Tuesday, October 16

Weekly Grind - 10.16.01

By Sean Mulligan
EXPN.com

"Take me down to the Paradise City, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." -Guns & Roses

It's Rocktober and The Weekly is back with a special "Bling-Bling, Rock Star" edition of the Grind. We'll take a look at a slightly different side of the skateboarding scene. Who's making the cash and who is spending it...

Getting under way...DC man, Danny Way has completed the ultimate facility for skating, right in DC's backyard. The new ramp is 96 feet wide and has thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, and eighteen foot sections of vert. There are plenty of extensions, a hip and a foam pit. Apparently that is not enough fun for Danny and Colin McKay because rumors of a jacuzzi and a BBQ area are floating around. Check out DC's site for more info.

Fellow DC rider Rob Dyrdek was in NYC prior to the Xbox Skateboarding Championships in Oceanside, California. In true Dyrdek style, Rob was kicking it with pimped out rapper Ice-T. After a caravan to the show that consisted of a 550 Maranello Ferrari, Mercedes S600 and a limo, the crew headed to Ice's penthouse to chill and prepare for a party that Huge Heffner was throwing. The after party, complete with Playmates, took place at a private downtown club and was sure to be going off. Ahh, the life of a professional skateboarder.

True...True...

Rob is apparently very down with the Playboy posse these days. Rob, Kareem Campbell, and Chad Muska all appear in the November issue of Playboy. The article takes a look inside the life of some typical professional skateboarders. The crew was taken to a local strip club for part of the interview, just to keep things interesting. If you are old enough, seek it out, because now you can actually say you buy it for the articles.

Steve Caballero is back from his trip Bangkok and Indonesia and The Faction will be playing on Tuesday, November 13th, at the Catalyst- Santa Cruz, CA. The Faction should be taking the stage somewhere around 9, so get there early.

Speaking of rock star mode, apparently Tas Pappas is stepping up work on his music career with his brother Ben and some other skaters. Tas joins the ranks of Danny Way, Chris Gentry, Jason Ellis and the Muskawho have delved into the music biz.

Back to DC for a second, Stevie Williams is back with a new shoe, The Reason and it is very stylin'. You have probably seen it in all the mags, so look for it at your local store.

Pat Channita has added a skatepark in his backyard to accompany his mini ramp. He also has a new laptop to play around with as well.

Red Dragon member Paul Machnau is reportedly hitting up 20 stair crooked grinds and 15 stair nose blunt slides on the current RDS tour. How does this relate to our theme you ask? Ok, maybe it doesn't but if Dyrdek gets a commercial for a 20 stair, then Paul needs some props too.

eS and Girl have to be happy with Eric Koston these days, after winning the Gravity Games a few weeks ago, he placed second at the final stop of the Van's Triple Crown last week. Eric walked away with close to $20,000 on the day. That buys some serious square footage of hardwood floors, kiddies.

Not to be outdone, Bob Burnquist took the Vert competition and was awarded the grand prize of $18,000.

Hollywood Skateboards may have a 20 minute promo video ready for the Spring. With a name like Hollywood and a team consisting of Dorian Tucker, Kevin Stabb, Don Nguyen and Richie Belton it will have all the glam you could want.

Tony Hawk is no stranger to success and now it is time for him to conquer television. Over the next several months look for Tony to appear all over the tube. First up is a feature on MTV's hit show, Cribs. Tony was also on a celebrity episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and will be on Nickelodeon's "All That" sometime at the beginning of the year. Oh, and there is that little thing called the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour that has been on ESPN and ESPN2 lately...maybe you have heard of it?

That's about it for this week. Got any questions or want to let me know how you are spending your cash from selling flowed boards? Drop me a line at skatenews@expn.com.

Results

Xbox World Championships Skateboarding Final Results

Street
1. Bastien Salabanzi
2. Eric Koston
3. Ed Templeton
4. Colt Cannon
5. Carlos de Andrade
6. Chris Senn
7. Rob Dyrdek
8. Rodil de Araujo, Jr.
9. Dan Pageau
10. Chet Thomas

Vert
1. Bob Burnquist
2. Rune Glifberg
3. Bucky Lasek

Master's Bowl
1. Mike McGill
2. Steve Caballero
3. Tony Magnusson

Young Guns Bowl
1. Omar Hassan
2. Brian Patch
3. Sandro Dias

Women's Street
1. Vanessa Torres
2. Amy Caron
3. Lauren Perkins

Women's Bowl
1. Cara-Beth Burnside
2. Jennifer O'Brien
3. Heidi Fitzgerald