9Star Art Exhibit

An art exhibit at a board shop?......whatever, I like Corey's work, so I decided to go. Corey is now a resident artist over at Ambiguous Clothing and his work has already been used by numerous other companies. Since art is a visual thing, I'll let the photos set the scene for you.

Some of Corey's original work was mounted around the shop














and other pieces were copied on large format printing and hung from the ceiling.














Fans of his art could also buy limited edition t-shirts and skateboards featuring some of his work. Hear that kids?,,,,,,LIMITED EDITION. Now you really want it huh?














There was also free beer (Chicken was happy)



















and a live performance from Major Grace.











































Good art, good people, good music, good times.

-Dan

Joe Sexton Vital 20

Joe had a chat with Evan over at Snowboarder Magazine and as you can see, Joe is a man of many words.














I'm pretty sure that's not his Benz that he's leaning on though. Unless he's makin more money than I thought?

-Dan

Hypebeast

Check out some more of our Spring/Summer 2008 Collection on Hypebeast.












-Nam

Fitted Cap Wins The Poll

Looks like fitted caps are still the most popular. However, fedoras are not far behind. And whichever handful of you voted for "beanie",..............it's summer, what's wrong with you? Anyway, Wwe'll do this poll before each season. Should be interesting to see which styles come out on top during different times of the year.

-Dan

The World Is Ours

Corey's having an arts exhibit in West Los Angeles on 6/27. Be there or be geometry. There's even live music and free booze!
If you can't make it, check his stuff out at coreysmithart.com.

-Dan

Transworld Skate Awards

The Transworld Skate Awards went down at the Avalon in Hollywood on Friday. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Hollywood, especially douchebag clubs like the Avalon, but it was the Transworld Skate Awards, so I made an exception. I met up with Anthony and Jules, who were kind enough to let me in the V.I.P. line so I didn't have to wait with the peasants (thanks guys).
We walked right through all the dopey red carpet garbage and went inside for a beverage. The pre-party was mellow, with musical enjoyment provided by Ray Barbee's band.











It was a packed house, as usual, so if you didn't get there early, you were probably waiting outside for days.














I even saw a few Willy's Workshop fitteds scattered around the place (I know it's a shameless plug & a terrible photo)














Anyway, the Event was hosted by Chris Pastras (here with Clyde Singleton)














and the first award was presented by Slash, Muska, & Nuge













for Best Rookie, which went to Silas Baxter-Neal.

Lakai won Best Video for "Fully Flared" (no big surprise)














and Guy Mariano won pretty much everything else (Street, Video Part, & Reader's Choice)










































Oh, and Tony Hawk won the Legend Award, presented by last years winner Lance Mountain. Check Transworld for the complete breakdown of the awards. And here's a photo of Daewon & Kareem (just because).














The awards were followed by the premier of Transworld's newest video "And Now". The video is legit, no joke. In fact, the crowd went apeshit when technical difficulties caused the movie to crap out halfway through. It got fixed though and rewound so that nothing was missed. My favorite parts were Dave Gravette, Richie Jackson, and Nick Trapasso, but pick it up when it comes out and judge for yourself.

There was an afterparty upstairs in the Spider Club














but I only hung out for a bit since I had to get up early on Saturday.

Good times though.

-Dan

**Oh, and I heard the Celtics made the Lakers look like a high school team last night. Alex is probably bummed, haha.**

Del & A-Plus

Del and A-Plus from Oakland-based Heiroglyphics wearing the Advita
Fitteds.

-Alex

Mo'bama

I can't get enough of this guy. First he comes swingin' out the box with this...



Then he gets the nod from the Democrats and gives us this tasty little nugget...



Hahahahaha "a celebratory fist bump" or "closed fist high five"? Priceless. I almost want to vote for him based on entertainment value alone (but I'm not THAT shallow). Gotta say though, he's lookin alot better than this guy right now...



Ohhhh, Tim Russert just schooled you old man!!!! Haha. Anyway, not trying to tell you who to vote for. Just get out there and vote when the time comes.

-Dan

WOOOAAAHHH!!!!

I stared at this photo for like 20 minutes.
Some dude in Mexico fell asleep at the wheel and straight BLASTED this group of cyclists participating in a race near the U.S./Mexico border over the weekend. A few points of note in this photo:

#1 - Yes, that is a shoe and a helmet (not to mention a person) flying in the air on the left.
#2 - There are NO brake lights on, which means the car plowed through this cyclist pack like a bowling ball. And there ain't no "crumple zones" on an old car like that.
#3 - How stoked is that guy on the left in the green?

Initially, I was thinking of doing a caption contest for this photo, but after reading an article stating that one cyclist died, I decided that was kind of messed up.
So be careful if you decide to take your fixed-gear down to Mexico. I hear this guy hates fixed-gears.

-Dan

Willys Workshop

Willys Workshop just released their first fitted cap produced by,.....us. The cap is embroidered with the "crosshammer" logo and is available in two colorways (Black and Red/White/Blue). They are available at both store locations in San Diego.



























Willys Workshop is owned by none other than Willy Santos. If you don't know who that is, then you either don't know much about skating or haven't been doing it very long (or both) because he's been holding it down for around two decades. Just take a look at this old video of him back in 1991.


Old videos are way more entertaining than new ones. Anyway, he's legit and so is his shop, so you should spend your money there. We also hit Willy with a few questions, just for the fun of it and to get his opinion on a few things. So read up and enjoy.














1. How does it feel to be such an influential skater for over a decade? And what are the biggest changes you've seen from the time you turned pro to now?
First of all I'm just really thankful to be skating for such a longtime & it's a true blessing that I may have happened to influence skaters along the way. Just like many other pros, ams & friends over the years that I've skated with or seen skating have influence my skating today & in the past. I hope that's what I've been able to do for the future generations. Skaters like... Tony Hawk, Danny Way, Christian Hosoi, Steve Cabellero, Eric Koston, Guy Mariano, Marc Johnson, Daewon Song, Brian Lotti, June Cate, Jason Carney, John Reeves, Kien Liu (The Donger), Kyong Kim, Peter Smolik, Paul Rodriguez, Jamie Palmore & Jimmy Cao are the guys I've been influenced by. Some of the biggest changes I've seen since turning pro till now are... the trends of clothing & shoes we wear for example from the early punk, surf style of clothing to big pants small wheels, to T.A.P's. (Tight ASS Pants) Skating in High-tops & cutting them to lows. Now it's a mix of everything. The trends of skateboarding tricks... Now it's like if it looks clean & done well then it's all good. That's the way it should be. Also having all the skate-parks around is pretty amazing because when I was growing up skating in the late 80's skate-parks were for the most part closing down. Now they are everywhere.

2. Skating has gained so much popularity in recent years and with that popularity comes huge corporations trying to cash in. How do you feel about that and what would you like to see from skateboarding in the next few years?
It's good & bad that the big corporations have been getting involved with skateboarding. The good is that skateboarding has been seen by almost everyone around the world by movies, X-Games & TV shows such as Bam, Ryan Sheckler, Rob & Big. The bad that I see is that it's so popular now that it's harder to go street skating out on real spots not skate-parks.

3. Tricks have also become really tech these days. Do you think there are any more tricks to be invented or has Rodney Mullen already invented them all?
Skateboarding has definitely become really tech these days. There is still plenty of progression going on out there. I enjoy seeing combo's of old tricks & new tricks put together. Rodney pretty much did invent most of the flip tricks out there & is still inventing new tricks.

4. We all know you own the best skate shop in San Diego. How's juggling a career as an athlete and a shop owner?
Juggling a professional career in skateboarding & having the shops is fun & at times hard. My wife Shalihe manages the shops with the great help of our awesome staff. Pretty much when you own your own business you sleep & breathe it every day.

5. The shop carries the usual skate brands, but also a few select street wear brands like Crooks 'n' Castles, Hundreds, 10 Deep, etc. What's your take on skateboarding having such a heavy influence on recent fashion trends?
My take on skateboarding having a heavy influence on recent fashion trends is that the whole life style of skateboarding is marketable & profitable. People just eat it up. Everyone has style. Style or Stinkbug? You choose...

6. Ok now for the customary ender. Who would you like to send a shout out to?
I would like to thanks my sponsors... Birdhouse Skateboards, Venture Trucks, Ninja Bearings, Satori Wheels, Arnette, Iron Horse Griptape, Tiki Hut Island Grille, Willys Workshop Staff & Team Riders. Also Ryan & Raibyn Cabiling, Nam, Mike Stacks, Cameron Sanchez, Josh Holtz, RJ & Diether Ocampo my loving wife Shalihe. Be on the look out for Willys Workshop Philippines 2008. Sorry if I missed anybody. Here's my shameless plug Check out www.willysantos.com Thanks for the support & God Bless.

Thanks Willy.

-Nam