Its funny just as Mike V is on an Epic Zumiez appearance tour I receive some great picture’s from Jeffrey Turko, back in the day owner of Earth Surfer Skate shop in NJ. Jeff and Earth Surfer were responsible for bringing a tremendous amount of pros to NJ (but The Earth Surfer Story is for a later larger post) Couple things to take away from these pictures besides the obvious…..
Check out the Board prices in the first pic…$45.99! Board prices have not budged in 20 years…were did we get the money back then to buy so many. It could be the equivalent of paying $200 for a board today ( I will let our financial experts do the present value calculation on this one)
The other thing is Mike V as a brand…he has ascended to the ranks of something like Harley Davidson…when people make the commitment to tattoo your logo on their bodies! they are not likely to change their decision in becoming a fan for life. Its all well deserved though Mike is out there on the front lines inspiring several generations across multiple artistic and athletic disciplines. Great guy to have on your side.
Check out Mike V online to see a lot more pics from this 2010 Shop tour on steroids.
Jason
Mike V Signing autographs during an appearance at Jeff Turko’s Earth Surfer Skate Shop (NJ)
That’s Jeff with his elbows on the counter.
Remember those plastic bags that Rector pads came in?
I had one of those finger board ramps too.
Checking out Skate vids on someones Itube.
Symmetrical snowboards were still a couple years away I guess.
Here is a selection of shots from the tour you can see a lot more at Mike V Dot Com
Here are two faces to names you should know:
Larry Ransom rocking the Skate Daily Tee shirt. Larry is the man behind the scenes that helps Mike V do the things he does. You can check out a lot of Larry’s killer video work over at LarryRansom.com as well and read his writings on MikeVallely.com. Along side him is our very own Derek Rinaldi you can check out his contributions all over the web: THOS, SkateDaily, Totally Skateboarding and Stereo Sound Agency…follow his writings before skateboarding makes it into the Olympics and ESPN makes an honest man out of him.
That is all
Jason
Remember when looking at pictures of things like frontside hand plants made you scratch your head and think how did they get into that position…good thing we have youtube…
How crazy is this? Wait till you see the Atiba Jefferson cover shot:
If someone sees this on the news stand in the States grab me a copy…feels like a collectors item to me.
Too Cool
Jason Oliva
Tony Hawk Andy MacDonald
Photo Atiba Jefferson
550: Hall of Fame (2) Poolside Tom Groholski
March 28, 2010
Tom Groholski POOLSIDE
When I saw this board on the internet years ago I flipped out because it was a Groholski and I always rode his boards ….because it was Black n Red and the Tony Squindo graphics were a modern steroid version of Tom’s first Vision board and because it actually had the state of NJ on it. Talk about getting things right! I became friendly with the Frankenstein of this Monster, Russel Phillips as a result. Russ has put out some killer boards over the last couple years via Wreckroom (the first commercial boards to have Team Steam printed right on em, with Dan Tag and Darren Menditto’s models) and now following up with DeathMarch and all new Tag and Menditto Steam boards. All great stuff so because of all that Tommy G PoolSide gets the latest entry into THOS Board hall of fame.
If you have one of these feel free to email me and gloat….. Seriously though feel free to email me and gloat because you deserve it.
Jason Oliva
Ps: here is the new “previously on THOS” function which will link to relevant archive stories to this post. I thought because there is so many older entries it would be a great way to explore what has come before (Poem!)
549: Josh Levis: Suicide Skates Maryland
March 27, 2010
Josh levis Owner Suicide Skates
My mate Josh has been building his skate brand and team from the ground up. Head over to his site and see what they are all up to and if you are friendly with your local skateshops let them know about Suicide Skates.
Bon weekend
Jason
