That’s right. We jump from Newcastle England straight to locals only contests in Albany Oregon. We don’t care. We’re crazy! Top: Albany local Rex Pearson. Photo and story by Danimal. Check it out.

Now this is what we need. More contribtors like Matt Sefton. Originally intended as one of our scene reports It was just too long and too well done. So I made it a feature. Long time readers already know we have a U.K. connection in ex-pat House of Neil, so we’re glad to continue the tradition. Read the Newcastle feature.

In the 80’s Oak St Beach was a hot spot for street skaters, and the closest Midwest flesh parade there was to Miami’s South Beach today. I don’t know if you’re still allowed to skate there because it rained while I was in Chicago. What you get instead is this tourist approximation of Oak Street Beach in the form of a crappy theme sports bar at Chicago’s Midway Airport. Awesome hubba ledge shot after the jump.

Nothing beats traveling 2,000 miles to take a photograph only to be told you can’t bring your camera in and there are no more photo passes available. Never mind that I contacted the label weeks in advance, explaining that I was traveling to Chicago from Portland in order to photograph The Didjits reunion show for an upcoming article in Razorcake Magazine. I wasn’t asking to get for free, I already bought my pass. I just wanted to be sure I could get in with my camera. It’s not like these guys reform with the original (or any) lineup every day. I was told by the Touch and Go employee that I would not need a photo pass to get in with my digital SLR. Getting to the gate I was denied access with the camera. WTF!??!!

Wednesday, September 6: Legendary surfing and skateboarding photographer Warren Bolster took his life after a long battle with debilitating arthritis and a pain killer dependency. In the skateboarding world he is known for his coverage of the desert pipes among other shots as editor of Skateboarder Magazine in the 70’s. He was also on the staff of Concrete Wave Magazine, although I’m not sure if that was honorific or not. The legends are all going to die sooner or later. We’re reaching a period in time when all the old punks and other visionaries are going to start dropping like Ramones. It’s sad when they take their own lives. We wish his family, friends, and fans well. The picture above is of his retrospective book published by Concrete Wave Editions and the portrait is poached from the Surfer Magazine epitaph.

As you may recall, there was just too much to make fun of in one single post, so I bring you part two of the FU Boards saga. Aside from marketing plastic skateboards, somebody apparently did a little market research because some of the their tactics are incredibly on the mark.

I’d be stoked too If I lived in a city with a good skate park. Oh wait, I do. Anyway, The City of Stoke On Trent (True!) in England is coming up on the first anniversary of their skate park called, what else, but Stoke Plaza? It looks pretty damn good (from the Internet at least.) I’m not much for today’s street parks, but this one has plenty of banks and an interesting layout that looks fun. Topping it off is an outlying system of skate paths, an interesting concept that appears to be gathering momentum among builders and advocates. These pictures are from the UK Sketchy Skateboarding website.

“Mellow Cat?” you ask? In the late 70’s it ran in Skateboarder Magazine, making it older than most people with a skateboard these days. I’m not sure if it ever really fit in with the times. Maybe it was a California thing. From what I remember there were always a lot of weird looking guys flying out of skateparks Mad Magazine style. We co-publish the Hopeless Old Men on Skateboards comics that are kind of the antithesis of Mellow Cat, except when he’s not pissed off there are sometimes similarities. Man, MC is going to be pissed when he reads this. In any case. Author Ted Richards might be getting a Mellow Cat book together. Sounds like a project for Concrete Wave Editions, but as an old hippie, maybe Richards doesn’t trust the Man anymore. What else is he doing? Richards appears to be a thriving Illustrator/Multimedia/Web Site artist. His site has an example of a Mellow Cat and some interesting production notes in case you don’t have any 25 year old copies of Skateboarder laying around. Mellow Cat – Poached from EPM

This late 2004 press release is old news but I can’t find the NHS press release from June of this year online. Basically, NHS is supposed to distribute new exclusive skateboard helmets, including a new Tony Hawk signature model that was promised way back in 2004. Let’s hpe it looks like the one onthe far right. I don’t have a pproblem with Bell Helmets making a skateboard helmet. They’ve been making them for motorcycles for years. If you are going to wear one, you might as well pick one that works.

Skateboarders Given Stylish Ride By Glow-in-the-Dark Compound Err.. Yeah. Whatever you say, Marketing Man. I hope RTP Inc. feels like they are getting their money’s worth from you. This line of skateboards is actually called “FU Boards”, which is exactly what I am predicting the buying public will say about this product. Thanks go to field reporter Rich from EPM for this tip.