Randy Laybourne is opening a new collection of photographs today March 28, 2009 at Concepia in Friday Harbor, Washington. The show titled Going (flickr collection here) features images from Randy’s recent relocation/honeymoon trip from California to Canada. The opening party, which is also the grand opening of the gallery is today from 2-5 PM. If you can’t make it click here to watch the live camera feed.
The communications person at the Tigard, Oregon Police Department needs a raise. We hear a so many stories about cities and police departments having trouble with skateboarding and yet, none of them ever do anything to promote cooperation. In Tigard the police department decided to host a skateboard competition this Sunday, March 29, 2009, The Tigard Police Skateboard Challenge 2009, according to a story in the Tualatin Times.
“It’s a chance for us to reach out to them and build a better relationship — and hopefully be viewed differently by that group of kids,” said Sergeant Mike Eskew, the officer in charge of youth services. . . While he has never had a bad experience with a skateboarder himself, Eskew acknowledges the animosity traditionally built into skateboarder/police officer relationship. . . . “I think we’re even targets of scorn on video games,” he said.
How sad is it that this “no duh” action on the part of a local police department seems like genius public relations in a world otherwise filled with incompetance? Hopefully, more police departments will take note.
What would an Ipath shoe be without a little hemp? The Darius classic boat-shoe stylings features saddle stitched hemp, canvas, a shock absorbing mid sole, and not surprisingly, a secret stash pocket. This is a shoe even some of us Vans fans might wear.
The idea behind the Ultimate Boarder event is a cool one: a contest to decide who is the best boardsports tri-athlete. Problem is the sports have become so specialized that no one anyone cares about will be able well. The big name players event organizers list in their press announcements all either have one really weak sport, or are just not that great at everything.
Last year’s winner Aaron Astorga is undoubtedly a bad ass and we care about him immensely, but we all know what’s going to happen this year: some random 19-year-old shred dog from Ventura or HB is going to win the whole thing. And maybe that’s the way this thing should go. It can be just like a triathlon with 1,200 entries and a beer garden at the finish. Get some participants involved. The organizers have never been afraid of a little main stream sponsorship.
One of Athen’s Greece based architectural firm Archivirus Architecture clients requested a “skatetable habitat,” according to a story on Arplustest.com.
According to architect Athanasia Psaraki, the Ramp House is a project which tries to reconsider and redefine the living space. The result of the client’s request is a curved form interior, which “set the whole house as well as the inhabitant’s life, into motion”. . . .It is intended to be a ‘ramp house’ and not a ‘house with a ramp’. Straight lines are curved and the flat surface becomes a ramp or a bowl. Basic house elements such as the fireplace and storage units are hidden inside the ramp forms.
Okay. Next time we’re in Athens we’re finding this place.
Shaun Hover is spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world with his skateboard, according to a story on Homtownlife.com.
“In L.A., there are so many skateboarders. I skate down the sidewalk and see guys skating and start talking to them. It makes it easy, I guess. Sometimes I feel like I’m cheating,” the Rochester Hills native said with a laugh. “When I have a board, it makes it more comfortable to talk with someone on the street because skateboarding is such a street sport.”. . In Thailand, we were going around to different villages, getting to know people, teaching the kids English,” he said. “When I’d pull out my skateboard, everyone would come and gather around. They were fascinated … it made them more interested in what we were offering.”
Love the passion, but nothing blows a good skate session faster than when someone starts preaching. But then hopefully Shaun is a little stealthier than that.
The bird-napping occurred about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday as Gordo – a green Malaysian parrot from Guatemala – played in his cage on the front porch of his owner’s Bess Street home. . . “My mother was at home and she heard somebody trying to break into the cage,” said Fred Mirales. “When she went out there, the guy was already (running away).” . . .Gordo has become a popular city figure, said Mirales, who has had the 30-year-old parrot for about a decade.
Just one of the downsides of fame, apparently.
[Editors’ Note: We’re having a hard time believing that we just posted this, but shore ’nuff there it is.]
Filmmaker Jared Eberhardt once told us that there are guys of a certain age in this industry who, no matter how hard they try, always end up wearing Vans shoes. They show up at weddings, funerals, and baptisms in suits. . . but on their feet it’s Vans.
Many have had access to ass-loads of free shoes over the years but they always end up throwing on a pair of Vans on their way out of the house. The Vans Off The Wall book seems built especially for them, errr, or us.
Vans Off The Wall tells the multi-generational story of the community that encompasses boards, bikes, art, music, and street culture, as well as the iconic shoes keeping it all together. With oral histories from Tony Alva, Joel Tudor, Steve Caballero, John Cardiel, Geoff Rowley, and others Vans: Off The Wall provides an intimate visually stunning account of how the company had changed the face of pop culture since its founding in 1966.
Self-promotional? Yes. Written by Vans Marketing VP Doug Palladini? Yep, but we’re not going to let either of those things quell our enthusiasm. That’s how much we’re looking forward to it. Vans says the book drops on June 1, 2009 but Amazon says they’re shipping May 1.
Broslist.com mixes the classified ads of Craigslist with user generated content community functionality that seems to be loaded on every site these days. Post a profile, post a video, and then post a listing to sell your old skate deck. It’s all there on the broslist. We don’t know how popular the rest of the site will be, but if the classified section can hit critical mass it could be a great resource for snow, surf, skate gear trading.
Here’s what Mike Piscitelli posted on Club Mumble:
These challenging economic times inspired a few of us to build a classified website that would enable surfers to buy, sell and trade used surf gear, find cheap places to stay all over the world, get rides to the beach, and land work. Over the course of 12 months we worked with a talented group of web programmers to createBroslist.com, a simple but thorough classified website that addresses the needs of surfers on all levels. Unlike craigslist, we are your bros.
The site has only been up for a couple hours, so don’t expect to find much now, but if your garage looks anything like ours, broslist.com may offer some kind of salvation from surf, snow, skate overload.
