7.14.2009

chrome ball incident #311: animal farm








thought I'd go with a little classic-era Mike V for tonight's post.

regardless of how you feel about dude today, his influence and contribution are without question.

...and back in the day, holmes was bulletproof.

(a special tip-of-the-hat to our friends over at Stereo. hello fellas.)

18 comments:

ATM said...

I was expecting a Stefan Janoski post with the name "animal farm", but it's pretty weird that I'm watching the rocumentary when I checked this. Never saw that "out with the old" ad.

P.S. impromptu world week?

Old School Sammy said...

No Idea why anyone would hate on Mike V---the guy has been NOTHING but pro-skate since day one. He's never sold out, never done anything but try to get skating noticed---so what if he was the Tuxedo guy in "The Hangover"? That may well be one of the funniest 3 movies EVER---good for him for being in it! At least UNLIKE Natas (who I really have VERY little respect for) He didn't disappear under the guise of some art fart.

Even Gonz came back bigger and better--Natas just went the way of the dinosaur.

Mike's gone thru hardcore injuries, dealing with family and sponsorship crap and still always been 10,000% all about skating. If you hate on him---you should grab a mirror to hate on yourself, there's NEVER been a day since the mid 80's that Mike V's ever try to hurt skating.

tp said...

I really did enjoy him rolling up in the van in "The Hangover". Way more respectable than his role in "Paul Blart: Mall Cop". He is still the man though.

Anonymous said...

I agree with your original post on Vallely from a while ago. Back in the day, he was The Man. I'm not feeling his bring-back-the-80s tricks these days, though.

Larry said...

Top notch. Mike took me around the world with for eight years on his dime and I will forever be grateful.

Anonymous said...

I'm still a Mike V fan, but I do think this is a little strange.

Anonymous said...

I think I remember that animal farm deck (the one in the last photo) being of the first decks that had a symmetrical nose and tail. Kids couldn't wrap their heads around that shit back in the day.

Anonymous said...

old school sammy.

how can you say he never sold out? when you mention 2 movies just in the past 6 months hes been in?

what about growing your hair out all crazy just like every other rockabilly out there..

sponsorship troubles? this man is the one to quit in serch of better things.. the companies arnt the ones kicking him off.. he quits.

not selling out.. lmfao..

doesnt he also have a few how to videos? didnt he jump on the bam wagon for a minute? just to get in his videos..sounds like the man will do anything for a few bucks.

iSapien1956672 said...

thanks for the post, regardless if he rides for Affliction clothing now, it is best to remember your heroes in their prime and this is a perfect example. A few things though. I don't think I'n ever seen that Street Razor ad and isn't there no such thing as a Frontside Indy? In that Tailgrab on the MIniramp, is he riding with a riser on the front and NO riser on the back? The last picture is from, I think, the best Transworld issue ever produced. I had mike sign that last picture in 2005 and a Zumiez couch tour. It felt like it was 1990 again.

E.Ricks said...

Damn im old.. I remember every single one of these pics..lol....

The last pic is across the street from torrance high.. One of my favorite places back in the day...

Old School Sammy said...

I think you have it wrong--I don't think mike V jumped on ANYONE'S bandwagon, it's more like people ask to have him around to give their bandwagons more credibility.

And as for being movies being a sell-out, that's just foolish--it's called broadening your horizons.

Keith said...

2 years of excellence with 3 amazing video parts in a row (Public Domain, Speed Freaks, Rubbish Heap).

19 years of mediocrity with zero progression.

He could have legend status right now rather than kook status if he stopped in 1990 rather than milking it for almost 2 decades.

As for him adding credibility to a company in the past 19 years LMFAO

Anonymous said...

to Sammy: how do you have all this respect for Mike V and none for Natas? that is the craziest thing I've ever heard. and out of him and gonz, how is Natas the "art fart"?

Anonymous said...

I was lucky enough to meet him when he was on tour with Templeton and Dune back in the day and he couldn't have been nicer to my friends and I even getting us into the demo for free. About 2 years ago I emailed him thanking him for taking the time back then, and he replied back talking abou that day and thanking me for being a fan. Can't say I agree with every move the guy's made over the past 10 years or so but he's still skating which is more than most people his age (or mine for that matter) are doing.

chops said...

thanks guys

yeah atm, that out with the old came along when Mike went to New Deal... Rocco's wrath.

Big up to Sammy for voicing his opinion and not holding anything back... couple of points in there definitely made me raise an eyebrow (I've never heard anybody EVER diss Natas... sacrilege in my book, sir). But hey, that's your thing and stuff like that keeps this thing interesting.

That animal farm deck was ill... a friend of mine rode those double vision boards for like 6 months prior to mike's board coming out, telling us how awesome it was. We thought he was full of shit... guess he won that argument.

isapien, damn i never noticed that riser pad thing. I'm sure he is riding 2 risers but it sure doesn't look like it... that would be so hard/ridiculous. Best issue of Transworld though has to be November '95: Kalis SF cover, that Ari M. article, Koston and Guy spotlights... Forget about it.

Thanks Ricks, got a post of yours coming up.

I may be in the minority here but I always found Mike's ND/TV era kinda underrated. I remember his parts in that Union wheels video and 1281 being pretty good... granted i haven't seen it since back then and obviously it doesn't really measure up the legendary parts he had previously but at the time, it was definitely was worthwhile.

rustic_fences said...

His part in 1281 is one of my favorites. It made me want to go out and blast ollies out of curb cuts.

thekettleblackest said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPaItt6djP4

Unforgivable.

Anonymous said...

Natas rode a riser in the front too, he said in an interview (late '80s, maybe 1990) he did that because the board looked like it wanted to "catch air".