Mandatory Information
Mandatory Info
The Gravity Games (NBC's version of ESPN's X-Games ) have dominated the town of Providence, Rhode Island for most of early September. Big prize money (115,000 dollars for skateboarding alone!) and the potential to appear on network television lured many quality pros into the eye of the media vortex. Word is, the course was good, the skaters were treated well, and judging was pretty fair. The events will be broadcast on NBC throughout the month of October.
The top three finishers in the street-skating portion of the Gravity Games were (in this order) Brian Anderson (18,000 dollars), Brazilian Rodil de Araujo Jr. (10,000 dollars), and Eric Koston (7,000 dollars). Vert's top three: Bob Burnquist (18,000 dollars), Bucky Lasek (10,000 dollars), and Andy Macdonald (7,000 dollars). Tony Hawk finished fourth and took home a healthy 4,200 dollars for his efforts. It's nice to see skaters getting paid, but to put things in perspective, seventeen-year-old American Sarena Williams won the women's singles competition of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and took home a check for 750,000 dollars. We're not quite there yet.
According to a Gravity Games online press release, mouthy street luger Biker Sherlock took home four medals in two days in both the four-man and six-man street luge competition, winning 35,000 dollars of the 115,000 dollars total prize winnings available. Only three questions remain: 1. Is giving street lugers 115,000 dollars a waste of money, or is it a terrible waste of money? 2. Who (besides the guys in the X-Games and Gravity Games) street luges? 3. Who (besides the guys in the X-Games and Gravity Games) cares?
Bill Weiss , Mike Crum , and Rune Glifberg have started a new video magazine to compete with 411 and others. The aptly named Digital Skateboarding will come out quarterly, and the first issue features Rune, Correy Sheppard , Pat Duffy , and Neal Mims .
Philly photographer Ryan Gee (who has a fifteen-page portfolio in this issue starting on page 140) called in to give us an East Coast update. Gravity champ Brian Anderson recently moved back to his home state of Connecticut; in late August Jason Dill moved to New York City, where he's been modeling and doing some TV commercials as well as skateboarding quite a bit; Ricky Oyola 's back from a turbulent trip to Australia and is skating around Philly, quickly readjusting to home; and father-to-be Jim Menscer is getting married on November 5. Gee also said he's been shooting with up-and-comers Anthony Popalaro , Pat Cochran , and Brian Wenning , and he can't believe how good they're skating. He warns that complacent pros should beware. On a final note, Gee was freaking out that Jeremy Wray frontside 360ed Love Park 's Love Gap (which Gee claims is "bigger than Wallenberg"). Even though J. Wray landed in a powerslide with one hand on the ground before rolling away, Gee still couldn't believe it.
California's most Californian mountain resort Mountain High , which boasts "no mountain driving," is planning to build the first-ever full-scale replica of a skatepark out of snow. Designer/builder/snowboarder Jimi Scott claims the new park will have several halfpipes, a half-mile-long snakerun, a recreation of Winchester Skatepark 's famous Washboard (a series of pumpable mounds ending in a quarterpipe), and a twenty-foot-deep bowl complete with a channel. We're not exactly sure how one would pump a snow-covered bowl on a snowboard, but it sounds great to us. The park should be open by Thanksgiving of this year.
Feeling charitable? Feeling giving? Feeling like seeing an entire afternoon of amazing demo skating? Feeling Texan? Well, you're in luck, because on November 13, 1999 South Side Skatepaark of Houston, Texas will play host to the third annual Make-A-Wish Skate Jam . The day-long demo will feature your favorite pros and ams from the Vans , Planet Earth , Rhythm , Santa Cruz , Element , New Deal , Black Label , Chapman , Zoo York , DC , Shorty's , Real , Stereo , and Think teams (as well as a bunch more), and your entire fifteen-dollar entry fee will be donated to the Make A Wish Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast, Inc.–an organization that make wishes come true for dying kids. Everyone wins. For more info, check out skateboarder.com .
Supernaut has added Mike Daher and Tony Cox to its roster, and the company's first video, Infinite Momentum , is scheduled for release sometime in September. In other Supernaut news, Matt Reason and Adam Beltz have left the team to pursue other endeavors in skateboarding.
Congratulations to Steve Berra and his lovely wife Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers) who were wed on 9/9/99 in the Northern California town of Big Sur. We wish the couple a lifetime of happiness and good movie roles.
Kris Markovich no longer rides for DuFFS shoes; he's been talking to a potential new sponsor, but we can't confirm it yet, so tune in next month to find out who the lucky shoe company is. Adil Dyani is riding for Lethal skateboards and has been assisting 55DSL (a branch of Italian-based Diesel Clothing)in getting their skate program dialed in. New Zoo York pro Quim Cardona now has a board out. If you wish to see Quim's model and the complete line of Zoo product, check it out online at: www.zooyork.com .
On a final note, while in San Diego on a skate road trip in late August Justin Strubing 's brother Billy was killed in a car accident. Our condolences and thoughts go out to his family. Rest in peace.
