Wednesday, August 1

The Weekly Grind - 08.01.01

By Sean Mulligan

You know, I get thousands of letters each week, and after sorting through all of them, I usually end up with two piles. The first one consists of people who write and ask: "Man, you suck, how come you never mention Chad Muska? What is up with that?" Now the main reason for this is...well, Chad hasn't been doing a whole ton to report on, and it's not like I know what the guy has for breakfast these days so...

The other letters usually ask a simpler question: "So why is your column called the "Weekly Grind" when it is only updated every OTHER week? What's going on with that, bro?" Good question there, "dude." And the answer is...I don't know. Because that is the way it is and we couldn't come up with a better name.

Now on to the big news of the week.

Bam, everyone's favorite Jackass has apparently left Volcom Clothing and he is going to be rocking Element from now on. This seems to be the first little shift after the Billabong purchase of Element. I guess Bam will be a full-time "For Lifer" now.

In other Bam news, he has completed CKY3 and there are rumors of a premier at the X Games.

Speaking of Philly, Bam turned up missing for the Seattle stop of the Zumiez/Adio Tour, apparently he took off for Philadelphia Int'l Airport to get in some quality kickin' it time with his East Coast mob.

Back up on that Jackass tip, there's been a bit of talk about a Jackass party somewhere in Hollywood around the 16th of August. Only time will tell.

Hollywood, the city of all things good and bad. Well now the city has a skateboard company named after it. Hollywood Skateboards released their first ad in Big Brother mag this week. Rumors are that Kris Markovich has his hand in this one. Check out www.hollywoodskateboards.com for the ads that didn't make it into the magazine. Don't try those things at home, kiddies.

Speaking of ads...the prize for ad of the week has to go to Dustin Dollin with his kickflip to f/s bluntslide down a 10 stair rail. First ad for the Baker crew, and it gets the job done.

So, what about the rest of the Tum Yeto clan you ask? Foundation has announced the dates for their East Coast tour and it is going to be pretty large. Already on board for the Foundation Tragic Hysteria Tour, are Ethan Fowler, Justin Strubing, Jon West, Daniel Shimizu, Justin Roy and Tony Silva. Look out for special cameo appearances from Josh Beagle, Tod Swank, Kris Markovich, Charlie Thomas and Sean Cronan.

Daniel Shimizu is a bit busted up with a fractured wrist, but he will still be ready to go when the tour takes off. Kris Markovich has a bad ankle and a bruised heel that has been giving him trouble, but he has finished with the Adio Tour as well as filming for their up coming video. Word on the street is that One Step Beyond will premier at the September Trade Show.

On the Toy Machine side of things Brian Anderson and Brad Staba are rolling on the Savier US tour right now. Elissa Steamer and Austin Stephens have been all over, filming for the new Toy Machine video.

Oink Oink...whispers of a Pig Wheels tour sometime in November are swirling around, if they become fact, we will let you know. Meanwhile...over in Lib Tech country, there will soon be Scott Stamnes commemorative skateboard on the market soon, and a part of the proceeds from the sales will go to the Scott Stamnes Foundation. Go here for more info: http://www.scottstamnes.org

First Colt Cannon got his very own customized car at the Tampa Am and now he has his own pro board. It is the same deck he was rocking at Slam City Jam, and it should be in your local shops shortly.

Now on to the rest of the rest of the Element camp. Donny Barley is done with the first session of his skatecamp at Skater Island in Providence, RI. In case you missed out, the second session gets underway this week. PJ Ladd has had all charges against him dropped. PJ was in a bit of trouble with a police officer awhile back, the whole situation got out of hand and it seemed like PJ was going to take the fall. Well...all charges have been dropped becasue of a lack of evidence so it is back to skating. Jeremy Wray has been abusing his body to get his spot for the Adio video done. He was slightly busted up but will bounce back and you can be sure his video part will come correct.

Kenny Hughes has been filming for the new DC video and has been cruising to all these spots in his new Audi S4. Whatever happened to cramming everyone into the Honda Civic Hatchback?

Speaking of the bling, you can find Mr. Dyrdek covering the editorial duties in this month's issue of Strength. You get an interview with Colin McKay, a look at Rob's parents and you can see just how iced out Dyrdek is.

Fellow DC team member, Anthony Van Engelen's new pro model shoe is now available in stores all over the world. From 43 to 5-19...the eS team has been keeping things rolling this summer. Paul Rodriguez has been filming for the City Stars video as well as helping out at the Skate Lab skate camps.

Rodrigo Teixeira is currently in Barcelona, Spain skating with fellow éS Euro Team mate Javier Sarmiento. Rodrigo has been on a filming for the upcoming Firm video as well as shooting some tidbits for a future issue of 411.

Rick McCrank is back from Europe and has begun construction on his new backyard mini ramp in Vancouver, Canada. The ramp is going to be 5’ tall, 18’ wide, with a portable extension that can hitch up to anywhere on the ramp.

Backyard ramp master Bob Burnquist has just opened his new restaurant in Encinitas, California. Despite a nine-month delay, everything is hooked up and the place is good to go. The restaurant is called “Melodia” and features Brazilian and Vegetarian cuisine, cooked and prepared by his family. Yep, it’s 100 % authentic Brazilian cuisine!!! If you’re interested in stopping by and supporting the Burnquist family restaurant, the address is: 1002 N. Coast Highway, Encinitas, CA 92024.

Tom Penny and Arto Saari are still filming for the new Flip video that will be out sometime...in the future.

Reef has announced the release of their new Diego Bucchieri signature shoe, "The Butcher". The shoe is expected to be in stores in October. Now on to a bit of competition news.

World Industries is sponsoring the World War III competition this weekend at Huntington Beach, CA. It will be a straight-up Best Trick competition with 150 skaters from all over the globe competing for $50,000 in total prize money. First place receives $20,001.00, making this the biggest purse of the year.

Here is the official format:

Day 1- 100 skaters compete on 2 obstacles where 50 skaters will advance to Round 2.

Day 2- 50 skaters join the 50 pre-qualified skaters on 2 new obstacles where 40 skaters will advance to Sunday’s finals.

Day 3- 40 skaters going after the $50,000 over 2 obstacles.

Judging and competition will be run by World Cup Skate.

The Beast of The East at Panasonic Shockwave Games went down at South Street Seaport in NYC just a bit ago and here are the results.

ADVANCED

1st Tom Erik
2nd Ivory Serra
3rd Chris McCurter
4th Dustin Younie
5th Bradley Akers
6th Frank Fuscia
7th Jules Sampson
8th Matt Finkle
9th Lonnie Goldberg
10th Dan Baird

SPONSORED

1st Will Sabatini
2nd Tato Feliciano
3rd Jake Lewis
4th Barry Scott
5th Peter Deller
6th Andy Wilcox
7th Willy Akers
8th Oscar Wagenbuchler
9th Lamonte McIntosh
10th Jim Geduldick

So there you have it. Another week (or two) and another wrap. Have any other questions? Drop me a line at skatenews@expn.com. Maybe I'll read it...maybe not. Either way it's fun.