Weather:
They keep threatening rain that never shows up. Humid.

Happy Independence Day! I hope you took some time to remember Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and to watch a few episodes of the Twilight Zone marathon. I saw a few episodes where people were out of time or in the future or the old time days and they all get very upset and say “whaddyamean.” The Twilight Zone is one of the best shows ever.

These ladies are putting together Tryst on Friday the 13th.

Here is a preview of the stuff I’ll be showing.

Pretty much everything else is going to be about skateboarding so if you hate skateboarding and for some reason you ended up here feel free to look at other stuff and come back next week.

Eric’s got a new dog and a new home and enough gumption to organize the old fella’s for a skateboard roadtrip.

We hit Northbrook early, then Glen-something (the one with the skatelite park) and ended up at Glencoe.

I rolled with Juan.

When he picked me up that morning he described a crazy car accident that he saw down the street. He didn’t see the actual accident just the line of things (Suntime box, curb, cars) that the guy hit. A few days later I found this obstacle that was inadvertantly created.

After hearing the hype on the news I was happy to finally see these things. They were pretty much everywhere and mostly about dead. I rolled over a few on the quarterpipe.

Capt. Phill and Randy talked about pools in the NW burbs they used to skate in the 80′s. Over 40 and still on board. Something to look forward to.

Eric with a 5-0.

Then it was back to the Pitt’s for BBQ’d deliciousness.

I probably should’ve taken more skating pictures but then I would’ve skated less. The food was delicious, the crew was up for fun and the day was kinda overcast so it was pleasant until the sun emerged at full strength. Good stuff. I’m looking forward to the next one.

There was a rock and roll extravaganza that whipped the horses ass with a belt. Here’s Frontside Five. Look closely.

Next up was my new favorite band, The Party Downers. Make sure you make their next show. In the photo Grant is possessed.

Sunday Ricky opened up his home for an old fashioned backyard rampjam.

It reminded me of a different time. It’s been awhile since I skated in a backyard snake session. Good to see there still out there.

This morning Alex made it out. So even though he doesn’t skate that much any more and there hasn’t been any footage on the site in a few months, here’s a trick for the holiday.

And finally the Ray Barbee Challenge…
So a few days back there was a discussion on the Wilson bench about Ray Barbee’s skills and Brad brought up the trick tip he had in 411vm issue 1. I’ve never seen this and I couldn’t find it on youtube but apparently Ray Barbee’s trick tip was a backside 360 double flip over a hip. (the body and the board turn 360 and the board flips twice) That’s not a trick you see everyday and I find it hard to believe that it’s a trick tip (I gotta imagine he says something like, “hit the hip at a good speed, pop and flip the board as you turn, let the board flip twice, when you’ve rotated all the way around catch the board on the bolts, roll away clean” or maybe “first dial in backside 360′s, next dial in double flips, combine the two at high speed”) So to settle the validity of Ray Barbee’s skills I’m putting a challenge out there. The first person I see land his trick tip get’s $20. I have to see it in person so practive up and when you see me at Wilson have at it. I’ve asked most people and no ones come close. I’ll let you know who puts it down. Ray Barbee is legit.