+ Friday, July 28th, 6:04pm +

After a nice visit to the emergency room this morning it turns out I have either very bruised ribs or possibly a costochondral separation. No bleeding or anything so I'm good. Shit just hurts.

- Two great shows coming to Roseland soon. Mastodon, Converge and The Bronx on August 22nd and Celtic Frost and 1349 on October 2nd. Both are incredible.


+ Thursday, July 27th, 5:42pm +

- I’m still very, very tired. I’m trying to catch up after the insane bachelor weekend that went up and down the Northwest coast. Portland, Seattle, Orcas Island and back again. Lots of skateboarding, sleeping on floors, cooking on grills, swimming and quoting Ron Burgandy. Photos as soon as possible. If you’re reading this and have images, email them over.

- Somehow I think I bruised my ribs. Not sure how (mostly likely skating) but it's hurts like hell. May have to visit a doctor for this one.

- With My Space now being the number 1 site in the world I figured it was about time to throw SKATEDAILY up there. You know, for traffic reasons. Now go and ‘add to friends’ because I haven’t announced it yet and it’s embarrassingly low. Oh, and I added the Neckdeep My Space page over on the left. Hey, "When in Rome…"




+ Saturday, July 22nd, 8:38am +

- IT'S TOO DAMN HOT. Still here in Portland and it's insane. I'm only typing this because I can't sleep after being out past 1am. I moved AWAY from the east for a reason. 104? Come on. I'm guessing very little skating will go down today.

- "Sober is the new track bike." - Stevie describing the new trend of city kids staying sober. Best quote of the trip so far.


+ Thursday, July 20th, 7:35pm +

- I'm stunned to report that one Johnny Marr has moved to my neighborhood. Yes, Johnny Marr from the fucking Smiths. He's currently living somewhere in South East Portland. He's been stopped at Laughing Planet and local record stores...as he's here to work on the new Modest Mouse album. Unbelievable. Doubtful I'll run into him but hopefully Emiko or myself will get a sighting soon. The man wrote 'There Is A Light...'and could be just blocks away.

- Normally I don’t pay much attention to snowboard news, but this story made me pause…and a bit sad. Collective International, LLC Adds Sims To Portfolio. The once mighty Sims brand has been added to the Jamie Salter graveyard where Vision Street Wear and AIRWALK now live. In 1989 I really wanted my first tattoo to be the Sims logo as I worshipped Sims as the anti-Burton and home to Terry Kidwell and Shaun Palmer. They slowly fell from grace but this new development is a dark day form a once mighty brand. Good thing I never got the tattoo.

- The next few days will be postless as I'll be on the road to Orcas Island on a bachelor skate trip Saturday morning. Should be good if we can survive the heat.




+ Monday, July 17th, 7:32pm +

- First and foremost congradulations go out to Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hanley who are currently with child! Amazing. Looking forward to meeting the little Hanley. And Tom, update your damn site.

- This weekend the weather was perfect. Got some work done around the house (clean garage!) and went on a few long motorcycle rides both mornings.

We rode out to Multnomah Falls via the Historic Columbia River Highway on Saturday and went out to Hayden Island on Sunday. Such a good time. Tom's Honda CB400 Super Sport is running solid.

It's time for longer motorcycle rides. Looking at a route to Seattle soon. And next year may the Moto Melee. Here are some shots from this years event that went down two weeks ago.


+ Friday, July 14th, 4:59pm +

- Now THAT was a shitty week. Glad that's finally over, that's for sure.

- From Monument To Masses plays in SF tonight at Slims, so if you live there go check it out. They will also be touring the states this summer. Check out the tour dates here.

- Working on plans to get the car down to Sf for the Melee this year. Also, the Forest Grove Concours is on Sunday. We'll see. Motorbike rides for sure. I'm liking this cafe racer site.




+ Saturday, July 8th, 6:09pm +

We spent the morning at most of the afternoon at the Portland Historic Races at PIR today. A pretty good turn out even though the final races are tomorrow.

It was nice to park with the Oregon PCA car club and check out all the other Porsches from the area. I do wish my friend Chris was able to get his 912 in there because it seems like all Porsche drivers are old rich men. Kind of a bummer. Still, it was cool to do a parade lap around the track with the club.

The other car clubs: Alfas, MGs, BMWs, Ferrai...were all great as was the pit area. Worth it. Not sure I could do all three days, but some amazing cars.

I took a ton of photos which you can view here (4.7mgs).




+ Friday, July 7th, 9:42pm +

It’s funny that I run across a book on straight edge the very same day I run across a bunch of really good old hardcore MP3s.

I just started the book, Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, And Social Change…and it seems to be OK. It reads like what it is, a scholarly study on a youth movement. Still, in skimming it I did run across a couple interesting paragraphs so hopefully it will be fairly interesting.

As far as MP3s…there are some good ones out there. First off, the drummer from one of my favorite hardcore bands ever, Headfirst, has just posted files of every song from their ‘Back In Control’ 7”. I’ll let you click on the comments and read my gushing over this one. ‘Stand’ is one of the best songs ever. And now Headfirst has a My Space page...with the songs from the 12".

Then there’s Stop, Look and Listen fanzine. Sweet fucking Jesus, the MP3s here are jaw dropping. Live shows by Inside Out, Burn, Judge and many more. That Inside Out stuff is just amazing.

And finally, here’s a link to the ‘Living On The Edge’ 7” comp. Device, Step Aside and Dunamis! I hadn’t heard this since 1990 in a friend’s living room. Northern Virginia hardcore represent.


+ Sunday, July 2nd, 6:42pm +

I know that 2nd Avenue Records here in Portland is the shit. I've heard the praise, read the reviews and even got a few recommendations. Still, I always feel like a total ass when I go in there. They have TONS of metal (so I'm told) but ONLY if you know exactly what you're looking for as you can't browse. You have to ask an employee for the exact title that you want. Yesterday's exchange...

Me: Hey, yeah...I was looking for a metal band called Purist Blood or Pure Blood (it was Purified In Blood)...
Worker: Never heard of them.
Me: I read up on them a bit. They could also defined as hardcore. Sort of a political hardcore meets 3 Inches Of Blood type thing.
Worker: I need the actual NAME of the band
Me: Well, it's got Pure and Blood in there (light laughter)...they are from Norway, I know that.
Worker: (long sigh) Yeah, there are A LOT of metal bands from Norway
Me: Yeah, understood...all right. Thanks...

(about 3 minutes later)

Me: Hey...what is this playing?
Worker: It's BURZUM! (looks at me like I'm a total ass)
Me: Ah...yeah...sounded kinda like (trailing off and almost whispering at this point) the first Ludicra record.

I felt like saying..."Yeah, sorry I don't own and study that shit as it was created by a fucking facist, racist murderer....but fuck it, I know it's important to hold him in high reguard due to his Black Metal history, so hats off for doing just what I figured you would do. I'm off to spend my money on the internet. Go luck with all this."

But I didn't, I just walked out. Not sure if I'll return. I just don't know my music I guess.




+ Saturday, July 1st, 12:00am +

I’m not really sure why I clicked on the Transworld Snow site in the middle of summer. I hadn’t even strapped on a snowboard once this winter. Maybe it was because I was thinking of back in 1996 when it was called solsnowboarding.com and run by Lee Crane aside from Transworld. I looked at that site everyday. In any event, the first thing I see is this Jamie Lynn interview. Jamie and Terje are in my mind the two best snowboarders of all time. Now it’s all hip-hop rich kids and Euro guys. Bummer. I’d like to try to hit up Hood this winter and try to regain some of the love I had for snowboarding when it wasn’t so mainstream and blown out. Now I’m just old and bitter I guess. I sure wish I still had my Sims Kidwell Signature Roundtail...

Top 3 Snowboarding Moments

1. Shaun Palmer Tells Me To Fuck Off

It’s the 1988 US Open. I’ve just watched Terry Kidwell and Bert LaMar battle it out for first with Craig Kelly grabbing third on his black pre-Burton announced mystery board. My favorite rider at that time, Shaun ‘Mini-Shred’ Palmer had just boosted the biggest airs I’d ever seen. My group of Powder Ride riding friends worshipped the guy. Young, pissed and sporting dyed black dreadlocks I spotted Palmer in the food line in the lodge. I gathered all my 15 year old courage and approached him with a pen to sign my Life’s A Beach sweatshirt (next to Terry and Bert’s ink I already gathered). As I approach him he sort of half glances at me. Me: “Hey…umm, great run…so awesome. You were totally robbed.” Palmer: “Fuck Off.”

Side bar: 13 years later I see Palmer again as a roadie for a pathetic South Tahoe bar band playing a small skatepark benefit in Benicia, California. Gone are the crazy suits, Sims sponsorship, video game deals and pro magic. The dream was over. Sad really.

2. Riding Squaw Valley For The First Time

After spending most my years riding the mid-atlantic (ice, crap) region dreaming of real snow, I was floored to be working for a snowboard company in Northern California and riding Tahoe every weekend. Every resort up there is killer, but Squaw just seemed like the end all be all.

3. Designing Damian Sanders Pro-Model

Yeah, it was a cheesy girl in purple and yes, the comeback never really happened…but damn it, it was Damian and I worked with him to design his board. He was always super nice and a good guy. I did have the pleasure of riding with him once…but he was so fast I didn’t even know what was going on.



June Archive - Full Archive