backyard

GREAT DESERT POOL DUEL – Palmdale, California

Normally I hate skate contests. In California most skate contests are held in skate parks. While the terrain in California skate parks may be ok, skate parks seem to only exist to keep skateboarders concentrated in one area so to make it easier city officials to keep an eye on skateboarders. Add to the mix too many people, pad nannies, fences, and the like, I prefer to keep as far away from contests as possible.

The Kevin Wenzke Interview

Kevin Wenzke is one of the best all around transition rippers in Germany. At 22 years old, destroying any new bowl or ramp built on European soil, as well as the older concrete relics from the past, Kevin has a bright future in skateboarding. We were close to interviewing Kevin for issue #3 of Confusion Magazine but he had a bad knee injury which took him out for about eight months last May, so we couldn’t complete the feature. Here we have a short interview with some photos taken right before his injury, and a few older photos and sequences. Be on the look out for a full feature with Kevin in 2012 with all new photos as he completes his recovery and returns to slay the concrete bowls across the lands!

West Covina Pool – southern California

Mike had this one going for a while and was one hell of a host. You can only imagine the look on the landlords face when she came by to show a potential renter a room and saw the pool drained! Lots of Action went down at this gem in West Covina. Rhino from Thrasher came by with crew including Grant Taylor and the scored a cover for the 30th anniversary issue. The night before Mike got the boot this session went down. Johnny Abernathy, Ben Butler, Erik Peters, and Robbie from pedro.

The Maya Pool (DIY Backyard Pool)

I think it’s a dream of every skater to have his own ramp at home. Sure, I have my own ramp at home. Sure, it’s a crazy big ramp, half bowl half mini ramp, etc. But sure its not a pool….

DIY Willits – California

This is a home made pool with obstacles around the deck, somewhere in the wooded mountains of Willets, CA. The pool is real good – an amoeba with a death-box in the deep, shallow stairs, and pool coping all the way around… except over the shallow stairs where there is river rock mortared in for coping (up the ante!). This pool is not the easiest pool to skate. I have skated backyarders that are easier, but it is great nonetheless.

Pool Block Party DVD released!

Pool Block Party premiered yesterday in Southern California and is now available for purchase direct from Peacock, the filmmaker. Peacock also made pool skating cult classics, Cancer Dust and Tresslashing. This video features lots of the best pool skaters ever skating tons of backyard pools. Rumors are going around that this is the best pool skating video EVER!

Back to Old School 3 – Antwerp, Belgium (pre-contest)

A long time ago, in Anterp, Belgium the Back to Old School, 2nd edition was due to take place. Jason Parkes met me at my house in Cologne with his son Kilian. We got in my vw van and drove the 2 hours to the skatepark, where Lester Kasai and Mark Partain were warming up the day before the contest. It had been raining earlier and the park just dried up when we got there, and was practically empty, except for one of the best pool skaters in the world, and legendary 80s dominator Lester Kasai.

Amsterdam Pool Project: Holland

From Niels Naber, Burnside Constructions: “We are currently working on a last minute, hardcore diy project in Amsterdam, made with stuff found on site. It’s called the Amsterdam Pool Project and was initiated by 2 local artists Miktor and Molf.”

Backyard Pool. Bavaria, Germany

With the recent concrete developments in Hirschgarten, Heidelburg and Moos, you’d think there wouldn’t be much to update in the next months about new German ‘crete. And then bam! Baum sent in this update from the Bavarian outback – a backyard ‘made to skate’ pool he’s been working on in the backyard of Black River. Concrete coming next week! So who said there’s nothing good to skate in Germany?