Archive

The Coming of Fall: Sept 1 - Jan 1. My favorite time of year. Autumn colors. Cooler days. Beautiful sunsets. Pumpkins. Holidays with family and friends. Despite sorrow for kids going back to school, I like that many of the outdoor places I frequent (skate parks, local and state forests / parks, abandoned places, etc.), …

I’m back to Micro-Land.

Checking-In: I haven’t been writing much of recent. Hell, my last post was in late April. Here are some random updates / thoughts on a rainy afternoon. Injury Status I pulled a groin muscle (tendon?) in the middle of December 2022. I am just now finally getting over it and/or back to normal. It took six months …

Small Arts, Resonance, and Repellence: Random Thoughts on a Rainy Sunday: It’s a rainy Sunday. I was just scrolling through some skate stuff on Instagram. So much of modern ledge tech, big gap, rail, etc. skating doesn’t resonate with me, at all. The opposite, actually. It repels. For a long time I thought this was simply because I am now a washed-up old guy, who is out …

The Best Skate Photo I've Ever Seen: I’ll be writing more about this photo in the future, but for now, I’ll say that this one of the best skate photos I’ve ever seen. No pros. No fancy skate parks. No gnarly tricks. It captures something so pure. The ‘YEAH” face of the kid on the platform, for “just” a simple kickturn grind. In its …

Pad Appreciation Post : This clip is one example of how/why I have really grown to love knee pads, even for “simple” low-impact street skating. youtu.be/Twygi0pRS… This was a Half-Cab Boardslide to Fakie gone wrong. While it’s a very easy trick, nothing is fool-proof (and even the “easy” stuff gets more …

Drastic Measures : It’s time for something drastic. I’ve been dealing with a pulled groin muscle since the middle of December 2022. That is now over three months. The reason (I hope) that I’m still dealing with it? Despite my claims to do otherwise, I have not been able to stay off the board for more than 10 days …

Quote of the Day: But most importantly, and this goes back to Mark Gonzales and Julien Stranger, we wanted to show that skateboarding is fun. That was the main thing. Fun, creative and loose. Not too overthought. Not too heavy on making it all the best skateboarding known to mankind. Just a fun and creative project. …

Quote of the Day: All the warnings of the 1980’s have come true. Out of control consumerism. Addiction to mindless screen viewing. Politicians pandering to the lowest common denominator. Corporations owning everything while brainwashing everyone. Compare today’s media messages vs. those of the 1980s. Free …

Quote of the Day: “Skateboarding is, and will always be my political standpoint. The act itself is a statement of freedom and defiance, possibly the most revolutionary form of expression, which constantly rejuvenates with each generation.” -Fangs

The 8.75" Anomaly: Retired this today. Cracked it on a nose blunt to disaster over a spine. This was a special deck for me. I normally ride an 8.25/14.38, but I’ve occasionally dabbled with bigger decks (and usually not liked them). This one, however, is a standout from the “Madness” episodes awhile back. …

“Today’s skateboarding is a highly refined version of everything that came before.” -Some dude on SLAP. Good observation.

Change For the Sake of Change...isn't always a good decision.: Sometimes you just need a change of pace, or scenery. That happened to me about three weeks ago. I’ve been wearing Vans more or less since I started skating in 1985. The last few years I have been wearing the exact same two models. The old-school blue colored SK8-HIs, and the low-top Old …

Rediscovering What I Had Already Known: I saw a post on the SLAP fourms that sent me down an intorspective rabbit hole: What are (skate-related) things you were too cool for as a kid, that you now appreciate and/or love? A few of mine: Tony Hawk. Skating transition. Watching vert. Side rails. Pads. “Basic” tricks. …

Back on the Board. Sort of. : My pulled groin muscle is not 100% healed, but it is doing better. Against better judgment, I went skating today for a bit. Just a bit. And it was glorious. I kept it pretty mellow. No ollies. Just did some casual transition skating, and some roll-on boardslides on a slider bar, but mostly kept it …

The January Desert & Jake Phelps: A few random things… The Vast January Desert In my phone I keep short-hand notes of things going on in my life during a given month. At the end of the year, I can look back at what happened during the past 12 months. After the year is over, I save all in the info into a word doc. I’ve been doing …

Godspeed, Prof. Dugan: If you are lucky, you will have one teacher in life who changes everything, and you end-up carrying their influences with you until your last days. I was lucky enough to have two. One was Mary Donovan, my high school English teacher. The other was Prof. Kerry Dugan at Northeastern. He died on …

Nuke Baby: First Ride: Yesterday I had the first session on the Nuke Baby deck (see previous posts). It was raining out, so I took my grind bar to a parking garage. I have a lingering pulled groin muscle, so I kept it pretty mellow. The first 10 min or so, the board was feeling a little awkward, but then I got used to …

The Nuke Baby Set-Up: I mentioned the Blind Danny Way reissue I was setting-up a few posts ago. Below are two photos of the fresh set-up. I went a little “old school” with the griptape, too. Trucks: Currently has Indy 149s. Might bump up to 159s. Have to skate it a bit first, and see how the 149s are feel. …

Gear Madness, 2023…Well, Not Really : Well, there are two other residual “gear madness” things kicking off 2023…but I don’t really put these in the same category as the “acute madness” I wrote about in later 2022. What’s “different” about these? Well, let’s just jump in and you’ll see. The two items are: (1) An “old school” set up …

Random Disjoints: Random, disjointed thoughts, ideas, and projects going into 2023 The Sicks: I start 2023 off with a bad case of Covid. Historically, I always get some kind of nasty-sick every January. At least I am consistent. Resolutions: I made four “resolutions” for the year. (1) No Booze: I don’t drink all that …

Wise Words from Chris Pulam: “I’ve gotten so much from skating over the years. As an outlet for creativity, a way of creating opportunities unknown to most people outside of our little world, or just the pure joy at the absurdity of a practically bald primate riding on a wheeled plank. All I ever wanted to do in skating …

Silent Night: The temperature was 15 degrees tonight, with a “real feel” of -2. I always make it a point to go skating on 12/24 and 12/25, even if it’s just briefly. I also always make it a point to go skating on the coldest day of the year. Today happened to be both 12/24, and the coldest day we’ve had so far. I …

My Essential Skate Gear, Part V: The Non-Essentials: This is the fifth, and last, post in “My Essential Skate Gear” series (posts made in the order of importance). The final items are indeed not “essential,” but they are certainly nice to have and/or make (skate) life a lot better. See comments for details. No pictues for this one. • 80HDs • Grip Tape …

My Essential Skate Gear, Part IV: Combating Nature: This is the fourth post in “My Essential Skate Gear” series (posts made in the order of importance). Most of this batch focuses on one thing: Having a physical space to skate in the winter. I live in Boston. It snows here during the dark months. There are few parking garages around, but they can be …

My Essential Skate Gear, Part III: Battle Armor: This is the third post in “My Essential Skate Gear” series (posts made in the order of importance). First, we needed the actual board, board tools, and shoes. Second, we needed stuff to (a) fend off winter climate, and (b) do some minor spot maintenance. Now, we need to fend off injury and/or …

My Essential Skate Gear, Part II: More of the Basics: This is the second post in “My Essential Skate Gear” series (posts are made in the order of importance). Some of today’s stuff might seem a little more mundane, but it’s actually absolutely essential for me, esp. in the New England winter months. • Forward elbow pad • Windbreaker • Work Gloves …

My Essential Skate Gear, Part I: The Basics: Well, I am off the board for a bit. Pulled groin muscle. I’m using some of my free time to declutter and/or get rid of stuff I don’t really need/use anymore. As a function of that, and the recent Madness Episodes, I’m now also stripping down my skate gear to only the stuff I …

The Magic is Real: In Jr. high school I had this friend named “Mike.” He was mostly a flatland BMX freestyler, but he also skated bit. He quit both a few years later. He recently picked the board up again. One day this past summer, I went skating with him at a local mini ramp. He was just working on pumping the …

Keep Chopping: The poem below is by Charles Bukowski. Sometimes when I read his stuff, I am convinced he is an old, washed-up, skateboarder. But then I remember. He is just someone who understands pure, unadulterated, passion. And of course, you cannot be an old, washed-up skateboarder without that. He speaks our …

Warning Sounds: Last night I saw a random guy fall down on the sidewalk. He fell backwards, with his ass taking the vast majority of the blow. But the back of his head also bounced off the concrete. He did not get up. We called an ambulance (he was sitting up by the time 911 got there). The sound his head made on …

Variables in the Same Equation: I watched Future Primitive again last night. I remember watching it as a kid, and more-or-less thinking, “Rodney is insane, but Tommy G., the NYC street skating, and the ditch scene are what really resonate.” I watched the new Nyjah video again last night, too. As I watched it, I …

What inpires me to actually go skating…

Purity of Essence: A Guy at the Park: I was sitting in the car, just watching. Captivated. Amazed. Inspired. Whenever I arrive at a skate park, I never just immediately start skating, especially if other people are there, even if it’s just one other person. First, I always just watch a bit…to figure out what the vibe/energy of …

Overdue: At the beginning of last week I did some damage to my shoulder. I didn’t skate for a few days because of it. Over the weekend I went camping. As soon as I got back, it started to rain, and has not stopped now for three days. As of now, I have not skated in over a week, and I am starting to get …

I’m off the grid for few days. In the meantime, never forget why you started, and try to tap that energy everytime you step on a skateboard. To that end, here is a photo for inspiration.

It’s staggering how these simple objects can be perceived as controversial, triggering–and let’s call it for what it is–ego-damaging and/or emasculating for some in the skateboarding world.

Fall Down Go Boom!: I’ve had on/off linguring shoulder pain for awhile. Yesterday’s slam (see previous post) made it much worse. I now have growing concern that I did something icky to my rotatar cuff. I’m going camping in western MA for the next few days. If it’s still bothing me when I get …

Photos for Inspiration

Photos for Inspiration

Rolling Through the Wastelands: My friend built this DIY. With his own hands. Alone. It is located, in what is most likely a superfund site, on the outskirts of Boston’s city limits. The area contains dead vegetation, bare trees, rusted train tracks long fallen to disuse, piles of disintegrating bricks, rotting railroad ties, and …

Testing out my first post.