Boneless etc...

Just another Sunday back at our favourite/only indoor skateboard park The Edge.

Like I've mentioned before, our crew has a healthy mix of the old school...

...and the new(er) school. This particular member of our crew is back with a smile after taking almost an entire year off due to an ACL injury earned in this very location.

Just as I was trying to figure this out...

...Mr. Lambert makes an appearance with his own giant smile!

Now for the skateboarding... I told David that my only reason for getting out of bed today was to take this exact picture. So he complied and performed a repeat of the same giant boneless that impressed me the first time I witnessed it a few weeks earlier.

Why hippie jump over something as simple as a bar when you can do it over a picnic table instead?

Ross makes everything look so easy...while doing it fast!

The Photographs No One Wanted

Four years ago I had the pleasure of meeting local photographer John Campbell after a Paul D'ianno set at The Zoo. For those of you who don't know, Paul D'ianno was the original lead vocalist for Iron Maiden and yes...that show was beyond amazing! Best Zoo show I can remember in recent memory.

I wasn't sure at the time if John a.k.a. "Fat Johnny" was a comedian or a photographer, because nothing but the "funniest things ever" came out of his mouth. It turns out he was a photographer and a musician and the comedy just came natural.

Between the day we met and now, he's been quite a busy dude. He's known by important people in elite circle's of influence for rockin' hard with The Fabulous Kildonans. While on stage he pulled off the Fab Stills series which was based on shots of the crowd from the stage like this one.

Aside from his own family, it's obvious that photography remains to be one of his passions even after the fact that running a successful team photo studio is his "day job".

He recently started a photo blog.

His blog is full of his editorial styling, portraits with personality and shots of every day places and objects around town with his own unique view.

Enjoy! ...in the meantime, only five more hours until another Sunday skate session with the crew!

Different strokes...

Every once in awhile I stray away from the staple content of all things pancakes and skateboards. The introduction of Urbee the hybrid car is one example that comes to mind.

Meeting the team behind the Urbee project reminded me of the passion I had when diving in to my first hydraulic installation on the first lowrider I built.

Anytime I come across that sort of passion towards a hobby, a collection, a career or anything for that matter I take note. The other day I was introduced to an old concept with a sleek modern adaptation. The Stirling Engine.

This individual walked up to me with a box in his hand and declared "I've got something to show you". He didn't care what I thought of what he had to show me or what I might think of him when he expressed his passion for the concept of the Stirling Engine. He was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning to show me this working version of the engine and give me the run down on how it works.

He urged me to go home and check out all the variations of these engines on youtube. I did. Some famous words ran through my head "...you ain't no nerd?...I could have sworn you were!" If he wasn't so passionate to share what was on his mind... I may never have learned about the Stirling Engine. Maybe there was a chapter on it in school...I was probably too busy day dreaming of skateboarding to notice.

I urge you if you're not already...get passionate about something now!

DJ SW@T

Spending a couple of hours out in the snow and sunshine on Louis Riel Day (Family Day for non Manitoba residents and of course President's Day for the Americans) apparently wasn't enough for us so we put in a couple more hours of freezing time to hang out with DJ SWAT for a fun photo shoot post Festival festivities.

If you've missed out on the many opportunities to catch her perform locally or on tour you can press play to listen to her Broke-Not Broken mix from the end of 2010.

If Drum & Bass, Dubstep or Reggae Jungle floats your boat, check out more tunes HERE.

More DJ SW@T info and photos can be found on her blog. Keep up to date with events and tour dates via the DJ SW@T Group on facebook.

Festival 2011

Although the changes from year to year are very subtle at Festival du Voyageur, there really is so much to see....

...so much to learn as well.

Unfortunately history lessons are sacrificed when you roll in a crew of two deep and one of them just happens to be a seven year old. All that really matters is snow banks.

I don't know how crowded this party gets when it's below -35 degrees Celsius, but when it's between -20 and -30 people stop complaining about lousy weather and stand in line so that they can get inside, to stand outside!

O.K., in all fairness...there are fires going outside and many tents and building offer warmth and comfort...this is all irrelevant as far as most kids are concerned I'm sure.

The international snow sculpture symposium is always visually pleasing.

One of my favourites.

I remember going to festival when I was a kid and never realized I'd return one day until I had a kid of my own. He always looks forward to it and it's as good as excuse as any to get out of the house in the winter (even if it's easier to find excuses to stay inside).

There are always plenty of photo ops.

If the music, the food, the history and the snow banks aren't enough for you there's always cotton candy.

For a bit of a photographic history of the Festival I stumbled across this blog to share. The content appears to be comprised of local newspaper photos from The Univerisity of Manitoba Archives.

I definitely enjoyed the photos on the blog. It seems to be fairly new, but a good source for a visual history of Winnipeg.

From hibernation mode to Festival mode...

A large portion of this past long weekend was spent in hibernation mode due to the low temperatures. Stir craziness sets in fast when hiding from the cold, so as soon as the temperature rose above -30 Degrees Celsius we headed to the nearest party.

That's just a teaser of course. Photos of our outdoor adventures coming hopefully later today. Stay tuned!

Suicidal Saturday

A mix of fun skateboarding and hard to watch hardcore bails. 1:12 and 1:16, so classic.

Making the exchange with the dealer.

I made a promise to my dealer that this is the week that I'd make it down to the gallery to switch up some work on display, so of course I left it until Friday.

Even after literally working around the clock to set up for the show that starts tonight, my art dealer still wears a smile on her face! She's not just my dealer, she's singer/songwriter, artist, gallery curator Serena Postel!

Colours of Hope is a FREE art exhibit and fund raising auction to benefit Siloam Mission. Check it out and get the details on supporting this great cause.

I can only provide a quick sneak peak as I was under time constraints during my visit. I can assure you this show has all sorts to offer from many different types of talented artists.

This one was super vibrant. The photo doesn't do the painting justice.

The Edge Village has more to offer than just the main attraction. They have a shop dedicated to selling gallery member's works. They even have art for sale in the washrooms! Check out more details and gallery hours on their site!

In other news... The Assistant tipped me off that I "made headlines" this week in Anthony Augustine's weekly allonewords.ca article in Uptown Magazine. Thanks to Anthony for showing some love for Pancakes and Skateboards and laying it down in print!

No signifying!

Thanks to a friend of mine who's down for PBS I was turned on to the film Adjust Your Color - The Truth About Petey Greene

This guy kicks some ass.

Watching him in action reminded me a bit of listening to former local radio talk show host Marty Gold. It also dawned on me that there's a good possibility that a few actors I've seen in movies in my day seem to have added some Petey Greene styles to their own characters.

Check out the film and see what you think for yourself.

I'll leave you with words from the man himself... “So grab your head and make a fist. Listen at me and remember this, that I’ll tell it to the hot, tell it to the cold, tell it to the young and tell it to the old. I don’t want no laughing, I don’t want no crying, and most of all, no signifying.”

This is not the end.

"This is not the end, it's just another song" - Agent Orange

I may have listened to the particular song that those lyrics belong to a good thirty times this week as I've been flipping back and forth between two CD's while driving. I'm not sure why I picked an Agent Orange CD for the rotation, but it's been a good fit. So it was quite the coincidence to notice the same album on a shelf in a friend's house while continuing along with the project.

When there's just no more room for your cassettes you work with what you have. Wear the fancy underwear, throw the overflow of cassettes in the Victoria's Secrets bag. Problem solved.

The Smiths and Suicidal Tendencies together. Where would we be without alphabetization?

Favourites from the stash.

Say it with flowers.

I used to drive by a flower shop on Academy Road and always remember they had a sign posted that read "Say it with flowers". Every year when Valentines Day rolls around and people send and receive flowers I am always reminded of that sign. I always wonder if you had something really mean to say. How DO you say that with flowers? I'd love to see that bouquet!

Local hardcore heroes Born Bad played their last show this past Sunday. I was not there. Fortunately for you, the roommate was! Check out photos like this and more on his blog TIFS.CO (The Internet's Favorite Site).

Know No Boundaries

Originally this past Sunday morning was supposed to start off with a photo shoot. The shoot was canceled leaving us available to do nothing or dive in to the first adventure that came our way. Soon enough we gained some last minute knowledge that there were some good finds at one of the flea markets so that's where our day began.

This particular flea market was new to me. It's quite large as far as local flee markets go and takes place at 1111 Ellice Ave in Winnipeg. Usually you can find the details on kijiji.

As most flea markets go...there's usually something for everyone.

I wish I had a big desk for a shiny airplane like this.

In case you didn't know, there's a porno plague going down.

Finally, the reason we were really there!

I am now one Scream LP and one Billingsgate EP up thanks to these friendly gentlemen Steve and Andy.

We rounded up a friend from the market to go on a mission to find some valentines day cards to hand out at school as Daniel needed some for his classmates and she needed some for her students. I only bring this up as an opportunity to show off the new shirt that just showed up in her mail that she is quite proud of.

Daniel wanted to introduce our readers to "Mr. Snowball".

Unfortunately there were not enough Valentines Day cards to go around at the Value Lots store, but if you have 99 cents, you may want to consider visiting them to pick up a well priced bottle of Jones Soda!

In between adventures and Sunday's regular errands we took advantage of the wonderfully warm weather and made our annual snowman.

On our way to The Edge, we made a pit stop at the neighborhood skate shop for a quick change over. Ryan gave us some sweet service and had us on our way in no time. He also shared some good stories and hinted of a few great things coming soon at Green Apple. Staying tuned to their blog might be in your best interest if you wanna keep up with cool happenings going down in March.

If Roller Derby floats your boat, you may want to check out Red River Deep Freeze next weekend. I can make one guarantee...we will not be there.

Finally on to the last adventure of our day.

What would winter be without the minimum every second Sunday skate session and thankfully a good handful in between.