Joker Skate Shop got Robbed, Kick Balls, Shark Bait and Mark Gonzales

First of all, the local skate shops here in Memphis have been robbed three times I know about. The first one was Cheap Skates. Some African American dude walked in the shop, picked up a bunch of boards and some other stuff and just ran out of the shop. I think you call it Dine and Dash if you are at a eating establishment. The Second robbing happened with MidTown Skate Shop opening its doors as a new shop. Hunter, the owner, had not installed bars on the big store front windows when he opened. In the first week some body smashed the glass and stole a bunch of stuff. So he boarded the window up and a week later the other window got smashed with it more merchandise stolen. Brand new shop gets robbed twice with in its two week opening. Good job you deviants who think that stealing is a solution to a means when you don't have enough money to buy something you want. Go get a job you worthless pieces of shit and quit taking somebody else's hard earned cash. But this shit has been going on for years. The end looks bleak. I mean, Mark Gonzales, my favorite skater ever bought his first complete board from some guy in a parking lot. He said he strolled into the park, after his purchase, and one of the guys in the park yelled at him and said give me my board back, or something like that. Mark bought a stolen board basically.

Ok, so last night I was working on my skateboards. I get an Instagram, I have been tagged in some photo taken with a security camera. Its a picture of one of the dudes that robbed Joker Skate Shop this week. Apparently Gnarman tagged Hornlaker in the picture and accused the Hornlaker of robbing the joint even though, as Hornlaker pointed out, "I live in Hornlake God Dammit its just not possible, unless I could teleport, quit heckling me!!" Though it was to late by then, Ryan Sheckler had posted the same picture and BabySkylurker also posted that the person in the photograph was the Hornlaker several thousand miles away. By that time Ryan Sheckler had tried to friend the Hornlaker on FartBook while the Hornlaker was receiving droves and droves of new follows on Instagram. That's how I found out about the thieves in California.

Kick Balls!!

Then I got the new Shark Bait zine in the mail yesterday (its a first read for me but this is issue 47 for them). As I read it the theme the writer is conveying is about how he loves his surroundings, that he is never jaded. The writer is originally from somewhere in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is not known to be a desirable place to move. Nobody says "Yeah, lets move there!!" The writer is living and skating in Albuquerque, New Mexico presently. Have you ever been to New Mexico?? I drove to Santa Fe once and then up to Colorado after a sleep over just so I could see Santa Fe, it was great. Really laid back. I also had this friend once from Albuquerque, he always said it was the best place to grow up, even though he lives in California now. So back to Shark Bait, the writer expresses how he can't get mad or angry at anything in Albuquerque, everything is so positive and forgiving. The people, the environment, the skating (tons of ditches and parks), everything is at peace. Then he compares growing up in Oklahoma compared to growing up in Albuquerque. In Albuquerque, "You want to skate and start a punk band in the garage? People's parents here would probably not only condone it, they would encourage it and try to make you listen to the Melvins or some other 90's nightmare." And that is what I am talking about parents, no, don't move to Albuquerque because I am. Seriously, here in Memphis, the heart of the Bible belt, God's Country, if it ain't in the bible you can't do it. If you don't go to church you are a Heathen. The South is known for poor people, dumb bastards and Preachers. I am not hating, I love the South because I know what is good about it, you should know if you have ever read this blog. But it is true, because of the poverty and because of the narrow minded brain washing there are a lot of bad parents. But that shit is everywhere you know every where. Encourage and support, I love it. Albuquerque is living proof. Maybe less people would steal if they were from Albuquerque, maybe....

And back to Videos, did you think I would forget, I love You Tube. I am addicted to it, I need help.....?

maybe not.... I encourage it and support it, hah.. And here is one for Gonz, thought I had seen this but I have not. I watch like a dozen other videos of skaters that rip so hard then I watch Gonz and my thoughts are saying "The Gonz invented most of what they are doing". Which I could be very wrong about since I do not claim to know anything. This guy has such grace on and off the board, its like watching ballet but gnar. I mean there are a couple of tricks that no one has done or I have seen. Late.

Al Town Vids, Kids may be getting Dummer and a Gonz Stunner

Have you thought about what the future is going to be like on the web and as well other standards of media like television and print?? I mean, what are web sites in 20 years going to look like and what will the content be like? We have already moved further and further away from actually having anything much to read on some sites. Do you go to YouTube to read?? I can also say the same thing about Thrasher's web site, Transworld's sites and a slews of other sites strewn across the web that are catering to our youngsters. I am just saying we are turning into a visual/ video culture. I can't say I have done the research, I don't know enough about the target demographics of video on the web but its every where, video video video. I don't necessarily think that kids will stop reading but it will drop off further than it already has. It  will be even more shocking when they add those stats to their studies, just wait and see because its coming.  Is it a bad thing?? I don't think it is a good thing but its where we are at and where we are going it seems. What is the point you are making?? I don't know, I was looking for something to read on Thrasher's web site and didn't find anything. Even the magazine does not have a whole lot of reading. Good content does not include well written articles anymore, face it. At least not for the target demographic that Thrasher is gearing their sales at. Pictures and Video, that's all the kids want to see and that is how you sell add space to big companies that pay the bills. Its a vicious cycle that does nothing for the intellectual development of kids these days. So come on, in 20 years what are these kids going to grow up like?? Could be scary, I mean some of these kids can hardly read now LOL. Who knows.....

Then I have been working tirelessly on new graphics for the skate decks. I have posted some pictures below of what I have been doing. I have retired the one Rufus graphic and have moved onto another graphic that has bears, arrow heads and goolish lettering....

Then of course there is the Black Label team of skaters. The more I watch different street footage the more I like certain styles of skating. I guess I have been in the dark to have a huge opinion on it. Any way:
Black Label Footy


Then you got the guys from Gnarkansas. They visited AL Town and other memphis spots, its rad, they rip. And guess what, Cole is in it.
Gnarkansas Comes to Memphis


And then there is Gonz doing shit you never thought was possible. This clip is short but so rad you will watch at least five times.
Late.

Skyler did not loose the Charger, Austin Beard Folks.

Hello there, what do you know about it, another weekend at the Rufus Ranch. Nobody got hurt, in fact nobody from Mississippi even breached the corridors ,I call home, this weekend. It was just Coltrane, Gnarner and me up to no good on a Saturday night. Then there was Sunday Morning and I did this.

Other things that happened outside of my jurisdiction were the making of a skate video. You be the judge, I promised not to say anything about the editing or footage.The skating is remarkable.  I am responsible for a lot of the footage but not all footage, where as Skyler is solely responsible for the editing. I will say its his best yet with room to budge. Austin filmed, I filmed and of course Baby Skyler filmed.



Then I started playing around with Picasa this morning and tested out a newer feature the tool has to offer. That's right, I made my own little movie out of stills I have taken. It was just for giggles. Its just random shots of Oxford and the Mid Town Skateshop. Its all just for fun and games.



O yeah, I almost Forgot, I found the charger. It some how ended up in another bag, how it got there nobody knows. And you got to watch this Gonz video, it will make you chuckle out loud for sure. Videos for days. And don't forget the world is coming to its end according to the Mayan Calender. So live it up until then, I will.


Learn new tricks, learn harder tricks, dont get hurt, something like that. Late.

Skyler Lost the Charger!!! H-Street and More...

So we went to Oxford Mississippi this past Sunday to hook up with Austin and Andrew to name a few.  We got to try the new camera out which works spectacularly. We even got to eat some kickass Mexican food just down the street from the park. But the thing that stands out in my mind the most, as I sit here and ponder my words, was the H-Street board that some kid was riding at the park. I had actually seen the kid riding this board before but this time I asked Garner if he had ever seen a H-Street video from the late 80's called Hokus Pokus?? He had not heard of H-Street to much and had never seen the video. I had not seen it in a very long while my self, I just remember being blown away back in the day. I mean you got all these young kids doing the same tricks as Barbee and Gonzales except with a different twist. As I watch the film today I see the future of skateboarding happening around one video. Its like they took all these tricks and made them more technical. Then when the 90's hit, vert dies, Rodney Mullen skates street and we have the birth of the main stream Popsicle. I guess the question is whether we are seeing were the skating was going within the movie  that shaped modern skateboarding..........or, is it because of the movie ??  I can't speak for everyone but this film blew my mind at one point in life, I mean blew it. Freaked me out:



So the whole thing is on You Tube broken into seven glorious parts. It would not be much longer after this video was made that you would stop seeing vert in films. Even today a lot of these modern skate vids only have stair set after stair set and no Transition skating. I mean, some do.


But that was Creature, they are Gnarly. That is all I am saying, I get sick of watching tech trick after tech trick, it gets boring as hell. Variety and interesting camera shots. I mean look at this Gonz video, he is so Gnarly the VHS player can't handle it. Late.

They Know About Al Town

Who knows about Al Town?? Well, Leo Romero knows about it if you have forgotten. I remember a couple of weeks back, somebody posted a Ad from Thrasher Magazine that had some Pro climbing out of Al Town, it was the buzz for the day but I forget who it was or which company. Maybe it was the same one that posted this Video at Transworld that has quite a lot of Al Town with in its compilations.



Pretty snazzy little film didn't you think. Well played and professionally done. Best yet, it had many Memphis street locations. To bad no one hit the wall ride Cheezburger, well, at least no footage we saw. I want to know when somebody is going to put Kanis in their film.

Then there is Dustin Dollin and the first Epicly Later'd. Not a whole lot of skating in this video but I was captivated from beginning to end never the less, it was mostly about the videographers fascination with Dustin's ability to skate Drunk.  Interesting guy that Dustin and he likes regular libations a lot.



And actually my journey was backwards. I started with this rather lengthy, crapply shot video of Dustin meeting up with the Gonz in Paris. They just skate around to a few spots and go have a drink. Then I started finding other videos, anyway, there you go. Just fun Stuff.


Well I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. All this makes me wish I could just travel around and film skating and write about it. Dam, wouldn't it be nice waking up in Barcelona, having some fresh coffee, some top-pas and then go skate. Yep, dream big!!

NEW Luchaskate Zine

Open publication - Free publishing - More d.i.y.

You Hate Lil Wayne

I was perusing the Interwebs the other day and checked in on the Team Pain web site. If you do not know who Team Pain is, well they arguably build the best skate parks in the United States and a few in Europe. Team Pain's attention to detail, quality, gnar factor and over all flow goes with out saying.   The site contains a News section and had a interview from MTV with Lil Wayne this last Tuesday. The interview takes place in New Orleans inside Lil Wayne's private indoor skate park that Team Pain built. So I thought it would be funny to post it on one of my friends (he lives in the swamp down there) time lines on that blue white colored site and ask if he ever skated that junt.



Well, you might have watched the whole thing, maybe you need to go back, but there is a little discussion on the Hating of Lil Wayne. Then on top of that my friend who lives in the swamp down in Orleans tells me he hates that @%& and that he shot himself in the chest to get street cred!!  When Wayne was asked (@4:54) what he thought about the haters, FWC (Fuk Wheezy Campaign) his response was he did not care, he gunna keep doing what he is doing.  Then I found this skate video with the guy with kookey ass eyes. I mean the eyes!! WTF

Video Powered by ClipCartel.com

So that got me to thinking that I did not know enough about the fella and whether he deserved all the hate that all these pranksters have been throwing around. This last guy, Hopsin, seems like a decent guy who hates on LW because he is a famous rapper (He passed Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 109 songs as of September 27, 2012), lets say so famous that his casual hobbies get lime light in the media. So he is not the greatest skater in the world although is one of the most popular Billboard Pop Icons since Elvis.  Then you read his history, the where he came from and what he did. Its impressive and unimpressive at times but over all impressive. I can 't say that I am a huge fan but I find no reason to not go skate his Team Pain skate park. I am sure wikipedia does not tell all of the story. And he did not shoot himself for street cred, no, he accidently shot himself in the chest when he was 12.  People just want to hate and he makes it easy sometimes but he does not seem to care. The guy sounds like he smokes to much weed, he donates huge money to charities, he gets skate parks built and wants to help progress the sport of skateboarding. Yeah, real bad guy. An ass sometimes like in the next clip, but what ever haters. Here is thread that explains it well in my opinion. 

Music News

Enough of that, all I can think about is making this at some point over the weekend. Its either this garbage or Nachos. This is a Belgium style treat with sausages, broiled potato, chili, onions  ketchup and mayonnaise all mixed together for a agonizing night of heart burn because you washed it all down with horrible tasting American BUSCH Beer. A don't know, all depends but if you plan on coming to my house this weekend make sure you bring a bag of potatoes, stock up on Bratwurst and steal your parents condiments (ketchup/Mayonnaise).

Oh wait, I almost for got to leave you with my November signature, Can you guess what it is with out spoiling my fun?? yep, videos for days...Oh wait, sorry this may take a while, I mean look for Gonz and all but I decided what the hell, its the whole Krood3D vid. Remember to applaud after its over, its that good.  - Hollar!! 

LunchTIME!!

Nomadic Chowder Eater!!

I love chowder, how can you not like a milk base soup that contains what ever you can throw at it, usually seafood and vegetables. Serve it with thick slices of bread and probably some brandy. Afterward I sit in my big warm chair and sip Hamms from a can while watching reruns of Chips. Hmmm..... Then there is a Nomad. I talked about people who leave the glorious south and go up to the "Northwest" to live, skate and act weird. Sometimes they don't make it and find them selves living out of a box because Denver caught their fancy. But these are transplants not necessarily nomads, unless you are really living out of a box then you got props. The true nomad is sort of homeless, or suppose to be. Anyway, I watched this yesterday and my mind was blown. I mean what in the hell, I have seen extreme wing suiting before by Dean Potter but this is taking it to a new level.

Speaking of the true nomad, this next film puts it perfectly. Your a Nomad when all you got is your skateboard, a six pack and your weed. Don't forget you will need a driver's license, a vehicle and probably gas money, other than that.....

Where is part One you ask?? Its right here butt diggers!

Another day, another dollar. Another Gonzales video, he just never gets old to me.

Catch and Release with rare Gonz footage

I got this new Camera, the Canon Vixia HFS100. I really wanted its younger brother, the HF G10, but a shortage of funds made me go with the other. We will see how she performs in the coming weeks. The Canon line of camcorders get rave reviews and special operating points in low light conditions. Good operation in low light, high to medium quality optics and we should be good. This camera has no hard drive, SD cards only, no big deal. Its really amazing when you put a 32g hard drive on a camera how the price jumps up. So I have to keep up with SD storage, cool with me. Better than MiniDV tapes since I can hold 60 Gigs in the palm of my hand.

So speaking of Cameras and Filming, I can't stand it... So I found another film of Kevin Kolwaski shot up in that place they keep calling the Northwest, like its special or something. I am not bagging on them up there, apparently they have tons more shit to skate and that's all on them. That's why people move out of the South, because the skating is not as good. Not enough parks or DIY, pfff!! Its understandable but stuff is happening here in the South, we just tend to move at a slower pace when it comes to getting things done. The cost of living is cheap, so we save our money and spend it on gas to get to stuff to skate. Just wait, we gunna have to film some southern style trip that will surprise you at what we have found in our backyard here in some of the rebel states. Its what defines the South geographically. We don't carry around rebel flags, drive pick up trucks and stare down minorities. Hell no, we are a minority that gets the stare downs. Anyway, there is some sick ass shit around here but you have to drive to get to it.

So I was watching this Kolwaski vid.... Notice that while it is a decent film the camera quality stands out for me on this one. That is not to say that they were not doing the best with what they had at the time. Believe me, you have to know the limitations of your equipment to get the most of it. All the skating is very good in this vid, the shots, the editing and choreography. Look:


Then fast forward two years and I think the Camera Quality improves. Here is a film shot by the same guy, Nomadic Story Teller, which has elemental similarities of the previous film but the picture quality improves his shooting style immensely.



Of course I am not going to leave you just hanging like that. No really, this is not some skateboard video review site, I am just amusing my self and trying to learn how to shoot good video. Decent equipment, clean lenses, good camera work and and then I have a ton of good guys ready to skate. Can't wait to shoot some more footage that I want to post. We will have something soon. But until then always enjoy a little Gonz on me. But this is a special treat, I found a video of Gonz at his own art opening. The Video work is horrid, I mean its a mockery of photography but what you catch is amazing. What does Mark Gonzales do in is art opening, well look for your self, its freaking amazing.

Emericans and Memphis Threat

Ok Emericans, I was doodling on around the Interwebs while I was peeling my tangerine but only after I had finished by Sunday Report Card. There was this little video that was delightful yet inspiring. I was not even looking for this young guy but the old guy Tom Knox. What do you know, there is a young version of Tom Knox ripping the streets of London by way of Tube. It reeks of the elements a solid skate video has with in its dark and stinky under tones. From beginning to ending the short video was indicative of what short people in my organization are trying to capture.



From the start, they cleverly introduce where the chappy is from with suttle visual hints of this and that to set the stage for the London based shredder.  The shots are dived into 3 to 5 second clips, he might do a half dozen of these and then they switch to a 15 second run where good old Tom does a speedy run of different objects only ending in some dramatic stair set or something interesting. They use a wide angle lenses on some shots and then the fish-eye in others. They had the fish-eye partially framing the shots although I like to see the framing less. Maybe they could not get the shot if they zoomed out partially to eliminate the circular hue at the edges of the picture. The camera angles were spot on, the saturation from shot to shot was crisp, the white balance of each shot was warm and even. I really like how they filmed him jumping a stair set as they followed but then they also filmed the opposite angle from the bottom of the stairs. It makes for a nice shot. So you see a formula through out the short film of 4 second clip after four second clip then onto a 25 to 35 second clip of something longer. You could see how they panned some of their shots down into the ground or away from the skater which makes for a nice transition into the next clip. They were also very cognizant of how interesting the surrounding architecture or landscaping was with in the longer shots to round it out. Finally credits roll. The credits were as good as each of its parts. So I was not looking for this at all but I always love to get some good education. I mean, its  Team Emerica with Blueprint, would you expect any less?? Just check out Blueprint's list of achievements.

Then I wanted to give a big shout out to Memphis Threat and Ian Lemmonds. This past weekend I had the chance to catch up with Ian while he attacked the wall at the Midtown Skateboard Shop  with wheat paste and posters. It was violent at first but ended up looking as professional as it gets.

Ian makes some fantastic shirts. Great gift ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah, Birthdays or just any old occasion. What?? You were gunna go tot he Gap and spend $25 on a new shirt, stop yourself and go here and order something worthwhile.

WAIT!!!!!!!! Back to what I was orginally talking about, the Real Tom Knox. Just so you know he skates a 9.75 wide board and yes, he is doing those tricks.




Did you enjoy that?? I did, not sure about you. Then there is the always the parting shot of you know who by now, or if you don't, you will in just a few.

Gumby Strikes Again

You remember, Saturday Night Live, a TV Series, those little bendable play toys. For some reason when I was a kid I thought Gumby on SNL was so funny. As I watch it today I am not sure how I thought it was that funny, maybe I just liked the costume.

So enough of Gumby.

A new Rufus Promo was released the other day. Check it out. You will have to click on the F'Ning link because somebody who uploaded it turned off the embedding feature. http://youtu.be/piBUlpXeZ48 Nice job, another lesson learned. See if you don't let people embed your video to their site then your video gets seen a lot less. HMMM, was that the first thing wrong with the video, NO!!

Now that I am pissed because I could not embed the thing here lets see.... Most of this is my fault since I shot most of the footage although Skybaby did the editing.First the Camera Picture quality is only 720p which looks ok on your phone but not so much on my computer screen. I can't imagine what it would look like on my TV at home. Light is a big issue with this camera, huge amounts of light noise when it comes to dimmer lighting. Even during the day during cloud coverage it was noisy. At night, no way, those shots were not great due to ineffective light sensors on the camera.

The other thing wrong was a bit of unease in a lot of the shots, that is, there was shakiness coming from holding the camera. Part of it is the operator and part of it is the camera/ Lenses/angle. There are shots when Skyler is moving with the subject and a bit of shakey seems normal because it is like you are following the skaters movements which works fine. Then on the other hand there are times when i am stationary and its just shaky shaky shaky. Maybe a bipod or tripod for some shots.

Next I was not always impressed with the composition of shots, an editing and camera operator issue. Needs Vantage points that are more interesting. More attention needs to be paid to panning out of a camera shot. What was with the black screen pans/transitions between clips. Pan the camera down into the ground or up or out then just cut straight to the next clip next time. Having the fish-eye frame is good for some shots but not all, especially not good when filming a run in the bowl. There is a lot to learn about making good videos. Look here is another Kevin Kolwaski part that is indicative of a pretty good film. These guys have their shit together.




This is not a rant, I helped produce the video, my name is on it. I have just been studying a bit and its what I am learning. Its part equipment and part technique that will make future videos better. We need to look at the limitations of our equipment and get the best out what we got. It takes planning and patience at this point.

Pick Your Lines Then Your Noses

Ok, I was not looking to post anything today and then this video magically appeared of these guys having a camping mission up in Oregon. Then I thought I would stop with that, I mean really, what a classy piece that was. That guy with the glasses had some crazy hats. So I started to google Ben Rayburn and I found this interesting tiddly bits. Next I start looking for video of Kevin Kolwaski and found this. I thought I had seen this before but I have not. These guys Rip like no bodies business, holy crap.

Unheard: Kevin Kowalski from Bacon Skateboards on Vimeo.

In the end I think that I see a lot of skating of this type. To me I enjoy watching this kind of stuff more so than not. Maybe I will trash some stuff I don't like in the future. O yeah, almost forgot to add one last vid of you know who.

I Croak Monday

Speaking of old times. Do you ever remember the Del Mar Skate Ranch?? We would see pictures in Thrasher or Transworld, that was it. The place was legendary though, I can't imagine what it was like to be there. The only thing I could compare it to was Paige's Pink vert ramp in Levy, AR. I could not go every day but it was my skateboard haven that I loved. Then there is Del Mar, the place was a story with in it self. I wish some person would make a Del Mar movie like they did with the Dogtown and Zboys Story.



The Big Pink Paige ramp was such a nice ramp though, Pros would come to skate it, odd crews from out of town would show up, it was a blast. Then again, I watch and read stuff about Del Mar and it is like a Fast Times at Ridgemont High story, full of all kinds of wacky. Nothing to out of hand ever happen in Levy, we just skated.




 There you go, your education for the day is almost complete but not with out a little fun video of Mark Gonzales of course. Videos for days of this guy.

 

Videos while Talking of Legends: Vallely, Gonzales, Cardiel and Barbee

Ok, I just thought Since I have  a slight agitation of boredom that I would cheer myself up with some good home down entertainment, internet videos. The first one I will start with, someone I was discussing yesterday, came up on my Thrasher radar today. I went from skating a Natas 2 to skating a Vallaley in 88. I did not like the nose and it had no pop, but that is skateboards. Mike freaking rips, just watch:

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Ok, but no way Mike is my all time favorite, he is in my top ten. I just put him first because you always know the best comes last. Now, Ray Barbee is in my top three, maybe he is 2, not sure how I feel today. I think I need some fluids. But here you go, Ray Barbee invented a style: Then there is the last guy, you got to know who it is by now, don't you know. I know... It must be coursing through my veins this week, I have been riding my bicycle a lot lately and not skating due to injury and being a chicken shit. So I reminisce and find excitement and something else, maybe motivation, maybe a pipe dream I will keep to myself because I know how I am. Of Course it is Mark Gonzales, of course of course of course. How can he not be your favorite skater of all time, he invented another style that is mimicked and mimicked. He pulls off what you never thought could be pulled off. He does things with his feet that make you think after you have watched that clip five times in row that you are watching a magic show. Then there is John Cardiel, sorry John, I got all carried away and I forgot about you. Sorry dude, we will watch you first then: Ok OK. So I leave you with your lesson of today. Watch and Watch and Watch and Watch this shit over and over and over. Epic I know. More to come. Later.

Stoked on Cold Weather!!!

Well, not really, I think the cold weather sucks. That is why every year I either bold the cold and spend time out in it or I crawl up into my man cave and come out sometime in march. At the moment, every morning around 6am I have coffee outside on the back porch in nothing but my boxer briefs while I visualize riding my bike to work. It was only a mere 32 degrees Fahrenheit, nothing to extreme just yet, just wait. This whole process helps put in to perspective what riding a bike with clothes on can do for you.

 My favorite thing I did today was fit a $2 dollar light to my helmet so I can be seen.

In Skateboard News I lost one of my skateboards and did something new with the surface of my Ramp. Maybe someone will give that thing back. Look its Pink.

Oyeah, what I really wanted to say was check my site out a little more, look at the videos and check out the music section, been working on it. 

Later.

Steaming Piles, Mumford and Omar

Cole and Skyler ended up at my abode Friday night, they plopped on the couch and yelped "What's for Dinner Poppa Chris?" So we  headed to Kroger where I picked out some veggies and choice meat, since they declined the regular pizza, while Cole stomped around the store exclaiming "I hate Kroger(He works there), they can suck it!"  When the kids say it does not matter what they eat as long as you cook it, don't believe them. Some one hour and 30 minutes after we sojourned Kroger, I served up steaming hot plates of veggies and chicken bratwurst. They were so very pleased to eat but the looks of "WTF" on their face as they picked around the veggies told another story. They brought their plates back and told me they were just not as hungry as they had thought. Next time we'll eat bean burritos and have farting contests.

Saturday morning I woke up and made three new 8.0 popsicles, fixed up eggs for the Buttercups and made passage to the great skatepark of Munford, Tennessee. A contest we ventured out where prize money and other goodies  were suppose to be the end results. We made it to Munford after circling the park several times lost, only to find out that the contest was a game of SKATE. Its kind of like a game of HORSE on the B-Ball court but skate tricks. Not sure what happened after that because instead of competing for the accumulation of dollar bills all I saw Skyler do was blast Melons 10ft into the air off the mini ramp. After collecting some video and strange looks from the locals we piled back in the Civic and drove back to Memphis.

Once we got back to Memphis, Cole left me with the Anklebiter Skyler as he headed to work at the Southhaven Kroger. Anklebiter and I imported video and began editing footage while Pizza (this time) cooked in the oven. By 10:30 I was headed off to sleep while Skyler stayed up until 2am editing video. Just before I went to bed he showed me some clips using a fast forward effect which I liked, for that scene only. The next day we got the video up on YouTube. You will see the Melon I was talking about, after that step back from the screen at least two feet and then squint a little, trust me.

The first response from our contingent in North Carolina (aka Roadkill) was that it caused him to have vertigo,  he had to lay down for a short while after watching it then thought about stabbing himself with a  pencil.  But that is OK, we won't let that happen again for I have sent my friend in North Carolina enough meds to counteract his response. Another friend said that he thought the song was really gay. I guess not everybody likes Sonic Youth these days, more or less a Teenage Riot. The only solution is to have our supervising art director to step in and make Skyler behave. I guess the moral to the video is not to overuse certain effects since they can make people sick to their stomach and have to induce vomiting.

And Finally we gave birth to a new Omar this Sunday around 5pm.

October Cold Beer and Rebate Jam

Awe yes, the weather is turning to temperatures where you no longer need a device to make your Busch 18 pack ice cold. I am not fully bitching about the fact upon leaving at 7am on a my bicycle to make to work by 8 is not a bit nippier. Really, riding in these dropping temps is not my idea of fun riding conditions but what else are you going to do when your goal of getting your girlish figure back exceeds your level of comfort. This little kid is trouble:

What other randomness is out here..... The base player in one of out music projects called to tell us before band practice that he was at the hospital because he had cut one of his fingers off. I mean what the hell man?? Well, it turns out he only badly severed the digit. He said he will just have to use a pick for a while. As long as he does not show up completely shlitzed and drop base lines the wrong way. No really, that shit sucks to sever a finger on your right hand. Makes eating difficult, you can't pick your nose, pants pockets are off limits and then you almost have to wipe your butt with your left hand. I hope he is ok, poor guy.

 Then there is this talk of making skateboards.... So I went down to Little Rock the other day and picked up a whole bunch of uncut blanks from my buddy Paige. Maybe one day I will take you on a tour of Paige's shop, its interesting to some. This shipment of boards are mostly 10.5 blanks decks. So what does that mean?? It means I can make a slue of decks that are 8.5 thru 10 inches wide. Hell Yeah!! That means people are going to have to come out of the wood work. And the fatties are still gunna go for the $30. At some point this week I will have some aluminium silk screens come in. After which I will burn one of the screens for the purpose of making T-Shirts. The point of all this hopefully is ending up in Oxford Mississippi for the Rebate Jam Contest. The contest will be held the 27th of October starting at 12pm thru 5pm. I will be there with the Rufus Crew selling my items. That is the first part of the day at least. After the Rebate Jam, then there will be another back yard sesh back in Memphis. It would be no big deal but this is the Halloween Costume Sesh. You don't want to miss this sesh, people get punched out sometimes a this one, like in the face.

I had to repaint the first three in the picture above because someone kept picking them up and ogling over how cool they were while the paint had not dried fully. The next morning I was like what the hell?? No biggie, I will have improved on the look better anyway. Then there are popsicles:

 Yeap, these shapes differ slightly, but however they are popsicles. You will just have to see it to believe it. And the boys got to see first hand what they had got them selves into, put them to work.

This one worked so hard he missed the bed when it came time for sleep.

And you have to finish with one happy customer. Ask Travis (below) or Garner(above) how these decks skate, do it, I dare you.

If you are interested in a deck ask Cole or Garner for one. You can also email me at the email address listed in this blog profile.

Kanis w Andrew and James.

GALLERY VIEW - Get in there and @#$%

Kanis July15 w Andrew and James

Photo Stream at Kanis Park shot with Andrew Martin and James Pierce (not Trife). Hopefully collecting a few photos for David T's piece on Kanis in the near future. SLIDE SHOWs Are Awesome

Arkansippi the Weekend

The Metal Band <--(click to listen) that I play drums in was booked at the Buccaneer as the opening act Friday the 6th of July. I didn't find out until Wednesday night before the Friday we were playing. We had not practiced in over two weeks and the only time we had time to practice was before the show started. Luckily I was able to get out of work before five which gave us enough time to play our five song set twice, load the van and go to my house and allow Ron and Coltrane to skate the ramp in my back yard for 30 minutes before we had to make it to the Gig. We went on at 9:30, played about 26 minutes to a small crowd of about say 20 people give or take. We had two people purposely show up, Tricia and Swamp. The other 18 or so were all accidental patrons of the bar, maybe stragglers that were there to see upcoming performances of the night, I think the next bands musicians but we will take what we can get. The show went well, we finished our short set and then the guitar player from the Joint Chiefs (that is funny) started yelling that we play more. When we told him we did not have any other material, he replied play the set again, laughs.... So we played the first song more time as an encore. I think Coltrane was the star of the night but everyone complemented Ron and I never the less.

Saturday rolled around, I got up a little early to prepare for the upcoming session of Arkansippi. Arkansippi is a quartly gathering of different people from Mississippi and Arkansas. It mostly revolves around skating and hanging out until weee hours of the morning. The event was to start in my back yard ramp at around 230, then move to a local pool, to another back yard ramp and then back to my back yard. Well.... Swamp and Coltrane had been at my house from the night before. Cole, Ron and Skyler showed up around 2:30 pm, then David and Chris G showed up shortly after. I thought it was going to be a couple of hour session and then we would go pool side somewhere. At first the session was predictable, every one but me was getting their skate on. I was taking pictures and having fun at it. Then things started to pick up when they duct taped a old cooking pot to the ramp to simulate a light in a pool.

After that Skyler and Cole put a latter on top of the ramp.

Then Swamp Had Chris G hold a Chair on the other side to grind on.

Then I had to build an extension.

We never made it to the pool. We thought about it for a while but we ended up going to the store and buying stuff to grill out. Jordan and Eric showed up from Arkansas, everyone skated some more and I made burgers. The End.

Arkansissippi

July 3rd

Decks Are Out of Stock, Batch #3 in the works

I am out of stock of the new decks I made this past weekend. I have some new shapes and the next batch will probably come out in the next couple of weeks. Here are some pics of this past week as well as some pics of the boards I created over the weekend.