Sunday, June 24, 2007

Enjoy the Silence


Tomorrow my little buddy and I are packing up the Volkswagon and heading East. You can expect this place to be pretty quite for about a week, but you know what they say, it's always quite before the storm. Goodbye sunshine everyday, hello Baltimore gray.

Friday, June 22, 2007

He's got one thing right


The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. American made skateboards will prevail.

Random Friday Post

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Attention Matt House


I found a rail for you today.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The Creek Revisited




I had to go back and take care of some biz. Rocked out the K grind ala Blose steez. Thank God for backside 180 nosegrinds. Then I got worked a little and lost my board in the creek, but all in all like Ice Cube said 'Today was a good day'.

Tuesdays

Monday, June 18, 2007

Retro Monday

Surf Expo in January.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

It's been too long since a leader ran for President


We stand for a living wage. Wages are subnormal if they fail to provide a living for those who devote their time and energy to industrial occupations. The monetary equivalent of a living wage varies according to local conditions, but must include enough to secure the elements of a normal standard of living--a standard high enough to make morality possible, to provide for education and recreation, to care for immature members of the family, to maintain the family during periods of sickness, and to permit of reasonable saving for old age.

Luke


I am your father.
Thanks Dad!

Mamas Don't let your Babies grow up to be Manu's

Willie Nelson was right, I should have been a doctor or lawyer instead.


* Programing note: You should watch John from Cincinnati on HBO tonight.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

One of the Greatest Courts Ever




Newport Ditch



This is another one of those spots when I try to go skate it there is always truck parked in front. Not today, but as soon as I took these establishing shots my battery died, so no self portraits.

This is Genius


http://www.noskateboardingday.org/index.html

Friday, June 15, 2007

Fav's - Scott Archer



I've know this kid, since he was a kid and got 3rd place in a Solid State Contest way back in the day. A great Skateboarder, Amazing Artist, and a True friend. Scott has been part of the Seven fold team since day one, and I can't imagine any of this happening with out him being such a great part of our family.

Here are your lucky 13 questions

Favorite thing to do in Calvert County -

Well, I was once stuck in that town for almost 21
years…Therefore, I seldom visit these days. There’s
some good scenery amongst the SUV driving suburbia
it’s become… My favorite spot to go hiking is Calvert
Cliffs. It’s right on the Chesapeake bay w/ some
really awesome views overlooking for miles.

Favorite Mike Holland Story –

Hmm, where to begin…even though we’re hardly
associated anymore there’s plenty I simply can’t tell.
One that sticks out in my mind the most was probably
the time I went to visit him in SF. Him and Danny
Gautimier were two hours late picking me up from the
airport... Apparently Danny was lost, and mike was
trying to fight every single person they’d ask for
directions…eventually they get to the airport and I
hop in the car. As we’re driving home mike proceeded
to strip down completely naked, shit himself, jerk
himself off, and throw a pair of shoes at Danny while
driving on a bridge. He’s blacked out drunk by the
way…We then get out on Market Street and he lays face
down naked on the sidewalk and just starts pissing
(laying in it too). Finally we get home, he whips his
dick out a few times rolls around on his bed and falls
asleep. Also the time he peed on little Danny’s head
was pretty classic. There’s just so many of em…

Favorite part about being in the 'tude army-

There’s no gimmick involved, everyone’s totally down
for skating and being themselves. Plus Little Danny’s
the new owner and he’s one of my favorite people to
skate with ever! Hopefully they’ll be in business for
another 16 years.

Favorite time fliming for What?! -

The whole time really, it was just a good time in my
life. I was still going to community college, living
with my parents, there just weren’t alot of
responsibilits or other obligations. We just filmed
each other mostly, so it rarely got stressful. Since
Zack is ‘artsy’ he was the best filmer…

Favorite Baltimore moment -

This past New Years Eve at the Talking Head was pretty
epic! It was there last show ever before the venue
shut down. Me and a few of my roomates/friends walked
4 miles there with beers in our hands. Finally we get
there, the place was packed with people doing coke,
smoking joints, eating pills, getting blacked out
drunk and even dumping trash cans on themselves while
naked and rolling around in broken glass screaming
‘get wet’. Oh yeah people were also throwing bar
stools out of windows, smashing walls, with
sledgehammers, and among other things. Around 2am one
of my favorite local bands went on: Vincent Black
Shadow. At this point I wasn’t exactly sober…I decided
to get on stage and ‘dive’ into the crowd only to fall
on a broken bottle. At first it was all fun and games,
I started bleeding all over stage, licking blood off
my hand and singing with the band. Once I step away
for a minute I realize I’m drenched in blood and
bleeding profusely…I then use paper towels from the
bar to make a turnicate of sorts to stop the bleeding.
I then manage to swindle the bar tender into giving me
free drinks for the rest of the night. So I had that
to make time of…Finally we walk 4 miles home at 4 am,
and some guy with a Pizza Boli’s box in his hand
threatens to shoot us. My hand didn’t heal for 1
month.

Favorite Dan Cherry cinematic classic?

Probably Open up Your Eyes. I was like 16-17 during
that time just skating everyday. I’d never drank, done
drugs, had girlfriends, injuries, or jobs. It was
awesome, I was just skating tons with my friends
learning new tricks everyday. I hadn’t felt jaded,
faded, bitter, broke and bald very much yet…

Favorite Chad Hall quote –

He’s now in Special OPS which means he could probably
murder me with his bare hands in like 2 seconds.
Rowell…I’m mouth of the south. He once said; ‘Chick’s
dig the Leo look’, while digging through his little
sisters magazine’s in search of a Leonardo Di’caprio
picture. He wanted to look like ‘Leo’ from that move
the Beach. This would mean he could get all the
chicks. Another time he told me I was un-American for
never seeing the movie Black Hawk Down. He also used
to bust nolle heelflip noseblunts like 6 years ago…

Favorite Nerve Center show –

Shit, they’ve all be awesome! Creating your own scene
and running it from your own house is possibly one of
the most rewarding feelings ever….If I had to pick one
I’d probably say it was the last big, big one we ever
had. It was with: Crypt of Raix, Dactyl, Trash Camp,
Each Other, and the New Flesh. Baltimore seriously has
the best underground music scene I’ve ever been
exposed to! All those bands are well worth checking
out… During ‘Each Other’s’ set there was nearly 100
people packed in that tiny ass room, literally crowd
surfing through out the entire house. With like 20
people having a sick mini ramp session in the
backyard. Also the second time they played ceiling
tiles got knocked out and we proceeded to bash them
over our friends heads. That was fun!

Favorite Road trip –

Tampa Flordia w/ Little Danny, Mike Holland, and Sam
Wientzen. The year was 2002, we barely skated and
partied like assholes the entire time. Beds were
burned, paintings were smashed, virginities were lost,
beds were pissed, tv’s were thrown of balconies,
mike’s car blew up on the ride home, we almost died a
couple times and a lot of other stuff I can’t really
mention.

Favorite person who has skated your ramp – Little
Danny definitely killed it the hardest so far.

Favorite reason to spend you life riding sevenfold
skateboards -

Because it’s a smaller based gimmick free,
anti-capitalist company hailing from MD. I’m good
friends with everyone who’s a part of it and looking
forward to the many oportunites and options of
expressing all of my creative outlets as one.

Favorite time at a Beast of the East contest –
Probably when we stayed at Little Danny’s trailer the
night before. We stayed up all night partying and I
think even everyone got to make out with
someone…Somehow I ended up getting forth place and
having nealy flawless runs. It was the best I’d ever
skated in a contest... Mike Holland on the other hand
got blacked out drunk in the parking lot and hit on
anything ‘female’ in sight. This included people’s
moms, little sisters, etc, etc. Also Little Danny’
beat the shit out of some kid w/ a broken arm in the
parking lot. It was definitely another one for the
books…

Favorite person to get last part in the next video –
Chris Opilla

bonus question * Favorite piece of art you have made –


Over the past 2 years nearly all the stuff I do is
mass-produced to one extent or the other…so I guess
I’d be eaiser to be more attatched to the stuff that
isn’t. Possibly this one collage thing I made
before…It’s basically this poster of a St. Paulie girl
I got for free from a liqour store. I spray painted a
puke green tint over it except for her eyes. In front
of her is the Baltimore city skyline cut out newspaper
spray painted black. Then there’s real dirt glued to
this pice with paper trees w/ real leaves then the
background is filled with text reading ‘we are the
second hand smoke of society’. Also it’s framed in
cigarate butts and tin foil, then enclosed in
plexi-glass. Either that one or this giant replica of
an Indy I welded in my metal fabrication class from 2
years ago. The best part is you can actually skate it!

-Scott

Links:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/75524380@N00/sets/72157600354213012/
Graphic Design

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75524380@N00/sets/72157600195566320/
Printmaking

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75524380@N00/sets/72157600353813811/
Fine Art

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75524380@N00/sets/72157600029229521/
The Nerve Center

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75524380@N00/sets/72157600028880296/
Photography


Robert F Kennedy


"Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."

Jake's Ad in For Fun Zine

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Ozzy


Giving credit where credit is due.

The Declaration of Independence


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Indictment

A bill of particulars documenting the president's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties. [11]

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present President of our United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices (see Homeland Security), and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Bilateral Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of US law in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Jersey Walls


I found these on the way to that gap. It's funny people in California call Jersey walls - K rails, wonder where that came from? Anyway I knew I had to come back here if I didn't break myself on that gap. Fronside wallrides are one of the funnest things you can do on a skateboard.

32 year old man clears massive gap


At my age this thing is like the Santa Monica triple set. 3 flat to street not bad since I never skate this kind of stuff. My adrenaline is still pumping that I'm up posting this. I was stoked to get out there an do it now that I have health insurance again. It's was hard getting the self portrait, sorry about the blur and ended up taking a good scrape. But I had to get one on film since Blose omitted that massive gap from the What?! dvd that I did at the end of that of the sketchy run in Glen Burnie.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Kyle Jensen



Kyle just checked in with this art, company ink and some really good skate photos, nice hearing from you Kyle!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A Message from the President


'Speak softly and ride a Seven fold deck; you will go far.'

Go Skate Day Baltimore

Here's my opinion on the whole Go skate day thing - everyday is go skateboarding day unless you are one of the posers who works in the skateboard industry, then you need to make up a holiday to try to hype it up so you can sell more product.

Again to all the kids on myspace asking to get sponsored

"Sorry folks the team's closed, the Moose out front should have told you."

Why Huge Organized Skate Contests Need to Stop

Cheerleaders at the Etnies Goofy Vs. Regular Contest a few years back. Check out poor Nyjah trying to skate around this weirdness.

I voted for Rocco

Monday, June 11, 2007

Nike Should Bring The GTS Back


Retro Monday



Me and Ish, way back in the day before it was knobbed...