Ever since the announcement was made that Anthony Pappalardo had bounced from Lakai, the rumor mills have been churning, mixing and overflowing with speculation about Converse's entrance into the skate market. And while the hype was built up like the scaffolding of the g'damned Scream Machine, much of the unconfirmed babble was put to rest when Converse Skateboarding debuted at the most recent ASR tradeshow. While the industry folks had their curiosity quenched, skaters around the globe without San Diego plane fare and an all-access tradeshow badge remained thirsty. After a long-ass wait, Converse Skateboarding has opened its doors to the world via Converseskateboarding.com.
The site showcases the brands official team...Anthony Pappalardo, Sammy Baca, Ethan Fowler, Raymond Molinar and Nick Trapasso. That's a diverse as hell roster. But you already knew that. God bless you, Slap Forum. Alongside team photos and video, there's a look book for their Spring '09 Line, a blog and a skate map, where when can locate some parks and shops all around the U.S. of A. It's been a long wait, but dammit, it was worth it. Now that we've seen it with our own eyes, the future of Converse Skateboarding looks good. —Jay Riggio
Jamie Thomas front feeble to fakie.
This past weekend hundreds of skaters converged on Houston Texas's Southside skatepark to celebrate the life of Johnny Romano and raise money for a worthy cause. The Johnny Romano Skate Jam was held as a benefit for the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana chapter of the Make A Wish Foundation, a non-profit group that strives to enrich the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses.
After Johnny's passing earlier this year, Southside's annual Make A Wish benefit skate jam was renamed in his honor. All proceeds, ticket sales and even prize money won by the skaters was donated directly back to the Make A Wish Foundation. What better way to celebrate the life, spirit and memory of Johnny Romano than a day spent skating, smiling and giving back. Our friend and Black Box staff photog, Joey Shigeo was on hand to capture some of the magic from this special event.
In an attempt to slow the impending and too rushed arrival of Christmas marketing crap, let's take a step back a little over a week and remember the fun we had on Halloween. Here's the Toy Machine team ripping at Active San Dimas (where Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was set). People skating in costumes is quite hilarious.
Skateboarding can be a fickle business. Some guys who should be financially sound and well known are not and other guys who got in on a likeability factor are living off some nice shoe checks. It's just how it is. But, some guys are out there making it happen on their own, "it" being something that I cannot exactly define or understand. One example of this is "The Ger" himself, Jereme Rogers.
The skater, turned rapper (still think they should bring back that one song that goes "tell me suminsuminsumin I ner heard of, tell me suminsuminsumin I aint ner heard of"), turned Famous Stars and Straps rider has mastered the art of self promotion.
If you go back and watch the credits to Osiris' The Storm there's a clip in there where one of the dudes gets a D3 dipped in gold…in gold (I can't remember who it was, but I always wonder if he still has that golden shoe somewhere). J.R., seems to be taking tips from that era of "get it while you can" with a little hustle. Perhaps not in the way intended, but I, for one, am entertained.
Given Skateboards
Markovich Skids A Backside Tailslide, Jersey Barrier Style For Given.
A while back Kris Markovich parted ways with Crimson Skateboards, the company he founded, rode for and branded, via his own signature artwork. It was reported that Kris was taking with him most of the Crimson team to start a new outfit...this one called Given Skateboards. It's been a little while now that the Given website has been under construction, but as of recently, the company's brand new site has launched. Included so far at GIVENSKATEBOARDS.COM are rider profiles, video and photos, as well as an extensive product page, featuring the latest pro boards from Kris, Richie Belton, James Atkin and the legendary style-king of SF, Nate Jones. But wait, what about Ragdoll? From the looks of things, Rags is missing from the Given roster, aka, no longer skating for Given. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up. Any guesses? Could there be a Black Label reunion in the works in a move similar to the Jason Adams team revisitation? We'll just have to see, now wont we.
