Interstate MAG

With it being April and clocks just springing a head. I can smell the concrete dusk coming off of ledges. Anyone who lives in the northeast knows what I’m talking about; yes kids spring is here! No more shoveling out spots, wearing 16 layers of clothes, or dealing with frozen trucks. With the good weather around the corner it’s time to start planning out those summer trips. So I figured I would lend some insight on my favorite cities to skate and why.

5. Los Angeles
This city has it all from pro skateboarders living on every block, endless summer days, and the smoothest concrete ground money can buy. Downtown is a great place to park and skate around, but the spots are an instant bust. School grounds are probably the best bet for skating all day. They have everything from mini picnic tables to flawless stairs and ledges.
The main problem with this city is lack of public transportation. With LA being so big the skate spots are really spread out. So most of your day could be spent in a car sitting in hellish traffic. The main thing I miss about LA is the weather.

4. Philadelphia
Philly is the complete opposite of LA, rough ground and harsh winters. This doesn’t stop it from being one of my favorites to skate. The best thing about the city of “brotherly love” is how small and compact it is. You can skate the whole place without ever being in a car. The skate spots are unique forcing you to be creative. Most of the spots are bust free, but a lot of them are in the hood. The vibe is also great, once nighttime falls and you’re warn out from shredding FDR roll over to South Street for a cheese steak and a cold one.

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Here is the second installment of Gary Smith’s Southwest trip with Ergophobia team.
If you missed the first part click here to catch up.

Now that you understand the melting pot of personalities on this weeklong trip to the desert, it’s time to get into the great terrain our wheels meshed upon. Dirty ditches, banked schools, and rolling tumbleweeds are how Arizona and New Mexico welcomed us.
Phoenix, Arizona
As we walked outside of the airport to wait for Andrew to pick us up I could feel the sun burning my pupils. It was 80 degrees and felt wonderful. Andrew pulls up hyped as usual and blasting Slayer; it was on. We dropped our things off at his (collage land) apartment and headed straight for one of the many amazing cement parks Phoenix has to offer. This one in particular is where the hold the Phoenix Dam Am contests. When we got there it was packed like a can of sardines because of an Osirus shoes demo and with the sun reflecting off the park I could only see by squinting my eyes. Tom, Shawn, and Andrew had no problems what so ever. They dodged kids like the Mafia dodges the IRS; at this point I was on the sidelines cheerleading. I was syked to see Caswell Berry destroy the whole park while smoking a fog. All in all our first day in Arizona was a blast I got to watch my friends and an Osirus demo while having the warm desert sun on my back.
The next day the crew woke up early do to the three-hour time difference. We met up with Ronnie Creager, Thad, Matt Price, and Jani at another mind-boggling cement park. Tom and Shawn must have the desert god’s on their side because I never seen anyone walk into a park and rule as hard as they did. We stayed long enough to warm up our legs and then headed to a ditch Andrew knew about. Ditches are great because you can show up there with 100 people and not get kicked out. We were close to that capacity especially with the Osirus team, locals, and our Ergo crew. The vibe was great, the spot was dusty, and the banks were steep. Everybody seemed to get tricks pretty quick except for me. I have the tendency to take all day or at least 4 hours (which was the case). I have to give it up to Matt Price and Thad for not giving up on me. We ate at a local pizza joint that night for dinner and then it was off to bed.

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Danny Montoya and me.
It’s hot it’s crowded and the adult beverages were consumed out of paper cups. The festivities that went down this past Easter weekend were better than any Cancun spring break. Who cares about frat parties and flip-flops when you could be watching Stefan Janoski do switch flip crooks down a rail. This is how I spent my weekend (or what I remember of it) skating and watching my favorite rippers do what they do best, so here is my top 5 favorite moments of the weekend.

Kerry Getz, Brian Anderson, and Bam with his arm around my sweety Trisha.

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Greg Lutzka
Frontside 270 to backside noseblunt slide
Kickflip frontside boardslide
1. Greg Lutzka
2. Adam Dyet
3. Ryan Decenzo
4. Gailea Momolu
5. Sean Malto
6. Nick Dompierre
7. Mark Appleyard
8. Ryan Sheckler
9. Torey Pudwill

Photos by Darryl and Rodney Jones
Words by Darryl (Positiv’s Team Manager)

Andy Mac and Rodney Jones at Airwalk photo shoot.
Every once in a while I get a friendly reminder of why I’m in this business. On the day of February 6th. my reminder came in the colors pink and blue. The Pink Motel and its famous empty blue pool have been home for many of sessions over the years. Today though, it was all Andy and Rodney with a few photographers, video cameras, and a really happy Brand Manager. Oh yeah there was also models, hair and make-up, a giant converted RV and catering… you know, a typical session.

Andy does a lein to tall after Rodney completes his grocery shopping.
Andy and Rodney were there for a catalog shoot, so I tagged along and poached as many photos as I could. I shot over 200 pics and here’s about 30 of them. Yup, 200 pics and 198 of them blurry… I guess I’ll keep my day job. Here’s the pics, I hope you enjoy.

Rodney signature stalefish in the deep end.
To see more photos by Darryl and Rodney Jones click here.