6.04.2008

chrome ball incident #48: the pickpocket man

I'm resisting the urge to reference "Brave Captain" as I'm sure Natas has to be quite sick of being called that for the last 20 years... although I'm betting its still only a runner-up to the Prince of Darkness on Mr. Kaupas' list of pet peeves.

For my friends and I in the late '80s, Natas was always THE guy. I must've seen these two "Fire" parts (not to mention Sick Boys and Speed Freaks) a thousand times... why else would we have bought those videos? Ffej?

Of course, we all loved Gonz too, but Vision always seemed too busy pimping out Gator and a bunch of berets back then. For all we knew, Natas could ollie a house, had that ill/weird haircut with the strands in the back, and not once did he ever have to share an ad with Diane and Primo... all of which served to give him a definite advantage.

Any questions, direct them here.

And I don't know how much Jim Phillips had to do with these Speed Wheels ads, but that whole campaign is just so incredible in a 1987-boogers-and-neon kind of way. I always end up stopping and staring at them when I'm flipping through these old mags. Props to Girl for flipping that OJ II logo... not sure how many people under the age of 30 got it (kinda like this post), but I loved it.

11 comments:

chops said...

Sorry, I was still bugging out over that Diane/Primo footage when I discovered this.

That joint with him and Florence Henderson... I gotta go lay down.

admin said...

i blame natas for the late 80's family photos of me wearing a white leather cap. Used to have that photo on my wall. so sick.

Watson said...

Dude, that Girl knock off was so good. I was so stoked in the Fully Flared premiere what are you wearing video when he was like "Oh, you're wearing an OJ shirt." And Carroll was like "No, Girl bitch!"

Watson said...

Oh yeah, one time in the late 90s there was a replay on TV of that old show "That's Incredible" and it had Primo and Diane doing a synchronized freestyle dance routine to the instrumental of "I've Had The Time Of My Life". I think I may have that tape somewhere still. If I find it I will totally post it somewhere.

chops said...

aw man, you gotta post that shit! For real, let me know. Primo and Jon Davidson!?! On the same stage!?! That might be too much for me to handle.

And after seeing this, I'm sold. I can't even say anymore. Glad to see my man's still doing his thing (whatever that is)... and not to mention lookin' sharp in that black tuxedo, cousin.

To the Primo DJs: if you guys get any gigs off this shit, I want a cut.

chops said...

And Admin, we all had moments of weakness in the 80s regarding questionable headgear...

at least it wasn't a beret.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone recognize those risers?I used to rock a double set of those,although they were originally intended for the rear truck. They came out when risers were standard equipment,but also started to slim down a whole lot...

chops said...

those are Cell Block 3 risers... to be honest, i can't really remember what they were supposed to do (hang-ups maybe?) but in '89, those and some Rip Grip seemed absolutely essential.

Anonymous said...

cell block 3's- they were supposed to distribute weight on landings over a bigger area so you didn't snap decks...

chops said...

no shit. wow, that's the first time I ever heard that (I think I just rode them cause Natas did)... but now that you bring that up, it does make perfect sense. I guess it would be based somewhat on the same science as those Almost Impact decks. thanks man.

Keith said...

Never had any of the Natas SMA panther boards because I didn't like pointy noses. Unfortunately, I did own a Vision Primo street board LOL

That video biography is awesome. The dude's a legend for sure.