Six Stair Super 8 Scraps

Great stuff from the boys at Six Stair, who've also been doing the Grosso/Loveletters series for Off The Wall TV.

Bill Daniel

Bill Daniel is a pretty interesting guy. He's most well known for his documentary, Who is Bozo Texino?, which is an amazing film about a nearly-extinct slice of American subculture.

Daniel has also spent years wandering the country, doing still photography, hand-crafting silver gelatin prints, making zines and generally doing good stuff. Check him out.

REFERENCE LIBRARY 2012

Kicking off 2012 with a few selected pieces of references and mood board grabs from my digital desktop.

Chris Burden: Metropolis II Coming to LACMA

Can't wait to see this monumental work from Chris Burden at LACMA...

A short doc about a kinetic sculpture that took four years to build. We had the honor of spending three days in Chris Burden's studio filming this sculpture before it was moved to the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art (LACMA) where it is being reinstalled.
The installation opens fall 2011.
Chris Burden is one of our favorite artists of all time. For more about him and his work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Burden
http://www.gagosian.com/artists/chris-burden/

Directed by Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman
Edited by Max Joseph
Cinemtography by Schulman, Joost & Van Neistat
Music by Tortoise (Ten-Day interval) & Mahogany (Windmill International A)

Special Thanks to Zak Cook and everyone at the Burden studio...Tortoise, Mahogany, Jaclyn Slimm & Andrew Prinz

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Field Research / Indiana / Vol.1

A few of the vintage typography/lettering samples collected during recent field research in my original hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Vans x 4Q x Max Schaaf

Digging this spot from Vans, featuring Max Schaaf and 4Q Conditioning. For me, anything that references For Whom the Bell Tolls is absolutely golden.

Vans appear to be picking/hiring all the 'right' people, staying the hell out of the way, and allowing said people to simply do their thing (ie, OTW collection, Six Stair/Grosso's Loveletters, etc). Not only is it more interesting than the majority of watered-down, collectively-decided, corporate bullshit, it's far more effective.

ROGER GASTMAN/NY TIMES

I seem to be on a trend of pointing my finger at others achievements in the last few posts, so why should this one be any different? Roger Gastman (RRockEnterprises) got a nice little interview in the NY Times the other day. Roger and I have worked on dozens of projects over the past few years and I'm happy that he's officially part of the crew curating/producing/assembling the upcoming MOCA/Art in the Streets show, set to open in April 2011.

FALCON MOTORCYCLES / KESTREL VIDEO

My friends over at Falcon Motorcycles recently posted this beautiful video documenting Ian Barry and his crew during the design, fabrication and creation of the Kestrel. Directed by Inigo Oleaga, the short captures the spirit of alchemy and mystery of that defines Falcon.

GLEN E. FRIEDMAN/941 GALLERY

Say whatever you want about Glen E. Friedman, the typically-irascible photographer and activist, but the fact remains that his work speaks for itself.

Last month, Nine Four One Gallery in San Francisco hosted the latest incarnation of Friedman's Fuck You All. Complemented by an assortment of paintings and prints by Shepard Fairey, the show is a testament to the amazing influence of self-empowerment via skateboarding, punk and hip hop culture.

Above is a great piece that montages the show via Warholian.com.

REBEL TRUCE

There's a short clip of Rebel Truce circulating on the interwebs. It's the latest biopic of the only band that mattered, The Clash. It features a lot of footage from Don Letts' archives, but besides that, I don't know much about the film.

I can't wait to see it in it's entirety....

Bob Lake

Here's a recent clip of Bob Lake doing what he enjoys, carving concrete and destroying coping. Bob is one of my all time favorite skaters and a true underground, East Coast legend (who now resides in SF).

20 years ago, Bob allowed me to stowaway in his VW Westfalia and we did a three week, DIY, cross country skateboarding tour. It was my very first trip west of the Mississippi, and we skated some legendary spots; from Embarcadero and Bryce's warehouse in SF, to Mt Baldy in LA, the Tijuana Park in Mexico and countless backyard pools along the way, Bob destroyed every spot we hit.

Thanks, Bob.

CONGRATS DP!!!!

Thankfully, the bruised and battered Master of Disaster, Duane Peters was there, doing what he does best.....staying on edge. Duane's determination and trademark, sketchy style earned him a 5th place finish in the Masters Division at the 2010 ProTec Pool Party. DP finished just ahead of other notable legends, Christian Hosoi, Jeff Grosso, Lester Kasai, Steve Alba, Ben Schroeder and more...Cab took the win, followed by Miller, Lance and Nicky Guerrero.

I didn't get a chance to talk to Duane on Saturday, but I occasionally read his Twitter page and website (which is always a very surreal experience). It made me happy to read Duane's own words, right after the Masters Final, in response to his afternoon (edited for clarity, punctuation, spelling):

"I just wanna say that I am so fucking grateful to be on the planet still and to skate with all the Old Guys and all the Pros! It means everything to me! It is the best feeling and I get so high off the whole atmosphere of it all! It's the most familiar, good feeling I know of...when I'm driving home every problem I have is gone for a few hours because I'm loaded out of my mind on skate(boarding)!!! Doctors should prescribe the shit because it is better than any anti-depressant I've ever had. I hope I can, for once, always remember that, day-by-day, as we roll-on thru this rad crazy life!"

-Duane Peters, May 23, 2010

Congrats DP and enjoy Hawaii!

Above photo MRZ©2010 from Vans.com

By The Time I Get To Arizona...

In protest to the refusal of local Arizona government to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1991, Public Enemy put this jam together and demanded a boycott of the state. Due to the current (and completely ill) sociopolitical legislature happening again in Arizona, I think it's time to revisit this righteous number by Chuck D and the boys.

Mike Vallely / Label Kills

Powerhouse footy of Mike V. during his tenure at Black Label/Etnies, 2001.

DIY America / Graffiti: Part One

Aaron Rose along with Weiden Kennedy Entertainment continue their DIY America Series, this time exploring the empowering allure of traditional graffiti. Note the relatively rare footage of Stecyk doing his thing...

See the DIY America/Skate and Create here.

DIY America / Skate and Create Continued

These recent episodes of DIY America series focusing on the topic 'artists' and 'selling out' skateboarding...note the footage of Fausto Vitello, the legend who gave birth to both Independent Truck and Thrasher Magazine (RIP).

From Weiden Kennedy Entertainment.

Six Stair

It's been a while since I've hung out with the boys at Six Stair....I just happened to be in their neighborhood today (Fairfax/Melrose) so I stopped by to catch up (and tell them how stoked I am on the Pool School shorts, set to air on Fuel TV very soon.) The East coast transplants have been searching/destroying secret pools, editing a lot of footy and generally trying to keep the vibe alive. Check the above excerpts from Fuel TV's Daily Habit for a little more in-depth info...and peep the official Six Stair site/blog here.

Be sure to check out this great series of shorts for Red Stripe in Jamaica a few years ago, including a few moments with local sign painter/graphic artist, Mobay. Beautiful stuff...

Keep on keepin' on, boys!

Charno, Buddy & Lord Salba

My friends at Six Stair, Buddy Nichols and Rick Charnoski (responsible for Deathbowl to Downtown), recently met up with the legendary Screamin' Lord Salba at a secret spot somewhere outside of LA. Listen to Charno get heckled hard by Salba after bailing his stair carve...but fear not, Charno hopped right back on, rose to the challenge and pulled the stair carve next try.

Check the whole blog entry by Mark O'Meally over at TWS. I can't wait to see the footy that Rick and Bud end up putting together...and Rick, I hope your head is OK.

Banksy's 'EXIT' Trailer

A new trailer is circulating this week, showing us a little bit more about Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop...and even though I adore Thierry/aka MBW (as a person), I am kinda rooting against him in the film. Can't wait to see how it plays out, and I will be getting a sneak peek in just a few days.

Gonz' Studio

I wish I was in NYC to check this out today....Gonz is having a studio sale.