Skateboarding, One hell of a drug… Words: -K, Baker
If you’re reading this then you already figured out that we made it to issue #10. When Pod first started Sauce we had no idea of what we were doing, we just barged into it head first. We never knew how many issues we would do, where we would travel to, or who was going to make it into the issue until pretty much the last minute and its still that way today. The only thing we know for certain is that it takes a lot of money and time to keep this zine going for free, and we don’t want to become an online zine or go back to black and white, so we are reminding you that our future is not only in our hands, but in yours as well. Its good to give a fellow skater an issue of Sauce after a good session just to let them know that they are not the only one who works a shit job all week to be able to skate for a few hours in order to relieve all the bullshit stress that comes with life. Think about that feeling you get when you snap a clean ollie, land a flip trick clean on the bolts, or grind that newly found pool for the first time! Its pure adrenaline! The only thing that comes close to it for some is booze, dope or sex. We simply don’t want the party to end and it becomes habit forming. I was barely lucky enough to escape with my life in 2009 after a DUI roll over accident which changed my life for the better. It was time for me and me alone to sober up and get back on board. Although skateboarding never promised me anything it once again was there and it is still saving my life. Some have not been so fortunate, as with the arrival of a new decade we have buried some friends and watched other friends slowly kill themselves in the pursuit of a high. For me a new decade brings a new awareness of well being for my fellow skateboarder, my friends and my family that constructively get involved. To you all I am eternally grateful. I’ll see you out there! Please send all Photos, articles or donations to: SAUCE skateboard zine P.O. box 42124 Portland, Oregon 97242 www.sauceskateboardzine.com Cover: Dave “Shaggy” Palmer kicks a sick Judo in your face at Tobin’s bowl Portland, Oregon -Pod-photo
Sk8 or Nap Words: Oby Berry Drunk Nate
Vakos Photo
The old “Sk8 or Die” cliché does not apply to most of us sitting on the toilet reading this bit of ignunce. Yeah, I said IGNUNCE. I write igunt stuffs. I realized I can’t say “Sk8 or Die” as I watched my daughter compete in a gymnastics meet. It is difficult to live the “Sk8 or Die” lifestyle when you find yourself comparing different types of glucosamine pills or hitting the bed before 8 p.m. each night. Therefore, Meat Clerk the non-jerk and I bring you “Sk8 or Nap”. He told me one day that he was going to either go skate or take a nap. I made a stencil immediately. “Sk8 or Nap” is the code MOST of us older skateboarders live by. You know who you are. While at work, we sometimes
lurk on forums waiting to go skate. We endure our friends lies about people they know, “I swear, I saw Red bend rebar with his mind! I saw him do it!” You take crap all week at work waiting to hit the road on the weekend. We sometimes get caught up in gossip or politics. I caught myself paying attention to the news last month, and I realized I was a bit down about everything. “Senator combover put his dick in the mash potatoes once again.” Skateboarding remains in our blood, but life does not always allow the 24-hour “SK8 OR DIE” lifestyle we once enjoyed. Anyway, get off the toilet and go skateboard or take a nap…
J.P. Dupas Bean to Tail. Kanis, AR
-Pod-
"Hey, we dug out the pool!" Words: Kim Cook
-A.Forjan
This is just a little story that starts about 20 years ago. There was this house that had an empty pool but the rains kept coming and ďŹ lling it in. Well the old lady that lived in the house, couldn't keep the pool empty and green water accumulated. At that time there was a mosquito epidemic and empty pools with green water could be ordered ďŹ lled in with dirt if the owner couldn't keep the water out. Supposedly her grandsons came over and got out the jackhammer and put some holes in it thinking this would solve the problem. apparently not... 20 years later we move into the house with the pool full of dirt. A pool full of dirt isn't completely useless... Wrex built a street "course" on top of it with a couple of mini-mega trannies made
of concrete for slappies, tailslides and grinds over the deathbox. Ever see someone do a 50-50 over the deathbox overlooking several tons of dirt? It's pretty entertaining. With a few sheets of plywood on the ground, a couple of moveable sliderails and a wooden bank supported by a milk crate, many sessions went down after skating the chicken ramp. Dreams of what was under all that earth were never ending... wondering what the waterfall, trannies, and jackhammered situations were like. Plans of digging it out partially and reshaping the 20 years of compaction into new trannies and pouring concrete over it was a never ending topic of discussion...what are you going to do if it sucks? Knowing who was answering the question, there was no pool that sucked. Besides, the dream of having a skating hole in the back was coming true. Basically, a pool full of dirt isn't completely useless if you're motivated enough to make some kind of use of it whether it's truly imaginary or as a foundation for a street course. So anyway, after living in the house for a year or so, Wrex got THE WORD that it was ok to get to digging. A kid in the candy
-K.Baker Wrex can’t wait!! Gotta get some grinds in. What will the rest skate like?
store? That was him that day...the word got out that the dirt was coming out. Digging started in december while i was gone out to mississippi for a visit. When i left, it was full, when i came back, the stairs were there. Wrex and Al started out with shovels. Then Kan came by to help out. One time we came home and he's got his whole family back there digging, haha... people even dug during Aaron Forjan's “Meatmatch” at the chicken ramp. However, as the weather became warmer, the digging sessions got fewer and farther between. Again
-K.Baker Wrex’s candy store is finally empty! Lein to Tail
more plywood was laid and sessions went down in the shallow. so as the weather got warmer, the shovels started accumulating the wrong kind of dust. Well it never fails, everything always seems to work out somehow. Talks about having one of the Old Man Army BBQ weekend parties at our house started up, and they were willing to kick in some cash to rent a backhoe to get it emptied. It took awhile to make the decision and get the date lined up. So finally everything fell into place, the backhoe was delivered on a friday and we got
-PodRaul Gonzalez follows the line into a B/S Smith
started early the next morning. People trickled in throughout the morning. Wrex manned the backhoe and there was a crew ready with shovels when needed. By the end of 5 hours or so, the ďŹ rst runs were taken in the deep. How's it look? steep and deep! Sessions continue to go down - a few notable notes...Brooke Shields got a tailslide over the light, Wrex got lien to tail and grinds in the shallow minus the dirt and plywood runways, Bakerface of sauce got huge frontside grinds, decent hardware Jonno from bali got so high up on the tile while attempting to go over the light, he might as well have grinded it while he was up there. It's been pretty rad so far. It's awesome to see someone who doesn't skate pools that often bust some crazy stuff in it (hello, zombies!). It’s not easy, so i think that keeps some people from coming over but it wouldn't be nearly so rewarding. Wrex and I would like to send out an extra special thanks to Brian and Mike of Old Man Army, Al Borracho, Kan family and friends, Jean and Steve, Michael Pistrui, Chris, CJ & Alyssa, Lange, Kelly Baker, Jonno and anyone else that picked up a shovel while in the backyard... you all rule!!
F/S Grind, side pocket
-M.Furst
That Steve Story.... Words: Oby Berry
In the last issue of Sauce, I interviewed one
of my students, and I proposed a test. Who will share their stories about a certain character? Thanks for the endless stories about Sleazy Steve, Street Justice Steve, Punk Rock Steve, Cute Tummy, Stoodley, the man with the terrible mouth, etc. Everyone has a story. “Did you see him fish hook that guy?” He told someone one night “Get in the ditch bitch!” as he threw him or her out of the car. He beat up an MMA guy, and the dude said, “That’s not fair!” Anyway, Zach Dorworth won the Mötley Crüe record with this contribution. Thanks El Sketcho!
Sleazy
Steve’s Street Justice as told by El Sketcho
Though I have a couple of Sleazy Steve stories, this is the one that always comes to mind. It took place in a time when the upper parking lot above Burnside wasn't walled off and the inhabitants of "Little Mexico" could pose a bit of a problem for us. This also takes place one night after the Sleaze, me, Chauncey Peppertooth, and a then underage Loafnuts had pulled beer-runs at half of the Plaid Panties in Portland. Now, when rolling in Sleazy's Dodge Colt, with the hatchback half-filled with twelve packs of "hot" beer, something cool was going to happen. And something straight from the Burnside Chronicles is exactly what did happen. So after getting tossed from the Alibi for sneaking in a twelver (we had to get an underage Loafnuts
served somehow) and car-chased by a security guard for trying to skate a hotel swimming pool that was about to be dozed, we found ourselves back at the park pulling into Little Mexico to hold down the fort for a little bit. Back then, Little Mexico during the day wasn't that bad. Lurky-loos, people sitting on the wall enjoying a beer-break, and voyeurs looking down at the park trying to get a glimpse into something they would always be outside of was usually about as bad as it would get, bike cops aside. But at night was how it got its name. And true to its name, as we were pulling up that night with the Sleaze driving, myself riding shotgun, Chauncey and Loaf in the backseat, a Mexican heroin dealer tried to flag us down. Out of his driver-side window Sleazy told the kook something to the tune of "Beat It"! Not realizing who the fuck he was fucking with, the guy beats on the hood of Sleazy's car. And just as fast as the cocktail waitress at the Alibi had flipped the table over that we were sitting at, the Sleaze was out of the car with his skull-mallet (his right fist) quick at work on the vendejo's head. Jumping out of the passenger seat, and knowing this puta has probably got a shank, I see him pull something out of his jacket pocket. And just as I heard the "clink-clank-clink" of metal bouncing on concrete from me punching the back of the hota's hand, up pull two squad cars, a motorcycle cop, and two bike cops. Picture it, this whole incident happened in about thirty seconds, Chauncey and Loaf are still in the back seat with the hatchback half-filled with enough brew to get the park sauced on any given day; car still running, headlights on in the middle of the street, Sleazy and me surrounded by the police with a beaten narco between the two of us. Shit didn't look good. But neither did the bandito's rap sheet. And when both sides of the story were told, the cops cuffed the kook and proceeded to
have a little chat with me and the Sleaze. During this chat Sleazy said something to an aside to "vigilantism" which prompted a swift elbow from me to get him to tighten his teeth. That's when the commanding officer said "Now me and the boys were at the shop earlier talking about how there needs to be a little more "street justice" in the world. Now, since vigilantism is a felony, I think what we've got here is a little "street justice". So you boys go about what you were doing and stay out of trouble".
In between “Street Justice” bouts, Steve rips on his board. Tailslide Little Rock, AR
-Pod-
“What Gets Felt, It’s Something Else”
Mike Watt -- In his own (overly humble) words
Words: Devon Negatron
Photos: -Pod-
Featuring: The Missing Men
“You gotta SLAP!!” (Then he smacked his two hands together like you’d do if you were demonstrating to someone how hard the last guy slammed whilst attempting a 720 spine transfer). 1987. The overlyenthusiastic instructor was NOT Mike Watt, nor anyone anywhere near his status of significance to skateboarding or punk rock. Rather, he was a really rad local skater who lived one neighborhood north of mine. The whole day I had been attempting to learn slappies on “his curb” -- the perfect, 25-foot long, 3” high, red-painted, daily loved with Sex Wax and skateboarders wanting nothing more than to hit it just right and slappie the whole 25 feet. I’d like to believe that the Sony Walkman that I always rocked back in the day, had my fIREHOSE tape, 'Ragin’ Full On' in it this day, and in the front of my mind I had the ability to flow as smooth as Natas Kaupas during his famous 'Wheels of Fire' ollie-to-720-fire-hydrantspin-while-Brave-Captain-steadied-my-footwork, but more than likely
my eventual success of nailing the 20+ foot slappie curb was probably the result of all the positive variables, which embody and exemplify both skateboarding and punk rock till this day -- hard work, determination, creativity, and the will to overcome at all cost. Fortunately for skateboarding and punk rock, we are all blessed with the great anomaly of a man who not only old schoolers can claim influence from, but as he is still kicking ass and taking names, nearing his 70th world tour (and 53rd birthday!), Mike Watt is arguably one of the most influential “O.G.s” of punk rock who, throughout his career has stoked the fires of skaters and musicians to keep pushing the limits of what is known as “possible”. Anyone who has “witnessed” his greatness perform even once, regardless of how rad and dedicated you “think” you are, if honest with yourself, has been simultaneously humbled, intimidated, and influenced by his level of energy as well as his cohesiveness and mutual respect for his band mates. Not being one to speak for or pedestal anyone or anything, nor push an agenda on my readers.... without further ado, I give you Mike Watt, in his own words: Sauce: I wanted to ask you what your thoughts are on punk rock and skateboarding -- the parallels between the two. Watt: You don’t need a lot of money right? A board -- takes to do it, which is kind of an adventure. The idea that you can develop your own style and stuff. I know there’s a little difference between decks and trucks. It’s kind of a level playing field [you] just have to get one that’s decent. From there it’s all the human part. The punk thing too: You know, you just get a drum set and bass that works good enough. then it’s what you can do after. So i see the parallels. A lot of it is do it yourself, you know? For me, I like the ideology: if you fall down, you have to get up. You cant talk your way back up, you actually have to pick yourself up and give it another go! It’s kind of a group, you can do it with a lot of people you can inspire each other. But it’s kinda obvious if you start copying. There’s just a lot of parallels. It’s only natural i think...
I’m friends with Tony Alva and he told me about the closeness of the thing, having to do pools in people’s back yards. Punk gigs were in peoples yards. Get this -- this summer I did a gig in Orange County, in a house. Bunch of skaters who drained the pool. It was dads and their sons, generations. You didn’t have that in older days. This is a newer kinda of thing. So, I think it isn’t only market forces. I think there were traditions building up, and handed down. And yeah, the merch thing happened too. But even if it wouldn’t have, there would have still been traditions handed down. People felt it in their blood, so it was going to get handed down. What more, or what less is stuff is in-between you and your endeavor than a person with a skateboard -- there’s hardly anything in between. Experience is very visceral, it’s right there. It doesn’t have to be that abstracted to you or explained to you or sold to you so much. Told you, there’s little variation in these boards. I remember I was a boy, in fact, maybe it was a big distinction in certain ways, you had to have urethane wheels or you couldn't go in the streets. So even the smallest rocks.. so dude’s stayed on sidewalks. And on hills, you sat on them, if you can imagine sitting on them because to keep your weight on them. So things changed when the rubber, urethane, so you could go in the street. So i will say that that okay that technology had to change. Like nowadays the way you can can make records in your room. So there’s small things that way. But as far as the big ethic, it’s about the spirit and the fucking hankering to people to express themselves. Sauce: .... and rebel as well! Watt: It doesn’t seem like voting with dollars. It’s just trying to getting art out. To me, a move on a skateboard is a personal statement about a trippy kind of art. It might not be institutionalized in an
academic sense but I know from witnessing it and seeing cats, it’s a vital thing, it’s a life force. And what is art you know? It’s about transcending and getting over the confines of a situation, economy, mind set, ideology. There can be some academia to it because these dudes, you can tell, these cats, like Ray Barbee: they develop science about it this shit. Of course they keep it in the natural thing. It’s not just in a lab, they’re actually doing it in the streets. That’s the important thing, it’s the experience. Sauce: How was it when Santa Cruz approached you to do Wheels on Fire, with Natas Kaupas, and fIREHOSE did brave captain..? Watt: Well they asked, they asked! Sauce: Was that the first time you’d been asked, as a member of a band, because I don’t remember Minutemen being on any skateboarding video? Watt: This thing with the skate guys was a different thing, much different than Minutemen doing the thing “No Picnic” (“This Ain’t No Picnic was a Minutemen music video that was shot in black and white for $600, and got some airplay on MTV in the mid-1980’s). This other thing was like, wow, we like what they’re doing in this scene we see parallels in our own scene, so you want us to do some music to some of your moves. Much respect.
Later on, I met cats in Europe who learned how to skate by watching those videos. A very influential thing. But i didn’t know at the time I just liked the integrity, the feel of them they just that they just seemed like straight up cats. Kinda coming from where we were coming from. I was working a bass and they were working a skateboard. So a little different on the means, but not on the means. Sauce: fIREHOSE, at that point was, as opposed to Minutemen, more fluid; had an artistic fluidity. The songs were longer and prior to that (Wheels on Fire) skate videos had real hardcore punk soundtracks, like Black Flag, etc, whereas in ’86, when Ragin’ full on/ Brave Captain was out and it got the nod for the Natas part in the “’88 Wheels of Fire video, then all of a sudden then it didn’t have to be about “rah rah rah” -- you know punk rock -- it could be about fluid, artistic expression, because [in the late 1980’s] skateboarding had become about fluid, original expression, like the music of fIREHOSE. Watt: Well, we never really thought about punk was a style of music, we thought of it as kind of a state of mind, like there wasn’t one way to skate. You know what i mean? That was just the springboard and after that it what was the person took to it. Their experience brought to it. We lost D. Boon. Then Edward became the new mayor. Something about D. Boon, Edward much respected him. People get carried away with things that are self important. So uh, I don’t put blame or hurt on anybody. That’s the reality. Breath of fresh air I get from watching somebody skating and lighting it up you know? There’s something about it you know? It’s expression, not posing, it’s natural. And it gives me confidence to try to get it together on the bass. Brian Brannon from JFA wrote a column on the Thrasher, and I wrote him a column once about trying to work my base like skateboard. Sauce: I think when people saw Natas Kaupas doing the 720 on the fire hydrant on Wheels of Fire, and heard Brave Captain, that’s when skateboarders really took attention and asked, who’s this fIREHOSE? Who the fuck is fIREHOSE? And that’s really when everyone I was skating with was all about fIREHOSE, because it was a true, new real expression.
Watt: It was difficult for me because I was having to play without D. Boon. I had George Hurley who I’d played with for 14 years, and Ed Crawford -- a lot of it was about other cats. that’s what I’m saying: a lot of society is trying to say “you you you” as a self centered thing, but that song [Brave Captain] came out of a very difficult time for me. So for some cat to work his skateboard who could relate to that, that was very special to me, because it was kind of a personal dilemma to me because what do I do without my buddy [D. Boon]? Well, music. Try try! Eddie wants to try, Georgie wants to try. And I try with them. And those cats (skaters) went and did that and shared with us in a trippy way, they shared with us, connected with us. It was big for me. Sauce: I think the skateboarding community is blessed to have fIREHOSE to utilize as a creative outlet as music to get stoked to go skate to. Just today, I was telling someone that I was interviewing Mike Watt and he told me that he had “If’n” in his tape deck and that he was going to go skateboarding. It’s [fIREHOSE] is not dying. So it lends itself to the idea that you can have real new expression with every experience. Watt: You can write a very original story, but never invent a single word. It’s the same thing as the music and the skate. It’s a lot of interpretation. It’s the inner voice trying to come out and express. But of course it’s through the community. It’s a weird thing, it’s trippy. Sauce: the dynamics.. Watt: It’s dynamics, you got it, you got it.
Jake Lyons takes the plunge in downtown Portland, Oregon
-Pod-
Where the Past Meets the Future words and photos: -Pod-
Goodwill is like a time capsule ready to open. Going there is like taking a trip down memory lane unless you’re a young gun and haven't been around more than 18-19 years. In that case, most everything in there is like an ancient relic from the caveman days. Nevertheless, Duncan Rowland, 18yrs old, recently took a trip down Goodwill’s memory lane and stumbled across a rare find. A mid 80’s Tony Magnusson for $8.00!! Sorry Tony, guess your board isn’t worth that much nowadays. At any rate, this was an iconic board from my youth as it was the introduction to “Hell Concave”, a very exaggerated concave that kinda hurt your ankle and knee due to the steep ass tail! I guess it was a “vert” board cause they didn’t work to good on the streets, or so I thought. Duncan scored this thing and was stoked on how “weird” it was. Weird is right considering this board was about 3 years older than him with concave reminiscent to that of a boat and came complete with Tracker Ultra Lites, and Rat Bones 85A wheels that he found useful for ripping the renegade Burnside street barrier. “This board is pretty sick for 8 bucks!” Everyone took their turns and tripped out on it. The stoke only lasted a few days before the board finally broke and became a permanent part of “Skate History.”
-PodDuncan Rowland B/S Ollie Grabs back to the future. Burnside, Oregon
Streets of Portland By: Xeno Miller
The streets of Portland, Oregon are overflowing with skate spots. Some of them are in plain view; most are tucked away behind seemingly unlikely places to skate. Portland stretches out, from downtown to the four crazy corners of the city. Every side of town has its own unique feel and leads to suburbs with more and more to skate. This city is always expanding, creating new skate spots, and adding to existing ones. It opens up endless options for spontaneous skate missions. Uhhhhhhh son! This place is full of people who don’t look like they skate but actually rip. To an untrained eye, a crew of ripper shredders looks like a bus driver, a hipster, a hippy, two basketball players, a fisherman, and a bum! Shit’s crazy!
Chris Amburn b/s nose grind
-Sketcho
Here’s some straight upness, you’re probably not gonna skate what you wanna skate. You’re probably gonna skate a park ‘cause homeboy that drove is like, “Dude, I’m gonna skate something so we’re goin’ to a park.” And you’re gonna get stuck there all day cause you didn’t drive yourself. You would way rather be skatin’ downtown by yourself just lookin’ around with a filmer getting some clips and Workin’ on your next part. (Disclaimer: Just like everywhere else, you only get what you put in.)
-Pod-
There are numerous banks and Jersey barriers secretly stashed throuought the city just waiting for some skater to pour ‘crete on it to make it skateable. Josh Falk Kickflip
This is definitely a place with a lot of potential. There are lots of spots but there also are lots of parties, bars, and titty clubs that you can get sucked into. If you’re on a weekend trip, you’re pretty much gonna skate when you get to town or you’re gonna go to a party, a bar, or boobie club and you’re probably gonna wake up late if you party ‘cause it gets kinda hairy sometimes. It might work out if you’re a hellbender though. You know, bending hell by withstanding the power of the party and rising triumphantly as the “Morning After Street Slayer”.
Dave Chambers b/s Tailslide
-Pod-
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Giving the 540 a break, Andy Adams takes to the streets with a f/s boardslide
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Brian Slone peacefull hydrant ollie
Exhausted, pushing as fast as you can across shattered concrete just to get enough speed to grind the whole thing as the first drops of rain hit you in the face telling you that this is it. Welcome to sweat, cracks, and raindrops.
Doug Jones one footed May Day
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Garbage cans and dumpsters have always been a favorite amoungst street skaters. Cam Barrett Tailslide
This is technically a bank to rail, but the bank is only 2 inches tall. It’s all POP!
-Pod-
Peter Gunn grinds it
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Jamie Weller built this spot many years ago and its still going today. Duncan Rowland ollie to hill bomb
-Pod-
Portland is a DIY concrete skate spot. We’ve got these things everywhere and we keep building them because they are fun! What have you done for your city lately? Willis Kimble Tuck Knee
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STYLE POINTS
-K.Baker
Celebrating his 35th b-day, Andy Levy reminisces the ʝol launch ramp days, but instead of ying off 12 ft into the air and smashing to the ground, Andy uses a light pole to cushion his landing. Get some!