Cal Streets has an impressive collection of vintage skateboarding ads from the 70’s. This particular 1977 advert for Lan Skateboards is from volume five of eight. (Update: They’ve since changed the organization of the gallery, so that link has been removed.) Those were they days when if you needed an ad concept all you had to do was have a possibly underage and definitely under-enthusiastic girlfriend in a risqué product shot. – “Come on Larry, let’s get this over with. I have to get back to my class at cosmetology school.” There is some funky stuff in there for sure. The entire archive is full of gems from the past. On the plus side, Cal Streets transcribed some of the ad copy and included the publication and date. I found the site because someone contacted us looking for an obscure piece of skateshop history called the accu-drill. They included a picture link that led me there. now that we are on the subject, we have a column called eBay Watch, but we don’t have a warehouse full of old skateboards. you’d be surprised at how many requests we get. One bone to pick, Cal Streets has “refurbished” their adverts, some…

MC hipped me to this interview but declined to post it for some reason. He said it wasn’t skateboard related, and I had to remind him that we also cover rock and/or roll on occasion. I am here to tell you that you should check out the Mark Mothersbaugh interview on Fecal Face Dot Com conducted by Andreas Trolf. Andreas is an admitted fanboy, but he also tackled the tough questions like WTF is up with all the DEVO songs in TV commercials. As a fanboy myself, I was afraid that the answer and indeed the whole interview would be as unsatisfying as Smooth Noodles, but after reading it I am pleased to pronounce that I remain as devolved as I ever was. We are all Devo. The shot above is Mark is standing front of one of the handmade rugs he is currently exhibiting. It’s good stuff. There was something a bit odd about them, and I didn’t realize they were rugs just by looking at the pictures. You may have seen Mark as a recurring guest doing sketches on the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba. Strangely, that didn’t come up in the interview, or maybe it isn’t so…

Check out the Travis Bickle looking rugrat in these catalog shots for Knuckleheads Clothing. These guys are also sponsoring that weird skate demo at the motorcycle show. Hey, I’ve got rugrats too. They sure would look good in some of that. Hint. Hint.

Faces of Skateboarding was site of the week at Skate Daily last week. Looks like a good book of black and white photos by Daniel MÃ¥nsson. There are short videos on the website including one of Chris Miller but he pretty much just says he likes the photo. Look at the various sections of the site to get a feel for the book. I watched the slide show and thought it looked just okay and the clips don’t do much more for me but THE BOOK shows some sample spreads and makes me think it might be worth owning.

We’ve covered the one percenters today, so in the interest of being fair and balanced, let’s talk about Boy Scouts. While there is a history of skateboarding and Scouting in the USA, BBC News reports on “a revamp of the scout movement will allow boys and girls to earn badges for skills such as skateboarding, making a fruit salad and racing quad bikes.” The official requirements for the Street Sports merit activity badge requires a six month investment in the activity if you’re a regular scout (ages 10-14), but they actually get easier if you are an Explorer. Looks like you just have to skate for 25 hours and show improvement. Maybe they should make you skate for 25 hours straight, or 25 spots in 25 days. – Thanks to Guy Duncan for the tip.

Seriously, these things come over the wire abbreviated and all I saw were the phrases “Skateboard Demo”, Bacon, and “sponsored by Nash.” It’s not the crap skateboard manufacturer Nash, but the Nash Motorcycle Company out of Vancouver Washington. They are sponsoring some sort of motorcycle-centric event at Stone Edge Skatepark in Florida as part of Daytona Bike Week 2008. Looks like Stone Edge has a lot more wood than concrete. Yes. This is motorcycle/skateboard crossover day. I looked all over the Nash Motorcycle site and I couldn’t find an Executioner model, but I did find something that looks like a Nash skateboard part! Benji probably isn’t getting any free motorcycles out of this seeing as how he got screwed out of the TV.

The Arizona Daily Star has an article and short interview with the two principals of the Underskatement film festival, which is at Volume 4, and damn it, we promoted this and I didn’t even go see it. I wish I’d read the interview first, but it was published after the Portland showing. I guess I would have had to travel forward in time to read it so I could have known I would have liked to see it. If I’m time traveling I guess I could just go back in time and watch it. What’s the point? Oh yeah, if the publicity shot from the paper on the left looks familiar, it might be because you heard about a Beaverton man involved in an assault there.

Hey! It’s Max Schaaf week on Skate and Annoy. Max has a blog called 4Q Conditioning that is mostly One-percenter motorcycle lifestyle fetish, with healthy doses of retro pin up, surf and skate culture. You’ll find a ton of cool pictures without a lot of background detail, but that’s part of the appeal. It’s kind of like a distilled version of all the good parts of Juxtapoz. Check out the lion riding in that sidecar. That’s Max in that pool. The site takes a while to load because it’s all on one page. Wait for it, and then start from the bottom. This material would be perfect for sitting on the head. Max should make a zine. Great visual stimuli over at 4Q Conditioning.

Your invited to partake in an evening of skate art by the one and only Russ Pope. His quirky renderings of unique characters will instantly become a part of your family. He uses several mediums of canvas, wood, metal and fabric. His pallet of colors come from Lowes or Home Depot. He loves the “Sharpie” marker a little more than your average struggling artist. Russ Pope- Father of Scarecrow and Creature brands, gave CCS a customer service gameplan, worked on the Savier Footwear Marketing Team, as well as the struggling DuFFS program, he’s the guy who did wonders for Black Label by creating ad campaigns, softgoods & finding team riders. His most recent venture is Beloe Footwear and Myrtle. The show is located at Evo on 122 NW 36th St in Seattle WA- its a great excuse to go skate about 13 skateparks in the area. Indoor or Outdoor- rain or shine. Go! Its really close to the Ballard Bowl for a reference.