Legal Street Skating?? Now there’s a Concept…

Aug 11,2012 / By Hippie Mike / 7 Comments

You wanna be disgusted? Click this link

These guys are making a living selling objects to help prevent skateboarding and change the appearance of the world in a negative way.

I love their motto too: “Because signs alone are not enough…”

What have we become??

A friend recently sent me a link to this video which is talking about the diversity of street skating and how the world of street skating is so much tougher now with all these “Anti-Skate” features everywhere. It also touches on the fact that with all these skate parks being constructed, the public expects us not to skate in the streets anymore, but they have to understand that that’s never gonna happen.

One thing that has to be recognized is that “Street Skating” will never disappear. This is what true skateboarding is to most of the population, and with all the Anti-Skate Caps and stuff on obstacles now, it just creates more boundaries for skateboarders, bikers and rollerbladers to cross, but it doesn’t stop them. What has happened since the evolution of “Skate Stoppers” is just that the skaters have had to become more creative with what they skate. It almost helped to evolve the sport into a more artsy style of life. There has always been conflict between skateboarders and the public, and of course owners of private buildings, and that conflict will never disappear completely. But it would be nice to try to create a more positive relationship and see some of these places show acceptance to our mentality. It would be amazing if instead of people saying No you cannot be here, having them create designated spots on their properties which are made to be ridden, and have liability signs posted – “Use at Own Risk”. I know Vancouver has built a couple small ledge/bench spots in random places in the city that are actually made for skateboarding, and that’s nice, but no matter what they create, people will always be searching for other obstacles. One thing that needs to be recognized is the addiction to finding new spots and being the one setting the standard on them with that first trick.

With all the skate parks popping up all over the world now there is definitely an acceptance for skateboarding and other extreme sports, but real street skaters and the up and coming generation of good skateboarders just use these facilities as training grounds to get their tricks down pat so that when they go out filming in the streets they can land stuff quickly before getting kicked out. It would be nice to add skateboard features into the planning in the other parks around the city, and even on the new buildings that will be built soon. We know from the ratings on TV that most people do enjoy watching these extreme sports, and maybe it’s time to collaborate with the architects to make street skating legal.

Skateboarders have definitely changed the entire world of architectural design. Everywhere you look you can see everything changing and know why things were built that way, with gaps in the ledges, caps on the rails, even patches of grass in the middle of sidewalks. To me it looks ugly and ruins a lot of the artistic side of architectural design. Instead of spending money on Skate Stoppers, just add one long piece of metal coping into the ledge when it’s built to stop it from getting ruined. Recognize the fact that majority of skateboarders would never sue a business for injury and put up liability signs on the property instead of paying security to kick them out. There are many solutions as to how skateboarding can be more accepted into society for what it is, what it always has been, and what it is becoming, but we definitely need to work together to figure them out…

I am very interested to hear feedback from people on this topic so I can go a little further with trying to make something happen about it.

So please watch this video and leave your comments on our page below

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/08/politics-skateboarding/2811/

“Without creators in this world, we would have nothing new, but the ones who make the biggest difference are those that change what already exists…” – Hippie Mike

Coastal Riders Represents in Surrey – Like Always

Aug 10,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

For over a decade, local Surrey/Langley Skate Shop Coastal Riders has been keeping Surrey skateboarding, and always pays back the public with a stellar Team – Adam Fontaine, John Hanlon, Magnus Hansen, Dustin Locke, Jordan Zazula, Paul Machnau, Andrew Classon, Travis McGee, Mike Schulze, Dave King, Stu Benoit, Sam Hampton, Derek Mayer, Kyutae Kim, Scotty Tyson, Tyler Holm, Tommy Gudmunson and Majed Salem. It seems as though they showed up strong at Fraser Heights Skate Park on Saturday for the Cons Carnage in the Valley Contest shredding all obstacles in perfect fashion and taking home 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there to cheer them on, but I’m definitely proud of them…

Check the write up from Color Magazine

http://www.colormagazine.ca/blog/news/post/4359/carnage-in-the-valley-1

Roadblock Recap

Aug 10,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

4 of the most well known Skate Shops in Canada, with some of the best Canadian Skateboarders of all time competing against each other in the middle of the street. It was a gorgeous day on Sunday, August 5^th, 2012 and the Vans Roadblock was solid. BLVD, Anti Social, Underworld and Coastal Riders sent out some of their top riders to represent against one another on 4 secret obstacles. I heard it was a great time and wish I could have been there. Check out www.bcskateparks.com for the recap

Or Color Mag for the full story

http://www.colormagazine.ca/blog/news/post/4360/vans-road-block

Tsawwassen Sun Festival Contest Results 2012

Aug 7,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another gorgeous day in “The Land of the Sun”, Tsawwassen. August 5, 2012 was the date of the Tsawwassen Sun Festival and included in the promotions was the annual Skateboard Contest presented by Michael Ray and MC’d by Shadd Trepp. A lot of familiar faces who have localized the Tsawwassen Skate Park over the years – myself Hippie Mike, Cisco Gooding, Justin James, Graeme Betts, Andrew Classon, Cole Thodus, Luke Thodus, and many more…

All categories were filled with lots of talent including Beginner. Chuck Bailey local Adam Lewis took the cake in Beginner with a close Parker Sherwin in 2^nd. Both these kids have fat bags of tricks, so you know it was tight for the judges.

The Intermediate Category was pretty sick. Team Protest showed up during first runs in Intermediate and it was awesome how people were asking if this was Advanced. That’s how crazy the talent level is in Tsawwassen. You know little 10 year old Luke Thodus was trying his hardest to win 2 years in a row, and I’m sure his big brother Cole Thodus did not want to let that happen. These 2 can really battle for their ages, and they both probably would have done well in Advanced too. Luke came through with another victory!!

Advanced was packed with competitors of all ages, including myself as the oldest at 33 years of age. Gilbert Turenne was first to go laying down some sick ledge tricks and 3flipping over the 3 block like butter. Fighter was hot, and hitting some nasty tricks down the biggies, crooks and smiths on the red rail, and even a benihana over the 3 block in his second run. Cisco did his usual switch, nollie and combination tricks all over the park, staying low but keeping it tech, and even Jaden competed grinding all the ledges and flying over the cans. Protest always represents wherever we go but this was a tough one to win, Andrew Classon came out in his first run with complete control and determination to win. I’ve hung out with this kid since he was about 8 years old and he’s always been super creative and super solid. He actually rode for Protest Skateboards when he was 10-11 years old. I love the way Andrew gets annoyed about how long the runs are too. He usually lands enough tricks in the first 30 seconds to win, so why should he continue?? Mick Bey was another young dude I was super proud of out there. I met Mick when he was 10 years old working an afterschool drop in program at his school. He was a super talented sporty kid that had a lot of confidence. He moved out to Tsawwassen a few years ago and grew about a foot and a half taller which really helped him with learning all these ledge and rail tricks he has on lock. It’s sick to watch these kids grow up from so young, and then actually compete against them. Mick was close to Top 3 but didn’t quite make it, but the other really tall dude from Tsawwassen did, Aleka Lang. And John Purcell was definitely representing his skills. This kid likes the rails and has a lot of switch skills. Visiting from Nova Scotia he has taken the opportunity to get his name out there since he’s been here, placing in Top 3 in a few contests and winning the Element Make it Count Qualifier at Chuck Bailey a few weeks ago. Good luck on the next stage of that one buddy, hope you do well. And I hope we hear more about this up-and-comer in the future.

So many people to congratulate and compliment from this contest, but I have to throw mad props out to Shadd Trepp on the mic for being the most enthusiastic MC off all time. Such a fun guy to be around. Shadd gets just as excited about a powerslide as he does about a 3flip lipslide. So awesome buddy!!

And best I saw all day was Graeme Betts nosebluntslide and switch lipslide a table out of the smallest bank in the park, both like butter. Graeme didn’t compete, but he doesn’t need to. True Blood Park Local forever brother.

That was Tsawwassen for this year, here’s the results

Beginner:

Adam Lewis
Parker Sherwin
Luke Zhanez

Intermediate:

Luke Thodus
Sam Gror
Cole Thodus

Advanced:

Andrew Classon
Aleka Lang
John Purcell

Hippie Mike's Messed Up Mind

DJ Cuzo Ties the Knot!!

Aug 7,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Brought together by fluke through the City of Surrey, Jordan Wiebe, the man they call “DJ CUZO” started backing me up at all my skateboard competitions as my DJ about 6 or 7 years ago. He had good taste in tunes and enjoyed being part of the events. We became close friends when I found out he was good at golf (Really Good) and we started inviting him out to our weekly trip to The Meridian Par 3 in White Rock. Then we just started hanging out all the time. Jordan is such a friendly giant, standing 6’6” tall but always showing everyone love and affection. Saturday, August 4^th, 2012, the day came where he and his long time girlfriend Jessie were tying the knot at Kwamais Point Park. It was a wild wedding of course, 30 something degrees outside, sun just beaming on us, eagles soaring around in the background, and best of all, the bride showed up. They got married, took some photos and then we all headed over to Belle’s Restaurant in South Surrey. It was great time – from awesome food, to swordfights in the parking lot, Cuban Cohiba Cigars, a breakdance demo by the “Now or Never Crew”, and Cuzo himself even got up and rapped for his new lady in front of everyone.

Great night guys, we wish you all the best.

Jordan & Jessie Wiebe

Check out www.djcuzo.com to find out how you can hire Jordan for an event

Let’s all Work Together to Build a Better Future

Aug 5,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

We live in a very competitive world, it’s always been that way, people and animals battling for survival. But times have definitely changed and life is very expensive. With money ruling the world everyone wants to earn their share, and of course a little extra to have fun on the side of all this work.

But here’s the problem:

We need food and shelter to survive, we need money to purchase these things, and we have to have a reliable source of income. A lot of people run small businesses, especially in the skateboard industry. This adds to the competitive nature of our lifestyles, but why? We are all interested in one thing, promoting the sport we love. Why not instead of competing with one another, we just all work together to promote each other and build up a larger consumer base for all. Doesn’t it make more sense to collaborate with others and promote the sport as a whole, rather than trying to be better than the next guy and put others out of business?

Bob Marley was all about bringing people together and trying to have the world unite in peace and stop all the fighting. In Jamaica, in the late 1970’s, there was a major political battle between 2 government officials Michael Manley (PNP) and Edward Seaga (JLP). Bob Marley was requested to help to try and resolve this battle by holding a “Third World Woodstock” style event called “The One Love Peace Concert” and Bob tried so hard to have them stop competing against one another, join hands and work together to make the life on the island better for all who lived there. Here’s is the actual quote from that Concert when he had the 2 on stage –

“Just let me tell you something (yeah), to make everything come true, we gotta be together. (Yeah, yeah, yeah) and through the spirit of the Most High, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, we’re inviting a few leading people of the slaves to shake hands. . . To show the people that you love them right, to show the people that you gonna unite, show the people that you’re over bright, show the people that everything is all right. Watch, watch, watch, what you’re doing, because I wanna send a message right out there. I mean, I’m not so good at talking but I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. Well, I’m trying to say, could we have, could we have, up here onstage here the presence of Mr. Michael Manley and Mr. Edward Seaga. I just want to shake hands and show the people that we’re gonna make it right, we’re gonna unite, we’re gonna make it right, we’ve got to unite . The moon is right over my head, and I give my love instead. The moon was right above my head, and I give my love instead.” – Bob Marley

This day was a very, very historic event and it took a great man to be the centre of that hand shake. The wars did not stop completely in Jamaica and even today are still going on, but that vision of unity between those 2 figures will live on as the most symbolic hand shake in the country. And it is proof that anyone can put their differences aside and work together.

(Learn more about the One Love Peace Concert here)

[youtube id=”JVG9Tw0JMBk” width=”620″ height=”360″]

This entire event really related to one of Bob Marley’s biggest songs written back in 1965 but released on his “Exodus” Album in 1977 called One Love/People Get Ready, and in this song he sings –

“One Love! One Heart! Let’s get together and feel alright.”

This quote can be read in many ways. It could be talking about family and friends, it could be talking about Cities and Countries, it could be talking about enemies, but what it means is that Unity will bring happiness.

[youtube id=”h8mI4413wr0″ width=”620″ height=”360″]

One Love – We all have the same passion

One Heart – we all live for this passion and would be lost without it

Unity – working together to promote what we are passionate about and influence others to have the same amount of passion

Skateboarding is a tough industry. Everybody wants the good product, but nobody wants to pay the big money for it. I’ve seen so many Skate Shops and Indoor Skate Parks come and go over the years and it always comes down to money. They are 2 of the toughest businesses to run, but people keep trying. And without these people trying, we wouldn’t have these cool spots to go to that give us awesome memories for the rest of our lives. But there’s just too much competition out there, and sometimes people forget why they got into that business in the first place – because they loved skateboarding. They loved it so much that they wanted to dedicate their life to it.

These are the people we need to promote.

These are the people who need to unite and stop competing.

And that unity will bring better fortune to all.

Please join hands with me and say, “I love skateboarding…”

Now take a look around at all the other people that just said it with you and help each other to build a bigger future.

Check out a few of my favorite partnering websites and help us to make skateboarding the positive future for more generations to come

www.bcskateparks.com

www.skateriffraff.com

www.axs-gear.com

www.lshiphop.com

www.folkskateboard.ca

www.coastalriders.com

www.coastalbc.com

www.rollingbonespodcast.com

www.vans.ca

antisocialshop.com

www.blvdskateshop.com

www.rdsskatesupply.com

www.concreteskateboarding.com

Vans Roadblock Contest 2012

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It’s that time of year again, time for the skateboarders to take over the downtown streets of Vancouver and show which Local Skate Shop Team has been working the hardest this year.

4 shops

4 Teams

4 obstacles

$4000

Sounds pretty easy, and should be lots of fun to watch. I do believe that the Surrey/Langley Crew from Coastal Riders represented the hardest last year, and I’m sure they want to redeem their titles, being the only shop invited that isn’t located in Vancouver. We know the air is different on this side of the Fraser River and it shows in our skating…

It’s the 3^rd Annual Vans Roadblock:

Coastal Riders – Boulevard – Underworld – Anti-Social

August 5^th, 2012

Granville St – Between Smithe and Robson

Practice starts at 11am, contest starts at 1pm

Show up and support your favorite shop

Poster is below

Converse Shoes Contest in Surrey Carnage in the Valley – August 4th, 2012

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another contest where you crazy kids can try and win cash. $1000 in prizing presented by Cons, Coastal Riders and Color Magazine.

The event will be held at Fraser Heights Skate Park, a very street skater friendly location. You are guaranteed to see some amazing tricks go down at that place, especially if there’s money involved. So even if you don’t skate, or just don’t want to compete, head out and support the guys that do.

Check the poster below

Talk About “Lucky”

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

At the end of June, my awesome filmer/team rider Jordan Strong emailed a link to this online contest that Lucky Surf and Skate Shop was having where you film, edit and enter a video part up to 3 minutes long. I tortured Jordan by taking him to some of the nastiest street spots around every day when he got off work and getting him to film me, but that’s the way I skate. We worked hard together to make this part, and of course we filmed way more footage than we needed to. From bare foot skating to riding the yellow slide, and I even pulled out the 2×4 skateboard for the first time n years, it’s a must see for creativity.

Jordan and I also went out a few times with Andy Anderson and we got enough footage to put a part together for him too. This one really shows Andy’s ledge and rail skills.

We all worked hard and the parts were submitted the day before the deadline. Then we received word that only 4 people submitted videos to the contest, including the 2 of us, so they are hooking us up with $150 each to spend at the shop.

Thanks Guys!!

And thanks to Jordan for workin’ hard last month. At least we had fun making them.

Enjoy the videos

Hippie Mike

Andy Anderson

King of HHHHWHAT??

Aug 1,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Ohhhhhhh, Sam Hampton… What did you do?

I saw a new entry to Show Up Mike yesterday from Sam Hampton, but I didn’t watch it till tonight, and it was very impressive. A couple tricks you wouldn’t see anyone do any where, let alone at Walnut Grove, the worst constructed skate park in the Lower Mainland. It’s sad because I absolutely love the design of this park, all the quarter pipes are oversized in height and most are curved to. You fly in from anywhere and blast huge. But the people that built it didn’t know what they were doing and there’s speed bumps in the middle of the tranny’s on the quarters, the ground is super choppy and it’s just plain slow materials. What a shame.

So I watch this video of Sam and then afterwards the selection of related vids comes up on Youtube and there’s one there called “King of Walnut Grove 2012.” I remember Jay Mykyte calling me out of the blue a couple months ago telling me about this and we had a great laugh that there was gonna be a contest there. I wanted to go bad too, but I ended up having to be somewhere else so I missed it. Of course I had to watch this video though. I can’t believe how many people showed up for this and they were all thrashing. It shows how bad this place deserves a facelift if there’s this much interest there. I know that New Line and Coastal Riders are working on a plan to make that facelift happen someday, so you never know.

Well, the contest happened, July 7^th, 2012.

It’s a sick video, you gotta watch it.

I’m not going to spoil it and tell you who the King was, but I think you probably have a strong guess…

Author Archives: Hippie Mike