Heebie Jeebies for Girls on CBs! Part 6

Well, they're not really girls, but they have long hair? And although it is technically a CB, it's that butt-ugly (but kinda torquey) 1978+ CB400 twin, the Hawk. Shit, nobody is questioning their rock 'n' roll bonafides, but Gene Simmons sure is an idiot, so I guess he would go for that dumpy looking piece of orange shit.
 

This young lady is back on the program with a CB550 -- nicely done, lass! I'd recommend pushing the forks back into their proper position, however, as running them through the triple tree like that changes the geometry pretty drastically and may make your ride shitty, not to mention the possibility of your fender hitting the head pipes. What's that? You're not running a fender? I should have known. Hope your forks don't twist up.

The CB200 cafe racer! Sweet little runner! Not the most sensible shoes, young lady, but there you go. Another fan of the no-fender look, with even skinnier forks! And why not throw a saddle bag on there! Magical!

 This one is near and dear to my heart: CB350F! Beautiful bikes! And what's that? A hint of sideboob? SO HOT RIGHT NOW!

 This lass has sensible riding boots on at least! And a brand spanking new CB500! Nicely done.

And again with the sensible footwear! Way to go, lass! Wherever these girls are it must be so hot that wearing pants is simply not an option. I ;ived in Phoenix for 15 years, sisters, I know how you feel.

Trip to Austin, Pt. 2.

Sunday was not a day of rest, it was a day to drink beer under the bridge. McNair and Hitz had flown the coop, so Maria scooped me and we found this gem of a DIY spot: Banister. Killer session, wish I as skating right now, but these guys killed it. Cool scene. Rip dog ripping.

 Weedboner, FSA.

 Anthony, High speed FSG off the end and back into the bank.

 Connor, FS Rock.

Kiwi Max, blasting FSA.

Last noght of the show, and Maria and I checked out Rocket from the Crypt and the Murder City Devils. Thanks again Maria and all my buddies in Austin for making this a killer time! Hopefully see you next year!

Trip to Austin!

I was stoked to head back to Austin for Thrasher's Zine Thing party and to check out Fun Fun Fun Fest again. Joe Dirt scooped me from the airport and brought me to Darin's, where we bullshitted for a few then headed to Anthony's. I had eaten all day, so the beer got the better of me, and it was kind of an early night crashing at Darin's. Thanks man! 

The next day my buddy from Phoenix Jeff Petite scooped me up and we at at Magnolia Cafe and checked out End of an Ear. Then it was off to the Yellow Jacket to make some preparations for the night's festivities. My buddy Maria Mabra (above) met us -- haven't seen her for 20 years or so, since the Fallout days, and it was super rad to hang out and catch up. She shuttled Dave and I around a little, and helped me out throughout the weekend. Thanks Maria!

 The Zine Thing show went off well -- tons of people, killer art, and just a blast.  Thanks to everyone involved! I played records all night so I didn't mingle too much, but got to see some old and some new friends.

 I hung up a few band shots and some prints from the new mag.

 Tim and Bill's section was killer.

 

 Stoked to see Donny Dietrich for the first time since he's been out of the can. Ruling as usual, we hung out a few times over the weekend. He's killing it. And Sam Hitz came out to show some Larb creations for the party. Good times.

The next day we checked out the festival. Last year, the festival flew me out, put me up in a posh hotel, and made sure I had proper credentials. This time, not so much. I got the show to find out I didn't even have a photo pass. "How can you shoot the bands for an article in Thrasher without a photo pass?" you ask? Good question, obvious answer. That really freed up my time, so I got to hang out with locals. There were plenty of bands I wanted to check out, but it meant I didn't have to scramble from stage to stage to shoot a bunch of stuff. It also meant I could break out to hang out with some of the local dudes. First stop was an old pool that's been skated for years. We went there on Friday and it had water in it, so we drained it. It was painted and remained slick, so no skating went down. Tomorrow would be the session. We headed back to the Fest for Judas Priest. Since they got a new crew to build the ramp this year, a lot of the locals were bummed. Normally they help and get passes, but this time that didn't happen. Most sneaked in when they could, however, and saw some of the bands they wanted to. Reeling from Thursday night, Friday night was an easy one.

Priest killed it!

The next day, McNair and I grabbed a bite and checked out the local park. Looked like fun, and he got a FS pivot in a tight spot. Then we headed back to the pool. It was dry, and shredding commenced.

 Top to bottom: McNair, rolled right in to start the session, and busted a rock on the good wall; Hitz smashed the box frontside after a few tries -- this pool had some weird trannies; Joe Dirt showed and went straight over the stairs; Zach got the FSG box sporting his new Pool dust shwag! Yeah!

McNair had an epic battle with the stairs. Joe showed up and made it look easy -- but he's skated there a bunch and has stairs dialed. The stairs were tough as shit. As the session winded down, MCNair started trying them, and I shot the attempts. At the end of the day, and after 50+ tries (I counted them on my camera), he pulled it. It's not taking anything away from McNair to say it took that many tries -- shit was gnarly -- but it's a testament to his fortitude that he stuck it out. Yeah buddy!

Back to the Fest to check some more skating. A lot of rippers. Grant Taylor straight up and down ollie on the extension, David Gonzalez floats a lien, and Grant and Pedro doubles on the center obstacle.

That night, King diamond played. It was rad.

Shoulder surgery -- out for a while

I had shoulder surgery 3 days ago -- torn labrum. If the adage that sometimes skateboarding involves not skateboarding, I must really be skateboarding right now. The meds help take the edge off, but I'm jonesing to ride.

Hoss sent me a disc of a bunch of photos he took; it's mostly me, so I guess it's a vanity project. This is over the course of about 3 years I imagine. Hoss got a photo of most of the pools we skated, and I tried to mug a photo for each one, pretending to stretch or flex or whatever. Here are about 120 of them. Each has a story to tell. Hit me up one day and I might tell you one.

New Pool Dust mag!

Hey Kids! Been blagging lately, but I did want to tell you about the new issue of Pool Dust! You're gonna hate it! I mean love it! Chock full of Barneys skating pools, but also music reviews, Tales of the Board, Brad Westcott photos, an insane full pipe, a trip to the Northwest, and all sorts of other ramblings of a barely coherent old times. Send $3 well concealed cash to PO Box 752, Natick, MA 01760. I've also got t-shirts ($16ppd), patches large and small ($3.50 and $5) and stickers ($1). Show the world you care!

Attleboro Session! Surf Fest IV!

 I haven't skated in over two months. It's fucking driving me crazy. After breaking my arm on my birthday -- a nasty break through the head of the humerus -- and spending all winter with a broken wing, I was looking forward to skating all summer. I took some runs in May, and things were looking up. I trip to Phoenix in June had me stoked -- skated some pools. but coming home my knee was sore. I ignored it and skated a few more sessions, at Hellgate, Attleboro, and Sam's. In fact, the last time I skated was the last time I posted -- my knee gave out after that. I thought I could rest it for a while and it would get better, but it just got worse and I became completely hobbled. First trip to the doctor led to a diagnosis of a bone bruise, and to see someone else if it didn't get better soon. A couple weeks later it was worsening, and I had to go to an urgent care clinic on July 4 as I couldn't walk, which led to the MRI. The next Dr. said the MRI looked clean, and gave me a shot of cortisone. If it still hurt in 2 weeks, I had to go back. Two weeks later and I still couldn't walk properly, and as he entered his office, he remembered me, told me he would refund my co-pay because he couldn't do anything about it, and told me to see a third Dr. The third Dr. said it was likely a radial tear in my meniscus, which might not show up in the MRI. He said I could opt for surgery or try to do PT to get stronger and take the pain away. I told him I would go for the latter, but my knee continues to get worse. I'm signing the consent for for surgery Tuesday and will schedule it as soon as possible. This will be my fourth knee surgery, second on my left knee, and my 10th surgery overall. Summer is out, but I hope to catch some fall sessions before hell freezes over.

Been working on some bikes and my truck. And I've caught a few sessions. Yesterday we did some work on a DIY spot in Providence, went for a swim in Sloppy Sam's pool, then hit Attleboro. I was happy to be a spectator and shoot some photos. I miss Attleboro; last year I was there twice a week. Below, local Ben has gotten better and better, buttery FS Smith.

 Dusty blasts a lien -- not the best angle, and the flash kinda bounced off his pale hide, but you get the point. Below, Pete Stroke has a much bigger bag of tricks than the last time I saw him skate, and powered through BS roll ins. I've been into taking roll in photos later...

Couple weeks ago caught the Water Bros Surf Fest IV. Thrasher ran a brief web deal (here), but here are a couple more: Top, Dug e Death FS boneless, and below TA rips a FSG. Thanks for the good times!

Evidence CLVII: Permission to Ride

Made a couple calls, and it was on: permission pool not too far away, but it needed some work. Brought the pump, pumped it, and commenced commencing. Davey catches a lipslide.

 Dusty smiths the shallow.

 Doug does the drop.

 Dalba on a front feeble -- didn't make this one, I shot a shit-ton of bails but he made it right after I put my camera down, so sue me. Below, Bruce Juice does the rock 'n' roll, and he outlasted all of us.

 Doug and Dusty on clean up duty. Below: Doug get's wet.

 Nice day for a ride.

 Young Will snaps a clean swooper.

Big Tim hucks a FSA. Thanks to all for the good times, let's keep rolling (although I am tkaing apause from rolling with a bone bruise -- ouch, be out for a couple weeks? Shit!).

Evidence CLVI: Last Days in Phoenix

My trip to PHX was winding down... I had don a shit ton of work to the house to get it ready for the new renters, but there was always some time to skate. Hoss had heard tale of a good one in Mesa, so we followed some coordinates and set sail. Turned out to be a bit of a stinker, but we got our grinds in. Left behind some evidence...

 And on the way home scoped another. A little dark, maybe this one will be around for next time?

 My last day in Phoenix we had a treat, thanks to Brian at Old Man Army. He'd been hitting a permission in Mesa that was slated for destruction, and we were gonna skate it the last day it was going. The owner had instructed the demo crew to leave the coping, so they did, but everything else was dirt. The sun fucked with your eyes for a while, but the transitions were buttery and the Anthony was not too cruel. Fun time, big session, open beers, and hoots and hollers, the way we like it. Below, Brian gets a BSG. I didn't take too many photos as I was skating the whole time...

 Frog, BSG.

 Craig, BSG.

 Was stoked to skate with Jean, been a long time sister!

Planted the evidence.

Always funny to see the jizz mobile. Dude ran through a jizz storm and still hasn't washed his car!

Had lunch with Trent at the Supreme Chicken. If red dye #5 don't scare you this shit is bomb diggity.

Thanks to all of my Phoenix friends for making my stay such a good one, wish I could have seen everyone I wanted to, glad I got to see the Father Figures but bummed I missed Scorpion Vs Tarantula, sorry for lighting off the roman candle Wes, I can't help it if I see fireworks, thanks for letting me ride your CB200 around Maaike -- now change that oil and get a new throttle cable!, thanks to the Bitches from Hell, thanks to the Scabs and the usual skate buddies, and the OMA dudes, Good to see Janet and Aiden and Jessica, and thanks to everyone who made my SD trip a blast too!