2009 Oregon Trifecta – Pier Park, Portland – By Kilwag: Posted 8-15-09 This article was originally static html. Original comments can be found here. It took me four months to post these after the posting the first day in Tigard. The original Pier Park write up and captions have disappeared in the eddies of time and failed hard drives. Man that was lame, not the skateboarding, but yours truly, the editor. I’m not sure what my problem was, it sure looked like fun in the pictures. I think may have been the several years of covering a three day event where the promoting was so sketchy, watching it go downhill when the promise was so great. Then again, priorities change over time, especially when you’re not getting paid for any of this. Most of these pics look super soft. I went back and looked at a random sample of the originals, and they were much sharper. I must have been worried about download times.

2009 MC’s Private Bowl Pour in Portland, Oregon – By Kilwag: Posted 6-12-09 This article was originally static html. Original comments can be found here. I’ve been over there a couple times since the day of the pour, and I’m still in awe. So here’s way too many pictures of the bowl pour in Portland, Oregon. Believe me, I had to restrain myself from putting up more, but this is something most skatepark riders don’t get a chance to witness. The guys on the crew were craftsmen. I was blown away by what they accomplished in it.

Guest Post by Peter Brown. Who Killed the Chromoly Truck?

Ed Benedict Skatepark construction – By Kilwag: Posted 10-24-08 Ed Benedict Skatepark construction nears completion. Portland is about to get it’s first street plaza. Built by California Skateparks designed by New Line.

2008 Oregon Trifecta in Battle Ground – By Kilwag: Posted 8-20-08See also: Lincoln City – Tigard This was an old static HTML article that has been restored here. Original comments can be found here. Day three of the Trifecta and I may actually be getting worse as a photographer instead of better. Half of these pictures look like they were taken underwater. I remember having some sort of technical issue with my camera acting up, but it’s been two weeks since I’ve looked at the pictures, and it’s all a blur, sometimes literally. I think I caught the equivalent of Gulf War Syndrome from the Trifecta. Trifecta Syndrome manifests itself in laziness, general malaise and increased frequency of excuses. Once again we had to suffer the indignity of having a contest named after Oregon in the state of Washington. The crowd sure loved Pier Park last year, and wanted to see it back again. Maybe they brought it back to Washington because last year’s Battle Ground stop got rained out. Maybe it was because as one contestant from last year complained, “Pier Park is a jock park.” Ask rich about that one. Don’t get me wrong, Battle Ground is an excellent place for…

This was an old static HTML article that has been restored here. Original comments can be found here. 2008 Oregon Trifecta in Tigard – By Kilwag:See also: Lincoln City – Battle Ground The first time for any park on the Trifecta is always fun, and Tigard was a blast, as well as a blast furnace. I don’t know what the official temperature was, but it was nasty hot. The topic on everyone’s mind was which half of the park are they going to use? They used the whole park for the contest, which was cool. The double layered coping that seemed so bizarre during construction now seems like something completely normal. There were teeth knocked out, two fireworks explosions, a bad collision and a lot of sweating. Edwin Swaggerty took a digger and lost two teeth, but kept on skating. Later, there was a really bad collision between Chad Shetler and Rex Pearson that Chad was unable to get up from. It happened right in front of me, and from what I could tell, Chad didn’t seem to lose consciousness, but he left a good amount of blood on the concrete and ended up with at the hospital with a concussion…

2008 Oregon Trifecta in Lincoln City – By Conahan and Kilwag: See also: Tigard – Battle Ground This was an old static HTML article that has been restored here. Original comments can be found here. In terms of spectators, this year’s Trifecta showing at Lincoln City was not as packed as it has been in previous years. That might have had something to do with the weather. It seemed like it might rain, and the fog and/or clouds were literally blowing through the top of the trees. Perhaps the heat wave was keeping away some of the inland folks who didn’t realize there was a 30 degree temperature difference between Portland and Lincoln City. It fluctuated between almost downright cold and mildly warm, with the warm periods seemingly only lasting for about 10 minutes at a time when the sun would peek out. So it’s that time of year again. Time to get ready for the onslaught of pictures that are edited with an eye towards quantity and not quality. If the name says “Some guy,” it’s because I don’t know who they are. The women’s division was missing some of the usual suspects, as was the masters. Salba was off…

Bacon Goes to Sweden – By Colin Sharp: Posted 7-02-08 This article was originally static HTML. Original comments can be found here. Bacon was in Sweden for 20 days – they flew into Stockholm to meet up with our distributor – Stalefish (and Coyote Grind Lounge) – and hung out for a few days before driving down to the QuickSilver Bowlriders Cup in Malmo (about 5 hours South of Stockholm) I went to meet up with them after the Malmo trip in Stockholm for a series of demos and events.

Old Is Cool 2008: Swell Skate Camp, Brazil  – By Luciano Peixoto and Gustavo Tesch: Posted 6-16-08. Photos: Swellskate This article was originally static html. Original comments can be found here. End of may, winter arrived strong this year, the “minuano” wind has started and the temperatures dropped. Winter in Brazil doesn’t match, but here in the south, we get rain and low temperatures on a daily basis. Fortunately the sun was shining and the atmosphere was perfect, a brand new bowl, nice vibes, beautiful people, a bunch of ladies, and (can i say?) aged skateboarders tearing up the bowl apart. The Vans Old is Cool 2008 was the event to celebrate the opening of the new bowl and the 30 year old birthday party for Swell Skate Park.

How to Fight for a Skatepark – By Todd Taylor. Additional photos by Mary Clare Stevens Posted 5-28-08 Reprinted with permission from Razorcake Magazine #41 This article was originally static html. Original comments can be found here. The Politics of Concrete I’ve never enjoyed anxious crowds, getting hit with flying objects, or cops, so going to large political protests has never been high on my priorities. Yet, I consider myself politically active and informed. Years back, Sean Carswell and I interviewed the historian Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States. Zinn reaffirmed what I’d been thinking for a long time: political resistance can be personal journey and it can take many forms. It’s not only the cocked arm ready to throw a Molotov through a window. It can equally be a writer, collecting the stories of the disenfranchised and threading them together into a varied banner of dissent. It’s been said that citizens can flex most of their political muscle locally. I have a lot of pride for where I live, Highland Park, Northeast Los Angeles. It’s like a small town surrounded by a big city. I don’t want to “improve” it, in the gentrificational, douchebaggish,…