Buy Underground

Before you buy from the mainstream and get wet LOOK to the UNDERGROUND for your Skate product needs. Don’t grease the wheels of big business skating came from the UNDERGROUND lets bring it back. Buy from the UNDERGROUND and support another Skater not a fat business man. Skateboarding has lost most it’s HART to BIG BUSINESS B.S. lets bring it back. Look UNDREGROUND where the HART is, Where it ALL STARTS, Where it is REAL. JT

JEFF GROSSO LOVE LETTERS featuring J.T.

T- Town Martin

Loose trucks. Big Board. Bones. Park Bag. Skate tool. Helmet. Pads. Knee slides. Vans. Duct Tape. Total kook. Speedy carve lines. Pool coping.Grinds. Boom Box.Early Punk Rock. Crossover. LOUD. Stickers.  Juice Magazine. Documenteries. Decks, Decks, Decks. Milton.Rez. Bainbridge Island. Ballard Bowl. Blue Tile. Little Kandle pond. Rain. Weather Man. Dopplers. Squeegies. Towels. Torches. Wheel bite. Wilson. Slam. broken fingers. Endless Raspberries. Wrecked knee. Dislocated shoulder. Opiates. More Punk Rock. Jams. BBQ's. Parties. Friends. Family. Fremily. Road Trips. California. New friends. New Parks. New Opportunities.  No egos. No Industry. No winners. No losers. No stupid bullshit.. Have fun or fuck off. BE RAD.

Rolling Through the Years by Michael Ray

What can I say, I have a skateboarding bug. This infection started in the mid 70’s and festered for the last 40 years. I thought I was in the clear, having not been on a board for a long while. But then it flared up again when I had a son. I couldn’t wait to get him a board so I can show him the wonderful world of skating. At first he didn’t take to it. What could I expect from a 6 year old? I would just have to wait to see if he would catch the fever.

A few years later, that skateboard made it to the big leagues. I noticed that board seemed to be everywhere we went. We would skate schools, beaches, hills; whatever we came across. We were very fortunate that we had a long cement driveway at our house to practice new moves. I was able to watch my boy pop his first Ollie on that driveway.  It was really cool for me to see him develop his board control. I couldn’t wait to get him into a skate park.

Growing up in Costa Mesa it was a given that we would baptize our wheels at Volcom Skate Park.  That was a great place to learn some new tricks and we made some new friends.  It wasn’t too long before we started to explore all the skate parks in our area. We would set out to see how many parks we could hit in a day. Fortunately, there were quite a few close together in south Orange County.  We got to know what each park had to offer and when it was the least busy so we had room to play. Our favorite by far is Etnies in Lake Forest because this park has so much room that it hardly ever felt crowded.  This is the perfect place to practice new moves and get inspired by some of the best skaters in our area.

As my son’s abilities improved, I enjoyed photographing him step by step. I know that the images of these little steps forward will keep these days alive for us in the future. Not only do we get to watch his progress, we also get to see who was there along the way.  When I pull out the camera, we get a small group together and go for photo history. What I really dig about this is that most of these kids are amazing skaters and they should have some images to show off their talents.

When I am not following my boy around with a camera, I am looking around to see if there are any more photo opportunities available. I was fortunate to come across Jeff Tatum one day at Etnies.  I noticed his unique style and his stand out personality. We started photographing some sessions and we came back with some great images. Right away I knew that Jeff is an artist on wheels.  What was really great about working with Jeff is that he understood photography so location and lighting played a huge part in creating our images.

I know that skating will always be in my blood. I enjoy rolling around as much as ever and that feeling is confirmed by all the good people I come across. I know that photographing this sport will keep this feeling alive for future generations.

backside / kenny & J.T.

 Kenny Ray

Michael & Kenny Ray

BRAVE HOME BIG AIR

Sometimes I question what it is or means to be an AMERICAN

Then I find myself somewhere in PARIDISE sk8ing a killer bowl of my CHOICE

When I want how I want

Dressed in attitude

Adorned with dead skulls and crosses with Jesus nailed to them

Talking crap and taking no CRAP

The music and art of my subculture in the background

I toss and turn in my AMERICAN dream

And as I look down on PARIDISE tightly grabbing my rail sailing the AMERICAN sky’s

TOTALLY clear of all that troubles ME

TOTALLY HAPPY

TOTALLY LUCKY

TOTALLY FREE

ALL my questions are answered

It becomes very clear to me what it is or means to be an AMERICAN

If only at least just for that moment   

**A poem by: Jeff (JT) Tatum , July 4^th 2010