austin skate notes

The Broken Neck Ramp broke Dave Watigny’s spleen, and this Friday it has the opportunity to make amends by hosting a fundraising event planned to help defray his overwhelming medical debt stemming from the injury. Last I checked, it has exceeded $70,000.

On the roster for this Friday:

7:00 art auction
9:00 Video Premiere- Pray For Me: Jason Jessee

This is the first public screening of the Jason Jessee documentary in Austin. It’s a very interesting glimpse into the life of an colorful character. Many questions are answered. Many more are begging to be asked. Here’s the trailer. And here’s an odd follow-up interview with Jessee where he complains about a falling-out he’s had with the guy who made Pray for Me.

Broken Neck, 4701 Redbluff

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Patterson Park Mini Ramp is currently on lock-down in order to provide an opportunity for the grass to grow on the dirt berms and other disturbed areas. It’s doing well in spite of the heat. Trespassing on the site doesn’t help get the ramp opened any faster and in fact creates a real problem for the volunteers working to get the project completed and turned over to the city.

Due to staffing issues at the engineering firm creating the construction documents for Austin’s next full-blown public skatepark, the project has been slowed down a few months. It’s looking like an early-spring build now.

Those Michael Sieben shoes are hovering around $75. Ouch. That’s three pairs of Trujillos at the Round Rock outlet mall. I suppose Addidas isn’t doing anything different than the other shoe companies. Charge $80 for shoes it costs $5 to make in Asia.

Famed early-nineties pro, Justin Lynch, posted some comments on an old ASN story. Nice to get a clarification from him. I miss his alley-oop backside face-high ollies.

Tony Hawk stopped by the new public skatepark in Houston the other day.

People have been pretty respectful of the PPMR. I go out there a few times each day to water the grass seeds and people have been using the trash can and so forth. Thanks.

No Comply has completed its move to its new location at 12th & Lamar anticipating the construction of a new public skatepark. Well, that’s still going to be several months away, but in the meantime, Jake Nunn & friends are hosting a party celebrating the release of Michael Sieben’s new signature Addidas shoe model. If you visit this link to the Addidas site supplied by Brete Anderson, you can watch the movie Michael shot in San Francisco about his shoes. (more…)

Ralph Barrera came by the Patterson Mini Ramp this afternoon and shot a photo for Thursday’s Statesman. Don’t know if they got the caption right, though.

According to the Austinist, Henry Rollins is bringing some monologues about himself in October. $25 bucks at La Zona Rosa. A couple weeks ago, Keith Morris came to the Mohawk and answered any question you had about Black Flag for $10 and there were other bands and some comedians.

That guy from the ‘Foot Fist Way’ and the forthcoming ‘Pineapple Express’ shot a short skateboarding movie. (more…)

Get your sessions in quick. A meeting with the city this morning resulted in a decision to temporarily fence off the mini ramp to ensure that sod will take root and grow on the berms to stabilize the soil. Funds are also being raised privately to install stairs on each corner of the ramp to provide an easy climb up to the decks. The fence will likely go up before the end of this week.

Consumer beware: Home Depot is gouging rental customers by charging a $5.00 gas surcharge regardless of how much gas you have in the tank of rental equipment you return.

Another PPMR volunteer has suffered a serious injury. Lee Brooks was visiting Orcas Island on a skate trip last week and broke his foot while just taking a step off his board. The report I heard indicated that he underwent surgery for the injury.

Cary Jackson, Dave Reynolds, and I poured the flatbottom on the Patterson Park Miniramp wednesday morning. In spite of a threatening thunderstorm, the pour turned out great. We gave it a day to cure, then unwrapped it Friday, July 4th for a session. The news spread like a virus and we had guys coming down from Round Rock to check it out.

Basically, it’s open for skating at this point. The site is still under construction as we have to bring in some topsoil, spread it, and plant grass. If you visit, please be gentle on the orange fencing, pick up your trash, and generally respect the park and other visitors. The ramp was built entirely with donated funds for materials and volunteer labor.