Big demo this past Saturday at IG Boardshop in Westlake Village. T-Puds, MJ, Biebel, Jeron, Mike Mo, Daniel Castillo, Jimmy Cao, and Daniel Espinoza were there to represent. I got in the big red RV and headed down to get some photos. Shots from the demo below…

Back in September of last year I got to go help shoot The Dodos for a Fuel TV episode. I’ve been too busy to post anything from the trip. Here are a few shots from the trip.

We flew down to San Francisco to meet the guys in their hometown. We got some footage of Logan at the local skatepark and then met up with the rest of the guys at their studio. We followed them down to their first show in Big Sur at the Henry Miller Library. Amazing outdoor spot.

The show was amazing. The band and venue really came together. Shooting on the sidelines was just as awesome. There are so many fine details to pick up about the band. Lots to focus on.

After the show we drove down to a rad hotel on a cliff in Big Sur. We’d be driving back home in the morning and meeting back up with the band the following night in San Diego. Lots of epic sites on the way back. If you ever find yourself free on a weekend with nothing to do, make that drive up the 1. It’s epic.

The next morning we drove up to Hollywood where the guys were staying to do an interview before the drive to San Diego.

The guys were playing at the Casbah in San Diego. A rad little spot a few miles East of the Gaslamp Quarter. It was definitely a change from the open air beauty of Big Sur.

It was an amazing experience to join these guys on the opening leg of their US tour. Great people, great musicians. If you didn’t get to check out the Fuel episode check local listings or FUEL TV online for air dates.

I’ve always had a very deep appreciation for the ocean. Having cable has only deepened that appreciation with all the ocean specials they air on Discovery. I always find myself amazed to learn that we know more about outer space than we do about our own oceans. I think aliens do exist, somewhere in the abyss. There’s some freaky shit out there.

I finally got to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific. I’ve driven past it so many times but never gotten around to going inside. That trip definitely furthered my belief. I took some pictures of some of the awesome stuff they have there.

Before we get to the sea creatures, I need to tell you about the Lorikeet aviary, forest thing they have at the aquarium. Basically you buy a little cup of smelly syrup at this booth before you walk in, and when you get inside the aviary, these rad little birds swoop down and land on you to drink the syrup. I didn’t think they’d come down so fast but within a few seconds of stepping in, I had two on my hand drinking away.

Just before we walked out of there, we were met at the exit by one little Lorikeet in particular. Lets call him “Wilbur”. Wilbur was hobbling around by the exit with one of his little feet curled into a little fist of sorts. Cute? yes, but it made me wonder if young Wilbur was injured. I scooted a little closer and he came up to my shoe. He started dancing around it with his little fist. Almost like he was challenging my foot. It was silly. But then, without warning, he bounced. Just took off perfectly ok. I don’t think he was injured, just a little pissed Lorikeet with shoe beef.

Anyways, after our Lorikeet encounter we began our aquatic expedition. Enjoy photos!

That place was awesome. To think that is just a tiny little glimpse at what exist out there. Mind blowing. If you haven’t gone, it’s not bad. There are bigger aquariums out there, but distance wise, it’s pretty awesome.

After the aquarium go lay out on the grass by the lighthouse and watch kids slalom down on boards like a little luge team. That looked fun.

This year we decided to go down to Long Beach for the 4th. I had told my parents about the Aquarium of the Pacific, and they wanted to go check it out. We went down and checked out all the marine life, then had a nice dinner under the fireworks. Nice night. Long Beach got pretty crowded. It took us about an hour to get out of the parking lot, and almost two more to get back home, but there were tons of fireworks visible from the freeway to more than make up for it.

Went up to Vasquez Rocks today for Father’s Day. Pretty awesome rock formations. We did some hiking, some wildlife, and even got a little lost. They’ve apparently filmed tons of stuff here. I think most recently a scene from the new Star Trek movie.

We ate at this place nearby after. The little restaurant from Thelma & Louise. Worst service ever, and the food sucked. The place did however look kinda cool.

I just got back from an awesome trip to SF with the team. It’s long been a dream of mine to go on tour with the guys I’ve always been a fan of, and while this wasn’t exactly some long epic tour, it’s probably, but hopefully not, as close as I’ll ever get.

It basically came about when I was asked if I could assist Reda with getting some shots for the catalog. We were co-sponsoring a contest with Thrasher, Zero, and Quicksilver at Wallenberg. The Big Four. Probably the last time we’ll see it too, since it’s getting demolished soon. Basically they wanted to get shots of the guy in SF. I was psyched! I figured I’d drive up to SF the day of the event and then drive back, but as it turns out, I was invited along for the whole trip. There would be a demo on the drive up with the Girl and Chocolate guys the day before, and we were going to come along.

I met up with a few of the guys at the office in the morning. Sam Hubble, one of the guys on flow met up with us there too. We were going to go pick a few more guys then make our way up to the demo.

We drove over to pick up Daniel Castillo first. From there we drove to downtown to pick up Reda while we waited for Jimmy Cao’s train to arrive. While we waited, we swung by and picked up Chico Brenes and got some coffee. Then it was off to Jeron’s, and finally Tim.

We gassed up on got some snacks courtesy of Tim and head out to the demo.

I’ve been to demos in the past as a spectator. Actually a few times to see the very same guys I was with. I remember wondering what it would be like to be in the van touring. To see what it’s like from their point of view. I’ve been working here for 4 years now, and since day one I hoped that one day I’d get to experience that. It’s definitely an experience. Having the doors of the van slide open to a crowd of kids excited to see their favorite pros was pretty cool. It must definitely feel pretty amazing to be looked up to like that. For some of the guys like Mike Mo, it appeared to be a little bit more of a nightmare. The dude was stuck by the Girl van the whole demo with swarm after swarm coming up asking him to do tricks, sign stuff, all sorts of shit. He was definitely a good sport about it.

The Girl and Chocolate guys had shown up earlier and started the demo. The place was packed and those dudes were killing it. Seeing those guys skate never gets boring. So damn talented, and most importantly, having fun. I got to see a couple of dudes I hadn’t seen skate in person before. MJ really is that good, and Kenny Anderson is pretty amazing too.

Amongst all the dudes rolling around, Daniel pointed out this one girl carving around the bowl. He said she was a porn star. She didn’t look all too porny, but the mighty iPhone confirmed it. Keeani Lei, she’s a dirty girl as it turns out, and not too bad on a skateboard either. Daniel got a picture with her.

We hung out a little longer at the demo, chatted with the Girl guys for a bit and tried to figure out where we were off to next. Jimmy was over at the van rubbing some ointment on his ankle. Apparently he busted it up during this year’s Skate & Create filming. Pretty harsh.

We head out of the park and made our way to TGI Friday’s to catch the Laker game by popular demand. It felt good to sit down and have a meal. Some guys chilled by the bar to watch the game, some of us sat outside for the breeze. It was already kinda late and our ETA to SF was looking to be in the wee hours of the morning. There was still quite a ways to go.

We stayed until the game was over (Lakers won), and in good spirits, continued on our way. The rest of the way to SF was filled with lots of beers and a foggy van. It was good times. Lots of jokes and funny stories. We made quite a few pit stops along the way to refuel. There’s something about gas station food marts on a road trip. Everything looks so good and delicious. The corn nuts taste saltier, and the candy that much better. Not to mention the awesome apparel one can acquire, like the awesome hat Tim scored on one of our pit stops.

We made our way into the city at around 2 A.M. We were all crazy exhausted. The hotel was pretty sick. It’s the same hotel they filmed that scene with Slimer in the first Ghostbusters movie. I was rooming with Gabe, and we actually got one of the nicer rooms. We had to be up pretty earlier to head down to Wallenberg so, it was straight to bed.

The next morning I got up and went down to the lobby to get some coffee. A few of the riders were up and about. Most of the guys were still knocked out though. We had to get down to Wallenberg before the crowds to set up a canopy and get a good spot.

I can remember seeing Wallenberg years ago when I was in middle school. In video parts and ads and stuff. I always knew it was a pretty big set but you really can’t appreciate just how gnarly it is until you see it in person. It’s huge! It’s not that it’s a big drop, it’s just a long huck down these four big ass steps. The contest itself is something I never could really fully appreciate either. You figure what’s the big deal, trick down the four and when some dough, but shit, it’s a meatfest. Dudes (and ladies) just throwing their bodies off of this thing, the majority of which would surely get wrecked in the process. I was pretty excited to see it get under way.

It was a “star-studded” event. Lots of great were there to see the show. The Anti Hero crew was there in full force. It was pretty rad to see Cardiel and even Julien Stranger hanging out. They were parked next to us watching the contest from the top of the van. To the right of us, the Girl / Chocolate crew was posted up on top of their van. The view from the top of our van wasn’t too bad.

The turn out was incredible. The place was packed. Thousands gathered around the big four trying to get a glimpse. It’s hard to describe the sound of bodies hitting the concrete, but trust me it wasn’t pleasant. The girls went first and not a single one could land. At one point it almost looked like they were jumping off for the sake of jumping. They gave it their all. A few came close, but no luck.

Shortly after, Phelps stepped in and called the ladies off saying it was time for the “real” competition to begin. kinda jacked I thought seeing as how those girls were trying just as hard as any of the dudes did. It sounded just the same too.

It wasn’t all disastrous however. A lot of dudes did land tricks, with Chris Cole taking the overall win. That dude is so good. Lizard King I would say was a close second with that intentional disaster on the last step. I posted the DVS edit below. Check that out.

It was a trip to see the spectators cram in looking for a good spot to check everything out from. It started getting a little nutty when people started climbing the fences and sitting on top of the basketball backboard. At one point people started eye-balling spots in the trees. Security took issue with it saying, “if you’re going to be in the tree, don’t touch the fence so you’re out of our jurisdiction.” They had jurisdiction apparently. It was definitely a site. One kid got the bright idea to climb up the scissor lift. Couldn’t really figure out if that was smart or retarded. Had that scissor lift started coming down, that could have been pretty gnarly.

After the contest ended, we pushed the roof of the van back out since it had caved ever so slightly from the weight, picked up our dudes and made our way back to the hotel. Everyone was kinda doing their own thing. There was a general consensus on hunger however, so we started throwing ideas back and forth. Reda had mentioned this spot called “El Farrolito” that had amazing burritos over in the Mission district. Gabe had heard of it and along with Jimmyl, Daniel, Sam, and myself, decided to make the walk over.

It was a lot further than we had thought, but damn was it worth it.

We were way too stuffed to walk all the way back so we hopped on the BART. We figured we’d get back to the hotel and chill for a bit, wait to see what everyone else was going to be doing.

Of course there was another Laker game that night so we all ended up walking down to this spot where everyone else was to catch the game. Good vibes all around. Got to hang with the Girl / Chocolate guys again, take a load off. After the game there was even a rare Tim Gavin skate sighting. Rick dared him to kickflip while they were waiting for a cab. No luck but still a valiant effort.

Most of the guys were either cabbing it back to the hotel, another bar, or a strip joint. We saw Tony walking back with his two lady friends and decided we’d walk back with them, make other plans back at the hotel. The walk back was pretty cool. Jimmy had his board, and although not a whole lot of skating got done on the trip, it was fun messing around on the way back to the hotel. Jimmy, Daniel and Sam were laying down some nice flatground. I fanned out and kept asking for how-to’s. Seeing those guys skate is lesson enough though. Awesome stuff.

When we got back to the hotel, everyone was a little scattered. We hung out outside on the sidewalk with Tony. Alcohol wasn’t allowed in the lobby so we just hung out right in front having a little party of our own. It was fun. We made friends with this drunk little Mexican dude, and shit even saved a life! Let me explain…

We were out front with Tony, Gabe, a couple of the dudes and Tony’s two lady friends. Beers were being passed around, and it was good times. Then this little dude crept up and appeared to be asking for change. We didn’t have any for him, so he started to curse. Something like, “Fucking you…ok. Fucking…” just then Tony grabbed a beer and was like, “I got a beer for ya.” The dude full on 180ed and was all, “My friends! You my friends!” It was pretty funny. Within seconds he whipped out a 40oz Cobra and started passing it around for everyone to share. Pretty interesting little troll-like dude. We’re invited to have carne asada at his house whenever we’d like.

As for the life saving…This chick had walked passed us walking a fixie. The two ladies kept an eye on her and saw her collapse by the light poll. They got real concerned and ran over to see if she was ok. She was pretty hammered. Had apparently just broken up with her man, and was quite depressed. We left the ladies to it. They went from full concern to straight up hugs and high fives telling her she didn’t need that dude, etc. They came back over super psyched at the life they might have potentially saved.

It was a magical last night. When the first three rounds of beers ran out we returned to a very smokey hotel room, sat around for a bit, then decided to go to the 8th floor which was shut off to the public and supposedly haunted. We worked ourselves up a bit, and even though it was kinda creepy, no ghost to be found. We called it a night.

In the morning we all prepped to head home. I went downstairs to grab a coffee and hang with Kelch out front. That dude is pretty awesome. We had some guy come by trying to sell us some busted radio equipment. Girl and Chocolate where on their way to Sacramento, Tim and Reda had left to the airport to fly back home, Jimmy was staying behind to meet some friends, and Gabe, Dearth, Jeron, Daniel and myself were the only ones left in the van for the drive back home. It was an awesome trip. One I would do again in a heartbeat. Definitely a childhood dream to travel with these guys.

Today was a very nice day. I got to spend it with my favorite lady in all the world. Mom. She wanted to go to the beach so we packed up and head down to Zuma to walk on the beach. It’s been a long time since I spend some quality time with my mom, especially since I moved out. She was all smiles all day.

It was pretty windy and kinda chilly actually. On the way down there the water looked eerily still. You could see the seaweed stretch on for miles. Pretty cool. By the time we got to the beach however, the wind really picked up and it got pretty cold.

My dad pointed out this guy on the sand. It was pretty big and you could see it’s purple stinger dealies right through it. The tide gets pretty high there apparently.

We had a nice lunch inside the car since it was too windy outside. We also watched Independence Day, which is a weird choice I know, but it’s the only thing we had in the car.

It was a very nice Mother’s Day. My mom had a smile on all day. She deserves so much for all the sacrifices she’s made for us all our lives. I’m glad I was able to spend a very calm, nice, happy day with her, without any of the usual drama that tends to rear it’s ugly head on holidays.

We went hiking again with Dave. This time to a place he had already gone too. You see, a few weeks back Dave went on a hike and sent me a picture off his phone that looked like some sort of mine shaft. After confirming that, we decided that we needed to make the trek.

Dave decided to bring his camera, so I did too (of course) but it was a strict 50mm lenses only trip. We didn’t go insane with the photo taking since the primary purpose was to do this hike, but we got some cool stuff.

Walking around these foresty areas, you feel like your miles away from civilization, until you stumble upon the overwhelming amounts of old pipes that seem to have absolutely no business up there. They lined the whole area, rusted out and blown open.

That aside, beautiful. Lots of trees, a stream, some rocks, and some creepy hissing bugs. I still don’t know what the hell they were, but damn. You can hear them in the trees in the distance, but as soon as you get close to them, the hissing cranks up really loud. Really unwelcoming. The spider webs didn’t help either of course. The shit was thick! There must’ve been some thick dudes in the mix for sure.

Roots! There were also tons of exposed roots. These trees just dominate rocks and wrap all the way around. Very weird and alien-like. This one tree was fully out of the ground, wrapped around a rock, and the very tips of the roots were touching the ground.

Very early into the hike, I started to sweat, and with the current state of my hair, this meant hair in my face and sweat in my eyes. It was easy to deal with for a little bit but it eventually got really annoying. There were a couple attempts at a solution to keep the hair out of the way.

First we tried a paperclip Britty happened to have. That lasted all of two minutes. Then we decided that maybe going the samurai way up top would work with some emergency tape. That worked, but not all that well. Before I say why though, I want to share a neat little tip Dave shared with us when he busted out the first-aid kit. Condoms. Dave had two in there. Once the initial fear of where was he taking us with two condoms subsided, I enquired. One lubed, one un-lubed. The lubed one is for boning in case the opportunity ever presented itself during a hike, and the un-lubed was for water collection. Pretty clever!

Anyways, we tried tape and it held up for a while, but eventually the sweat got to it and it was done. I was frustrated. Paced around yelling “Paprika!” for a bit, and then the bowie knife came out. Dave in true Hulk, Rambo fashion, tore the bottom of his tee off and handed it over. Instant headband, and for shits he cut a nipple vent as well.

The hike continued with a second wind and an encounter with some rocks set up in zen fashion. It was impressive until it wasn’t impressive anymore.

Then we found something not so Feng Shui. What you ask? Oh, just an old rusty engine block that had become one with the rocks. Very organic and natural…

We continued up some steep hills and over some rad rock formations, but alas, we were there! I couldn’t really tell since all there was in front of us was a mountain, but Dave said, “we’re here”.
It took a minute, but then there it was, an opening cut into the mountain you had to crouch to get into. It was hidden Behind a large boulder.

It’s very strange, because at first glance you look in there, turn on a flashlight, and think to yourself, “there is no fucking way I’m going in there”. It’s like something out of a movie. But after a few minutes getting acclimated, we began to make our way.

Right at the first bend in the mine, there was a very dark corner. The path kinda disappeared into it. We shined a light into the shadow and I was so creeped by what was there. It was a hole in the ground filled to the top with water, and no bottom to it. We crept pretty damn close and shined some light in there but nope, who knows how deep it went.

We kept going deeper in walking over these old, unstable railroad ties. Every time we’d look down there’d be water. Lots of mosquitos in there too.

I’m not sure what the hell used to be mined in there. As we went down corridors we’d see these little moist alcoves. The walls were juicin’! heavy moisture seeps through these rocks apparently. You could also see the holes where dynamite must’ve been put in. Very colorful in there too. Very interesting.

We took a breather and looked down the way to the end. It kept going on and on, but we decided it would be best to stop and turn around. Throughout the entire trip in I couldn’t stop thinking about some weird cave dwelling creature lurking around in there. The further we got in the more it felt like we weren’t alone. It was time, but not before snapping a few photos to remember the occasion.

I managed to go the whole way crouched down avoided the top of the mine. Once we got to the exit, the clean streak ended as I smacked my head right into the top of a support beam. Not just a little love tap either, I’m talkin’ full on head bang. Everything went white for a little bit.

It was nice to see daylight again. We took in the pretty foliage, took a breath of air, spoke with some thuggish fellows who were waiting to go in, and headed down to an opening to snack up.

We had some chips, some candy, and some bread from Dave’s homeland then got ready to head back down. But first! The Rambo “survival” knife I brought to the party had to be put to action! It was time for a Rambo moment.

The Rambo shenanigans came to an end and then we had to go. It wasn’t easy. I had done some damage to my ankle a few days prior and i kept rolling my ankle on the way down.

there were things on the way down that we hadn’t noticed before. For example, this nutty, figgy scat left behind by something. It appeared fresh, and shit-like.

There was also this log with fungus all up the side. It was like something out of those forest books. The desire to touch was there, but not worth the risk.

The final little gem we came across was this newt. I’ve never seen one before. It was crawling at the bottom of the stream super slow and stealth-like. He was pretty awesome.

The hike was awesome! We were pretty damn exhausted, but it was well worth the effort. That mine was a total trip, and a very rewarding goal. Dave mentioned a waterfall trail that was in the same vicinity, so we may go back there to find it. I think the next hike however will probably be strawberry peak. Or better yet, “Mt. Disappointment”!

A hike occurred with Dave this past weekend. Yes this past weekend that was hot as hell. I’m not sure where exactly it was that Dave took us, but it was pretty awesome.

It was your usual hike scenery. Lots of green, lots of dirt, and not that many people around. About half way up we came across this roof poking outta the ground. Kinda creepy. Sounded hollow too.

The view kept getting more awesome as we went up the trail. We could see some electrical towers in the distance so that would be our goal.

Once we got there we decided to go til we couldn’t go anymore. There were these little dirt steps that took you up to the top,
pretty cool.

The view from the top was amazing! Unfortunately we misjudged just how hard the descent would be. By now the legs were noodles and getting down was a pain in the ass. There was some stray trash though along the way. We plan on doing these every weekend. Build up to some mighty awesome hikes. I think next week is some place called “Strawberry Peak”. Dave and I long to discover “Titty Mountain”…

As a long-time resident of Los Angeles, the zoo is one of those places that I get real nostalgic about. I think most people really remember their first trip to the zoo. It’s the first time you see those gnarly animals in your kiddy books, and I definitely remember it blowing my mind. The zoo however is also one of those places that could never be as cool. Especially in Los Angeles, and especially today.

I went with local L.A. friend Tracy, who brought her video camera to document, not the animals, but the people who should trade places with the “animals”. During our little adventure, I made a few observations.

Observation number one. Kids today hate the fucking zoo. It’s crazy to see so many angry, crying children in one place at one time. It’s like, “Hey look, a flamingo, I want to cry now.” I don’t get it. Very unappreciative.

Observation number two. The thugs like the zoo. It must be some sort of quasi-Chavez-ravineish, Dodger blue sorta L.A. thing, but damn, 10 maybe 15 different gangs representing? Fat heinas and all. A sea of bald heads and neck tats. I couldn’t tell who was more impressed, the thugs or the animals.

Observation number three. Along with the thuggish presence, was the bamboo pictured above. I mean what the fuck. Lets carve some shit into bamboo? Really? I don’t think that counts as getting up. That’s just lame. I could only hope that one day bamboo will grow arms and legs and get revenge carving some angry shit onto punk-asses. It might cut down on observation number two.

Observation number four. Parents who know absolutely nothing about certain animals, but talk all awesome-like to deceive their child. For example, “Hey Emily look at that! What’s that? It’s a giraffe, yeah a giraffe. It’s so tall because it’s tall! So tall! Tall because it’s tall!” Please people, read the fucking sign before you get educational with the kids.

And finally, observation number five, which is by far the worse, the animals. Yes the very reason people come to the zoo. I mean hey, plenty of animals are endangered, and the zoo provides a safe place for them, but many of the animals here looked fucking miserable. I’d be miserable too if I couldn’t be left alone to do what comes natural. It was pretty tragic. I took some photos. Maybe you’ll see what I mean.

Zoos are supposed to be very exciting and educational, but the L.A. zoo just doesn’t cut it. Everything feels so stale and dry. The San Diego zoo on the other hand, is a lot more robust and interactive. It sadly puts the L.A. zoo to shame. They should try and revert to the way the zoo used to be back in the day. Tracy insisted that at one point they let you get on an elephant. I’m still waiting for photographic evidence. The good news however is that the same boring world of birds show is still on and the flamingos are in the same place they’ve always been. Go Dodgers.