Weather:
Wet and sort of fallish with a certainty of future snow.
Randomly fractured my kneecap. Most surprising thing is I wasn’t skating. I’ve broken bones before and I’m confident it’ll heal up and I’ll be back at a 100% in no time but right now I’m starting to get a little stir crazy. I also had to miss a trip to Nashville and miss seeing Dolly Parton, Bob Seger and Madonna. That concert lineup makes me sound older than I am. Optimistically I’ll be skating by Thanksgiving. Not terrible, just momentary. I found out today Suhail and Ben are both on the bench with fractures, wrist and collarbone respectively. Be careful out there!
A couple days before the crutches I enjoyed a simple moment that made me really happy. I came out of the Post Office and saw the Broadway bus. I was running late and I needed to catch the bus so I didn’t think I just ran down the steps and started skating, pushing as fast as I could, and I caught the bus at the next stop. It was an unconscious interaction with the world.
I’ve been thinking about this concept for awhile now and working most of the summer to make it happen. I’m really happy with how it came together.
It incorporates a number of the things I love doing in art: simpleness, repetition, slight variance, print making, parking blocks, change.
I’m really thankful Uprise let me put it up. Stop in and buy an Uprise shirt or new shoes.
Do your holiday shopping.
Definitely buy new wheels. I’m pretty terrible about getting new wheels but when I put them on and cruise down the street I’m pleasantly delighted.
I made and hand colored 180 prints, 3 designs, 60 each. Underneath that are 60 photos from the past few years of skateboarding in Chicago.
Make a donation, take home a print. All donations will go towards making parking blocks for spots in Chicago. Personally I recommend getting all 3 and making a triptych. I’m really looking forward to seeing the wall evolve over time as prints are removed. I’ll try my best to post pictures as the installation changes. Huge thanks to Tim B., G and Piz for helping to get the installation up. I couldn’t get up on the ladder with the immobilizer on my leg!
At the beginning of 2019 I had ambitions on putting together a longer video but things didn’t fall into place. I spent more time skating than filming. I got a new camera and kept fussing and trying to dial it in. I shot photos instead of filming. I was at Wilson and the curbs more than anywhere else. Maybe things will fall into place in 2020. I still have some random ideas that I want to put together. This vid incorporated some of the ideas I hope to refine.
I probably could’ve made a full length vid of the Friday night curb sessions. Instead I started making animations. Jackson with the hurricane.
I have the Dude Life – Stud’s Terkel board hanging in my basement and it nagged at me for awhile. I kept thinking about how I would do it today so finally I took some time and drew it up.
I’ve been making small runs of stickers lately. If you’re interested they run $1 a piece.
Message me and I’ll throw them in the mail for you.
Finally a few recommendations:
- Jaimie Branch’s new album, Fly or Die 2 is essential listening.
- The family behind Asadero and Taqueria de Mayo just opened a third satellite location two blocks from me and I couldn’t be happier to welcome Las Flores to the neighborhood.
The holiday package is coming together nicely. So if you’re interested send over your address. They should be going out in early December.