If you need to donate some money before the end of the year, consider giving it to one of these fine organizations supporting skateboarders by promoting skateparks and skateboarding. Follow the links below and click on their donate button. You can give the government everything you owe, or you can direct a portion of what you owe to your favorite skate advocacy organization and reap the tax benefits. You might also check if your employer has a gift matching program.
One of these two videos will appeal to you whether you hate fingerboards or love them. In any case, I firmly stand by my statement. These are in fact the two examples of the highest art form in you could hope to achieve if you are going to make a fingerboarding video. Both these videos are old actually. Been sitting on them for over a year. And now I’m going to blow… your… MINDS!
This little piece of perfection can be yours. All you need is $1500, and maybe 4-8 more of these because it’s only four feet wide. The best part is, it was built for BMX. Holy cow. It’s in Mokena, IL. I think that other horribly crappy ramp for sale that we featured was in Illinois too. Remember that one? I can’t find it. At least this one looks really, really well built. It has a the smell of something built by a well meaning but clueless parent. I can imagine the surprise on the kid’s face. “Gee, uh, thanks Dad.” Where else but eBay? Craig’s list, maybe.
Axl Rose. Get it? Get it? Ha ha ahw haw, har hardee har har. I’m watching Glee right now. Kind of phoning this one in. Is this really Axel Rose? I mean it’s implied that it is, but I’ll be damned if I can reconcile this picture with my hazy memory of the late 80’s and early 90’s. I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about my friend Don Gerard. Picture this: It’s 1987 and there’s a house in a college town that is half filled with students, half filled with dropouts. It’s called “Ten Shitty Guys,” but there are about 14 people living there. My roommate Don walks up to our front porch, where a few of us are sitting next to one of those giant console stereos from the 60’s. We had one on our front porch. It’s where we rocked out. Fresh off of work, Don strolled up and started to slide some vinyl out of a paper bag as he walked up the steps. “Check this out you guys. These guys are going to be HUGE.” And then he slaps Appetite for Destruction on the turntable. And this is early, because these guys are still unknown outside of LA, and it’s the original cover with the controversial Robert Williams painting. At first we were like ” Are you kidding? This is heavy metal bullshit. Nobody is going to give a shit about these guys.” But within a week it was regularly featured on the playlist of the radio station that was our front porch. Don was right about these guys. They did become huge about six months later. As right as he was about Guns and Roses, he was just as wrong about R.E.M.. He was a huge fan, and I was giving him a hard time because at the time it seemed like they were releasing an album every eight months. He replied “These guys have to strike while the iron is hot. An indy band like this is never going to be popular for very long.” OK. Maybe he didn’t actually say “strike while the iron is hot,” but uh, if I had my druthers…. Yeah, so. Axel Rose and a Mike McGill skateboard, plus an official licensed Guns and Roses skateboard that is disappointing, like most licensed band boards. At this point in my rambling I’d liek to mention that Rich from EPM used to actually skate with Axl in Indiana when he (Axl) was known as William.
Man, I can’t remember how I found this, but here it is. It’s actually Dog Powered Scooter, but they also cater to skateboards and recumbent bikes, excuse me, trikes. $250 gets you one harness mount. Pictures and a scooter vid with inspirational soundtrack after the jump.
You don’t have to go all the way to… Wal-Mart to buy… Chinese skateboards straight from your skate shop to… Aw hell. I can’t figure out how to spin this. Chip Atkins went on vacation to Nicaragua. I only know one other person who has done that, hail GVK! While in a supermarket in Managua, Chip found a real nice skateboard. That’s not dollars, hombre, thats’s Cordoba. This board costs about $12. And no, the title of this post is not me trying to get a date with Chip, I’m quoting Midwest punk rock circa 1985. Name that band for a noprize. Void where prohibited. Residents of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan are disqualified.
Thanks to Chip Atkins for the tip. Hey, he works at a bike shop. In the spirit of the holiday season everyone jump all over him and give him a hard time.
Born Ugly Magazine is still chugging along. Issue #4 just came out. You can download it online at BornUglyMag.com or if your are fast enough you can pick up a hard copy in some skate shops around the country. No joke, even in the opposite end of the country here in Portland, Oregon at such fine establishments as Cal Skates and Shrunken Head. Born Ugly is in a unique position to become teh heir apparent to Concussion, albeit with a different vibe. I hope they do, but I have to take issue with the review of the cult classic Surf Punks album. If your friends don’t like to listen to My Beach, then it’s time to get new friends! Issue #4 has a spotlight on the old friend of the site Bill Daniel. You may remember him from such stellar appearances as the Texas Skatepunk Scrapbook, Bill’s old site hosted here on Skate and Annoy.
I hate martinis, actually. Except on one occasion I had some chocolate martinis that were good. Real good. I like liquor in the form of girlie drinks. Cosmos, lemon drops, anything sweet. I wish I could say I had a few in me when I bought this “vintage” cocktail napkin off eBay. It was staring at me. Mocking me. If iwas in AA it would be mocktail-ing me. Still, it was a $2 “buy it now.” Right now there’s an unopened pack of 16 for $13. It says right in the damn listing that “This package of napkins is very collectible.” So it has to be. I mean, I collected one, so they aren’t exactly lying. I’d like to think this vintage napkin was of the vintage from when the office Christmas party was a punchline for a gag involving some poor schmuck with a lampshade over his head, and that would mean 60’s or 70’s if I had my druthers. Coincidentally, that was about the last time someone used the phrase “if I had my druthers.”
