Moving my blog to http://stillskateboarding.blogspot.com

Well, I've decided that while No Comply News is a clever name for a skateboarding blog. I think the name of it is limiting my reach for prospective viewers, readers, etc. So, I have come up with a different blog name and design that I think just makes more sense. Those of you who follow my blog which I think is very small according to google who says Jeff is following me and well, now my parents too. :) LOL! I would appreciate it if you would visit my new blog and follow it instead as this will be my last post to No Comply News and all future posts will be at Still Skateboarding. I'm not a great artist, but I'm quite proud of my new logo design...check it out! :)

Skateboard USB Flash Drive

Okay, you don't know how excited I am to have found this....I NEED THIS! I feel like a kid in a candy shop! You can buy it here at TigerDirect. I mean, it's not JUST a skateboard flash drive...for any of you who skated in the 80s, you know this is the Jim Phillips screaming hand graphic! I have this graphic on a t-shirt from the 80s, it is so worn out because it was my favorite and one of the few skateshirts I have from back then "because I was a shmuk who let this weasel borrow some of my skateshirts back then to never return them and then move!!! GURR!!" -but no I'm not bitter...not at all! :) LOL!

Tony Hawk skates at White House for Father’s Day

I know this news is old, but I had meant to comment on this when I heard about it...With permission from White House Officials, Tony Hawk does what any skateboarder would be thinking while walking down a hall in the white house....he skateboards down it! Sweet! Hawk, 41, skated in the grand foyer and the nearby Old Executive Office Building and yes, of course he had permission...I cannot believe after Hawk twittered the photo, so many people were commenting how offensive it was to do such an act, that is was disrespectful.....C'Mon people, he got permission and he rolled down a hallway. It's not like he was trying to damage Whitehouse property. Hawk joined other dads, athletes and celebrities at a Father’s Day forum hosted by President Obama, including NBA players Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat and Etan Thomas of the Washington Wizards. Hawk has done so many things that I didn't think I would see him do when I watched him in skate videos when he was a skinny teenager in the 80s. I certainly didn't think he would be at celebrity status and I didn't think skateboarding would be where it is today with huge competitions like the X Games, The Dew Tour, The Maloof Cup and all the skateboarding parks around the world...along with June 21, Go Skateboarding Day! We have our own day...it's just too awesome. Hard to imagine that back in 1991, skateboarding was almost non existent for a little while.

Pro Skateboarder Jereme Rogers Retires?

I've got to say, when I first saw this posted on SkateDaily, I was stunned and confused. I mean, okay, so he wants to focus on music now, fine. But a big announcement that you are "Officially Retiring from Skateboarding" along with a retirement party? What the hell? Who does that in skateboarding? It just seems like he is saying that he is not going to skateboard anymore, whereas skaters like Tony Hawk announced way back that he was retiring from Competitive skateboarding. So he still skates, just doesn't compete...now that makes sense for a skateboarder....do we ever really want to quit skateboarding.....I don't think so unless you really don't have that passion for it and you just did it because you had a gift for it. Maybe that is what it's about for him, maybe he just had a gift but not a love for skateboarding that I think most of us who have stuck with it for so long, have. I mean, look at Jason Lee, star of "My Name Is Earl". Did he ever announce his retirement from skateboarding? I don't think so...if so I missed it. We all know he still skates and makes appearances in videos every once in awhile and we also know he is an actor. I just don't get why Jereme Rogers announced his retirement, why not just go about your business focusing more on you music and less on skateboarding...but still skateboard? Whatever...I just thought it was weird...

Happy Belated Birthday Mark Gonzales

Mark Gonzales turned 40 yesterday...oh man, how time flies! I think back to the first video I saw Mark Gonzales in, it didn't really do him justice as it was a competition...as you all know, he has some amazing footage in many skate films, but check out the first footage I ever saw of him...I had checked this video out at the local skate shop in Bellevue, Nebraska where I lived...it was actually a Bike Shop called "Earl's Bikes", if I remember correctly. Earl was a cool guy, he was always willing to help all the kids get the skateboard gear they wanted and he was the only shop I knew of in town in the 80s that sold quality skate stuff. It was a pretty sketchy place however, located between two oil stacks in a old metal warehouse down a gravel road with no other shops around. Thinking back on it now, I bet his rent was cheap! :) Anyways, I think I borrowed a friends VCR and connected it to my Dad's and recorded a copy of this video....the old way of pirating...man it took so much effort back then! :)

Check out the clip....man, I miss launch ramps! :) Well, without further adoo, Sticker Head, Mark Gonzales! :)

Remember Airwalks?

I do mean the shoes and not the trick. I was passing by Payless Shoe Store one day and I saw on their window a banner for Airwalk Shoes. If you were skating in the late 80's, you probably had a pair of Airwalk skate shoes at some point. Remember the big velcro shoelace cover? Well, I went to Payless Shoes website and scrolled through the airwalk selection. I wasn't impressed. I don't understand why one of the first companies to make shoes just for skateboarding has gotten away from that. They are cheap and I feel like i must get a pair for nostalsia purposes. The one I have pictured up top is the closest I could find to that logo they used to have on all there shoes back in the late 80s. The picture below is an Airwalk Reissue of their "Prototype" shoe in the late 80s....wow, I remember those! I always wanted a pair of those but remember them costing too much.

1982 Skateboarding Flashback

Take a trip down memory lane...actually for me, 1982 skateboarding is before I really started skateboarding. I was 8 years old and the most skateboarding I probably did was on this really skinny plastic skateboard...it was modeled after the early skinny wooden skateboards...and sometime in the lates 80s, I figured out I was able to pop some crazy high ollies on this board and well, these boards were not designed for that and it snapped in half. I wish now that I would have treated that deck with more respect so i could still have that piece of skateboarding history. Flip through all of 1982's Thrasher issues online for free at Thrasher Magazine's website.