This week was cool… literally, the weather was beautiful in NYC. Time to see some friends!


I stopped by the offices of Once in a Row Mgmt. / Modern Art Records to see McInnes and Ben Collins. Ben was hard at work on stuff for the new MINIATURE TIGERS
record so I just messed around the office and took pictures of his collected stuff and paintings, all the while asking to many questions…


[GIVE ME YOUR HAND]



[VOTE FOR PEOPLE]



[Watchin' Spinal Tap]



[Cad & Jeremy VS. Elvis]



Making my way back up-town I noticed that somebody had invested some time in letting us all know how they felt about Madonna, the Knicks and other assorted subjects… they might want to invest some time in planning and some spell check…
[EVERYTHING SUCKS]



Literal “Word on the Streets” is there’s been some partyin’ and spyin’ going on…
[PARTY SPY]



Some people treat they Metro cards like they was Dolla-Dolla-Bills ya’ll… I mean when you’re trying to impress, there ain’t no expense to be spared, that’s my word!
[MAKE IT RAIN]



Got the secret invite and the secret password to the secret Freelance Whales show… they played a new secret song…
[Generator 1st Floor]



Found a Doggie Dreamhouse… a Dogtown mansion.
[DECK DOGS]



Brooklyn Fireproof is rad… just be careful, Bushwick don’t play… every car on the street with outta town tags got the driver side window removed “broken glass everywhere” style, by a local, no kidding.
[FIREP ROOF]





*For some inspiration see THIS
.

In 1988 my Mom did something I will forever be grateful for… she drove us a long, long way from our small town, out to a parking lot to see a stop on the POWELL PERALTA
Bones Brigade Tour.


I was a pre-teen with a yellow Free Former skateboard that I did not bring because I was emberassed, if I only had that skateboard now, it would be a shrine in my apartment… We were broke as it gets and seeing that tour had me obsessed to the point that I asked everyone for money for my upcoming birthday and to buy my first complete set-up… for months I was like Ralphie in that movie The Christmas Story, with every detail of my future skate memorized in detail, ready to spout it off at any moment…


What I didn’t know, was the fella below, the guy who was older and more pro by the time I saw him, way after this picture, came from not to different circumstances. Steve Caballero was born into a family like mine, with very little expendable cash-flow and he spent his every effort and every dime to get to skateparks until he could win free passes and skateboards. He did it then and today he works with the same ethic and a positive attitude, with a smile on his face and that mischievous grin that those of us who realize how lucky we are wear.


Thank you Mom. Thank you Steve. Thank you George Powell and Stacy Perralta. I will continue to work every day like it was for my first skateboard…


[MINI-CAB]



The picture above is of Steve Caballero circa 1980, you may notice a teenage Mark “Gator” Rogowski looking on as Cab does his thing…


The skateboard pictured below is identical to the first one I owned… except mine was equipped with Gullwing Street Shadow trucks, Santa Cruz Slimeball Wheels and Cell Block rails (because nobody wants to mess up that beautiful graphic). Little did I know Skip Engblom, one of the original Dogtown founders, helped found Santa Monica Airlines… little did I know Jim Phillips, one of my favorite artists, was doing art for Santa Cruz… little did I know NATAS
was to become the leader he is today… I was just a kid from the country, living in a Thrasher Magazine. No matter where we’re from, I think we all do something a little like this…







*You could say it’s something like MY FIRST
.




*Your dreams not only belong to you… but if you’re lucky, you to them.

I’ve always been a thrift store kid… can’t pass one without stopping… I’ve spent days on end in ‘em…

[ORIGINAL]

When you’re on the road, visiting a new place, traveling “All Carry On’s” style, stopping in a thrift spot is a rad way to find a completely original souvenir and a future memory… It’s also a way to put a couple dollars back into the local economy, in a pretty direct fashion. Sometimes I pick up a things that remind me so much of someone I know and the next time I see them, it’s a awesome little surprise gift. Sometimes I find stuff for a person I have yet to meet… I’m always passing on a find, one way or another.
Shouts out to everyone who owns, works in or frequents these spots…

[Quid, Me Anxius Sum?]

What you didn’t know about ALFRED E. NEUMAN.

[WHAT]

“Always go out dapper like Harry S. Truman,
I’m madder than Mad’s Alfred E. Neuman” – Beastie Boys: Shadrach

[MISCHIEF]

QUOTEABLES

[Ballentine Books]

ANTWAN DUNCAN : I THINK YOU’RE SWELL

*Honorable Mention: Mel Hanley
**LEAVE TIME IN YOUR DAY TO LOOK AROUND
***you can click the images for a better view…

It’s funny how a piece of clothing can make you feel like you are your at extra best… New Shoes make you run fast… Those jeans make your butt look extra sweet… That leather jacket actually makes you the 6th member of that strokes (in your mind, haha).

For me, in middle school, it was a Chicago Bulls jacket and hat combo, both made by a company called STARTER.  Just a little while ago I was poking through my friend JNR SNCHZ’s stuff and found the exact jacket I kinda indefinitely borrowed from my friend Joey’s older brother way back when…

TO ENHANCE THIS EXPERIENCE CLICK HERE HERE HERE NOW!

My Running Man, Kick Step, Roger Rabbit… into Cabbage Patch, Robo Cop, butterfly combo was never so fly without this one item of clothing. Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock said it takes two, well not with this cloak of awesomeness, I was a star all on my own… a chunky little 4-foot tall, bouncing star on a rubberized gymnasium floor…

One question? What was with everyone hanging their jackets off the shoulders? You know what I’m saying… like our jacket was falling off on purpose? Maybe that’s where pants sagging came from… I dunno…

Anyway, shout out to Joey Shryock, his older brother Steve (who had the illest steps and lightning bolts that you ever did see in a white dude’s hair), DJ’s that played middle school dances and rocked Kid n’ Play, Digital Underground, Pete Rock, Grand Puba… many, many, many more.

*Click the photos to get a better look
**Left click to download the music
***Leave me love notes

Inspiration comes from different places…

Cooley High

click to enlarge

Jitterbug

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Prince Buster on Orange street

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Rob and the kids

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Arthur in 1965

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Capone, Morgan, Cliff & Lee

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Mayfair, London 1965

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Junior Prom

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Sunday afternoon football at Harvard

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CAN’T TOUCH THIS!

Welcome to my new site. More info coming soon so stay tuned!