It’s been a while since I updated the 80’s Skate Zine gallery, so here’s Contort #7 from some time in the mid to late 80’s. Theres no date listed, but both MC’s Bodyslam and Skate and Annoy are listed/reviewed so I’m guessing ’88 or ’89.

I had to both cry and laugh when I saw his Kevin Harris deck (on the left) or what is left of it. First I thought I could finally afford a Harris mountie for a reasonable price, but when looking at the pics it seems like the seller ‘restored’ the deck and turned the mountie in what looks more like the guy on the psycho stick who just had the intestines of the beaver. The picture on the right shows the original mountie (although this is a reissue, seen on the Powell Peralta website). Another bad example of restoration you can find here. Surprisingly enough, this sold on eBay within a few days.

Forget about the Olympics, we should start a petition to keep skateboarding out of fashion! All the fashion blogs are gaga about how the skateboards weren’t awkward at all and were very complimentary to the styles. Meanwhile, the skateboarding itself was very awkward, and the poor girl on the right could barely keep her fancy slip from slipping off… These are from the Ashish show for spring/summer 2016 at London Fashion Week.

[Source: She Knows]

Andy Shinkage is selling re-issued skateboards turned into household lighting fixtures. They’re wired through the cutouts in the wooden riser pads that allow the board to remain intact without extra holes being drilled. As a wall mount, it’s kind of odd, I think the obvious choice would be to hang it overhead. Another thing you’d need to worry about is what happens if they stop selling LED lights that look like coned out skateboard wheels? 14 year old me would think this was the coolest ever. Adult me thinks it’s interesting.

[Source: Technabob ]

Check out this gallery of Burnside photos from 1990-1993. Amazing and rare shots of history being made. Donate to the fundraiser!

Check out this clip of Jan and Dean lip-syncing Sidewalk Surfin’ on American Bandstand. August 22, 1964. Dick Clark talks with audience a little bit about skateboarding (a young man’s game?) and half the “band” actually does sidewalk surf on the stage. There’s even a little bit of dorking around during the lip sync session. See what passes for a “trick” in 1964. All in all, a very interesting clip showing skateboarding and skatesploitation in mid-60’s popular culture.

This 2012 George Faulkner production is less a true documentary and more a collection of random Seylynn footage through the years, heavily weighted towards the 80’s, but inclusive of the 70’s and 90’s. Also includes some interviews with the park’s designer, rare photos during construction, and shot of the time the riverbank eroded and the whole thing almost slid into the water, and what appears to be an original soundtrack.

– Via Tim Kerr on FB

I just added 20 new adverts to Vintage Skatemag Advert gallery. These are from the January, 1998 issue of Thrasher. Not all of them are entirely interesting, but they’re there for the sake of uniformity. New ads include Antihero, Cadillac Trucks, California Skate Express, California Cheap Skates, Dare Devil Bearings, Freedumb Clothing, FTC, Menace Clothing, Nicotine Wheels, Plan B, Greed Garments, Halo Bearings, Intensity Skates, Recs Shoes, Mad Circle, Beer City, Concert Express, Etnies, Vans, and North Cal Distribution. Oxford comma for life!

An addition to the Hurley Surfing Australia High Performance Centre in the form of a wave-shaped miniramp with airbags on the high end is supposed to help Australian Surfers learn aerial maneuvers in the ocean. While the jury out on how much of this training actually carries over to actual waves, it sure looks like fun. They should make everyone ride actual surfboards with skateboard trucks mounted on them, or possibly even Streetboardz. It worked for Simon Woodstock! More details at Surfing Australia.

ABC News and just about everyone else has reported that the Tokyo Olympic Committee has recommended adding skateboarding to the 2020 Olympics. This is by no means a done deal, the host country gets to recommend one or more sports, and Japan recommended 5, 6 actually if count Baseball separate from Softball, which you should. Baseball being the mens’ competition and softball for women. The other three are sport climbing, karate, and surfing. The International Olympic Committee will decide which if any to include in August of 2016. The chances seem pretty good however. Surfing conditions can’t be guaranteed unless they build an amazing inland wave facility, and how would the surfing community respond to that? Now that Street League has ironed out a decent spectator friendly competition format, (If you’re into that, not that there’s anything wrong with it…) we might just see skateboarding in the Olympics, whether you want to or not. Who is behind the push to get skateboarding in the Olympics? There’s a shady organization called the World Skateboarding Federation for one. Their web site appears to be down, so I can’t comment on the board members or their mission as I’m writing this post. All I have to go on right now is “WSF is actively working with many national federations and government agencies around the world to provide leadership and guidance to ensure a very positive experience for all skateboarders and their fans at the games.” Hmmm…. Remember when marijuana use temporarily lost a snowboarder his gold medal? THC is now officially on the banned list. Get with the times Anti Doping Agency. The High Times.