John

fifty two

2008-11-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

It's open and it's a hit so far.

Mr. Mateo and Ultimate Killa came over Friday to work on their night moves. It was probably the best session I've ever had. Saturday was a trip, so many people showed up

Here's a look at the awesomes: 1 2 3 4

clean off your desk

2008-11-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

I lost my job today. I'm serious, I got laid off, me and two others at Eclipse. It wasn't because of anything I did, it's just the recession and the credit crisis. It's like an adult problem. You might have heard me mention recently that work has been slow and joking that it was only a matter of time before I got fired. And it finally happened. This shit is a little too serious for this forum, and I apologize for the buzz-kill, but blogging about it is easier than explaining it to everyone individually. I don't really have a plan for what I'm going to do. I'm looking at all my options right now and I'll figure it out.

The good news is Obama will be president and I don't have to go to work tomorrow.

reckless and depraved

2008-10-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

This one is for all the ladies in the audience.

You know who's amazing? Simon and Garfunkel. I've been binging on their albums for a week now. I had their greatest hits album when I was in high school, and I loved it back then, but I just decided to get all their albums and they're all fucking solid. Awesome albums, great songs. Here's some proof: 1 2 3

And while I'm talking about music, I was fairly pleased to see that my man Obama has tastes similar to mine. Not that that sort of thing really matters to me, I was going to vote for him anyway because I'm black. You know we're all African, right?

you are a pretty pretty princess

2008-10-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

UK paid a visit to the Garden City last week to lend a hand on the skatepark and talk shit on just about everyone (yep, even you). He also took a very special birthday shower. Happy 23rd!

The skatepark is finally starting to look like a real fucking skatepark. I have new pictures, but not for your eyes. I want everything in there to be a surprise from now on so that when we're open you can walk in and stare in awe at the "fuck yeahs" that abound.

Hey, Everyone. Look. Kurt left a present. Oh, wow, it's for all of us...

UK's Loves and Hates, Vol. 3

Love:

"Honky-tonk women... enough said. Girls who are just a little too trashy for your own good, i.e. lots of makeup, cowboy boots, big hair. Girls who look like a used washcloth the next morning! Love 'em!"

I personally don't know what Kurt finds attractive about this. Maybe a song could help? Nope, that didn't help at all. I prefer quiet, bookish girls.

Hates:

"Indecisiveness/misspelled words. Both of which I do, but loathe (John helped with that) anyway. Having every opportunity to do anything but be complacent and not taking advantage of it, i.e. where to live, work, skate, drink, eat, et cetera. Fucking pick something and do it."

I definitely understand what Kurt is talking about here. Poor spelling is the worst. Maybe a song could help. Yeah, that totally helped. Beyond that, get your shit together, fuckers.

That's all for now. I have to get back to sticking razor blades into the apples that I intend to hand out to any brave thing that decides to knock on my cabin door this Friday. That's pretty dark and scary, right?

your pets will look at b'owl

2008-10-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, yeah, another skatepark update. The bowl is fully finished and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Matt got a black eye while skating it. I need to get some knee-pads before I get serious in the deep end. The skatepark isn't going to be called Vigilante anymore, it's something else, but I won't tell you what because it might change again.

I got the Beauty and the Beast Tour DVD. It's worth buying just to see what Peter "Baby Fists" Hewitt and Tony "Second Coming of Christ" Trujillo do at the expanded Lincoln City park. Also, Rick McCrank needs more coverage. All terrain ripping is so 2008. There are a couple clips of John Cardiel skating that make me happy, too.

Speaking of Lincoln City, I'm forming in my mind a tour itinerary for the spring. I'm thinking out to Portland, and then down the coast, skating every park that exists. There's potential to go all the way down to Santa Cruz, but that's hella driving, and who knows if Brandon is still going to be down there at that time when the weather is right.

scrapepark part II

2008-10-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Things continue to move along at the warehouse. I rolled around in the bowl for the first time this weekend. It felt great, except that they haven't put the masonite layer on yet so falling meant splinters. It should be done in another week. I'm so excited about having a wooden bowl. I want to learn airs and vert tricks. I feel like I'm 13 again, I get to learn a whole new set of tricks.

The other side of the building is starting to look really fun too. We finally finished this thing. I already savaged the ledge, but that rail is still a virgin. Not for long, though. This quarterpipe is pretty much finished and we started building a big steep bank that will be fun for the flippity tricks.

Also, let me reiterate, no one rides for free. Right now no one gets to skate anything unless they've been cutting wood or zipping screws. Once it's opened, don't think that I'll let you in for free just 'cause you're my friend. If you care at all about keeping this place open you'll do your part (monetarily). I'm only saying this now so I don't have to say it later.

mystics and statistics

2008-10-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

I said I wasn't going to post anything until Evan did, but reality is that Evan is never going to post anything ever because, well, you know why. I don't even need to say it.

I haven't gotten a love or a hate from UK for a while. I wonder if he still feels strongly about things. I know I do. Hey Evan, why don't you take over the UK L&H? It's easy and fun.

Hey. Which song am I going to use for Slow Down?

A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jkkeeAOk0s

B) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brZTvGIzeGg

C) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKmZRO8XzyY

D) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSc8qVMjKM

Yep, the correct answer is D. I know Dan hates this song, which is a big reason why I like it. I can almost hear him now, "blah blah generic chords blah blah uninteresting waah waaaaaah" Something like that right? Well, I can't really defend liking it, I am an idiot after all. But there's something about the line "little old lady got mutilated late last night," combined with that cheerful little piano riff, that resonates with me. "Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor."

If I didn't offend you with this post, let me know and I'll try to hit you up in the next one.

vigilante skatepark

2008-09-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

How many of you have skateboards? How many of you like to ride your skateboards? Okay, yeah, a lot of you. Check this shit out. Yeah, I know, it's pretty sick. That's the deep end of the bowl going up. Dylan says it's 8 1/2 feet, but it looks bigger than that to me. All I've ever wanted is to do a frontside ollie like Max Schaff, and now I can practice all winter. You can come to, but you have to pay. Grape loves the street section.

Hey, who wants to fart out a t-shirt design for us? Dan? Fletcher? Will? Do that thing you like to do with lines and colors that you hope to make a living with. We're into really cliche Montana imagery, like bison skulls, rifles, logs, and the like. It's called Vigilante Skatepark. If you make something good I won't make fun of the fact that your bitch-ass won't touch the coping in deep end and that you just want to skate the euro gap all day. I'm sorry, that came out all wrong. What I meant to say was "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

fuck this

2008-09-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm going to apologize up front for getting political on this site because I realize most people that look at this bullshit don't care about the upcoming election. Earlier this year I tried to dedicate my life to apathy, but that hasn't been working out. You see, I actually have a brain and I pay attention. I can't stand seeing the mainstream news outlets being dominated by stories about trivial bullshit while ignoring the topics that actually matter. I can't stand watching the GOP lie (straight up LIE) and not get called out on it. And I really can't stand seeing leaders making decisions based solely on pathos and not logos.

Right now, living in this country, I feel like I'm at a shitty frat party surrounded by idiots. I just want to get out. This whole post is really reactionary, and I'm probably full of shit when I say I'm going to defect if McCain becomes president. I don't know if I could leave my home and family and friends just like that. Hell, where the fuck would I even go? I'm just sick of thinking "God fucking damn it!" every time I go to the Google news page. And I can't just ignore it, because we really deserve better than this.

I don't want to guilt trip anyone, but please register to vote if you're not. And please do your best to be informed. If you want to be apathetic, that's fine, but I'll probably call you a fucking idiot to your face.

I promise my next post will be about skateboarding or drinking beer, you know, happy stuff.

take off

2008-09-06T23:23:00.000-07:00

Bear on Bear is my new band. It sucks.

"Fuck you. Music's not hard to make." - Evan

whiz-bang

2008-08-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

I learned a valuable new skill yesterday: feigning interest and excitement. I think this will help me socially and professionally. I think most people my age have already learned how to do this. Either that or they really are interested in so much lame and boring shit. But people lie to themselves in order to lie more convincingly to others.

I went on the Nature Cruise of the Century in Glacier with the BMG and friends. I have stories and pictures, but since it happened over a week ago I'm not really interested in it anymore. You can look at pictures here. The weather sucked but it was still incredible, I want to go back.

I think I'll go skateboard in the rain now.

buggery

2008-08-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Man, I don't know if you've ever tried to get $600 cash together at 1 AM on a Monday so you can bail a friend out of jail, but it can be frustrating.

UK's Loves and Hates, Vol. 2

Loves:

Apparently Kurt loves this song.

Hates:

Punk-ass kids from the suburbs that pretend to be poor. They know they're lives are pathetic and they respond by living like Sal Paradise. They typically hitch hike, eat leftovers, and have malnourished dogs with them.

And, in related Jarvis Cocker news:

bad beef (farts)

2008-08-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

There was supposed to be a bitchin' bowl jam today. But then the sky turned dark and pissed all over the city, ruining the fun of every fully-padded 30+ dude. Suck. It's nice out right now, though.

I saw this, and I just want Evan to know that I done kickflipped into that shit 4 years ago. That is the proper and most appropriate way to skate that space, at least until we can get a jersey barrier there and quick-crete a DIY quarterpipe.

It looks like Pete uploaded some dank-ass construction drawings. It'll be nice to have some fresh Dreamland obstacles in Helena, maybe. It seems Dreamland has been on point recently with street shit, The Glenhaven park is close to perfection. But Dreamland also poured Butte, so don't get your hopes too high. Also, I realize that I'm going to step on some toes by saying this, but who's idea was it to add stairs. Stairs are the worst obstacle to put in a park. They are completely one dimensional and kill flow. You might as well just make it a bank, I mean you can still lump down it if you really want to. It also looks like they're planning on filling in our beloved wedge gap and taking out that goofy kicker-ramp-mini-gap-with-tall-ledge thing. (Why haven't we come up with a clever and succinct name for that turd of concrete?) A lot of people will probably miss the wedge gap, I just need to make sure I get the gap to lip on it before they start construction. The new tranny should be loads of fun, that's one thing Dreamland has on lock. Of course, keep in mind, what's on the drawings isn't necessarily what will be built. Dreamland (and Grindline) has a reputation for just building whatever the fuck their coke-addled brains think will be cool. I'm pretty excited for Helena.

bummy bag bag

2008-08-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm assuming that everyone that looks at this site knows and loves the Ultimate Kurt. (That's this Kurt, not this Kurt.) So I feel honored to present a feature that hopefully happens frequently known as UK's Loves and Hates. The concept is that he tells me what he loves and hates with an explanation which I then editorialize. Let us begin.

UK's Loves and Hates, Vol. 1

Loves: Mojitos

A mojito is a white rum based cocktail flavored with mint and lime that is as delicious as it is refreshing.

Hates: Meow-jitos

The meow-jito is a modified mojito that replaces mint with catnip. It is neither delicious nor refreshing. Don't order one. The meow-jito was born when one of the insane dudes that hangs out at the property thought that the catnip growing at his house was mint, which is not an easy mistake to make. The result was a bitter and repulsive drink that ruined the rum.

flash 'em back

2008-07-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm stuck in the early oughts week. My last post was about 7 Year Glitch (Ricky Oyola's part is sick, right?) and I'd like to dedicate this post to Arto Saari. When Sorry came out Arto was pretty much the hottest shit in skateboarding, Menikmati was still in the collective consciousness and he had just won SOTY. He was the natural candidate for last part in Sorry. The skating may seem tedious by today's standards, but this part was probably the pinnacle of gnarly handrail skating.

Things to note:

- Where has Tom Penny been?

- That ambidextrous beginning shit is still pretty amazing.

- "Was that Bam? Weird."

- Arto rides for Burton now (AWS, Analog, and Gravis are all owned by Burton), which probably means the beginning of the end of his career. More info on that here.

i like flowers

2008-07-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

New Deal's 7 Year Glitch falls into the category of forgotten-but-awesome. I'm guessing it was overshadowed by Dying to Live and Sorry when it was released. I know I didn't see it when it came out, but thanks to the endless entertainment of YouTube I've been able to get acquainted with it. It's really a shame that New Deal went under because I think the skating in this video has stood the test of time better than most videos that were released in the handrail hammer heyday. Anyway, here are some select parts that I enjoyed.

face punchers

2008-07-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is old news at this point, but last week Mount Sentinel burned right next to my house. It was moderately exciting as my fabulously well-to-do neighbors worried about their pleasantly manicured lawns getting singed. I sat on the stoop and had a beer and watched the flames for about 3 hours. It was more interesting than most movies I've seen.

There are a lot of white people in Missoula. I'm one of them.

There's documentation of the Indy tour in MT over at the Thrasher site. I'm particularly fond of this image.

I've noticed that this site is getting kinda slow and just in case Dan decides to pull the plug on it, I've reserved a new blog space.

how to fake a heart attack

2008-07-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

I'd say that Independence Day Weekend 2008 was semi-epic. All things in moderation, even epicness. I spent one night in Helena, one night in Bozeman, and one night on top of a mountain; a well balanced weekend.

In Helena I was reminded again that Evan is the best at everything, including dressing like Mowgli everyday. We also went to Miller's and drank beer and stuff, pretty typical.

The original plan for Friday was to go to the rodeo in Livingston, but it was sold out, so we ate at Mark's In-n-Out (which you should go to sometime if you live in the area) then went back to Bozeman to drink beer, skate a mini ramp, light fireworks, and have a general good time.

The real goal of the weekend (for me) was to go backpacking, and we did a lightweight trip up a mountain in the Paradise Valley. We started in Forest Level with a bunch of midwesterners who just wanted to look at one waterfall. After Forest Level comes Creek Level, we were warned on the way up that it would be a "doozy." And it was. I picked the wrong line through it and got my pants soaked and had to spend the rest of the afternoon wearing Kurt's whack swimming trunks. Shortly after Creek Level came Rock Level, then Snow Level, and finally Lake Level.

Lake Level was tight. It rained on us a little bit and things got silly. After it rained we built a fire and Kurt cooked some dinner while I cooked my pants until they were adequately dry. We had some redneck neighbors who wanted to see how many trees they could chop down before they got too drunk. They sucked to have around, but at least it gave me someone to talk shit on that wasn't Ian. It rained on us that night and Kurt got gnarly by sleeping outside, tacoed in a tarp.

Hiking down the mountain was way more fun than hiking up it. You could spend time thinking about the beautiful world around you instead of the sweat in your eyes. It was a great time, I definitely need to go backpacking more often.

Also, eat at the Pop Stand, best burger for your buck. And WiFi. I'm curious about how things went at Confederate Gulch.

nasty, brutish, and short

2008-06-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have a serious question. Who would win in a game of SKATE, a gorilla or a bear?

So how about that Indy Demo? Pretty sick, right? I only took a couple of photos. We've got Brian Anderson with Chris Bacon, a scared and lonely Chet Childress, Emmanuel Guzman back smith, and find David Gravette. I could give you a list of all the gnarly shit that happened, but that would be boring and the footage will probably show up on the internet or in a Thrasher video some time. The really interesting stuff happened at the after party at the Badlander. It turns out that most pro skateboarders are completely retarded, seriously de-evolved. After a conversation with Peter Hewitt, it makes perfect sense why he can do what he does. Also, I heard that Sammy Baca broke a window on Broadway and had to go the hospital and got arrested. Great job!

I guess I should link to the Four Seasons site. It's fun.

The Mighty Ducks

2008-06-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

Blaow! I'm sure you've seen the stickers ordering you to "keep Missoula weird." I'm going let you know right now that Missoula does not need any more help being weird, it's got weirdness on lock. I should elaborate on this, but I lack the gumption. And you should really just experience it first hand.

Yeah, so International Go Lurk at the Skatepark Day was yesterday. And there were a lot of people lurking at the skatepark. Some people were actually skateboarding too. It was "holy hell" hot out and I got some decent sun burns in some unusual places. It was a lot of fun really, there were little best trick contests throughout the day on various obstacles so everyone could be awesome in some unique way. I think we also managed to raise a decent amount of money for the new indoor park project. I should have taken at least some photos, but I didn't.

The Indy demo is this Wednesday, sometime in the afternoon. I'm taking work off to witness it.

Do you have the new Lil Wayne album yet? You're blowing it you don't. I like that new Wolf Parade album too. Kissing the Beehive is totally epic.

it's tha carter three

2008-06-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

Damn, we did a lot of skateboarding over the weekend. "We" being UK, Special K, DQ, C Dirty, Prickly Pete and the person typing this. It was a fuck load of fun. Pete is more than a decade older than the rest of us, but he still totally fit in with all us retards. It made me optimistic about another 10 years of skating, drinking, eating ice cream, and general dorking around. To quote Vonnegut, "We are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."

So while I was out playing, I guess there was a skate jam/contest/fundraiser, or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, I flaked out pretty bad. I hope everyone had fun that went to that. We're doing another thing on Saturday at MOBASH. No one needs to come over for that.

Go pick up the new Lil Wayne album.

coconino community development

2008-06-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

Good year for a Sasquatch Festival.

Top 5 bands this year at Sasquatch that aren't the Flaming Lips:

1) Battles - Nearly superhuman abilities.
2) Okkervil River - Really emotional, like me.
3) The National - "I'm Mr. November, I won't fuck us over."
4) Destroyer - Best part of the New Pornos and a killer solo performance.
5) Beirut - Just beautiful.

Other Highlights:

Tents

Knives

Knocking Fletcher Over

Resizing images is for pussies. Go here if you want to see more awesomes.

the old man is an irrelevant distraction

2008-06-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, my hiatus is over. That can only mean that I have a new computer. And I do. It's right here in front of me. Yep, I'm a total hipster douchebag now; blogging at a coffee shop. Someone should probably punch me.

There's a skate jam here in Missoula on June 14 to benefit me and Dylan, or less accurately the new indoor skatepark. We're also having an event on June 21, Go Skateboarding Day, to make people aware of our need to skateboard every fucking day.

I think I'll post about Sasquatch later, I don't have my photos loaded on this new machine. I'll say this now though, I thought it was rad times and everyone should listen to Okkervil River as much as possible.

Is UK still alive? I haven't seen him in forever.

G'night.

harrison bergeron

2008-05-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

I got my economic stimulus package today. Did you? I don't know what it takes to qualify for that. This means that NEW BIKE DAY is coming up. I think I posted that comic before, but I still think it's funny.

Happy bachelor's degree, Brandon!

I decided that content isn't important at all; mass is. Fill it up and fill it often.

I'm 100% confident that I'll never get tired of THE BOSS.

I'm not going to make it to the Love, Cathy show. It's probably because I'm such a bitch, or douchebag, or faggot. Your choice, chef's salad.

Buh-bye.

feds

2008-05-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

Grape bought me a gift due to my altruism. It's pretty tight. Imagine combining these two things. One. Two. Oh, man.

Is it too late to order a pizza?