Wee-Man entry- blogosphere hibernation over!

Hey friends family and welcomed passers by,
I apologise for my disappearance this past month. Your thousands of worried emails and calls were very moving, thank you (yeah right). At any rate, I will continue this blog with more of the (hopefully) entertaining events in my life as they occur. Probably some events of the mundane variety as well.
Back in spring of this year, just prior to my work in Thailand, I had the pleasure of working with Jason Acuna (better known as Wee Man of Jack Ass). I was asked to do an Interview with him for an Australian magazine called LifeLounge. As the crew of LL is based in Australia . . . I ended up shooting photos for the interview as well . . .




I brought these snails down to LA with me from Oakland for this shot . . . after I drove them home and put them back under the tree where I found them, they were celebraties!

Back at our pad, Chelsa and Jason celebrate their mutual victory at Pentago (our favorite game!).




Here is a link to the online version of the Jason Acuna Interview entitled, "Eighteen beers and nine coffees with Jason Acuna".
Many thanks to Jamie Driver, Karen Brown and the rest of the talented team at LifeLounge.com
I hope you like the story! Enjoy!

My homeboys in Iran . . .

These are my friends, M.J. and Sasan from Tehran, Iran.
One of the things I cherish most about my adventures abroad is that there are people all over the globe who are simply trying to pursue the things that they love and just live in peace.
Wake up (the ONE) human race!
Anyways, skateboarders are (for the most part) a family that span the globe . . . and that is as wonderful as it sounds!

Halloween in Bangkok

Many of my friends know that Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays.
I was more than slightly dismayed at the prospect of missing the night of witchery, so I asked my team if they would celebrate with me . . . They reluctantly agreed - to be dead for the night!






We had a blast taking over Kao San road . . . after hours of fun, Nui mistakenly erased all of the evidence . . . he was devastated. Probably it's best left to the imagination.

Sten . . . our secret weapon!!

Sten is one of the the five members of the Thailand team. Due to restrictions in the number of atheletes who could compete in each discipline from the same country, Sten could not compete in the Olympic Asia Indoor Games this year.
What did happen, was that Sten was flown to Macau to compete in the pre-game contest for the atheletes who couldn't be at the AIG . . . Sten ended up skating against guys who actually DID skate in the AIG (how this was legal I don't know, but it happened). No matter . . . STEN GOT THE GOLD!!
This was the second contest in a month that Sten won and he was the true start of our teams rise to new heights in Asia.
This is Sten . . . our "not so secret" weapon! proud, proud , proud!

It all comes down to this . . . MACAU AIG!

When I took this job as coach for the Thai team . . . and basically everyday since (at least for a minute or two), I have wondered what was going to happen when we got to Macau for the Olympic Asia Indoor Games.
In 2005 the first Asia Indoor Games was held in Suphanburi, Thailand - which is why our training facility (HOWEVER WELL USED) was there. Thailand was awarded two bronze medals that year.
We trained hard and often discussed what it takes to be at the top of the heap in order to be ready for this monumental undertaking . . . it was not in vein!
the competiton was fierce, but in the end our hard work and dedication has paid off with a respectable two SILVER medals!
Je won his medal in the park category with an array of flip-trickery including 360 flips and hard flip reverts over the hip. He effortlessly lipslid across an unreasonably long flat bar (bank to bank) and looked stylish and confident throughout his two finals runs.
Nut worked the three best trick stations over! On the hip he threw down nollie bigheelflips, nollie 270 heels and a perfect nollie backside flip. On the grind box (bank to bank), Nut did a ten foot backside nose grind to pop out and a lipslide to 50/50 to 180 out that was as smooth as if he was skating on teflon. The last station was the long hubba which he through down a respectable nollie noseslide the full length.
Es and Nui both skated their best as well and I felt so proud to be their coach!
These are some highlights from the Thailand team overall (unfortunately, there is no skateboarding action shots . . . I was busy pacing, cheering and being water-boy).



En route to Macau . . . coffee (and hot chocolate) break in Bangkok.


Wherever Thailand has a big event, a cheer troupe (of which these two belong) come out in full flair to hoot, holler, drum, chant, dance and basically prove that Thailand has spirit to spare!




On our way to the Opening Ceremony . . . this will be it's own entry when the pictures are resized (it was UNBELIEVABLE!!)




This is Jahm doing the high jump in the inline competition. I just want to state for the record that I am a skateboarder, but I can tell you without question . . . Jahm is nothing short of amazing I have spent months impressed by his ridiculous power and fearlessness. YOU ROCK JAHM!


I didn't get a good shot of the high jump for Bike, but these are are boys celebrating Gold and Silver in it . . . so imagine Jahm rplaced by a bike!







Our brother Ton!


This is the crew celebrating our first medal of the games. We dedicated our medals in part to my assistant coach Ton. Ton was informed that he would not be able to attend Asia Indoor Games a few days before he was to fly out with us to Macau. The arm bands are in Ton's honor and we wore them for the duration of the 2nd Asia Indoor Games . . . Ton, you are an awesome coach! You are family and you were missed brother! - YOUR TEAM







The two pictures above were shots that I took of Geng and Tee (pronounced Dee). They are the cornerstones of Thailands bike team and this high flying acrobatics is the norm for them . . . Rockstars!



Congratulations to my Thailand team! I couldn't have imagined just how much fun and fulfilling this adventure would be . . . It's so fun to have a bunch of Thai brothers! THAILAND REPRESENT!

Our Party Night In S.F.

There is always something to do in San Francisco and if it is your first trip to Nor Cal from some far away land . . . then hitting "The City" for some night life is a must!
FTC was having a video premier Saturday night for Consolidated. Later the same night was an opening for the new Haight St. Stussy store . . . with the legendary Tony Alva in attendance for his art show with some fellow skate artisits.
The beer flowed and the introductions and Skate Pro sightings were many. Following The Premier and the Stussy party . . . and back to FTC for another more intimate gathering, we all headed to Milk for some dancing and mild debauchery.



Consolidated Premier @ FTC!


Es got a prize deck with typical Consolidated "cheeky" graphics . . . SWEET!






Andy runs FTC. He has been a friend for many years and is one of the nicest and most warm hearted guys I know. He truly does mankind justice . . . CHEERS HOMIE!



In front of Stussy with Kharma and James Kelch . . . veterans of the game.


My homeboy Bart with his homeboy Jess


Je and Es . . . not the board company (that's G&S)


Hanging with Toad - the only thing better is skating with Toad!








The United Colors of . . . Stussy!




HUF sighting on the way to MILK


Got MILK!?






To all of the great friends that we ran into and new ones we made . . . SKOL!(that's Swedish for cheers, right Dad?)

A visit to DLX

Last week my illusive and generous friend Jim Thiebaud granted us the awesome opportunity to tour the DLX Distribution headquarters. Some of the top brands in skateboarding (including Spitfire, Thunder, Krooked, Anti Hero and Real) are created, designed and shipped all over the world from this S.F. based skate company.
Before the tour, we met up with our friend Shrewgy. Shrewg has spent some time in Thailand and was excited to see his good friends Je and Nut.



Shrewgy's sweet steed.




After some warm "hellos" and bike show and tell, we headed over to DLX.




As fortune would have it, we ran into Real pro Peter Ramondetta and Anti Hero's own Frank Gerwer out front . . . of course we took advantage of the photo op.


Es "sitting in the waiting room" before the tour . . . some sweet original Mark Gonzales art on the wall behind him.





This is my old friend Andy Mecum. We worked together at Visalia Skate Camp a decade ago and now he sells sells sells for DLX - rock'em Mecum!


Darren was our awesome tour guide. Here he shows the guys some of the new products being created including the new Real JT Aultz "Operation Ivy" deck . . . you'll just have to wait!


Only from the mind of Gonz . . . some straight up Krooked bling.


A plethora of colorways and pro series from Thunder.




Hanging out in the warehouse with a grip of boards, wheels, trucks and gear . . . and a gift for the guys.



Thanks to Jim, Darren and the whole DLX crew for a great tour . . . and keeping skateboarding strong, I mean REAL strong!

Thailand National skateboard team in the U.S.A.!!

When I was told I had a budget to come to America with two of my skater's, I had my doubts as to whether it would come to pass . . . but WE ARE HERE!



The Marin headlands is an old army bunker which has a fantastic view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Here is the crew and Chelsa about to arrive at one of the worlds most famous sites.




I think Je calling Chelsa "Mom" was maybe the cutest thing ever . . . the proud parents!


We are really here! Nui, Sten and Ton couldn't be here, but we miss them and wish they were here. We miss you guys!!


One amazing city!


Je throws a precision tre over a pylon at the Novato skatepark.





My best friend Bart met the guys and showed them what a proper gap to tailslide looks like!


Nut getting some K-grind to fakie action on a bank to block @ Novato.



The crew chillin' @ Novato in the shade of some palm trees