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Not much else to say other than Bastien Salabanzi murdered it, and he knew it. In the clip where he gave away his shirt and sat down in the crowd, there was still 15 minutes left in the jam session. So Bastien reclaimed his board and did the last two tricks sans shirt, and iced it with the Cab double flip. The rest of the video features: Dominik Dietrich, Eero Antilla, Alex Olson, Chris Pfanner, Julian Bechet, and Bastien.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Lyn-Z Hawkins in the middle of the first 540 landed by a woman. Pretty amazing.
In a skate, art and music event held in Paris' historic Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Paris Expedition, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins made her own history as the first female to land a 540 on a skateboard. Watch it here.

The event, entitled the Quiksilver Tony Hawk Show, featured photography from Bára Prásilová, live painting by André, music by Dead By Sunrise, DJing with Mix Master Mike and, of course, skating.

To close up the skate event, after Tony Hawk landed another highly- demanded 900, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins put down the first documented 540 landed by a woman. Check back soon for an interview with Lyn-Z.



DVS recently released the second installment of a two part shoe series collaboration with LRG and veteran pro Chico Brenes. In celebration of the shoe’s release, the two brands got together and through Chico a little party at LA’s infamous Cha Cha Lounge. As the unofficial Max Fish of LA, the Cha Cha is the favorite drinking destination for skateboarders all over the Los Angles area. This past Thursday night was no exception as pro skaters from all over the city packed out the tiny bar and guzzled down hundreds of free Tecates. Dudes got rowdy and ladies got loose as DJ AKO and ATIBA (AKA The BlackOuts) pumped out the jams all night long. Check out the photos to see everything that went down.

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With everyone talking about Cory Kennedy's almost-landed super trick (which he's dubbed, the Merlin Twist), I got Cory on the phone to explain the maneuver for less technical thinking skateboarders. In his own words: "Your back foot is in the switch bigspin position. And you put your front foot pretty much on the nose. Then just scoop it really hard. Then, I don't know, dip your front foot down to whip the board around and then kinda hope you land it (laughs). I'm not very good at explaining."
Well, that doesn't tell us much. Click below to watch the video and listen to Cory talk about the trick a little more in depth and his Battle at the Berrics experience. Special thanks to Mike Martinez from Inner Space Skatepark for the footage.



Skateboarding made Tony Hawk famous, but it's his video game series that has made The Birdman wealthy beyond even his belief. With over $1 billion in sales worldwide, Hawk's games are the top-selling action sports franchise of all time. But with "Tony Hawk RIDE," Hawk and game developer Robomodo have decided to ditch traditional controllers in favor of a wheel-less plastic skateboard peripheral. A peripheral Hawk demonstrates to me by rocking the nose and tail, then spinning completely around on the board, a move that forced his on-screen character to pull a frontside 360 over a gap at the end of LA river level.

Tony Hawk RIDE
Hawk demonstrates RIDE's new skateboard peripheral.

"The experience is like you're really there, it's that exhilarating when you're physically able to rotate your board," he tells me. "This is something I've always envisioned, but to actually do it and to see your character on screen mimicking your movements and almost having the same hand and body positions is amazing.

"I think when people first heard about this game, they thought it was just another Wii Fit board. It's not. This is way beyond that."

And by watching Hawk soar in the game thanks to his movements on the board, it's easy to see kids across the country trading in their plastic guitars for plastic skateboards (if only they made "Tony Hawk: Guitar Hero" where you could shred while you ride).

I caught up with Hawk in Los Angeles to get his thoughts on "RIDE," the inspiration behind the plastic peripheral, and how his video game franchise has changed his life (beyond the truckloads of cash, of course). Here's what he had to say:

Jon Robinson: Why do you feel your video game series needed a change of direction to a board-based game?

Tony Hawk:I've always wanted to do a board-based game, I just felt like the technology wasn't quite there yet. I felt like after our last game, we had gone as far as we could with the button-smashing mode because you weren't getting a true skate experience at that point, you were just memorizing button combos. So I came to Activision and said, 'I think it's time we do a board-based game.' The technology is here, we shouldn't be afraid to utilize it, and games like Guitar Hero proved, people aren't afraid to buy peripherals. I just thought we should try. So Activision hired this group out of Chicago, Robobmodo, to develop the game and to develop the board, and they came up with something beyond what I could've ever imagined. This thing has accelerometers, and it even has infra-red sensors around the edges that scan the perimeter of the board to know if your hands or feet are coming in. And we made it so you don't need to know how to skate to use it. You get on and all you have to do is stand on the thing. You don't even need to turn your way around on casual mode as it will help guide you around obstacles. I'm just so excited. We've been working on it for two years, and I've had to keep it a secret for so long. There was a lot of speculation on what we were up to. Now the game is finally going to be coming out and I'm really excited.

'TONY HAWK: RIDE' SCREENSHOT GALLERY

Robinson: Do you fear someone falling off the board only to watch the peripheral fly through their TV?

Tony Hawk: You're not actually moving at 30 mph, so you don't have to worry about that. You can step off of this device. I also think that the board is a lot more intuitive than people assume. You get on it and all you have to do is put one foot on the tail and one foot on the nose and rock it up and down and that will get you into the tricks or wheelies or manuals. It's not about the balance so much as it is about the timing.

Robinson: Were you a big "Top Skater" fan growing up?

Tony Hawk: I loved "Top Skater." I actually have an "Air Trix" arcade machine at my house, which was the sequel to "Top Skater." A lot of "RIDE" actually stems from playing "Top Skater" in arcades and thinking that the game was fun, but it just wasn't a real skating experience. You're holding onto these rails and you're not maneuvering the board the way it should be maneuvered, but there was something there and it was really fun.

I've pretty much been into every skating game that has come out. I've played them all. I have a 720 machine in my office. I bought an old Commodore 64 just so I could play "Skate or Die." I even bought "California Games" just because it had skating in it.

Robinson: Do you think that a game where players have to physically stand on a board to skate will help inspire kids to go out and skate for real?

Tony Hawk: I'd like to think so. I feel like our video game has a pretty good track record for helping people get into skating and this one could definitely inspire them if they thought that maybe they weren't physically able. Maybe they'll realize that they can try it out for real because of how prolific they are on the board.

“

Dobbs The experience is like you're really there, it's that exhilarating when you're physically able to rotate your board. This is something I've always envisioned, but to actually do it and to see your character on screen mimicking your movements and almost having the same hand and body positions is amazing.
” -- Tony Hawk

Robinson: Throughout the process of developing the peripheral, what were some of the designs that ended up in the reject pile?

Tony Hawk: Some were on raised platforms. We had one that had two trackballs up on the nose so you could brush your foot by them like you were flipping your board by the way the trackballs moved. But it just didn't feel natural. It just didn't feel intuitive. Once they got into accelerometers, and using two accelerometers to measure the tilt and the flick and the spin, that's when we realized that's how it should be.

Robinson: How about the game itself. Besides adding the board, you've taken the game back from being open world to setting skaters in levels. What's the reasoning behind that?

Tony Hawk: I think with a whole new controller and a whole new way to play, we can go back to the two-minute challenge mode way of playing, and to be honest, if you were playing this game with the board in free skate for more than five minutes, you'd be really tired. I picture this as more of a party game.

Robinson: How has your video game series changed your life? Next to John Madden, your name might be the most recognizable name that's so closely associated with a game.

Tony Hawk: I feel like it changed my life in terms of giving skating a much bigger appeal. The game raised the awareness for skating and the appreciation for it. That's just not something I ever thought would happen. I didn't think it would take a video game to bring skating to the public's acceptance, but it has, and that in turn has changed my life just because skating is so much more acceptable that now I have a lot more opportunities in skating and traveling. This is stuff I never dreamed of.

Robinson: Where do you see skateboarding going from here?

Tony Hawk: I think skateboarding is in a real good place in terms of countries that it's established. In terms of growing the sport, we need to take it to more countries. We need to find more global acceptance. That's one area where actually the Internet has been a big help. All of a sudden, thanks to YouTube, a kid in Brazil can learn a trick instantly that he sees online, whereas before, you'd have to wait for skate magazines or videos.

Robinson: Have you been able to pull off anything in your new game that inspires you to try that trick for real?

Tony Hawk: There are a few tricks that I've done in the vert part of the game that I've never done in real life, and I actually want to go try them, like a kickflip to blunt.

Robinson: So what's the best thing about skating in "RIDE" as opposed to skating in real life?

Tony Hawk: When you fall, you don't hit the cement at 30 mph. In real life, I've broken my pelvis, broke my elbow, not to mention all the scrapes and concussions. But in the game, if you don't feel like you're going to make a jump, just step off onto the carpet and sit on the couch. Feels better than cement any day.


In the wake of so many resurrections of prized brands returning to the fold (including Stereo and Plan B), 80s pioneers H-Street are back on the market: http://www.h-street.com/. Ron Allen, Eddie Elguera, Art Godoy, David Hackett and Allysha Bergado are on the team while Cheyne Magnusson is the Field Commander.

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Tony Hawk is in Paris, France at the moment for The Tony Hawk Show which coincides with Quiksilver’s 40th anniversary. He’s got a whole crew of vert maestros along with him who will be skating in Paris’ famed Grand Palais this evening along with live music, artists, and a pro street contest with a Bercy replica. We got a few private moments with Tony before a massive media blow out press conference, here’s what he had to say.

How did the group of guys that are skating this weekend come together?

A lot of them are kind of the crew we’ve had for Huck Jam in previous years, and we did a demo in France last year in Hossegor during one of the big surf contests, and it drew such attention that the Quiksilver guys took notice and wanted to do it on a larger scale. So we got the same guys back here and a few key A-list guys like Sandro Dias and Andy MacDonald as well. There were some other guys we wanted to get too, but it’s such a quick, heavy event, and they all have their endemic clothing sponsors, so I didn’t even ask, but I think the crew we have is insane.

How is this trip to Paris different from trips in the past, especially being able to skate in the Grand Palais which has never had skateboarding inside it before?

It’s a whole different perspective being invited here to skate and being welcomed in that way. It’s crazy, I’ve been coming here for a long time, and especially when skating wasn’t popular, kicked out of places and getting hasseled, and now it’s come so far, I can’t believe it. They believe in this project so much, that they put so much effort into it and put the ramp in here. (Interview con’t below slideshow)

What does it mean to ride for a brand like Quiksilver that on its 40th anniversary has an event called The Tony Hawk Show, and support skateboarding as much as it does?

I really appreciate it, you know? They put that much of their resources into skating, because Quiksilver is such an iconic brand, but mostly associated with surfing in the past. They’ve become such the sort of multi-boardsport company, but with a really good presence. Skateboarding isn’t their stepchild project, they’re putting a lot of effort into promoting it. As a brand, they encompass the lifestyle the most. I’ve been riding for them for ten years now. It is weird though to have my name on the show when Kelly Slater is here, who I think is their number one athlete, and all of their legends as well. I’m just honored that they chose this venue to bring everyone out for this gathering.

So what are people going to experience at The Tony Hawk Show today?

They’ve got a whole street course set up and they actually recreated the Bercy blocks—they measured them out and did them exactly. There’s a big art show, they have the famous French artist Andre painting all over the place. They have a bunch of exhibits through different eras of skating. Then we’re going to do a big vert demo that’s going to last about an hour, and then the band Dead By Sunries is going to play. It’s a giant party really. Our demo is from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30, and that starts the night.

Stay tuned to skateboarding.com for video and photos of the vert demo and street contest.

NEW PRODUCTS

After ten years as a skateboard company, Habitat has branched out into footwear releasing six new kicks (four are below) and a new team consisting of Guru Khalsa, Marius Syvanen, Austyn Gillette, and, Alex Davis. Take a look and let us know what you think.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

THE TRICKS WERE STOMPED AND ONLY ONE WAS LEFT ON HIS BOARD!
éS Game of SKATE Amateur World Championships Recap

The éS Game of Skate Amateur World Championships is a wrap. Diego Najera, from El Centro, Calif., flicked his shred stick to edge past last year’s winner, Carlos Lastra, from Long Beach, Calif., and Brian Peacock from Wilmington, Del. to take home the title of éS Game of SKATE Amateur World Champion. The éS Game of SKATE tour consisted of more than 12,000 skaters from over 100 cities in more than 25 countries around the world, and everything came down to Diego Najera’s last trick– a bangin nollie double flip that took out Carlos Lastra. Diego’s last buttery trick earned him a year’s worth of éS footwear and apparel, $1,000 worth of Skull Candy gear, a blingin Nixon Ceramic Player watch and two year subscription to TransWorld SKATEboarding Magazine.

In addition to the éS Game of SKATE, a new concept was added to the festivities called the “Tricktionary.” This gave all skateboarders a chance to film any trick of their choice with their own unique style. éS will pick the cleanest variations of each trick and put the how-to videos in the first-ever flat-ground “Tricktionary” on the éS Game of SKATE website. There were plenty of popped tricks filmed ranging from switch hard flips to Fakie Full Cab Flips. Check the éS Game of SKATE website in the coming weeks at eSGameofSkate.com to see all the variations.


The Foundation team is Live From The Road! Email in your questions, secret spots, love, phone number, gossip, hate or anything to keep us going while out on the road in North Carolina. Sierra Fellers, Angel Ramirez, Gareth Stehr, David Reyes, Abdias Rivera & Nick Merlino all hope to cross paths with you while we are Live From The Road.

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Collin Provost has bloomed from a little short-haired lanky guy to a bigger, long-haired lanky guy over the past five years and seems to have grown apart from the Element Skateboard image, which makes his most recent switch to Toy Machine even more fitting. I caught up with him to ask about how the change went down, how things ended up with Element and what it's like to be on Toy with Ed Templeton and the rest of the crew. Read this exclusive interview about Collin's recruitment as Toy's newest Loyal Pawn

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A snapshot of the California Heritage Museum's skateboard exhibit.
Skateboarding is a relatively new past time, when you compare it to the history of some activities. But because of the speed of progression, in those 60 some years, there are tons of events and progression that fit into the 60 some years since a load of surfers took the wheels off of skates and nailed them to a piece of wood. Last night, the California Heritage Museum opened a show of skateboards from the 40s until now. On the walls, you can see how boards have become a sort of symbol of the state where they originated and witness the evolution of art, from standard logos to the point that boards have reached today—veritable works of art. The collection is a consolidation of various separate collections and has amazing sites to see.

Our contributor, Micah Abrams, was able to snap some photos of the walls at the event, before being told that no photos are allowed. It's not much, but it's a taste of some of the history. If you are around Santa Monica, take a stroll through the walls and walls of history, at 2612 Main Street in Santa Monica.

The show also features work by C.R. Stecyk III, Glen E. Friedman, Craig Fineman, Wynn Miller, Kevin Ancell, Wes Humpston and more.


The beginnings of a cultish past time. I doubt anyone who made these boards back in the days could imagine what people are doing on skateboards today.

The seventies brought some innovation from the boards of the 40s. Weird shapes became the norm.

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New York City's premiere skateboard brand has come together with one of New York City's original MC's for a very special deck collaboration. In their December holiday product release, Zoo York will drop limited edition Rakim decks to honor one of the godfathers of hip hop. The limited edition decks will come packaged with Rakim's brand new album "The Seventh Seal" which drops in stores and online November 17th. The dekc will be available through the Zoo York and Rakim websites.

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The Quiksilver Tony Hawk Show Arrives In Paris November 20-21 To Kick Off Quiksilver’s 40th Anniversary Festivities

Over 30 Global Quiksilver Surf, Skate and Snow Athletes Will Join the Celebration including Reese Forbes, Danny Garcia, and Alex Olson.

Quiksilver announced its 40th anniversary celebration in Paris, November 20-21, 2009. The event will feature two days of skateboarding, music, art and fashion at the historic Grand Palais–culminating in a Saturday night finale featuring The Quiksilver Tony Hawk Show, followed by a concert with Dead By Sunrise (Chester Bennington of Linkin Park with his newest band) and a late night with DJ Mix Master Mike.

This will be the first action sports event ever held inside the Grand Palais, with the largest vert ramp ever built in Europe and an immense street course open to skaters of all ages and skill levels—free of charge–for the entire two days. And a Street Contest Invitational will feature a prize purse of 20,000 Euros. This is a rare and unique chance for pros and locals alike to skate inside one of the city’s massive historic monuments—for the last 109 years its held boxing competitions and horse racing but never before has it been open to skateboarding.

In addition to the insane roster of Quiksilver athletes, The Tony Hawk Show is bringing friends such as skaters Andy MacDonald, Kevin Staab, Sandro Dias, Jean Postec, Sergie Ventura, Jesse Fristch, and four of the biggest names in international skateboarding will be our very special guests: Christian Hosoi, Daniel Cardone, Javier Mendizabal and Omar Hassan.

The weekend’s events also include exhibition areas for art, music and cultural events. Special guest and renowned graffiti artist André will be transforming giant ramps into unique art, giving the public the exceptional opportunity to watch the notorious artist at work. Quiksilver has also assembled a 40 year fashion retrospective inside the venue.

Entrance is free to the public for the daytime events (10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.). Saturday night’s performance is a ticketed event for 40 euros. For ticket purchase information and a schedule of events, please visit: quiksilverlive.com.

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Billy Marks caused quite a stir with his part in last year's Fallen footwear video "Ride The Sky." After that accomplishment and the promotional tours that followed, Marks didn't slow down for long logging tricks at The Berrics for his Battle Commander segment that turned some heads once again. Some time between all that he managed to become a new father as well. Now he's already deep into filming for the next Toy Machine project. How does one man with such a great moustache do so much? Marks' good friend Mike Sinclair caught up with him to find out what his rollercoaster life has been like lately and just what he would do if he ever became truly rich.

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In anticipation of our world premiere of Globe’s United By Fate 6 here on skateboarding.com on November 18, here is a sneak peek behind the scenes in the mysterious warehouse with David Gonzalez, Louie Lopez, Jake Duncombe, Mark Appleyard, Chris Haslam, and Ryan Decenzo. Peep the UBF 6 trailer here. Mark Appleyard & Louie Lopez Q&A Part 1 & Part 2.

SKATEBOARDING SINGAPORE COMPETITION

SINGAPORE COMPETITION OF THE YEAR 2009.

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SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Insight proudly welcomes Jamie Thomas to the team. As a skateboarding icon with over 15 years as a professional skateboarder Insight is proud to have Jamie along for the ride. Thomas will work closely with Insight designers to develop a personally inspired and tailored capsule collection to be released early 2010. Look for footage of Jamie in the Insight short film, Repeat After Me; I am Free, launching this Friday November 13th, 2009 via insight51.com. There is a teaser for the video there as well.

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Indy air—Duane Peters invented the Indy grab and Christian Hosoi took it to the 2009 Rumble in Ramona. When you have a backside air that's as stylish as Hosoi's, it doesn't seem out of place for a clean, highly devout person like him mixing with the seediness that was the Rumble. It kind of makes him untouchable. That backside air of his is legendary.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Tom Penny has amassed a cult following over the years that borders on something of a religion. For those of us who witnessed his maiden voyage assaults—either on video or firsthand—back in the early 90s, his Midas touch and supernatural reign over skateboarding are a given of biblical proportions. Tom was like urethane that fell into in a box of clay wheels. Once he landed, skateboarding could never go back. Any questions are null and void. Yet, for the younger readers out there (yeah, that’s you COTG), looking back today and wondering exactly why old men far and wide see God’s gift to skateboarding in a soft-spoken, bearded, XXL-clad nomad currently residing in Argentina—or is that throughout Europe?—I can understand, or at least pardon, some confusion. As the trite expression goes, I guess you had to be there. The following dudes were.
SKIN PHILLIPS

pennyaugust961

The TransWorld front blunt cover was forever debated whether he made it or not. It almost didn’t matter. It’s not like he’d stop trying a trick because he slammed. It was more like he just got bored.
Yeah. For the record, he didn’t roll away from that. But that was Penny. I mean, most people were shooting photos of 50-50s or five-0s on that thing. Just to get into a front blunt and slide it that casually was amazing. He just did things or he didn’t. He wasn’t going to go back and force himself to do something. He just did what he felt. He didn’t go back to do the front blunt. He just didn’t care.

Was Tom’s approach to skateboarding there from the get-go?
Absolutely. He must have been about fourteen when I saw him at Harrow. It was around ’91. He was already pretty gnarly and smooth at a real young age. It was definitely baggy-pants, small-wheels days, so he was little bit lost in his clothes. But everybody was already aware of him in the U.K. It might be fair to say that it all kind of came together for him at Radlands ’93. There were all sorts of stories even from that where he showed up, did his one run, and left half way through the comp. When he won, they had to call him to get his mum to bring him back to find out he’d won. That was just sort of the way Penny was. He was nonchalant. He sort of didn’t realize—I don’t think he’s ever realized the impact he’s had on skateboarding. He never thought about it. Everything was just natural. Were his lines thought out before? Probably to an extent based on what he’d been doing in practice. But none of it was premeditated like, “Right, I’m gonna do this here, then hit the hip, then hit the pyramid.” It was just flow.

Describe the Earl Warren downhill line. Back tail ender on the rail.
Mind-blowing. F—king mind-blowing.

The beauty in that one to me was that some other guy could have done the same line, as gnarly as it was. But another dude would have been running through the first couple tricks and you’d just see the stress start to kick in like, “Okay, I got the kickflip down the three stairs, now here comes the rail—tense up, get ready.” But with Penny it was just in the now. He’s just messing with a switch ollie, messing with a switch flip, big switch 180, kickflip the stairs, and then, “Oh, here’s a rail. Guess I’ll back tail it. Sounds fun.”
Yeah, right [laughs]. Like, “Here we go. I’ll just let the board do the work.”

Tom’s infamous Earl Warren line (3:00) in the Flip Industry section from 411 Issue 11

It’s like the combination of his la-de-da composure with the difficulty of the tricks that just baffled me. Have you ever seen another dude that you could put in a similar class?
I don’t think there is really. I mean, Chad [Muska] had that going a bit. Jeremy Wray was doing monstrous things, and [Andrew] Reynolds was pushing the limit, but Tom’s demeanor was just unique. The other thing with Tom and really all the Flip guys when they came over was that they were absolutely unfazed by contests or demos. That’s just what they grew up skating.

You were at the chain-to-bank?
I do want to say that was probably the last time I ever filmed. The switch backside flip was probably the absolute last trick I ever filmed. I remember getting back to the office and they were like, “Where are the photos?” and I was just like, “Sh-t.” I just knew I was witnessing something special and I thought it just had to have two angles. So just based on how insane that moment was I made a decision to make sure it got documented. It was more important than my job as a photographer. That’s how much we knew it meant to skateboarding.

Tom’s chain-to-bank annihilation in TransWorld’s Anthology
GEOFF ROWLEY

In those days he was clearly leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else. But it was that kind of unconscious approach that made it just impossible to comprehend. How do you describe his approach?
Well, the people that knew him knew it was natural. He wasn’t trying to be cool and look nonchalant. He really did skate like that naturally. Left to his own devices, that’s just the way he rolled. He was insanely innovative, and it just seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him. He single-handedly opened up a whole new realm of street skating that at that time needed to happen. The constant drive that everybody started to have after that almost came from the push he brought to the game. He was a wake-up call to skateboarding, sort of reigniting the flame [Pat] Duffy had lit with his Questionable [1992] part. He made it okay to make an effort again—it put some balls back into the mix.

Give the story of the Cheech and Chong graphic.
cheechAt the time, all the graphics we were doing were very early comic book. Tom loved Cheech and Chong for obvious reasons. He’s had a bunch of rad ones that he’s brought to Flip. But that one, along with the mushroom board, is probably the most iconic. We winged it at first, then eventually they found out. Cheech Marin was rad enough to continue letting us make the board as long as he got some royalties. So we actually still pay him on a monthly basis. Cheech Marin has been on the Flip payroll since 2000. So you can thank Cheech for that graphic or it would have been long gone. It came out in ’96 and is still one of our best-selling boards today. So that’s thirteen years strong. Cheers, Cheech.
ANDREW REYNOLDS

Tell us about the San Dieguito rail assault [High Five, ’95].
Oh man. The switch flip. It’s unexplainable. That whole thing is just like the Penny package. It’s like a display. Not many people have got kickflip, frontside flip, switch frontside flip, and switch flip all looking exactly the same. It wasn’t even really that common to do tricks over handrails at that point. He just killed it.

What about Chicken’s pool [High Five, ’95]?
Oh man. I have to tell this one [laughs]. I went to Chicken’s pool this one time to skate and just thought like, “I want to try and frontside flip where he got the little hip,” you know? He did the kickflip back tail and then he just went down and did that kickflip stuck to the wall over that hip. I figured I could frontside flip on a quarterpipe, so I should be able to frontside flip this little hip right? I tried it, and seriously every time the thing would just shoot me out to the flatbottom [laughs]. Like completely out of control. There was just no way I could do it. After that I was just like, “I don’t get it.” His was just this delicate little thing, just stuck to that wall. Flatground and vert are like the same thing to that dude.

The article is called “The Church Of Tom.” Is it fair to call you a disciple?
[Laughs] Hell yes. We got to spread the word, man.

Tom’s San Dieguito rail assault and Chicken’s pool magic from etnies’ 1995 video High Five
CHAD MUSKA

Describe living in Newport Beach, with a beer sponsor and Tom.
[Laughs] Yeah. Man, basically a month after I met him we were both on TSA and ended up living together. TSA’s owner had a house right on the beach with one room available. We both moved into the room with our mattresses on either side of it. I was so psyched. It was the first bed I’d had in like six years or something. From then on we just skated together, partied together, and chilled pretty much every day. He started filming for the etnies video, the TSA video, and Flip, and I was filming for Welcome To Hell (1996). It was rad to just feed off of each other.

What does the kid that’s scratching his head and furrowing his brow over why the Penny legend is so big need to understand?
At the time that Tom started on the scene, it was just unimaginable to see the kind of progression he was bringing to the table. Nobody was doing the things he was doing. Not even close. People might look at it now—they might look back and not realize how insane it was. Because these days that stuff is normal in skateboarding. But back then, nobody was kickflipping over ten-stair handrails. That was just something like, “Holy sh-t!” It just blew you away. Like the rail in Huntington—I think it was a twelve-stair at the courthouse across from the skatepark. I remember just being there and seeing him frontside flip over that thing. I couldn’t believe he did it. You’d watch him rolling away and it still hadn’t registered in your brain.

What about his demeanor?

Yeah. Damn. That was pretty much the craziest part of it all. It was almost like he didn’t know he was doing anything special. None of it was conscious. Nothing he’s done has been conscious [laughs]. It’s just all-natural. His whole life is like that. I remember we’d be at Huntington Park and decide like, “Hey, let’s go to Ed [Templeton]’s house.” Then on the way to Ed’s house we’d pass by these random sets of stairs that were f—king huge. We’d be walking up to them and I don’t think he even looked at them first—he’d just roll up and kickflip ’em first try. He’d be rolling away and you’d be like, “Oh sh-t, I better pick my board up and walk down these stairs [laughs].” That was just all the time. Anywhere you went he would just bust something—no cameras, nothing. None of it was ever planned in any way. It was never like, “I’m gonna do this and I’ll get this cover and be a superstar.” It was just, “Oh, there’s an obstacle in front of me and I want to do this down it.” Boom. “I’m just doing it.” For more on Tom, including new photos, pick up the December issue on sale now.

Tom’s part in TSA’s 1996 video Life In The Fast Lane