The Parking Block Diaries

Please allow me to introduce you to Kyle DuVall. He is a skater and writer (like myself) who has started a blog called The Parking Block Diaries.  You may recognize his name (now spelled correctly) from the current issue of Luchaskate (#5 to continue my overuse of parentheses).

Check out his work by clicking here.

Issue 5 online

Here it is, folks. Issue 5 is online for your reading pleasure.  If you'd like to buy a download or paper copy (and help us fund stickers, t-shirts etc...) go to the luchaskate.com website.

Luchaskate is always accepting submissions to the magazine and website. Email me at luchamag@yahoo.com to get in touch with me. We are adding product reviews to the ever-growing website. Get in touch with me! So stoked that this is blowing up as big as it is!!!

Please feel free to share the link for this 'zine on your own blogs, facebook pages, and websites. It is super easy to get the embed code or just put the link into facebook. You can read it directly from facebook! Oh, and stop by the luchaskate facebook and click like!

Home is Where the Heart Is Part 2

The last time I was in Russellville, Arkansas (which I consider my hometown), it left me wanting more. The awkwardly fun skate park there was still a puzzle to me. I wasn't sure how to navigate the odd half snake run. I wasn't sure what to make of the weird bank to tight transitions in the next area. I wasn't sure why there was a two foot to vert bowled end in the shallow. I didn't get it, but I wanted to master it.

Plus, there was a ditch from my youth that I so wanted to skate. There was a new ditch that looked even more fun than the old ditch. The curbs at the nearby London elementary school had been painted red. I was very interested in hitting some spots in Russellville. So, one month from my last visit, I went back.

This strangely placed loveseat is so fun to carve around

Here you can see the bank to transitions. Very awkward to get used to, but fun once you do.

This little bowl end pocket is only about 2 feet tall. Frontside carving it has eluded me, but backside is fun and easy.

I didn't get to skate the elementary school because of people and cars. Well, shit.
 
The ditches? Water in both. The skate park? I got that down on my second day this visit. I started finally putting some runs together. I still don't like how the "bowl" area dies and become dirt halfway through, but the rest of the park became flowable to me. Skate the roll in to the kicker which transfers you across to a bank then up a bank, wallie over, then either backside carve the super tight micro mini or ollie up the strange bank to step then up the other side. Ollie to 50/50 on the short ledge then down a bank to go up the bank to trannie and over the oddly placed loveseat (which turned out to be my favorite thing), then up the other bank to trannie, feeble that and call it a run. Good times.

However, the KOOK METER went off the charts this visit. I got to the park my first day to find 3 kids, late teens I'd guess, shooting off fireworks in the skatepark. Okay. This is something I could see myself doing at that age. No biggie. However, in my 1 1/2 there that day, they skated for all of 5 minutes and left their fireworks remnants lying around the park. At one point, I hit some and stopped short in the middle of a carve through the bowl. This is lame, and it is what keeps more parks from being built in towns like Russellville. I know, punk rock disrespect the authority.  But, when people in your community step up for you and work to give you a park, don't disrespect that.

The second day at the park I met up with a kid named Grant that I had met on my last visit to Russellville, and I thought I was out of the kookville blues.

Nope, I was wrong. Same kid from the day before shows up, skateboard in hand, but doesn't skate. Nope, this time he spent about 10 minutes working with a permanent marker on some graffiti. Then, finished with his little art project, he picked up his board and walked away again. Dude wins the kook award for sure.

In other news:

Two Luchaskate drop offs made. 1 to Enjoy.

Haney with his copy. Enjoy drop off.

 2 to some good folks at Kanis (which means I got to skate Kanis).

Kanis Park. I love you. I'm freakin' serious.

Only skate for about 30 minutes, but it was a great 30 minutes.

 I'm super stoked to share Luchaskate in my home state.  I've put a lot of thought on how to grow Luchaskate and I truly believe the scene in Arkansas is the first direction for expansion. I'm always met with good vibes from the folks in my home skate.

And now for something completely different.

What a weekend?!

Friday night we were all worried about rain, but the morning turned out great for the Push It event. Great job Kim! Unfortunately, the rain came in a couple hours in to the event and we were all forced to scatter.

Lew and the rest of the Fickle crew from Cincinnati, Ohio along with the En Joy folks didn't make it before the rain, but they did make it.  After a quick lunch we met up with the Fickle guys and En Joy at Midtown Skate Shop.

 

It was a great opportunity as Lew got to meet skate enthusiest and Lucero band member, Brian Venable. Lew, as only Lew can, told Brian about Fickle Skateboards.

When the rain stopped, the squeegee and towels came out, and then the skating started again.

And the rest of the weekend was ON FIRE!  The Fickle guys were killing it. Wrex was killing it. I nearly killed myself (just kidding, mom. Total safety first, all weekend).

Early Sunday morning. Pre-session.

Sunday brought more rippage with an appearance of Jungle out who gave us a sideways acoustic jam.

And some proper skateboarding (in a mask).

Who is that masked man!?

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.

Good stuff

Somehow, it seems odd to me that I have a  friend that rips as hard as Wrex Cook. If I lived on the west coast it wouldn't seem odd, but I'm in good 'ol Memphis TN.   He gave me a copy of this video as a holiday gift, and my son made me rewind it five times.  It includes Tom Knox, Lance Mountain, Salba, Wrex...the list goes on.  Sickness.  Absolute pool skating sickness.

Speaking of sick...I'm feeling sick today.  Head cold.  I blame it on parasites.  Not really...but a couple of the guys working on Parasite, the D.I.Y. in New Orleans were in town, crashed at my place and left a trail of sneezing at this sticker in their wake.  Good times skating with stoked skaters.

Parasite sticker on my cruiser

Last, but not least, here is something I posted on the luchaskate facebook (join us...there is a link at the top of this page):

I just finished reading another skater's story. I'm stoked on reading all of your stories. Why do you love skateboarding? What is the defining skateboard moment? Is it standing in the shallow end of a pool? Is it watching a skater who's style and dedication sparks a stoke within you? Is it a session with your friends? Describe it. Spread the stoke you feel with all other skaters in the world. Common Criminals is going to be about 150 pages in length. Get your submissions in as soon as you can. Email a word doc to luchamag@yahoo.com. I have some "this is how I started skating" stories. They're rad, but be careful about sending any more of those. A few of those is enough. Yours should be more about the thrill of a moment or a defining moment after you first learned to ride so we give a huge variety of stories to the reader. Thank you to everyone! This project is going to be amazing! And yes, I may end up doing a volume 2 if the need arises.

Get your submissions in while it is cold outside!

Oh, one more thing:  A Luchaskate video is happening.  More details to come in the next issue of the mag.  Book first, video second.

Bones Brigade: An Autobiography

>Thanks to a very kind person, I received a gift certificate to the newest skateshop in Memphis, Midtown Skateshop.  I went in knowing I needed griptape for the new fickle punk point I have on the way, but not sure what else I would buy.  I have a million skate shirts so I knew I didn't need one.  I have two sets of brand new bearings (one I bought and one via Wrex Cook...look for a review in the next issue of Luchaskate).  Hmmmm...what would I get?

I gave a hard thought to getting the Creature video.  Those guys always make me want to skate, but really I knew I wanted the new Bones Brigade documentary.

Now, I was not a Powell Peralta fan back in the day.  I always liked Lance Mountain (who didn't), and Rodney Mullen was so shockingly brilliant (and so odd) that he was fascinating, but I was more into Skull Skates, Santa Cruz and Alva.  In retrospect, the Powell guys were a little too smiley, polite and clean cut. I wanted my skateboarding to be more punk rock than that.  Hey, I was a rebellious teen looking for more rebellion.  I didn't care about contest results.  I cared about Danforth's shaved head and dirty t-shirts, Salba's weird leopard print pads and Tod Swanks lo-fi graphics.  I am not and will never be a technical skater.  Style was everything to me, even back then.

However, this DVD is fantastic.  Rodney Mullen is the true star for me.  His brilliance and oddness shines through.  When he speaks it is full of imagery, metaphor and thought.  Lance Mountain expressing his worry about not being "good enough" touches home as well (although he had style for days).  It has its downsides as well, of course.  Stacy Peralta's interview parts show him as trying too hard to show emotion.  And it would have been nice to see more skating or nice to have some bonus footage of skating.  I will say, this thing is worth every penny I didn't have to spend on it.  This will be rewatched again and again.

Get it at your local shop, or you can get it here:
Bones Brigade: An Autobiography

Your story?

I was going to publish an old school style photocopied 'zine at the end of the year, but after thinking long and hard about it, I just don't want to do that. With over 4,000 people being exposed to the digital 'zine (issue 2 alone) that can be downloaded and printed by anyone who might want it, it seems counterproductive.

But, I do want to do another project.

I was going to write a book about skateboarding...well, in fact, I started a book a year or so ago. But that isn't exactly what I wanted to do either. I wanted more people to be involved. So, here is what I need:

Essays. The skateboard story that you need to tell. No fiction. 1st person personal essays only. This is the skate story that exemplifies the feeling you get from our sport/activity/culture.

Length: Between 1,000 and 4,000 words.
18 or older to enter.
Deadline: March 1st.
Publication date: TBD (likely in May but could be before)
Payment: Contributor copy to authors with an essay included in the book.

Legal stuff: We get all publication rights to this essay. This will be created via a p.o.d. (print on demand publisher) and available via ebook. It will not "go out of print" as it will be printed when copies are ordered. If we don't publish your essay, rights return to you. You will be informed via email whether we will use your essay. Some essays not used in the book will be published in luchaskate magazine in part or whole. You will be informed if any part of your essay will be used in luchaskate ahead of publication time. You will not get any money for your essay. This is a chance to be a part of something very cool. Skateboarders telling the world why they love skateboarding. Do it for the love of the art of skating.

More details to come.

email submissions (in ms word format) to luchamag@yahoo.com

Tips: Keep it timeless. Don't rail on the current state of skateboarding or praise the now. In ten years the now will be the past, and your piece will seem dated.

Only the best will make it to print, so write, rewrite and rewrite and rewrite again.

Outlaw El Bandito Pt. 2

From the Grand Opening of the West Point, MS skatepark.

My funny faces are even funnier without the beard!  Loving this deck, y'all.

Sunday Funday

Good people to skate with, a fun Sunday session, and cupcakes.  What more could a guy ask for?  A little belated birthday celebration for me?  I was stoked.  Even got a new shirt (thanks Wrex and Kim!)!  I probably didn't show my gratitude well enough.  I was a little embarrassed with the attention.  Thank you everyone for coming out today and skating with me.

My new Old Man Army t-shirt

Last three cupcakes swimming in a sea of ciggie butts.  You can just see my truck hanger in the bottom right of the screen.

Miranda and Kris

Ed, Kim and Wrex (Mike is hidden)

Jonathan acting a fool.

I'm still addicted to learning kickflips on banks.  Next deck, I'm going with an 8.5 to see if it helps out.  Just about have 'em figured out.  I was never good at flip tricks.  I guess I'm learning to be patient. Ha!  Flat ground, I got 'em.  On a bank?  One out over every 5 right now.

I had to leave a little earlier than I wanted.  Old man wasn't feeling too well, but I had a blast as always.

Another Year Older

I'm one year closer to forty.  In fact, counting each day as one step closer, I have a mere 364 more steps until I stand on the big 4-0.

It was a time of reflection for me as I celebrated my 39th birthday at the local park.  I thought about all the years I've skated.  I thought about all the people I've met, the spots I've had the pleasure of hitting, and all the joy and joyous frustration skateboarding has given me.

As a teen, skateboarding gave me a place to focus my energy and aggression. My family moved from Nebraska to Oklahoma to Arkansas (to yet another town in Arkansas) within three years.  In each town I turned to my skateboard.  My skateboard was my best friend, and my gateway to new friends.

As the years passed by, I thought of quitting.  I tried other sports from cycling to martial arts. No other activity could reach my soul the way skating did.  Why would I give that up?

As an adult, skateboarding has continued to be a focus for me.  Getting divorced?  I'm going for a skate.  Broke?  Going skating.  Lonely?  Yep, I'm gonna skate.  I'm going to hop on my board, and lose every single problem in my life for a couple hours on this thing other people think is a toy.  Other than my family, skateboards and the act of riding a skateboard has been the constant in my life.

Don't try to tell me I'm too old, and that a skateboard is a toy.  This piece of wood, metal and urethane has kept me from getting old.  It has reached down to the core of who I am and touched my soul.

Thank you, skateboarding.

To my distance skating friends, look for distance skating to become a topic on here once again.  I've felt the need for a good 20 mile ride again.

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.

Read Issue 2 Here

Here it is folks:

Issue 2 of Luchaskate Magazine.  Read it.  Download it.  Print it.  Embed it on your blog or website.  Email it. Share it and like it on facebook.  Spread the stoke!

Open publication - publishing - More d.i.y.

One correction in this issue: Dustin Dattilio rides for Shipwreck Skates NOT Shipyard Skates. Sorry, bro!

Outlaw El Bandito

I stopped by my house on the way to pick up the kiddo from his mom's place yesterday and found a box with this in it sitting on my porch.

Outlaw Skateboards El Bandito

Outlaw Skateboards was the first company to show support for a fledgling Luchaskate Magazine.  The first issue wasn't even out yet (it was just my blog) when Outlaws said they were down for the cause.  Now?  Now they've come out with their new deck, El Bandito.  The sizes vary from just over 8 through 8.8 and the larger sizes have a 15 inch wheelbase.

You can check them out at http://outlaw-skateboards.com/, but be forewarned (yeah, I been listening to Pentagram again tonight) the site will be down for maintenance until October 10th while Mike goes to Europe and prepares to come back and take wage war with corporate skateboarding.

Until then?  You're gonna see a lot of Lucha and El Bandito.

New Stickers

The new stickers came in yesterday.  I'm stoked on how they turned out.  Nice work by the What Luck Garage in Indiana.  Sticker sales will go toward getting this same design put on a t-shirt.  You can buy single stickers or buy more and save.

Quantities

1 sticker $1.00 USD 5 stickers $3.00 USD 10 stickers $5.00 USD

The Gay Ocean

I spent a little time this morning washing clothes ('cause they stankin') and reading through my favorite blogs.

The first to mention is, "The Gay Ocean."  This is a good friend and contributor to luchaskate mag.  A must read.

The second to mention is Jeff's Skateboard Blog.  Always fresh content from a person who loves skateboarding.

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?

The Day Finally Came

I was hoping there would be a pour at Al Town before the first issue of Lucha came out, but it wasn't to be.  It always seemed there was something holding back fresh 'crete from happening.  Well, it finally came time today.  I wasn't able to help (had the five year old in tow and pouring 'crete wasn't the place to be with one that young), so I dropped off some refreshments (after spending the morning at the Children's Museum with my kiddo) to the crew and said hello.

Overview Shot

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.