Ralph = Vomit

A while back, when Alan and Ralph got on Substance, I was in one of my drawing modes and was just doing weird drawings for the fun of it. I decided to draw some graphics for them, totally unsolicited, and while they seemed to like them, I don't think Harley was too psyched on them. Then again, they were more humorous and not quite like the image I think he was going for.

This was the one I did for Ralph:


This is the graphic I did for Alan. He plays the (electric) piano and is a Bjork fan. I had to add the Bjork logo so that people knew who it was. To some, it was obvious. To others, they had no clue. I thought the goose dress was a dead giveaway.

Oh yeah, Alan did the lettering for his name himself.

Speaking on Alan, here is some vintage footage of the man himself. Hopefully that works since it is a Facebook link.

While I was looking for the images of the deck graphics I came across this photo of Taji. I think it was from the Nike video premier.



So Alan and I ended up getting that key to the Autumn Bowl and I have skated it twice so far. Seeing as though I haven't skated it in a year and a half, I still haven't gotten my bowl legs back yet, but you definitely appreciate grinding more than you do on a miniramp, or bowl with metal coping. I am not psyched on 5 or 6 dudes showing up (all to skate) when only one of them has a key. Bringing one or two people is fine, but that place gets crowded really quickly. I didn't see anyone donate any money either. When I used to go with key holders I would always drop some money into the box. In fact, I don't think I even saw the box...hmm. Anyway, I will be skating there a lot more for the next month or two. I mean look at the forecast!



Also, I am going to be working on a documentary about the DIY skatepark/spot movement with a friend from Seattle. He is leading it up, but I am going to help out, especially with the NY coverage (footage, interviews, etc.). I am going to cover the Autumn Bowl, the Brooklyn Banks, and the one off spots build all around the city. I will keep you updated with the developments on that.

Substance Promo

The Substance Skateboards Promo is finally online for your viewing pleasure. There are a few clips that I contributed in there (they just spelled my name wrong in the credits, but whatevs).

Click to watch.

Overall, it is pretty good. Sassa killed it. We need more Alan, Ralph, Rob, and Scottie footage though!

going to asia

Since Sho's passing, I have been planning on making a trip out to Beijing, China to visit his parents. Those plans are finally coming to light, as I am flying out from NYC to Beijing on Thursday with my friends Jeremy and Gia. After about 5 days there, we are flying down to Jakarta, Indonesia to meet up with Budi then off to Bali the next day. As the date approaches, I am actually starting to get excited about the trip...finally. I am borrowing a pretty nice camera from a co-worker, so I am going to try to have some banging blog photos.



Well, back to NYC life.



About 3 weeks ago or so, Harley (owner of Substance Skateboards) told me to swing by and grab a deck. As I was looking through the decks, I saw this:





Mr. Ralph Murphy was turned pro! I was psyched and have been skating his board since. Also, Jahmal (Williams) had a shout-out for his new company, Hopps, in the latest Transworld. Check the site out!





Speaking of local companies, I have been riding Prize Fighter wheels for a while now and am pretty psyched on them. Billy Rohan, Rob Campbell, and Leo Gutman are riding for them now, so that is pretty hyphy. Check them out too.


Okay, okay, enough promotion. So I have been trying to skate as much as I can when not working and sometimes that means skating for 30 minutes or so during my lunch break. But it has been so humid out that I end up running back in for a meeting most of the time dripping in sweat...it is amazing. There also seems to be a trend that my friends are getting hurt, or they are out of town, or they are just over skating and it is super hard to find people to skate with sometimes...they don't have the "it's too cold out" excuse anymore. At least Matt (Rzeszutko) is coming back (the day after I leave for China) and that means a lot of rippage when I get back. He also quit ATM for 1031 and has been schralping with Kristian Svitak. He told me that the Rockstar video is almost done. Other than that, I don't really have anything new. Haven't heard from Leonard in a minute...I wonder what is up on the other coast? Leonard...City University of London?


I am going to leave you with the clip of the day, Levi Brown's part from the new Element video:

Doing (Big?) Things in '07

So I have been working too much to update, but I plan on putting together a clip of stuff that is essentially too wack for the video I am making. When that is done, it might entertain for a second...maybe. Speaking of, does anyone skate in NYC anymore?

Leonard is coming back from Portland next week to hold it down in New York for a bit, then off to the U.K. Sho is actually coming back from China the following week, but he will only be here for a month.

As a reminder...

This is Leonard


And this is Sho


The site is slacking but Substance Skateboards just added Ralph Murphy and Alan Siegler to their team of Rob Campbell. Rob Campbell and Alan Siegler will have boards dropping soonish...keep in mind, that is "soonish" for NY standards. I just found their MySpace page.

Here are the players in case you have no idea who I am talking about:

Ralph Murphy


Alan Siegler


Rob Campbell


Speaking of skateboarders...look out for that kid on Powell, John Motta. Dude is sick.

Mike Tyson is a gentleman. And he likes the word fornicate.


Leonard has the ill YouTube links.