Joesf Heffner has been sending in pictures of the progress on his quite involved learner’s project in DIY concrete. Here’s the next installment. Hey, guess what? It’s not all a cakewalk. It looks like they had a little bit of trouble with some unruly cement, but all’s well that ends well.

Suejay makes custom sculpted animal figures, including this model of Tyson the skateboarding bulldog. She’s got a video slide show of the construction (sort of) that is kind of amusing. It must have something to do with the jaunty old tyme music and the lump of clay that miraculously changes from a white turd into a fully formed mini Tyson. Maybe I’ll commission a miniature Grover figure, he’s kind of an animal…

“Health board blinks, suspends ban on backyard skate ramps.” That’s the title of the article in the Salt Lake Tribune. SLC ramp owners and would-be builders have a six month reprieve while county officials “…study the noise issue, hold more public hearings, then present a new recommendation.” Skaters converged on the Health Board hearing to protest the ban. I especially like one skater’s shirt that read “Skate Utah (just not in your own backyard).” Officials back peddled a bit in public statements, reminding me of a certain situation in Tigard, Or. Things are looking up SLC ramp builders. We’ll check back in six months. Until then, check Skate Utah for any updates. – Thanks to Tito for the tip. [Photo: Adam Barker via Visit Salt Lake]

I keep thinking this is a fake article, like something you’d find on the Onion, but it seems like it’s real. When I reported on it in June, it seemed like a bad idea, destined to go nowhere, but it popped up again in Denver’s Westworld News. Regardless of the plan to open a skatepark within an amusement park, I have to give him (Llewellyn Werner, the man behind the company) a little credit for advancing the sport. They are building four smaller “neighborhood” skateparks in Baghdad out of Freshpark Freshpark portable ramps to introduce kids to skateboarding free of charge. Is it working? The first park was finally installed on September 8. But since September also marks the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and daytime temperatures regularly reach into the 110s, no one has yet used the skatepark. So the official opening is planned for the second week of October. The mayor of Baghdad and Iraq’s Minister of Youth and Sport are expected to be in attendance. How did the the venture capital company come up with the idea? Jeff Wilson who is the “head of sport” has some sort of relationship with Grind King. It will be interesting to…

Here’s a detail of an oil painting of his local skatepark that UK artist Barry Thomson has up on his blog. Today’s post has another one but it is NSFS.

Scott Selover sent in a handful of pics from The Tim Brauch Memorial contest. It’s all old men or young kids! He said they weren’t up to SnA standards, but I showed him! Don’t forget that results are at Skate Daily and there are some more pics from Larry over here. Otherwise, Scott’s pics after the jump.

East coast reader John Egerston sent in a few pictures from a semi-recent spot tour in northern Virgina. Roots = Two ditches and a full pipe. Photos by Mike Alexander.

Mail order skateshops are nothing new. During the early 80’s it was the only way a lot of kids were able to get decent skateboards in remote skate outposts like the Midwest. California Cheap Skates has been around for a long time. At some point in the 90’s (I think) they revamped the “brand” into CCS. They are a pretty big player in the mail order skate business. A couple of days ago, Skate Daily reported that CCS is being bought by the straight sports apparel company Foot Locker for $102 million. Think global, buy local! The old California Cheap Skates advert in the background is courtesy of the print gallery at The Skateboard Archives. TSA has some of the 80’s era California Cheap Skates ads, and Rotten Apple Media has a gallery of complete catalogs from the 90’s. I like looking through those old ads and catalogs to see the old boards.

Rick Charnoski and Coan “Buddy” Nichols’ newest film is titled Deathbowl to Downtown, and it’s on tour right now. Tomorrow night (October 1st) for example, it’s being shown in Portland at Cinema 21. As we mentioned before, a certain skate blog may (or may not, I ‘haven’t seen it yet) show in the credits. I’d still go watch it even if that weren’t the case. I love their films, and so do you. What time? I don’t know, it’s not listed. As soon as I find out, I’ll post it. – Thanks BK. Cinema 21 Theater – 616 NW 21st Ave – Portland, OR 97209 Plan B Bar – 1305 SE 8th Ave – Portland, OR 97214

Alvie might be the original skateboarding dog. It predates Lance’s nemesis in the Powell vid and Tyson by a long shot. This photo of Alvie is from 1980, and I found it on the photo page of the 30 year reunion of Olympic Skatepark in Olympia, Washington, over at Northwest Skater. Olympic is long gone, so the reunion was held at Lower Woodland in Seattle.