chrome ball incident #75: high water mark

Atiba's diary of the Axion European Tour '98 with Reem, Guy and Gino. Special cameo by Daewon.

its safe to say that after this one, chrome ball incident #76 is fucked.

chrome ball incident #74: dollar on a platter

hard to believe that Matt Hensley did all of this in about 5 years.

i would've retired too.

chrome ball incident #73: vibes and stuff

Couple of amazing flicks starring the multi-talented Agent 547. I'm pretty sure whatever holmes decides to do, he can... with style to spare.

Word to Oatsie.

chrome ball incident #72: no war for heavy metal

the original.

chrome ball incident #71: supergolden sunchild

there's only a precious few photos of this guy but i didn't see these up anywhere.

going back to my last post, i've heard from various sources that Matt Reason resides here in Pittsburgh suffering from some sort of medical condition (i'm actually launching a full-scale investigation into this case as we speak) but whatever happened to Lennie Kirk? rumors range everywhere from him becoming a missionary (seems too obvious) to him serving a bid after becoming one of the most notorious stick-up kids in SF... anybody know?

thin air

chrome ball incident #70: the reason

have you seen him?

chrome ball incident #69: remember rappin' duke?

sorry for so many interviews as of late... it gives me something to read at work. daher interview with j lee and dune. slap 1994.

some dudes just come up at the wrong time. its unfortunate but it happens all the time. you'd think daher's clean, classic style with his speed lines and huge pop would've been a no-brainer at the time... blame fashion, I suppose.

heads weren't ready.

chrome ball incident #68: zen arcade

This is Brian Lotti's pro "flashlight" that he had in transworld (Jan '94) right before he vanished to Fiji or Neptune or wherever the hell he went for a decade. Some great Brittain snaps in this one... looks like Grant seized this opportunity to really let loose at a point when crappy videocaptures were the norm. Compare and contrast.

The top photo is a personal fave from a year earlier.

chrome ball incident #67: symptom of the universe

If you would've told me 15 years ago about how things would eventually turn out for Sanch and his career, I wouldn't have believed you. And in a way, I still can't believe how shit has gone down. Its just unbelievable to me.

The ad up top, combined with this part, represents the pinnacle moment for Henry's career. In a summer that saw videos from virtually every single Rocco-owned board company, Sanchez's "Pack of Lies" segment essentially proclaimed to all that the world was his. Its easy to shortchange the skating of this era as just huge pants, small wheels, pressure flips, and late-shoves, but its actually much more than that. At its root, it comes down to simply exploring this new realm of technical street skating... and Henry was at the forefront, barging at full speed. Beyond influential.

And then it just seemed to slowly unravel for him. The article is from the summer of 93, slightly before Girl was born... without Henry. Probably the last interview of Henry's where his words aren't expressing some form of regret, this is from a time when shady business dealings, industry politics, and his own youthful mistakes had yet to come to the foreground of his career.

It is common to wonder how far Sanchez would have progressed street skating and what avenues he would have taken it down had he switched to Girl (or at the very least, gotten a solid board sponsor). To be honest, I always thought he'd end up eventually getting on Girl, kinda like Sal and Plan B. Its still hard for me to accept the fact that Henry was fixing cars in the garage instead of wrecking shit in Fully Flared (although I'm still hoping for another comeback). I just don't think kids get how important he was/is to this whole shit. Legendary status.

Regardless, enjoy the interview and if anybody knows that secret recipe for a Lotti sandwich, let me know. Maybe someone should ask him.

chrome ball incident #66: i'm so tired

sometimes in the midst of everything, you just gotta break out and spray paint some shit on a wall.

new post on a whim.

chrome ball incident #65: a roller skating jam named "saturdays"

go skate.

chrome ball incident #64: the red telephone

While also serving to dramatically improve one's skills, a negative aspect of surrounding yourself with legends is that their shadows make it that much harder for you to get your shine on. I always found this to be the case with the criminally-underrated Rudy Johnson. Imagine finding yourself alongside such absolute kings in the midst of their prime (Guy, Koston, Gonz, Sanchez) and be expected to represent... forget about it! But while not the marquee player that fills the seats like those other dudes are, holmes was still mad solid.

Take Video Days for example. He killed it. Absolutely killed it. Yet when was the last time you heard anybody really talk about his part with any depth? Granted you have your go-to favorite parts and the part that everybody skips (sorry Jordan) but Rudy's part is amazing. So many tricks that are still being done today were seen in his part for the first time and there's no doubt that he would have gotten curtains in any other video during that time. But I suppose its a victory in itself that we're still even talking about his part at all, as being cushioned in between Gonz and Lee would've been a death sentence for just about anybody else. I guess the classic catchphrase of "and Rudy's part was good, too" is really all you can hope for when sandwiched in between some real beasts... a scenario that seemed to come up in Rudy's career over and over again.

chrome ball incident #63: the funky technician

Nice little interview with Lord Pep and his girlfriend from the Feb. 95 issue of Transworld. The interview reads real laid back and cool while that opening spread is a beast... despite TWS's puzzling decision to highlight the fact that Pepe likes shoes. A lot.

The article is post-Fine Artists and while the flicks are cool, there's obviously something missing. The notion of a Pepe post without any Pulaski in it is just ridiculous, so I had to remedy the situation. Consider that first joint up there the cherry on top.

R.I.P.

chrome ball incident #62: everything in its right place

i don't think i've ever been more happy for somebody else winning something in my entire life. congrats, guy.

chrome ball incident #61: vital nerve

hey Alien Workshop, I realize this was over a decade ago but still... my man is throwin a switch backside tail down Hubba Hideout (not to mention the alleyway 360 kickie) and you guys couldn't even chip in a little extra for a COLOR AD? How are we gonna "Exalt the new God" and "Believe" in the "Sovereign Sect" and all that junk when you fools won't even spring for a decent-looking ad for Kalis? That shit looks like it came straight outta Smelly Curb Zine #4.

Anyway, I realize that its cool to throw out random kids, O.G. cats and whoever else when nominating dudes for having the best tre flip... but c'mon. Seriously.