Final Destination SXSW!

Finally arrived in Austin, TX after a long day and drive.  The day started with some breakfast diner where some old timer gave us some weird jokes, stories and song & dance.  Then it was a few skate missions where Garrett got broke on a hubba ledge with a large kink at the bottom.  Spanky got a blunt slide while me No Age dudes and Andrew sat around playing guitar by the vans.  Then the Lubbock locals took us to some ditch with a bunch of gaps.  The largest one in which Slash threw down a huge ollie over.  By the time we got on the road to Austin it was already 6pm and at least a 6-7hr drive ahead of us.  Me and Spanky got seperated from the caravan for a few hrs.  Driving through Texas at night on a one lane road that never seems to end gets a little spooky.  You can go for an hour straight without seeing another vehicle or any signs of civilization.  Then you got numerous amount of deer on the side of the road that you hope don't decide to bolt in front of your car.  We kept expecting to see Leatherface run across the road with Chainsaw in hand.  Our soundtrack of Earth blasting through my car speakers didn't help that stretch of the drive either.  We finally caught up with the rest of the team at a random gas station in the middle of nowhere.  Then about 4 hrs later and at 3am we hit Austin.  By the time I hit the sack it was 5am.  Now its the last leg of our trip and time to check out the sounds of SXSW!  

Lubbock Texas Show

Well, we left Albuquerque yesterday morning and hit the Goat/No Age show in Lubbock Texas.  Hometown of Buddy Holly, there's a rad statue of him with some transition brick planters that we were thrown out of by coppers.  The show was really cool, good crowd, sound and the Mai Shi met up with the bands for this one.  

Justin, Andrew and Shane lookin' one half traveling wilbury and one half rock n' roll thuglife.

Speaking of Rock n' Roll, Regan getting a little frontside while we wait for everyone to meet at the vehicles.

Atiba and Spanky rockin and mess'n with Texas.

Mae Shi dudes rockin it out on the way to SXSW!

Dean is such a rad punk rock drummer, that look on his face here is of pain and pure energy.  Dean had a really bad cramp in his stomach that night, but powered through their set with no complaints.

Last Day and Skate Missions in Albuquerque.

Well yesterday was our last day in Albuquerque, and it was a day filled with skating.  The first spot was a really great skatepark.  The big bowl looked gnarly, it had a semi full pipe and was about 11 to 12 ft. in the bowl section.  There was also an over vert part with marble coping.  The street area was really cool, cuz it looked like it kinda wasn't meant to be skated.  Almost like a real street spot.  Crazy banks hitting walls ending and starting in weird places.  The guys were shredding it up and it was kinda hard to focus on everyone.  Almost too much radness happening at once.  The next stop was a triple set of stairs at one of the high schools in Alb.  Where Andrew, Theotis and Kenny threw down some whopper bangers.  

This thing looked too gnarly for my skills.  Maybe if the bowls were 4-6ft, I could hang.

Spanky getting a line of tricks while Miner keeps up!

Andrew with a massive backside on the hip.  This hip looked pretty steep to me, oh yeah by the way he kickflipped into this backside grab!

Spanky hit this wall first with a layback, then to top it off with this rock n' slide n' roll.

Dude I remember seeing Jason Lee do a 360 flip on the flatground and being amazed.  Andrew throws one super high down a triple set.  Check out the feet catching that board, sickness!

Albuquerque Altamont team signing and rock show.

Well first day in Albuquerque had us at a team signing at Beach Zone skate shop.  Funny that beach is the name of the shop considering we're no where near a beach.  The kids all seemed pretty stoked to see pro skaters in their hometown and there was quite the line for autographs.  The show was at a place called 1kind Studios, pretty cool spot.  Reminded me of the cool DIY shows of back in the day.  Good size room and the sound was actually really good for such a punk rock show.  When the show was well over the bands both played rad sets, minus a few power outages for No Age.  A girl singing blues tunes in the exit door and back to the motel.  The same girl singing blues tunes ending up naked in Reno's room and the rest of the dudes finishing off some Jim Beam and random beers.  For me it was a night on my computer, downloading pix, facebooking and blogging.  I'm the old boring dude on this trip, still can't get to bed early though.  Seems like 2am is the earliest I can get some shuteye.  

On The Road from Flagstaff to Albuquerque!

On the way to Albuquerque, we made a stop at some mystery wierd spot.  Out in the middle of nowhere is a barn looking structure thats totally torn to shreds and an abandoned empty pool.  The kind of spot I can only guess that people show up with their big trucks with KC lights, a twelve pack and shotguns to shoot stuff with.  The pool looked unskateable to me, but this is a team of skaters used to skating crazy shit.  The thing looked like it was 4 ft. of vert and 3 ft. transitions.  After a little sessioning, some band pics, and an exploration of some sketchy caves with some sketchy wood bridges.  We were off to Albuquerque.

Freezing in Flagstaff with The Goat and No Age!

Flagstaff was cold, real cold.  Checking into the motel felt like it took forever.

Shane Heyl and The Goat.  Singin bout Billy.

Dean and Randy puttin the P in Punk.

Flagstaff kids going Nutzo for No Age!

Double Set and Water Park in Phoenix

Seen this waterpark in many a skate video and was stoked to actually get to go and check it out.  Didn't get to skate it because I was to busy taking pix and video of the dudes shredding.  During the day we hit up a massive double set of stairs that Theotis, Andrew and Kenny put to some use.

Slash gets a blunt slide that he alley ooped and came in frontside.

Spanky getting a frontside kickflip.

Figgy hangin while Theotis and Kenny get to work on the double set.

Theotis hangin a lofty kickflip over the rail of the double set.

Andrew doing a massive backside 360 ollie over the double set.

SXSW with Altamont Skate Team, The Goat, and No Age!

Okay, I'm kinda lagging on this blog.  I think there should be a term for people like me, I'm not a blogger but more of a blagger, otherwise a lagging blogger.  We started this trip on the 9th and we're almost at the halfway point in our trip.  Here are some pics from the first stay in Phoenix, AZ.

No Age at Modified Arts, cool little DIY punk place, totally ripping night of music.

Slash gets a little crail slider at the wall at Glendale, while Pat O'Dell takes some video.

Garrett Hill does an amazing 360 flip to frontside 5-O grind on this mini Hubba ledge!

Thank to Staff Magazine

Thanks to Juan and everyone over there at Spain's Staff Magazine, for taking an interest in my work and doing a piece on my Photography.  The images and layout looked great and really like the size of the mag.  The mag is about 11x11, so my scans here are bit cut off.  The issue is really cool and features a handfull of other artists like Shepard Fairey, Pat Graham, & Jason Farrell.  Look forward to see who else makes it in there on future issues.