Kane Stewart, son of San Clemente, California’s longboard shaping icon Bill Stewart, is doing lead vocals in a band with his cousin Brad Shultz (of Cage The Elephant) called Plastic Visions. Their debut EP dropped on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 and this is their first single. It’s called Kamikaze and it sounds pretty good, like The Pixies. Watch the edit and you’ll see.

Real Skateboards co-founder Jim Thiebaud has partnered up with the guys from Green Day on a skateboard collaboration that will help raise funds for the Children’s Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, according to a story in the New York Daily News.

“It’s a true collaboration with Green Day,” Thiebaud told the Daily News. “I’ve been friends with Billie Joe for more than 15 years. I grew up in Berkeley and Oakland. When you were a punk rocker or a skateboarder, you stuck out, so you got to know everyone in the scene.” . . Mimicking the graphics for Green Day’s latest, multi-album release, “Uno!,” “Dos!,” and “Tré!,” Real is issuing custom skateboards that the company will sell in skate shops and online. Proceeds will go to Children’s Hospital.

For the rest of the great story behind a group of really good guys, click the link.

[Link: NY Daily News & Green Day]

Today (April 30, 2013), on iTunes Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals released a special version of Jah Work to help support the family of Australian Almost Skateboards pro Lewis Marnell who died in January 2013 from diabetes complications. Here’s what Almost’s Luis Cruz says:

Lewis had left his guitar with me so he had something to play when he was in the US. I had forgotten he left it. One day, Ben Harper was visiting me and noticed the guitar. When Ben and I started talking about it, we thought it would be cool for him to make a song using Lewis’ guitar. With debt looming over Lewis’s funeral, Ben decided to get his original band back together and make a song for Lewis. All proceeds of the song will go to helping the Marnell family with all funeral costs.

Ben Harper is a good man. Click the link to buy the song, if you’re outside the US click here for the international version. Continue reading ‘Jah Work: A Ben Harper Tribute to Lewis Marnell’

This Norwegian Skier Remix has had us busting up all morning. Skiers are so funny. And so is Pierre.

[Link via Board As Fuck]

JP Walker with help Finnish rappers Rico and Chebaleba put out a little rhyme to “a remix of Pökötti” and it’s not all that bad. But the crew at Yobeat has decided it’s time to start a snowboard rap battle, so they lobbed a spit back JP’s way. This is it!

Makua Rothman got to drag Rihanna around on the back of his Kawasaki watercraft recently. Apparently, Rihanna likes “jet skis” according to the Daily Mail.

The Diamonds In The Sky star showed off her bikini body as she indulged in her favourite pastime, jet-skiing, with pro surfer Makua Rothman. . .The pop star was seen holding onto the back of a jet-ski as Rothman sped around the Hawaiian waters. . . Wearing a rash vest, orange and pink bikini bottoms, and a life vest, Rihanna beamed as she went on the wild ride.

Not bad work if you can get it. For the reverse angle, follow the jump.

[Link: Daily Mail] Continue reading ‘Makua Rothman + Rihanna On A Jet Ski’

It’s always good to check out Tony Hawk interviews. This is a long one at 26 minutes, however, you might want to watch on through at least until Tony gets his water glass refilled. “That just happened,” Tony says. Pharrell says, “Yep.”

Andrew Santos shot his friends at Grouse Mountain and then Kaz Yamamura turned the sounds captured into some pretty nice beats. Check it and you’ll see what we mean.

[Link: Reddit]

Black Flag songwriter and SST Records founder Greg Ginn has reportedly teamed up with Mike Vallely on a new band called Good for You, according to a post on Punknews.org.

The band, dubbed Good for You, recorded their debut at Ginn’s Casa Destroy Studios in Taylor, TX. It’s called Life is Too Short to Not Hold a Grudge and is due out February 26, 2013 via SST Records. The two first collaborated when Mike performed the entirety of My War for shows with a band featuring Ginn, Dez Cadena, Dale Nixon and Ducket.

Depending on the your personal music tastes, you may like it. Follow the jump and take a listen of their first single, Hanging Around (Like a Fucking Piñata) Continue reading ‘Mike Vallely + Greg Ginn = Good For You’

The official cause of death for Stacy Peralta’s 22-year-old son Austin on November 21, 2012 has not been stated publicly, and the LA County Corner’s office won’t release their report until later this month, but that hasn’t stopped the LA Weekly from covering the jazz piano prodigy’s last night behind the keyboard and the rest of his life with a profile that is well worth reading.

The last song Peralta played that night, Nov. 20, 2012, was Charles Mingus‘ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” He tore into the tribute to jazz great Lester Young, for which Joni Mitchell later wrote lyrics. (“You know someone great has gone/The sweetest swinging music man…”) Natasha Agrama, who was singing, later said Peralta’s playing on that piece left her fundamentally altered.

Our thoughts remain with the Peralta family. We wish them continued strength and peace in the New Year.

[Link: LA Weekly]