SIDEBAR

Flashbang

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Oct 24 2015
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In Long Beach, California along the amusement zone of The Pike skateboard wheels strike brick corners; clipping momentum. Old Skool catapults himself like a grasshopper into the air. A powerful flashbang pins him at the apex with a stunningly powerful burst of light. He displays a balletic body movement with his own characteristic rhythm. No comply. With the wind and sun at his back, he sails across a timeline of sails at an exact moment the trick was invented by John Lucero. Hardware screws are strewn with golden light. The flight deck invites air-capable vessels to take off. There’s no stoppers on […]

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Acceptable Deviations

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Oct 23 2015
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The corresponding call when you’re at zero is love. Mike Donelon is plotting the final resting place for the ramps and other skateboard elements from Ghetto Park to Silverado Park. The transfer goes from the East side to the West side. Like mixed media, the hand me down creations by Spohn Ranch’s steel fabricators make mixed sports on the tennis court. The high quality steel edging has the skateboarders pledging and perching their maple planks. Branded and blanks. Would you have thought of serving here. Everyday? Once a month? How many servings should we give until the game is over. […]

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The Pool

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Oct 07 2015
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One day all men will face themselves without brand, company or marquee at the edge of a reflection pool. A stone-faced audience surrounds the placid mirror. They are pressed into concrete somewhere in the city. Black and white. Historical wrongdoing could be all erased in one splash. It’s all gone. Something you skate past. Mobile shredded trucks. Files remembered no more in a place of disgrace. The frequency of invalids rotate until the needle stops. Our sport with the face mask and all the gear has been taken to court. These courts are polished with thanksgiving. You’d step over the […]

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Thrashmore

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Oct 05 2015
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Cato William’s skateboard became his buddy once it was introduced to him by his big brother Pharrell. The skateboard stays with him as close as soul mates and companions. Virginia Beach, Virginia is home of Mount Trashmore. Since the early 70s the city reclaimed the abandoned landfill and transformed the dump into a thriving park where iconic skateboarders poised hand stands on the edge of the deep bowl. Millions who have attended the massive park have gone from one man’s trash into discovering personal treasure. Like admiring every skateboarder, Cato was influenced by Mike Vallely and others here to thrash […]

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Show Up

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Aug 16 2015
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Enter to learn behind the brown iron spear tipped fence protecting the perimeter of the first floor multi-family dwelling units. A black barrel barbeque grill, a partially unwound garden house are stationed in front of one apartment window dressed with vertical white blinds and a well-worn two seater couch is placed in front of the window covered with faded purple curtains. The matching cushion less sofa couch sits out on the edge of the curb. Go forth to serve. It’s a given with what you’ve been given. Underserving is a blunder. A two-step platform stoop sealed with brown epoxy paint […]

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Talons

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Aug 15 2015
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The bald eagle’s full plumage fans out over Marquise’s right index finger. The wingspan held away from its body looks like a sign of strength, but it’s to cool the body. Aerial acrobatics talents clutch the cartwheeling and black diamond skateboard with sharp talons. The hazardous sport has kept the youth jamming stunts, but the big five hunt goes on. This message is important. On Sunday, August 23rd Marquise strolled across Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue south of the California Recreation Center. Upon being approached by another black male he was shot in the abdomen. The bullet entered and exited like a searing knife […]

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Roadside Flare

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Aug 14 2015
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Private lives go public in homelessness. Belongings are left in the open folded neatly and tucked by Ghetto Park’s bowing chain link fence. Two memorials for sleep teach anyone how to make their bed. The slumber party is over. Meanings of things change living on limited means. Newly minted living quarters do not shelter you from everything. No matter where you stay there will be power washing. Numbered lives have order like the ticket taken at the deli counter. There’s a ticket for everything. A rose and a sunflower freshly cut and held in the glass vase. A celebration of life […]

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Slap Bracelet

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Aug 12 2015
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The heavy metal rail welded together downslides into the framework of the lineup. Speed metal is overlaid by shredding leads like it was their last day at ‘Ghetto Park’. This street view is seldomly reviewed. Slayers leave their lairs. Skateboard lifers thrash the skatepark like chain saws chewing through cords of wood. Chipper teeth spark like trucks grinding metal. An unsettled stance until the trick is perfected. Determined at a glance. A ripper returns to the lineup. Pursuing advanced levels happens even if there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Under the law trespassers will be cited for the violation […]

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Maple Syrup

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Aug 10 2015
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Felt-tip markers profile a youthful driver against a blown out sky. Acceleration and brakes makes life go bye-bye quickly. When do you go and when do you stop? The headliner is a soft canopy over Laurietta King’s black braids collected by a black scrunchie. She remains vigilant in her surroundings on the East Side of Long Beach with slushy air filling the cabin space. The western sun is lowering behind green rolling hills as it lights Pacific Coast Highway’s East-West thoroughfare. It glares at the rear view mirror unafraid of the hot spot. The traffic light says move forward. For […]

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Wild

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Aug 01 2015
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Unkempt palm leaves are slumped over; dead brittle bones. Thick trunk husks litter the steep ravine like a dry swamp. Make your way through. Sprawling vines’ growth from the creek floor scale the cylinder block wall. No one cut them back. During the night touch living scavengers and squatters brush by their creepy leaves. Some get relief here by brown smack or draining the lizard. Others look to black magic or astrological wizardry. Somebody has taken an arching whiz; fountain of youth. Down the way, along the gigantic wall standing parallel to the 90 Marina Del Rey Freeway, masked men […]

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