O.D.G.

Feeling a bit heavy after that last post... so taking a slight detour. Great flick of the legendary Tom Penny by the equally talented Arto Saari. And Alex Olson...well, not quite sure what to say about this ollie. It doesn't make sense how someone could be capable of ollieing that high.  Hopefully I will have the chance to go skate this weekend. My friend from Brazil Dan is in town. Such a character.. apparently he's been working on a fishing boat in Alaska for the last few months. He calls me up put of the blue and first thing he says is "hey, do you have socks and a shoestring I can borrow?" I meet him at the skatepark, he's in borrowed clothes, board, and shoes.. and it's apparent that he hasn't lost a step in what he's able to do on a skateboard. Nice ,(but also intimidating), to be around someone so talented, it pushes you to try harder. 

  Man, this sucks.. . RIP Dylan

  Another vert skater that I don't know too much about.. Ray seemed to come into the spotlight as street was becoming more popular in the very early 90's. This is one of only two Powell Peralta pro model boards that I am aware of that he had. I always found the religious symbolism intriguing. RIP.. 

              I don't know much about Jeff Phillips other than he invented the "Phillips 66" , had his own skatepark in Dallas Texas, and skated with a skull crossbones on his helmet..  that pretty much qualifies him for Legend status. R.I.P...

So...I'm all set to start working on posts regarding skaters who have passed on..my brilliant scheme is to use scanner at work rather than purchase a new one.. and the damn thing stops working on me! I swear, I'm cursed. Anywho, should be ready to go by next week. In the meantime, came across this Wink's Links video with Tom Penny, Jesus Fernandez,Brahian Londono (not sure who this is) and Chris Roberts aka "Crob" in Barcelona. Fascinating character that Tom...

Dear Tactics, If you are going to "Pay Tribute to Keenan Milton" featuring a clothing line, decks, etc.... ..the least you can do is feature an ad of said legendary skater rather than his former teammate. Here is the original ad with Stevie Williams via Chromeball. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be negative, but if you are spotlighting one of the most revered skaters in skateboarding, you need to make sure that you are honoring the right guy. Stuff like this just really irritates me. And so, I will be starting a series that I hinted at a while ago featuring Pro Skaters who have left us. So that we don't forget..

Note: Scanner took a dump so I couldn't get all the images I wanted on here. I'll be back with some more new/old stuff soon.. In no particular order...  1. Andrew Reynolds' frontside flip. Alright, let's get the obvious out of the way. Dude owns this trick and can do it down, up, over anything. Almost looks too easy for him. Close runner up would be Mike Carroll and of course Tom Penny, both legends who have shown total mastery of the trick for years with unique style and minimal effort. 2. Dylan Rieder's impossible. I couldn't think of a better description for Dylan's use of the trick than the name itself. Going over the barrier at Street League then that bench in NYC was already a mind-fuck. Than dude takes it over the chain link fence to massive drop with a tail grab to boot and it's a done deal. It would be a sin if I didn't mention Ed Templeton as well.  My historical facts are murky but he was clearly one of the pioneers of bringing...