This is private bowl / diy built here in Metro Manila, Philippines. It’s called ALFSpot – named after the owner Alf. Four foot to five foot in height (1.25 – 1.5 meters) with smooth transitions. Built in 2012 by Alf himself along with local rippers Pedro Santos and Don.
Now i’m a greek-surf cynic, so when I discovered a mini ramp on the surfy beach where we planned to spend most of August I felt a genuine jolt of excitement. This was short lived however as we soon discovered it was in the kind of condition a flimsy wooden structure would be in if it had been left to endure the weathering of a beach environment for an entire year. Which it was. And it had.
“We live in a small country, we passed through another economic crisis, our politicians do not know how to spend our money. We thought the following: let us take it that nobody wants to do what we want. In Leiria there are no shortage of places to skate. We have a skatepark, a beautiful square full of marble curbs, a half dozen street spots and a mini ramp in the woods. But Ceramica is where we feel good. Far from everything and everyone, here we have the freedom and tranquility for a few beers, barbecues, creating concrete ramps without scooters, rollers and bmxers to cross our path. Do it yourself, fuck the rest.” – João Sales
first of many foreseeable Booze & Cruises to take place at Area 51 Skatepark was a success. The level of skateboarding for a mostly amateur contest was incredible. Standouts were the locals, Nick Bax and Jeroen Sars (Team 100%), Job and Daan van der Linden, whom I named the mini John Cardiel of Holland who were claiming Team Andy Roy, and the Belgian duo, Szymon Stachon and Maarten van den Bossche.
I first knew of Tony Roberts though his ground breaking surf/skate videos like “Mental Surfing”, “Progression Sessions”, Speed Wheels Santa Cruz “Risk It!” and many more in the early 90s. His films were the best, maybe because there was a lot of cross over between surfing and skating or because he started focusing on the radical aerial surfing of the Santa Cruz locals and was the one who got photos of guys like Ratboy, Flea, and Barney in the surfing magazines which led to their almost instant success and world wide fame and notoriety. I would see TR on the other side of the lens, skating at Derby or hanging out at the spots that we love the most. If anyone was my “hero” growing up in Santa Cruz as a surfer-skater videographer and photographer it was Tony Roberts.
“The sun rose silently behind the Sunset district of San Francisco.The fog was so thick you could grind it, the travelers were ill prepared for the inevitable onslaught. The ocean rose swallowing everything in her path. Israel Forbes was the first to spot the wall of water through the soupy fog. They struggled up the dunes narrowly escaping their ill timed fate. Zarosh Eggleston forged a quick and true path to the safety of “Neb’s Sanctuary”. There in the concrete safety of dunes they waited out the ebbing destruction. And the sun set once more.” – Mike Crabtree
Designed by concrete killer Julien Benoliel from Marseille, the bowl is being built for the “Julien Benoliel’s DIY bowl invitational contest” taking place April 26th. If you didn’t hear about it, well, I guess you weren’t invited.
Sergej Vutuc is tripping across the USA putting up photo shows and performing with Helmut Vutuc Lampshade. His traveling road show is named COINCIDENCE and the first date is Saturday, April 13th at CHIIPSSssss skate shop in Detroit. He’s been shooting on the streets this last week and on alternate days spending hours in the darkroom huffing fixer until his brain is exposing his photographic visions onto paper. If you are in Detroit tomorrow, or Chicago on April 26th, make sure to check out his show. Otherwise, check back here for more dates and photos from the road…
In our second edition of Confusion’s HOT SHIT web exclusive, we ask ten questions Bacon Skateboards concrete killer Thomas Nichols from Vancouver, Washington.
