The Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark are trying to raise money for a free public skatepark. One of the things they’ve organized is an entry into the Pepsi Refresh project, a very clever public relations scheme that still ultimately does do a lot of good for the public. Thing is, they don’t just give it away to anyone, they put it to a vote. What I want you to do is visit the project page and vote, it won’t cost you a nickel, and they’ve got a real chance to win. They’re ranked 16th right now. Andy MacDonald hailed from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he graciously appeared in the projects YouTube video. Those other guys look familiar too… Check it out after the jump., but don’t forget to vote! I think you can vote once a day in December. (That being said, 30k to finalize a skatepark design? You guys need to find a good design/build firm to comp that design fee. Our readers can recommend a few…

Second oldest skate joke in the book after using a real broom to pull a “sweeper.” And that familiar gag is digging a bowl in your back yard and calling it a fish pond to get around zoning and nosy neighbors. In the case of the Bear’s Reef, the homeowner was digging up cat poo in the back yard and unearthed a buried fishpond, inspiring him to renovate it to make it more skateable. Beefed up transition and homemade coping. Sounds like a great project. No idea what part of the country this is in, but I found it while checking in Herman’s Hole, so maybe it’s in the Midwest. Check out Bear’s Reef.

Here’s a quick video of Darren Navarrette bonking the ceiling at the private bowl in Minneapolis, Minnesota that some of you thought was too mellow to be worth the effort.

Quite possibly, the last time I was skating in Indianapolis was when I took this picture. If I was there now, I would be headed to tonight’s concert and art show to benefit the Indianapolis Skatepark Advocates. HOW? Come to Earth House on November 5, 2010. WHAT? 5 Awesome bands, some really cool artists, and lots of support to make our future skatepark happen. COST: $5–every cent goes to Indy Skatepark Advocates WHERE? 237 N East St Downtown Indy WHO? Everyone you know (it’s all ages) WHEN? November 5 7pm-11pm

My old friend Evil Tom sent me this link which he subtitled “Why adults should not portray teenagers in their art.” “Fledgling” – All of us feel, or have felt, the awful and wonderful growth of this pre-teen skateboarder. Small wings on his back, he wants to fly yet is not ready to soar. Is he slouching to defy, to define himself, or to bear the weight of wings getting larger every day? Installed in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin, this life size standing bronze figure reminds us young citizens need community support. Well, at least his heart is in the right place, although I’m worried about his heart on. I’m bummed out at our Wisconsin readers. This tip came from a guy living in Michigan!

So far my alma mater is famous for two things, the birthplace of the fictional self-aware computer Hal 9000, and the place where internet browsers were invented. And now the University of Illinois is pushing the Corn board, a composite material made from the husks and stalks of corn plants. Think of it as a replacement for particle board. Something you could build houses and miniramps out of, and well, skateboards. Technically, longboards, and just the core. It seems like you could stuff just about anything in the core of longboards, even Bonite! I’ll be impressed when they can make a shortboard out of that stands up to Canadian Maple. Actually, I’m impressed by the recycling bit. It would be great to cut down on wood consumption, although I thought particle board was already made from discarded bits of wood used to make other things. Unless anyone is specifically cutting down trees to make particle board, it’s not really going to save anything. Is it really “green” to take something that would otherwise decompose and turn it into something that won’t? The Daily Illini (The “student” newspaper run by a privately owned media company) has an article with some of…

Not much to add here, except to say, let’s not forget about saving the Turf skatepark. There has been some sort of development regarding the city’s decision to abandon their eminent domain claim on the land. It seems like potentially bad news since the city had planned to donate the land to the cause. I guess this means they won’t own it after all? I don’t know exactly. I wish they’d shed some light on the subject. One thin g I do know, it looks like they will have some fundraising t-shirts soon. Another Here’s funny one though. The local Fox affiliate has a video titled Tony Hawk admits to traveling to Greenfield’s the Turf skatepark., as if he was a presidential candidate who just admitted to some sort of shady dealings.

Kelley Deal from The Breeders and Kristian Svitak sing a jingle for Landshark wheels. There was a cool band in Illinois circa 82-83 called the Breeders. They had (among other things) some really good songs like Zen Punk and Uncool Slamming. You can download mp3’s of their 7″ with the band’s blessing from this article on Maximum Rock and Roll.

Guess what? It’s Turf week on Skate and Annoy. All Turf, all the time. We have a campaign going to help save Surfin’ Turf/ The Turf skatepark here in Milwaukee, WI. We even went so far as to dig out one of the bowls last night and made it on the 10:00 news. Details about whats going on, a video of the news story, and most importantly what people can do to help save the park are all at beercity.com. More information and the video after the jump. UPDATE: It’s been filled in. I don’t know how this effects the big picture.

Martin Defatte sent in some more pictures from the digging effort at the Turf. These were actually from late Wednesday, but I couldn’t get to processing them until now. Martin said the cops showed up that evening which put a damper on things, but the bright side is, there’s all kinds of positive publicity now, and what could have been just an epic session for a bunch of hard working guys may possibly evolve into a more permanent solution. Please contact the wisco DOT, as they are currently in charge… Here is the phone #: (608) 266-1114 Here is the email: Frank.Busalacchi@dot.wi.gov Take 5 minutes and shoot them a friendly email, note the historical significance as well as the potential tourism dollars. We need your help! I may have left the Midwest for the land of amazing skateparks, it’s my home now with a capital “H” but right now my heart is in WIsconsin. Thanks again to Martin.