3/31/10 Monster Children US has launched and is now littering America. Raging party was last week and the premiere issue is out now. Lucy, you gotta set me up with one of those tote bags... 3/25/10 The more time passes, the more insane photographer Grant Brittain's body of work seems. Consistently capturing iconic clicks of our beloved skateboarding. Legendary skaters and legendary spots in now legendary photographs. Look, I know you all know this already, but damn, he's got a lot of good pictures. Here's his personal selection of shots from the '80s (Facebook photo album). Speaking of vanguard photographers, that's Bob Osborn in the Bend Fuel slot today. Can't forget his cache of classic BMX imagery (check this collection of BMXA covers) — or his profound stamp on the sport itself. 3/23/10 Saw these beautifully illustrated prints by Gianmarco Magnani over at one of my favorite blogs, Bikes Exif. 3/18/10 Years ago Bob K scanned and posted the lost, or, "unpublishable" issue #8 of Dirt magazine. But the URL was shuffled around and eventually lost in the labyrinth that is the interwebs. Well, I found it... or rather, In The Gnar found it. Big chunks are still missing, but they may be out there, somewhere among the 0s and 1s. Maybe we'll put the entire issue out on it's 20th anniversary. Oh wait, that's 2013, we won't be around. My bad. 3/17/10 A few weeks ago, I did an interview with a website called the BMX Society. The site is all things old school BMX, run by the sharp fellow who interviewed me, Steve Brothers. Doing the email back-and-forth "conversation" with Steve was a pleasure and a lot of it is now posted up on his site. Thanks so much for the opportunity, Steve... dig what you do over there. 3/15/10 Hersh, thanks for the tip on Reggie Watts. Brilliant. 3/11/10 THIS Los Angeles gallery has uploaded images of all the art featured in their first show "These Friends." Good stuff — and for sale online, which is always nice for folks from out of town. One of my newest pieces, "I'll Shoot the Moon" is over there. 3/8/10 Crailtap's Carl Sanger lists his 25 Most Favorite Styles. Seven deep so far; Julien Stranger, Neil Blender, John Cardiel, David Gravette, Lucas Puig, Natas Kaupas and Alex Olson. 3/4/10 My lady Kelley Hart has some new owl designs out... hand crocheted Owl Hats and appliqued Owl T's. She's been running the business (out of our house) for 10 years this year! I've liked almost everything she's done in those years, but these owl designs really grabbed me. Hope they'll grab you too (yes, adult sizes in all) — and shipping is free for the time being. How cool are those hats?. 3/2/10 A lot of artists base their work around recovered or salvaged/found materials. I do. But you may not guess these new pieces by Japanese artist, Hiroshi (Harvest), are... until you look close enough to notice that all the objects are made from recycled skate decks. Hard to believe because they are deceivingly beautiful and the craftsmanship is impeccable. Check out his aptly named Skate & Destroy exhibition, and also this set of shots posted earlier on slamxhype. Wow. 3/1/10 Whoa... this Color thing is starting to freak me out a little. Isaac, did I talk for that long? 2/26/10 Love this guy. Take 10 minutes and watch this great HD montage, "On The Road To Ummmm" which chronicles Thomas Campbell preparing for his exhibit Ummm in Denmark last fall. Beautifully done... I especially like the footage of the bronzing process. 2/25/10 Happy birthday Janice! 2/24/10 Damn, I guess Isaac had a lot more up his sleeve. Color keeps adding to the feature piece online. Thanks guys! And thanks, Rickk! One of my compadres at the Art Dump has launched his own web project. Eric Anthony has been at Girl since he was a kid — just about. He started in sales and little by little, he's moved his way into the dump... and he just keeps improving. If you happen to run into the Fourstar team on the road anywhere, you'll most likely meet Eric too. Check out his personal site The High Desert, and be prepared to get sucked in — there's a lot to look at. Good stuff, EA. Here's an EA snap of one of the guys with the biggest snaps in skateboarding, Andrew Brophy. 2/19/10 The Birth of Big Air will be coming soon on ESPN. I feel lucky to have worked on this documentary with my old friends Jeff Tremaine (director/producer) and Mark Lewman (producer). The doc is about the ground-breaking bike riding of the legendary Mat Hoffman and I can tell you the footage and interviews in this film are stellar. Mat is an exceptional human being and much deserving of this film. See it. 2/16/10 Krooked has their new catalog online and it features the Wrench Pilot guest board I did for them. I'm really stoked to be given the opportunity to do a guest board on Krooked — Thanks Tommy! 2/15/10 Apologies for the bugs on the page. We had to trade servers recently and things went a little haywire. Should be back to normal now — if you think sitting in a chair and bouncing back and forth in a virtual world made up of sequenced 0s and 1s is normal. Thanks for fixing it up, Jeremy. 2/9/10 Last year I was lucky enough to work on a Goggle and Glove project for Drop Mfg. The products themselves will be available for the 2010/2011 snowboarding season. I haven't seen a physical sample yet, but I've heard really good things about them. I'd like to thank Seth Neary at Driven Studios for the opportunity, it was good fun designing something this different. Here's snap of the set at a snow tradeshow in January... Click on image for more information. 2/9/10 D.I.Y. America has uploaded episode #6, "Skate and Create: Part 4, the Artists." 2/5/10 2/4/10 Happy birthday mom! How cool is this scan of Steve McQueen's FIM license? 1964 was the year he represented the USA in the prestigious International Six Day Trails (ISDT) in East Germany. He looked pretty damn happy to be racing bikes in Europe. 2/3/10 Steve Brodner did this pen portrait of the late Howard Zinn and had this to say about his death and legacy; "Howard Zinn, who passed away last week, was a hero to many of us and a pain in the neck to the right people. Basically, he devoted his life to seeing past mythology and getting history down to the brave reality. Romantic history can kill, he says. But the truth, while painful at first, is a powerful antiseptic, ultimately. His "People's History of the United States" is a classic that is a very useful reminder that history has many dark underpinnings and that movements of ordinary people have, from time to time, found the power to shine a light and prevail." —Steve Brodner 2/2/10 One of the nice things about Facebook (and on the other hand, possibly one of the worst), is finding old friends. Recently I re-connected with a bunch of guys I spent a lot of time with in my teens... my old BMX racing crew. I was obsessed with BMX racing as a kid and it was what got me to California and where I am now, believe it or not (a story for some other time). Getting reacquainted with all these guys had me digging through old piles of photos (actual prints!) and scanning them. I had almost forgotten how much fun those times where. A few of the old BMX shots are posted in a new group on Flickr. Please enjoy. This was in 1980, my first full year of racing. You needed 5 wins to move up to expert — this was my 2nd. I moved up quickly only to realize how much harder the expert class was. Rick and Dave made up three of only four BMXers at Central, our high school — all the others went across town to East. Pretty sure my mom shot this. Laramie, Wyoming. 1/31/10 Shot this in the studio a couple days back. Sometimes I'm more intrigued by the peripheral damage than I am in the actual work. 1/29/10 There haven't been too many paintings that have really moved me so far in this life. But this one did. Jackson Pollock's "The Deep" at the Pompidou in Paris. 1/28/10 Rest In Peace J.D. Salinger. Just two weeks ago, my 13 year-old, Emmet, finished The Catcher In The Rye and we had a great discussion about Holden Caulfield before he sat down to write his book report. Thank you for that, sir. 1/28/10 Four of the New Depression Refuse series of works are now for sale. Click here for details. Thanks. 1/27/10 Received a nice letter from Jose Luis Paredes Pacho of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico for my participation in the "Concreto 2; Papel y Street Art" show in Mexico City at the Casa del Lago (Oct-Dec, 2009). The image above was on a nice CD of photographs documenting the show. These four pieces went directly from the "Weekend Pacifists" show at Subliminal Projects last fall, to Mexico City and I just recently got them back (packed perfectly — thank you Jose). If anyone is interested, they will be up for sale on my site shortly. Gracias. All of Mark Searcy's web-things are worth checking out; this dot com taken this blog taken the nowhere special by something i mean nothing 1/25/10 Dave Carnie succumbs to gnarly gnostalgia over at King Shit... "You know, back in the '80s we were so gnarly we didn't even read magazines — we MADE them." —Carnzig 1/23/10 Rain Respite. Perfect for coffee and cigarettes, but I don't smoke. 1/20/10 It's raining hammers and nails here in the Southbay. Storm drains are backing up, 15 foot waves are hitting, and buckets have been strategically placed around the warehouse. Glad I'm not riding a motorcycle today. 1/19/10 Gil Scott-Heron's newest. He sounds GOOD. 1/15/10 THIS looks sooooo epic. Can't wait for Machotaildrop. 1/14/10 Last Minutes with Oden. 1/10/10 Had my birthday gift last night. Kelley had gotten tickets for the three of us to Sonic Youth at the Wiltern. Honestly, I had sort of mixed emotions about going to the show when she gave me the tickets back in December. The one thing I was excited about though, was taking Emmet to his first "show." I don't really go out to shows much anymore, but back in the late '80s I did. I saw Sonic Youth on at least three different occasions and always left completely blown away and exhausted. The swirling and often hypnotic aesthetic of their "noise" was a pure delight for me. Almost out of body. For some reason I always felt and understood what they were doing. It made perfect sense to me. Thinking of going to see them now was a difficult proposition. I'm much older, they're much older... and that energy and pure power of youth was gone. Right? That's what I thought before the show started, but as soon as they came on stage and hit their first notes backed by the powerful percussion, I was almost instantly mesmerized again. I looked back at Kelley in disbelief with pure joy starting to make my face flush. I had a powerful reaction to the show. Especially after the first song when I heard Emmet yelling right along side me. My own first show was at 14. Kiss at McNichols arena in Denver, Colorado. I think it was 1979. Here was Emmet, my own son, a 13 year-old at his first show in 2010. I wondered what he thought of being there with his parents. Was it awkward for him? A little maybe, but I did notice a half dozen or so other young teens there with their aged, parentals — people like me, who, back in the day, knew they were witnessing something special with Sonic Youth. The difference on this night was stark — a beautiful theatre with seating. No punkers, no goths, no weirdos. No mayhem. Thurston wasn't throwing himself or his guitars around. But Sonic Youth laid it down thick and loud and tight, giving notice that they were as powerful, dynamic and original as ever. Almost three decades after they started. Made me feel good to be 46... Thanks Kelley, it was beautiful. And thanks Emmet, for putting up with the old folks. Photo by Rodger Bridges. 1988. Check the story behind it here. 1/8/10 Wallride No.19, the biannual Girl brands catalog, has been shipped. Here's what the art staff does after the grind (so to speak); 1) Have an extended movie lunch. Or... 2) Visit the Agenda show in Huntington Beach. Or, the best idea... 3) Hit up the Wilmington park on an extended lunch. Eric Anthony used his phone to film fellow Art Dumpers, Jeremy Carnahan and Hershel Baltrotsky. Shit... guess, I shouldn't have gone to see The Road... fucking depressing (but somewhat inspiring after exiting the theatre to blue skies and birds chirping). 1/7/10 The new Color issue with my interview is out... I haven't gotten the print copy yet, but there is a little preview on the newly revamped Color website. Looks nice. Thank you Isaac and Sandro for your interest in the tinkering life. Rory Markas... you will be sorely missed. An awesome game caller with a real "smile" in his delivery. Rest in peace. Fearless in the 20-10. Join me. 12/31/09, 9pm 2009 is over. This is my boy, Emmet, skating at the GTF and in Pedro; All the best for 2010, Benders. Thank you. 12/23/09 Another little peek into 2010; Click on individual graphics for details. 12/22/09 A little peek into 2010; New issue of Color out in January. 12/19/09 It the holiday break for Pedro schools. No baseball camp this winter... we'll be doing a lot of this; 12/17/09 Tod Adrian Wisenbaker at THIS. Photo: Jeremy Weiss, Day 19. 12/16/09 12/15/09 There's not a lot of time left before the Big Day, but if you've got little ones to gift, my lady Kelley Hart is having a 25% off everything sale at her webstore. The crochet bird beanies are the coolest — they're not in the webstore, but she has some available... I know because she works on them every night when we're supposed to be relaxing. Drop her an email, she'll set you up. Shipping can be expedited to make it to you by the 24th. Lucy Jane is modeling the crochet Owl Beanie. Remember; 25% off thru December! Just type in the coupon code "HOHOHO." 12/10/09 Another cool Honda we won't see here in the states... Are young kids ignoring the dangers of getting "stoked?" Apparently. "People don't want to be told things are so TIGHT over and over and over!" 12/6/09 The makers of the Beautiful Losers movie have found a decent way to recycle the footage that was left on the cutting room floor. Check out DIY America. it's very short with very little explanation. A little vague, maybe? The footage of me and Emmet is from back in the summer of 2005 when Aaron Rose and Tobin Yelland came to Pedro to shoot the interview for what was to become the Beautiful Losers film... 12/3/09 FOB, Isaac McKay-Randozzi recently interviewed me for Canada's Color mag. Check this post about his trip to the Southbay... ...by the way, many years after I received this doll I met the maker in Sydney, Australia — Monster Children Gallery's Joseph Allen. The funny thing is that he didn't tell me until after a few days into my trip... did you think I'd be creeped out, Joe? Naaaah. Not at all. It's just a voodoo doll of my likeness wearing a Dodgers cap. The Cave Singers. Thanks Jordan. 12/1/09 I was reminded by Bob K that the publication of "I Check the Mail..." will be 15 years old in a few days. Trivia question: who is that pictured on the cover? VISIT "OLD NOWS"... #1 / #2 / #3 / #4 / #5 / #6 / #7 #8 / #9 / #10 #11 / #12 / #13 / #14 / #15 / #16 / #17 / #18 #19 / #20 / #21 BACK TO CURRENT "NOWS" Write us