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!!

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