California Skateparks owner Joe Ciaglia nearly gets run over by his own “world’s largest skateboard” while dorking around with it at Woodward. . .
[Link: Push.ca]
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After all his talk about how competitive skateboarding has never been done correctly, it was a bit of shock to find out on Friday, (July 2, 2010) that Rob Dyrdek had signed a two-year DC/Monster Energy Drink Street League deal with ESPN, the company many blame for doing things wrong in skateboarding for years.
In an interview with ESPN/Action’s Micah Abrams (Dyrdek is already working the hype machine) Rob explains exactly why a long-term television deal is important for skateboarding and the Street League.
I want to build an elite property, and TV is a part of that. It needs to be built with partners who believe in the long term; it couldn’t just be someone who wanted to put it on TV. That’s why I chose a multiyear deal as opposed to just going out and getting the thing on TV.
Read the rest of the interview for the details of P-Rod and Chris Cole not appearing in the X Games, but skating on ESPN for the Street League. The ESPN TV deal seems a little messy, but guess those are the kinds of deals to make if the goal is turning skateboarding into Supercross? One one thing we can be certain of–Dyrdek will get paid.
Click the link for the interview or follow the jump for the entire Street League/ESPN press release.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
[click to continue…]
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On June 12, 2010 a 17-year-old Nova Scotia skateboarder allegedly grabbed on to the side of Toyota RAV 4 towing along while another 17-year-old was behind the wheel. Now, nearly a month later one teen is dead (the skateboarder died on June 23, 2010 from serious head injuries) and another is charged with criminal negligence, according to a story on CBC.ca.
“We know that the person that was on the skateboard was somehow clinging on to the vehicle and at some point in time an incident took place and the person on the skateboard must have fallen,” MacDonald said Friday.
After all this it is amazing to us that skateboarding videos still show skaters getting towed into things.
[Link: CBC.CA]
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A 19-year-old surfer who out near Pismo Beach, California’s Silver Shoals was nipped on the foot by a shark, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says . . . he was out of the water with a cut on his left foot when fire personnel arrived. . . The surfer described the shark as approximately four feet long, brown in color with dark spots.
Officials kept the beach open, but posted some warnings to give other surfers something to worry about between sets.
[Link: San Jose Mercury News]
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The old Corona Del Mar Becker Surf Shop is on it’s way to becoming a Hobie retail store, but a mural that was recently completed on the side of the building has been met with some criticism, according to a story on Corona Del Mar Today.
Vandals covered a brand-new mural with four-letter words, five-letter words and pejoratives . . . The mural, which was completed less than two weeks ago, is part of a makeover of the old Becker Surf Shop. Painters spent days on the project, which turned out so well that families had begun using it as a backdrop to snap photos of their kids.The graffiti was on all areas of the wall and also on the front of the store. By 9 a.m., however, a worker was using rags and cleaning solvents to remove the paint.
Apparently, someone thought new colors and geometric designs were very “gay.”
[Link: Corona del Mar Today]
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According to a post on Fiji Broadcasting Corporation website Fiji’s Tourism Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has announced by degree that:
Surfing areas around the country are now open to anyone who wants to use them under the new Regulation of Surfing Areas Decree. . . In the past some top surfing areas were restricted by hotels or resorts that had leases over the area and imposed payment and conditions for their use. The Decree cancels any existing instrument of title, including any lease or license – without payment of any compensation.
Sayed-Khaiyum hasn’t decided exactly when this new decree is going into effect so don’t start packing yet. We can say this–-having surfed Tavarua’s waves while the entire Fijian parliament was being held hostage at gunpoint for 58 days by George Speight, we don’t think Cloudbreak and Restaurants are in any danger of getting barged anytime soon.
In other Fiji news Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (who is also reportedly “responsible for the Justice Ministry and Attorney General’s Office”) has also decreed that every person in Fiji who has a phone must provide a photograph of themselves along with all personal information or their phone service will be terminated.
As we’ve heard several times, “All that is happening on the other side of the country.”
[Link: FBC and Fiji Times via The Surfer’s Journal]
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As of tomorrow DC Shoes, the brand built in San Diego’s North County, will reportedly be officially vacated from its Vista, California headquarters and officially moved to the Huntington Beach offices of its corporate parent Quiksilver.
It is definitely the end of an era, then again, DC Shoes is just one more brand in the Quik mix, right?
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Throw enough hot girls at a product and the world will buy most anything. Volcom eyewear Electric Visual shows exactly how it’s done. . .
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We’ve been following Sal’s Twitter feed and know he is in South Africa, but being neither soccer fans nor TV viewers we didn’t really know what he was doing there. Thankfully, the South Africa’s Sowetan has filled us in a little.
Sal Masekela, son of legendary jazz legend Hugh Masekela, is in the country on assignment for his employers – American sports broadcaster ESPN. . . . His gig covers off-beat stories about South Africa – from profiling Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena and exploring grassroots soccer to the impact of HIV-Aids. . . But probably his most prized project is a 10-part documentary series with his equally famous father Hugh. . . Together they explore the people, culture and inspiring landscapes of South Africa. The older Masekela relives memories of growing up under apartheid. This is the first time they have collaborated on a major project.
Guess that explains it. . .
[Link: Sowetan]
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Three New York art galleries (Nyehaus, Friedrich Petzel Gallery and Metro Pictures) are hosting a “survey of surf-themed art” curated by Tim Nye and Jacqueline Miro titled Swell, according to a post on Art Daily.
Dave Hickey, in a recent essay writes: “In its initial vogue, these works spoke directly to a new kind of artistic decorum—less aggressive than pop, less ideological than Minimalism, and less maidenly than post-painterly abstraction. . .
Thankfully, the curators were in tune enough to include the work of Sandow Birk, Thomas Campbell, and Herbie Fletcher in with all the really old guys (and some dead) artists.
The show runs July 1 – August 6, 2010. Click the link for all the info.
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