376: Ian MacKaye on technology and the value of a good song : Shudder to Think Digital Download for Christmas please!

Ian MacKaye Dischord Office

Photo Amy Farina

Thanks to Jake Egolf for sending me this.

Great Interview with Ian MacKaye from CreativeLoafing.com. Some gems you will find:

Ian Makaye

Photo Jason Oliva

-The general impetus is to document something that’s important to you

-People ask me about starting labels all the time and the truth is that you have to write a good song.

-If you want people to remark upon your work than you have to do something remarkable.

-One of the benefits of the Internet is that you can find anything there, but the problem with the Internet is that you can find anything there.

-That’s the trap that people fall into, and they say to themselves what’s the best way to promote music. Well, the best way is to write good music.

-Essentially that’s how I try to live period; think about a situation and try to come up with a creative way to navigate it.

-you don’t have to do things the way people tell you to do them. That’s the quickest way to bitterness and surrender.

You get the drift click Here to read the whole interview and get Ian’s take on technology today.

Which leads me to Dischord records and:

Shudder to Think’s first record. I dig Shudder saw all their DC shows even took a university level photography course with Chris Mathews at the time of its release…1989! I had a taped version from the vinyl that I eventually wore out and have not been able to find this record for anything less then 3 figures on Ebay ever since…Enter Dischord/Sammich who apparently without telling me remastered it and added the first 7″ and you can buy it on vinyl, cd or digital download…Merry Christmas indeed One of the all time great bands and their all time great record!

If you dont know who Shudder to Think is Let me Google that for YOU (Seriously click that for some internet 2009 wizardry, you’ll be doing it to before the day is out)

So I am adding this to the Master List:

Shudder to Think Curses Spella Voodoo Mooses from Dischord (this is a seriously good record)

-Tony Hawk RIDE (check out the contest!!)

-The House of Steam Tee Shirt…LOL

-ONE CHOICE (Rob Mertz) Vinyl/with Digital Download

-CF Dan Wilkes Guest Model

-Anything from DeathMarch Skates

-Sublime Wheels on a Miramar Longboard

-A photo of Neil Blender skating The Animal Chin Ramp (More of a Xmas Wish, Although we have confirmation he did skate !)

-A Pulaski Park, Washington DC Tech Deck…or a Prototype for a “Barn” Tech Deck

374: 1991 SUAS Houston TX BBC Footage: Buster Halterman and Darren Menditto Killing it…Oh yeah Chris Miller, Lance Mountain,Omar Hassan,Chris Gentry,Mike Frazier, Bod Boyle, Tony Hawk, Dave Leroux, Remy Stratton, and Eric Nash

This contest footage is amazing and apparently newly released from the BBC.  Look at Buster Halterman and Darren Menditto (1:20 run!)killing it. I think this is some real important footage…Examine the year 1991! Let’s face facts vert skating at this point was in the decline that late 80’s wave that saw people like Groholski all over the mags is over. A lot of folks headed off for college since there was no real industry to earn a living from. Forgetting about that just look at the skating, you can see the trick modernisation that would come in the next year or two creeping in and the influences of people like Groholski and their emphasis on less crowd pleasing lip tricks creeping in (Bod Boyle frontside ollie to grind over the channel for instance, tough trick little point recognition I suppose, Look at Hawks run’s) Not a lot of kick turning on  the invisible vert as Groholski would put it. Great stuff here it would not be soon after that a handful of skaters would start adding some mind blowing tricks to all this and the modernisation would be complete.  It is great to see Team Steam’s contribution to this transition, re-vert skating, lip tricks galore…and shades of whats to come.  You can write about this footage all day I guess…

Enjoy watching all this, I know I did.

PS : Dave Leroux! and  look at Miller just travelling on the ramp…crazy.

You can see the results at the end of the last video…and check out the princely sums they were killing their bodies to obtain. Well done gentlemen, well done!

Thanks to Pete Furnee and his eagle eye!

370: Steve Herring Frontside Smith Grind at The Barn…NJ- Who’s on Deck?

Steve Herring Frontside Smith Grind The Barn NJ circa 86?

Welcome to all out new found viewers/readers….Meet Steve Herring, he rips.

That is all…

Jason

PS Anyone wanna guess who is on deck?…..I do not know.

Dont forget to enter the contest!

359: MOOSE, TAG & BAUM: New decks for 2009

I dig the new Dharma deck design for this Darren Menditto.

New updated Flying pig motif for Tag…and

I made the entire post one big clicky so you can see all of the efforts at the folks over at Never Again and Death March. I believe these boards are limited so get em while you can.

Jason

358: Greatest Skate Vid of All Time!! Lance Mountain

Imagine having this vid on your skate resume…unreallness

Thanks Senor Ransom for spotting this gem

Jason

353: Papo Capillo at The Barn

Papo Capillo Stand up frontside grind at The Barn NJ

Photo Deitz Bruthas

All eyes on NYC these days. Having been away from the place so long now I have to admit it being on my mind a lot as well. Here  is NYC’s Papo circa 1985 at The Barn in NJ…too cool

Papo was smooth like butter.  Those are Molly’s Skate Shorts with padded hips.  He gave me some red and white ones back in the day.  This cat was in all the Skates Mags back in the 1970’s.  He worked for the Ad Council in the 1980’s.  The Ad Council requires that PSAs promote positive social change in such areas as the quality of life for children, preventative health, education, community well being, and environmental preservation.  He is one of the many friends from NYC that came out and had a great time at the The Barn.  I’m sure that I was standing within a few feet of this perfect grind.  Papo is a very Cool Dude.  Great picture

Dennis Kane

352: SGT Jim Byrd (Cavalry Scout) A Troop 303rd Cavalry – The House of Steam in Iraq!

DUST AND LOATHING IN IRAQ

“I cannot properly explain myself in this humidity”

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Lung choking dust storms, mind numbing heat and constant frustration are a daily occurrence when serving in Iraq. Funny thing is this is my chosen profession and I did sign the bottom line, so here I am. We can argue all day long about the politics behind this but really where does that get us. People always ask me what I think about this, and the truth is it doesn’t matter what I think about it because no matter what I think, I have agreed to do this job. I have been a skater since 1984 and a soldier since 1997, seldom do the two callings cross paths but I have noticed at times that viewing the world through a skater’s eyes makes it more interesting. For instance Saddam seemed to like to have his military build pyramid shaped concrete bunkers ranging from 10-40 feet high and in all sorts of configurations. Its funny how having a humvee under you while traveling off road kind of feels like a giant board, granted this board included a machine gun. I did not bring a board on this trip and I am very much regretting that. Last time I was here we had a board (courtesy of SPC Tosh) and some flat concrete. I may have to embrace some of the flat land street / freestyle tricks I have missed out on while on these deployments. I am a long way from the pristine NW round walls, and even farther removed from my old stomping grounds of the Maryland shore. I did have pics of me cheesin with STEAM stickers while in Iraq but my computer became a casualty of this war (the humanity!!!!!!) and they are lost forever. There are however some very strategically placed STEAM stickers in the Al Anbar Province. I did not witness any local skate action but I have seen articles about Iraqi skaters, and a developer in Baghdad who plans a skate park as part of public space. I can’t wait for the day we see pro demos in Mosul. I can’t help but wonder what the Arabic take on skateboarding might be.

Thank you all for the support especially Jason.

Jim Byrd Salisbury MD 1986

Jim Byrd Frontside RnR

Cheney Park, Tacoma WA

Jim is the one without the Mustache!

I met Jim via The House of Steam and we corresponded quite a bit..England to Iraq. He had mentioned growing up skating in MD and was aware of Team Steam, The Barn and the skate scene that stretched from NY to VA. We became fast friends. Corresponding with someone while at war is a unique situation especially in this digital world. My parents generation had a lot of experience in this department staying in contact with my Father who served 20 months of combat service in Vietnam. It seemed to me normalcy is the key to it all for both parties. In that vein I attempted to get a custom THOS deck out to Jim and his troop but I found that the size restrictions on mail into Iraq is very, very small…Letters only really. I thought of pulling a Radar O’Reilly (M*A*S*H, he mailed a jeep home piece by piece) but even the smallest component was over the size and weight limit. In the end a big fat stack of Steam Stickers made it to our boys and were enjoyed by all. As Jim mentioned this original article from 8 months ago or so (along with Sticker pics!) and our ability to communicate became a casualty of war. Thankfully it was only a computer (windows as well, time for a MAC!) and not Jim! I have to say those pics would have  been a great addition to the archive. Articles can be re-written but no need to head back for any snap shots!

Welcome home my BRUTHA!! Nice Work!

I believe Jim will be in and around WA for a bit say hey in the comment section or hit him up on FB I am sure he is up for a skate at the local.

349:Andy Kessler: GRANDMASTER of 108, Leave your thoughts and comments below.

Feel free to express yourself , drop some memories or condolences in the comment section. If there is anything you would like to add do not hesitate to email me.

Peace-

Here is a great video sent over by Juice Magazine there is a great segment were Andy talks about his work with Jim Murphy and Wounded Knee.

Celebrating the Life of Andy Kessler
Ditch Plains Beach, Montauk
August 14, 2009

Photo Michael Rovnyack, MJRPhoto.net

Special thanks to Irene Ching for this.

Andy Kessler Riverside Park, NYC 1979

Tom Groholski, Glenn E. Freidman, and Any Kessler NYC 2008

Photo by Tony Squindo

Andy Kessler Deathbowl to Downtown

Andy Kessler Deathbowl to Downtown

The Kings of NY: Harry Jumonji, Rodney Smith and Andy Kessler

Photo Derek Rinaldi

348: The House of Henri-Jay Henry Rules: A new website.

Jay Henry at home in En-Jaye before the kids new it was the thing to do (early 80’s)

Everyone is going Solo these days, the kids are all grown up. Maybe in a decade when we find we are huge in Japan (euphemism alert) we can get the band back together for one super THOS post. Anyhow Jay is on a mad one these days skating up a storm. Here is an old pic of him in his backyard on an 8 foot wide ramp chucking an invert. I believe this is the ramp that would eventually become the Barn. I am sure Jay could have squeezed this bad boy into a phone booth(and chucked inverts on it) if given the opportunity so the idea of using a barn must have felt like an airport hangar at the time.

Check out Jay’s site:

http://jayhenry.kicks-ass.net/

I had to post the whole link to read, mostly cause of its truthfulness. Check out all his exploits at Fight Club and elsewhere.

Jason

Ps Sorry so slow recently I have been working on a lot of new art projects and commissions so I will try an pick the pace up…

376: WOW!

Saw this on Mid-Atlantics FB page…crazy!