kchung

2 Hours of John Lucero

John Lucero is the guest on this FOSFM podcast/radio show run by Mark “Fos” Foster of Heroin Skateboards. It’s a rambling, not quite technically adept affair, but it’s still interesting to listen to, especially when they talk about the ABD obsession in skateboard videos and the industry in general. I haven’t heard this show before, so I don’t know what the regular format is. This episode is 90% talk with the occasional record spun live. The music selection is good but bland. Not to say the music is bland, but it’s kind of like a compilation of songs you’ve heard a million times in the past, or on any “New Wave” compilation, with the exception of Lucero’s own joint venture label (Black Vinyl Ltd) release of Dime Runner. and a couple other tracks.  (my talk about the music in this post takes up a lot larger percentage of this post, comparatively.) The beginning is a little slow, but stick with it. There’s a lot’s of talk about Black Label influences, Lucero’s graphic work, and of course, skateboarding.

Thanks to Darren Clum for this, he’s been helping out with some Broken Kingpins action.

wales

Prince of Wales

Check out this April, 1978 footage of Prince Charles hanging out with skateboard kids in Kentish Town, London and eventually taking a ride. It aired on a program called Nationwide. This particular episode was about a program called Inter-Action, which was some sort of inner city youth outreach. The episode is available on the BBC web site, but appears to be incapacitated at this time. I’m not sure if it’s only viewable inside the UK or not, but I was able to watch it a few months ago in the USA. Fortunately, there are a coupe of liberated clips available for embedding here. Charles voice and demeanor with the kids is excellent. He almost sounds like he’s ready to pick a fight. When he gets on the board he mentions that he hadn’t done in such a long time, which means he likely skated at some point in the late 60’s as a wee lad.

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jodiefoster

An Army of Jodie Fosters

Not to be confused with Jodie Foster’s Army, because, you know, I have to spell everything out since being diagnosed with a phobia of people not getting my very obvious jokes. What are the questions that annoyed Jodie Foster in the 70’s? “Do you have a boyfriend? Are you really a skateboard champion? Did you go crazy after Taxi Driver?” Bonus spread of Lief Garret/Jodie Foster skateboard romance after the jump, and you might as well check out the extensive 2009 Skate and Annoy interview of JFA’s Brian Brannon when you’re done.

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wood-no-grip

No Grip Tape Needed

From the Wood Studio in North Carolina. This guy mostly makes beautiful furniture, and the occasional skateboard. The routered tops on GripCarve Longboards are supposed to negate the need for grip tape. Realistically, they look interesting and probably work in context with the situation you’d expect to see these boards. Coffee and Campus Cruiser? Yes. Downhill bombing? Not so much.

– Thanks to Matthijs (who can finally see this) for the tip.

movpak

Movpak

Yet another electric skateboard designed for the commuter. Movpak is different in that it folds in half and then slides into the a backpack that is attached to the board. So there’s that. If you watch the videos, you can see that the board looks flexible, possibly a little rickety due to the hinge mechanism, but it’s hard to tell for sure. The ride looks a little cramped with that backpack stuck on there. The overall range of 14 miles isn’t noticeably higher than other electric skateboards. The backpack can’t hold as much as a conventional backpack that doesn’t have a skateboard compartment. So what’s the true advantage? I suppose it’s portability, and the ability to not look like a skateboarder once you’re done traveling. You can preorder one now for $999, a price that is allegedly 50% off.

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