Low Life Customs/Winnipeg's Most Wanted Project # 2

In the summer of 2010 we completed the first Low Life Customs/Winnipeg's Most Wanted collaboration project.

Since that project was completed we've slowly (very slowly) been working on the idea of a new project we've dubbed Operation K.O.T.B. (more on that later).

We're not expecting to have this project finished any time too soon, but WMW did send over a few photos to let us know that it has begun!

Stay tuned on this one as we will be returning to this story now and again I'm sure.

We once built a Cadillac from the grill backwards. This time we started back in 2010 with the idea that we'd built this project from the pumps forward!

So there's that.

Ode to the Birdman

At the risk of dating myself, I'll admit that I was introduced to Tony Hawk via my first Transworld Skateboarding Mags and Thrasher Magazines back in 86'. Even back then I think his image was a bit too polished for some in the ads of the magazines, but there was no denying that every kid aspired to be as good as him and his Bones Brigade teammates at the time.

Tony Hawk by Brittain from my Transworld collection August 86'.

Fast forward twenty six years and Tony Hawk releases his 2012 footage earlier today. We encourage you to watch it and while you do, keep in mind that he's forty three years old!

Despite who you look up to in skateboarding, who inspires you or who your personal hero may be there will always be one name that is always synonymous with skateboarding and that is Tony Hawk.

He's usually not even on my own radar except for occasions like when Grandma buys Tony Hawk shirts for number one son, because she's under the impression that if you like skateboarding, you like Tony Hawk. This isn't such a bad thing to me. Maybe it's better if an eight year old looks up to Tony Hawk instead of the Deathwish Team and other similar options.

Hawk popped up on our radar last year when he showed up at the 7th Annual Vans Pro-tec Pool Party to skate in the Masters Finals category in the Combi Bowl while we watched the contest stream live. He's no Chris Miller, Lance Mountain or Steve Caballero when it comes to bowl riding as he's always been more of a vert ramp skater, but he threw down with the rest of them and still managed to grab fourth place.

Today after school I showed the above footage to number one son. He appeared semi-impressed at first and then spoke up and said "Shaun White can do better than that". I was quick to add "maybe so, but Shaun White is almost 20 years younger". That was the end of that conversation and he continued watching and then he started expressing how impressed he really was.

By coincidence, he just happened to be wearing one of his Tony Hawk shirts all day. Maybe some day he'll look back and shake his head for wearing the clothes that grandma bought. In the meantime he cared more about taking his inspiration for the day and throwing down himself with a clean front side disaster off of the extension at The Angry Ramp.

First try, first and last photo of the day!

Pineapples, bananas and onions.

I've had been looking forward to today for more than a week. Well today had arrived and it started early and yummy thanks to the folks at Black Sheep Diner. It's not the first time I've praised their vegan French Toast offering and it probably won't be the last.

Obviously if we're out this early on a Sunday we're out with our breakfast buddies!

While we were out capturing some images with the medium format camera in the cold I noticed this in the corner of my eye.

So many good uses for skateboard parts these days from art to function.

More times than not they are used for their intended purpose.

Today marked the official launch of the Every Second Sunday/P&S rental sessions at The Edge Skatepark.

Stoked!

Turn it around

Some days feel less perfect that others and some weeks have days like those jammed in there back to back all week long. This last week was beginning to feel like one of those weeks and then before even having to dig deep to focus on all of the positive things going on...Friday night kicked off with all sorts of good stuff and great news.

The first thing I stumbled upon when arriving at our headquarters was a box full of goodies from our friends over at New Line

They apologized it wasn't simply a box full of cash, but we appreciated the gesture none the less.

Then moments later I hear from my friend that Operation "KOTB" is finally underway!

That is exciting to us. More on that later...

Last but not least...we finished our night at The Angry Ramp of course, but you knew that already.

Jump for Joy!

...or in this case, do a back flip!

Just another Friday night at our home away from home... The Angry Ramp.

Funny faces.

If we're going to dip in to the archives, we might as well go back to a warm day. It's been a warmer winter for the most part this year, but this photo taken back in the fall of 2010 reminds me of even better weather compared to what we call winter around here.

It's a Madd world!

We briefly met Randy Wall back in December at A Finely Crafted Sale. I made arrangements with him to pick up some some of his unique artwork at his art lab/studio prior to Christmas and this is what I stumbled upon when I entered the world of MaddRandall.

Needless to say, I instantly requested to return with my camera to share what was going on in Randy's world! Randy politely invited us back to his basement of awesome.

One of the first things that came to mind when I first laid eyes upon Randy's art lab is how I only wished I had stumbled upon it before P/S Zine Issue I - The Collectors Issue

I think Randy had just about every genre of toys offered in his collection.

Including O.G. G.I. Joe

Freddy Kreuger

The Monkees, Plant of The Apes, Batman...

...even Homies!

From East L.A. all the way to Japan.

A whole wall dedicated to Munny, Kid Robot and many other various Japanese collectibles.

I didn't get the details on this one, but it is pretty slick.

If you're going to have a room full of awesome you'd better have a Pinball game in there somewhere!

Parts of Halloween costumes and the RCA dog.

Why does Randy love collecting toys? Maybe one of the reasons is aside from being an illustrator and designer for over 25 years he's also been busy sculpting toys!

He has a separate wall dedicated his prototypes and the finished products they became after they went in to production.

Awesomeness continued...

You can't have O.G. Batman without Robin.

Below the Salvador Dali clock is part of a Planet of The Apes mask used at one of Randy's infamous (2012 marks it's 27th year) annual Halloween parties. If you follow this blog you know we're fans of Planet of the Apes.

There are treats in every corner!

Some Synthesizer influenced art.

This might explain that influence. MaddRandall's talents don't stop at creating visual art. I thought I walked in to a Supertramp concert! So much fun!

I could have taken photos and listened to stories all night long...but our time ran out so we'll be sure to return soon.

Looking to connect with Randy for a project? Contact him here.

Did we expect anything less?

Shortly after posting about skipping a day posting I miss yet another day all together while hiding from the world fighting off one of far too many head colds I've endured this winter. I didn't even put my face in front of a computer screen for over 24hrs. Now I'm back and playing catch up.

We've posted stuff now and again from Die Antwoord and it's no surprise to us that this trailer leads us to believe that their up and coming video release will be something next level. After the Evil Boy video we expect no less.

Live to blog, blog to live?

We try to update this blog on a daily basis. Some days we succeed, others we don't. We just enjoy taking photos and sharing some of our adventures...it's that simple. Yesterday we took photos, but haven't got around to sharing them yet becuase that's the way it goes. Today was another skateboarding day so we're back at it. Today could repeat itself again and again and again and it wouldn't bother me a bit. It was fun.

Mark with a front side ollie.

Dreams turned to reality.

Our friend Mitch confessed that he'd had two things on his mind for a good portion of the day yesterday. The bowl at the Edge Skatepark and the Angry Ramp. Well at least one of those day dreams turned to reality by the end of the day.

Mitch Lavoie backside lip!

That's that!

Let's open up this pit!

The roommate made us watch this three times in a row. We didn't argue...it's obviously a viral hit closing in on 700,000 hits on it's first day and the day is still young. Somehow I can picture number one son tearing up the streets with Juliet! They would be dangerous together.

I left my heart in Mexico City...

...my mind has left to join the party. Seeing that the temperature is -35℃ in Winnipeg at the moment, it only makes sense that my mind is stuck in Mexico City as well.

Just a small dose of some of the good times we had at Mexico City skate parks last summer.

Check out more of our adventures in Mexico City here.

Prize Possesion

So the other day when we were checking out Keith's record and t-shirt collection we noticed a photo in the mix. On the left is Keith himself with Jerry Only in the middle with Gary aka The Ultimate Gary aka Mike Wachs or best yet the new nickname the roommate made up on the spot The Gar-Bear!

It's been awhile since there's been any activity in the MWFC (Mike Wachs Fan Club). If I had been the one to take the orginal photo above I can assure you it would have made the cut!

The moment so many people have been waiting for...

The Edge Skatepark officially opened for business as of today! Check out the hours on their site and keep up to date with everything else on their blog or their facebook page.

For those of you too far away to enjoy the park in person...here's a little taste. The latest video featuring the Sk8 Skates crew at the park.

Field Trippin' Part I

Welcome to the first (of hopefully many) of the "field trippin'" series. I'd love to say we jumped in to a time machine for our first field trip to grab this image...

...but even if we did it feels like we landed back in 1977 and not the times of corralling the buffalo on the plains as that would be about the first time I think I saw this display. It was pretty amazing to me then and it's still sort of crazy now.

This is our friend Ann.

She's the one that suggested going on a "field trip" a short while ago and we accepted. We suggested back that we take it up a notch. We're gonna do our best to check off a couple of the typical things from suggestions of lists such as 101 Things To Do in Winnipeg or Manitoba's Star Attractions.

The first thing I noticed from these lists aside from Thing To Do # 101: "Show off your moves (or just watch the experts) at Canada’s largest Skateboard Plaza located at The Forks" is that the majority of these things don't appeal to me so we might start making our own list of Things To Do while in Winnipeg aside from get on an airplane and go elsewhere which I believe is a favourite amongst the locals.

This was the rest of our field trippn' crew.

The first lesson learned on any field trip is that most of the fun can be had before even paying the price of admission if the world is your playground.

So back to the field trip. If you're a local and you've been on a field trip before...well this one is an obvious one from the first photo...we were at the Manitoba Museum (formerly known as The Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature until "man" became a naughty word despite the fact that "man", "woman" and "human" all end in "man").

Lunchtime!

WPG!

Winnipeg!

There are options when you get to the museum. The obvious being to check out the museum itself where the displays are becoming just as much relics as the artifacts that are in them. While you're there you can take a stroll on the Nonsuch where Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez played Tonsil Hockey during a recent visit to "The Peg". The other options being the Science Gallery, the Planetarium or the option we chose... Circus!

The highlights of the Circus exhibit being tight rope walking and the whatever you call this thing...

Number one son pulled off 21 back flips in-a-row and then we were outta' there! Field trip commenced, on to other adventures...

...like Dwayne Larson's b-day party/house warming celebration!

Best way to check if you're at a good party or not is the source of the music. Spinning records on an old school turntable is always a win in my books.

A good taste in music helps as well.

I cased the joint and took inventory of of the goodies on the shelf such as the Canon rangefinder, a Polaroid and a Holga.

His and hers Yashicas. How romantic!

The party boy himself and his birthday mustache trying on one of his presents intended to make him the sharpest dressed wedding photographer on the scene!

After a day at the museum it was refreshing to find one of these that wasn't stuffed!

That's that!