Getting Back on the Horse...As If We Ever Fell Off!

This year has been so hectic that I am looking forward to January.  We have been getting hit up here with people asking,"So like, when is your next event?"  I guess after 20 events during 2009 and 3 of them being blockbuster demos and a bunch of insane contests kids just expect you to be banging out the events every other week.  So we thought we would do a Game of SKATE, just like we did last year around the late January/ early February spot to kick off the new year.  The flyer gets me so stoked on the event, I thought it was a really good contest.  Janine was telling me,"It isn't like we are graphic artists," and I said,"that's no excuse."  So this is what we came up with and I think it is one of our best flyers yet.  It's no Give Up flyer, but it does stike a cord.  The contrast between today's heavy hitters and 1989's are so crazy.  Back then if you didn't live near a vert ramp, you weren't really skateboarding according to the industry.  Today if you are, you have to wait until issue #71 to get the cover of a new skateboard magazine.  In fact, all the heavy hitters today crush the flat, the nothing, the needing no one to do what they do.  We hope to see you all out to our "Shut Up and Game of SKATE" contest on 01.31.10...it only took us 20 years to get here, or nowhere.

Concerts for Days...check out a few!

Dinosaur Jr. just the other night was amazing.  Kerry Getz bought me a beer, such a nice guy and so were all the Habitat guys that were there.  Roger Waters was a very, very good show, so glad to have finally seen him.  She Wants Revenge was a really good time, enjoyed some tasty beverages with Dakota and Tommy in the secret bar behind the stage after the show.  Depeche Mode was nastalgic to say the least, they did their jobs, but the crowd there sucked!  Just wanted to share these with you as it is a undertaking to go to some of the the larger venues and deal with the crowds.  See you at the park!

The Stork is Heading Our Way

So, here comes the stork with a special delivery for Janine and I.  This is our first child and we are interested in seeing just how this is all going to work out.  Luckily we are in a position to build out above the shop to create a safe place for Janine and the baby to hang out, so that they are still able to get out of the house from time to time.  Funny thing about the baby is that it's due date is on November 7th, the same day as this years Johnny Romoano Skate Jam here at Southside Skatepark.  So, she just came back from an appointment today and the doctor has confimed that the baby will either be born before or on our due date.  So our contingency plan is having to go into full effect to make sure the crew has enough help in the shop.  I don't plan on missing the Skate Jam, but if I am unable to make it, well then so be it.  The baby is a boy and his name is Roman Visentin...the middle name will be a book name, so stay tuned.

Nike SB "Don't Fear the Sweeper" Tour Stop Oct. 9th

Well this demo was amazing to say the least.  Skateboarders in attendance were Paul Rodriguez, Eric Koston, Wieger Van W., Elissa Steamer, Chet Childress, Cory Kennedy, Ishod Ware, Danny Supa, Lewis Marnell and Shane O'Neill.  You can expect a little something special coming from Jason Hernandez, the Nike SB filmer, on the Nike SB website shortly.  Thanks to everyone who made the trip over to the park for the event.

Rebuild 2009 Officially Complete with Tranquility Rail Replica

Looks like today was the day to finally get the Tranquility Park rail replica fabricated and mounted on the new elevated big prop, complete with modular features. It took a lot longer than we thought it would to complete the project today. We started around 10:30am and had it wrapped up and ready for the first session at 8pm. There were a couple hang ups here and there and trips to Home Depot for various supplies making things progress slowly but by the end of the day it was mission complete. If you check out the pictures you'll Southside team rider George Karvounis watching intensely, barely surviving the wait for his chance to skate the new rail. It's kids like George that we had in mind when deciding that it was the kind of feature that we felt we needed to have in the park. I know that I witnessed generations of skateboarders here in Houston skate that rail for years. Why shouldn't today's younger Houston skateboarders have that same opportunity. Sure, they do have more terrain to skate that anyone ever had and the parks just keep coming which is great. I suppose we just felt that it was really important to have the good old Houston staple still active, in any capacity, for nostalgia purposes at the very least. The session tonight was super good, we knew immediately that we had made the right choice by bringing in the Tranquility rail. I laughed when someone told me that it was a great rail, possibly even perfect. If you think about it, we already had nearly two decades of test group results to look at to show us the staying power a rail like this has. To us it was a no brainer, super simple and completely obvious. We hope that you all come check it out and give it a go, even if only for old times sake.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well after a grueling 5 days at 12 hours a day and water problem at another facility off site, a new bid on other construction, a stuck in the mud race car, a massive scrap and trash pile at a previous job, a water clogged valve on a heavyduty truck, a collapsed and chopped up trailer, good and bad calls from home, a doctors appointment, and numerous downpours we are proud to present to you your new completely modular skatepark, enjoy. Rails can be moved back, forward, left right and the euro gap, outledge manual pad, mellow hubba and full banks can all be moved left and right as needed. The Tranquility "replica" was not completed in time for todays reopening, but will be installed at some point afterhours next week. The rail is going to be EXACTLY the rail, all measurements are the same from the footprint positioning on the set itself...we are open today and I am almost dead, I am posting some images up on the blogger link below, please check it out and remember, from now on nothing is set in stone.

Well My Ramp Crew Could Beat Your Ramp Crew's Ass in 9 Hours or Less, Day 1 Rebuild 2009!

Happy Birthday Dogboy

So just the other day Dogboy, the creator of one of the best flow bowls in Texas and most definitely the worst street course ever seen graced Galveston, Texas with his presence. Although it was his birthday he was greeted by a locked gate down on the island. Before the bolt cutters arrived people were hopping the fence left and right. There is just something ironic about the guy who spent a little over 3 months of his life to build the skatepark having to break into it to actually skate it. Not to be deterred a set of bolt cutters found there way around the lock and with a quick little snipperoo the session commenced on schedule. Not really sure why things seem to always work out this way for our local free parks here in the Greater Houston area, but they do. If you ever find yourself without a razor and in need of a grip job, don't hesitate to just rip your grip into pieces and scatter it about on your new deck, according to Dogboy it will most likely skate the same. Now in his 32nd year, Dogboy has been working on project after project all across Texas. We have him in town with the rest of the ramp crew to help us bang out a sick update to the street course here at the park. The rebuild will begin this Monday and be completed and ready to rip by Friday evening so that we can open for normal business Saturday promptly at 11am. Hope you enjoyed the street course this year, but as promised the annual update must take place to keep things bangin' here at Southside, just like it has been for the last 15 years!

Alien Workshop"Mind Field Tour" Descends on Houston

So, as it turns out the Alien Workshop crew rolled through town packing such heavy hitters as Jason Dill, Arto Sarri, Mikey Taylor, Grant Taylor, Dylan Rieder, Tyler Bledsoe with TM Chad Bowers and photographer from the Skateboard MAG, Rodent. Local destroyer David Langston was making his bones, skating live in front of some of the team for the first time. The TM was siked on Davids skateboarding and so was Arto, which gave me a sigh of relief. The demo was solid, with Arto requesting the most 80's music we could play throughout the session. Everyone skated the event, we are not sure if it was the park itself being so inviting or if it was the fact that most of their "Mind Field" tour stops had been in-store signings up to our stop on their schedule. I do know that the team managed to pop out of the van after driving 12 hours from El Paso with Dill throwing sparks on every feeble grind he did on the granite ledges. Grant Taylor picked up and NBD with a backside ollie air from the smaller 6' quarter clear over the bank to wall and into the 8' quarter. It may have been the loudest roar I have heard all summer out of a spectating crowd. Of course, that's not to say that the crowds have not been into it at previous events because they have. Somehow after the demo, drinks and dinner at a nearby sports bar half the crew still wanted to go street skateboarding. Guru met up with us and proceeded to show us around town since he knew everyone better than David and I did. Looks like we ended up striking gold at this red bar spot, which Dill took a liking to. Rodent shot a great photo, which made him feel a lot better since he is under a lot of pressure to produce a featured tour article and possible cover oppurtunity for the Skateboard MAG by the conclusion of the trip. Arto brought the Arri's while Cory the Alien filmer and I filmed the clips. I doubt my stuff will get used but it was hard not to internally fan out on finally filming a Jason Dill clip and line as I had been a fan since his early video part in the A1 Meats Wheels video and have eagerly anticipated the release of all videos he's been in ever since.

Characters of the Skatepark

I thought I would take a second to share some of the characters of the park with you. The first one is of this crazy kid we have in our day camp this week. Every Wednesday we take a field trip to a small local free park, eat at CiCi's or Jason's Deli, then skate Strawberry Park for our street spot. It just so happens that we noticed that the "wild one" resembled the kid on the poster behind him. It is kind of hard to tell since the kid is a little bit small, but if you have ever seen this kid snaking you and barking at you at the skatepark then you will get a kick out of this poster. I don't think we have any plans of letting him forget about this either, we all had a big laugh over lunch. The next image is of the man who started it all for Southside Skatepark back in the late 50's early 60's when he started buying up all the land available for sale in South Houston. I know he looks a little sketchy right here, with his swollen shut eye, but I can assure you he knows what he is doing, most of the time. According to him, he says he was weed eating one of his building when something hit him in the eye. He said that,"It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but I kept going to finish off what I had to do." Turns out that when he and his wife when out of town it flared up, sending him to the ER in Louisiana. Upon closer inspection it is really red and irritated but luckily it seems as though he is going to make a full recovery. He should be at home resting but instead we are running around messing with his buildings all over South Houston. The final one below is of a friend of the park who just came in to skate after getting a haircut and style, and I do mean style. Just look at this ridiculous hair, this is just not normal, at least not for most skateboarders. We usually hate hairspray, gets all in your eyes when you skate as you sweat. Looks horrible and something that reminds you of a real jock mentality. Lucky enough for me, he just pushed it up to mess with us, I think, but maybe not, let's hope so. Just thought I would give you some examples of the type of characters we have to deal with on a daily basis at the park.

Deathwish, Baker, Shakejunt, Brigada August 1st

So, hopefully you were smart enough to make the trek over to Southside to check out one of the most epic demos of all time at the park. We raised $900 towards to Make a Wish Foundation Savings Fund, through our usual $3 donation for spectators. Of course, if you happen to skate the park prior to the demo and paid your usual fee to come in, the demo was just an added bonus with no extra charges. At this demo Southside had the pleasure of hosting Antwuan Dixon, Erik Ellington, Andrew Reynolds, Slash, Sammy Baca, Brian Herman, Jeff Lenoce, Lizard King, Figgy, Moose, Furby, Theotis Beasley, Reno, Shane Heyl and Alex Neck. I could go on and on about how amazing the music, skateboarding, crowd, locals, beer, signing, tour shirts, free product, homies, mic skills of the Shakejunt, BeagleONEism, was but I think I am going to just let the images do the talking, just too much to to explain everything that happened thoughout the day and night. Check it out, oh and Antwuan has a seriously gnarly toe, considering that he is only 20 years old and his feet look like they are 80 something, stay tuned, see below.