Sunday, January 1, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Dusts Rose Bowls
Nowhere near as fast as even one lap with the summer peloton. But it's always a revelation (fun) to ride my 25 year old 50 dollar craigslist rust pile from france, pull up on a pack of new-biked fully leotarded enthusiasts, pass them, and wonder what they're thinking as a large-mustached paper-clips-on-trousers (to keep them off the chain), long-sleeve button-downed and bespectacled guy passes them, and then pulls away and just fully dusts them...(and they're probably thinking: I've just ridden 40 miles and this dope thinks he's fast because he's passing me on his one and only 3-mile lap...)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sea Lions in Highland Park
Slumberland in Highland Park.
Four bands played in the neighborhood I grew up in yesterday and three of them are Slumberland Records, and this was a crossing of aesthetics that signified a convergence of identities. For the life of me I couldn't have predicted there would ever be a Slumberland-heavy rock-show house-party in Highland Park, much less in my immediate neighborhood.
Oxnard has produced the Hernandez Bros (Love and Rockets) and Michele Serros and now Sea Lions. Look them up and hear them.
Four bands played in the neighborhood I grew up in yesterday and three of them are Slumberland Records, and this was a crossing of aesthetics that signified a convergence of identities. For the life of me I couldn't have predicted there would ever be a Slumberland-heavy rock-show house-party in Highland Park, much less in my immediate neighborhood. 
Oxnard has produced the Hernandez Bros (Love and Rockets) and Michele Serros and now Sea Lions. Look them up and hear them.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Day Skateboarding Go
I went skateboarding today at the "Wild In The Streets" streets event in Los Angeles. I was late but I skated from J-town to Lafayette park and it was one of the FUNNEST, most worthwhile things I've ever done on a skateboard.
It's difficult to describe the communally euphoric feeling of camaraderie and mission with these sterile words, but everyone was your friend and everyone could skate and everyone was having fun getting across the city on a bright sunny day, deftly avoiding rocks, pebbles, people, pot-holes, twigs, cracks, curbs and cops. Although there were plenty of oldsters in the crowd, we were rare enough to attract bemused looks from the cops and command respectful (disdainful?) distance from the youngsters, our fellow skaters.
As we neared the park, the police presence became thick with bikes, motorcycles, cars and a helicopter (!what were the cops afraid of?) but there we all were, peaceful, happy and having fun. We bought ice cream and watched skaters do their stuff. We sat around and spotted pro skaters we only see on the web, or in magazines but almost never in person.
When I left I skated to the vermont red line station to take the subway home. In short order about fifteen skaters arrived on the platform to wait for the train and all of them started to ollie spontaneously in place like rabid frogs, and then began paddling around on their stomachs like homesick surfers. They were all kids ranging from 8 year olds to 18 year olds, all looking out for each other and I was happy for them that they were all together having a great time.
Hey to Emerica for fomenting community among skaters, for making it happen in the public spaces, for helping reclaim some of that space from cars, for helping prove to the cops and the community at large that skateboarders are essentially harmless...
Post Script: Sole Technology is the Conglomerate that includes Es, Etnies, Emerica, Altamont and others. Question: Why weren't each and every one of those companies (which are the same corporate company)...why weren't each and every one of those companies repping in a big way? I can understand how the other apparel distribution/lifestyle aesthetic peddler-groups ("skateboard companies") wouldn't participate because it would be like pepsi showing up for a coke rally, but if you're all the same conglomerate, wtf?
It's difficult to describe the communally euphoric feeling of camaraderie and mission with these sterile words, but everyone was your friend and everyone could skate and everyone was having fun getting across the city on a bright sunny day, deftly avoiding rocks, pebbles, people, pot-holes, twigs, cracks, curbs and cops. Although there were plenty of oldsters in the crowd, we were rare enough to attract bemused looks from the cops and command respectful (disdainful?) distance from the youngsters, our fellow skaters.
As we neared the park, the police presence became thick with bikes, motorcycles, cars and a helicopter (!what were the cops afraid of?) but there we all were, peaceful, happy and having fun. We bought ice cream and watched skaters do their stuff. We sat around and spotted pro skaters we only see on the web, or in magazines but almost never in person.
When I left I skated to the vermont red line station to take the subway home. In short order about fifteen skaters arrived on the platform to wait for the train and all of them started to ollie spontaneously in place like rabid frogs, and then began paddling around on their stomachs like homesick surfers. They were all kids ranging from 8 year olds to 18 year olds, all looking out for each other and I was happy for them that they were all together having a great time.
Hey to Emerica for fomenting community among skaters, for making it happen in the public spaces, for helping reclaim some of that space from cars, for helping prove to the cops and the community at large that skateboarders are essentially harmless...
Post Script: Sole Technology is the Conglomerate that includes Es, Etnies, Emerica, Altamont and others. Question: Why weren't each and every one of those companies (which are the same corporate company)...why weren't each and every one of those companies repping in a big way? I can understand how the other apparel distribution/lifestyle aesthetic peddler-groups ("skateboard companies") wouldn't participate because it would be like pepsi showing up for a coke rally, but if you're all the same conglomerate, wtf?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Overheard at "Art in the Streets"
Overheard at the "Art in the Streets" museum show in Los Angeles.
"No no no! Tony Hawk is the Miss America of Skateboarding; Mark Gonzales is the Adriana Lima..."Indeed. Cheers to you, baseball-cap-and-below-butt-jeans-clad youngster with mightily adroit powers of perception.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Skateboarding Quote of the Skateboarding Century
"You know kick flip shuv it backside 5.0 front side shuv it out. That’s a combo. You know what I mean. That’s a heavy duty combo. I don’t think I could do that now. I mean maybe if I practiced and really wanted to do it, I could do it but that stuff will make you feel like WHY THE HELL AM I SKATEBOARDING."
- Mark Gonzales
You mean it really has been about HAVING FUN all along?.........(I knew it!) Thanks Mark.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
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