He actually has some footage in the Know the Ledge video that just came out. Check 48blocks.com for the video.

Love you Danny!

-Dom B

Also.  Working on an interview with this guy for the near future.  One of my favorite skateboarders and artists in S.F.  Le Croz.

-Dom B

-Dom B

Tim is now 30.  What a lame ass.

What did we do for Tim’s birthday?  Skated a tiny bench.  Might as well be turning 13.

-Dom B

So I broke down and actually bought the Girl Boxset. Goldfish through the Chocolate Tour with an extra dvd of random extras. I can’t get enough. How many times can you watch a video? Got me thinking. First video I ever got was back in the eighties, I’m guessing 87-88, called Curb Dogz. I’m pretty sure I randomly found it at pic and save. I guarantee it didn’t cost more than a couple bucks cause no way was Mom spending more than that on something silly like that. This was before I knew anything about the skateboard scene at all. I doubt I saw mags, probably knew Tony Hawk and McTwist and ollie. Copers were sick. I was having discussions about the value of lappers. I was riding a flourescent orange board from the swapmeet that said “locals only!” on top and “Skate or go home!” on the bottom. That was a step up from the Eagle graphic I previously had. Anyway, I couldn’t tell you a single person that was in Curb Dogz, but I can tell you I loved it. Launch ramps, street plants, on cars even, betties, teen shralpage. So great. This world I was looking at looked so great.

Sean Malto skates like a born legend. It is a thing to see. Really, this kid does not appear to be trying. Who are your favorites? Probably guys that don’t look like they are trying. Go look at the Euro tour footage on crailtap.

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YES

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAF1UnktnIw">

http://www.slapmagazine.com/new_site/billysgreatesthitspart1.mov

However, if you are 18 and younger you’ll love it. Find a way there, sneak in, score some prody, see some pros, catch some premieres, etc, etc. Do it now. You will never enjoy this event again.

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The Ocean Howell and Kenny Reed stuff in this is so good.

Saw two things yesterday that were kind of awesome. On the Slap magazine site there is a link to an interview with Isaac McKay Randozzi. I think that is how you spell it. Isaac lived two rooms away from Tim (and me unofficially for probably four months) in a house on 14th st in San Francisco. I am always stoked to see what he has been able to do with his photography. His stuff has gotten pretty great. The second thing I saw was a book called No Comply. I’m sure many of you know about this book as it came out in 2005, but I did not. The idea of the book is to have a group of skateboarders, from recognizable names to the unrecognizable name who has just been doing it forever, write short essays on the subject of the relationship between skateboarders and authority. What was particularly great was that as I scanned the list of contributors I ran across the names of Matt Derrick and Jeremiah Leibrecht. So great. If you have lived in, or just passed through San Francisco and have even once gone into dlxsf you know who Matt D is. Even if you don’t know who Matt D is you know the dude in deluxe with the mustache who thoroughly, very thoroughly, was able to answer any question you had. I don’t just mean “where is this spot?” kind of questions. I mean SF weather, team changes, what did that shape look like, who wrote that, what band is that, a five letter word for a feeling of imminent doom first letter z, kind of questions. Matt D holds it down. Jeremiah is another San Francisco buddy of Artform. Forever rolling around. Forever hyped to see you. I Rasta Miah is an SF staple.

What all of this made me think was how skateboarding pushes you into doing creative things. Really. If I think about the people I have known over the years that skate the overwhelming majority are engaged in or in the very least dabble in some kind of creative pursuit. It is almost expected. It is funny. The culture itself, and I mean the people as much as the ethic, pushes you into creative activity. I never expected to see Matt and Jeremiah’s name in the book, but I wasn’t shocked either. I don’t know if either guy considers themself a writer but somebody was willing to call upon both of them and they did it. I didn’t intend to be the filmer but someone needed to film and I am terrible at skating so I filmed. The footage needs to get edited so you figure out how to edit. Something needs to go up on the web site so you write it. Your friend is doing a zine so you contribute a picture.

Skateboarding forces you out into the world. In Matt D’s piece he pointed out that skateboarding is fundamentally a way to get from here to there. In getting there your go lots of places. You engage the life that you are rolling next to . When called upon to offer up some little gem of your experience, you’ve inevitably got alot to offer. This way of engaging a life in a fashion that is particular to those who have done it in large part through skating.

The point is all three of these guys felt that skateboarding pushed them to the particular endeavors they were involved in. It shaped their perspectives and actions. I agree it does.

Good job fellas. Stuff looked good.

Go check out Isaac’s interview.

The other night I went to a friends 31st birthday party. The group was essentially the crew I hung with in high school. All these guys skated at some point. None of them do anymore. Over the couple of hours I was there probably half my conversations revolved around skateboarding. It was pretty rad. It was like I was delivering a news report on current conditions in skating. Jason Dill? He’s doing this. Who rips? Daewon. You heard Little Tony (Cervantes) got on Zero? Yeah, dude he’s ripping. On and on. They were so psyched to hear Guy Mariano was in the middle of a “comeback”. Pretty rad. Got hit up for a couple of boards. A whole lot of “man I miss it”. Hopefully we can get these dudes out on a mini. So why’d you leave?

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When asked who was killing it Busenitz topped my list.

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Gotta be one of the best styles.
Easy and comfortable.

The point isn’t to give the dude’s history, but to point out what I think he had going for him. Jason always asked for what he wanted. Always. It’s funny. We had conversations about how Jason was always the one who ended up getting hooked up with stuff. Now I am talking about rolling around with a crew of kids that had no money. So the hook up was a serious topic of concern. Perfect example. Mike Santarossa was at a demo in Whittier. Mike Santarossa was a pretty big pro for Prime Skateboards. Switch three flips? Product toss. I am sitting on the curb watching this go down, avoiding the melee and probably thinking I was somehow above participation in such an event. I was pushing product not begging for it! What an idiot. But Jason wants this gear, just like I did, and he’s going to get it. But he doesnt’ jump in the crowd. Jason stands behind the bunch, makes eye contact with Mike Santarosa, and gives him a “what up?” look. Tees get tossed directly to him. Damn. Just one example. Point is, dude asked for what he wanted and it worked.very often.

Jason, I doubt you will ever read this, but if you do, I’m happy for you. Hope you’re getting what you wanted.

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Where we are now is much quieter. But the beleifs held on to about racial identities are still as damaging as those of the past. I’m kind of struggling to write this. I just want to say this: be careful of the attitudes and beliefs we hold onto about other peoples. How do we read the situations we see and the actions of others. I recently had a conversation with someone terribly upset that the hardworking middle-class neighborhood of her parent’s generation was going to be ruined by the sale of a house to two families. “And I hate to say it, but they were Mexican.” (her words) The equation in her mind was that these people were not the same hardworking, struggling kind of her parent’s generation. When we can’t recognize the simple truths about shared values between our communities and others we are already dangling our toes over the line of racism. It is painful. It was painful to have to defend a good hardworking family to someone who interpreted their actions as a flaw of their dna, or even their culture. I’m not so stupid that I don’t recongize there is nuance to this equation. She undoubtedly would not want any two families moving into one house. But the set of assumptions made about how these Mexicans would care for their home(i.e. not care for their home), and what this would mean for the neighborhood, do not reflect any kind of nuanced thinking. Ultimately she didn’t beleive that where these people wanted to go was toward a better life. She didn’t beleive that what they wanted for their kids was a safe neighborhood with access to education and opportunity. Their move in 2007 was different than her parents move in the 1970′s.

Be careful how you explain people to yourself. Be careful what you believe about Middle Easterners, Whites, Blacks…. The world is a great deal more complicated than dna. The things that emerge as differences between cultures are much less fundamental than the core values we all carry as human beings.

So I am at Skate Cafe one day and in walks this guy with a brand new Ray Barbee set up. Black, red and grey colors on the deck and matching black, red and grey Powell wheels. What were the bigger Powell wheels called? In typical kid fashion, I had to ask. “Can I see your board?” I wasn’t gonna take it outside. Laid this precious thing I’d been longing for down on the carpet, stepped to it, and cracked the biggest ollie I had ever ollied. Whoa. Looked at my buddies, to see if they’d seen. I couldn’t believe it. The perfect board. Ollied again, same thing. “Dude, I ollie so good on this board!” Now granted, this is all going on in the mind of an eleven year old, but it was happening. I wanted this board so bad. I thought about how perfect skating would be with it. Positive I could ollie 3 boards. Fer sher.
I thought and thought about this thing. Looked at every Patchwork deck that came by, and waited for the day. By the time b-day rolled around the Ray Barbee wasn’t at either of the shops my dad took me to. I got a Ron Chatman Experience deck instead. I never got the Ray board. I gotta search one out.

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Check out this article by one of the all time faves, Ocean Howell.
http://www.webdelsol.com/Topic/articles/04/howell.html

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The biggest reason to check out the episode is the reality altering skating of Rob White of La Mirada, California. Dude blew it out with one trick. Wallie feeble grind, yo? I’m saying. Your endless dedication to slappie tricks from Coast all the way to the big time does not go unnoticed. All of us here at Artform would like to congratulate you. On top of the world baby!

Congratulations to Jamel Robinson on the birth of his first son.

Welcome Danny and Aaron. I feel like you are prodigal sons coming home.

This happened a little over a week ago and I’ve been thinking about it since. Tim and myself rolled up to a ledge spot in Hollywood to find a transvestite homeless person posted up on the ledge and repacking his shopping cart. If you are familiar with the area between Sunset and Santa Monica you know the tranny ratio is high. So this dude is refolding clothes, taking items out of his countless plastic bags and reshuffling them to get the best fit. Needless to say I was immediately bummed but he was actually down the ledge enough that we could still hit it. You can only skate the ledge one way so no problem. Living in a place with a high homeless population tends to make a person somewhat invisible to the homeless. Having lived in San Francisco, where the homeless population is very visible and integrated into all crevices of the city, you feel like you are telling someone that you don’t have any change for them so often that you simply begin to ignore any person you may be walking past. You tend to get so good at this that eventually you stop noticing, or looking at, or acknowledging all but the few who yell and make themselves unavoidable. I can’t imagine what it does to a human brain to be ignored. Regardless of the causes or reasons for a homeless person’s situation, to be ignored day in and out has got to have consequences. So, I was ignoring this dude. He wasn’t asking for anything or making conversation, and out of practice neither was I. At one point I did notice Tim said hello to the guy. We kept skating. He finished his work and sat down to enjoy a cigarrette. We kept skating. The ledge was not grinding too well and I asked Tim if he had wax. He didn’t. We skated some more. About a minute or so after I had asked Tim for wax, as I passed by the homeless man he reached out offering me a candle. There was a second of confusion on my part. A split second of being unsure what this gesture was. Having had plenty of bad experiences with homeless folks who had lost their wits it has become easy to assume this is the category they all belong to, and in this second I was attempting to interpret this situation through that view. But obviously it wasn’t that. This guy was helping me out. Nobody asked him to but he was helping me out. I actually looked at the guys face. I don’t even think he said anything he just held out the giant red candle to me. I made sure it was ok and that he knew I was going to ruin his candle. He assured me it was ok. I waxed the ledge, returned the candle and tried to express to the guy how grateful I was, and how much he helped me out. I hope he felt I meant it. It is a terrible thing to be treated like something you are not. Gotta remember this one.

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One of the best ever.

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