Sean Mortimer wrote in to remind us about Ray Underhill’s situation. He was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor in 2006. He’s had about half of it removed and is undergoing radiation therapy. Removing the tumor caused damage to his vocal cords and throat, leaving him unable to talk, spit or swallow. He’s in the midst of physical therapy to recover those abilities. Because the tumor is a rare one, he’s had to seek treatment and lodging in California while his family lives on the opposite coast. Needless to say, the whole affair has been quite expensive, and the insurance companies are behaving like they usually do. His friends are organizing a massive eBay auction benefit. The gear offered up runs the gamut from free shoes for a year to artwork to signed boards, re-issues, new, and historical alike. Seriously, the list is getting large. One of the more unique items is an afternoon of photography lessons with J Grant Brittain as teacher and Tony Hawk as subject. And the icing on the cake? The package includes getting one of your pictures published in The Skateboard Mag. Very nice. It’s one thing for someone to pick something out of their…

I am bumping this post back to the top to remind you. It’s a week from Saturday Click the register here link below to go to the site and sign up to help. Maybe you can apply this toward your community service hours or at least your karmic debt. April 28 is Earth Day and various organizations including SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism) will observe the day by doing things like graffiti abatement. Friends of Pier Park is coordinating the event. They want us to sign up at the SOLV website. They will be able to use anyone who shows up but SOLV will provide water and Clif bars based on how many people sign up at the website. I will be leading two efforts, skatepark graffiti removal and litter pickup around the skatepark and along the road boundary behind the skatepark. You can sign up and then help with those specific tasks. Then show up at the covered picnic area and they will send you off with Mark Conahan. The event lasts from 9:00 to 1:00 and will be followed by a barbecue. register here It should be very satisfying to clean up the graffiti. Parks will provide…

Our senior Mexico City transplant correspondent (Senior, and Señor) John Aguilar sent in these pics of Dreamland construction going on in Bellingham Washington. This is phase 2 of an existing skate park built by Purkiss Rose It’s a Grindline design that apparently dates back to March of 2006. The rendering shows what appears to be a relatively shallow beginners area. It’s hard to tell from the photos but it appears that they might be digging something deeper than that. Who knows, maybe the plans have changed. It has been over a year. More after the jump

Nick writes: The checkered grip–amazingly–has held up almost perfectly. I lost one or two of the half-squares on the edge, but otherwise, it’s all there! I am actually known for some ridiculously intricate grip tape art. Since I only weigh like 140 and don’t really skate street anyways, I tend to have boards forever, so I figure it’s worth it. I’ll attach a photo of my last board which had my favorite grip job to date.

Remember the Experiments in backyard maximilism? I misread Tim’s email and it turns out the bowl was in Orlando after all, which is the perfect excuse to bring up two more videos. One is classic local news crew coverage talking about a secret skateboarding society (I kid you not!) and the other is a collage of sessions that starts with Tim Kulas narrating the story of the ramp over Super 8 film footage. In true D.I.Y. fashion, both the Super 8 footage and the news coverage is captured by pointing a video camera at the projected wall and the TV respectively. Watch the videos after the jump, and don’t forget to check out Bowl Surgeon for progress on the new bowl. I’m sure Tim could use some manpower. [Source: Beer City]

Earth Patrol Media has some pleasant shots of the Prosser Washington park that MC talked about in his roadtrip to Irrigon post. It shows the park from different angles and gives you a better feel for the overall layout. Enjoy!

We haven’t written about Claus Grabke for at least a month now, so I had to go searching on my computer for this fantastic piece of work. You can believe the words from Grabke’s mouth, or see the utter truth that is this video.