I don’t know what the title of The Chrome Ball Incident refers to. Calls to mind pinball for me. This site picks up exactly where I stopped paying attention to the major skate mags. Even as someone who doesn’t really feel a connection with the popular culture of skateboarding during that time period, I still find these old archives interesting, sometimes even fascinating. It’s all about the hindsight and knowing how it all shook down in the end. Through all the cat fights and temper tantrums in the industry, there was still some great skating going down. One post I enjoyed reading was an interview with Matt Hensley as he was fading out from the public eye of skateboarding. HE was working at the Chicago Sessions shop, who was actually a client of the silkscreen company I was a partner in. He came in with the Sessions dude (Scott?) and we worked up the art for a Sessions T-shirt that looked like a “tribute” to the first Specials album. I remember I vaguely knew who he was, but totally didn’t recognize him. I only mention it (becauee I want you to love me) because in the interview Matt briefly talks…

The first comic I submitted to Thrasher appeared in the February 1982 issue. That must have been my birthday present. I turned 21 that month. Thrasher Magazine has posted all of the issues from their second year on their website.

I found these Chupa Chups over on a blog called sa ka woulé which might be French for something I don’t know, but over here in the U.S. we call these things Blow Pops. I’m digging the fact that the skater is dressed up in a suit.

When he’s not getting accolades from the skateboarding industry in the form of honorary pro models, Grant Brittain is getting props from “the worldwide leader in sports” aka ESPN, who has posted an online gallery of JGB photos. That’s Neil Blender skating the Seylynn skatepark snake run in Vancouver, BC up top.

The best thing about this 1985 commercial for Mountain Dew is the overlay that says “NOT FOR AIR.” A coincidence, of course, but still funny. That means this was probably digitized from an ad agency reference tape. I don’t recall ever seeing this on TV, but perhaps it did. I see Tony Hawk in there, as well as a Madrid freestyler.. Bob Schmelzer? Who is doingthe sliding and wearing the cowboy hat? I leave it to you to fill in the blanks. I know the first thing I think of when I hear the word “country” is a bunch of good old boys street skating down the gravel roads. Yee haw! [Source: Heavyset]

A car company in Spain called SEAT (?) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of a car called the Ibiza. They are promoting it with a commercial featuring a lot of skateboarding and the now ubiquitous Alphaville song “Forever Young.” They’ve got a very loose interpretation of a skateboarding timeline as the backdrop. is SEAT spanish for Mazda? Check it out after the jump. Thanks to Dean Tyrell for the tip. His friend Jairo Garcia is one of the skaters in the ad.

The last ever issue of Concussion should be hitting the skateshops as you read this. Publisher Davoud Kermaninejad sent the news out to supporters via email last Friday night. He’s been half-seriously threatening to do it for years, but the harsh transitions of our shitty economy finally sealed the deal. Sorry Davoud, couldn’t resist. He’s throwing in the towel as far as print issues go. He decided to go out with a bang rather than see future issues strangled by the ever-shrinking list of advertisers and the production budget that comes with them. You’ve got to respect his style. Concussion may or may not continue to live online, that decision won’t be made until the coping dust has settled. Until then, get your Concussion back issues and schwag direct from the source before Amy Winehouse shows up wearing a Concussion shirt in People, and you have to pay twice the price on eBay. You can read Davoud’s email (with permission, of course) after the jump.

You might think it’s the ad copy from a marital aids catalog, but no, it’s a 1977 slogan from the makers of Squirt soda. This sticker was poached from Jason Liebig’s Flickr stream collection of pop culture. He’s the same guy responsible for putting all the vintage Christmas catalogs online, featured here on SnA. He must have a busy scanner.

Travis Pastrana has a show coming out on MTV. This looks like it might have been filmed for that. Yes, a mega ramp jump on a Big Wheel, with a back flip thrown in for good measure. Nutty. Watch the jump and a bonus vintage TV commercial for Big Wheels after the jump. Trike and Annoy! – Thanks to Sarib Khalsa for the tip.

Aside from electronics, these guys made some bitchin’ 10 speed bikes in the 70’s. It was always a little trippy to see a bike with the Panasonic logo, kind of like seeing a Harley Davidson with an AMF logo, (Bowl and destroy!) or I guess more like when the tire company Bridgestone made bikes. What’s the point? Ryan Sheckler has a signature headphone model with Panasonic. There’s a commercial on the web. I don’t know if it’s being shown on TV or not.