These aren’t the first Devo skateboards, there was a possible bootleg as well as an official model from Globe circa 2008, although I never actually saw them for sale anywhere. It’s all moot now, as we dance the pool to these six new official Devo decks you can pre-order a the official Devo merch site. Five of the boards feature art based on the first 5 album covers I can see omitting Smooth Noodle Maps and even Total Devo but what about Shout! and definitely Something for Everyone? Oh yes, we have to mention the truly devolved Energy Dome model! All the boards feature different top graphics as well. These look great, and they should because they cost $120 (!) each except for the Energy Dome model, which is $150.

I caught DEVO in Seattle this weekend. It was a great show because it ended at 8pm and I didn’t have to stay up past midnight. And oh yeah, it was also a great show! They played for around an hour and a half or more, including a couple of quick costume changes. Aside from a couple songs in the first third of the set where it seems to drag a little, the rest of the night was very high energy. They opened with “Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man)” off Something For Everyone, and the rest was a mix of songs from Are We Not Men, Oh, No! It’s Devo, Freedom Of Choice, and Duty Now For The Future before closing with a guest appearance from Booji Boy singing “Beautiful World” off New Traditionalists. I found myself with a big stupid grin involuntarily plastered on my face the whole time, and Booji nearly brought me to tears with no alcohol or drugs involved! I highly recommend seeing them live if you can. Skateboarding? During “Freedom Of Choice” they showed some of the original music video footage shot at Marina del Rey skatepark on the big screen. We’re all DEVO.

It’s mid 1980 and the term “music video” had yet to be coined. Meanwhile, Devo had been making films to accompany their music since 1976. The skateboarding industry is slumping, so much so that Skateboarder magazine changes it’s name to “Action Now” to include nascent Extreme!®™ sports coverage in an attempt to broaden the appeal and hopefully stay afloat. Action Now published a 6 page feature on the making of Devo’s “Freedom of Choice” in issue #1 dated August, 1980. They titled it “Freedom of Choice – The Film.” 1980 was an interesting time for skateboarding and music. The magazine’s record reviews covered X, Devo, Frank Zappa, John Foxx, Emmylou Harris, and a jazz fusion act called The Jeff Lorber Fusion (and the album Wizard Island). There’s an ad for Corky Carroll’s “A Surfer for President” album, and an article on up-and-coming LA bands Human Hands, and Wall of Voodoo as well as a couple of random pics of the Stimulators. Devo blew minds. I know they blew my mind when I unexpectedly saw them on SNL in 1978 performing Satisfaction. I did not know what I was looking at or listening to, but it instantly connected with me on…

Bob Casale, AKA Bob 2 from Devo died yesterday of heart failure at 62 according to brother Gerald, the source in various media outlets. Devo’s last album “Something for Everybody” is quite good, if you haven’t heard it. Photos of Bob 2 alone are hard to come by, and many obituary postings on the web are incorrectly showing Bob Mothersbaugh. This picture of Bob 2 comes courtesy of Raymond Ahner who photographed Devo in June, 2013 at a San Francisco music festival.

It’s another Kickstarter project, this time to fund the final editing an film clip usage rights for a documentary on Devo. I mention it here on Skate and Annoy partly because they brought Tony Hawk in to comment on the Freedom of Choice video, but mostly because I love DEVO. They make a big deal about this being an authorized documentary, as compared to the Devo biography which the band originally cooperated with but ended up denouncing. I spoke to Gerald Casale about it and he said it was “all bullshit.” (Yes, I am almost that cool, but not really, I just met him at a bar after he did guest vocals with Portland’s legendary Punk Group.) Regardless of Casale’s opinion of the book, We Are Devo! is a must read if you believe in Devolution. The documentary looks good from the preview clips, I just hope they don’t water it down with too many celebrity appearances. Iggy Pop, sure, I’d love to hear about how he turned David Bowie on to Devo, (or maybe even how he turned David Bowie on) but Tony Hawk seems kind of, well, gratuitous. Surely someone like Steve Olson or Duane Peters would have…

MC hipped me to this interview but declined to post it for some reason. He said it wasn’t skateboard related, and I had to remind him that we also cover rock and/or roll on occasion. I am here to tell you that you should check out the Mark Mothersbaugh interview on Fecal Face Dot Com conducted by Andreas Trolf. Andreas is an admitted fanboy, but he also tackled the tough questions like WTF is up with all the DEVO songs in TV commercials. As a fanboy myself, I was afraid that the answer and indeed the whole interview would be as unsatisfying as Smooth Noodles, but after reading it I am pleased to pronounce that I remain as devolved as I ever was. We are all Devo. The shot above is Mark is standing front of one of the handmade rugs he is currently exhibiting. It’s good stuff. There was something a bit odd about them, and I didn’t realize they were rugs just by looking at the pictures. You may have seen Mark as a recurring guest doing sketches on the kids show Yo Gabba Gabba. Strangely, that didn’t come up in the interview, or maybe it isn’t so…