Four Seasons Sunday

So the next morning, I rolled out of bed and headed up to 4-seasons. I know, why would I drive to Grand Rapids, Michigan one day and then Milwaukee, WI the next? F.U.N.!!! Start having it! The whole problem with Chicago is that it does not have a good indoor park. SO until I build one, this is what happens...

It was MC, Eric, Danny and myself. GOOD STUFF> Phil had a sore tummy, Pat was on Mars, TR did not answer his phone, Kevin was out with the flu and the rest of em either did not respond or went to Krush...



But we had fun anyway. Accept for the first hour, MC forgot his shoes, so he and I found a shop and missed the first sesh with the morning locals... But after it thinned out, I got to ride around like Saturday and just work on stuff. This is quality time that I needed!! I finally figured out a few lines that have been bugging me for years and got to try some things that I was previously too scared to try.



We topped the day off with dinner at the palomino which is sooo good. But the cook must have quit because it took forever to get the food this time. Oh, and all the punk rock waitresses were off duty again too.

Grand Rapids Saturday (again)

So, I tried to get a big crew to head out to GR again but alas, jobs, family, colds, moms, girlfriends, wives, dogs, houses, etc kept it to a trio. It was me, Mike Owen and Cheryl. But Mike drove this time so I just kicked back and enjoyed the ride. I was down with a crappy cold this week so it was not the best time for me to be riding that big bowl but I did my thing again. I spent a lot of time just trying to work on things. Not much of a session, just an extended wish list series.

The kid factor was really high but I am just giving in. It is a thousand times better than sitting at home all day getting FAT! But I am getting fat anyway because I eat too many cookies and doughnuts>

It was good though, and Mike got to ride vert and Cheryl cruised around most of the park. She rides more than both of us...

Back to it

School is now in session. I went back last week and now it all begins. It looks to be a busy semester. I have lots of good students this year so it should be interesting. I am going in with a positive attitude and can't wait for May!

I ran into one of my former students today (Jonah). Who went on to do his BFA and MFA! I am so stoked to see students that I worked with now reaching that degree level! It is such a rewarding job. His work is pretty cool and will post up info as it comes along.

Grand Rapids Saturday

So we decided to head out to Grand Rapids on Saturday. I was really trying this year to set down some new guidelines to follow regarding winter skatetrips. One of those was to go to grand rapids for two days. It is a heck of a long drive to go and skate for 2-3 hours and drive nearly 8 hours round trip… But it seems that the long famed over nighters are not happening this year..

But I went and had fun and that is all that matters. I was getting pretty grouchy again last week but the cold snap adjusted my attitude. When mother nature stacks up the cards there are some things you can do to get a sesh in but when she decides to make it 40 below out then you have to listen and shut up.

So after a week of skating in far away places (the only cities with descent indoor and well heated skateparks) or indoor spots that I am not too stoked about. I am proud to say that I am thinking in a positive way again. Winter is half over (maybe) and I have 6-8 weeks or more to work on shit before the amazing season of outoor skating begins. It is 25 degrees (which is cold) out and I am loving it. That is much better than 25 below!


Once we got on 196 the roads were terrible. I don't know what the problem is out there in Michigan, maybe it just snows so much with the lake effect or maybe they just can't keep up... But it was bad. They even close rest stops in the winter. But we made it to the park and had a fun time.

We got there around 3 GR time and skated a session, took a break and then hit it up until 9pm... So we got our time in. It was the usual where Mike, Pat and Cheryl would alternate between the bowl and the vert ramp. My goal on this day was to stay off of the vert ramp and spend my time in the bowl. I just don't get to skate bowls enough in the winter, especially concrete. The only problem is it usually takes me until the end of the day to get to where I should be... But this time I just kept the focus and got my lines back. SO I spent the day trying new things and trying to "man-up" in the deep.



Owen was shredding as always, (even though his worst day is far from my best). The big bet was to get him to learn frontside inverts. It was a little tap towards Calabro who had a photo gig but managed to do his shit talk via text message. So that was the entertainment there. Owen was also doing them on the 12' vert which makes it even more interesting.

Pat got things going right away and did a 50/50 in the deep of the bowl. We were all stoked for him. And then "Pat's brother" showed up! I always forget his name so we call him that because the two must be kin. Just look at the photos and they speak for themselves. "Pat's Brother" is a good guy and always has a few stories to tell. He rode the bowl with us and then got brave on the vert ramp.



The day ended with a micro sesh - I of all people was skating with about five 12 year olds on the micro and Cheryl was riding the spine with Pat. Cheryl landed rock to fakies and spine transfers. We were all stoked for her!! It was a great day, we all left with good thoughts and knowledge.




The trip home was also interesting. It was close to blizzard status with terrible road conditions, low visiblitiy, and lots of yokles blasting through the snow and then landing in the ditch. But we made it home, I pointed the fit towards Chicago at a slow pace but all that matters is that we got back and I found parking!!

Winter Parking??? NOT!!

Wow, I must say that it was great to get back to Chicago after a 6 month hiatus. But I guess I made a poor choice this time. I moved only about 5-6 blocks west of where I used to live but oh how things change. There are many more families living in my neck of the woods and many more cars so parking pretty much sucks all the time. It is as if I moved to Lincoln Park or something. On a normal day I have to drive around for 20 minutes or more if it is after 10pm...

Note, that is my Fit and I am double parked in front of my place. They have reserved 4-5 spots in front of my freakin' house!! I have to double park in front of an open space! WTF??





When you factor in snow and snow route parking ban then things get worse. Oh, and the traditional Daley spot saving technique... "If you shovel out the spot, it's yours for the entire winter". Yep, people claim these pieces of public property for their own by placing furniture, garbage cans, old boxes, stolen construction lights, whatever...





I can understand that if you shovel the spot out then one might feel some kind of ownership but NO! There was a nice article in the paper the other day about how people respect others and you obey the reserved spot rule, etc. Bottom line is that if I were to park in one of these "reserved" spots, I would get my tires slashed and a broken windshield out of the deal.







So where are the rest of the people on the block supposed to park when you eliminate up to 2 spots with your snow mounds and chairs??? I just sleep elsewhere when ever it is snowing more than 2". 18th street is often my only option and when the snow ban goes into effect, I stay out of my neighborhood.




Needless to say, I won't be living on this block next year. (I hope) Besides, Daley is supposed to eliminate parking to the effect of placing meters everywhere! I just hope I can find a place to buy some time soon, preferably with a garage. Like that would ever happen. When I got my job I thought I would suddenly be able to afford things that everybody else seemed to have. Well, after 5 years, I learned my lesson. They are all in debt and now loosing everything. I have nothing therefore have nothing to loose!!




These pics were all taken today within one block of where I live.. Awesome! I can't wait 'till it gets warm out and all the drunk thugs from the bar on the corner are out lurking around. One night I saw a guy relieving himself while walking down the side walk, another dude laying on the curb and a group of kids getting violently thrown into a squad car.. nice.



I wish I could get an official looking pickup truck and go around and just confiscate all the chairs!! Or pull a calabro and run them all over with the van. That would be even better!!!

a weekend in Detroit

I have not posted much in the last week. It has been pretty regular - a carwash sesh or two bunches of sessions on the Possum ramp and 1 day at Milwaukee. The holiday hang over is over and my Winter break is winding down. I have to go back tomorrow. But I am re-charged and ready for the semester!

I spent the last week researching for my new and current series of works. It is getting good now and I finally just took the time to do the research, writing, reflection and development of a theme that is sooooo important. For years, I have done this but in the end, I often felt slightly empty with content.... Or just did not understand fully what the hell I was doing. But it is coming together now. I have realized that the work I have made in the last many years has all led up to now. When I once thought that it was all broken and disjointed, it now looks to me like a linear progression of theme, technique and subject...

Anyway, back to skating and exps. Rather than fly somewhere and spend lots of $$$ Calabro and I went to Detroit for the weekend. It was kinda sketchy - we both agreed on the time and day to leave town and amazingly MC was into it!! He just got a new tattoo and was ready for adventure. It was supposed to snow pretty heavy on Friday afternoon so my plan was to make it out of the city before all of that came down. I looked at Detroit/Mi weather the night before and it just said snow...

So we made it out of the city and through the lake effect region of Northern Indiana - all was fine and good. But when we crossed the border into Michigan, the snow began to fall. It continued the entire trip! We got to a point of no return where it finally super dumped behind us so our only option was to go forward. The 4 1/2-5 hour trip took a good 7 hours but I kept reminding MC that we were on an adventure. The roads were gnarley and MC kept bitchen' "Oh real good idea - hey do you wanna go drive into a snow storm to skate???"


Despite the anxiety of the road, the 4 x 4's flying by us and the semi's cutting us off - we made it to Bill's house. Danforth was nice enough to put us up for the weekend! It was his birthday so we had to go visit the legend to wish him well. His wife Mary Jane made chili and we scarfed that up right away. It was good!! She had avacodos, cheddar cheese, onions, chips, crackers, all the good stuff for the chili - especially hot sauce!!




It was too late to skate so we just hung out with Bill all night. What better place could we have been than stranded in a snow storm than in a skateboard museum with a skateboard legend!! I didn't want to post any pics because this is his home, it is private and you need to respect these things... But all I have to say is Danforth is one of the raddest people I know, and a killer skateboarder. He has done more for skateboarding in the midwest and east coast than anyone else in the industry and continues to...

After a few beers the stories begin to fly and begin feel like I am 14 again trying to do a boneless on a bank with my Alva!! Freakin' rad!




The next day we spent mostly hanging out with Bill and Mary Jane and the cats ISIS and Darby and the Cassie, the nicest pitbull a friend of the family could ever meet. However, I would not want to be an intruder and meet this 80 pound pitbull in the dark.. I would not come out with all my limbs I am sure... But she is super sweet!!



We got to the new Modern Skatepark in Royal Oak Michigan around 6:30 Saturday night. It took us over an hour to get there with the trecherous road conditions. (It should have been only a 20 minute ride.) The park is RAD!! George the owner hooked us up and the shredding began. Well, kind of... When you get introductions by a legend and go in like a couple of bear cubs, well you know the deal... But F.U.N right??

Bill Tocco met us there and we had a good sesh. He shreds that bowl!! Let me just say - the man can still do things that kids in there prime can't do! The new bowl at the new Modern was built by Team Pain and I must say is a work of art!! It is a wood bowl that is constructed as if it were sculpted out of concrete! This could be the future, where builders are once again innovating. It is half flat wall/ half round wall and offers the best of both worlds.



I personally prefer round walled bowls with concrete coping but I must say that after two sessions - I am stoked!! There is a slight taco on one corner and the other comes out to a parking block like extension that stops just at a rounded roll-in/hip. Very unique. The design also features a love seat that is on top of a hip (also very unique). The hits in this bowl are endless.




You will probably get pissed off the first time you ride it. But once you slam a couple of times and miss the hip or get stuck in the flat walled area - then you learn how to get to that damb hip and put the smack-down on that coping (even if it is metal). You have to really cut back and search to double carve the round corners. It is possible and once you find those A-typical lines this bowl becomes your best friend. I had the most fun learning to carve corner on the love seat side backside (goofy) and then hit the taco front side. I am sure dudes will be doing corner to corner airs, mad fly outs and back in on the roll-in and just all the good shit you can imagine.

With another outdoor park near Detroit on the way - road trips are gonna be plentiful here!

We got back to Bill's with Pizza but Mary Jane crashed and Bill was ready for night night too. So me and Calabro tried to find the adult channels but ended up watching Adult Swim instead - belly full of pizza good skating and more to come the next day - life could not get any better.

But it did - I got to stay in the shrine! It is a room filled with all of Bill's pro-models from 30+ years of skating and a 20 year pro career. It was kinda crazy - you wake up in the middle of the night, surrounded by the coolest board shapes, the raddest graphics and a vibe that is just screaming at 11. I had a hard time getting back to sleep - I just wanted to go skate!

We got up the next morning and Mary Jane made breakfast and coffee again and more good skate talk. Bill hooked us up with some product - the dude is just rad and we talked until noon. It was time to get to Modern again for one more sesh so we said our good byes and Calabro and I got another good crack at the new bowl at Modern.

The drive home was better, we hit some nastyness in NW Indiana but made it back. His van was buried on my street - Pilsen got like 10 inches of snow!! The parking sucks in my neighborhood - that is gonna be another post...

But the Detroit trip was amazing and I am glad to have done it again - thanks MC for going you are the raddest skater in chicago - Thanks to Bill and Mary Jane for putting us up and being who you are!!!

a slight apology

So Calabro confronted me with my bad mouthing him on the Interturd. I see his point and understand his concerns. So I should say sorry MC for being angry when you say you would go, then you say you might go then you say you would and yes, cool, I'll go but at the last minute you drop out...





It is confusing you see, where in the past 90% he goes... but lately it has been hit or miss. I understand that most of Chicago is in hibernation mode and that I am lucky to get anyone out for a night in Milwaukee or a winter indoor skatetrip... But he is the Urban Camper??

I'll try to understand from now on and not bitch for an hour or three lines on this blog when you do bail... I know winter is a difficult time for all of us and the motivation to go drive in 4' of snow for 4 hours to skate for 2 hours is kinda dumb. But I have the drive to do the drive and just wish there were more out there like me... But this last weekend was rad and thank you MC for being a stand up guy and going with only complaining for half of the trip!!





The road trip part is just as fun as the skating part and with MC on the road you never know what could happen. When you add in a Cappetto, an Owen, a Fat Kevin USA or a Pat or any of the dudes we regularly travel with, then you have a stinky smelly Honda fit filled with all kinds of debauchery, lewdness and impolite conversation! Who needs comedy central when you have MC + Shit talk recipient + 1 more = good times! Even if the park sucks, then you have the trip home!

We may not be the coolest group of skaters in Chicago. Some hate us or say we suck at skating or are so old schoolish or are bowl trolls or just kinda smell funny. But I can guarantee you that we have the most fun and that is how you spell skateboarding F.U.N.

May the road trips be plenty and the spots flourish in our future!