An Alien Workshop moment...
October 19, 2009
Almost stepped on this dude on the way out of a spot today. He was big.
I like skate tours because...
October 12, 2009
... You'll walk into a room on any given morning and see someone like Danny Garcia doing bizarre headstands for no apparent reason.
Double angle!
The Showdown...
September 29, 2009
Really, all that mattered on Saturday at the Downtown Showdown was Leo Romero. But he was skating too fast for me to shoot... so you get some Big BA BSTS steez instead. Not too shabby.
Editor's side note: if Busenitz was there he would have absolutely destroyed the China Girl Banks.
Dear Eric Stricker...
September 24, 2009
Blair and Eric. December 2004. Analog best trick contest at etnies Skatepark.
...Way back in 2002, I begged my friend Tim O'Connor for your email address at Strength magazine. He kindly hooked me up with it, and after pitching myself to you, you were not only kind enough to write back, but cool enough to give a completely inexperienced and aspiring writer his first break and first interview assignment at a real skateboarding magazine. For that, I will be eternally grateful. And I never hesitate to tell people, even to this day, that you were that guy for me.
Tonight, many years later, I'm writing you for a very different reason...
It's really fucking weird that less than 24 hours after we were late-night emailing back and forth about how to push for a digital archive all of TransWorld's back issues so that our closets wouldn't be so full of magazines for the rest of our lives, I found out you passed away. Really weird. We weren't as close as we could've been in the last few years, but then again... such is often the case in life.... and for that, I'm a bit sad.
I'll miss finding rare and old shoes around the Sole Tech offices to send you for your insane collection... it was always nice to stoke you out with that. I'll miss the red curb sessions in Carlsbad that we had when I lived down in Vista. I'll miss hashing out article ideas and working on them together and making them a reality even though the last time we did that was a few years back. And I'll miss the way your teeth kinda showed through your smile when you were happy.
Thanks Eric, for being a friend when I left home in NJ and came out to California all alone. And for opening the door for me and giving me me a chance so that I could write for two amazing skate mags and have the wonderful career and life in skateboarding I have today. I owe you one in the next life...
Brink
My sincerest condolences to Arnette, Skin, Blair, Cullen, Carleton, Ben, Clyde, Jason, Fitz, Stoddard, Haydee, Gretchen, Jamey, Ken, O'Meally, Oliver, Seu and all of the TransWorld people Eric worked with, as well as all the friends and family of Eric in this tough time.
15 Flip "Extremely Sorry" spoilers...
September 17, 2009
1. Curb checks over gaps are the new grinding up handrails.
2. Two different shoes.
3. Animals were harmed.
4. Clay.
5. Wooden shoes.
6. 25-foot quarterpipes skated like backyard mini ramps.
7. Tweens.
8. Hallucinogenics.
9. Holding umbrellas is way cooler than holding guitars.
10. Pool TF.
11. Spray paint your chest and spit on dead pigeons.
12. Bill Weiss.
13. Ali in big pants.
14. Premiere made me deaf.
15. Wanna see it again... Lance. Lance. Lance.
Bad day...
September 6, 2009
Seeing people puking in public always makes me laugh. This time it's some random dude in Berlin wretching (for the fourth time in five minutes) at a skate spot. Don't worry buddy... just breathe through your nose...