Varied Terrain.

Ran all over Polk County shooting photos today.


Started things off at the horribly fun Adair Skatepark. It was nice having a crew full of dudes who grew up skating such nonsense.



Frank took a funny spill on a Footplant Back Disaster. I'm so bummed the first frame isn't in focus.


Nice.


Pat and 'dem showed up.


And got with some bluntstalls themselves too.


Frank let them know who had the first one of the day though.


Wild first spot.


Slippery ledge.


Aaron went for it.


The real draw of thos spot is the wall to drop.


Rain brought a hasty retreat to higher ground.


Aaron's been wearing crazy gear for so long it's weirder for me to see him in normal clothes.

Then we skated a gap to rail in a shopping center on a Monday. Smart smart smart.


No dice.

Done deal.

Frank and his posse cruised back down south after a harsh interaction with a grumpy school teacher so we went to a barrier spot Aaron wanted to skate.

But Pat, fresh off an ankle injury, got in on the action.





Filmer Pat came out at this spot. He asked me,
"Did you get any photos without me in the frame?"
"Well yeah but I want to shoot a sequence. Can you film it from the right of the barrier, 3 feet away?"
"Aaron's gonna have to do it twice."

He did.






And marked his territory.

Aaron left to pursue other opportunities so Pat and me hit Downtown.



With a Lakeland OG.


And got something awesome.

Thanks Pat.

Into The Trees.

Went to manifest a spot I see everyday on the way to work.


I didn't think to bring a ladder or anything until Brad asked "How are we going to get up on the roof? Problem solved.





Getting adjusted.


We were in a really nice little public park.














Totally a land, it just looks a little uncomfortable. Can't really blame them. This was a sketchy scenario.

I came to notice that I always get something cool when I go skate with Ethan.

Let's Get Strange.

The start of this delivery was amassed via "The 'Space", Myspace. My old friend Kyle Whitaker, LB Kyle as he's known, sent me a message asking for my address.
"401 N. Wall St #37
Bushnell, FL 33513 if you want to sent me something,
1927 CR 738,
Webster, FL 33597 if you want to come hang out, skate a pre-fab mini ramp and listen to 80's. Punk Rock with me." was my reply.

Kyle is a big fan of that 80's Punk Rock. Dead Kennedy's, etc. But I got no reply.

A couple days later (LB Kyle moves quick, apparently) the mailman came and dropped off a 5X9 manila envelope at the stoop this afternoon.



"Steve A.
1927 County Rd. 738
Webster, Fla. 33597"

Kyle told me (about a year ago now that I think about it) that he was going to mail me photos, but I never got any. I didn't know what he'd cooked up to send me. Prints? Drawings? With Kyle I can never be sure. He's so all over the place I never know what he's up to. I'll talk to him one month and he's in Santa Cruz, then he's in Eastern Europe with his girlfriend. Then I see him at the Skatepark of Tampa. Then he's off to Ohio.

I opened the envelope with scissors because he tapes the holy shit out of it. Precious content, gotta be secure.





I got blessed with a great 'zine, and a cool poster. I didn't know Kyle was a good illustrator. I just thought he was good at living.



4 big pages of an interesting story, live music and skate photos. Kyle and me both are pretty into skating ditches, and I was pleasantly unsurprised to see some sloped concrete Skateboarding going down.




Between social commentary, Punk Rock and Skateboarding, Strange Pursuit is all over the place while still being fun and interesting. A lot like Kyle.




LB Kyle even shouted out one of the most stylish skaters to rise from Tampa, Matt MacMillan.

I have no idea how you can possess a copy of Strange Pursuit too, but I think finding Kyle on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/cycoskate).


I'm happy to put this bad boy in my drawer with all the other 'zines I've accumulated over the years. If you're wondering what Thrasher that is, it's the Jeff Pang Brooklyn Banks cover. Righteous.

Thanks Kyle.

Facing Extinction.

Hardcore shows are always a good time. Especially when there's a bunch of people from Polk and Highlands county there. Good times with good people.



Alyssa got things going at a pretty reasonable hour.


Then, Sebring Hardcore. No nonsense, he got right to business.


Last time I saw Ernie playing music he was behind some turntables playing Dirty South Rap jams. Nice to see he's so multifaceted.


Guitar center.


Shredding!






These guys are young, still teenagers. But they can keep up Guitar-wise.


My favorite thing about their live show is that there isn't a lot of bullshit in between songs. Just, "Thanks, this next song's called ________." Their animated stage presence is cool too.


If the venue looks a little rough it's because it's an old Cattle warehouse turned into a Skatepark. There was even an industrial floor scale for Cows and Bulls on the floor.






Both of these dudes are ill at what they do. They're also really cool laid back Highlands County, FL types. I guess they get all their aggression out playing gnarly Hardcore music so they're calm the rest of the time.




Another interesting thing about a lot of Hardcore and Metal bands is that they usually smoke a lot of Weed. And then play this really aggressive, hard music. Makes me wonder how pissed off they'd be if they didn't smoke. I bet the murder rate would skyrocket.


Yeah Alyssa!




I've never seen a Hardcore band get so many girls hyped before. Definitely not a bad thing considering how many fine Sebring girls were in the building.

Thanks to my new friends in Facing Extinction for putting on such a great show.