The highlight of the day (aside from a live performance by Jane’s Addiction) was when philanthropist Charles Annenberg announced a special gift of $275,000 fro Explore.com and the Annenberg Foundation to finish the Watts Skatepark Project. Oh, and there were apparently some “celebrity” included on the 1,000 person guest list.
Celebrities including Tony Hawk, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Johnny Knoxville, Chuck Liddell, Leeza Gibbons, Arsenio Hall, Ben Harper, Patrick Dempsey, BMX legend Mat Hoffman and legendary skaters Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain, and Mike Vallely enjoyed the interactive booths while waiting for the stage and vert ramp to be dried by crews.
It’s not a party until Arsenio Hall shows up. Guests said it pretty much rained all day, but that didn’t stop Tony and friends from putting on a demo on the vert ramp or from doing great work for skateboarding.
Volcom announced today that they’ve purchased the distributor responsible for their brand in Spain beginning in July 2011.
“This move enables us to service our accounts directly and further build the Volcom brand in this important and influential territory,” said Richard Woolcott, Volcom’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Historically we have been successful in growing market share in territories where we have assumed direct control, and this initiative directly supports our expansion plans in Europe.”
This means Volcom is running it’s own show in France, the UK, Switzerland, and Spain. It’s always better to do things yourself. Bumping things over is going to cost the company approximately $150,000 this quarter.
After competing in the O’Neill Coldwater Classic in Tofino, British Columbia (and exiting in the round of 16), Australian surfer Mitch Coleborn got into a little trouble. He was reportedly arrested for indecent exposure on Friday morning October 15, 2010, according to a story in The Province.
The 23-year-old man, from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, was in custody until Friday night after allegedly exposing himself to adults and children about a block from Tofino’s Wickaninnish Elementary School early that morning. . . The police attended the area and arrested the man. He remained in custody until late Friday evening, according to Cpl. Andrew Waddell.
Mountie Waddell explained that “alcohol and possibly drug use” played a part in the incident. Coleborn’s passport was taken and his tentative court date is November 1, 2010 according to the story. Looks like Tofino is not the best place to go nutters.
Our friends at Valahalla Design & Conquer have created an epic Halloween shirt perfect for any late-night haunt. Titled Full Moon On Abby Road the shirts feature “Tut & Drac & Frank & Wolfman out on a moonlit stroll through London, England.”
The design by Scott Hultgren is printed on black ringspun / combed cotton shirts and available in all sizes for $22 (use the code “boardistan” and get 20% off). Click the link to check them out.
When we first mentioned Skateistan on our website back in June of 2008 it was just three Australian skateboarders who wanted to help improve he lives of Afghanistan’s children by teaching them to skateboard in an empty Kabul fountain. Since then Skateistan has grown to become an international organization (NGO) with a large indoor skateboard park in Kabul, an award winning documentary film, and a school with nearly 300 Afghan kids (boys and girls) enrolled.
Dvidshub.com checked in with Skateistan recently to cover a skateboard donation by members of the International Security Assistance Force and delivered a story of hope through skateboarding from one of the roughest cities in the world.
“From the very start, kids from many different ethnic and social backgrounds were being brought together through skateboarding, and Oliver had the idea to create a school where education was offered alongside skateboard lessons, with the hope that trust-building and self-confidence would be the result,” Percovich said. . . “It was the motivation from the kids that got Oliver thinking about doing something on a larger scale with skateboarding, through using the activity to bring kids from all different backgrounds together and provide interactive education that would build a mini-community for youth in Kabul,” Bader said. “Those initial skate sessions were the foundations for Skateistan.”
San Diego’s Subtext Gallery will be hosting a “one-night only” showing of recent paintings by Otis B. (a.k.a. O) titled Black and Blue Just Like You on Saturday night October 23, 2010.
Inspired by the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock, Otis’ process is to paint (using only a black and blue palette) on transparency film. The original piece is then pressed onto the surface of various recycled surfaces, creating a one of a kind finished piece.
On Saturday October 16, 2010 450 skateboarders made the run down the length of New York City’s Broadway in the Broadway Bomb.
The “world’s most dangerous skateboard race” started at w 116th street by Riverside Park, and ended at the Charging Bull statue at Bowling Green. The race was started by three skaters in 2001 who challenged each other to skate the full length of Broadway to the bull, and not get killed in the process.
Paul de Gelder, the Royal Australian Navy diver who lost a hand and leg to a bull shark during training exercises in Sydney Harbour, is back on a surfboard thanks to his new leg, according to a story from Washington Today.
Once he had recovered from his wounds, Mr de Gelder returned to the waves on the northern beaches close to his Collaroy home. . . “I love being in the water. I wasn’t going to let the shark attack keep me out of the water,” said Mr de Gelder, who recently returned from New York where he and other shark attack victims lobbied the United Nations to curtail fishing practices that threaten sharks with extinction.
Those who doubted that Shaun White wouldn’t take over skateboarding the way he has snowboarding were taught a lesson on Sunday as Mr. White won his third consecutive Dew Tour Vert title.
It wasn’t enough to win the overall (that went to PLG) but it was enough to show that he plans on winning everything he enters from here on out. Thanks for playing, everyone else.
A man wanted in the Edmonton, Alberta homicide of a 20-year-old man apparently ran right out of his DC Shoes and RDS hat as he fled the scene, according to a story on Canoe.com.
Investigators late Friday released photos of the distinctive DC shoes and RDS ballcap found near 15908 98 St., hoping someone who knows the killer will recognized the items and contact police. . . The victim — Scott Shane Brown, 20 — identified by police on Friday, was on the lam in 2008 for parole violations and has a rap sheet that includes Fort McMurray gun crimes as well as a home invasion.
Brown was Edmonton’s 21 homicide of the year. Red Dragons.
