All Blog Posts (431)

Being an (older) skater, I am always checking out the latest gear and updating (now that I have a job and money!) Of course, safety is an issue, so I want a board that is well built, but looks good too. I have a Darkstar skateboard right now (third in…

Here's part 4 of my A-Z guide of skateboard tricks (up to 'P')

Nollie

A nollie is a trick used in skateboarding in which the rider performs a “backwards ollie”. This is accomplished by using their front foot and the nose of the board, rather than their back foot and the tail of the board. It, just like many other technical…

We packed up from Orange on Friday after the show, and after a quick lunch stop, made the 5 and a half hour drive north to Dallas. Last week of the tour. Everyone was more than ready to get out of southeast Texas, and seeing the skyline of Dallas was a very welcome addition. Our shows this week take us to South Grand Prairie, Northwest, Birdville, Diamond Hill Jarvis, and Red Oak High Schools.

We have the same crew this week again. We have Anthony Furlong (skateboard), Eito Yasutoko…

We packed up from Houston and made the short drive east to our next destination. Since it was a short drive, that meant a much needed weekend off for the crew. We thought we were going to be in Beaumont, but as it turns out, we were actually staying 30 miles east in a little town called Orange. Orange is a very small place nestled on the Texas/Louisiana border, right off interstate 10. There is not a whole lot to do in Orange, but we made the best of it.

Our shows this week were…

Here's part 3 of my A-Z guide of skateboarding (up to 'K')

Half Cab

The half cab is a fakie 180 ollie that can be performed flatland or vertical, like on a vert ramp or in a pool. It is basically half of a Caballerial, or a full cab, which was invented by and named after Steve Caballero in 1981.…

Another week down, and another trip to the airport. It seems like every weekend on this tour, I have had to run off on Friday after the shows and get myself to an airport to head off to another show or contest. That wasn't the case this weekend. I did have to go the airport, but not rush there after the show. Myself and the crew were able to spend a relaxing Friday night before flying out Saturday to the next stop of the tour in Houston. We spent Friday night watching game 7 of the World…

Here's part 2 of my A-Z guide of skateboard tricks (up to 'F')

Drop In

A drop in is an action performed with a skateboard in which the rider rides from the top of a ramp to the bottom. It was popularized in the late 80s, along with many other ramp tricks. This ramp can be a quarter pipe, half pipe, or a mini ramp. Some drop ins are even performed off things like helicopters or buildings. This…

Here's part 1 of my A-Z guide of skateboard tricks (up to 'B')

360 flip

A 360 flip is a skateboarding trick where the board spins around 360 degrees, while also flipping like a kick flip. This trick was invented by skateboarding legend Rodney Mullen while looking for tricks that were more inventive for…

Another week in the books and once again we start heading south. This time it's to the Sooner state, and the town of Tulsa Oklahoma. It was a 6 hour drive for the crew, and a couple of us had to fly in from LA because we had a skateboard contest over the weekend. We had a last minute cancellation on Monday, so it was going to be a short week.

Our shows this week took place at Collinsville, Nathan Hale, Catoosa, and Skiatook High Schools. We have the same athlete line up as last week,…

Week number seven of the tour, and it brings us back to familiar territory, especially for me. I grew up in St. Louis, so it's always a welcome thing whenever we come through here to do the high school shows. It's also a very special occasion for me, because the St. Louis Cardinals are in the World Series. It's a HUGE World Series for me, because I am a Cardinal fan for the obvious reason of being from St. Louis, but the fact that they are playing my 2nd favorite team, the Texas Rangers,…

Five weeks down, 6 more to go. We have almost hit the halfway point. Fall has pretty much refused to show its face on this tour. We just spent the last week in Chicago with unseasonably high temperatures, and that trend would continue for the next week of the tour in Indianapolis. It was a short drive down to Indy from Chicago, but we could easily see that summertime was still alive and well in central Indiana.

Our rider lineup for this week is Eito Yasutoko (inline), Gabe Weed…

September came and went, and now we move into my favorite month, October. I love October because of Halloween, football season is in full swing, hockey season is starting up, and you have baseball playoffs. The weather gets cooler, the leaves are turning, it's just my favorite month. Our travels this week bring us back to the Windy City, Chicago. We were here last year on the fall tour, and we thought this time around, we would have cooler temperatures. Apparently Chicago didn't get the memo…

Another hot and humid weekend in San Antonio, but still some great shows. We said goodbye to the Sea World crew, and hoped another set of flights north. Unlike last weekend, we did not get derailed by a Texas sized thunderstorm, we arrived right on time in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Our crew this week consists of a few regulars from the last 2 weeks, Eito Yasutoko (inline), Trevor Meyer (flatland BMX), and Jimmy Walker (BMX). In addition to those riders, we also brought back Austin Coleman…

It was a warm weekend in San Antonio, we had a blast at Sea World, but it was on a plane and back to the High School Tour. Thanks to some Texas sized thunderstorms in Dallas, we got delayed almost 5 hours, and didn't make it into Kansas City until 3AM on Sunday night. Fortunately for us, our first show on Monday, wasn't until later in the afternoon.

Most of the same crew on the road this week. We still have Eito Yasutoko (inline), Anthony Furlong (skateboard), Jimmy Walker (BMX), and…

Last week flew by, and so did the weekend with all the crazy events going on at the Dew Tour. It was a late flight out of Salt Lake City and we were on our way to the Mile High City. We had a slight change to the athlete lineup this week, we still had Trevor Meyer (flatland BMX), Jimmy Walker (BMX), Austin Coleman (BMX), and Anthony Furlong (skateboard), but we also added our good friend Eito Yasutoko (inline) to the roster this week. We had not seen Eito since the end of the spring tour. He…

Well it was a crazy summer, and it went by way way to quick. Here we are again, it's just after Labor Day and we are ready to kick off yet another fall of high school tour shows. It seems like the spring tour had just ended, but alas it was time to kick the dust off the ramp truck, wipe down the tires, check the fluids and hit the road, trucker style. This fall's tour hits some of the same markets from last year, with a couple of brand new ones thrown into the mix.

We start…

Pretty much our entire crew spent the weekend in Williamsburg Virginia, at Busch Gardens. We had a weekends worth of shows down there, but after a brief departure from the high school tour ramp (which we lovingly refer to as the tin can), we were soon back on a plane to New England. Our adventures this week bring us to Providence RI. This is the first time that high school tour has ever been to Rhode Island, so it was definitely new territory for us. The schools this week were North…