Tom and Kathryn Inouye know how to throw a video premiere. First they put in phone calls to Corey Duffel (who is recovering from a fractured leg) and invited him up for a weekend party. When the “Duff-man” confirms he’s flying up with several Osiris team-mates to do a “meet and greet” autograph signing then its time to get the word out. The word got out ten-fold. PlanZ Skateshop from Kelso WA bussed in 18 amped up youth for the event. Skaters drove in from all directions. Even some conservative parents were overheard saying “what a blast this was” to us as they left to tuck in the little ones for the evening.

At the Ed Benedict meeting I saw the one of the bike guys I see around handing off a benefit check to the skatepark effort. So while the street and vert guys are flaming each other about terrain on the internet, The bike guys are raising money and going to meetings.

Dan Garland has been awarded the commission for art for the Ed Benedict skate plaza. Dan is a skater as well as an artist: Here is how he describes the project: Basically, I wanted to create an installation that speaks to the interface between man and nature and point towards balance as a solution. I wanted to create something using the bold, iconic visual language that is such a part of the skate culture and give skaters something fun to skate but also pique their interest in what this giant symbol stood for. To have an element of discovery that can play out in skaters interaction with the plaza as many of them will spend so much time there.

Sent in by Morris.

Saturday morning under-14 session at Department of Skateboarding. It was a lot more crowded than it looks in this photo but it seemed pretty safe and sane.

Tonight In Hood River!

Or as Pete Lewis likes to call it: Old fatties skating terribly small skatepark features. Bigger after the jump. Sorry Egbert, you didn’t make the cut.

Design Within Reach is a catalog and store that sells “modern” furniture and household doodads that look cool and are often kind of expensive, but less so than typical modern furniture that you don’t buy from Ikea. Bottega Montana has produced an edition of 57 boards in collaboration with Design Within Reach. As far as I can tell, the collaboration consists of wood burning the DWR logo on the deck. If the name Bottega Montana sounds familiar, it might be because we covered another collaboration they did last year. These decks will actually be available for purchase in select Design Within Reach stores. What will they cost? Get ready to spend at least $400, judging by their current catalog. Think of them as family heirloom skateboards. They also reportedly have a Shepard Farey short board collaboration in the works. Update: Available online and priced at a whopping $798, down from $1000! See DWR

The New York times has a thing for putting skateboarding in the fashion section lately. I was going to blow of this article titled “Skateboarding Rolls Out of the Suburbs,” but the skateboarding and hip hop blogs are hyping it and you know we follow the trends around here. There’s not much to it besides the fact that black kids can now skate without being harassed by their peers. You get to see a photo of Pharrell Williams doing a street plant as well as read this choice quote from him: “I was rapping and it was getting me nowhere, so I went back to my roots… …When I’m with rappers in the studio, they say, ‘I used to skate, too,’” Mr. Williams said. “I can only just say I was one of the ones that was willing to speak up about it.” Wow man, that took a lot of courage to come out as a skateboarder in public in hopes of jump starting a failing rap career. He’s a regular Rosa Parks. On the plus side, they also briefly quote Stevie Williams and Steven Snyder, the former Alva rider and long time Chicago favorite now working at Uprise. Sift…