SylJohnson and gettin' down...

Syl Johnson kills it. The Complete Mythology box set on Numero (which has been putting out some amazing box sets...) is 6 LPs of killer soul that spans the '60s and '70s. After checking these, went back and tracked down some of the best singles. Hoping to get a gig subbing in for the Stax and Motown night down at the Crescent Ballroom, looks like it will happen...

Four Day Weekend

Killer 4-day weekend... Cooked with the Rogers family for Thanksgiving, a pretty small affair (Virginia came too), but tons of food. Watched youtube videos with the kids afterward.
Friday we skated the best place to skate in the universe right now. That's all I gotta say. Sorry, no photos.
Saturday skated a pool with Ray and Grumpy from San Jose. Fun session, got spooked when someone walked by and gave use the stink eye.

DJed a party with Ray that night, mostly squares in attendance. Fun times, then for a beer and a bonfire. Killer day, good to see you Ray and Lumpy!

Sunday read the paper, then went to Maaike's and got her bike dialied in. 1976 CB200, running great now, needs some new rubber and some cosmetic work. She's gonna be in the all girl biker gang. Then went out with Meg, pictured above, who after getting her license took her bike out on the freeway for the first time and killed it. She's gonna be in the gang too. Their name? AnacHondas. Maybe the video proof below will upload, but I am not holding my breath.

Evidence XXXVIII: shredding the rad

Bender's in town and did some sweepers at the fountain of youth.

B-Klingon, Lipslizz.

B-Klingon, back tail skidder.

Bender Mad dogging a flicker.

Yesterday we shredded a good one. Tile lip. Killer shallow. B-Romulan in the shallows.

Living legend Livingstone. B-side drifter.

B-Vulcan is amazed.

Hoss taking an underappreciated B-side line. These shots courtesy of Hoss (I know, you're asking "How did he take a photo of himself?")

When people ask what skateboarding is about, I repeat what my buddy Nels tells 'em in this old Powell Peralta video. He's the guy holding the head on his shoulder. Just watch the first couple of seconds, and ignore the guy who says it's about jumping on cars.

Les Chansonettes

Les Chansonettes -- anyone know much about 'em? They seem to be pretty obscure, no wikipedia page, etc., on Shrine Records (owned by Barry Gordy) outta Washington, DC in the early '60s, for just a year or two. I stumbled on their "Don't Let Him Hurt You" B/W "Deeper" 7" at a Phoenix record swap meet (at the Italian club), bought it on a whim for $2, and play it all the time in soul sets. I'm assuming their name comes from the french "chanson" or lyrical song, although female singers of chanson are called "chanteuse" not chansonette, but whatevs, we're 'merican, dammit! I dig their wailer of a b-side "Deeper" a tad more, so that's first. They also released a slower, bluesier number called "I almost left you" -- not bad, just a bit slow in the tempo. These chicks are smokin' hot! And they wail!

 

I like this one, because it's someone's birthday party! Don't let him hurt you!

Evidence XXXVII: They Killed Our Pool

Didn't know I had Friday off until Thursday at 3. Some of the Dakine team was in town to shred, so I took 'em to Adam's. They commenced commencing: Willis Kimbel, FSA. The article should be out in a while. They also tore the shit out of Charlotte's, but I forgot my camera for that session.

We now say goodbye to the Hobbit Hole/Pockets/Pool of the Millenium. The owner was letting us skate, and then he told a reporter friend about it. Instead of talking to us, unfortunately she found some folks online and asked if they wanted to skate. The owner wanted 3 guys there, some of the guys who skate it on the regular. I was disheartened when we showed up and there were about a dozen of them there, including some younger folks. Hoss and I asked the cameraman to not blow it by portraying us as criminals, etc., the usual mass-media hype. We also wished to remain off camera. We left shortly thereafter, but apparently after we left one of the kids fell and got a gash and the owner flipped about getting sued. He was also pissed that there were so many people there. He shut it down -- after allowing us one more day to skate. So Saturday was our goodbye session. A bad series of events and some bad decisions led to us losing something that we'd been taking care of for over 1.5 years. Pools come and go, but few better than this was.

Nice to see Bender in town, discussing coordinates with B-Romulan.

B-Romulan, FSG, shallow end.

On the last day we were there, I counted the number of tiles: 212. Four were missing, and there were only 35 tiles that did not have a grind or boardslide mark. Tight work all.

This is the aerial view. So long Hobbit Hole, sorry to see you go.

Evidence XXXVI: Blowin' it, guy!

Tried to graft some new skin on Mr Nubbins but it didn't take.

Dr. Livingston, I presume? Shallow FSBS.

B-Romulan, classic roll-in.

D-Rock, takin' backside (as per usual)

Dick Diggity Dickman, chunker.

B-Romulan, star of today's show, Rock'n'roll.

Full metal jacket.

Full bird.

Dick Burgular, burguling the stairs.

Evidence continues to mount.

Dick's son.

Who, art? Or.. mushrooms?

Holly Golightly jag

Been on a serious Holly Golightly jag (just ask Meggers!), i.e. CD never leaves the car stereo. Looking for opportunities to play this stuff out, but it ain't punk. Looking for the perfect occasion... DJing a wedding reception this weekend, maybe one of the happier ones... Here are a couple from the LP "Truly She is None Other" -- but she's never put out a dud.

Happy Weekend!

Juggalo Kegball!

Kids, we had another costume kegball event for Halloween. This year the theme was Juggalo Kegball (last year it was fast food, breakfast cereal and snack cake mascots). We also celebrated Maaike's birthday -- Happy B-day! We had some Kiss members who we counted as juggalos (OG juggalos, perhaps), a King Diamond juggalo, spur-of-the-moment, the-make-up's-here-juggalos, and my lovely lady Meg dressed up as Tila Tequila after she'd been pelted with rocks, bottles and poo at last years gatehring of the juggalos. The other team was members of the Village People and whoever else, and despite widespread cheating and chicanery on their part, the juggalos won the heated battle, 23-7. We're entertaining idea for next year.

Also, forgot to add a link to Brock blog, Hedkase cycles. Here's the main page, here's me cackling like a little kid after starting up the 350 for the first time since the exhaust was done, and here's another photo of the build. Brock does killer work -- especially bars for youse Harley types, hit him up for welding and fabrication!

Evidence XXXV: Pool skating with Zach, Sarah and Martin

Zach and Sarah came down from PDX to hang out and shred, and brought Martin from England. They skated 6 pools and a fountain, not a bad haul. Z-Burgular goes B-side in a nearby hole.

Bee hive shallow session.

Z-Burgular at Adam's, about to commence commencing.

Day 2, weird little tight one.

Evidence is accumulating.

Nice tile.

Burgs handles the B-side duties.

Might as well see if this thing is still there... yep!

Jets, we'll be back.

This critter was in the Hobbit Hole, good thing we arrived to rescue it.

Chris Livingston does  a f-side boardslide in the shallow five days before his 40th B-Day.

Lovely.