Holy $#!+: Skate Rock in Memphis

What a day!

I got up about 8 a.m. and headed down to Al Town where Thrasher's Skate Rock Tour was passing through today. I knew the event wouldn't start for many hours, but I haven't been around Al Town much for the last few pours of 'crete and I felt guilty.  So, I grabbed some trash bags and picked up trash while Chad did his thing to get the spot ready (and then Jenks came by to weed eat).

Then, an hour or so later, we were met up with by the guys from K.M.A. a skate rock band from Cookville, TN (also the founder of skatezine.com). What a great bunch of guys!

K.M.A.

 We skated around Al Town for a bit, then headed over to Tobey for a session before taking in a little Mexican food.

I took off for a while, and went to my kiddos parent/teacher conference.

When I got back to Al Town, all of the pros were there, and the skating was getting sick!

Chad with Frank Gerwer, a statue Chad made and a copy of Common Criminals

 Photo totally stolen from facebook.

 It isn't often a kid from small town Arkansas via Nebraska gets to session with a large group of some of the most outstanding pros. It was amazing. I kept pushing myself to skate more until finally, my body said, "No."  I started feeling weak around 4 p.m. I went to Midtown Market, got a banana and some more water. It helped enough to allow me to skate a bit more, but by the time I had to leave to pick up my son at 5:00, I was sunburned, weak, hungry and exhausted.

Today was one of the most amazing skateboard days of my life. Thanks, Thrasher Magazine!  And thank you to everyone past or present, that has worked on the D.I.Y. spot Al Town. Without the efforts of everyone, this day would not have happened. You can see some earlier pics of Al Town in the very first issue of Luchaskate.

The kiddo didn't want to come back. He had the choice of what he wanted to do because he had such a good report at parent/teacher conference, and he chose Chuck E. Cheese. So, we headed off to play games and eat pizza. Man, what an amazing day of skating. Look for a full photo report in the next issue. Lindsey was there with her camera, and she always gets some amazing shots.

This Weekend!

Poster image stolen from Kim Cook

 The grand opening of the West Point, MS skatepark!  Built by Grindline Skateparks including Wrex Cook who will be at the event.  It is going to be a rad event!

https://www.facebook.com/events/354013901348943/

Sponsored by tons of great companies including Fickle and Luchaskate.

Also, check out local Memphis board shaper rufusskates.com.  They've joined the Lucha Alliance.  For more advertising info on luchaskate check out www.luchaskate.info.

Outlaw Pray for Death Pt. 2

I did a blog post a while back...the day I got my Outlaw Pray for death deck.  I finally got a decent pic riding it today (instead of those pixelated video stills).  Fun times.

Photo by Lindsey Rowland

Stickers and T-shirts

So we have a new sticker in the works that many of you who have liked us on facebook will know about:

But, there has also been some interest in this being a t-shirt as well.  I've done a couple of mock ups, and I'd like to know your opinion.  Black t-shirt or white?

So...what the hell is Luchaskate?

A friend asked me about Lucha:  Who is he?  What is the idea behind Luchaskate?  WTF?

Here is where Luchaskate came from (excerpts and revisions from my email to her):

Last year, when the Memphis skatepark was being built, I made a joke that I would dress up like a luchador (masked Mexican pro wrestler) for the grand opening. I thought it would be pretty funny, and my friends would get a good laugh out of it. BUT, I was looking at masks when I realized I couldn't wear one because I have to wear glasses.

Fast forward a month or two.  I wanted to start a blog about skateboarding, but I didn't know what to call it.  Everything I thought of seemed contrived and lame like I was trying too hard to be cool.  I'm not cool.  However, I did keep thinking about the Luchador joke...in the end I called the blog, "The Four Eyed Luchador." For a while nobody read it. If I had 50 hits in a week I was happy.

BUT, suddenly I started getting readers! Hundreds of page views each week (nowadays that is everyday).

After a while I realized that "The Four eyed luchador" was too long so I shortened it to luchaskate.com.

Because the blog was now established, when I decided to start a 'zine I named it after the blog.  And, in the end I did get a couple wrestling masks and occasionally I put one on if I'm skating somewhere I'm very familiar with for a picture or two (that's all I can handle without glasses).

There ya go, the story of Lucha.

Kris and Lindsey killing time at the Yard Sale with new sharpie luchatats

 

Outlaw Skateboards "Pray for Death"

So, I got home from work today to find this in a box on my porch:

 I was officially stoked.  9" wide deck from Outlaw Skateboards ready to be set up and ridden.  Those of you that know me know that I've been working my way down from 43" longboards to more standard pool size decks.  My last deck was a 15.5" wheelbase handcut board that sat at 10.5 inches wide.  9" was my next step, and man, I'm glad I did it.  I ran over to cheapskates, picked up some 56mm Miller SPF formula wheels and griptape to set this guy up.

I'm in heaven here, folks.  This is so much lighter than what I was riding.  I was pulling the old layback airs like it was nothing.  I'm not bragging on me, I'm bragging on this set up:  Outlaw "Pray for death" with Thunder trucks (8.5" wide) and Bones SPF wheels.

Kris Gurley, one of my favorite people to skate with, met me at Tobey for a session and he was kind enough to hold a video camera for me for a second so I could get some still images to take from it.  The video camera doesn't produce good stills AT ALL but we got a couple things:

I love wallies

My favorite move on the jersey.  Kris calls this a Lucha wall ride

Damn, I thought I was gonna hit coping.

Branding

I allowed the fluorescent and day-glo colors of the eighties, for the most part, pass me by. The closest I came were a couple loud pairs of chucks (Chuck Taylor shoes). One pair was a turquoise-like blue while the other was purple, bordering on lavender. I would wear one blue and one purple shoe, an act one of my grandfathers couldn’t comprehend.

By now I was used to being an outcast at school, but acceptance within the family had always been a given. I was aware that they didn’t necessarily like the way I dressed, but I always felt that, at the end of it all, they knew the me that was hiding underneath this new style.

Suddenly, after some questioning that felt like an interrogation, I knew I was becoming separated from them as well. Teenage angst coupled with the fact that I didn’t see many of my relatives very often left us, quite often, speechless with one another.

I felt like I was expressing myself through my clothing. I was dressing how I felt.

The greatest oxymoron of punk rock was that you had to, in some respect, wear the punk rock uniform. The same could be said of skateboarding. Even the five guys that made up our local scene found ourselves identifying with certain companies and ‘branding’ ourselves to match them.

Generally, it started with the type of board you rode (or wanted to ride). Each brand had its standard type of graphic to identify with. All of them had their fair share of skulls and colorful monsters, but each company had a certain, individual flair.

Powell Peralta graphics tended to be punk yet professional with a child-like innocence. How is that possible? The graphics on a skull and sword deck was something my mother would like despite the skull and sword. On the other hand, Dogtown skateboards, with their connection to punk/metal crossover band Suicidal Tendancies, looked mean, almost demonic. Their possessed to skate deck was a mother’s nightmare.

Then there was Skull Skates. Skull decks were always black and white. They didn’t even contain grayscale. It was as if they were made by stencils and spray paint. I immediately identified with Skull skates. This was the epitome of punk rock and skateboarding combined.

Marketing. Every style niche in skateboarding comes down to marketing. At one point in the eighties every board had essentially the same shape. The standard deck had a short, rounded nose that rolled into a ten inch wide main space. Every deck had approximately seven inches of tail. Sure, there were different levels of concave and every company used wood from a different source, but overall the differences in decks were very minimal except for the graphics and, of course, the pros that the graphics symbolized. Of course, the common skater didn’t have to be aligned with one single company, but generally the companies one chose were within the same spectrum. At the end of the day we are all consumer victims of marketing.