Musique Concrete: Transforming Space, Sound, and the City Through Skateboarding. Hmm. Sounds better than my original post title – Techno Skate Nerd. I’m getting bombarded with emails about Musique Concrete. It’s almost as if some people make a point of reading this site! The emails range from the positive to nominations for Annoying Kid of the Month. Quotes like “My wheels make the sound of a harp!” should be more than enough to get the motion seconded. Here’s the deal: Simon Morris has outfitted a skateboard with sensors that measure the tilting trucks and spinning wheels. Computers automagically turn that information into light and sound. This must be the worlds first midi skateboard. Tip of the hat to Joesf for being the original tipster.

The rain here is on the verge of turning to snow. It’s hard to believe these shots were taken only 10 days ago. That’s a kid named Brogan on left and our own Steve Grover of Grover’s Video Korner fame on the right. It’s been long time since I’ve taken a decent photo of him. Not his fault, I kind of just stopped shooting him for a while. That shot finally does him some justice. It looks better enlarged. Bottom left to right: Mark, Marek, Brogan. And because I can’t seem to edit myself, more pics from this session after the jump.

Black Out from Black Label Skateboards, circa 2003. The Black Label videos always stoke my skate fire. They not only have some of the best all-around skaters, but they manage to keep some of the greatest legends in skateboarding too.

This is what I live for. This Burger King commercial from the 70’s features skaters Dan Murray and Robbie Weir. Here’s a few of the highlights: 360’s with a serving tray! The King is live action this time, no plastic mask like the current commercials feature. He rides what looks like a Duane Peters deck, as well as an early contender for the World’s Largest Skateboard. They either switch stunt doubles or reverse the shot to get frontside airs in both directions. The sound track is… so bitchin! Here’s a quote “… and burgers made just right. Afternoon delight. Out of sight!” A complete transcription and more after the jump. Now I can retire. Update: The Burger King kid speaks!

We thought we might be able sneak in a quick session at the end of the day. Local streets had dried up so we went for it. The closer we got, the wetter the windshield became. When we got there, a few kids were camped out in the pipe. More pics of this momentous session after the jump.

I’m not sure who has the biggest case of OCDM, the guy who fabricates replicas of Back to the Future movie props or the guy that writes about him on a web site. The movie prop guy has gone out of his way to replicate a crappy Valterra skateboard, but he does have an actual prototype of the hoverboard. Speaking of OCD, the video capture comes from the Converse Chuck Taylor equivalent of this web site, called The ChucksConnection.

I met Wee Ming Wong at Pier a few weeks back. He was on his way home from a road trip to Southern California. He is posting a travelog – including some great shots from the Baldy pipeline.

invert photo of Wee from the Skull Skates 70s gallery