So this isn’t the first time the Stepe brothers have appeared in a Shot of the Week. This shot was circa 1985 at the Stepe brothers ramp in East Peoria, Il. It was used in an article titled “The Skateboarding Stepe Brothers.” That’s Chopper holding the skateboard as extension and Barry on the backside. Who are the Stepe Brothers? Founding members of the hardcore scene in Illinois. Said Barry: The ramp was the old Stepe Brother Ramp in East Peoria, actually. Brad (AKA Dr Brad here on S&A) used to rip it up all the time. We even had a punk concert on the flatbed once with the Not (From Boston) and the cops showed up about three times. We were slam dancing around the ramp. Then the PA started smoking and caught fire – that was it for punk rock on our Ramp. Our dog, Spanky, used to Fakie along with us on the ramp all the time. He had no problem making it up to the platform either. Check out the Shot of The Week and a cool bonus shot from the cover of the Illinois State University newspaper, circa 86.

Check out this awesome Sadlands video courtesy of reader Keith Cote. Almost 10 minutes of skating with Lester Kasai, Rich Salazar, Dave Church, JonJon Bryan, Albert Sarabia, Lenny Moss and Dave Ullery, as filmed by Terence Yoshizowa. I know that top frame is out of frame, but some of those airs were too bio to be contained by the fish eye. Make sure you watch all the way through or you’ll miss a very nice move at the very end. These guys make this spot look so fun, almost like a… what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh yeah, playground.

Art Clokey passed away on Friday. His early work was pretty surreal at times. What good hearted person doesn’t love Gumby? There were at least two Gumby episodes that revolved around skateboarding. The first one was a 1967 episode of the Gumby Show, titled Dog Catchers. I believe that is the first skateboarding dog, unless you count this one. The second was a 1988 creation titled Skateboard Rally, in which the Blockheads rip his stick. There’s a dramatic car chase, Skate Rock on a half pipe – performed while skating, no less, a contest with loop action and some heavy eigties guitar riffs. I think David Dink got ripped off by the judges though. Check em out after the jump. – Thanks to ehdubya for the tip.

I like to thank people who send in tips, and include a link for them if they have one. I curse Stephen Slappe for sending me this tip. I’ll never get back all the time I wasted researching this. The clip that’s making the rounds is from Everything is Terrible, a web site that is like watching Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, only with real footage. Colby the Computer googlizes into a thousand references to Colby’s Clubhouse, a Christian children’s show with a talking, evangelizing computer. However, episode guides omits this gem of a clip. In fact, the only time “skateboard” shows up is in another episode called “Helping the Missionaries,” where a kid wants people send him money so he can buy a skateboard. Colby’s Playhouse ran from 1995 to 2000, but this rapping freestyle-filled episode is definitely 80’s, and has an entirely different production value than every Colby’s Clubhouse. Everything is Terrible is all about the video without explanation or insight. Terribly entertaining, but frustrating if you want the back story. It was maddening trying to find this episode, but eventually the explanation turned up on totalschwarr! This is an episode of Colby’s Place, titled Skateboard…

Here’s an ABC video from 1987 for a song called “The Night You Murdered Love.” It’s an unlikely pairing, and I never saw this one. This band really annoyed me in their heyday. You could say they got under my skin. However, I found their story as read in Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. There was a lot more to that band than you might think. This was the case with a lot of those types of bands from the UK that I couldn’t stand at the time. The book covers a lot more than ABC, and if you are a fan of “Our Band Could Be Your Life”, I highly recommend it. It’s very similar. Right, check out this horrible video with a wacky ABC licensed skateboard. It looks like a production model, or would appear to be since it’s in shrink wrap still. That’s just the kind of clueless thing you might expect in a video from a band that likely had not step foot on a skateboard prior to the video shoot. Graphics on top of the board too, so that makes sense in the context of a board that has trucks assembled after…

I’ll take the Chuck Mosley incarnation of Faith No More over Mike Patton any day. According to Wikipedia, the original lead singer was actually Courtney Love! Who knew? I saw Mosley fronting Faith No More at the Metro in Chicago. At the time there were rumors floating around that he had narcolepsy or something, and maybe that was why he was sacked from the band. Although there were also rumors of “substance abuse,” and I suppose a good heroin fix nodding off might have the appearance of narcolepsy to someone very naive. In any case, Chuck did not fall asleep at that show, and Mike Patton is for the birds. Introduce Yourself was a Slash records release, what a cool label that was. Every punk in my high school had a copy of that Slash Records: The Early Sessions compilation on cassette tape. I’m pretty sure I’ve told this story already. I’m turning into one of those doddering old fools/punk. Let me bore you with tales from my youth. I was the best poser out there. I guess they were back in business for a while., but I can’t find them anywhere now. The video for We Care a Lot…

Illinois’ legendary skatespot known as the Elgin pipes, named after the town of Elgin where they resided. Legends, myths and truths trickled throughout the Midwest like.. oh I don’t know, hazardous chemicals leaching into the water table? Here’s a few I remember, located next to a mental hospital, someone was murdered there, spikes welded on to keep skaters out… the list goes on. This is Michael Hammecker with a tail stall to nose grab. Let’s hear some Elgin pipes stories. Enlarge-o-rama.

Another month has flown by and here we have another installment of Baywatch. There’s lost more goodies this month, and hopefully some that you have never seen before. The longer I do this the less inclined I am to keep on featuring the same decks from the same companies, high ticket items though they might be. There’s only so many ways to describe a Hawk birdclaw without it being repetitive, so I’ll choose something else instead. It might not be as iconic, or go for as much money, but that’s not what this column is about. It’s not a price guide, more a sampling of what I find interesting, and hopefully you do too. So, variety is the key for me at the moment.

Just a quick note to let you know that an excellent interview with Brian Brannon is coming to Skate and Annoy as soon as I get a little bit more of this hosting mess sorted out. The image above is from the Vintage T-Shirts book by Lisa Kidner and Sam Knee. Brian said that shirt was a little embarrassing.

A reader named Laura sent in these pics. It’s the Spinal Tap model from Nash, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with Spinal Tap, the band. This is from their “Gold Line,” which I never really know existed. Thier run of the mill crap boards were the Red Line. This one does ring a bell after all, I think Nash made a last ditch effort to get back into the arena of almost real skateboards very late in the game, similar to what Variflex did. The graphic is leagues above the quality of their usual artwork. It’s not too bad for the time, but the real story is probably that Space Invaders video game cabinet in the background. Laura wondered what this board might be worth, not much is the answer. 80’s era Nash boards don’t typically raise more than it costs to ship them.