Apparently in the world of skateboarding there are these things called magazines, and in particular, the longest running skateboard magazine called “Thrasher” is still a thing. Why on earth would Skate and Annoy link to Thrasher? We like to help out the little guys. Yuk, yuk, yuk… You should definitely check out the Kevin Thatcher interview from the January print issue that just went online. Hey kids, Kevin was a name once synonymous with Thrasher. It seemed inconceivable that there would ever be a Thrasher magazine without him, but to hear him tell it, it was definitely a group effort. Learn about the gory, glory days of mechanical paste ups before everything became Wild Riders of Keyboards…
Photo: Self described Pro-for-5-minutes Kevin Thatcher in the Winchester halfpipe in 1978, by Gary Medeiros as seen at Tunnel Skateboards.
Girl is Not. 4 Letter Word has a good read on Stephanie Person, a female black professional skateboard from the 80s. I could not recall her specifically appearing in mags in the 80’s but she did, and I do remember the featured “Sugar and Spice” article in Thrasher. Her experiences as a black female skater in the 80’s are unique even to other female skaters in the 80’s and not all for the reasons you’d expect. It’s notable that her career and sponsorships were result of her smart thinking and persistence. I only wish this had been a little more in-depth. One amusing side note: The editors’s note has to explain what a Swatch is for younger readers.
Soon after Skate and Annoy went online with it’s own domain name after jumping ship from Annoying.com, I had toyed with idea of adding a discussion area or bulletin board as they were called in the online days of Sleestak.net circa ’03 or so… I was never quite happy with the pricing, capabilities, or performance of the early options so I did a lot of investigating and putting off the final decision, until Facebook made all that stuff irrelevant. In the immortal words of TLC and other irrelevant 90’s phenomena, I ain’t to proud to beg. Since the comments section of these posts are barren, and morel like to receive a comment on our FB page, I’ve decided to jump on the height of 2010 technologies and start a Skate and Annoy Facebook group, in the spirit of Edvard Munch. Join, post and destroy!
We started as a print zine in 1986, moved online around 1996 and moved into “new media” (late 90’s buzzword alert!) around the turn of the millennium when we started recording and archiving skateboarding whenever it appeared in movies, TV shows or commercials that we were able to see. You may have seen some of our donated archival footage in the 2008 documentary Deathbowl to Downtown. At the time we started the biggest hassle was the actual recording. Now that the technology is simple, the biggest hassle is keeping track of it all.
There are certain topics here on Skate and Annoy that though old, tend to cycle back into popularity every so often, and Skate-ball is one of them. If you’re not familiar, Skate-ball was a pinball-themed fiberglass ramp setup that had actual scores and scoreboard affected by different sections that you rolled over. Now, thanks to Nathan Kipnis we have some brand new (old) skate-ball content. Nathan was part of the Tom Thumb skateboarding team in the late 70’s. Check out these photos of the Skate-ball facilities in Crystal Lake and Chicago Illinois taken by a photographer who occasionally travelled with the team. Nathan can’t remember her name, so hit us up if you know who it is.
Bernie Sanders inauguration memes have definitely slowed down, but new ones are still trickling in. Bernie used that popularity to raise $1.8 Million (!!) to be donated to Vermont based charities, most of them battling food insecurity. One notable exception is the Nono-profit Chill Foundation, described as a positive youth development program where boardsports become a vehicle for empowerment. Unlike some so-called benefactors, you can bet that the funds will actually make it to the charities in question, and that is apparently…. radical. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
So glad this clown is gone. If you were in a skateboard-related online group in the past couple of years chances are you’ve had to put up with MAGA fools interjecting MAGA nonsense, unsolicited. On top of that, there was the rash of dramatic exits as in “I’m quitting Facebook, look me up on Parler” – all of this happening in skateboarding groups for some reason. I’m sure it happened elsewhere too. Well hopefully that’s over now. Good riddance, and as the expression goes “fuck your feelings” if you don’t like it. The editorial cartoon is by Ross MacDonald and the kickflip sticker from RedBubble.
Australia’s beloved punk/metal/pop group the Hard-Ons (be careful when you google that kids!) just dumped hundreds of tracks on their Bandcamp page. Singles Collection, EP collections, expanded releases… many previously unpublished or only available on vintage vinyl, like this self titled EP shown in cassette form above. I believe this record (pictured above) was one you once had the option to select with your subscription to Thrasher, which was a thing they used to do. If that’s not how I got my copy, I’m pretty sure I bought it based purely on the cover. The punk purist in me had a hard time getting acclimated to metal aspects, but tracks like Girl in a Sweater and Then I Kissed Her definitely appealed to the Descendents and Simpletones fan in me.
We are stoked to take your money. Check out these reproductions of an old 70’s skateboarding sticker graphic available in a combo life size sticker and larger than life size embroidered patch. Believe it or not, this project has been in the works for over a decade. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Get yours from Skate and Annoy.
