#747: american metaphysical circus

"Mike’s always been Mike. You gotta give him credit. He’s always been into his own thing and he’s always been on his own. He’s really driven, dedicated and stubborn… in a good way." -Dune

Never Forget.

Golden-era interview from Poweredge, 1989... amongst other goodies.

...and I'm putting this here for posterity's sake as I feel this board really needs to be brought into the conversation much more often.

#530: please don't eat my friends

"So I picked my board up and I ran it through the graveyard, and Stacy ran behind me with the camera. And that's the way it went."

was stoked on gino's mike v inclusion the other day and figured another vallely post was overdue...

never forget.

(Rodney Smith appreciation)

classics, too.

still love that SMA tadpoles logo... still hate berets.

and I still really want one of those "experimental" Powell boards.

thanks everyone for all the comments and emails last week. really means alot.

thanks peel.

chrome ball incident #368: another crime

allow me to cut to the chase on this one... skipping the typical early career praise, post-world criticisms, and modern day what-the-fuckery and just say that at the time when this classic interview came out, Mike Vallely was one of the most innovative and respected street skaters in the world.

yes, even with all that poetry... which for some reason was not uncommon for skaters to do back then.

so sit back and disect the contradictions or just reminisce over how amazing mike was before he started doing ho-ho's again.

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.)

chrome ball incident #160: inspiration information

Tried a little something different today and went back to the roots of six absolute pioneers. Funny seeing these instantly-recognizable icons on some Lil' Archie-type steez, looking so fresh-faced and new on the scene ... grouped together with similar young upstarts who's careers didn't quite achieve the same notoriety.

Its the small details and little idiosyncrasies, often revealing a different side of these legendary pros, that make looking back on these old Check-Outs definitely worth the time.