hopeless old men on skateboards

Sonny and Rich helped me put up more tile today. Fun to watch Sonny cruise around the bowl. Makes me think we did it right.

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Had a fun session with Chris Strople, Jeff Ament, Sage and Sky Bolyard, Wally Inouye and Rich Burton today. Chris had this image on his board. That poster came out right about the time I got my first urethane wheels.

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Phonecam shot of Jack skating outside the caffeine clinic.

Some art by my 16 year-old self appeared with a nice note from a guy I haven’t heard from for over 30 years. Thanks internet!

Back in the early days of pools and ramps (late 70′s) there was a guy named Mark Conahan who lived a street down from us in Lomita Ca.. He was the best local kid we knew of, first guy I remember seeing catch air. A little older than us, In his Moms driveway he built one of the first curved ramps (half pipe) we had ever seen or rode. He drove, so he used to be the ride to all the skate spots. He was also a serious photographer and artist, his main focus was comics and animation. He was just this super cool, super talented, but super modest dude that we all looked up to.

Mark, along with his brother Craig and some other local kids formed their own skateboard team -”Team Fresno” why Fresno? I’m not sure, probably just because “Fresno” sounds funny.

Attached is probably the only Team Fresno membership card still in existence. Early M.C. art and design -circa 1977?

Mark knew what he wanted to do with his life early on, and he did it. A renowned skateboarding enthusiast (and still not a bad skater for an old guy) and an accomplished cartoonist and designer. His comics are incredibly funny and insightful.

Mark, I don’t know if you are a dad, but you had a fatherly influence on a lot of kids back in the day. So -

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

I’m really stoked that things have turned out the way they have for you.

Keep it up.
Jon Thornton

Thanks man. Best wishes to you too.

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Remember when I broke my camera the other day? Well that was actually the second one I broke. The first one was in my pocket when I slipped on some rain at Gabriel Park skatepark. It looked okay except for a crack at the bottom of the case and didn’t work anymore. The second one fell over on my tripod and bent the lens barrel. it still worked but the lens wouldn’t retract and was out of focus. I could view the stuff that was already on there.

I bought a replacement and it arrived yesterday. I got to wondering if I could give the black one a lens transplant from the silver one. Whad d’ya know? It worked.