by The Editors on June 11, 2009

Watch live as Transworld Skateboarding hands out their 11th Annual TWS Awards to skateboarding’s finest. The action begins at 6 PM Friday June 12, 2009. Trust it, you’ll get a lot less beer spilled on you by checking it out online.
[Link: Skateboarding.com]
by The Editors on June 11, 2009

Sometimes it’s good for all of us to be reminded of how much we all love skater/artist/ human Ed Templeton. ESPN (with help from Micah Abrams) has been kind enough to give us this reminder in both text and video form all on one page. Check it out.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
by The Editors on June 10, 2009

Okay, we’re kidding. No real news here, other than it’s official. Eric Koston is getting paid by Nike SB. Nice work, Kevin.
[Link: Nike SB via @liamgriffin]
by The Editors on June 10, 2009
Skateistan, the organization that is using skateboarding to help teach peace and personal empowerment to the children of Afghanistan, is now building out a skatepark/classroom facility that will include “rooms for launguage and music classes,” according to a story in The Toronto Star.
The organization in October asked the Canadian government for $5,000 and was given $15,000. The German embassy has invested $140,000 and Denmark has contributed $125,000. Percovich has raised enough to build a 1,750-square-metre indoor skate park, a $200,000 steel-roofed building that will be completed this August. He hopes to attract hundreds of children and teenagers.
But it’s not all happiness. Some see the school as teaching a “western indulgence” and one girl has been reportedly beaten by her brothers for skateboarding.
[Link: The Toronto Star]
by The Editors on June 8, 2009
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC will be hosting an exhibit on skateboarding in the Native American culture titled Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America, according to a story on Native Times.
Ramp it Up celebrates the vibrancy, creativity, and controversy of American Indian skate culture. Skateboarding combines demanding physical exertion with design, graphic art, filmmaking, and music to produce a unique and dynamic culture. One of the most popular sports on Indian reservations, skateboarding has inspired American Indian and Native Hawaiian communities to host skateboard competitions and build skate parks to encourage their youth.
San Diego’s Pala Band, home of the Pala Skate Park, will be a co-sponsor of the opening on July 2, 2009.
Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in Native America, June 12, 2009–September 13, 2009, NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC
[Link: Native Times]
by The Editors on June 7, 2009

Any who grew up skating in late 70s had visions of Dogtown in their heads. While we may have drawn the Dogtown cross on a few walls in our parent’s suburban home we never took the idea as far as this crew from Idaho, according to a story in the Idaho Statesman.
In 1976, a group of Boise teens were reading the Dogtown Articles and were drawn to the energy featured in the photographs. Among them were Mike Neal, Mitch York, Mike Fortin, Ian Smith, Brian Schroeder and Bob Harper (pictured above). . . .These teens formed a team sponsored by Budget Tapes and Records and radio station KWZ. “We tagged ourselves the Budget/Z Boiz,” said Harper, now 47, who lives in the southeastern Idaho town of Preston and still has a passion for skateboarding. “We read Skateboarder Magazine and we were influenced by what was going on,” he said.
Its a nice reminder that the geography may be different, but in skateboarding the story is usually the same. For the rest from these skateboarding spudmen follow the link.
[Link: Idaho Statesman]
by The Editors on June 6, 2009
Luckily for aging pro vert dogs like Andy MacDonald, there always seem to be companies like eyewear maker VedaloHD ready to thrown down sponsorship in a market they seemingly know nothing about.
“I was surprised at how crisp and sharp everything looked the first time I tried a set of VedaloHD’s. I didn’t think a pair of sunglasses could make such a difference.”
We’re thinking the most surprising thing about this deal is the paycheck.
[Link: VedaloHD]
by The Editors on June 5, 2009
by The Editors on June 4, 2009
by The Editors on June 4, 2009
After reportedly eating some “mushrooms” Jereme Rogers “pulled off his boxer shorts about 6:40 a.m. Monday and climbed onto the roof of the two-story house he shares with roommates” in Redondo Beach, California and began preaching naked from his rooftop, according to a story in the Daily Breeze.
Redondo Beach police Lt. Jim Acquarelli climbed about 20 to 30 feet to the roof, where he found Rogers yelling and screaming. Acquarelli said Rogers’ roommates told him that he had ingested the hallucinogenic drug. . . .Rogers ran back and forth around the roof’s perimeter, sitting down at the edge with his back to the street. “He would have fragmented, interrupted conversations with people that weren’t there,” Acquarelli said.
After using a conversation to get close the two officers grabbed Rogers and “sent him to County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for 72-hour observation. He was not arrested but possibly could face charges later.”
[Link: Daily Breeze via Skatedaily.net]