The Devil's Toy - skating evolution

Trying to take in the enormity of the progression of skateboarding in the last 50 years. I found these two very early (~1965) skate films/shorts The Devil's Toy and Skaterdater. These are some of the first skate films ever made.

Times have changed but the spirit of skateboarding was evident in it's infancy. These kids were the early stoked-out pioneers - bombing hills barefoot with metal wheels on 2ft boards. Full on cop chases, getting booted, hassled. They had completely no idea what they were doing but they were doing it. So, skateboarding was rejected from the start yet skateboarders number in the millions today. Maybe because we're all feeling the same thing that's worth fighting for: that overwhelming feeling of joy, rush, living and freedom from simply rolling!

The Devil's Toy


Skaterdater

Chillin

Got to let my body heal up a bit after going super hard the last few weeks. Goin' hard for an older dude doesn't mean throwin' myself down rails and gettin' crazy. It just means skating hard, non-stop, few breaks, 50-50s, feebles, frontside schralps, super-stretched out layback powerslides, marathon mini sessions, bowl sessions, trains CARVES!!!!! I can't be one of these totally chilled out rip masters who shred some mind-blowing flip trick then sit down for 15 minutes and start complaining that their K-Slims aren't tight enough. Old dudes know that you have to get it when you can - When you have a chance to skate, you have to. Unless your body won't let you.

Lately for me it's just back pain that forces me to take time off of skating. Taking time off is OK - it's good for your body and your mind. Let's you see things differently, helps you appreciate the times you are rolling and helps you think about your own longevity in skating. Will any of us be lucky enough to f/s grab carve the deep end when we are in our 60s? We really don't know yet. That's how young skating is. I think it's possible that we will see a fast growing group of older skaters reaching their 50s and 60s who are still stoked as ever and skating at advanced levels. Guys like Tony Alva at ~55 is doin' it hard still. I'm still ten years away from 50 but find myself consumed at times with skating longevity. I don't want to stop rolling. No skater does. But that's the beauty of life and skating in general. We are all only rollin' a short while so you got to get it while you can. There is no destination in skating - it's all a journey.

Branson at 7 - Summer Skate Montage

Branson continues to amaze me with his hyper-sonic youth progression. I'm lucky to capture these moments in time.

In the end it's 100% about fun, progression, fears, creativity, friendships, pain, failure, success, adventure.

Newport's Skate Park

Check out what's going on under the 471 bridge in Newport, KY. This is a 100% DIY skate park being built by the locals from Newport. They are making amazing progress. Check out their photo journal and blog here:

http://under471.tumblr.com/

Sweet Sunshine: An Amazing Photographer in the Making

Got to skate with the Fickle guys a few days ago. We hit the garage mini-ramp then headed down to Newport to skate under the bridge. These guys go so hard and skate on a different level. And Aaron, known as Sunshine, has been taking off with his photography. Check out his shots from our session under_the_bridge in Newport:

Click Here for all HI-RES 471 Bridge Session Photos

Branson performing a quick risk analysis under the bridge.

Matt Simpson: Hard-core father and working man.

Here's a quick vid clip of some fun on the garage mini. Branson tryin' to show off to the Fickle guys his new BS Disaster he's been landing. Sick!!!

Have Another Round (Courtesy of CPD) Covered in CityBeat

Mike Breen, long-time music editor of CityBeat, wrote another article about the Bones tragedy. This time he was kind enough to cover the work we did on our new song Have Another Round (courtesy of the CPD). In the article Mike talks about how musicians are coming together in order to keep Bones' cause front and center in the news.

Some good news along those lines: Just today the Cincinnati Enquirer ran a big article regarding past conduct of the officer who shot Bones. You can read it here:

Link to Cincinnati Enquirer Article

Link to Mike Breen's CityBeat Article

Here's an excerpt from Mike Breen's article regarding Have Another Round (Courtesy of the CPD):

"The recently formed Roots/Americana/AltCountry duo Terminal Union has recorded a song inspired by Bones and the sketchy circumstances surrounding the shooting. Members David Faul and Ian Mathieu weren’t best buddies with Bones, but the levity of the situation — and literal proximity to it — moved them to construct the song. With melancholic harmonica, percolating banjo and rich, expressive vocals, “Have Another Round” is an excellent, pure expression of the sadness, confusion and outrage that followed Bones way-too-early passing.

While Faul had never met Bones, Mathieu (a local music vet who recently relocated back to Cincinnati after some time in Nashville) had seen him perform when he was in bands during the ’90s and had a few drinks with him in the weeks leading up to his death. Mathieu was also living in Northside within a couple hundred feet of where the shooting occurred in early April. Faul says Mathieu woke up amidst the early morning commotion and looked down as paramedics drove up, checked the body and left in less than a minute.

Mathieu knew someone had died and the next morning he saw the reports that it was a police shooting. Faul says between that and the media retrospectives about the 10th anniversary of the police shooting of Timothy Thomas that sparked widespread unrest in Cincinnati had pushed Mathieu to begin writing a verse for a song. For more material and perspective, Mathieu attended the initial police press conference about the shooting. That’s when he found out it was Bones who had been killed.

“He was very put off that it just seemed like another day at the office for everyone attending the press conference,” Faul says. “This is what really got (Ian) worked up and inspired him that this was a song he needed to finish.”

Give “Have Another Round” a listen below and on Terminal Union’s ReverbNation page"

New Video: Live Performance at Stanley's

Ian and I have a gig at Stanley's pub on Thursday, June 2nd. We wanted to get out a little bit before our first performance so we headed to Stanley's last night for their weekly open mic. A guy we meet named Brenton was cool enough to film and post a video of us at our first performance. Thanks, Dude! We have plenty of kinks to work out but overall it felt great. This is a version of Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend: