Surf Expo has a Sean Obrien interview With Reggie Barnes, former Wlaker freestyle pro and the man behind Eastern Skateboard Supply, whose indoor skate facility we covered a while back. The interview focuses on the business and not his skateboarding career. – Thanks to Michael Brooke 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…

Wow. I can’t believe this one flew under my radar for so long, but it was released a mere year after Thrashin’. I’m not sure what this movie is about, but it’s got two Playboy Playmates and a skateboarding goon (Hey! that’s Russ Howell?1) who meets a spectacular untimely demise. Is it because he’s doing handstands down the middle of a highway, or because he’s spinning 360’s with an inflatable doll? Both valid reasons, to be sure, but not there are other extenuating circumstances. Playmates are well known for their acting chops, so you know this clip is… not going to feature them. – Thanks to Skate D for the tip.

There’s a teaser up for an upcoming Paul Rodriguez video at Nike SB. There are a couple of celebrity cameos. I enjoyed seeing Lance Mountain as one of the cops. Ice Cube makes and appearance too. It seems Paul Rodriguez is blowing up (even more). Boston.com says he’s “ramping up” his exposure. They’ve got a short interview with Paul that’s informal and somewhat interesting.

There is some insane footwork in this video. Street skating, straight up freestyle, and several points in between. For instance, the guy doing the handstand fingerflip in the shot above actually ollied on to the top of that pole to get there. Think Natas spin without the spin, and then a departure. I guess kids are out ther getting stoked on old Rodney Mullen videos, and then taking it from there. These guys have got technical skills out the wazoo, but my desire to worship at the altar of their talent is severely tempered by the same geek vibe that hampered freestyle in the 80’s. In this case it’s the cheesy sense of vintage freestyle in their choice of soundtracks. Sick skating though. Check it out after the jump. – Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

Vision Street Wear (through Select Distribution) is pimping a limited release of the Vision “Tribute Series” including, for immediate delivery the “Gator Ramp (with his actual name on the boards)” I pressed the sales rep for information on who gets those royalties, and after a few elusive, vague responses I ultimately received the answer that Select somehow owned the Gator name from the get go, and so they don’t need to pay any royalties. I don’t know how that pans out for the boards “with his actual name on it.” My guess is Mark failed to trademark “Gator” and didn’t think about it since it was already his nickname. He probably figured he didn’t need to. Remember When He started going by a different name? Mark Gator Anthony or something… What does Mark “Gator” Rogowski have to say about the re-issues? He spoke up about it in Sean Cliver’s (great) new book, Disposable The Skateboard Bible. One redeeming (and useful) gesture would be for companies that still sell decks with the old Gator graphics (with or without the name) to please direct what would have been royalties to organizations devoted to ending violence and promoting understanding. That could be really…

I don’t have a fondness or any sense of nostalgia for freestyle skateboarding, but I grudgingly watched one of these vids, and ended up enjoying them. People have posted some vids of Cristobal Bahamonde under the title “Rodney Mullen’s son?” something that Cristobal has countered by posting the same vid under the tittle “I’m not Rodney Mullen’s son.” Those freestyle contests of the 80’s might have been more entertaining if Cristobal had been around to give Rodney some competition. The web link in the video was dead when I posted this. I’m not sure what language that is, and I don’t know where Cristobal is from. The videos have some straight up freestyle and some hybrid street skating. I’ve never seen Mullen kickflip into a pogo like Bahamonde can. Maybe Rodney’s done it before though, like I said, I don’t follow his history. Regardless, Cristobal Bahamonde has some chops. Watch them after the jump. – Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip.

Pierre Andre Senizergues. I didn’t even know his last name wasn’t “Andre.” After playing third fiddle in the freestyle world in the 80’s he founded Etnies, among other things, and now he’s part of the great Freestyle Conspiracy Theory. The Los Angeles Times has a photo spread of his beach house in Newport Beach, California. Some parts of it are no different than any other rich guy’s nice house, but some aren’t. For instance, it looks like he’s working on acquiring every single bit of skate furniture out there, which was kind of a surprise. I figured maybe he’d be burnt out on that. There’s some interesting details lurking in these pictures. Check it out. – Thanks to Paul Fujita for the tip.

I’m not here to make Frank Lavallee the butt of a joke, but I stumbled across this photo of him giving a freestyle demo at the Vans Warped Tour. According to his sponsor Khiro’s web site: …he is doing about 60 demo’s every summer including Van’s Warped tour, Monster Truck Shows, Schools, Shops and where ever it’s happening! The only thing they left out is professional wrestling matches. The thought of a freestyle demo in front of a rock concert or monster truck show really amuses me. Nothing gets me more stoked at a punk rock show than (watching) a few caspers. Sorry Frank, nothing personal. Feel free to mock me at your leisure.

This video tour of the Dwindle wood shop narrated by Rodney Mullen is fascinating on several levels. I’ll start with the elephant in the room, the factory location. Sure, the wood comes from Canada, but the labor appears to mostly be comprised of girls just old enough to compete on the Chinese gymnastics team. Next, there’s the joyless, dry narration by Rodney himself. In the first few minutes of the video it’s hard to tell if this is going to be a parody of corporate industrial films or a bona fide video. Lastly, there’s the technological innovation in board manufacturing. These guys have figured out how to make boards seemingly identical to one another. A big part of that would be the fact that only one board gets pressed in one mold at a time, although the molds are stacked on top of each other. To hear Rodney talk, they have a bunch of prima donnas really picky pros who would reject up to 80% of decks from a run because they weren’t up to their critical standards. I know people who are hyper aware of the physical characteristics of the deck they are riding, but most of us can…