TRASH - Vans may acquire Shorty's, other skating news

Thrasher Magazine, Oct, 2001

SCOTTISH SUPERSTAR JOHN RATTRAY JOINED THE ZERO army following a stellar performance on the Circa Euro tour. Jamie is reportedly so stoked on his new team rider, he shipped him a three-chip and death lens so he could begin working on his Dying to Live part immediately.

Vans is rumored to be interested in acquiring Shorty's. Considering that Alloy in New York is said to own CCS, this may be seen as a harbinger of another round of consolidation and vertical integration.

Element has joined forces with Billabong International to create a merchandising monolith which will clothe and provide boards for the world in one fell swoop marked by efficiency and attractive colorways. Long-time Volcom rider Bam Margera turned in his stone to wholly endorse both the Element board and clothing brands. Matthew Perrin, the Chief Executive Officer of Billabong International says, "This partnership is a milestone in our industry as three great companies combine their strengths to take skateboarding to a new level of a truly global business."

The Wall Street Journal--indisputably the most mainstream business chronicle in the land--recently examined what they termed "The Extreme-Sports Industry's Risky New Challenge." In their estimation, "Maintaining Rebel Appeal While Building Profit Proves a Tricky Move." The piece goes on to discuss the Walt Disney Company's Joint venture agreement with Camp Woodward to "build additional extreme-sports camps elsewhere that don't fit the outlaw image." As a point of reference, Disney owns ABC which owns ESPN which owns the X-Games. The relevance to the camp in the Pennsylvania hills? Camp Woodward will be a site for this summer's X-Games. Do not be astonished to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse at a family-oriented non-rebel skatepark near you soon. These large trademarked, synthetic fur rodents are there to comfort you and to promote mass consumer consumption.

Number one big media of the month: Rolling Stone presents "Skateboarding's PUNK KINGS." The title reveals all: "The Gang That Couldn't Skate Straight. Meet Skateboarding's Newest Stars, The Piss Drunx, the Most Dysfunctional Degenerates Ever to Bust An Ollie." Revelations spew forth within this primer of moral turpitude. Greco throws up shiny yellow socks of vomit. He lives to be baraka and toss down hammers. Elissa Steamer, who was educated at the dog track, punches Grecs in the grill for urinating on her new car. Knox Godoy had no mother but two fathers. Andrew Reynolds rolls a 2000 gold Eldorado and cashes 100 thousand-dollar video checks. Jay Strickland was raised in a biker-dude family. Jeremy Fox, the manager of Flip, says there are no rules in pro skateboarding Dustin Dollin was the Spawn of Satan. Hawk says Jim is chaos. Somewhere the genius in charge of this cross-promotional stroke is massaging his wallet in glee. These riders should demand another pay increase immediately. How did this deep "repor tage" manage to miss the fact that Grec's nickname back in Connecticut was "Boy Toy"?

RIP: META. aka Margaret Kilgallen, succumbed to liver cancer in San Francisco. The influential street and fine artist is being honored in a number of posthumus tributes to raise funds for her and husband Barry McGee's child, Asha. Contributions can go to: The Asha Kilgallen McGee Fund--Bay View Bank. attn: Mark Harris, 443 Castro Street San Francisco. CA 94114-2019

The Hosoi saga continues with the incarcerated skater's in-custody marriage to Jennifer, which took place in the hallway of the courthouse. Pony shoes are said to be cutting an endorsement deal with Hosoi, who is scheduled to be sentenced in September. Hope remains that the judge will look kindly upon Christian's desire to be paroled to do a youth ministry with at-risk youth. Greg Macias and Danny Kwock are doing a TV profile of Hosoi's life for the 5-4-3.2-1 program. Observers will recognize those names as being key Quiksilver operatives.

Jay Adams may be looking at a release from institutional life in September. Talk has him working for 1984, maybe as a team manager.

Three separate Jason Lee movies are coming around: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Big Trouble, and Vanilla Sky. Vanilla Sky has the promise to be widely seen as it features involvement by such personages as Tom Cruise and Cameron Crowe. Even such curb whackers as Bruce Gilbert have labored on this film.

Swiss Mister Chany Jeanguenin has joined T-Bone and the boys over at Osiris with a signature shoe in the works.

NASCAR manifests itself as a current concern with both Caballero and Hawk turning 130-mile-per-hour-laps at Loews Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Koston backside kickflipped over Mike Skinner's #31 race car while Kris Markovich also flipped it with finesse.

FTC turned 15, and commissioned several artists to do decks for the occasion. Included were Damon Soule, Bigfoot, PNUT Galinsky and Evan Hecox.

Wing Ko, who is supposed to be working on the Rodney Mullen documentary feature, has been spending his time in the LA Chinatown club Firecracker where he was seen DJ'ing techno love mixes, and sometimes masquerading under the moniker of Arthur Yen.