Still Jammin'

 Earlier in the summer I had a chance to witness and track the rare Demoskoff Ben-jammin in it's natural habitat, carefully keeping my distance as it jammed onto and off-of everything in it's path. A sighting of this duration hasn't occurred since the turn of the millennium, when the Demoskoff mysteriously took flight from it's urban enclosures and ventured for parts unknown. 

  Enjoy these few images of a real live Demoskoff.... and who knows ? Maybe, if you lurk in the right spots,  you may catch a glimpse of it's mystical maneuvers...... and click on those photos to enlarge em' fools ! It's Benny D !!!

Off The Record #14 - Behind the Wall of Glitches

Among some of the more intriguing records in my collection is this 2002 Black Sabbath Past Lives reissue, put out by Earmark on 2 - 180 gram LPs. Seeing as Sabbath is playing in Vancouver tonight, I figured this little story would be fitting. 

 What's curious about this album is a strange anomaly that occurs just after the drum break in "Behind the Wall of Sleep".... the album skips, but it's not a physical imperfection in the grooves causing the skip - it's a digital glitch recorded directly onto the album when it was pressed. That can only mean the album was recorded from a CD master... HA ! The album hype says it's remastered and enhanced... too bad the dudes at Earmark were out back having a "safety meeting" when the CD started to skip. I wonder how many copies made it out like this ?

  It's kind of cool to have this weird rarity. I took the time to record the song (well, just the last bit with the glitches... and I could have done a better job. Sorry, rushed it) directly from my vinyl copy so you can hear for yourself.... enjoy !

The Holy Glitch by Ac/Dtz on Mixcloud

 I'd feel bad if I didn't at least do the guys justice by putting up a non-glitched version of "Behind the Wall of Sleep".... let's go with the original album version...

 On a positive note - the album was a deluxe double gatefold with a sick photo of 250,000 people crammed together on the Ontario Motor Speedway in Califonia to see Sabbath during the 1974 "California Jam" concert. It's hanging up in my hallway. 

 Good luck tonight Ozzy ! Don't forget to cook your bacon ! (guess the reference, win nothing)

Park Report: Foreshadowing

 Sonny, back in my day we used to grind those curbs with no paint on em', uphill !

Vanity Insanity

Self portrait Saturdays using the timer..... 21 beeps..... this one wasn't easy. East Vancouver.

Off the Record #13 - Wild Flowers

 Addicted to Fuzz ? Try this screamer...... so surfy. This is one of the albums I bought early in the Psych Rock stage of my record digging pursuits. Pebbles ain't quite Nuggets, but there's always a few good tracks on their comps. "Love", by The Live Wires - whoever they were - is a standout on this vinyl version of volume 7 in the series. 

 Trip out man ! Gotta put the psychedelic ear parade on outer spaced emerald green clear vinyl for the love children of the sun.... or whatever. Looks cool. See ya on the flip side....  

Park Report: Sign of the Times

 Ahhhhh... the good ol' days. 

MagPile: Class of 95'

 I was recently looking for a photo I had (my 1st) in an old Concrete Magazine when I realized that there was a crazy amount of O.G. rippers & friends in the same issue. This is the issue that came out after I moved to Vancouver, exactly half my lifetime ago. Get ready for a flashback brothers....

The Cover. Ok.... what is this ? It's probably the essence of an epic pow pow moment or whatever, but it kind of looks like the top half of an outerwear mannequin from Westbeach being thrown into a pile of snow. It says Chalmers and Jeff Logan are in it though.... that sounds good.... (editor's note: the magazine dropped "powder", in name and content years ago. Concrete Skateboarding now, all good.)

 Jeff Logan. One of my all-time favorite skateboarders, and a good friend who hails from my home province of Nova Scotia. He was a legend even before he moved out west. All terrain. Switch 360 flips on 9 inch boards on call. Longest 5-0 grind on vert winner. Still killing it. Look at that nosegrind.... Jeff is the best.

Barry Walsh. The master blaster himself floats some of the biggest backside ollies you will ever witness. This one takes place at the Clubhouse Skatepark, which should need no introduction. Sick EMBC tee.

Alex Chalmers. I met Alex on my first day in Vancouver, when I walked into the Clubhouse. I ended up working and living there... in fact, he's skating above my bedroom at the time in this photo. I built and pimped out a room under the vert ramp when Jason Ellis returned from the European contest circuit and reclaimed his old bedroom. That elevated trailer home you can see in the background of some photos and video clips is where a few Clubhouse employees and locs lived. The things that went down there after hours were nuts. Gonz dropping by to do bonelesses across most of the vert ramp ? Sure. Jason Lee and Dune hanging out while shooting a movie a few buildings over ? Yup. Naked guys forcing me to attempt dropping in on vert for the first time, in the middle of the night ? Ouch. Good memories from that place... legendary debauchery.

Speaking of Chalmers, here he is in classic launch form with a massive (and rare) kickflip tailgrab out of the park during the relocated NFA Blockbuster. Even more rare is this gem of a Patty Morin photo that shares space on the same spread. Boom ! Been a fan since I saw him skate when I was a young teenager. 

 Craig Williams. Look at that skinny fella flying high above the crowd like some sort of radical Mothra or something.... how'd he get get up there so easy ? Is there helium in those cheeks ? Love ya Craig ! Jokes. Throw in Tom Hill for a few extra triple O.G. points. I work with Craig everyday.... he's still got airmiles saved up, spending them wisely whenever he gets the chance. 

 Commercial Break. One of the classic old Droors ads. Signature underwear... way back.

Syd & Judah. Both skate with power and style... and they were both on fire at this time. It was like some sort of Colin & Danny thing... feeding off each other. Happy they're both still living in Vancouver. Syd has Menu Skateshop on the go, and Judah has been holding it down at Timebomb trading forever and taking some great photos. 

 Dylan Doubt. Unique ripper who seems to be able to master any transition, regardless of it's jankyness.  This may be the first time the skate world got a glimpse of the infamous Hedley pipe. That thing ain't easy to skate.

 Dylan adds one more spoonful of style to his Penticton bowl feast. Still a great skater to watch, and one of my favorite photographers. 

Spike Jones. The Canadian one. Whiterock skate royalty. Spike, Jon and the boys were bringing the Zero-esque balls out skating to the north before Zero even existed. Something about being from Whiterock means you can just stand on rails in your sleep and jump down huge gaps like you're on your way to the store. Spike is Godfather status. Still killing it, skating all the time. Don't bet on a game of SKATE against him..... 

 Chris "Les" Ramsay. Lester. Loose and well rounded. Ripped for years right alongside his good friend Spike. Les is a talented artist who has been following his art to all sorts of interesting places for a long time now..... miss that soft spoken shredder.

 Jon Laliberte. This photo is almost exactly what I see in my mind when I remember Jon's skating. The old Langley park...... HUGE pop. Jon was one of the guys I always wondered about, he seemed to disappear from the skate world not long after I moved to Vancouver. Really good style, nice cat. Look at that team roster.... ahhhhh, nostalgia. 

 Aren Scott. Multi talented travellin' man and all around ripper getting up on one of the most highly regarded skate spots in history. Funny how this classic 50-50 on the west coast reminds me of the Eastern Exposure aesthetic. Rad, Aren.

 The photo that sparked the trip down memory lane, my 1st ever coverage in a magazine. This was taken a week after I moved to Vancouver by Nicholas Burke, at the Eatons Plaza. I remember being stoked that the big New Deal sticker showed up in the photo.

 Still can't believe how many awesome photos of old friends are in this single issue of Concrete.... glad I held onto it. I feel like going for a night roll downtown....