The Colour Yellow, or Nice Guys Finish on the Podium

Ever since I was young, I was aware of skateboards, and of the act of skateboarding. In the late '80s and early '90s, I had a pig board-shaped Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles skateboard, replete with copers, lappers, rails, and nose and tail bones.

 I can't believe I found an image of this first try - I put this exact board through the wall of my old basement....

Any knowledge I had of skateboarding came from that board, the Ninja Turtles, and an old copy of Skate or Die; Tour de Thrash my older brother had for his Gameboy. I didn't even know what tricks existed until 1992, when that same brother exclaimed to me that skateboarding was back (we had assumed in our youthful innocence that it was a fad of the 80s), that now boards had two kicktails, and there were new tricks like the ollie, and the kickflip. Aside from this newly acquired knowledge, however, I was still more or less clueless.

It wasn't until around 1996 or so that I discovered that there was such a thing as a professional skateboarder. I can remember simply stumbling onto a televised vert contest. I had no idea what any of the maeuvers being performed were called, or for that matter who most of the pros riding were...this was about two years before I started trying to pay attention to skateboarding, and four years before I actually started skating. The one part of the contest I most vividly recall, though, was a slow-motion replay of a skater doing a trick that, in hearing the commentator exclaim the names of both, my ten-year-old mind assumed was said skater's signature move, though I would come to learn otherwise. The trick was a McTwist, and the skater was Andy MacDonald.

It would be inherently difficult to argue that Andy Mac is well-liked among the majority of skateboarding's most key demographic, that is to say, teenage boys. In a subculture that celebrates aggression, rebellion, and oftentimes being at-odds with authority, Andy stands as a paragon of virtue, the kind of white knight archetype with a winning smile that you'd expect to see on a box of Wheaties holding a baseball bat, the kind of person that nine-and-a-half out of ten kids on the SLAP message boards wouldn't think twice about unloading a carton of eggs onto. He does anti-drug PSAs, is sponsored by a licorice company, and is pictured on the cover of his 2003 autobiography Dropping In with Andy Mac doing a benihanna. In short, Andy MacDonald is a dork, the type of guy who probably got called a poseur by the more "hardcore" skaters at school growing up.

Few things would have helped a skater's popularity in 2003 like doing the most hated-on trick on vert in full pads and a canary-yellow t-shirt.


When push comes to shove, however, one can see that, not only has the skate world been a bit harder on Andy than he ever deserved, but that skateboarding needs pros like Andy around. For one thing, he is an undeniably talented skater; many may argue that Andy's skating is jockish, or devoid of style, and to that I offer this rebuttal:

Secondly, yes he is a dork. He was probably as close to a model son to his mother as he could be, and is likely one of those dads that makes lame jokes that cause his son to roll his eyes incredulously. What this does not make him, however, is any less of a skater. One of the beautiful things about skateboarding is that it is meant to attract anybody who feels that they don't fit in elsewhere, not just thirteen to eighteen year old boys whose judgmental gazes and words make them bigger jocks than their schools' football teams. I, for one, can vouch for the fact that I tried to be a model son growing up, and I'll probably be a dad that tells lame jokes to his kids, and I'll always skate, which is more than I can say for all the "hardcore" skaters at my old high school that always called me a poseur. Finally, I can vouch for the fact that I'm glad that there are pros like Andy MacDonald, helping all those dorky kids out there feel a bit more at home.

"It's a Living" or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Paycheque"

Hi, my name's Brandon, and at times, I'm a professional skateboarder.

I'm sorry? Oh, no, I don't have a pro model board..... Yes, I am sponsored by a skate company...... Well, no... you probably haven't heard of them....

But, seriously, sometimes I am a professional skater. Not in my mind, not in video games, but for real.

Around the time of the Copenhagen pro contest, there was a video interview of Arto Saari posted up on the Transworld site, in which he tried to define that ever-so-delicate term in our business: "pro"



Arto Saari CPH PRO trailer # 5 from simon weyhe on Vimeo.

I can, to a degree, understand Arto's sympathies on the matter: the men and women who have pro models out with well-know board companies are some of the most gifted skaters the world over. Were it not for those few screens of ink forming a name on an internationally sold skateboard, there would be no delineation between Daewon Song or Chris Cole, and that local park hero who probably beats kids in SKATE for their lunch money so he can buy new boards. That would be like comparing Sir Ben Kingsley to that guy busing tables in Hollywood, hoping to land an infomercial gig, right?

Okay, so maybe I only name-dropped Ben Kingsley as an excuse to link this video...

And yet, say that actor lands that infomercial gig, and commercials end up becoming his livelihood, he's a professional actor, right? The poor guy may not be the next Ben Kingsley, but he is being paid to act. He doesn't need a production company to tell him so, and he isn't internationally known, but he is being paid to act.

Okay, so the acting world may be a little different than skateboarding, which can be considered an art as much as a sport. In terms of professional sports, then, what makes a professional golfer professional? There are literally hundreds of  professional golfers the world over, who are simply good enough at golf to be paid for it, be it from sponsors, competitions, or courses where the pro might give lessons or seminars. He or she may not have a Nike driver with their name scrawled across it, but they are paid to golf, or teach golf, and are ergo professionals.

In the premier episode of Mike Vallely's Drive series, Mike talked with Lance Mountain, in which Lance said, succinctly, and with his typical humble wisdom, that a pro skater's job was to "make kids fall in love with skateboarding". To me, this has no bearing on whether someone has a top-selling board the world over, but someone who is paid to make kids fall in love with skateboarding, whether it be through giving lessons, doing demos, filming video parts, or getting in Thrasher or Transworld every month.

That's why I can say, comfortably, that I am, sometimes, a professional skateboarder.

Super Bowl Party! Part IV: The Afterparty

Well, I hope everybody enjoyed their weekends; I'm happy to report that my good friend's annual "Pro-Tec Pool Party...Party" was, again, a success. Those of you who got a chance to watch the contest are fully aware that it was, indeed, a sight to behold. Those of you who were unable to watch, however, allow me to break down my personal highlights (and lowlights):

The Masters' Division:

The Masters', as always, was a treat to watch. It was really cool this year to see 75% of the original Bones Brigade vert stars (Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain) skating a contest together for the first time in a couple of decades. Tony, who I had assumed was going to be a shoo-in for first, wound up placing fourth behind Chris Miller, Cab, and Lance respectively. In hindsight, this isn't entirely surprising, given Tony was a last-minute entrant. Granted, Tony had his 540s on lock the entire night (as did both Tony Mag and Sluggo, neither of whom made the finals), but his technical use of the bowl was simply not on par with the three guys who bested him. Regardless, Tony seemed to have had a good time, and his runs were entirely entertaining to watch, namely his circa 1985 Rage at the Badlands 360 slide and roll through the square corner. It's genuinely difficult to pinpoint a favourite part of the Masters' contest, though Chris Miller's zero-gravity high speed frontside air transfer into the round bowl will forever be tattooed into my psyche. Notable disappointments include a lack of Hosoi for Tony's big return to the combi, and a distinct lack of Jeff Grosso....



Well, except for this commercial, which incited a good laugh every time it aired between heats.

 The Pro Division:

I genuinely feel for the judges on this one. Even in spite of Bucky not being present to throw nollie flip madonnas alongside mceggs and flying vs, the pros put on a show that had everybody out of their seats and up on their feet (author excluded, broken ankle and whatnot). As expected, Pedro Barros mimicked the recent shuttle launch with his straight airs, and tossed more 540 variations than most of the other pros combined. Andy MacDonald, who deserves way more recognition than he has ever received as a professional, mixed in the new and the old, added a heaping helping of consistency, and managed third place behind Pedro and Rune Glifberg respectively, with a particular standout being his repeated attempts at a FREAKING BACKFLIP BACKSIDE BONELESS TRANSFER ACROSS THE PENINSULA!!! God, I wish he'd made that one....
Ben Raybourne was a noticeable absence from this year, though it seemed that Tony Trujillo was put in place last minute to fill that "padless and unplanned" niche, though to be honest, I think Raybourne would have skated a bit better (no offense, Tony).

End of the day, I cannot say enough good things about the Party this year, but you really need to see it for yourself....

For a full archive of the entire 2011 Pro-Tec Pool Party, head to Vans' official site.

For a more abridged summation, check out the edits over at the Thrasher site.

Super Bowl Party! Part III

Okay, so first off, two-time Pool Party champ Bucky Lasek is out of the contest on account of a broken ankle, and TONY HAWK IS IN! so that happened.

Have your heads finished exploding?

Awesome.

On to business.

So, aside from the obvious Tony Hawk is finally skating a proper contest again, why does skateboarding need the Pool Party? What makes it different from the throng of contests put on every year?

Sorry, Tony, awesome as the All 80s contests are, they're pretty much a costume party...

1) The Pool Party is one of the only exclusively vertical contests left. The only other one I can think of is the Rumble in Ramona, and let's face it, that's more of a weekend-long ramp party. When you consider all the major contests right now, there are really two kinds: those with both street and vert, with the vert contest playing second fiddle (re: Maloof, Tampa, X-Games...... pretty much all of them), and contests that are only street contests (re: Street League, Manny Mania, Thrasher's occasional "let's throw a carcass-toss for cash at a famous street spot"). Accentuated by the fact that the pool party is held in a multi-faceted bowl, the contest not only helps legitimize vert riding itself, but also helps break the stereotype that a vert contest is relegated to sixteen tricks done back and forth on a basic vert ramp.

There's a reason the old Gameboy Colour port of THPS didn't do well...

2) The Pool Party has an inherent lack of (non-skateboarding-centric) corporate sponsorship. Let's be honest, all three or four of you reading this blog, along with myself, skate. That being said, we all know that skaters are weary of big corporate America getting its chocolate chequebooks into our peanut-butter professional endorsement. (Apparently when the owners of an NBA team want to throw money at us, that's okay, but I'll save that for another time). Skaters have learned time and again that if we want something done right, we need to do it ourselves. It's the reason why the Gravity Games failed, and the X-Games are on the way.

Well, not to mention lumping skateboarding in with Rally Racing.... nice, ESPN....

It's the reason why Tampa Pro is considered the most legitimate pro street (and vert) contest in North America. The Pool Party is run by Vans, Pro-Tec, and Rockstar (Okay, I know, an energy drink sponsor, but skaters drink 'em, and your new Almost deck was manufactured using money taken from collar-popping jocks who bought Globe flip-flops, so don't get me started). The lack of corporate sponsors at the Pool Party makes it feel like it's of skaters and for skaters, and for a discipline where the pros are maligned on message boards throughout the interwebs for everything from padding up to being sponsored by beef jerky, something that adds a plash of hardcore back into the fray can't hurt. Vertical riding is awesome, and this contest affords people the opportunity to watch a well-run, organized vertical contest that isn't bogged down with Taco Bell and Verizon Wireless banners, making the whole thing seem like a corporate publicity stunt. The Pool Party is about skateboarding, the way it should be.

Stay tuned for Monday, when I'll wrap up the winners, losers, makes, slams, and Jeff Grosso's epic pool gut.

And hopefully equally epic andrechts.

Super Bowl Party! Part II

Welcome back to part 2 of my 4 part mini-series on this year's Pro-Tec Pool Party. Last post I rambled on about the importance of the Masters' contest, and why it made the Pool Party worth watching, so this post I'm talking about the Pro division.

There's a lot about the riders that make up the pro division of the Pool Party that I think is worth talking a little bit about. It all really starts when you look at the age range of the guys skating the pro division:

Bucky Lasek: 38
Rune Glifberg: 36
Omar Hassan: 38
Pedro Barros: 16
Bob Burnquist: 34
Alex Perelson: 20
Josh Borden: 20
Lincoln Ueda: 37 (as of last Tuesday, Happy Belated!)
Benji Galloway: 33
Nolan Munroe: 18
Ben Raybourn: 18
Zach Miller "Lite": 21
Bruno Passos: 35
Michael Brookman: 18
Sky Siljeg: 16
Bennett Harada: 32
Matt Boyster: 21
Andy MacDonald: 37
Anthony Furlong: 32
Joshua Rodriguez: 20

Now, for me, I can't help but notice the staggering eleven-year jump in ages from the oldest of the young guys (Miller and Boyster) to the youngest of the old guys (Furlong and Harada). While I am perfectly aware of the fact that this gap is indicative of vert skating's so-called "Dead Years", it is genuinely interesting to have watched, in the last few years or so, this sudden surge of young, fresh-faced vert riders burst into the ranks of professional competition; ranks that, since about the mid-nineties, had remained largely unchanged. Speaking as someone who started skateboarding during the utmost height of street skating's popularity, I went through the whole of the 2000s seeing, on the street side of things, a handful of new guys popping up every year or so, and maybe a handful retiring their pro models, or at the very least just kind of fading away from mainstream coverage. There seemed to kind of be this natural flow in mainstream street coverage, as opposed to the kind of generational dynasties that existed through the 70s and 80s, these groups of pros that kind of cornered the market, the mags, and the competition standings for maybe five years or so until the next dynasty cropped up.
The thing is, vertical skating is not easy to delve into wholeheartedly. You can maybe chalk this up to accessibility and intimidation. For one thing, proper vertical ramps and bowls have been, for the last couple of decades, notoriously hard to come by; a trend that has only recently started to change. Second, for anyone who has never skated vert before, it is really, really difficult. Learning even a basic trick can be the equivalent of trying to learn a basic street trick down a set of eight stairs before even trying it on flat ground. There is no middle ground with vert, which is why it isn't surprising that there is a seeming decade full of stories of Tom Grom who, when given the option of 1) missioning at least two hours to the nearest vert ramp to spend a month learning how to do airs, or 2) waxing the curb out front of the local 7-11, the choice was a no-brainer.

I think it was the Slurpees the really tipped the scale, here.


However, then came the 2000s, replete with the X-Games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise, and the North American Daycare Skatepark boom.

Now, not only were kids being marketed vert and street skating on a more equal footing than ever since around 1992 or so, but with an increased frequency of high-quality daycares skateparks being built, many of these kids had much greater access to a forum in which they could be dropped off for the day while dad works and mom shops practice whatever discipline of skateboarding they so desired.
Now, shake well, fast forward five to ten years, and you have this aforementioned sudden explosion of vertical talent; kids who probably got into skateboarding because of the THPS games, and now find themselves hurling 540s alongside many of the guys they probably spent countless ours skating as in front of their TVs. With many of the older guys of the batch pushing up near the qualifying age for the Masters' division, there's really only a scant few years in which we can really observe this phenomenon of two generations of professional skaters in the process of passing the torch from the old guard to the young blood, and there's something really special about that.
And on a related note, I can't wait to see what happens in 2013 when Bucky and Omar start competing in the Masters' contest - Lance's going to have to relearn his 540s...

Stay tuned for part 3 on Friday, when I'll talk about why skateboarding needs the Pro-Tec Pool Party.

Super Bowl Party!

There is an event, an annual sporting event, that my close friends and I try to mark off on our calendars. Every year, you know how it goes, the boys get together with some burgers on the barbecue, some frosty refreshing beverages, and the excitement of seeing our favourite athletes clash for top-dog status, slugging it out in the big one, the only one: The super bowl.

Y'know...the Combi Bowl, in Orange, CA... It's a super bowl, well built, I'd kill to skate it one day.

Alright, so horrendous puns aside, I and my good friends are all genuinely excited for this year's Pro-Tec Pool Party, held of course at the Orange, CA Vans Skatepark's Combi Bowl. We are planning to have our second annual "Super Bowl" party in which we plan on grilling some burgers, cracking a cold one or two, and watching some of our favourite athletes skate their hearts out.

Seriously, I think Duane Peters is one hospital visit away from having his heart actually outside his chest.



In all seriousness, though, I think the Pool Party is worth being excited about, for a number of reasons, reasons that I will all-to-happily share with you, because really, why would I be writing this otherwise, right?

1. The Masters' Division:
Alright, so I'll be the first to admit that my personal enjoyment of the Masters' contest stems largely from my own inner skate history nerd getting a chance to watch guys like Lance Mountain, Steves Cab and Steadham, Lester Kasai, Duane Peters, Chris Miller, et al skate the Vans Combi the way I wish I could have watched them skate Upland a few years before I was born. There is, however, just as much value in it to me as to those of you who haven't spent rainy days reading online back-issues of Thrasher trying to figure out the names of every hot handplant from 1982.
For one thing, a lot of the maneuvers being performed by the Masters' competitors are becoming something of a lost art. Anyone who watches Jeff Grosso take a run will see anything from a boosted boneless one to tail, to a statuesque sadplant, to a slide and roll that covers more coping blocks than most people will frontside grind in one year!



The fact of the matter, however, is that these tricks don't win modern vertical competitions, and while seeing someone like Ben Raybourn show up and do his own thing his own way, the majority of the young bucks in the pro division compete like they need to if they want to place (no sleight to any of them, everyone has to eat). Point is, watching the older guys pulling the older tricks is important to remind everybody that while, yes, 540s are an incredible feat, there's nothing wrong with styling out a sweeper every now and again.
Secondly, there's no shame in admitting that a group of forty-plus year-old men are more talented and fearless on a skateboard than yourself. If anything, it's actually pretty amazing, inspiring even. Truly, it helps legitimize the fact that the activity we all hold so dear is not merely a young man's game; that there's no more shame in hitting the local park after work as there is the local rink, diamond, or alley. It is so easy to forget that skateboarding is still so young, and that while it will always maintain that inherent rebelliousness of its younger participants, skateboarding will continue to mature, along with those who skateboard, and while hanging up on a backside air could prove more dangerous than getting hit with a pitch in your local beer league, seeing a bunch of middle-aged, devoted husbands and fathers get together and skate really warms the heart.

It seems to me that this post is getting altogether too long. Stay tuned for the next two posts leading up to the Pool Party, and the recap of all the action following thereafter.

Sharp Notes and Flatspots

If a broken ankle affords me time for anything, it's sleeping, reading, and watching whatever skate videos catch my eye. Now, anyone whose watched their fair share of skate videos (which, in the last eleven years, I have), will tell you that good music can either make or break a video; a well-chosen soundtrack will help to permanently burn every part of a video into one's subconscious, while a forgettable soundtrack may cause one to brush off even the most phenomenal skateboarding.
Here, of course, is where this post could potentially cause a lot of upset. Music is, after all, a passionate, delicate subject for most people, and opinions are like that one pair of socks you skate vert in..... or something like that...
Anyway, I felt the best approach to this post was to get the opinions of people whose opinions I respect on the matter, before delving into my own. I asked for the help of two of the most passionate, opinionated pros that I have the joint pleasure and honour of sharing correspondence with: Nate Sherwood and Mike Vallely.

Nate's Take:

"man any of those vids from like 95 to 96 where they used classic rock crap like magic carpet ride and c.c.r. or whatever sucked. ed temp rules but his taste in music for those toy vids back then sucked ass. I would have to say any vid that uses main stream shit sucks. I like hearing new under ground stuff. like how the old plan b vids and h- st vids did. I got into op ivy. sub society and hiero as well as antcon rhyme sayers kool keith the germs. the adolescents sub humans. and even skinny buda and handy with shovels all due to skate videos. now kids hear the same crap in vids they would hear on the radio or mtv it is not rad."


Mike's Take:

"All of my favorite skate videos are from the 80's. And all of them have killer soundtracks. Skate Visions has an all Agent Orange Soundtrack and the Powell-Peralta videos have original soundtracks with most of the songs being composed by Dennis Dragon. Back then skate videos didn't have bad soundtracks... and they didn't have cookie cutter skateboarding either."

 There are a few things that these gentlemen make very evident in their comments on the matter.
1) An eclectic soundtrack makes for a good soundtrack, though not one lacking in energy.
2) Mainstream banality ought to be avoided
3) There is a serious problem with contemporary skate videos and their accompanying music.
(Note: Nate and Mike, if I've misrepresented your views in any way, let me know).




I couldn't agree with these points more.


There seems to have been a gradual shift in the more mainstream skate videos as of late to have soundtracks that are primarily filled with sleepy, somnambulist space-pop that couples well with excessive use of slow-mo and pristine white Macbooks. Lots of artistic angles and film effects are used, and the skateboarding is some of the most technically advanced stuff ever seen, and yet the video is a blur; providing you can sit through an hour and a half of ledge combos set to synthesizers and painfully underdriven guitars without falling asleep, you'll be lucky to remember even half the tricks in any given part - the whole thing becomes a DFA dissertation with a superhuman subject, and the viewer is left feeling overwhelmed and discouraged
......or sleepy.....

I don't ant to hate on Marc Johnson, Ty Evans, or Lakai, but if the skate shoe fits.......


Rather, the most memorable videos are the ones whose music is pulsing with an unbridled energy, the ones whose individual parts not only have music that best represent the skaters in said parts, but that make you sit up and pay attention, that make you want to get up and go skate.

Jason Adams' part from Bag of Suck, as well as the video on a whole, is one of the best contemporary examples of this, and I encourage all of you to go and give it a watch, along with anything from H-Street, Old Plan B, Powell-Peralta, 1031, Classic Santa Cruz, and Black Label.


Big thanks to both Nate Sherwood and Mike Vallely for helping out with this - both are truly standout individuals in what can often be a den of mediocrity.


Now go skate.

What's In a Name?

Welcome back, all.

First order of business: broken ankle.
Yep, stepped out of  a backside 50-50 going entirely too fast last Wednesday, shattered and dislocated my left ankle. Got out of surgery today, and the prognosis was standard enough, though it may be another six months or so before I feel well enough to skate.

Yup, my foot was wrenched 90 degrees counter-clockwise. Never underestimate the speed of new metal coping...


Now then, enough about me, on to business.

It's  no secret, except maybe among snowboarders and kids who grew up with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, that grabs in skateboarding have different names depending on the direction in which they're rotate, and are therefore different maneuvers. In fact, this is such common knowledge that, you, the reader, are probably wondering why I'm wasting your all-to-precious time for the sake of telling you what ought to be a cardinal truth among skateboarders. Indeed, at this rate I'd be better off to say "Class Dismissed", pack up early, and let my pain meds sing me a chemically-induced lullaby.
Or would I?

I feel that the nomenclature of aerials is a very worthy topic, for a couple of reasons:

1) While I had mentioned earlier in this post that the proper nomenclature of grab tricks in skateboarding is, more or less, common knowledge among skateboarders, this is, sadly, not the case. That being said I feel obliged to rifle off the proper names of every grab maneuver, depending on whether or not it's performed spinning frontside or backside. Odds are you know the name of at least one of the two variations, and if not, feel free to leave a comment in which I'll specify the details of it.

• Frontside Air/Indy Air
• Benihanna/Benibongo
• Lein/Backside
• Lein to Tail/Body Jar
•  Lein Judo/ Judo
• Lein Method/Method
• Madonna/Frigid (not to tail), Sean Penn (to tail)
• Slob/Mute
• Slob Japan/Japan
• Stalefish/Backside Stalefish
• Tailgrab/ Backside Tailgrab

 This list happens to lead me to the reason I was inspired to write this article in the first place.

2)There is no proper name for certain aerial maneuvers. The two main perpetrators of this are, as mentioned on the above list, Backside Stalefish and Bakcside Tailgrab. Both of these tricks have been done frequently enough to warrant being given their own names separate from their frontside counterparts.

....Okay, so maybe Holmes doesn't need another trick named after himself....

Alright, I am willing to concede that there would be no sense in calling a Backside Tailgrab anything but. however I firmly stand by my claim that the Backside Stale needs a name all its own, and I've even gone to the trouble of choosing one.
This, oh loyal reader whom I am amazed is still reading this, brings me to the very reason I felt compelled to write this whole post in the first place.

This is Pedro Barros, one of, if not the hottest new vertical rider coming up. He's performing a Backside Stalefish. He does this trick at every contest I've seen him skate, and he makes it look ridiculously stylish. Anyone who has ever tried a stalefish will tell you that it's an awkward trick frontside, and yet here is young Mr. Barros performing the probably triply awkward backside variation consistently, and with the kind of ease that most people wish they had just pushing down the street....

.....Barr Air, anyone? I think the kid's earned it.

Yearning for More Curvaceous Pastures

It would seem that, as of late, Europe has been popping up in my day-to-day conversations more frequently; my girlfriend is soon to be returning to Canada from a two-week vacation in Rome, the recent Royal Wedding of the former Kate Middleton and the formerly fawned-over William "Who Thought I'd Grow Into My Dad's Goulish Looks" Windsor, a co-worker talking to me about a recent trip to see his daughter in Belgium, and so forth.

Half of me is envious of all the pieces of history mentioned in these day-to-day conversations that I have yet to see for myself. Indeed, my Bachelor of History self goes a little green with the talk of The Flavium Amphitheatre, Trajan's Market, Westminster Abbey, and the formerly Hapsburg-ruled home of delicious, delicious chocolate.....

Now, of course, like any good skateboarder, my thoughts of Europe are also often accompanied with visions of the bevy of amazing things to skate across the pond. Mind you, while most skaters would fantasize about the sets, ledges, and manual pads that seem to litter Barcelona, I find my personal European skate destiation would likely be throughout France.

"Brandon," you, the reader may ask "why France? I heard the people are arrogant and smell like open sewage." Well, suprisingly interactive reader, I will grant you that I have heard accounts from people who have done the London/Paris two week vacation, only to wish they'd spent both weeks in jolly ol' England... However, these people were not concerned with what terrain was available to skate. Therefore, on this note, herewith are some of my must-skate structures if ever i should find myself backpacking throughout the land of wine and cheese

The Lyon Mushrooms

The Marseilles Bowl

Le Cradle de 13e, Paris



The holy grail, the Eiffel Tower Basin Bowl

Notice a pattern?

I prefer transitions, in case it wasn't painfully obvious at this point, and naturally-occurring trannys in the GTA are rare as diamonds. The unfortunate thing is that France is a long way, and a good chunk of change. That being said, I suppose at this point I'll have to save up a little and settle for the next best thing...

Big O, Montreal.

...What is it with the French and curvy architecture, anyway?