Task and Purpose is an online publication covering US military news and culture. They recently published an article awkwardly titled “Meet the skateboarding Green Beret shredding the civilian-military gap.” It’s an odd fluff piece filled with bits like “Klakowicz describes a Green Beret spending time on the range to improve their shooting skills with a skateboarder trying to perfect a kickflip. You’ll fail, but with attention to detail, you can learn that new trick just like you can master clearing a room.” The article includes a couple of embedded video parts as well. I haven’t watched them yet, I’m headed off to read How many Russian generals have been killed in Ukraine? (Hopefully lots…)
– Thanks to Heidi Lemmon for the tip. Photos: Brian Godinez
Hats off to Blast Skates out of Berlin the U.K. for My First Skateboard, an 80’s inspired kids setup that comes in a box with everything you need to assemble, including kid-friendly instructions. The Blast product lineup appears to be a little high end, with their decks going for an equivalent of about $87 USD. This setup for little kids is about $154 USD. Sure, you could find completes for kids at a considerably cheaper price, at least in the US, but what you’re getting here is a fully realized concept that is well executed. It’s an experience that is more than the sum of the parts. Granted, it’s not clear whether a child will enjoy it nearly as much as the adult who gifts it. I love the spot on the top of the deck for writing your name on the board. I’d rock an adult sized deck with that top graphic. EDIT: Turns out Blast is in the UK but uses Berlin for shipping to EU due to Brexit making it expensive to ship to the EU.
Introducing the Flybar 3-in-1 Skate Trainer, a less elegant version of a concept we’ve seen once or twice before, but hey, it’s been almost 10 years since the original product appeared, and almost 5 since it apparently failed, because you can’t find these for sale anymore and the domain name has expired. This version may look like it exists in renders only, but it’s a real product that you can buy at places like Walmart. In a paradigm shifting development in the multi-use board industry, Flybar adds stationary trucks for ollie training. Hardcore scooter and bouncing enthusiasts may find this a deal breaker. If you’re familiar with the Flybar brand, chances are you’ve seen or used one of their many bumper cars, animal hoppers, hopper balls, “antsy pants” systems, scooters, swurfers, pogo sticks or even pogo stick trainers. It’s OK, we won’t tell anyone. They also make conventional skateboards that are about 80% cheaper than this $50 setup, so you know they are good.
Way back in the 2000’s Skaters for Portland Skateparks (SPS) started organizing to get a proper city-built public skatepark built in the city of Portland. At the time we had Burnside and funky, poorly designed and constructed Army Corp of Engineers Park in a part of town that was technically Portland, but was isolated on the outskirts of an industrial area that eventually leads to shipping terminals. I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly there was some money to rebuild Pier Park. SPS had an ally high up inside the Mayor’s office staff in skateboarder Tom Miller. He and SPS were pushing for a system of skateparks for Portland instead of just the one. I thought the plan was a little bit naive and was possibly going to blow the opportunity to get anything out of the city. Fortunately for the skateboarding community of Portland, Tom did not suffer from my lack of vision. We did end up getting several skateparks out of the proposed system of 20. This one near the Steel Bridge was always going to be the biggest of the lot, and the most complicated to get approved. It took a long time, and frankly most assumed the deal was dead. In a city with a $615M backlog in repairs, somehow this project is going forward. Don’t be like me. Be like Tom and SPS. Dream big.
The USPS has a set of Forever Stamps called Art of the Skateboard and set vinyl skateboard stickers that match the stamp designs. This stamp series might have been better off served with a different title as the “Art Of the Skateboard” typically brings to mind the history of production graphics rather than brand new art stuck on the bottom of the skateboard for the sake of art. So maybe “Art On Skateboards” instead of “Art Of The Skateboard.” It’s nit picky for sure, but you are reading this on a web site devoted to skateboarding and popular culture… How did I find out about it? Obviously, by reading the Winter 2023 issue of the official USPS magazine Philatelic. I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up: the collection and study of postage and imprinted stamps. I had a rant locked and loaded about my thoughts on the artistic merits of these stamps and how they looked a little clip art-ish. Then I found out that at least one of them was designed by Navajo artist Di’Orr Greenwood, who is indeed a skateboarder herself. From the Navajo-Hopi Observer: “Greenwood said the opportunity to have her art showcased nationwide is important not only for her but for her community and other Native people.” And so now I am shutting myself up, and hopefully saving some of our readers with very strong skateboarding/art opinions from the opportunity of putting their own feet in their mouths.
Thanks to longtime reader Will Heespelink who was cleaning out his closets and sent me the August 1987 issue of Transworld. So now there are 900 vintage skateboard magazine adverts in the gallery. Incredibly, with the doubles already posted this came out to exactly 900 and I didn’t have to pad it any. A few of my favorites from this batch include JFA for Kryptonics, Del Mar Skateboard Ranch t-shirts, ol’ Steve Rocco for Vision Street Wear, SLAM! wrist guards, and Radicool!
First of all, Tech Decks are still a thing. Based on my casual perusal of the toy aisles over the past 2 decades it appears they were in a slow decline from their heyday in the 2010’s, but they are still out there releasing new products beyond the endless release of popsicle stick graphics from Element and the like. We get a lot of PR mail sent from various companies, and occasionally I’ll actually reply (usually in a flippant manner) something along the lines of “That sounds amazing! Why don’t you send me a (insert Extreme!™ product) for review? Most often times that is met with no response. However, not the case with The Berrics Transforming Park. Join me, dear readers, as I fulfill my implied contractual duty.Check it out!
There’s a new addition to the Skate and Annoy Galleries, Check out these Skateboard Surfer trading cards from Wall Ice Cream, circa 1978. The gallery features the complete set of 20.
Pocketknife fingerboards, brought to you by Blade HQ. First of all, it’s an old April Fools joke, so settle down. It’s a pretty funny joke too, especially the accompanying video.
