It doesn’t get much purer than this. You have to build it before you can play. That’s your barrier to entry. Also worth mentioning, non-athletic shoes. VIntage Life magazine. – Thanks to Andy Wylie for the tip.

The Wall Street Journal Online has a story about skateboard art, or more aptly, art on skateboards. Gotta give them props for the title “Skateboards Now Hang in Galleries, But Are They Wheelie Art?” Are they wheelie art? Good one. Not so much on the subtitle: “Painters Give Old Toys New Tricks—Teen Angst, Nude Portraits, Broken Bones.” Check out the Wall Street Journal for the article and accompanying video. – Thanks to Brian Susk for the tip.

Posh Spice spotted on the beach wearing sunglasses and an Indy hat. And you thought she was too cool to shop at the mall. Update: Here she is sporting a Girl Skateboards hat too.

This gem of a commercial is an adolescent boy’s smorgasbord of dreams. It’s got skateboards, lasers, ATVs, a post apocalyptic Rollerball-style arena and a referee with a big rack. Come to think of it, that sounds like fun to me too. I think it dates to around 1987 because Worlds of Wonder essentially went out of business in 1988. Look the size of that bowl. I think it may have been built for the commercial. [Source: Pure Skateshop]

Jack Smith has self-published “The Skateboarder’s Journal – Lives on Board 1949-2009.” It sounds a little bit like an extended version of Jocko Weyland’s The Answer is Never. I decided to open up the book up to anyone who wanted to contribute a story about his or her skateboarding life. Not just the pros or the skaters you have seen in the magazines and videos over the last fifty years, I wanted to share the “everyman/everywoman” stories of skateboarding. Everyone from the “40 something” pad dad, to the 15 year old grom who’s so stoked that he wants to skate every waking hour, to the women skaters who stories have been ignored or lost over the years. The forward is written by Stacy Peralta, a guy who’s definitely had an interesting life in skateboarding. Head on over to the The Skateboarder’s Journal to check it out. It’s more than just press for the book, it’s a larger social network type site.

Holy cow, last Wednesday’s Family Circus was actually funny! Much better than the last time. Eat your heart out MC! I didn’t catch this in the paper, if anyone still has it, please send in a scan, or drop the original in an envelope. – Thanks to Smitty for the tip.

Man, for a cat so heavily into jazz, you’d think he’d be hip to the lingo and not trip over such a simple thing like “skateboard park” instead of laying a clam like “Skate Board Park.” This album dates back to 1979. I don’t know jazz, but Joe Farrell must have been somewhat respected, because I do recognize the name of his keyboard and piano player, Chick Corea. I do know one thing, this album cover is outstanding, even if it wasn’t the record exec’s bag. The CD re-issue has a completely different cover. Dig some fly album artwork and hear Farrell blow on this hot plate after the jump, unless you’re out to lunch, like that crumb behind Joe on the cover. – Thanks to Matt for the tip, and AllAboutJazz for the translation.

Another Tony Hawk refernce in a comic, this time in a strip called xkcd, which I wrote off based on this one strip, but is actually a pretty good comic with pretty bad art. – Thanks to Stephen B for the tip.

In my never ending quest to acquire vintage skateboard exploitation music that nobody wants to hear but me and maybe one other guy, I found this 1988 cassette only release by the Christian rap group called Megamouth. This ons is listed on eBay for $80, and that’s no typo. I asked the seller about it: This cassette’s rarity and value are due to the fact that it is among the more obscure releases from Terry Taylor, a wunderkind in the Christian alternative music field (both as a producer and as an artist himself, with his bands Daniel Amos, Swirling Eddies, and Lost Dogs). Since this was a cassette-only release aimed at the Christian children’s market, a very small niche market, this title is pretty rare. I thought I’d shop around and look for a more reasonably priced way to hear Getting Vertical (By Trustin’ The Lord), but the only other option is spending $100 at Amazon. Knowledgeable sources like the Holy Hip Hop DataBASE say the two Megamouth releases didn’t find much of an audience. Maybe it was ahead of it’s time, predating Colby’s Place by a year.

Skateboard as fashion accessory. This time from Vogue Pelle, which I thought was Italian Vogue, were it not for the existence of Vogue Italia. And there you have it. I guess this is a step above Teen Vogue.