Got Hopps and the Weekend Wrap Up

Got Hopps?
The D.I.Y. ethic continues to run deep in skateboarding and let’s not ever forget it. Coming out of NYC Jahmal Williams is dropping Hopps Skateboards. As Jahmal puts it: “Inspired by skateboarding and underground street culture, we view skateboarding as a form of artistic expression. Our goal is to love what we do, have fun, and be creative. Sounds to me like they got it all dialed in. The graphics are rock solid and give points for being simple yet clean.

It appears Jahmal already has distribution at a number of shops. From Palace 5ive to M.IA. to N.J. Skate Shop Jahmal has got distro on lockdown. Check out the brand and all it has to offer.


I’m Not Drunk. You’re Drunk!
Looks like Yo-siris and Consolidated got together to get a shoot out the door. The Drunk BS is well, lets be honest, the shit is bananas. Patent leather and a little bit of freakin' genius accompany this drop. Yup, Birdo has won another point for the “Don’t Do It” Army.

After witnessing how Nike SB is treating some long term Nike customers it might be time to reconsider my favorable position on Nike SB. You tell me: Do you think Nike is good for skating? Hit me up
Source: High Snobiety

Congrats it’s Girl
A new website and the new edition of wall Ride catalogue mean there will be some amazing things flowing out of the Girl camp. Product to footage these guys are on top of it. Skatedaily had the good word on it earlier this week. Definitely check these links out.

Girl Skateboards




Holy Crap That’s Going to Hurt
Recently EXPN and Lat34 had articles on “greatest slams”. Lat34 focused on this summer and EXPN took a good hard look at the past across the footage they owned to declare a “winner.” OK, maybe I didn’t actually “read” these articles but at initial glance I think they left out the Brian Schafer loop-out from Tampa a few years ago. I also nominate Chris Miller’s slam at Upland. I couldn’t find footage on Miller but here’s Schafer’s slam. Two burley falls and both guys ended up being OK to keep on skating. A side note, in Miller’s case owning every spot I’ve seen him at lately.




Bob Blog-Quist
Speaking of big falls Dew Tour Skate writers and BNQT.com blogger Colin Bane has a sit down with Bob Burnquist. He gets into some details of Jake Brown’s mega-bail and goes on to discuss progression. You gotta love Bob. The man is never content, not even for a minute. I wonder if there is any truth to the rumors about his jumping onto I Path. All that Timberland Boot money should be able to buy a vert pro now that they’ve cut 75% of their team.



Boards are Dropping Like Flys
A quick reminder the Zoo York Makeset and Broken window decks are dropping this weekend. Next week there looks to be new wood from Label and check the links above for some new Girl and Chocolate decks. In the meantime look, it, love it and live it... Zoo York.

Jeron!

Sorry, long night at the hospital. A bigger, better and badder update will be coming this evening.

Go Inside the BADSHIT Dojo!

Nike SB Summer 2008 Preview & the SB Krueger Hype

We are barely a week out of summer 2007 and summer 2008 is rearing it's ugly head already. the Buellers and Newcastles are up in this batch. Good looking out Alpine for reminding me of this.

Images courtesy NikeSB.org and SawOne.

Nike SB Freddy Kruger
This will be interesting. All the sneakerheads are whipping into a frenzy over whether or not this shoe is real, will see general release. It's pretty funny. I've had more productive sessions on the computer but rarely to I get to witness a level or nerdoritica such as this. The only thing these guys are missing is a steady reference to "hit points" and rolling of the "100 sided die".

See what the fuss is about? I thought it would be a funny sneaker to skate in through October.
That's wheere I went wrong. Most people don't skate in their Nikes. But ... they should.

Video Much?

Lavar Killin' It

Source: 48blocks.com

Wednesday Market Watch: CCS on the Block?

In a post that has nothing and everything to do with skateboarding it appears CCS might be on the "for sale" block. Forbes magazine goes on:

"In a letter to Delia's board, Thesis Capital Management LLC said the CCS catalog and online store distract management from efforts to improve the performance of Delia's retail stores. Thesis said Delia's could realize pretax proceeds of more than $110 million from a sale of the CCS business. Thesis said a sale would also provide cash to fund accelerated retail store growth and to be returned to shareholders. The shareholder named mall-based retailer Zumiez Inc. (nasdaq: ZUMZ - news - people ), as an example of a potential buyer. "

Yup, there you have it now your mailorder may go through another big box chain instead of the current big box chain.

Source: Forbes

Wednesday Notes: The Tim Brauch Memorial Comp & More Skate

Tim Brauch Memorial Comp This weekend Sessions, etnies and a host of pros and ams will remember one our own with the Tim Brauch Memorial Contest. The event kicks off Saturday, September 29th with the street comp and Sunday the 30th with the bowl comp. The bowl event has featured some mind blowing skating in the past from Cab, Galloway, Senn and Speyer. should you be driving around the Scotts Valley area with nothing to do check it out. If you have something else planned, cancel it and head to the Tim Brauch Memorial skate park. The photo here was taken by photographer Lance Dalgart one of Tim's friends. Visit Lance's Tim Brauch memorial page and remember a great skater taken from us all much too soon.

Al Partenen Interview
Straight out of Jersey and now on the left coast you can count on Rob Brink to interview interesting people. Rob interviews Al Partenen who has been around for some time and is now quietly killing it with the boys at Creature. The interview appears in the September 2007 issue of the Skateboard mag. Click here to catch up with Brink and Al.








Skate Park of Tampa Website Redesign
Looks like the SPoT crew has rolled out a new look and feel for the site. It appears to be running much faster and while there are no major changes there are some new features that definitely make it worth visiting. Of course it is SPoT...you should be checking it out regardless.

In the Brief ...

Shaun White is Funny and Talkative
Ever wonder how people outside of action sports view Shaun?
Read on…
Source: “Little…World”

Stats Nobody Cares About
The number of skiing and snowboarding customers between ages 45 to 54 rose 5.5 percent over the past decade, while the number ages 55 and older doubled. In other news I had Total Bran Flakes for breakfast. Again, nobody cares.
Source: NY Post

Finally, Burton Opens Another Store
The mighty mighty B has opened another store and this one is in Chicago. I’m sorry you expect Chicago to care about anything other than the Chicago Cubs during a playoff run? Your limited edition collaboration shirts didn’t pay homage to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. As a past Chicago resident I have to say you dropped the ball on this one Burton. Oh, you want to know more about the store? Keep reading…
Source: Chicago Sun-Times

Volcom Presents …
… at an investor relations conference. Yes, youth against the establishment indeed! As the announcement says

“Management will review the company’s operations and financial performance, and discuss its position as a premier brand in the growing action sports industry.”

Source: Business Wire

...and Now an Update from the Nixon Surf Challenge

Yes, your Shecklers and Shaun Whites got their rockin' jock-on this weekend in SLC. Nothing wrong witha little contest. Personally, I avoid Utah unless there's a snowstorm moving through. Salt Lake is anice town but it's never been the same since Karl Malone left the Jazz. So weak beer aside lets' turn our eyes across the pond to our good friends in San Sebastian at the Nixon Surf challenge. A picture is worth a thousand words so enjoy!

OK, you need more? I figured as much here are all the details straight from the wire:

Tiago Pires holds the title for the 8th Annual Nixon Surf Challenge. We were blessed with a 6-8 foot swell for the final day of the Nixon Surf Challenge, that although was a grey drizzling day, was by far the best waves ever had at the contest.

Surfers sleepily arrived to the beach at noon, after an eventful evening that kicked off with Sunny Abberton presenting in person his moving documentary The Bra Boys, followed by dinner at the spectacular La Perla Restaurant that has the most magical view of San Sebastian, along with stunning Basque cuisine. After dinner the crew took off to take over the Old Town living up to the Surf Challenges reputation, good times, fun atmosphere with great friends!

Starting the day with the quarter finals, standouts were Spain’s Gony Zubizaretta, Franco-Brazilian Eric Rebiere, Jonathan Gonzales from the Canaries, Tim Boal from France, Portugal’s Tiago Pires along with Puerto Rican Dylan Graves and Cheyne Magnusson from Maui. Gony broke his board in the shore break, Jonathan demonstrated why he is one of the best European surfers and Tiago proved that being number 3 on the WQS was no fluke. Dylan and Cheyne showed that they are a part of the new generation of high power surfers from the US. All advanced into the semi-finals.

The first heat of the semi’s saw European’s Tim Boal, Benjamin Sanchis and Jonathan Gonzales matched up with Dylan Graves. Dylan and Jonathan both scored big barrels and large open-faced waves, while Tim Boal and Benjamin Sanchis both struggled to find good waves. Second heat of the semi-finals, Tiago, Eric and Joan Duru found themselves up against Hawaiian Cheyne Magnusson. Tiago surfed the best heat from the contest scoring a perfect 10 and a high 9 all while catching twice as many waves as any other competitor in the heat. Dylan also found a huge barrel and a nice open face wave to help him push through to the final.

The final’s started out with Cheyne Magnusson jumping to a commanding lead, scoring both an 8 and a 6, however in the last 15 minuets Jonathon and Tiago both turned it on and secured high scoring waves to supersede Dylan and Cheyne. It was a tight battle between Jonathan and Tiago, and in the end it was Tiago who edged out Jonathan to secure the title of the 8th Annual Surf Challenge.

FINALISTS
1. Tiago Pires
2. Jonathan Gonzales
3. Cheyne Magnusson

Where's the Beef?

This could be the funniest thing I have seen in a few months.



I think Sheckler and Shaun White should have a beef. Let the battle ensue!

Skateboarding out of the Olympics?

Today we are connecting the dots of Greek culture and skating. Yeah, it's a stretch but bear with me. I stayed up to late last night watching the movie '300'. A fun movie to watch if you into crazy battle scenes and the what not. Actually, I saw it earlier this year with Colin over at the Uptown. wWhat does '300' the movie have to do with skating? Well it allows me to get Jimmy the Greek's (no clue if he's actually Greek or just great at setting odds) new deck from Emergency posted. The art straight up snags the imagery from the '300' graphic novel. You gotta love the Label & Emergency. OK, that was a lie it's just a long windup to talk about the Olympics (which were founded by ...Greeks!)

Skateboarding in the Olympics? Not So Much for 2012
Skatedaily.net and Transworld are reporting that skateboarding is falling out of favor for the 2012 Olympics in London. The scenario is that skateboarding would get included to make better full use of the half pipe. The idea being that cycling can push BMX vert in and skate vert would sneak in as well. All well and good in theory, however, the red tape has mired the process. Apparently a vote must happen at the UCI level and then with the IOC. There appears to be additional conflict in those who favor a street style event vs. vert. Good luck with that. Snowboarding can't even get slopestyle in the Winter Olympics.

For more details find the full article on Aroundtherings.com

Osiris Preps 'Feed the Need'
Lots of hype about the Lakai and Nike Sb videos but not so much about the Osiris vid. Check the trailer

Video Game Wars: EA Skate vs. Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

The first video game experience I had with skateboarding was the fantastic arcade game 720. This of course featured a bizarre joystick that spun 360 and the opportunity to get chased by a pack of killer bees all while an ominous god like voice would yell "Skate or die". OK, it was the eighties and was one of those things I laugh about now but thought was kind of cool back then. You have to remember the South of the North was a far cry from sunny California or Virginia Beach.

Down the line I moved away from video games and kept skating. Then the first Tony Hawk game came out. This was a bizarre new monster and I even called in sick a few times to play through the new levels I opened. Yes, video games are freakishly addictive. I was a little junkie and knew that my dismissal from the workforce would be imminent if I didn't get that thing out of my house. It was bad enough that I was showing up late in the morning due to all night skate sessions. This just wouldn't fly. I quickly sold my PlayStation. I managed to keep my job and the skating continued.

Fast forward to the hear and now. The skate video game category is heating up after a few slow years. EA has dropped their 'SKATE' game and it's clearly a legitimate challenge to the throne held by the Tony Hawk franchise. Units sold will tell who the clear victor is in this business case.

The More interesting scenario will be if these games introduce skating to another group of teens and tweens the way the first Tony Hawk game did. That would be one of the good things to come from a video game. These games are not just first-player skate games. These games can act as a marketing tool for skateboarding as a whole. Hopefully, more kids put down the controller and pick up a real skateboard. In the meantime watch the intro for EA's 'Skate' which is packed with pros and surprise appearance from former Big Brother Editor Dave Carnie as the bum. Afterwards check out the "big picture" feature on 'Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.


EA 'Game of Skate' Intro


Tony Hawk's Proving Ground: The Big Picture

The Nixon Surf Challenge is On

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Shaun White is expected to win vert this weekend. Ryan Sheckler will more than likely walk off with street. Kelly Slater is back near the top after a victory at Trestles. The world of action sports contests follows a fairly typical pattern. However, the excitement really begins when those boundaries of "contest" and "event" are redefined. Red Bull does an amazing job at this. Another company who has managed to light that contest innovation spark is Nixon.

Yep, Nixon the watch company. Raise your hand if you remember the Jibfest? Hopefully, that wasn't just me. This weekend a special Nixon event is prepping to go down across the Atlantic pond. Nope, they aren't sponsoring the WCT this is the Nixon Surf Challenge. The contest will bring together 24 world class pros to surf, celebrate and explore all that the Basque region has to offer. So we'll let the Dew Tour go down in SLC. The WCT is off to France but the real storm is headed to Playa Zurriola in San Sebastian, Spain. No playing it safe for WCT points. Give me progression.

Market Watch: Quiksilver Prepares to Dump the Clubs

The unravelling of Quik's Rossignol acquisition has become more interesting. Again let's revisit the scenario. Quik's core business is surf apparel. Quik buys Rossi in hopes of driving up sales. Rossi has too much baggage. Quik is looking to dump Rossignol's hard goods but keep the soft goods line in-house. Now if you are not attuned to how much was tied to the Rossi deal this little nugget has surfaced from Golf Business Week:

"In June, the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company, whose core business is surfing apparel, reported its first quarterly loss in 15 years. The setback mostly was attributed to its struggling hardgoods division, including Cleveland, which led Quiksilver CEO Robert McKnight Jr. to open the door to sale overtures. During a June conference call, he said management is “looking at every possible alternative concerning the hardgoods” and “everything is on the table.”

Since then, Quiksilver and Cleveland executives have remained mum, at least publicly. But two sources familiar with Quiksilver say it has charged J.P. Morgan Chase to find a buyer. A spokesperson for the financial services firm declined comment."

GBW goes on to lay out the scenario and if you are into golf you can read the full story here.

Down for Washington D.C.: Darren Harper

Since I rarely see magazine coming to my mailbox anymore (thanks interweb) I tend to catch all my skate reading on the computer( thanks Steve Jobs) One rising skater out of D.C. is Darren Harper and it seems like every time Darren is about to break out it doesn't quite happen. That's the game of a pro skater.

Now though...Paul Wall is dropping his name in songs, DGK has his back and their video is looming. Recently, 48blocks.com caught up with Darren real quick and dropped a new interview that's worth reading. If you aren't familiar with this guy out of South East D.C. ... do your homework and read up. He'll be around for a long time.

Meet Mr. Harper


Darren's Part from the Pit Crew Video 'Where I'm From'


Also Darren has a solid part in Get Familiar. Buy that video now

Thrasher's King of the Road Hot Mess

Finally back in the swing of things after a weekend in New York City. I ate way to many cupcakes at Magnolia bakery. You get serious sugar buzz between that and your adult Pepsis that are totted around the Lower East Side. I'll delve more into New York, New York on Friday. First up I need to put the final nail in the King of the Road coffin for 2007.

I love getting random videos e-mailed to me. I don't even know who sent this video in but it's worth sharing. To say it contains "questionable language" and materials deemed unsuitable for minors is without question. That is what we expect from the fine folks at Thrasher. Check out the wrap up and stay tuned for the release of the 2007 King of the Road video. Stuff like this reminds me how awesome skateboarding can be.

Wednesday Market Watch: Quiks Costly Lesson

True to form; the higher you fly the farther you have to fall. Quiksilver's ski dreams seem to be lining up for that free fall. The rumors have been rumbling through the snow industry for awhile. When those rumors begins to gain steam with Wall Street analysts and make headlines on 'Market Watch' ...you know something is up.

Motley Fool recently reported that Quiksilver (NYSE: ZQK) is considering three different options for it's Rossignol brand. Rich Duprey from the Fool goes on to say:

"The company plans to keep the brand name and continue a Rossignol apparel line, but it wants to unload the hard goods segment. Quiksilver has done well selling well-known clothing lines like Roxy and DC Shoes to its target teen market, but I think it made a serious error in buying the entirety of Rossignol two years ago. The ski maker had been facing declining sales and rising costs before the buyout, while losing market share to K2 and others."

Duprey makes a good call when he calls up the Peter Lynch buzz word"de-wors-ification. Let's bring everybody up tot speed the basic thought behind de-wors-ification is when a profitable company takes profits and puts them into a new business line they don't fully understand or have a deep knowledge of. The end result typically is failure of the most miserable kind. It's a nice play on the word "diversification" and the ensuing backfire.

Duprey and Lynch are onto something here. Should quik have ever gotten into skiing? Well, they got into snowboarding successfully with Mervin. However, for all intents and purposes Lib and Gnu were left alone to develop as brands. The fact that those critical years saw some pretty amazing steps forward in snowboard popularity and the ensuing sales. Rossignol, carrying a stigma and some excess sales (or lack there of) baggage certainly had a long uphill battle ahead of them. Whoever, takes over the hardgoods line for Rossignol should be prepared to shoulder that burden. The key to Rossi's success will be in reviving their once great product name through a blend of nostalgia and product innovation. They must become aggressive and revitalize their brand. Otherwise, I'll be telling my Daughter about another company when she wants to know about corporate failure.

Another Target on Sheckler's Back ... Literally

Ryan has a few targets on his back right now. Long gone are the days when the boy wonder was heralded in the pages of Big Brother with his mom along for the ride. Now, Sheckler has his awkward teen moments filmed for the sake of profit and thrust out to the MTV viewing audience. I really hope he has a good accountant who is banking all his cash into a very large trust fund.

Anyway, while watching flipping channels tonight I was enjoying a new episode of 'American Misfits' on fuel TV ( shameless plug # 1). Radomnetta and Ron Allen were putting on quite the mini ramp champ display. Eventually, I flipped over to the less entertaining but more exploitative 'Life of Ryan'. Needless to say this will be the first time I agree with anything a former boy band singer has to say: please MTV quit pushing this crap on us and go back to playing music. I might not be hip enough to know my daft Punk remixes but anything is better than this exploitative staged crap.

Finally, after throwing up a little in my mouth, I grabbed the laptop and swung on by a few excellent sites. One of which was skate and annoy. They directed me to another splendid use of internet time....I give you the Ryan Sheckler tattoo generator. Yes, some people have way too much time on their hands and it's a hilarious thing. Click here to make your own Sheck tat.



Thank you Eight Equals D.

Behind the Griptape: Bobby Worrest

Man. Skater. Humanitarian. Liver Donor. One of D.C.'s finest gets the 29 films treatement in the latest 'Behind the Griptape.' I really hope Rory Sheridan keeps this up.

Contest Time: Win With Black Label or Vans...You Decide

I know. I hear you loud and clear. Summer time and the living is no longer easy. Back to work for all of us but we can still have hope that we may one day be winners instead of beautiful losers. On second thought it would be nice just to straight up win something just once. While I was skating a checking out shops up in NYC (more on that Tuesday) a few of the old crew were buzzing over these current contests.

These aren't the kind of contests that every same name - same game pro shows up to win their 10K and roll home. No sir! These are contest by which you can enter and actually win something worth while. Yes, the good old days of a original contest are few and far between however, the Label and Vans are doing a killer job of keeping the vibe alive.



Vans Downtown Showdown
Finally a contest for the Auto-CAD nerd in all of us but a little background info first. Vans has been dropping this contest for a few years and the heat on it is amazing. You get some stellar rippers on an all-time course just going for it. Last years mini-mega was one part hilarious, two parts gnar and three parts "bring back small jump ramps".

This year Vans is upping the ante and asking for obstacle submissions. The winner will have a replica of their obstacle built and planted wherever they want. Bust our your photoshop, auto-cad or cocktail napkin today and ball point pen and get those entries flowin!



Black Label King of the Road Left Overs

Yeah I best let this one speak for itself.. First a word of caution, careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Imagine trying to explain this pile of crap to your Mom-Dad-girlfriend-wife-whatever when it shows up at the door. Remember according to Lucero, third is the new first.






You can win all this stuff:
1. 4 slightly used boards from Chris Troy, Shuriken Shannon, and Chet Childress
2. 2 brand new leftover team boards
3. 2 new sets of Black Label wheels
4. 1 set of Chris Troy’s used Spitfire wheels
5. 1 pair of Osiris D3s (from the D3 challenge)
6. 1 pair of blown out Adio slip ons used by Chris Troy
7. Chris Troy’s Innes hat
8. Chet’s Neck pillow or hemorrhoid pillow (we can’t tell)
9. 2 packs of Black Label hardware
10. 2 Lowcard zines with Chet on the cover
11. Slash’s Sideshow Bob doll
12. 1 pillow case featuring various drawings from Chet and Alfaro
13. Shuriken’s handcuffs and sheriff badge
14. 1 hooters wet nap
15. 2 pair of really bad sunglasses
16. 2 foam swords
17. 1 wrench
18. Alfaro’s tiny pants
19. Shuriken’s Venture t-shirt
20. Chris’s Black Label mesh hat
21. 2 Black Label t-shirts
22. Slash’s Spitfire bandanna
23. 1 pair size 9 Heelys shoes (from the worst sponsor challenge)
24. Leftover griptape
25. 1 King of the Road t-shirt
26. 1 white Rasta dreadlock (from the white hippy challenge)
27. 1 $2 winning lottery ticket from Illinois
28. 2 Spitfire punk buttons
29. 1 bearing
30. 1 bar of Black Label wax
31. A half eaten package of Red Vines
32. 1 leather glove
33. Various Black Label and Thrasher stickers
34. Chet’s mouthwash
35. Rhino’s hand sanitizer
36. P-Stone’s farts (photo unavailable)

The SOTN Friday Skate Drop: Zoo York and Deluxe!

Finally Friday has decided to show it's pretty face. Well, the beauty is I am off to New York City today for the weekend. Yup, a little skate, a little party and whole lot of relaxing. This mean of course means zippy updates over the weekend. But, I can't leave you hanging. I pulled some rabbit's out of my hat to keep you entertained until Monday morning. So dig in, and get your skate on.

Zoo York Artist Board Series: MAKESET & BROKEN WINDOWS
I love New York. Really, I do. I love it a little more than I love Chicago becasue New York is raw. It's real. It's a city of energy. Zoo York knows this and Zoo York goes the extra mile to embody this.

The Zoo York Institute is proud to announce the release of two highly-anticipated new series of collaboration artist decks –Makeset and Broken Windows. The Makeset Artist Series and Broken Windows Artist Series will both hit authorized ZooYork retailers in late September.


Makeset is a design collective comprised of two Brooklyn-based artists/designers/makers - Mike Perry and Zoo's very own in-house creative mastermind, Damien Correll. Longtime friends and regular collaborators, over the years the two have joined forces on several ‘zines, prints, and other acclaimed art projects. The tag team duo’s new series of Zoo pro models feature custom graphics that are a playful spin on NYC’s iconic landmarks, renowned architecture, and bustling neighborhoods. From Coney Island, Times Square, and the East River, to the Brooklyn Bridge, Flatiron District, and Chrysler Building, the Makeset Artist Series provides a unique visual narrative on the Big Apple.













The Broken Windows Artist Series is another custom creation brought to life by Zoo's talented in-house design squad. Keeping it dark and gritty like New York City, the graphics on this collaborative series of pro model boards reflect the wide range of typography and guerilla-style wheat paste artwork plastered all throughout the city’s five boroughs. Cleverly designed so the graphics from one board bleed onto the next to form a complete set, the inspiration for this series was derived from the 80’s era Broken Windows theory adopted by the Giuliani Administration as a way to clean up the streets by cracking down on graffiti and other forms of perceived “vandalism.” Find out more at wikipedia.org.


Deluxe's Summer Comes Early Tour 2007

Limited Edition Creature Wood

Do we really have to go into details

Do we need to say much?

No, no we don't... NHS did it again...(spent my pay check before I even got it!)

A Tall Frosty Winter Dew Tour

I know they had been talking about a Winter version of the Dew Tour but I didn't think they were close to its realization. OK,so I don't know all, however, it looks like all the usual suspects are joining forces for a three stop tour. These stops are "to be determined" but you can bet it will be some locations you are pretty familiar with. The Dew Tour is big on foot traffic and attendance so don't be surprised if a Summit County, CO location appears, a Vermont location appears and how cool would it be to get a Midwest location? Yeah, jibtastic. Read the press release.

Action Sports Tour expands to include winter series

Updated: Sep13, 2007, 09:59 AM EDT
NEW YORK -- The AST (Action Sports Tour), the recently-launched, umbrella brand and organization for the Dew Tour, today announced the expansion of a winter action sports series with title sponsor Mountain Dew. The AST Winter Dew Tour is set to launch with a series of three events beginning in December of 2008 and continuing into January and February 2009. The Winter Tour will feature both freeskiing and snowboarding disciplines for both men and women.

"We couldn't be more excited about the AST Dew Tour's expansion into winter sports and the opportunity to continue to build this property with our partner Mountain Dew," said Wade Martin, President of the AST Dew Tour. "The move into winter extends the AST into a year-long platform and is consistent with our founding vision of providing greater continuity, context and infrastructure to action sports through the pro tour."

"We're happy to be stepping up our commitment to the Dew Tour, and we look forward to being part of the largest, most comprehensive action sports tour in the world," said Ralph Santana, Pepsi VP Sports, Media and Interactive Marketing. "As a company, we've been fans and strong supporters of action sports for decades, and the Dew Tour expansion is a great way to support more athletes, deliver more for the fans, and generate more exposure for our brands."
The AST Winter Dew Tour will be a seamless extension of the successful, summer Tour, and will include the following key components:

• Host venues: The AST will be conducting site visits around North America and a formal RFP process over the next several months to determine the three, host mountain resorts for the AST Winter Dew Tour. The three host resorts will be confirmed by first quarter 2008. The five-city, AST Summer Dew Tour has over 250,000 spectators per year.

• Media Programming & Distribution: The Winter Dew Tour will follow a similar media programming model as the summer Dew Tour, which is the most watched action sports property globally including an average of 39 million, domestic, United States viewers each year between NBC Sports and the USA Network. The summer Dew Tour also has distribution partnerships with NBC's Universal HD, Fox's Fuel and Viacom's MTV2 Network. In addition, the summer Dew Tour is distributed in over 100 countries and available in 230 million homes worldwide with partners like Eurosport, Fox Sports International, Extreme Channel and Fox Sports Australia, as well as on a variety of new media platforms including Broadband, Video-on-Demand and Verizon Wireless.

• Sponsorship: Mountain Dew will be title sponsor of the new, three-event, winter series. In addition, the AST will sell event titles for each stop, along with associate and supplier packages for the entire tour. Similar to the summer Dew Tour, all sponsors will receive integrated benefits across platforms including TV, on-site, mobile and on-line, as well as through the tour's extensive marketing campaign.

• Competitions: Following the format of the summer Tour, the Winter Dew Tour will be based on a cumulative points system with a Dew Cup champion crowned in each discipline at the conclusion of the final stop. The Winter Dew Tour will feature both freeskiing and snowboarding. Potential male and female disciplines include superpipe, slopestyle, and cross events.

Mountain Dew remains the title sponsor of AST's summer Dew Tour, which is currently in its third year and includes five stops from June thru October and features six disciplines: skate (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt) and freestyle motocross.

ASR Photo Blog: Pro Much?

Well, this should just about wrap up the SouthoftheNorth.com coverage of the brodeo known as ASR. As I previously mentioned it was good. Lots of things are coming down the line for spring 2008. Skate definitely seemed to generate more buzz than in years gone by. Don't call it a comeback though. Anyway, gone are the days of surf brands dictating skate style. Skate has evolved into its own culture since the inception of this show. from the range of faces, products and dollars spent on orders .... it certainly shows. Here are a few of the friendly faces we ran into down on the ASR convention floor. Let the pictures worth a 1,000 words continue.



I caught two of Adio's finest catching up outside their booth. first up was Kenny Anderson. as you can see all is bueno with Mr. Anderson. Kenny spent some time on the road this summer but he still remains burned in our heads for the backside noseblunts at the Vans Downtown showdown in 2006.






















Standing about two feet away was none other than the man holding down Joey's Corner on Red Bull's Manny Mania site, that's right it's Joey Brezinski. Joey slayed it this summer at the Venice Beach stop of Manny Mania. If you cruise over to the Adio Limited Projects you can sneak a peek at Joey's shoe with the unmistakable grill up on the tongue. Pretty dope Joey.






















After wandering the convention floor for a few hours you are bound to run into some familiar faces. This year at ASR there seemed to be a bunch of companies looking to bring a skate & surf fashion side to ultimate fighting. These companies got shelved to the back of the convention center. I'll be h9nest it was pretty creepy. I felt as if at any moment one of the following would happen:

A. I'd get punched and the choked out.
B. Some guy would try to sell me meth and then ask for a ride to Barstow.
C. Did I mention the whole punching thing? Yeah, pretty creepy.

Anyway, while I sat back and admired the spectacle of shitty tattoos, Orange County tough guys and just pure crap gear I saw a familiar face. Standing a few feet away with camera gear worth more than the car I drive times two was Rob Brink. Rob's a mellow guy. Check out his site RobBrink.com. anyway this is Rob taking a picture while holding a cup of tea. Now that's one talented man.








After surviving the convention floor it was darn near beer thirty and I was thirsty. I fought my way through the groms pouring themselves a tall frosty at the grind for life fund raiser and grabbed a coldie. Needless to say this what trying to get a beer was like all weekend. However, there's a strategy you can employ. It's called get the biggest beer you can. I had a few drinks I might have heckled a few guys on the Baker crew but they were all relaxed. Good times on the roof. I have to say the chick in the dunk tank looked not-so-stoked. but, that's a story for another blog.









Finally, I retreated inside where Matt Hensley was playing an Irish jig on the accordion. that was good stuff. while I chatted with a few people Tosh Townend walked by hustling a DVD he and his buddies self produced. They are going straight Master P-New Orleans-Hustlin' with this flick. That means they are selling it out of back packs and the back of cars. I do appreciate the moves he's making. I dug around for my last fiver and grabbed a copy. we'll get a full review up in the next few weeks.






















After a couple of beers it was time to roll. I didn't expect to see this guy in the house signing autographs but there he was. yep, Big Black form the DC video. That would also be Big Black from MTV's 'Rob & Big'. Now there was no sign of Dyrdek but hey ... half of funny is better than no funny. Big Black recently left DC Shoes to start up his own footwear company. Yep, now that's happening. Uh huh.

I have to say out of all the entourage action i saw all weekend none could match big black. Each guy weighed in easily over 3 bills. That's six guys! that's easily 1,800 pounds. Who in the right fucking mind would even say shit to these guys? It's like rolling into a bicycle race with a Ducati! Ok, at that point it was really time to go.














Finally, on our way out we asked ourselves what would Mike Caroll do?

Then I decided Carrol might not go have a garlicky shrimp burrito and 32 ounce beer but I was sure going to enjoy them both.

So long ASR, see you in January!

QUIKSILVER APPOINTS REESE FORBES AS HEAD OF SKATE

I don't ordinarily just post the stragiht press release but I love to see a D.C. guy do well. Hell, I love to see anybody who skates succeed. Congrats Reese, it's good to know a program with potential like Quiksilvers is in good hands. During ASR I ran into Reese briefly at the W hotel in San Diego and needless to say he's on it. Hopefully, we can hook up an interview soon.


Press Release ---

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Reese Forbes as head of the Quiksilver Skate Program. Since his 1995 pro debut, his athleticism, speed, and jaw-dropping Ollie have established Reese as one of the most powerful street skaters in the sport. His reputation as one of the industry’s top players, however, goes beyond his skills on the skateboard.

From designing three signature dunks for Nike and best-selling jeans for Quiksilver, to helping build three top skateboard companies (including his latest venture, Skate Mental), Reese has emerged as a true style-setter. Reese grew up skating the streets around his hometown of Gaithersburg, Maryland. By age 11, he had his first sponsorship from a local skate shop, and at 18 he was signed by Element.

Reese toured the world, traveling throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. He was also honing the big gun: his signature Ollie. For Reese that pop is more of a launch, sailing him to heights over 44 inches. He is so identified with the move that in 1999 a tournament was named in his honor, The Reese Forbes Ollie Challenge. That same year landed him on the cover of Thrasher and in the Element World Tour video. In 2001, Reese signed with Quiksilver. He collaborated on the design of the first Reese Forbes jean with Jason Bleick. The jeans became the most successful in Quiksilver’s history and Reese went on to design three more signature editions over the next five years. A fourth is in the works. Reese is also currently assisting in the development of clothing for QuiksilverEdition. Assisting Reese in the day-to-day management of the program is Jamey Beeson. Jamey started at Quiksilver in the marketing department in September of 2003. He worked as the assistant team manger along side Mark Oblow for the past three years building relationships with the riders, skate media and skate photographers. Prior to that he worked at Surfside Sports in Newport Beach renting body boards at the age of 11 eventually working his way up to a managerial level. Jamey worked at Surfside Sports for 12 years before moving on to Quiksilver! He attended Newport Harbor High School and Orange Coast College. Along with his skate program duties, Jamey will continue with his U.S. Western Regional Marketing duties helping retailers and sales representatives with their marketing needs. For more information check out http://www.quiksilver.com/

Movies You Should Watch: 'Bra Boys'

Out in San Diego I caught a showing of the 'Bra Boys' movie. A legend down in Australia, the 'Bra Boys', is a gang of surfers who have staked a claim to hold their ground. The film tackles the story of the forgotten and under privileged in Australia who have nothing to turn to except the beach. While focusing on the Abberton brothers and their friends we get a tremendous look inside what life was and remains like for this crew.

Additionally,the movie takes a deep look into the dysfunction in society that has unknowingly lent a hand in creating the counter culture society of an action sports lifestyle. Overall, the movie was really solid and a must see for everybody. Berkela Films has a great blog from the premiere where you can see images of the Abbertons and the big names who showed up to check out the flick. Sorry, narrator Russel Crowe was a no-show.

The story is at times heart wrenching and will make you ask yourself "what does my family mean to me?" Buy a copy of 'Bra Boys'. You won't be disappointed





Now I can file this in the folder of "Dumb TV Host". Some Aussie knucklehead thinks he's being funny by trying to go down and have a laugh at the expense of the Bra Boys. Probably not the smartest move. What's funny is that he brought his own security down to prevent the inevitable ass kicking that was bound to happen.

ASR Photo Blog: Old Faces from the Floor

Ah, Old faces we all know them and some age more gracefully than others. Here's a small sample of a few people from the floor of the San Diego convention center.


Who: John Lucero, Black Label Ruler
Where: The Black Label booth at ASR
Doing: Holdin' it down.
Up Next: Running the show, skating and maybe some more peep show clips.
Why You Should Care: After his break out performance this spring in 'Fat Guy on a Curb' we see great things ahead for this Lucero guy. Seriously though, no introductions should be necessary and the Label is killing it.



















Who: Ingemar Backman
Where: The ASR floor
Doing: Making the rounds between Oakley and several other stops.
Up Next: Installing fear in the hearts of poker players across Europe and keeping hipsters stylish in WESC.
Why You Should Care: does anybody remember Ingemars part in TB5? No? Scroll down to relive it..









Who: Matt Hensley
Where: The Grind for Life fundraiser during ASR
Doing: Playing the accordion.
Up Next: Making Hensley's Flying Elephant the hottest joint in Carlsbad, CA.
Why You Should Care: Because I bet they have Guinness on tap and some Pogues on the juke.

If you are in town check it:
Hensley’s Flying Elephant Pub & Gril
l850 Tamarack Ave
Carlsbad, CA
760-729-4996














Who: Christian Hosoi
Where: The Grind for Life fundraiser during ASR
Doing: Repping Hosoi skateboards, shaking hands and being an all around gracious guy.
Up Next: Skating, loving life and spreading the word.
Why You Should Care: Christian Hosoi was and will always remain an innovator. Respect.

What You Should Be Reading Right Now: Shop-Eat-Surf.Com

I like to think that SouthoftheNorth.com is a bit of an anomaly. Yep, we are weird. Why? Because I am doing this for fun. No agenda has or will be set other than to discuss and inform. Actually, that's not true if I can find a way to digitally refine the brand - retailer -consumer relationship so that it's mutually beneficial I will be happy. I leave the real reporting and writing for those who are deep in "the know".One such person is Tiffany who heads up Shop-Eat-Surf.com. Routinely I am finding great, insightful content on action sports brands that live, thrive and survive around Orange County on her site. Today she has a terrific update on the topic of takings risks and who does she get a good quote from but Volcom's CEO Richard WoolCott. Wooly goes on to say:


"What I often see is that we might design something fresh and exciting but it will not book well and ends up getting dropped from the line. However, if we feel strong about it we will try it the next season and maybe then it will take hold. It's really a timing issue of when the market is ready for a new look or style."


Clearly, being entrenched in Orange County is the way to go. I highly recommend you check out Shop-Eat-Surf.com. I guarantee you'll learns something new about the evolving business dynamic in Southern California.

ASR Blog: Going Green!

File Under: Ass, Cash, or Grass ... We're Going Green!

This year was a big year on the "green scene" at ASR. They had their own lounge going. You could cruise upstairs and mellow out with free Vitamin water, emergen-c samples and five dollar smoothies (but these were free). Actually, it was closer to the hangover remedy lounge with it's relaxed vibe and it's bountiful re hydrating goodness.

Actually you found, bands, poker tourneys and a host of products from companies that are environmentally friendly and sound. you do have to applaud and respect the companies who are trying to make a difference on all fronts. Here's a few sightings from the lounge:

Skart was not in short supply. Photos, paintings, sculpture could all be found.

Quik was one of several companies displaying their organic line ups for the younger and older consumers.

Not to be left our in the cold one of the executive producers behind '11th Hour' did a walk through. That's right. Sole Tech's CEO Pierre Andre Senizergues made an appearance and graciously shook hands. Chris Miller, Warth Products COO is standing opposite with his back to the camera. In case you missed it read Chris Miller's Interview from the June 2007 issue of Transworld Business.

Earth Products has stepped into the organic arena as well with a new collection from Planet Earth Clothing. Green Label is backed by the PE skate team. The catalog showed off new rider Shuriken Shannon. I need to pay more attention to who they put on teams.

ASR: Volcom's Chaos

Action sports retailer show for September 2007 is so done you could put a fork in it and I mean that in the best way possible. There was lots of things going on in San Diego. But, this weekend for about eight hours a day the industry turned its collective attention to the SD convention center.

Games of S.K.A.T.E were played (congrats to Chris Cole) and big orders were made. However, the real story behind ASR was none of these things. Nor was it to be the coming out of SouthoftheNorth.com. No, while we remain in the veiled closet of obscurity the real story is always the people. The collective of Industry, skaters, surfer and about 200 kids scrambling for stickers and t-shirts. With so much to say and so little time I'll let the pictures speak a 1,000 words. Enjoy


File Under: Well Managed Corporate Chaos

OK, take one part hair metal costumes add in a bunch of amplifiers, PA's and a karaoke machine and you got yourself the Volcom booth. I would have tried to get a clear picture but this kind of describes the chaos. Pretty much Vee-co becomes the epicenter of trade shows with their running theme year after year. Enough well planned chaos so that Wall Street analysts report it back as "buzz". That's right when you go public it's costume time! Photo credit: Southofthenorth.com
















In reality this is what the Volcom booth was like. Minor chaos and major on brand commerce. What do expect them to do? It's a trade show. Photo credit: southofthenorth.com



















CEO Richard Woolcott made an appearance. For all the sarcasm Volcom continues to kill it. God bless'em. If funny costumes and throwing an all day party is in their annual fiscal plan then rock on. Maybe the fed can learn something from, uh, never mind. Photo Credit: tiffany@shop-eat-surf.com

Monday's Market Watch

The Fools aren't stoked on Quiksilver

But, Quik is developing a women's line. Uh, isn't that ROXY?
(I know. Different age group and focus)

Volcom CEO Sells 15,000 Shares. That comes to about $570K if you are playing along at home.

Billabong is buying Xcel.

Doing the "boomerang" back west Jeff Griffing is rejoining Transworld in the role of publisher.

More to come...

Monday's Daily Drop

Back to the grind and I don't mean of the smith variety. Nope, the work weeks is back and the bro-deo of ASR is in the rear view mirror. It was great as always to catch up with the assorted cast and crew of characters. I'll get the ASR gallery and tales from Sn Die-Bro up later this week. For right now you'll have to suffer through the headlines and a news of the day.


King of the Road
The teams rolled into San Diego and the results are in:

1. Blind

2. Foundation

3. Black Label

4. Zoo York


For all the official King of the Road news read Thrasher. Actually, why aren't you reading Thrasher Magazine already? After following their update I have no clue how Label took third. Actually, I do know know. As a matter of fact ...we all know why. The Label lucked out on having Sheckler show up...




'The Man Who Souled the World'
"I love Rocco. Kill Rocco"
-John Lucero

Skatedaily.net drops a nice tip that the movie about the life and times of Steve Rocco has an updated website and trailer. Skate Daily has been on top of this for some time and we blogged about it back in July. Catch our post and trailer here.


Skate and Annoy's Good Reading Tip of the Day
Another site you should be checking out daily is Skate and Annoy. Holy crap, it's good stuff. They had hands down the best coverage of the Trifecta and are on top of it in so many ways it shames me. Easily one of the funniest things I have read in awhile popped up on their site via Concrete Disciples. You remember CD right? You are using it for the most comprehensive skate park guide in all the land? OK, sweet back to the jibber jabber. Well, some d-bag decided to post on CD how he was going to start complaining to Portland officials about Burnside after he and his kids were run out of there. Now, nobody condones violence. At least I don;t but after reading this guys words and experiencing his attitude online I can easily see why he was asked to leave.


Really go and read it for yourself...OK, you're back. Kind of an elitist asshole right? At least he's vocal to the point where we realize it and don't have to wait for it to becoem self evident. What a douche.


Behind the Griptape
Finally, yes, I am finally getting around to posting this. Finally.... Rory Sheridan from 29 Films made a nice little movie biting off Epicly Later'd. Funny, graphic and resplendent in beer bongs.