Organization, health care in the United States ranks 37th in the world, based on quality and access, among other things. Skateboarders take a risk every time they skate. Insurance or lack of, is in the back of many of the minds of skaters who are living on their own. I’m not sure how to do it, but our health care system definitely needs reform. Health insurance is a racket and costs are out of control.

– Thanks to Max Macias via Facebook for the tip.