Kevin Kowalski made it over the face wall of the brand new Coos Bay skatepark last Saturday. It was his first time at the park, and this was his second attempt. His new, more aerodynamic haircut must have helped get the extra speed, because he was “booking” as they say, or at least used to say when I was in the eighth grade. That’s one hell of a death box. Thanks to Colin for the photo. Dude, ditch your old iPhone for one of the new ones, I hear the camera is a lot better. With Kowalski blowing up you should be able to afford it. Check out the Shot of the Week.

Here’s a couple stills from episode one of a series called Gusto. It features Mark Hubbard and Grindline Skateparks, and will likely be shown Saturday, the 15th at the Skateboard FIlm Festival in Seattle, Washington on August 14-16. You can watch the abruptly ending trailer after the jump. Who is going to make the GVK documentary? I don’t know much about thee festival, like for instance, is it the first one? I do know they have a very nice Worpress theme!

Yes, this is very self centered… I lost a board on Saturday night, either out of the parking lot at Gabriel Park from my from yard. Distinguishing characteristics (and really, the thing I care most about) are the Bridgebolt mounting hardware, still in continuous use from the late 80’s. Indy Trucks and white Dropout wheels too.

This one is for our female readers – that’s right, both of them. (Hi Stephanie and Judi!) It’s a 1978 Mitch York photo of Bill Zuehl, doing a nude downhill run. The photo was one of three that appeared in The June 7th, 2009 edition of the Idaho Statesman in an article titled “Z-Boiz of Idaho.” Once your done reading, check out the link to Mitch’s web site, which has a great gallery of 32 shots of the Boise Idaho scene from 1975-79, including a bunch of Boise’s Tidy Bowl. Now imagine Mr Zuehl is looking for work and his prospective employer does a google search for his name… – Thanks to Mark Ward for the tip.

John Egertson sent in some pictures his friend Mike Alexander took of a day’s worth of ditch sessions in northern Virginia. While I certainly appreciate the photos, John and Mike could use an extra body or two in their crew. At the very least, John needs to pick up that camera every once and a while! Hey look, I spelled “Virginia” right this time!

I’ve been over there a couple times since the day of the pour, and I’m still in awe. So here’s way too many pictures of the bowl pour in Portland, Oregon. Believe me, I had to restrain myself from putting up more, but this is something most skatepark riders don’t get a chance to witness. The guys on the crew were craftsmen. I was blown away by what they accomplished. Check it out. UPDATE: If you’re still not sick of it, EPM has another large gallery.

The six companies bidding on Eugene, Oregon’s “destination” skatepark have been whittled down to two, Dreamland and Grindline, according to our source at Spohn Ranch, of all places. The field used to contain American Ramp Company, California Skateparks, Pillar Design Studios and Spohn Ranch. Did you know that “skate park work is specialized?” Well apparently I did, because they asked me a bunch of questions for the Daily Journal of Commerce. One of the many things they left out of the article was the notion that 18,000 square feet isn’t really large enough to be considered a destination park. That’s about two thirds of the size of Newberg, or Orcas Island if anyone is counting. In any case, the project should break ground some time in 2010 if all goes well, but i don’t think they’ve raise all the money yet, so we’ll have to see how that goes. – Thanks to Hays Hitzing for the tip.

Two benefits at opposite ends of the country this Saturday. In Portland there is a benefit bowl contest fro Taylor Appelo who was one of the two (Hey Clay!) skaters in PDX who were jumped by four jocks at a MAX station in Portland. Taylor’s got a broken jaw, missing teeth and a mountain of medical bills. The contest entry fee and the spectator fees all go to the medical bills, plus there’s a pirate’s chest of booty being raffled as part of your entry fee. This is a daytime event. Registration at 3pm, contest at 4pm. Details at the Department. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the private facility known as the Warehouse is having a fundraising bash to cover the costs of operation. Skate Rock legends McRad will be playing with a couple other bands and a DJ too, plus food, beer, etc…. Flyers and bonus vid of the Warehouse after the jump.

If you are in the Portland area on Friday, there are two video premiers going down. The first one is at Burnside, Shrunken Head will be showing Cancer Dust and the new Concussion video titled Straight to the Bottom. If that’s not enough, there’s a release party for issue #8 of the PDX zine Sauce. That’s 10pm Friday night at Burnside, and it’s free. Also that night, The Dept. will be premiering the new video “Debacle” from Nike SB on Friday June 12th @ 8PM. This vid focuses on the ams and includes full parts from Justin Brock, Daryl Angel, Shane O’Neill, David Clark and Grant Taylor. The whole thing was shot in HD and features some handiwork of The Dept.’s own Tyler Brown. Flyers for both events after the jump.

Sure, it looks fake, but that’s because it’s brand new and there is no frame of reference. The United States Ski and Snowboard Association has a training facility for Olympic athletes called, wait for it… The Center for Excellence. On the outside it looks like an outlet mall, but on the inside it’s got cross training equipment for snowboarders and skiers, including the bowl you see above, sent in by the folks at Skate Utah. From what I hear Charlie Wilkens designed and built the bowl with some input from asst. pipe coach Rick Bower. If you haven’t seen Bower skate during camps up in Hood, not only can he kill it in the snowtube, he can put a hurt on the cement. Super nice guy too. Back section is for boardercross crew to work on pumping rollers and carving corners; unfortunatley for the skicross guys, they’ll have to strap on the blades for same effect. This is one case where the Olympics and skating can work together. There’s a photo gallery at Universal Sports.