Once they put the sword in on the 11 set Nyjah Huston went to work with a big flip front board, a nollie heel nose slide, and then kept delivering at The Crossroads Best Trick contest on Thursday afternoon February 4, 2010. Chris Cole pulled out all the tricks including his weird flip up, run down the rail land back on the board stuff, but it was only enough for second. Nick Merlino got third.

1. Nyjah Huston $3,000
2. Chis Cole $2,000
3. Nick Merlino $1,000

And special mention went to Ben Hatchell for his $500 540 on the Shark.

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ASR Live’s Jim Shubin (the new VP of Sales for True Love and False Idols) and ASR’s Group Vice President Andy Thompkins cruise the isle of the ASR Access Show and offer up a sneak peek. The one question we have (albeit rhetorical) is: where did the ASR Show go?

According to ActionWatch December 2009 comps in core shops were up over October and November, but closed out the quarter 13 percent down, according to a post on Transworld Business.

This number gives the fourth quarter first prize in lowest sales declines of the year for the shops on the panel, but by a very small margin,” said Cary Allington. “Also, Q4 2009 had the “easiest” comparison of the year since that quarter was so bad in 2008, so we were actually expecting (or at least hoping) for an even smaller comparative sales decline.”

So that means it’s not getting worse, worse. It’s getting better worse. And that’s good.

[Link: ActionWatch via TransWorld Business]

Chris Nieratko, shop owner, writer, porn reviewer has a solid little round-up of the skateboard economy in his latest column for ESPN/Action titled Skate of the Union.

I, for one, am glad to say goodbye to 2009 and pray 2010 is a better year for skateboarding. Like most every facet of our nation’s economy, skateboarding took a big hit in in the past year. It may not appear that way from the outside, what with the biggest contest purses in history and big budget Nike commercials on television featuring Paul Rodriguez and Ice Cube, but trust me, things ain’t pretty in Skateville.

Follow the jump for comments from Jamie Thomas, SPoT’s Barak Wiser, Nocturnal’s Mark Brandstetter, Deluxe’s Jim Thiebaud and others.

[Link: ESPN/Action via Skate & Annoy]

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (which runs February 4-14, 2010) will feature three skate films this year: Bones Brigade Video Show, Mission to Toyland, Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy.
Bones Brigade Video Show/Mission To Toyland
7 Feb (Sun) 7:00pm Santa Barbara Museum of Art
9 Feb (Tue) 1:00pm Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Skatopia 88 Acres of Anarchy
9 Feb (Tue) 10:15pm Metro 4 Theater
12 Feb (Fri) 9:30pm Victoria Theater
Need a better reason to visit Santa Barbara? We didn’t think so.

[Link: Santa Barbara Independent]

Join Grind For Life at 4 PM Wednesday February 3, 2010 on the ASR Show Floor (next to the mini ramp) as they throw down their $1,000 High Ollie Challenge. Then roll upstairs to room 25B for free beer and a J. Grant Brittian signing featuring Christian Hosoi and other special guests. It’s for a good cause so just be there.

[Link: Grind For Life]

Skateboarder Lucas Gianconelli, 15, died after being stuck by a car Friday evening in Vista, California. The car did not stop. It seems a 92-year-old man is responsible, according to a story on NBC San Diego.

Authorities said that at a vigil for Lucas that was held Saturday night, the 92-year-old man stopped by and asked a deputy what was going on. The deputy explained what had happened, and, officials said, the man told him he had been driving on the street around the time of the accident and thought he had hit a small animal. . . Deputies followed the man home and found damage to his car consistent with a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle. The man has cooperated with detectives, investigators said.

Our thoughts are with Lucas’ family and friends.

[Link: NBC San Diego and San Diego Union-Tribune]

Skatebook 6 is out featuring Heath Ledger as Skip Engblom on the cover and 33 pages of Logan Kincade aka Griffin Collins Photos, Frame Grabs & Polaroids. As usual it looks like an amazing collection of all things skateboarding. Follow the jump for some samples or click here to buy one for yourself.
Continue reading ‘Skatebook 6: Logan Kincade Edition’

And in the biggest news in skateboarding today, Madonna’s “22-year-old lover” Jesus Luz was reportedly seen rolling around Rio De Janeiro’s Ipanema Beach on an motorized skateboard, according to the Daily Mail.

But while big kid Luz was looking more youthful than ever in his graphic shorts and muscle-baring black vest, Madonna was looking a little puffy-faced back in London.

The British press apparently has no sympathy for 51-year-old cougars.

[Link: Daily Mail]

When Bucky Lasek’s wife’s high school classmate Dina Perouty Leone announced that she was dying of stomach cancer last year, Bucky and his wife Jennifer flew the woman out West for a get away. They took her to visit Disneyland, the ESPN Zone in LA and paid for everything. Now, Leone is up on theft and conspiracy charges, according to a story in the Baltimore Sun.

Leone sent out pictures of herself with a bald head, saying she had lost her hair to chemotherapy. Some of the women said she collected thousands of dollars from them, and that she was even treated to a trip to California for a “final” visit to Disneyland. . . It was all a scam, according to a Baltimore County grand jury, which indicted her in November for theft and conspiracy. Leone appeared last week in circuit court, where a judge set bail at $25,000, enabling her to leave the county detention center. . . “There was no physical evidence of her being treated for cancer, and no medical evidence,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Lippe, referring to the findings of a police search in September of the home she shares with her husband, Patrick Leone, on Glen Arbor Drive in Rosedale.

Few things are lower than trading on people’s goodwill.

[Link: Baltimore Sun]