SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

On Tuesday, June 30th DC hosted an exclusive event at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn, NY to celebrate the release of DC skate photographer, Mike Blabac's first book, BLABAC PHOTO — The Art of Skateboarding photography. More than 150 media and industry VIPs, including DC athlete Ryan Smith, came to support Blabac and view the photo gallery exhibit showcasing 20 years of Blabac's photography pulled from his extensive collection of work.

Available July 1st, BLABAC PHOTO is the first skateboarding book of its kind featuring 224 pages of iconic images in skateboarding in a beautifully designed, cloth-bound, large format hardcover book. Published by powerHouse Books, BLABAC PHOTO takes you on a visual journey from Blabac's humble beginnings as a kid who was intrigued by cameras to shooting some of the most legendary skateboarders of all time. Coinciding with the release of BLABAC PHOTO is the Blabac Azure mid, the first DC signature shoe that has been made for a non-professional team member. This shoe was designed to compliment the book and pay homage to Balbac and his work with DC over the past 10 years. Both the book and shoe will be available at http://www.dcshoes.com/blabac, DC flagship stores, select skate shops, powerHouse, and select book retailers.

Blabac's New York gallery exhibit will be available for viewing at powerHouse arena from July 1  August 2. Next stops on Blabac's tour are July 2, 2009 at the DC Melrose store in Los Angeles, CA, July 8, 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, July 12 in Tokyo, Japan, July 18 in Barcelona and the final stop will be in London, England on July 22. For more information on Blabac or the world tour visit http://www.dcshoes.com/blabac.


I mean "Maloof's Most Wanted" in the most general sense, since this is a list of things I want to see. As far as a contest goes, the Maloof Money Cup is one of the most interesting (read: has the most money to do really innovative stuff). So, here are a few things I'm looking forward to from the Maloof brother's big shabang coming up on July 10-12 (not necessarily in order of importance):

1) The Course:
This short-term dreamspot was designed by Geoff Rowley and Joe Ciaglia with assistance from Colby Carter, Mark Waters and Pro skaters Lance Mountain, Braydon Szafranski and Erik Ellington. It's supposed to have famous spots, like the Sunset up-down ledge, the Barcelona ledge and big four, the Rincon 12-stair rail, Pier 7, the Mission 3-up-3 down and UC Irvine's 6-stair hubba and rails. The bump-to-picnic table design, made by Chris C. of New Jersey, was one of thousand of entries chosen by Transworld Skateboarding's staff to be incorporated into the park. Pretty amazing. Hopefully next year, they'll Scrooge McDuck the whole thing, by digging up the whole slab of concrete, and airlift it to a neighborhood park. To read more about the course, check the article.
2) The Top 36:
There are 36 skaters already confirmed in the contest that were initially selected and they include some of the best people in skateboarding (and not necessarily people you expect at contests). Here's the list: Mark Appleyard, Brian Anderson, Zered Bassett, Silas Baxter Neal, Brandon Biebel, Dennis Busenitz, Mike Mo Capaldi, Mike Carroll, Chris Cole, Nick Dompierre, Corey Duffel, Jake Duncombe, Erik Ellington, Chris Haslam, Bryan Herman, Nyjah Huston, Stefan Janoski, Marc Johnson, Josh Kalis, Terry Kennedy, Heath Kirchart, Eric Koston, Greg Lutzka, Sean Malto, Alex Olson, Chaz Ortiz, Peter Ramondetta, Andrew Reynolds, Paul Rodriguez, Jereme Rogers, Leo Romero, Geoff Rowley, Omar Salazar, Ryan Sheckler, Darrell Stanton and Braydon Szafranski.
3) The Wild Cards:
I once had this acquaintance named the Wild Card and while it was frightening to see what he might do during a night out on the town, it made things exciting. Similarly, the Wild Cards, which were voted in by fans will be the most fun to watch. The winners are: Adam Dyet, Bobby Worrest, Brandon Westgate, David Gonzales, Kurtis Colamonico, Lizard King, Mike Vallely, Mikey Taylor, Billy Marks, Rodrigo TX, Spanky, Stevie Williams, Tony Trujillo. The alternates are Pete Eldridge , Sierra Fellers, Nick Trapasso and Danny Cerezini.
4) Leo Romero:
I put him in here on his own, because I've enjoyed a lot of his contest appearances. My first trial run at this job, I covered X Games 14 where Leo showed up with a black eye and a white shirt that was covered in dry blood. At last year's Maloof Money Cup, he devoted a lot of time to going the opposite way. I hope he's as entertaining this year.
5) The Money:
I'm not planning on winning any of this cash, so it's more a matter of surprise. This year's contest has a prize purse of more than $450,000 awarded across men and women's pro street, men's pro vert and the am championships. That's funny money, so I'm hoping they will award it in cash and the wind will pick up so I can scoop up a hundo. Probably won't happen, though.
6) Fun: This one's self-explanatory.

To learn more about the event, go to maloofmoneycup.com. You can find articles on the park, profiles on the riders and loads more. We will also be covering the event on the ESPN Skateboarding site, so I'll keep you posted on what to expect next week.