C’mon! Lets go skate. Get in the van!
Welcome to
SAUCE #009 SAUCE skateboard zine P.O. Box 42124 Portland, Oregon 97242 www.sauceskateboardzine.com sauceskateboardzine@hotmail.com
Pictured on front cover: Xeno Miller Krooked Grind Seattle, Washington Photo: -Pod-
Desert West Bowl Bash Words and Photos by Kelly Baker
It was 1997, and I had been living in Portland, Oregon for two years. I woke up one morning to a phone call from a friend back in my hometown of Phoenix. He informed me that the first official city skate park had been finished and was going to open in a month. It just so happened that I was going to move back in two weeks, so I could not wait to check out the first concrete park in Arizona since High Rollers in 1978. So there I was back in AZ. The reason I left in the first place was the lack of a park; now I was rolling into mellow concrete trannies that were not what many had hoped for, but concrete none the same. The design left much to be desired, but it was the first in many learning experiences for all involved. After skating Burnside for a while it was a bit awkward to ride a park where all the coping was on the ledges, with all transitions having only a concrete lip that disappeared pretty fast! Anyone who spent any amount of time there agreed that the one thing missing was a decent bowl. And So in 1997 Trent, Laura and Ed from Cowtown Skate shop and other local companies decided to take matters into their own hands and raise funds for this bowl. This marked the birth of the Phoenix Am contest. For years this contest helped raise money as designs were submitted and tangled in political red tape by the city of Phoenix. Years passed and many skaters moved on to many of the improved parks in other parts of the valley. But Trent, Laura and Ed, as well as lots of West side riders, never gave up the dream. Mysteriously, a concrete fun box showed up at the park. The writer cannot confirm nor deny if this was due to the efforts of the Cowtown crew. But one thing for sure was that the city had nothing to due with it!
12 years later, Josh Heath returns to Desert West to throw up a Crailslide in the new bowls over-vert pocket.
Eventually the Phoenix am Contest was moved to the Peoria skatepark a few years ago, leaving everyone wondering if the Desert West bowl idea was just a mirage‌ Now, on February 14th 2009, Valentines day, twelve years after the park's official opening, the city is finally cutting the ribbon on the newly built Grindline bowl! Of course a BBQ jam session was in order, hosted by Cowtown, Old Man Army, AZPX, Deville wheels and, a bunch of other local companies that I apologize for forgetting. It had been awhile since a lot of us had skated the park and we were pleasantly surprised at how fun not only the new bowl was, but the original park itself. Being that everyone was now twelve years older, it was cool to see everyone together for one thing, Skateboarding! Special thanks go out to Trent, Laura and Ed for their patience and perseverance, Shaggy and all the Grindline crew, and all AZ skaters who ever gave a damn or dollar in support of the cause.
Jamie Diment Lein to Tail on the over-vert PHX Mural
Dream Session! Words: Baker. Photos: Hammeke.
Skateboarding and Drinking have one thing in common: doing either one long and enthusiastically enough, one will find themselves in some interesting locations with even more interesting people. This was the case about a year ago when Pod, Wrex, and myself met Hammeke, Tony, and Dorfus at a tiny empty pond attached to a car wash in Tempe, AZ. After having previously ridden one of the local skateparks we weren't too sure what these guys would think of this tiny pond with trannies on one side and a jam wall on the other. When the crew finally arrived, not only were they into riding the thing, they destroyed it! Tony got front grinds on the harsh stucco jam wall, immediately pouring hype fuel on the session. Pod did crail snatcher to fakie weirdness on the jam wall, as Dorfus backlip slid one entire side of the pond. Wrex was front rockin the jam wall when it finally dawned on me just how surreal this was, because the car wash employees were working away as if this was business as usual. About an hour had gone by when the beer was gone and so was the session. We all went our separate ways and I don’t think any of us have ridden the pond since. I drove by it the other day and it's still there waiting patiently. I remembered this day and it seemed like a dream‌
Tony T f/s Grinding the pond wall with ease.
Hammeke told me that this was the “Laziest” Crail he’d ever seen. I have to agree.
Tony blasting the gap at Pecos prior to our Pond session
Words and photos by Oby Berry
Before school started this year, I got a text from one of my calculus students, “Hey Mr. Berry, do you want to come skate my ramp?� I get to the house and there is this monster T.A. ramp surrounded by goat droppings. This thing is sick, considering a kid built it without the help of any armchair skatepark builders. Magnet Cove has a small population consisting of stray dogs, some people, goats and cows. There is literally NOTHING to skate. Jace Dickey built the perfect Honky Tonk Half pipe. I asked Jace about the ramp during our lunch period. Mr. Berry: How long have you been skating? Jace Dickey: 3 Months. MB: Where did you skate before you built the ramp? JD: I skated on the street in front of my house.
MB: So, there is nothing to skate in Magnet Cove except asphalt roads? Why did you choose the 8 foot tall, 8 foot wide dimensions for the ramp? Pawpaw Ron JD: I didn’t want to build a small ramp. MB: Who built the ramp? JD: Pawpaw Ron and me. MB: What’s up with the goats in the backyard? JD: Adds character to the ramp. MB: Do you think dudes read skate interviews? JD: Probably not. MB: What’s the best thing you have skated this summer? JD: Kanis! MB: Who is the funniest character you have met in the Little Rock crew? JD: Sleazy Steve
8ft wide and 8ft tall
MB: So, you think people don’t read interviews, and Sleazy Steve is the funniest guy you have met. I have an idea. We will test your answer. Whoever sends me the best Sleazy Steve story will receive a Motley Crue “Shout at the Devil” record from the 80’s. (obyberry@me.com) I will then run the answers in the next issue of SAUCE. Do you know of Motley Crue? JD: Somewhat. I know that they were a band, but couldn’t tell you what they sing. MB: Last question. What is the limit as X approaches 0 of the function 1 divided by X? JD: Does not exist.
Three months into skating and building ramps, grinding them as well and hates bikes, not to mension he’s a calculus student and bow hunts. Looks like you’re on the right path to becoming a true Redneck!
Fun is the Point Words: Jonathan Allred
The older I get the more I realize just how much fun it is to go skating in the summer time. I know that many of you enjoy the summer as much as I do, and look forward to the BBQ’s, backyard sessions, and traveling every year (except, possibly, if you live in Phoenix, where summer is their winter). The summer is generally set aside for those long awaited plans you’ve been making all winter. You know what I mean: building a ramp after throwing a dozen ‘ramp fund’ parties to raise money, putting up some DIY ‘crete that will finally complete that Jersey barrier, traveling to some new spots, and of course, taking some photos is always on the list. I’ve realized that I love skating in the summer so much because it allows for more of those incidental times that as a whole make a particular session more fun. -Pod-
50 cent Kent Tail Blocks a nice natural 1/4. Phx, AZ
-Pod-
Jamie Weller ollies through the cold air at Port Townsend, Washington
All of this summer talk is not meant to exclude the amount skating done in the winter. In fact, I have read and heard countless stories of guys holed up in a garage practicing flat ground for months at a time, not to mention some of the indoor ramps I keep hearing about. Take the East Coast for instance. I bet nobody plans a trip to NYC during the winter to skate, but I’m willing to bet a lot of heads are killing it in the depths of winter anyways. An issue in the winter is that no matter how much one prepares to skate in the freezing conditions, once you get out to a spot it becomes a ‘grabn-go’ sort of operation. I try to tell myself not to care about the cold, quit whining, and skate, but it is just different in the winter. It seems harder to ‘warm-up’ both physically and mentally, not to mention the amount of time it takes to get your board set up for 25˚F temperatures. The cold air, freezing ground, and exponential increase in pain every time you fall causes most people to hurry up and get to whatever their doing, done. The simple truth is that the winter puts a different degree of difficulty in trying to go out and have a ‘fun’ session with some friends. What I mean by ‘fun’ is that in the winter the sessions are more like missions. It’s too cold to stand around and talk about life, catch up with a few brews, and dork around on a curb. You have to keep moving to stay warm and therefore spend a lot of time moving fast and breathing into your hands after wiping the tears off your freezing cheeks. If you do take the time to stop and talk you run the risk of sitting too long and becoming cold because you have two shirts, a hoodie, jacket, beanie, gloves, and whatever else on, that is quickly freezing due to the sweat soaked into them. The point of this is not to hype up summer and bag on winter. If you’re a skateboarder then you skate no matter what time of year it is. Plain and simple, either you skate or you don’t. There is no off season for skateboarders. If you can’t skate outside then get to building inside. I’ve
-PodWhat's more fun than a Stalefish on a fish shaped board at Burnside. Andy Adams
seen everything from indoor wall rides to pieces of wood running through halls just to have a place to skate. The real point is fun. No matter what the weather brings, the object of riding a skateboard is to enjoy the feeling and have fun while doing so. With another impending winter ahead, I suppose we should all start planning now as to how we will deal with the freezing cold. I hope some of you reading this will build something new or pull a ‘snowbird’ and move to better weather for those dark months. I’m willing to bet that most of us will cope however we have to and keep chargin’ in the cold, while the weak give their boards to Goodwill© and take up blog watching to see the latest on Britney Spears. As I said before, the most important thing to do is always have fun on a skateboard. No matter if it's winter, summer, hot or cold. If you’re not having fun while skateboarding then the Goodwill© is calling.
-B. Cooper Building a renegade spot is fun. So is Back Smithing it. Brit Rutan enjoying himself. Tempe, AZ
-L. Blossom J.P. Dupas skates a big red ball in Lafayette, L.A.
Andy Levey hucks one up and into the pocket in Tempe, Arizona
-A. Forjan
It's On
It’s ON! Words: El Sketcho
If you ever get to see Nihilist rip through a set, do me a favor. Ask them about playing at Skank Skates in Springfield, Illinois. See, that's where I'm from but have yet to catch them in that "House of the Dead." And every time I do get to see them, like at The Know in Portland, Oregon, where the entire bar got kicked out, the "Metal and Mayhem" by these "Bastards of Beer" leaves me trashed and thrashed. Harkening back to the days when Metallica shredded with pioneering thrash metal, these guys are killing it like "Hell's Son" driving a urethane-wheeled "Hesh Plow" with a left-handed cigarette hanging from the right. "America's Bleeding" and Nihilist wants "Payment upon Death" of "Blood Portraits" on the wall. That's the title of their latest album, and a latest album means that they'll be on the road. So "Ditch the Bitch" (in which I caught a surprising hint of El Duce) and go get your ass rocked. Don't worry, it won't surprise me if you don't get to ask them about Skanks, because when Nihilist plays... "IT'S ON"!
-Pod-
NIHILIST Kills the Burnside parking lot.
-PodDave “Weird Science” Chambers Pole Jams his way into this issue’s Photo Missions
-Pod-
Cody Boat kickflips at an empty Glennhaven skatepark. Portland, Oregon
Scott Majors ollies the gap at Pirate Town. Portland, Oregon
-Pod-
-Pod-
Dirt pulls it in from the wall. Burnside, Oregon
-Pod-
Ben Dixon rolls in on another Arizona gem. Phoenix, AZ
-PodRocco Caravelli throws down a trick that is at least 10 years older than him. Finger flip to tail. Burnside Oregon
-Pod-
Handplants are the shit! Aaron rawlings at the Poo Factory, Oregon
-Pod-
Justin Hindery flips out on the Poo Factory. Oregon
-Pod-
Peter Gunn 180 Hydrant Ollie. Portland, Oregon
-Pod-
Brian Slone Smith Grinds Donald, Oregon
-Pod-
Jamie Weller F/S 270 over the rock hip in Pendleton, Oregon
STYLE POINTS
-Pod-
Get out and explore/skate America. Mike McCarley, American Smith Grind