by The Editors on July 2, 2008
You’ve have to go back all the way to Tigerbeat photos of Leif Garrett on a skateboard to come up with someone with the ability to drive teen girls wild like Cryin’ Ryan Sheckler. And USA Today is all over the story.
He also has become a teen heartthrob who attracts hordes of squealing, screaming female fans to his competitions and public appearances. “I think of myself as a skateboarder first and a guy on TV second,” he said in an interview after the June 19-22 Dew Tour Panasonic Open in Baltimore, where the crowds of girls seeking his autograph were so huge, organizers had to post signs near other athletes’ tables reading “Not Ryan Sheckler.”
Confession: we watch Life of Ryan religiously. So we know what they’re talking about. Okay, not really.
[Link: USA Today]
by The Editors on July 2, 2008
Tracker Larry’s retro-craze marches with two more reissue decks from Lester Kasai, and our personal favorite, current Sole Technology web content maker Gary Scott Davis. As Skate and Annoy’s Kilwag says:
Me, I’m waiting for the Tracker Man watch reissues. (No, I’m not.) Available at Tracker Trucks. I hope those boards turn… Yes, I’m phoning it in today.
We like the GSD model because it holds up well to board throwing meltdowns. At least that’s what we’ve heard.
[Link: Skate and Annoy]
by The Editors on July 2, 2008
And the latest in Billabong’s run to soak up every solid brand in the US comes news that the company has purchased Sector 9 for and undisclosed sum.
Queensland-based Billabong expects the business to add about 2% to group sales, implying the business generates $25 million to $30 million in sales.
“Sector 9’s products, primarily its longboards, really differentiate it from other brands in the boardsports channel and have appeal to surfers, skateboarders and the broader youth market,” Billabong chief executive Derek O’Neill said.
Steve Lake, Dennis Telfer and co-owner Dave Klimkiewicz will continue on with what we’re guessing are nice looking buyouts for increasing sales down the road. Watchout, Burton.
[Link: The Age]
by The Editors on July 1, 2008
The new ad campaign for the Summer X Games features an evil overlord named Darkmane (a featured member at Vitalskate.com, way to go Brad) who wants to destroy the X Games and convince people not to watch them. His plan, ironically, is to kill all the creativity involved with the X Games athletes by creating rules and regulations and forcing all athletes to wear uniforms.
The X Games universe it about to get the proverbial beat down Darkmane style. I will crush originality at the X games with conformity and these new heavily starch heather gray athletic uniforms.
Aside from the fact that ESPN already did Darkmane’s job for him years ago and the reality that the athletes are wearing uniforms more corporately emblazoned than a NASCAR racecar, we don’t really get what The Martin Agency was going after with this campaign.
Maybe being based in the action sports mecca of Richmond, Virginia has a little something to do with their misguided sense of pseudo insider irony, but they seem to have forgotten that this event is one of the least creative, most corporately controlled sporting events this side of the WWE. And to point that out to kids in advertising messages seems, well, almost retarded.
Then again, if the whole point of the Darkmane ads is to discredit and make fun of any form of credible judging or authentic competition in the minds of the audience and just let the event producers choose winners based on which athletes have the highest Q score, then maybe, just maybe Darkmane is genius advertising.
Either way, the guy’s got us convinced: we’re not watching.
by The Editors on July 1, 2008
This is how far our relationship with Tony Hawk has slid. We’re about to quote a United Press International report that quotes People.com as saying that. . . yes Lhotse has given birth to a baby girl.
Hawk’s wife Lhotse gave birth to Kadence Clover Hawk Monday at Scripps Memorial Hospital Monday, the athlete’s publicist told People.com.
For those tracking the stats this is Tony’s first girl. His fourth child. He has three sons from two former wives. From the video clips we’ve seen of Riley this girl is going to have skills. We couldn’t be happier for T.
[Link: UPI.com]
by The Editors on July 1, 2008
Okay, so what if the Burton and DC stores on Melrose have been a little as one person described them “crickets.” We know there was a ramp there for the opening party, then no ramp for the next party, and now, according to the website the LAist.com the roof, the roof, the roof is all ramped.
This isn’t a skate-park, and access to the ramp will be limited to who-ever the skate manager says can skate it. (Does he take bribes?) For the most part they intend on having Burton employees and Burton’s pro skateboarders doing their thing on it.
Maybe after we apologize for all the bad things we’ve said, they’ll let us up on the roof. We’ll get back to you on that.
[Link: The LAist]
by The Editors on July 1, 2008
A while back there was a story about a New York radio host whose fiance (Lynsi Smigo) had reportedly made a sex tape with Bam Margera. The story, which was printed in the New York Post (later removed from the website) turned out to be completely false. Now, Ms Smigo is suing the New York Post for $10 million.
Lynsi Smigo, who is engaged to Gregg (Opie) Hughes of the raunchy “Opie & Anthony Show,” accused the paper of trashing her in a Page Six item that claimed she and MTV wildman Bam Margera starred in a steamy X-rated romp.
The paper, which was fed the vicious rumor by frequent gossip page tipster Chaunce Hayden, published a correction last month acknowledging that the April 23 item was bogus, that Smigo has never even met Margera and that Hayden’s tip was “entirely incorrect.”
Where ever Bam goes the money just seems to start piling up.
[Link: New York Daily News]
by The Editors on June 30, 2008
by The Editors on June 30, 2008
Apparently, the latest new craze in Kabul is not Kite Running. It’s skateboarding, according to a story in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Skateboarding is the latest teen craze to hit Kabul. It was started by three Australians who see it as a way to help young Afghans and redefine the way rich foreigners interact with them.
“They’re born naturals,” said Oliver Percovich, watching a dozen kids whiz around the fountain outside an upmarket restaurant. “They’ve got more balance than Western kids, mainly because they’re not scared to fall and get up again.”
Oddly, the three Aussies have called their skateboarding introduction project “skateistan.” Click the link for more on how skateboarding is changing lives in Afganistan.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on June 20, 2008
Thanks to chaotic traffic in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta police will soon start patrolling on skateboards.
Traffic police on skateboards will began patrolling the Indonesian capital from July 1, the Koran Tempo newspaper reported on Friday. . . . The city’s traffic police chief, Dua Sutirto, said police had hired a professional skateboarder to teach a team of 20 young police officers. He believes that skateboards will be able to get traffic police to any congested road in Jakarta much faster than cars or motorbikes.
We love skateboarding cops.
[Link: Russian News Agency]
You’ve have to go back all the way to Tigerbeat photos of Leif Garrett on a skateboard to come up with someone with the ability to drive teen girls wild like Cryin’ Ryan Sheckler. And USA Today is all over the story.
