Monday in Highlands Ranch

Monday - John picked me up around 5pm, we headed to Redstone Skate Park. Very cool park, has a mini bowl, street area and a snake run that empties into a series of bowls, (check pics). It was a little crowded for my tastes, looks fun but to many kids on scooters, bikes and what ever. I think the best way to hit a park like this is in the early morning before anybody has a chance to eat breakfast. Early bird gets the worm. Actually, I bet mid day would be fine since most of these kids would be in school, but I work during the day until Thursday. We actually  split from there and found a nice parking lot and a curb that ended up being a nice manny pad. It was a good little session. I was beat anyway, I needed something very low key and mellow. I plan on checking out Clement Skate Park today unless John has better ideas. I am afraid that Clement will be the same, over run with kids. I read a review that said it was  great park, fun, but to many kids to really skate. Hopefully I can have some daytime later in the week to hit a spot during the mid day, if it don't rain. There is rain in the forecast but that is life.

Cheap Skates, Al Town/ Toast Demo, Airports and Denver... Finally

Sunday started out like most Sundays, Coffee, English Soccer, Cliff bars, feed cat, street skate, couple of runs on the mini ramp, standard stuff. Although today does have a interesting twist since it is the anniversary of the 9/11 and I have to fly to Denver, kind of weird but no worries, got some other activities as well. First I had to pack.




I missed out on Saturday activities in Little Rock as I was planted in Memphis just relaxing and maxing preparing for my long journey on Sunday. As you may know, in LR, there was a Art Show called Who Arted, a demo at the Enjoy Skate shop  and then a session at Kanis Park. I heard it was off the hook. I got to hear a bit about the festivities that went down in LR as I attended the Toast Skateboards in shop visit at Cheap Skates.

After Ron kicked every one out of his shop, all the Toast guys headed over to Al Town for a little session. Very nice session to say the least. The weather was perfect, the clouds came in and provided some shade, awesome. The Toast guys were killing it along with the local brew. Got some pics. <-(click the link) I had to blow the pop stand and get prepared to catch my flight.

On my way home I decided to stop by Tobey Park. Things are looking swell Beaver!! The park looks half finished to the naked eye. PHOTOS

Then it was off to Colorado where the TSA stopped me and took my crescent wrench.  Nothing amazing to report in flying, it is a drag. I can't wait until we get to the Star Trek days of just teleporting to your destination. I plan on meeting up with my little brother, who lives here in Denver, later this afternoon and then hitting up a skate park or two. The plan is to work during the day for Mon -Wed, skate in the afternoon, eat and crash out at night. Then Thurs - Sun, I am hoping of just over taking Denver the best I can, fully padded of course. Ok, gotta go, duty calls. Later

al town under water and tobey pour

Its Friday, have been thinking about skating Al Town all day. I get off work, ride the bike home, get my gear ready, stop for cold beverages on the go, and drive to Al Town. I get to the end of Evelyn and there is not the normal amount of cars parked on the street, in fact there are no cars. I rush of anxiety runs through my body thinking something has shut us down, for  I had been informed earlier that day that city workers had been working in an adjacent lot. I pull my car up and of course, the place is covered in water. It had rained in Mid-Town and Al Town was slightly under the weather to skate at the moment.

So I ventured up to see what these so called City of Memphis workers had been up to. There is a lot that is street level to the south of the Al Town basement which has been covered in something that is a kin to Kudzu. Certain individuals insist that this vine is not "the plant that ate the South" and something else with a prettier name. What ever, I'll call it shit, so the shit is a nuisance and the city workers cleared that whole southern lot of that shit. So much so that you could back a cement truck right over to the top of the south west wall of Al Town. Do you smell what i am stepping in? Is shotcrete out of the question? Its will be hella easier to get concrete to the next theorized project. Back her on up here. It would not be that hard to clear a clean path for a truck. A little hard work, no problem.

So then I jump in my car and turn the corner to see Jenks and Sam hanging out on some neighbors porch. I bet they were bummed but always enjoying life, never the less, I drive on to Tobey park to take a look around.

It looks like all the re-bar is in place and, like Kris Gurley reported, "Ive been to the park twice this week. On Tuesday, Andrew was there finishing up all the metal ledges and last minute coping work. He said that the crew was coming in from DC right after they were done with the Maloof course. "


All I have is pictures, I will not pretend to act like I know anything about building skate parks, because i dont:

Ok, yall have a nice day. Go skate or something. They start shot-crete on Tuesday according to Aaron Shafer.

Toy Machine Visit Al Town

It all starts with Al Town and all ends with Al Town for me this weekend, at least this part of the story.  Sessions  seem to kick into full swing around 630 and by 7 pm there are a ton of people ripping the the spot. Friday evening was the second time this week that I have been to Al Town, the place gets a little addictive because of the effect it has on my level of being stoked. Nothing major to report here, it went like many of the other early evening sessions I have been in attendance for, fun as it gets.

Saturday rolled around, the plan today was a morning session that started around 930am. Wrex and Kim made the journey down from Oxford. So the stoke meter was high, I had not seen Wrex skate in person until now. And skate he did, Wrex along with Hammond tore Al Town up that morning. Then David was killing it on that monster long board and we were pleasured by some nice wall ride transfers from Chris Ulander, front side no less. Wrex was hitting the spine and doing some gnarly airs.  Dont forget Mike showing us how to Rock and Roll on the spine while John rocked the BMX bike with some excellent airs. It was fun times, great way to start the day. Not to mention, I think it was Chris's daughter, Tara Torture, she picked up all the trash in the area, made the place look real nice for any unexpected guests. Right around 1230 most of the bunch split over to Barksdale's for grub, after that to take a peek of Tobey Park and later to hit a unnamed wooden bowl which produced wonderful photos like this. I would have loved to tag along with those guys but I promised people I would play golf, so I played golf.

Sunday sails into the harbor with a bright and early morning session on my backyard mini ramp. David and I skated a couple of runs, sat down and said forget this, we feel wrecked. Both of us were beat up from skating Al Town all week. We want to skate but our bodies are saying no way, go sit down old guy. I really feel for Hammond who lives near Al Town and complains the burden pays its price, skating through pain. So David and I say screw it, lets go it eat lunch and get wasted. So we go to Dan Mcguinness for some Sheppard's Pie and Fish-n-Chips nicely accompanied with a nice Belgium Ale. Right, I had one beer to David's two waters, so lame I know.

Are you going to get to Toy Machine in this story?

So I get home after lunch and are sitting there surfing the net. I get a email from David, he left his phone at home (he can't call me) and he needs me to pay attention to the Cheap Skates FB Wall. Ron Hale posted that Team Tum Yeto were about to roll into town and wanted a place to skate. He was unclear on the facts but I jumped into my car and headed toward Mid-Town never the less. By the time I got into Mid-Town Ron had posted they decided to go to Sun Studio's for a tour (I got the smart phone). I was not far from Sun so guess where I went. Sure enough, there was a van sitting in Sun's parking lot with big Tum Yeto stickers on it. I parked my car and just waited, sure enough Matt and Dakota - from Toy Machine- came out of the front door, sat down in the alley way and had a smoke. I just started talking to them and ask if they wanted to skate which they where down. The team manager came out with the 6 other guys and asked me if our DIY spot was on the way to Nashville? Uhmm, yeah dude, it is totally on the way. Ok then, he said, we will follow you. In a matter of minutes we were pulling up to Al Town. They were impressed. Half the team popped out of the mini van and directly dropped in on the quarter, the sickness had begun. The only people there were a few neighborhood kids skating the great Tusk. These guys from Toy Machine just started flying every where, I thought I was in another world. I see Wrex skate on Saturday and then these guys on Sunday. My life could not be any better at this point.

After a little while some locals started to trickle into our converted basement called Al Town. They were like, ok, some other people are here. Then they would see  Leo Ramero ollie and clear the swamp while Taylor Smith was smashing a wall ride on the left side of the quarter to melon. The expressions on their faces when they started to realize this was not just local regular rippers was classic. Then more locals show and more show. They may have come to skate but all eyes were on Toy Machine at the moment. Little Jack was in on the action showing how to represent, Jack the Ripper. I was trying to take pictures but the level of mayhem that Toy Machine were inflicting on Al Town over shadowed any good photos. The high light of the show was Leo Romero, he kept trying this one trick over the swamp. Over and over, bail after bail, then we all knew it, he was going to land the next one, we could just see it. Yep, he landed a 180 Back Side Kickflip over the swamp, total madness. Soon after, they packed it up, the team manager and Leo shook my hand in thanks as they sped off to Nashville on their way to the Maloof Money Cup in Washington DC. Maybe look for some photos in Thrasher of Al Town in the future, who knows, Toy Machine's photographers were busy it seemed.

Hope yall enjoyed that as much as I did. Here is the photo album, take care now.

Kooks Don't Rip

What does it mean when you hear that a person is a Ripper? That they know how to take a DVD and copy the contents to their hard drive, or maybe we are in Australia and these Dundee's are Rippers of beer drinking. In Canada it can mean the same as sex, in jail it means you are a child molester, in Boston it means a party, loose women get the label but my favorite.... you know it, someone that is sick at skateboarding is a Ripper. He just ripped that front side Smith, that dude is a ripper.

Jeff Phillips skating Levy, I saw him Ripping that day.

Why am I writing this junk today?.. I am talking about ripping on the skateboard, don't be a Kook.

Kanis's Quarter looks a bit mellow but still Gnar.

The word has been in my vocabulary since probably the late 80's when I skated in Levy at the Pink Ramp. I would hear Lendel Roe describe guys as rippers, I guess that is where I heard it first, maybe... What ever.. Who knows, who cares. Whats your point?

The New Tusk at Al Town at the wicked Quarter way back there, so sick.

It occurred to me what ripping means to me. I have not had a clear meaning in my brain until I saw Taylor and Hammond skate Al Town last week. How they skated summed up a bunch of skating I have seen.  It became clear to me but I can't tell you what it is that is clear. I think it is about speed and consecutive moves and more speed. Maybe it is the expression on your face or how gnarly something like an object is you ride on. You don't have to blast four foot airs off of everything to be a ripper, but that guy who does surely is one. I have not actually figured out the meaning either, I just understand in my head that if you are going to rip then you got to try. Ripping is scaring your self just a little bit because concrete and pavement hurt when not averted. I have no way to define it, no, I can just spot it when I see it. I am not a ripper just yet, but I am imaging runs at Al Town in my head that rip.

Wall Ride Transfer at Al Town, one day.

And thanks to all the guys at Trife Street/ Al Town for the new experiences, my mind is bending in directions again.

Dogs, Art and Decay

The road to the house.

I had planned on taking a trip out to my Family Farm this weekend and visiting the house my Grandmother and Father grew up in one last time. The house is scheduled, any day now, to be torn down since the flooding we had in the area, the past couple of months) covered the house's first story with water.  The water damage inside and outside the house is reported to me by my father as not repairable, leaving the house as a loss. "Just tear it down", my tear laden father told the man at the bank after walking the buckled hardwood floors where he had spent his childhood years. My Grandmother and her Brother (Rufus Branch Junior) were both born inside the house with the assistance of a mid-wife. Rufus Branch Senior (Great Grand Father) had discovered the farm after he crashed a plane there  in 1914 flying a routine flight from Millington Army Base in Tennessee. For what ever reason, after his plane crash he came back to the farm and bought the several thousand acres of  Black Cat Farms.  The farm is still going strong and still in the family today. I am still undecided about whether to go out there or not and shoot a few photographs. I was going to go yesterday but I could not find anybody that wanted to go. Also, how sentimental am I about the house? Not a whole lot. I have pictures of the house back in hay day of the 40's and 50's when the house was really in full swing. Why do I want to go rummage through a dank, nasty house for old memories? Some of my co-workers have tried to encourage me to go because they missed out of something similar.  What am I missing?? Dad reported to me the place has been looted many times over, that the 700 pound Mosler Safe (nothing in it) was also missing. I cannot even imagine how they accomplished moving that thing. Why again do you want to go for a last viewing before they bury her like some funeral? Its just a dam house.

The house is by the wing strut.

So instead I created another skate board and then went for a walk. On my walk I stopped and took a photo of a yard, down my street, that must have 10 German Sheppard's in the back yard and another 10 kenneled up  in or around the house. Some days when you walk by the smell of dog shit is stifling (sti-ful-ing), not to mention the constant  barking.. barking... barking. In this particular moment as I was walking by all ten dogs lined up in front of the fence barking and all taking a piss at the same time. I did not have my camera ready in time, what a shame. Why had all these dogs decided to re-leave them selves for the audience of just me, I was not sure if I should be flattered or insulted. After they had time to shake off the final bits I got my camera phone ready and snapped a single photo. I put my phone/camera away since the lady of the house came out to fill up a water bowl, plus there was another dude out on the side of the house- I have never met these people before. I was hoping to get a photo that I could later post on FB with the caption "Average security system in Memphis." Maybe its not even that funny, comedy is full of failures but I was only there for some selfish giggles and craptacular snap shots. I abandoned my photo shoot and get maybe two blocks further down the street when this Grey Chevrolet truck pulls up and rolls down their window. Its the dog lady and I am guessing her husband driving the truck. "Why are you taking pictures of my house?", she asks in a snarky tone.  "I wasn't, just one, it was a joke that is not going to work," I replied. She then explained to me that she ran a dog rescue, has an illegal amount of dogs and is fending off complaints from neighbors regularly. That she did not trust anybody and would appreciate it if I did not take pictures of her house. Wow, I had not meant anything by taking a picture and I had no intention of saying anything else about it but now she has pissed me off.  Come to think of it the house is a nuisance to the neighborhood. Go run your cash cow of a business in a place that is suited to house 20 dogs, not a 1000 square foot house that is on less than a acre in the middle of Berclair Nieghborhood. She said, "We run a dog rescue....",  and you don't have another job, neither does your husband. So for every dog you get there is money in your pocket and for every dog you sell, more money in your pocket. I was willing to look the other way, just another anomaly of a house in Memphis. But no, she had to chase me down and read me the riot act about taking pictures of her house. Does she not understand I have the right to do what ever the hell I want. I guess that is what she is afraid of, or maybe I should stop dressing up like a under cover cop and acting suspicious. What ever lady!!

Chickens in Front Yard

Dog Rescue

My latest creation, shape and art.

And here is a skateboard that I designed and did a little rip off Sheppard Fairy art work on (yes, I just painted over stickers.) Looks real nice dont it. Well, all I can say is this Memphis summer time heat makes us all a little crazy in the city. Will I make it to the house called Black Cat,  will you get to see pictures of a dead architectural structure  that once was the center of the universe?? I cant answer all these questions right now, to me it is insignificant to take pictures of something whose beauty is lost in decay. People will say that there is something artistic to come away with pictures of this old beast. To be honest, I have never liked pictures of despair and decayed ruins  that have bordered oak frames hanging in some sweet art gallery.  Maybe I am wrong after all, maybe I just need a helping hand or maybe, just maybe I have better things to do. Later.

San Antonio, an After Rant or My Verbal Vomit

San Antonio is very hot temperature wise, hotter than Memphis my place of homeliness. Will you go back to San Antonio (SA)?? Not sure, it has the River Walk, Sea World, The Alamo and a bunch of old Spanish Mission buildings along with staggering heat. I think if I was visiting Austin and took a side trip it has possibilities, that is if I ever make it back to Austin for anything other than business. There are no beaches, mountains or mild weather in SA, so the draw becomes less and lesser. SA is a place you take your kids to visit on Thanks Giving, very much a family place,  not sure what else other than for business. I saw a lot of European's walking the streets, so maybe it is like visiting Oxford England for a yank like me. I hear that if you go to Oxford on the weekend of graduation that you will have the opportunity to have splendid conversation with overly educated drunk people. SA River Walk (RW)  is a tourist trap, kind of a one sided Epcot Center with a real world scenario, people don't ask you for spare change at Epcot. The neatly dressed  Mariachis  lined the droves of mediocre Tex Mex food establishments as boats of eager tourists passed by listening to stories of how Davy Crockett  fended off the Mexicans just beyond that wall,  all  this very marvelous after the the first hour or two. Then after that you are left flat, what else, go into another place that has Texas in the name?? The best places were not even remotely Texan, they were Irish. I found two bars on the RW, one called Waxy Oconnor's and one named Durty Nelly's Irish Pubs. I went to Waxy's two nights in a row. Really nothing special other than it was like you had escaped the RW. That was what I thought was nice about it, you walk into Waxy's and there are no Mariachis waiting to serenade you, just the smell of stale beer along with Bangers and Mash. Waxy's has a guy play guitar Sunday through Thursday which is fairly entertaining where as Nelly's has a guy playing piano. I think that Nelly's smells worse which is great. I ended up at Nelly's for just a minute on my last night, just to check out the Mayhem. This guy was centered in the middle of the packed bar sitting in front of a wide angled mirror allowing the whole bar to view the maestro's melodious anthem. There was not a seat to be had so I wondered off back into the wilderness of La Cucarachas and Steak Fajitas. O yeah, I also remember going into a Coyote Ugly's the night before, for about three minutes, for that is all  it took. I mean, come on, you got some scantly clad bar tender walking around on top of the bar with a  micro phone insulting guys sitting at the bar while pouring drinks on their heads. Fun, just not my style. I told my date she could stay if she enjoyed getting hit on by chicks with short hair that wanted her to sit down with them. No probs. Then there was Mad Dogs British Pub which reminds me of Hooters hyped up on the Beatles and Union Jacks. All the waitress's wore short short kilts, black stockings and tight British flag Tops. I thought Austin Powers was going to jump up around the corner at any minute and ask my friendly date for a shag.   I take Waxy's as a regular hang out in the end where my Scot/Irish blood feels as it belongs the most, some place cheap.

Did you learn anything about San Anotonio? Yes.... It smells just as bad in the summer as Memphis.

Do you have any advice for could be travelers to the area? Yes.... Stay in doors,  don't drink the water and don't let your kids swim in the river..

Was there a favorite attraction in down town San Antonio? Yes...Public restrooms.

What would be your favorite moment while staying there? I can't remember her name...


Don't get me wrong, San Antonio was a great city to do business in while then staying at a super nice hotel located on the River Walk. There was lots of great architecture and interesting things to do.  Its just not my kind of city, kind of like the city I live in now but ten times the Hispanic population. It is funny how you go on a trip to a place that you would never seek out and figure out more about yourself. I will never waste my time in Texas again unless I have to drive through it like I did last summer (Feel Free to Read). Working in Texas is fine but living and visiting there does not interest me in the least, not anymore. I am ready to go back to Colorado, visit Salt Lake City and visit my friend who is a dog sledding guide in Bozemon,  Montana. What I learned on this trip for some weird reason is to never just settle for things, to keep pushing and the right things will come along. I know what I want now and this trip opened my eyes. Time to get off my ass, Thanks San Antonio. Later.