Alot of skaters there. Not sure you'd get that many in one place again. I was there the year Mike Santorosa won doing a switch 360 flip over the main funbox in the middle. May have been 94? Can't remember.
I remember meeting Ethan Fowler and realising how short he was and meeting Scott Johnson( who was also very short) and he was harping on about how he used to be an alcoholic or whatever. And I remeber Gershon Moseley skating mini and getting massive air. I must admit I didn't realise Rob Dyrdek has been skating for such a long time. I didn't realise he was that good.
I was featured on the 411 video magazine when Chris Senn 50/50's the big fun box. I was in the crowd. My claim to being perhaps the least famous person whoever lived.
The thing about RADLANDS was it was the first indoor park opened in this country so everybody flocked there from all over the country. We all used to meet up at Birmingham New Street Station en mass to go down to see the competition so it was a bit of an event. I think Mount Hawk in Truro was next. RADLANDS closed down recently.
Parks were fun because they were set out for the express purpose of skating. Getting big air over a hip or dropping in on a quarter pipe or flat ramp and being launched into the air over a funbox into a grind was something you wouldn't have otherwise been able to experience. Railslides and railslides to fakie became managable and big fat nose-slides once perfected were my favourite trick of all. Especially in this country which isn't skater friendly.
The number of times I've seen people trying backside slides down the rail at RADLANDS, land awkward and bruise/brake a heel was enough to put you off trying them all together.
My lasting memory of RADLANDS was that the obstacles were too big for me at the time. When I was a bit older I got the hang of that kind of a lay out in Plymouth but as a kid watching the pros coming from all over the world at that age it was really good fun.
I remember going to India and I was on the river Ganges in Varanasi by their Ghats and burial fires and thinking at the time how I wish I had a skateboard to try and do a frontside flip on the flat banks they have along the river edge.Would have been a great photo. Mute grab over a holy cow? Like the pictures in Kingpin of some bloke skating the Red Square in Moscow a while back. Tour de force.
Jamie "the machine" Thomas. The original hardcore bastard on a skateboard. Before your Chris Coles and your ..... I don't know any other modern skaters? He did it first and with more style when skating was peaking perfectly in time for the biggest and best video game release ever made, Tony Hawk;s Playstaion One on the PS1.
A faceless hoodlum with dirty denim jeans and a skull as his graphic tearing up the streets of SF, LA, etc.... Skateboard bliss in your front lounge. All the others are to come after were fighting a losing battle. BIG UP JAMIE THOMAS! Task master who killed it.
Skateboarding isn't a job. There's no money in skating so of course it's going to atract the weirdest people and the down and outs. I remember in California homeless people with skateboards in Haight Ashbury and round places like that. Sleeping rough, getting a cup of tes first thing in the morning at Mc Donalds and skaing the day away. It's no more a job than juggling your fruit bowl or lighting your fart as a party trick. It's a piss take so by enlarge it attracts piss take people/losers/drop outs, that kind of thing, Ok
This is the second part by Jamie Thomas. Check out how elastic his pop is. I remember buying a santa cruz deck once and it had a wicked graphic on it of a bear but it was totally unskatable. In hindsight it would have just been a good piece of art work in it's own right to hang on a wall....
I think Jamie Thomas should be skater of the year if he hasn't been already as a skater who was overlooked and was never given it when they should have been. He's a bit of a legend.
Alot of skaters there. Not sure you'd get that many in one place again. I was there the year Mike Santorosa won doing a switch 360 flip over the main funbox in the middle. May have been 94? Can't remember.
ReplyDeleteI remember meeting Ethan Fowler and realising how short he was and meeting Scott Johnson( who was also very short) and he was harping on about how he used to be an alcoholic or whatever. And I remeber Gershon Moseley skating mini and getting massive air. I must admit I didn't realise Rob Dyrdek has been skating for such a long time. I didn't realise he was that good.
I was featured on the 411 video magazine when Chris Senn 50/50's the big fun box. I was in the crowd. My claim to being perhaps the least famous person whoever lived.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Tim Braunch used to blunt everything?
ReplyDeleteThe thing about RADLANDS was it was the first indoor park opened in this country so everybody flocked there from all over the country. We all used to meet up at Birmingham New Street Station en mass to go down to see the competition so it was a bit of an event. I think Mount Hawk in Truro was next. RADLANDS closed down recently.
ReplyDeleteParks were fun because they were set out for the express purpose of skating. Getting big air over a hip or dropping in on a quarter pipe or flat ramp and being launched into the air over a funbox into a grind was something you wouldn't have otherwise been able to experience. Railslides and railslides to fakie became managable and big fat nose-slides once perfected were my favourite trick of all. Especially in this country which isn't skater friendly.
The number of times I've seen people trying backside slides down the rail at RADLANDS, land awkward and bruise/brake a heel was enough to put you off trying them all together.
My lasting memory of RADLANDS was that the obstacles were too big for me at the time. When I was a bit older I got the hang of that kind of a lay out in Plymouth but as a kid watching the pros coming from all over the world at that age it was really good fun.
I remember going to India and I was on the river Ganges in Varanasi by their Ghats and burial fires and thinking at the time how I wish I had a skateboard to try and do a frontside flip on the flat banks they have along the river edge.Would have been a great photo. Mute grab over a holy cow? Like the pictures in Kingpin of some bloke skating the Red Square in Moscow a while back. Tour de force.
You know I can't shut the fuck up . Complusive, obsessive compulsive.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njgl08Q87aM&feature=rec-LGOUT-farside_rev-rn-HM
ReplyDeleteJamie "the machine" Thomas. The original hardcore bastard on a skateboard. Before your Chris Coles and your ..... I don't know any other modern skaters? He did it first and with more style when skating was peaking perfectly in time for the biggest and best video game release ever made, Tony Hawk;s Playstaion One on the PS1.
A faceless hoodlum with dirty denim jeans and a skull as his graphic tearing up the streets of SF, LA, etc.... Skateboard bliss in your front lounge. All the others are to come after were fighting a losing battle. BIG UP JAMIE THOMAS! Task master who killed it.
Skateboarding isn't a job. There's no money in skating so of course it's going to atract the weirdest people and the down and outs. I remember in California homeless people with skateboards in Haight Ashbury and round places like that. Sleeping rough, getting a cup of tes first thing in the morning at Mc Donalds and skaing the day away. It's no more a job than juggling your fruit bowl or lighting your fart as a party trick. It's a piss take so by enlarge it attracts piss take people/losers/drop outs, that kind of thing, Ok
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHWf6RnQIY&NR=1
ReplyDeleteThis is the second part by Jamie Thomas. Check out how elastic his pop is. I remember buying a santa cruz deck once and it had a wicked graphic on it of a bear but it was totally unskatable. In hindsight it would have just been a good piece of art work in it's own right to hang on a wall....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKJyvTlwpH0&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh+div-HM
ReplyDeleteMore Jamie Thomas footage.
I think Jamie Thomas should be skater of the year if he hasn't been already as a skater who was overlooked and was never given it when they should have been. He's a bit of a legend.
ReplyDelete