New Issue is Available!

I just dropped off mags to Hunter at Midtown Skateshop. Go buy something from Hunter and get a copy of the magazine with your purchase!

Not in Memphis? Hunter out of copies? You can buy copies and downloads from the website. I'm so stoked that people are buying this already! We've sold more copies than I had hoped already! Thanks for your support.

Don't forget the web exclusives on luchaskate.com as well. There is an article from Moscow, more pics from Skate Rock, and Jack Carlson is our Featured Skater for this issue!

Spreading Stoke!!!

Special Thanks:

Hunter at Midtown Skateshop
Lew at Fickle Skateboards

Without those two this magazine would not have gone to print!

Duane Peters, Skate Rock, Me

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, Thrasher Magazine's Skate Rock Tour came through Memphis on Wednesday, and I loved it.  To see that many top notch pros at a local spot was awesome. Heck, to see that many people at a local spot was awesome.  The skating was great, and the envelope was pushed to new levels (see video).

It seems that as they moved south toward Jackson (their next official stop) they picked up an impromptu music gig at a place in Oxford. From what I understand, things didn't go so smoothly in Oxford. In fact, there was quite a bit of online noise about the gig. Negative things have been said about both the skate/music crew coming through town, and about the Mississippi natives.

I'm not going to join up with either side on this.  I just have something I'd like to point out:

The skater in the video below is Duane Peters. His nickname is the Master of Disaster. He has fronted tons of punk bands including "The Exploding Fuck Dolls" and "U.S. Bombs." It is rumored that he is the person who first came up with the term Thrasher that was adopted both in name and theme by the magazine.

Part of me would love to see skateboarding be a squeaky clean activity that I could go out on weekends and do with my son. And, in fact, it can be just that. I think of a good friend of mine who has brought so much positive media to the local scene by being himself: a father, a skater, a caring citizen. However, we can't ignore the history of skating. Skateboarding was and is a sport for the misfit that doesn't fit in with the team mentality. It is an individual sport that smears the line between sport and art. It has reveled in a rebel image since the first young skaters were banned from riding the first skateboards. It continued through the punk rock heyday when the name Thrasher was born. It was the refuge of the small town weirdo kids in the 80's.

And finally, the rest of the world caught on that skating is amazing.

But we're still the misfits.

I'm not condoning behavior. I'm just pointing out history, and let's just say the name "Bad Shit" might just be a clue that this ain't gonna be Rodney Mullen doing a freestyle demo in short shorts and knee pads.

Another Project complete

The book, Common Criminals, is being printed as I type this. Another big project completed. The book is filled with skate stories. How various skaters got started, meeting pros, first pool sessions, skating with legends and on an and on...

You can get your copy here: Common Criminals or you can get a digital copy on Amazon for just 2.99.

The cover of the new book!

The writers included are Jeff Haynes (of Jeff's Skate Page fame), Kim Cook (of the gayocean blog), Lindsey Rowland (often featured in the pages of luchaskate), myself, Kent Senatore (our lone pro skater story) etcetera etcetera.

I wrote half of this book and then included stories from other lifer skaters to round out the perspectives. They all did a wonderful job. I'm proud of how this book turned out. I can't thank them enough for their energy and time.  Pick up a copy and get stoked not only on skating, but on the people who skate as well.