Well, looks like I dropped the ball again.  Seems that the minds behind Poking the World With a Stick have been updating like crazy with videos and here I am with my thumb in dark smelly places.  My fault fellas. 

theProgram ledges had some good action; Get Buck for Deluxe contest, countless sessions with friends, skateboarding by myself (because they were two blocks from my house), and some slams that made the spot kinda sketchy.  They were torn down by CSX a couple of weeks ago.  Cole’s trick is one of the more memorable that went down…

Cole Wilson.  BS Noseblunt (with proper foot status)

I have no clue who is behind the cult that is The Concretins, nor do I have even the slightest grasp of who is and is not involved.  What I do know is that they have a blog that seems to be updated regularly and that if there is transition involved in a session, there’s normally one or two of them on the deck somewhere.  Are they expanding?  Taking over?  No clue.  But, they’re doing it right and seem to be having fun in the process.

 * Did I link this just because there’s a photo of me in the latest post?  Maybe.  But they sent me the link asking if it was me in the photo, which turned me onto their blog, so I’m just passing it along. 

I’m a couple days late on this one because I’ve been out of town, but Dave Ackels has gotten Absorb #12 up and posted.  As the autumn weather starts to cool, this episode of the series starts a little cool and then heats way up with a heavy dose of skateboarding.  The Absorb series is one of the things that lets me know that despite all of it, skateboarding is going to be just fine at the end of the day.

After hounding him since before the latest issue of the zine came out, Ballard finally came through with the goods in the form of an absolutely bangin’ montage.  There are some serious hammers in this one, so get ready to watch it a few times in a row.  A mix of some leftovers from this summer and some footage from this past winter, the new clip is gonna make you want to get out and go skate if this rain ever stops.

Think you’ve seen all the Saints and Sinners tour that you could see?  Think again.  Strange Notes has part one of a tour clip up on their site.  Plenty of shredding in Louisville, Bowling Green, Dayton, and Nashville in this one.

I’d just like to take a minute to say thanks to everyone that made it out to Phil Roth’s ramp for the weekend long party that happened this weekend.  It was great to see everyone ripping and having a good time.  My only regret was not being able to stay longer.  If you didn’t go, you missed out.  And if you were there, you probably saw Dane just narrowly miss my head and my camera with this trick.  Thanks again fellas…see you next time.

I think Sam McGuire has got to be one of the hardest working photographers I know.  He’s constantly got photos out everywhere, including those new Gatorade ads with Mr. Malto.  Well somewhere in between shooting and travelling all over the place, he found time to get a new website up.  You’ll probably recognize a great number of the photos if you’ve picked up any skateboarding magazines in the last couple of years, but the nice thing is that now you can save the photos and use them as your background on your computer that will serve as a nice little reminder about how radical skateboarding, and Sam’s work for that matter, is.

Hell, he’s even got the homey Al Davis up in the mix.

For those of you lucky enough to know Jon Fredericksen, the new video clip will make complete sense.  For those of you who don’t know him, I can’t think of a better way to introduce him to you.  Simultaneously one of the best and worst skateboarders I have ever known, I absolutely love skating with Jon and jump at the chance to shoot photos with him anytime I’m in Lexington and wants to skate.  His slams alone are worth the price of admission.

I shot this photo a while ago, but I had such a frustrating time figuring out a unique way to shoot it that I think I just blocked it out of my mind and didn’t even look at it after we shot it.  Plus I shot another photo that same day that kinda took precidence over this one, so…y’know.  Anyway, I was bored this morning and came across it, so I thought I’d play with a little and see if I could find someway to salvage it a little.  I still don’t like it, partly because I know I can shoot it better and partly because I know Dane can go higher.  But I haven’t been shooting much lately (here’s looking at you fellas) and I thought I’d just throw it up so that you all have something new to look at for the weekend.

See you all out there.

 Dane Warner, backside tweaker method air.