Routine

When soccer practice is held close to a skate park, obviously there's a good chance I end up at the skate park.

Thomas G. with an acid drop from top of the bank to flat.

Front side board slide.

That's that!

B-sides

The last few days have gone by so fast that some recent photos have already fallen through the cracks. That includes Mike Sudoma with his after sun set, pop-shuv tail-grab at Park West.

...Now you can go back to your regularly scheduled program.

An hour at the park with Ryan Martin

You don't know if you don't ask... Local skater Ryan Martin introduced himself via e-mail a short while ago. He sent some photos and clips. He showed some devotion to all things P&S and then he asked to meet up so we could take some photos. It sounded like a good idea to me. What impressed me the most is that he knew what he wanted and he straight up asked for it. Most people are too worried that someone is going to tell them no. That's why we started this off with "You don't know if you don't ask"!

This is Ryan. He's 12.

We were AT the park for maybe an hour, but he threw down the next three tricks in less than ten minutes.

Big Indy grab.

First tries and consistency all around.

Thanks for inviting us out!

Closing Time

The times, they are a changin' as far as Ellice Avenue in Winnipeg is concerned. Saturday night was the final night of the Lo Pub which was sad news for regular patrons of one awesome establishment. Sunday morning wasn't much different for the breakfast crowd.

Black Sheep Diner is calling it quits....for now.

Amanda was the one who ensured we made it out for our last meal there.

Jordy was there, because he knew the Vegan French Toast would be missed!

So that's enough of the sad news, time to focus on positive things going down like the beginnings of Jordy's new tattoo...

...Jordy's new Paul Frank/Revelation Records T-shirt?

Never mind. This t-shirt is just a reminder of how I missed the show of the decade!

That's that!

Photo Thug and more

A familiar face comes up to me while I was skating at Park West last night and he asked me if I run the Pancakes and Skateboards Blog. Despite being wary of the inquisition, I admit full responsibility. After a short conversation, this ex-Winnipeg/current Edmonton resident and I determine the source of our original introduction many years ago through a mutual friend while attending World of Wheels in Calgary. At the time he was honing in craft in photography and now he is known as PHOTO THUG.

I'm sure he was surprised to learn that I have a copy of his first published photo ever on the cover of a Jones Soda bottle (that's never been opened) from over ten years ago. He's since graduated from soda bottles to magazines like Skateboarder and SBC etc... Check out his awesome/inspiring blog here. Check out his furious styles below...

After that encounter we were back to business as usual with Grady Kuly.

Benihana!

There wasn't even time to pop open the bottle of ibuprofen at home after the last few hours of fun before we were tipped off that we just HAD to get our butts down to the bowl at The Forks. We all know that lighting may not be in the cards at The Forks Plaza, but we also know where there's a WILL there's a way.

David enjoys the bowl with some D.I.Y. lighting action.

The host of the late night session...Will Power!

If it wasn't for the late night session and phone call message promptly relayed from the roommate, I would have never been witness to this!

That's right! Dude has a fully functional fish tank on his bike with plants growing from everywhere front to back!

Wow! What a night!

Second chances

If you were like me and passed out dead tired before 9:00pm last night or had some other reason/excuse not to be at The Cavern, you would have missed out on Chris Walter's last stop on his What No One Else Wanted To Say Book Launch/GFY Press Tour with special guests Trousermouth just as I did.

Luckily for me, Chris felt the need to lighten up the load before returning home and decided to give some books away at VJ's Drive Inn prior to skipping town. This was my second chance to catch up with him to make up for me being a lightweight the day before.

It's well known the people in Winnipeg love a good deal and free books?!? ...even better, but this wasn't a mob of people looking for table scraps...

...these were true fans appreciating the free book offer, but coming with fists full of cash to get their own copy of the new SNFU biography that Chris just finished. If you follow our blog, you'd know this already, because we were quite excited when our special edition copy showed up in the mail!

Mission accomplished...almost nothing left!

It's not out of the ordinary to see nice cars at a drive inn restaurant, but these Riff Raff C.C. members were here for more than just French Fries. They've been going to car shows as long as I can remember and enjoying the same hardcore and punk shows as I have since I was fourteen. So it's not a surprise to see them pick up some books from Chris, just as much as it's not a surprise that a former Winnipeger would choose VJ's Drive Inn as a place to meet up with his readers and fans so he can chow down on a VJ's burger before splitting.

Learn more about Chris, his latest book and GFY Press in this Winnipeg Free Press article.

European Bike Night

What have lowriders got to do with European Bike Night? Nothing at all, but Teddy was in attendance with his big body Cadillac so that's the first photo out of the gate!

Then there were bikes...

...also celebrity sightings. Rodrigo!

Old bikes like this sweet DKW? bobber.

New bikes like this row of Ducati machines.

Jay with his classic Yamaha.

Bikes I've never heard of (mostly because I'm not a bike kind of guy, but you get the idea).

Indian

Indian owner.

Can it be a party without live music on the Mona Lisa Ristorante Italiano patio?

Fred's trusty BMW. He's been to Burger King and back with it...or was that Brooklyn? Yes that's an inside joke.

It used to be green.

Fred!

Somehow we ended up back at 7-11 where the good times roll.

Imran!

Imran's mode of transportation.

Not just boy's fun!

Our 7-11 is better than your 7-11.

Only Mario would have a flaked out Corvette Stingray for a daily driver!

All good things come to an end.

Oh thank heaven for 7-11

Looking for adventure

Headed out on the highway today to take care of some business. Somewhere in between our destination and home was Steinbach, so we paid the little town a visit.

We couldn't return to Winnipeg without documenting SOMEthing . We solved that problem. Steinbach local, Derrick with the big boneless.

That's that!

300

Put in some garage time the other day on one of the more unique cars I've had the opportunity to work on over the years.

We may just have to take some more photos when this 65' Chrysler is back on the boulevard.

Less crowded

I rolled up to one of our many local skate parks last night and quickly noticed a sea of BMX bike riders. I turned away just as fast as I rolled up, because that only meant one thing...that many less bikers at the next park.

That's where I found Cody doing this half cab.

Mike was there as well trying to squeeze just a few more minutes of of what was left for daylight.

Then came the mosquitoes. The end.