In this section, you will learn what makes Hippie Mike who he is. Adopted at birth, raised in a small town, stubborn and full of opinions. This is where Mike will share his stories of success, and the struggles he faced to make these stories possible.
“Remember, life is what you make it, and if you don’t stand up for your beliefs now, you’ll have nothing but regrets later…” – Hippie Mike
Jaden Easton–Ellett
A new partnership with Protest Skateboards
A long time coming, and a lot of interesting times we’ve had. I first met Jaden when he came to one of my Skateboard Camps at the tender age of 9 years old. I could tell right from the first day that this kid was different – he was very creative, and very smart, and had a lot of hidden talents. He wasn’t like the other kids that wanted to be the next big thing, he just loved to come out and skateboard and learn any new tricks. What was funny was I would teach Jaden all the crazy whacked out tricks that I liked to do and he would elaborate on them…
9 years later, and now 18 years old, Jaden has proven himself a man to me many times. He has grown up to be responsible and always has goals to accomplish in his future visions. He has definitely turned out to be a talented skater, and with hangin’ with the Protest Team more often he’s been taking it to the street level, hard. The skill is there, the tricks are outrageous, and the style will soon come.
It is one of my proudest moments to welcome Jaden to the Protest Skateboards family – not just as a Team Rider, but as my official Partner in Crime. Together we will make history, and change the world of skateboarding as you know it…
Give him some Props!!
I was walking through a certain park a couple of weeks ago to meet up with Carrie and Kaelen over by the Duck Pond and out of the corner of my eye I saw this bridge… Not just any bridge, but a beautiful full pavement pathway and arch bridge just begging for flip tricks. My first thought was, “Damn, I’m gonna bring Jay Mykyte here just so he can 3flip it.” We showed up on Saturday, and there was definitely a skateboard demonstration at the park – Check it!
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We took Andy out skating last Saturday to 3 of the North Van/West Van bowls – Griffin, Horeshoe Bay andParkgate. I know Andy has been to Griffin before, since he was King of the Bowl Series last year, I’m not sure if he’d been to Horseshoe Bay or not, and I knew he had never even seen Parkgate. We skated each park for 1 hour. Like usual, it was the Andy Anderson Demo at each one.
After many years of ripping together, I finally asked Stu if he wanted to represent for Protest. Straight outtaSurrey, Stu’s always been hardcore, and was always one of my favorite people to skate with. Stu has some serious Big Tranny skills and rips up any bowl, ramp or barricade you put in his path. Stoked to have him on the Team and looking forward to all the footage we’re gonna see. We stopped in to skate with Stu at Leeside the other night and had a blast. Check it out.
Bushman finally presented Andy Anderson with his Crown after earning the title of “2011 King of the Bowls” last August. At age 15, Andy shredded at every Bowl Series competition last year and the title was well deserved. Andy continues to progress every day and will definitely be one of the highlights to watch at many more Bowl Series contests to come.
2011 King of the Bowls – Pretty Good
Taking the 2011 King of Surrey trophy the same year – Amazing
But to top all that, the highlight of Andy’s day was learning who Alex Chalmers is.
Just another day in the life of young 15 year old Andy Anderson. The kid knows how to represent, funny part is he’s not even tryin’. See Andy rip 10 tricks down the 7 stair at Vancouver’s Skate Plaza. When Andy told me about it I asked him why he did 10 tricks in 10 minutes… His answer was, “It just worked out that way.” My first thought – “I don’t know if I could even go back and forth from the starting point to the landing 10 times in 10 minutes… especially not on that monster board. Oh to be young again.” Keep shredding Andy – PROTEST REPRESENT!!
Are you tired of the same boring skateboarding videos with the same spots over and over again? Well, brace yourself because the revolution is finally here! There are no rules, restrictions or standards. We are the ones making the rules, and we make the spots while we skate everything that shouldn’t be skated. Watch Protest Skateboards team riders John Irvine, Jeff Cole, Cisco Gooding, Nathan Lintunen and Hippie Mike in What The “F” Were We Thinkin’??
After many years of teaching Andy Anderson tons of tricks and always encouraging him to skate hard and be creative I finally decided to put him on the team. Andy has been looking up to me since he was 7 years old and was always super talented. He shows his skills anywhere you take him, especially if there’s transition to skate. Rockin’ the old school board shape and tricks galore, Andy fits right in to the Protest skate style. He’s a tranny destroyer, a street slasher and an awesome kid.
At a young 15 years of age, he’s still got a lot to learn, but he had an amazing year proving his skills as the2011 King of the Bowls and the 2011 King of Surrey. Welcome to the team Andy!! – Hippie Mike
Check out some quick footage of Andy in a tough-to-ride tiny full pipe we found the other day. He only got to skate it for a couple minutes before we were told to beat it… And watch for Andy in the upcoming “Protest Profile” in the next issue of Ear Goggles. Check out the site for more details.
Long Anticipated, and patiently filmed for over the nasty months of Winter, all 48 videos are made. Hippie Mike has set the standard for you guys to compare to. You can enter as many 5 Trick Videos as you want to. Pick any of the 48 skate parks below and get out there filming. Upload your videos to Youtube, then submit your video links here. Your videos will be voted on by the public. And whoever has the most votes wins.
Grand Prize $500
The rules are simple:
There will be a separate winner for every Park on the list who will win a Protest T-Shirt. Video Submission runs from June 21st – August 21st. Online Voting runs from June 21st – September 11th. Winners will be announced and awarded on September 15th at Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey grand finale held at South Surrey Youth Park. Check out Hippie Mike’s Videos below
A WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED!! Sean Lowe has won the Show Up Mike online skateboarding contentst.
Below is an archive of the Show Up Mike 2012 online skateboarding contest leaderboard.
Check out Sean Lowe’s entry into the “Show Up Mike” online skateboard contest at the Kensington skatepark.