Today, I am briefly thinking about Neil Blender

I've mourned the death of skateboarding far too many times in the past. I don't really have much more to add. All I can say is, if I was a kid in this day and age, I wouldn't have much to do with it. It would simply not serve the same purpose for those of us who were attracted to it because we were ADHD, over-thinking, spastic, non-compliant, ODD, non-joiners, introverts and general weirdos. Of course, the physical aspect of it would still feel pretty damn special. Special movements, maneuvers, interpretations of terrains, redefinitions of urban forms, constructions of wondrous intentional forms. All of that might have appeal but that would just be a part of it. I am not really interested in exclusive esoteric clubs but we had a pretty good one for awhile. And membership wasn't handed to you on a plate. You paid in ridicule, hate and misunderstanding. Sometimes that felt good but not always.

Anyway, for this year's winter Solstice I got my nine year old daughter a new skateboard? Jesus Christ, it is handed to her on a plate by her dear old Dad. It is, indeed, something we enjoy as a team right now but I really hope she finds something that confuses the hell out of me and rocks the god damned boat of complacency, as she drifts into adulthood. 

I'm not quitting though. 

Actually, I quit every time,

until the next. 

Meanwhile, I apologize for over-romanticising the past or my interpretation of it. Which brings me to the point of this post. Neil Blender.

I'm thinking of Neil Blender a lot these days because there are no documentaries with him crying about the past in them. There are no endless retrospectives, re-issues upon re-issue of his decks, old man tours/ contests, and so on... There is a Blender mystique and I don't want it ruined by the telling of the whole story. It might be said, Blender's mind and skateboarding were the perfect vehicles for each other's development during the right time. Artist not athlete. Creative not competitive. Let's just stop right there.

Here is a short film Blender made. No skateboarding involved.


But he was pretty good at skateboarding. Thrasher photos.

Some serious tea drinking and inner views from back in the day over at Chromeball.