The “do a documentary about yourself” virus seems to be turning into a epidemic. In the past it appeared that documentarians would select a person, event, or topic and create a documentary with or without cooperation of the subject. These days it seems that the best way to turn up a career is to create a documentary about yourself. Count in the Bones Brigade on the turning up the heat on the past.
On Monday, November 29th at Los Angeles International Airport, seven individuals that have had an extreme influence on skateboarding sat down to discuss work on a documentary of their experience. They met at the Encounter restaurant in the middle of the airport to begin work on this monumental film. . . Stacy wrote, “Those skaters known as the Bones Brigade are now old enough to take a look back. At a time in the 80’s when many people were mourning the second death of skateboarding, the Bones Brigade through passion, drive, creativity and a surprising sense of teamwork redefined the sport for their time and the future”.
People write autobiographies all the time, so there’s really no reason for us to be down on Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Mike McGill, Rodney Mullen, Tommy Guerrero and Stacy Peralta for making a film about how great they were, because it’s true—they were great. We’d just appreciate it more if someone else was saying it.
After 35 years in downtown Encinitas Mike McGill has moved his legendary McGill’s Skate Shop a couple blocks inland and sandwiched it right between Lazy Acres supermarket and Jersey Mikes at the northwest corner of Encinitas Blvd and the 5 (as they say in SoCal). The perfect spot if you’re looking for an organic salad to compliment your corporate sub and Birdhouse Skateboard. It was also the perfect spot for a 35th anniversary party on March 18, 2023 with most of the Bones Brigade and whole host of skate heads.
Everyone was there and thanks to Malik Jones we can see it all: Lance Mountain, Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Hosoi, Stevie Cab, Kevin Staab, Grant Brittain, Paul “The Professor” Schmitt, Don Brown, Steve Van Doren, Alphonzo Rawls, and apparently of dumpload of professional autograph hunters doing business.
It’s newsies time. Obviously, this list is overloaded with Olympic content since that’s what snowboarding is up to right now. And Shaun White is the biggest news from Chinaland. Shaun, and the terrible judging. But, oddly, few outlets wrote about that. Censorship? Probably not, but you know the journalists who are visiting China and hope to stay and/or return to the country don’t want to upset the PRC media watchers. Click the link for the list. And get going. This is enough to make it look like you’re working for the rest of the afternoon!
Yet again we have gone through all the action sports headlines so you don’t have to and distilled them down into a long list of stories you might be interested in. If not, no worries. It was good exercise for our copy and paste fingers. Never want to let those keyboard skills get on the fade. Follow the jump and enjoy.
This is the list of the news stories we didn’t have time to read, comment on, and/or pass on to you in a more visually pleasing format. Follow the link and enjoy! If you read something you like, leave a comment. It’s certainly okay to speak your mind every now and again.
One of these shoes is Tony Hawk’s latest designed Proto the other is an old skate shoe from the end of the 80s.
Tony Hawk’s signature shoe, the Lakai Proto, is available now in Lakai retailers around the world. The Proto is inspired by Tony’s creative impact on skateboarding. It is designed and developed to provide support and comfort for everyday skateboarding. This limited Powell colorway is a nod to Tony’s most iconic footage during the Bones Brigade era.
We’re just having a rough time figuring out which is which. Maybe Michael Jordan could help?
Vans has partnered with long-time global skate team legend and musician Ray Barbee on some new colorways of the Half Cab Pro and Old Skool Pro.
These Barbee-inspired Half Cab Pro and Old Skool Pros are dressed in deluxe emerald and burgundy suede uppers with white cotton laces and contrast stitching. Showcasing never before seen Vans graphics from the early 90’s, these functional Pro Classics highlight an elephant motif liner as an homage to Barbee’s friend and fellow Vans family member, Salman Agah, whose original pro board featured the graphic.
Vans really are the only skate shoes you’ll even need, but new colors are always good. For the official word from Vans, please follow the jump.
Lately, we’ve been right on the verge of loving print again. It’s been a while. We’re waiting for the last two three corporate action sports magazines to either shut down or get sold off and then it will be time to fire up the newsprint romance once again. Until then, check out the latest issue of Juice.
Juice Magazine’s Surf Skate Style 75th Edition is rolling out worldwide at 148 pages deep with 100+ interviews, and features Dogtown skate legend and style master, Scott Oster, on the cover, captured by internationally celebrated photographer, Arto Saari, in tribute to the timeless tradition of Surf Skate Style.
These pages might even get your fingers dirty. Remember that? For the official word from Juice, please follow the jump. And if you’d like to subscribe, click here.
The hype surrounding The Bones Brigade will likely continue well past the time they all become bones, but that’s okay because we never get tired of hearing the old stories of the crew that changed skateboarding forever. Here’s this story:
In 1987, Powell Peralta released The Search for Animal Chin, its third video. In it, the Bones Brigade—Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, and Mike McGill—embarked on a journey to find Won Ton “Animal” Chin, a mythical skater who had gone missing. The film concluded with the Bones Brigade skating what became known as the Chin ramp—a vert spine outfitted with an escalator, extensions, channels, a mini ramp on one of its decks, and a hidden tunnel. While it was said to be south of Guadalupe, in Mexico, between two junkyards, it was actually built in a field in Oceanside, California. The Bones Brigade skated it for a matter of days, in 1986, before it was torn down.
This past September, Tim Payne, who built the structure, quietly made his way to Woodward West, where he created a near-identical Chin ramp 30 years later. The original members of the Bones Brigade reunited at the camp for a series of sessions on perhaps the most famous vert ramp in skateboarding’s history.
With commentary from Payne and the skaters, the video above shows how it went down. This is 30 Years of Animal Chin.
Tony Hawk is a busy, generous man. And no where is this more evident than when you look at all the skateboard parks he’s helped build (500 so far). One of them is in Burlington, Vermont and Hawk travelled there last week to help celebrate the city’s newly named Andy “A-Dog” Williams Skatepark.
“It was an honor to be in Burlington for the A-Dog Skatepark naming ceremony and to skate with the locals,” said Tony Hawk. “We’re proud to have been involved with this project—it’s a great park that resulted from a strong grassroots effort from local advocates and a true commitment from the city. It also represents the 500th park to open with assistance from THF. Here’s to the next 500!”
For the official word from the Tony Hawk Foundation, please follow the jump.
Lately, we’ve been right on the verge of loving print again. It’s been a while. We’re waiting for the last 
