You see, this is a touchy subject for me, because being a fan of the Bones Brigade since I was a kid makes me old. Getting old sucks, but I still feel, act and live like I’m 23, so it’s not too bad, I guess. Recently I’ve been unlucky enough to miss, not one, not two, but three fucking viewings of this documentary around So. Cal. The stars just never aligned for me, but god damn I can’t wait to see it and I am sure I will watch it over and over. For those of you who have seen, The Man Who Souled The World, that was just a taste of the skate pie, now you can bite into the real shit and how it really happened. Ya, you can say that the Dog Town dudes made skateboarding and helped it progress, but without the likes of a ripping skate team that Stacey put together, most of the shit today would not be going down for another 7 years or so. Or at least that’s my take on it.

My first time getting a slice of the skate pie was at the 1987 ASR Trade Show in Long Beach, CA. I was super hyped to be there and it was a huge eye opener for me to see that other people really did give a shit about skateboarding. Back then all we had was the Bones Brigade Video show or other random skate flicks that a local VHS store would carry like Savannah Slamma, no daily internet bull shit, you had to hunt for Rad Shit, it’s a lost art. The Bones Brigade  was the real deal and today it still is, Thank You Stacey for making my childhood dream of skateboarding become a lifelong passion.

Mini Me at 12 years old attending my first of very many ASR Tradeshows in Long Beach, CA

- JONES

Damn, I don’t know what else to say about this. I have two kids myself and would pay good money to have them in an after school program as talented and positive as this. These kids seriously rip it up. They are the Y.N.RichKids from North County YMCA Beats and Rhymes Program out of Minnesota. Yup, you read that shit right!

Now I want some Hot Cheetos! Chester Cheetah better sponsor these kids hard. Check out their website for Y.N.RichKids and all the other beats and ryhmes they have put out in the past.

-JONES

Could you ask for anything more in a skateboard graphic? This new Anti-Hero board series by Todd Francis for the first Anti-Hero Fall 2012 drop are epic and is definitely in-line with what Anti-Hero is all about, party, bullshit and propaganda. I personally like Cardiel’s part at 55 seconds in. Name that video!

-JONES

This weekend Rock the Bells is hitting the first stop in San Bernardino, CA. The line-up is petty intense and is sure to be an ear-bending explosion and great time. Everyone from Wiz Khalifa, Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane, Method Man and Red Man, KRS-One…shit, I could go on and on, but you can check out the line up here

It’s going to be hot as hell in the Inland Empire, so hopefully the girls take note and wear next to nothing so I can bring you better photos! They just released a video about the line-up and also speak about the 36 Chambers Stage that RZA collaborated on and RZA’s new movie with Lucy Lou and  Russel Crow, The Man with the Iron Fist. Check it.

This past Sunday, I rolled up to L.A. to check out the Skateboarding Street contest at the X-Games. I haven’t been for a few years since it was at the velodrome at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. I will say, that they have come a long way with creating a course that was functional and looked somewhat legit. It kills me knowing that this thing was tore down within hours of the final hammer being dropped.

I rolled in right as they were starting the prelims for the finals to pick the final six and all you could see was gauntlet after gauntlet being tossed back and fourth between the standouts like Nyjah, Sheckler, PRod, Ishod, Manny and Chaz Ortiz. Enough talky-talk, here are photos that some up the day.

Sheckler with a front feeble.

Oakley Marketing Bro-migo, Dylan Radloff and Nyjah Huston.

Once again, I am at an event where James Haunt’s art is plastered all over the scene. Killing it!

Jamie Owens from Skateboarder Magazine

P-Rod with switch front blunt

Nyjah with a Kickflip 5-0.

Manny throwing down a frontside big spin lipslide

Ryan Sheckler, blunt slide to fakie.

Dudes.

Ishod had these backside grinds on the railing locked

Ishod tossing a half-cab frontside krooked grind

Manny kept nailing these kickflip 50/50’s

Ishod with a tailside to fakie.

David Gonzalez with a backlip down the rail

Ryan Decenzo tossed a few half-cab 270 to front board fakie out

P-Rod Swithflip over the rail

Switch all day for P-Rod. Switch front blunt.

And again. Switch 360 flip.

Sheckler with a noseblunt slide.

Nyjah was nailing with a frontside overcrook.

Bro-hugs when it ended, it was definitely a battle between Sheckler and P-Rod, they were tossing gauntlets at each other the whole time, but P-Rod squeaked out enough to slightly win it.

Me and Luis Tolentino

X-Games taking over Los Angeles

Giant toy cars that had giant kids playing on it used this contraption earlier in the week.

Leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Ya, there was a Anime convention going on next door.

Celebrity’s

The Pete Rose

I Love L.A.

Polite sign!

This is a rarity. The streets were so dead on a Sunday afternoon that you felt like everyone around you was dead and you were in the city by yourself.

After, we went to eat at Salman Agah’s pizza spot Pizzanista, but someone ordered 40 pizzas that night and they had no dough left. So in other words, thanks for leaving me hungry for more after a long day, X-Games crew. (There’s a pun in there, see it, see it!) It was awesome though and look forward to next year.

Photos and story by Brian Jones.

This past Saturday, PacSun hosted an event for their Golden State of Mind series at the Lexington Social House for a private party that celebrated the Los Angeles X Games. Diamond Supply Co.’s Nick Diamond and skate legend Christian Hosoi hosted the event. I rolled in at 10:30, so of course I was too late to snatch the free booze at the bar, but there were enough drink tickets floating around to not drop $20 on a drink. The Seventh letter crew had a ton of artwork plastered everywhere. Man those dudes have been killing it lately and now their collab with The Hundreds is killing it. Check out the photos from the night below.

Seventh Letter Crew had graffiti walls up everywhere!

I’m a very lucky man!

Arto Sarri and Crys Worley from A.Skate Foundation

Arto Sarri and Christian Hosoi (Legends)

The man with the new Transworld SkateBoarding cover, David Gravette.

Hosoi shredded the ramp for the crowd at midnight. I wonder if he did this shit in the 80’s?

Joey Tershay and his ripping nephew, Raven Tershay.

Raven got a ripping haircut! I love when people don’t give a shit, he fucking rules!

Me and my lady, Alisha! Damn she’s yummy!

They gave away free goody bags at the end of the night that included Hosoi’s new book signed by him and a few other girt card goodies. I just cared about the book.

I am only posting this because this girl did not want to claim her own car from valet becuase it was packed outside. I wouldn’t either, but I would love to take that shit on a golf course!

Photos and story by Brian Jones

Last Friday, the Insight Los Angeles store in Venice, CA hosted This Exists Now by Eric McHenry. The crowd also heard the classic sounds of Furr Burrgers followed by Holy Barbarians. Of course the night was liquid sponsored by industry beer vets PBR. As always, thank you PBR for the welcomed suds. I’ve known Eric for a few years and he’s pretty subtle about his talent, but god damn does he have talent. His art reminds me of old school skate graphics of the late 80’s and early 90’s. To me it’s equivalent of the shit that Blender used to produce, and I am obviously hyped on it! Congrats on your show Eric and congrats to Insight for being able to call this dude a contributor. Check out the goodies from the night.

Story by Brian Jones
Photos courtesy of Eric McHenry

Last night me and my luscious lady ventured up to the Suede Studios in Los Angeles to take a peek at the Youth photo gallery that featured photos from Sagan Lockhart, Natalia Mantini and Josh Terris. The show featured a heavy mix of everyday life in youth culture curled in with party shenanigans and a twist of celebrity. Being around the block for a bit in the street and skate game, I was surprised to see how many young bucks were there that were well below 19 years old. Maybe I wasn’t cultured enough at that age to give a shit about a photo/art show or maybe I was too worried about partying with the homies or maybe I was too naive at the time to realize that the art gallery scene was a big party. Whatever the reason, I am happy that I actually take the time now to appreciate others work they put into their arts. Whatever, you don’t care, here are some photos from the night.

Show Flier

OFWGKTA was in full effect.

Boosh his friend and Justin Williams from ELM.

Legohead

The photographers for the night Sagan Lockhart, Natalia Mantini and Josh Terris.

Natalia Mantini, Kristina Rose and Van Styles

My lady Alisha with fellow Rad Collector columnist, Cullen Poythress, Kristina Rose and Van Styles.

Scotty from The Hundreds new fresh ink after shaving off his tie-dye hair.

Shad Lambert from The Skateboard Mag and Yoon Sol rolled in.

Cullen Poythress and Sagan Lockhart

Kristina Rose and Scotty from The Hundreds

After the photo show me and Alisha rolled down to Santa Monica to check out our friends band Mandelenda play at The Trip. They are small at the moment and just started playing shows after 8 years of playing togehter, so as you could imagine they play very tight and kill it. They’re an instrumental band and have the sound similarity of Explosions in the Sky. Check em’ out they rip.

Story and photos by Brian Jones.

Last night, I ventured to Los Angeles to hit up the M.O.C.A. for the last party of Transmission L.A. that was brought to us by the fine folks of The Avant Garde Diaries and Mercedes-Benz. This is the second installment for the Transmission series that originally started out in Berlin, Germany last year. For the L.A. edition, they tapped Mike D. from the Beastie Boys on the shoulder to curate the show. Mike D. chose 17 artists from multiple disciplines to create a dope 17 day event consisting of concerts, DJ nights, performances and installations. I specifically chose this night to roll because the Mad Decent crew and Diplo is craze as fuck, so it was a no brainer for me to go and enjoy some mind-bending-ear-explosions. Everyone else that I know who attended the previous events said they were just as hyped on how perfect the event was, but this night was meant for me. I rolled super early in the day to check out the exhibit, it was amazing with a large mix of different art styles. From there we went and took a Cinco-De-Mayo break as they set-up for the night time event.

The Mad Decent crew didn’t disappoint with their eclectic mixes and slaughtered the floor with a mix of Dick Dale inspired surf craze and then moved into some deep OG hip-hop. Once Diplo jumped on stage it was over with, everyone had enough fun juice in them to let themselves go with no inhibitions. It was a perfect night and a huge thanks goes out to Fresh & Clean PR for inviting me along for the ride! P.S. If anyone from Mercedes-Benz reads this, I would kill for one of those necklaces you had your crew at the event rocking, they were so ill! Check out the images from the gallery and night below.

Thanks to Mercedes-Benz for making it all happen. The necklaces their crew was wearing looked just like this, so dope.

One of the best looking cars I’ve ever seen.

New Track by Diplo. He has never played this to the public before.

Best bike racks I have ever seen in front of the M.O.C.A.

Do everything at 11!

Enjoy the gallery.

Diplo destroyed it!

Crowd was hyped.

So we’re leaving the show and walking to the car and of course LAPD rolls by us and goes about 5 mph as they pass us. Then the cops head sticks out of the window and he fucking cat calls my girlfriend, Ya, she’s hot as molting lava, but fucking A. To top it off, they keep doing U-turns on the way to our car so they can keep ooogling over her! I guess some things in L.A. never change…Fucking PIGS.

Story, Video and Pics by Brian Jones

This past Saturday I ventured up to L.A. to check out the gallery that Neff and The Seventh Letter had going on at the Known Gallery on Fairfax. Like most, I grew up on Sesame Street and the kid in me was hyped to go check this out and also bring my two little midgets with me so that they could have a little taste of what their dads life is like when I am not with them.

Neff and Seventh Letter commissioned over 30 artists to create original pieces to be sold during this gallery. All proceeds of the art sales went to the City of Hope’s Department of Pediatrics…fucking awesome, right?! From what I heard they raised over $60,ooo for the City of Hope in this two day time frame, huge success! Check out photos from the day I went. I missed the opening ceremony, so no party pics, but you want to see the artwork anyway, right? If you want to see the party pics, I am sure they are not hard to find.

Grover rolling deep

Me and good homie, Joey Tershay.

This was my favorite, so dope!

Me and Eric Dressen in front of his piece for the show.

Story and photos by: Brian Jones