sidewalk surfing with the alien/enemy

I was at my spot, the USP parking lot, just ripping in general... some dude on a long board shows up. He was maybe five or ten years older than me. Helmeted and carrying his stick, I nodded towards him. "Hey."

He wasn't interested in crossing streams so I let him go about his business of gliding and turning. His opaque orange wheels were huge. I decided to show off my prowess of the short board with kicked nose and tail. I kickflipped and shove-it ed. I gently placed my rear axle on a parking block and smoothed the front end of my board over the far side, arching my back to execute a perfect feeble stall. I stalled till dusk.

I went for some backside 180 ollie to switch 180 frontside ollie on the downhill. Mr. Broadboard was right behind me. It was at that point that I decided I didn't want to talk to him. I was kicking my tailfeathers while he was gliding and gliding. We couldn't be expected to understand one another. He kept gliding and subtle turns, but I wanted no part of it.

"Get away from me you savage brute" he thought to himself as he pursued me.

My only getaway was to ollie off the speed bump at the bottom of the hill. I basically ollied into a time oblivion. Whatever. It was that kind of thinking that got me out of there.

Next thing I knew I was involving myself in some sort of wit battle, a battle of the wits if you will, with a yellow paint parking block. Just going for the old boardslide to feeble. Circa Rick Howard Adventures in Cheese.

I saw the longboarder waltzing matilda up the sidewalk. He had been defeated by a short sword.

Switch B/S 180 %

I found a spot down at the pharmacy school parking lot. It's a great space for a skateboarder in his or hers mid thirtydom. There are a couple speed bumps. A curb. A lil' hill. I was trying backside 180 kickflips. I couldn't even kickflip. I kept going for it and kicking it away like some sort of pussy. I felt like a dick. Then I remembered.... "What did you do when you first learned to kick flippity bro? Take it on a path that stood in the grass yo." Whoa.

Listening to some Cage/ Camu. Sorry new Cage... but old heavyset drug lovin' Cage was good. You were better when you weighed over 230. I stood by you cage. I bought your "Movies For The Blind" and stood strong as naysayers naysaid on the sidelines.

"He's just an angry white kid" they would say.

"Naw, he's good." I would say.

I would looooove to move to some sort of mid west township with a drive thru coffee place right next to the flea market. Flea Market on Saturdays and half of Sunday.

I remembered... you got to ollie.... then flip. Kick the tail, either roll the front foot out or kick it down!

I did three kickflips in a row. Then when I went to buy some dogfood.... this is crazy and you are not going to believe it but it's true, I walked out my door and saw a couple 'o med students on skateboards. The boards were of the no nose/no tail/no kick variety.

I actually walked out my front door in a nonchalance manner as they settled into a luke warm sans-push ride down Chester Ave. I spit out my toothpick and caught up to them in four pushes. I bummed the chick out when I went for a curb cut in- out maneuver. In the chick's defense, her boyfriend was way behind. I guess I felt a bit of intensity as I set their brain pom-poms on fire. I did a tiny shifty ollie over a manhole cover. A bunch of other stuff happened as well.

frontside flammer

Here's a little flim flam I maneuvered on the way to coffee with the wife. Great lyric. "On the way to coffee with the wife."

Maybe the Animal Collective or Band of Horses could learn a thing or two from some sick lyricism such as that.

Flim Flam:

Untitled from Kurt Russ on Vimeo.

I remember dangling the nose of my board in the nether regions of that non-fern plantlife while in the peak of this trick. I was tickling it ever so slightly. When I came down from the high... as you can see I was a bit maladjusted.

I wanted to do a Hurricane grind today, but i didn't even try

Well. I've gained about ten more pounds since I first complained about having to change pants and shirt sizes. I didn't even notice. I actually thought maybe I had lost weight. Then I stepped on the scale. After a morning shower I studied myself in the full body mirror. I was full bodied alright. I hopped up and down in place, "jiggle...jiggle...jig-jiggle." I could hear the magic fat. Except.. it wasn't magic at all.

I took some time to stretch and eat a semi healthy breakfast. I made sure not to drink too many beers the night prior. I even watched an old "Cribs" with Rob Dyrdek waxing nostalgic about getting Neil Blender's board after a demo.

I could barely get off the ground. I was able to clear some street obstacles like manhole covers, parking blocks, and discarded chewing gum. I came close to eating pavement on a downhill pop shove it. I was going maybe two miles per hour. It was much easier going uphill.

And I presume that is where my skateboard career is perpetually headed.

My pro heavy-weight model should be out in a couple of months.

bank to curb? from Kurt Russ on Vimeo.

This is one my local hot spots, a sick bank to curb at the A-Plus parking lot. I've thrown down many a frontside pivot and backside nosepick on this behemoth, but I chose to go classic axle stall for the camera.

Oh man, oh man. Sheesh. I'm feeling a little anxious lately. For one I just got back from my buddy's house where i realized I was rambling on an on to no end. Just motor mouth. We were enjoying a fire in his backyard because it was ladies night out, so we kicked it for a few. Then I peaced out. I was like "Sorry for rambling, I gotta go home and write this blog." He was like, "Cool." And I was all "Yeah, it's totally cool actually. Pretty cool, man."

Then after I posted the photo I realized that it's the fourth photo I've posted on the blog, of me wearing those Reed I Paths. Then I noticed that I had a photo with that same board a few posts ago. What the hell? Right? What the hell was going on I could not tell you. The board in the photo is a Ron Chatman pro model ATM Click from '93 or '94. That's what decks looked like in the early nineties. You always hear the stories. True.

Picture backside lipsliding a handrail with that popsicle stick. I prefer backside disaster to back lip. Always have. Why not just call it a backside disaster slide? Did you know that Canadians capitilize the first letter of a skateboard trick when they write about it? Backside Disaster. Double Frontside Kickflip. I was reading a copy of Canada's National Skateboard Magazine, "Skateboard", and I said to myself, "What is going on here?"

That being said, there are some great skaters born and raised up North. Rick Howie and Moses Itkonen to name a couple. Actually That's all I feel like thinking of right now. What happened to Moses? Loved that Mad Circle part.

Rambling again.... apologies, folks.

Oh yeah. Girls night out. I thought it would be a great oppurtunity for guy's night in. The last time Mrs. Feebs went out on the town with the gals I cooked myself a steak dinner and saddled up to some 70's and 80's television commercials on You Tube. Kid in a candy store, nah mean? I figured tonight I might skillet fry a burger and watch this several times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h57LmkLOfqc

Lido's was a Saskatoonian establishment, coincidentally.

I've been seeing skaters shredding that corner of 43rd and Locust that I've been schralping over the years. Every weekend I end up at the CVS sans skateboard, looking across the street, seeing skaters of all ages putting truck to crete, and flipping and shove-iting all up and around one of my favorite West Phil stops. "I gotta get over there." I'll say aloud.

Well today I got over there and it was empty. I saw a few Gatorade bottles and Arizona cans laying about. I thought, "Cops just cleared them out." I took my chances and started frontside slappying the waxed curb. I'm more of a backside slappier so the frontside felt new and refreshing. I decided to take it over to the ledge that had been "skate proofed" maybe four months ago. Problem was they just placed upside down U s maybe eight feet apart from each other. So you can still do a little 50-50 or a nose slide if you prefer. Skaters can use the obstacles to their advantage to create exciting new combos. Like Nacho Cheese, or Classic Cheddar Cheese. I did a frontside nose slide, surprised that the trick was even in my repertoire. Followed it up with a fakie bigspin and a couple no comply variations. Just a solo party, as usual.

After I completed that mission I waltzed over to the- no wait. I did a couple frontside and backside smitties on the curb and a frontside half moon manual, then I sauntered on over to the CVS. Bought a package of frozen BUBBA burgers.

cannon fodder

I fully realize that this blogspot is, more often than not, free of reference to skaters past and present, and I admit that it is somewhat intentional. While I personally love to read about others opinions of popular as well as underground skateboarders, I feel less inclined to make public my own opinions. I'd rather focus on my love of curbside shred dreams.

That being said.. I feel a burning desire (like the feeling you get when you eat a slice of pepperoni pizza) to mention the recent introduction into the pro ranks of one, Andrew Cannon. I remember seeing him on the cover of ... maybe the Skateboard Mag, or Skateboarder... he was holding his board by the trucks and looking into the camera while David Gravette was doing a footplant on the board's topside. Andrew's grip had an upside down cross paint markered on there. The image stuck out. And I was like," what's this dude's story?"

Turns out, he lived in Glen Mills PA, not far from my teen upgatherings in West Chester. He was also a Tempe, Arizona transplant which further intrigued me. What furtherer intrigued me and seems to be the largest topic of discussion surrounding his pudgy frame was his overweight build.

Honestly, I didn't think about it much. I was just into his style on the board, and the fact that he was am for World Industries (a World Industries so far and away from the original awesomeness of it's 90's being) and still got a lot of coverage.

He sports a beard and right off the bat I can relate to that. Now that I have a beer belly that isn't going anywhere yet slowly turning into a lunch meat belly.. I mean.. come on. I can relate to this guy on three levels. And after watching the following clip, I can relate to him in the fourth dimension, because I too love Luna Bars. I justify eating them by thinking of myself as a feminist's feminist.

http://skateboarding.transworld.net/1000118549/features/andrew-cannon-goes-pro-video-part/

Anyways, I knew he was in danger of falling into that perpetual man am title, but I was happy to find out yesterday that he is now pro. You don't know me Andrew, but congratulations. You deserve it.

POST SCRIPT: I switched the clip of his "day in the life" with his debut pro part. Made a little more sense since he's actually skating and not just going to work and eating pizza. Although that would be pretty great if your video part had more footage of you eating than skating. If you want to see him with the Luna bar, go here: http://www.casttv.com/video/yctajl/ergophobiatv-andrew-cannon-day-in-the-life-video