New Ramp Gnar!

I think perhaps a new day has dawned. A time that allows me two sessions a week with less guilt, and less money spent. While I certainly mean no offense to Mofo and the awesome ramp that is the TajMaWall, there is a new miniramp in my neighborhood. So close, that I can ride a bike (or even a skateboard) and be there in 5-10 minutes. As opposed to the 40 minutes in a car out to the boonies of Indiana... Imagine, I can take 90 minutes out of my day, and skate 70 of them (saving 20 minutes for roundtrip travel and pad up/down). And 'tis a ramp much friendlier to my personal endocrine orb size than the 7' beauty on the east side. 4' tall plus two 5' extensions with 7.5" transitions, and 24' wide. The very dimensions I aspire to construct in my own backyard someday...

So anyway, the Cretins got the invite for a midweek session and we are most grateful! No cover charge was set, but it's rude to visit a new ramp for the first time without beer, particularly when you had absolutely nothing to do with it's construction. In fact, the ramp was but a rumor to me, an urban myth. But, I was still rude, because of the 6 beers I supplied, I drank 5 of them. And being 154 pounds soaking wet, that was about 3.5 beers too many. My skating got funnier, but not any better. But we all had a blast. Roll call included Radly(the F.R.O. or ramp owner), Skidzilla, Pollo, Jr., Scott, Dane, And late comers John, Edward and Joe. A couple new faces to me, but cool cats indeed. Ms. FRO even fed us! Veggie Lasagna and chicken... and I don't care if it was from a box, that lasagna was kickass! Quite surprising with my well known distain for veggies. Thank you Lynn!

Here's a few pics. These are the only ones worth posting, out of about 40 on my cam. As I said, I was quite inebriated (no beer next week I swear)... AND Skidzilla was in control of the camera sometimes too... so let's just blame him.
- F'n Ramp Owner and our host, Radly

- Scott and his "new" old G&S trucks

- Dane can skeet.


- Radly skeets fast.

- Chicken ain't skeered.


So where will you be next Wednesday evening? Don't call me. I've got plans.

More from Our Friends at Troma

Because Poultrygeist as too "high-brow"

The most interesting man in the world...

... on rollerblading...



Because we needed a post this week. And it's funny.
(Poached from an OMA forum.)

Is Bigger Better?

That's what people with little decks ask. Here's a few big ones and how to use 'em. I had to get out the W-I-D-E Angle for these monsters.



Non-skate activity also took place. You can see that comic on Post-Atomic Tales of Skidzilla.

Go Skateboarding Day, or OMA BBQ of DaVille

FINALLY... Again I say, "Bite me." Nothing here written with the skills of our favorite wordsmith, Skidzilla. Not even a full on recap... but you get the jist... we had fun. And there are lots o' pics and even a video...

Friday, June 20, Ramp Session: The weather was a bit dodgy all day. Downpours of rain, then nothing. Then another downpour. It sucked. But about 5:00, Phil determines that he CAN get the ramp dry, and if it doesn't rain, it'll stay that way... Session is ON! OMP rolled in from Lex and finished up the drying process. Frogwing rolls in from IOWA (!) and eventually Ward and I show up along with Jr. So, with Frog here, it was an official OMA event, even though when this idea was originally hatched, we(I) had hoped for about 10 to 20 out of towners... Oh well. Cretins were skating and that equals a good time... We revealed the new Cretin banner which is simply BAD ASS! Thanks Ward for the hookup! What a fun session. The sun wasn't blinding because of the cloud cover, and it wasn't roasting, but it was steamy and humid. So much so, that the session eventually closed down because the sweat smears from bails ceased to dry up, making the ramp more and more treacherous after each run. Grinds, rock-n-rolls, bs airs, laybacks, sweepers, slider fakies, 360 cess slides, and funky acid drops were all thrown. Oh and a Miller Flip for good measure.
- OldManPaul doin' his thang.

- Ward stretches out to relax.

- Frogwing's "pop out running and jump back in" gnarly trick...

- FW rockin' and rollin'.

- Junior has a grind.

- My only trick. The rock-n-roll. But they are on lock.

- OMP's backside.

- OMP's frontside.

- and backside again.

- I can't even stand like this. Crail sweeper by Phil.

- Ward rockin' frontside.

- Ward has sweepers on lock.

- Chris Miller would be proud.


Saturday, Go Skateboarding Day: The park downtown was jumpin'. Crazy groms everywhere, but yet all seemed surprisingly well versed in park etiquette. We got "the" question, but that's easy when you have a banner and 5 guys in the same logo t-shirt. Adam (a local OMA member) made it to the park for Saturday, as did long lost Cretin Steve-O, and he was our grill master. Gimpy trekked down from Dayton braving ridiculous traffic. NoShow was a noshow, but he got a free pass this time, for being in the hospital for 6 days with a bleeding ulcer. Crazy shit. (literally) We skated. Drank a beer, and skated some more. Sat down, had a cig, and then skated some more. And when we were done, we skated again.
- We went to visit NoShow on Thursday.

- Junior chillin' with the 'Zillas.

- Huh? I don't know. Good question. (Perhaps he has fleas.)

- Why aren't you skating?

- Grill Master Steve-O fed Adam, and the lot of us.

- OMP doesn't give a chit about gravity.

- And just to piss you off. My video. My choice of tunes. Suck it.


So, not exactly a successful OMA sanctioned event, but a 100% kickass Concretin event. Where were you? If you weren't skating... you were doin' it wrong.

Catching Up

I hate missing any session. I especially hate it when it is due to work. I missed a killa sesh on Philthy's ramp last Friday and I am still lamenting it. I wasn't really even working - I was waiting. I was sitting in the Memphis Airport waiting for a plane. Ugh!

Oh well. I got to put in some solid skate hours on Saturday and got to hang with the Homeys on multiple occasionsover the weekend so, I guess I can stop complaining. I didn't take any footage or pics of the mayhem last weekend, so, here's a couple o' things that should have been posted long ago:

First, a failed attempt to skate Davenport, IA. I had an infamous Skidzilla Bid-nez Trip to IA. I landed at the Eastern Iowa Airport the SUnday before my meeting. I bee-lined it to pick up OMA-member and all-around good guy Frogwing at his place in Iowa City. We hopped on I-80 and headed east till we got to River Road in downtown Davenport - so close to the skatepark you could smell the concrete. Strange, all the roads were closed - and there was lots and lots of water everywhere. We circled around and got close enough to walk to the park. The park was netted off and the people across the street from the park (and river) were building their very own levee. How high's the water, mama? About 12 feet high and rising that day. Things got much worse in June. Here's the comic that sums the odysee.



Next up: The Gimp Hits The Ville. After a long winter hiatus, Gimpy hit the crete with a vengence. He was nice enough to let me pinch his photos before he left. And since his slack-ass has failed to post 'em, I guess it is up to me. So, Read On:



Finally, a little "Portland Revisited." Here's a video from the local news channel. It is a feature on MC, Mark Conahan. MC was one of my gracious hosts in Portland and the man who granted me two wishes; he turned me into a cartoon, and got me back to Burside where I gained (some) self-respect. My other host, Rich Burton of Earth Patrol Media, is also featured in the vid. It is very cool! Check it while it's good.

Happy Father's Day!

I am certainly not new to the brotherhood of skateboarding. This is year 21! However, I am new to the ranks of fatherhood. This is year 1.

I always believed people (who had kids) when they said, you'll understand when you have your own, even though I didn't truly understand. I never doubted them. I knew I'd feel the love, loyalty, pride, and yes, even sense of accomplishment that comes with fatherhood... but even with knowing that emotion, that pride, that overwhelming joy would happen... I had no idea! It is truly amazing. And this is only the beginning... Happy Father's Day to all you old buggers.

- Bein' silly on the couch.

- All dressed up to go out to dinner with Momma on Mother's Day.

- The boy representin' the grom division proper.