Hi. I'm Hippie Mike!

Hippie Mike is a man of many talents, many skills and many creations. A master of construction, Mike loves to build and create unique and custom projects, but he also takes the same mind frame to everything else he does.

Apr 24,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Being a skateboarder for close to 30 years, I have a different level of recognition than today’s generation and one thing that has always impressed me is a True Lifetime Skateboarder. They’re hard to find, understandably, since skateboarding basically ruins your entire body to a point that is sucks to walk around on a normal day, but some guys are just naturals, and they will ride their boards forever.

When I originally started Protest Skateboards over 10 years ago, it wasn’t about trying to create an empire, it was about creating a Family, a Team of Skaters that loved to hang out, and loved to Skateboard, and had some hidden talent that maybe needed to be displayed a little more for all to see. We’ve always had a solid Team, and the Team was already pretty big, but I decided recently that I wanted to add 2 more – 2 that I consider to be 2 of the all-time best. If you’ve never been to a Bowl Series Contest then you might not have any idea who these guys are, but if you grew up a skateboarder through the 80’s or 90’s in North Van, West Van, East Van or Burnaby, you would know for sure…

Don Wilson, known simply as “Bushman” is reaching that 45 year old mark this year, and has been shredding on a skateboard since 1976. Seylynn Bowl was built in 1978 and Don helped to create most of the lines that you see people do there today. He is the only person that I know that everyone gets out of the way of no matter what, raging up and down the snake run like a Freight Train. He is definitely a legend of skateboarding, and one of the original NV Locs, influencing many other skaters to go as hard as they do, like Dave 57, Stevie D, Alex Chalmers, and many more. And still to the day, he pushes himself to be better than he needs to be at his age, slashing coping at Squamish, and carving hard wherever he goes.

The other is someone who learned a lot from Bushman, and that’s Eve Feaver. Eve turned 40 years old last year and it definitely did not slow him down. Placing in the Top 3 at almost all of the Bowl Series Contests last summer, Eve proved himself to still be a champion that can keep up with kids like Andy Anderson and Adam Hopkins. His style is amazing, his tricks are expressive, and his landings are always as solid as it gets. I have always watched Eve in awe for many years while he skates, no matter where we go, and he never ceases to amaze me. The funny part is, he amazes himself at the same time. Probably the most humble skateboarder around, Eve Feaver is a true legend – from Seylynn to White Rock, Griffin and Whistler, Eve can demo at all the old Bowls, but don’t be afraid to put him on some coping too.

Both of these guys grew up as Skateboarders, the same as I did, and we are all still growing up as skateboarders.

They are legends, they are mentors to many, they both hold King of the Bowl Titles, and they are now a part of Protest Skateboards –

Eve Feaver & Don “Bushman” Wilson

Welcome to the Team boys….

Extreme Sports Skateboarding Video Reviews

New UBC Skate Park has been Dominated

Apr 23,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

People better start to recognize that Dominic Devries is most likely one of the next biggest skaters of the world. At 16 years of age he has more ridiculous street tricks on lock then Ryan Sheckler did back in the day. I remember seeing when Ryan Decenzo was hitting this point of technicality and consistency in his skating and look at where he is now. Somebody needs to take this kid under their wing and blow him up in the scene.

Dominic shows his skills off at the New UBC Park on the first weekend it was open, while it’s trying to rain off and on all day. You can see what I’m saying when you watch this video. Understand it as half of the tricks he lays down are tricks that people would work weeks or months on perfecting at a spot and this is still one of his first times skating there.

I haven’t been to UBC park yet, but after watching this video I’m glad I’m not much of a ledge and rail skater or I might feel a little pressured to try tricks at this level – Insane.

I got 2 things to say:
Dominic – hit some more tranny and learn to kill it like you do the streets

God Damn – UBC Park got Dominated...

Extreme Sports Skateboarding Upcoming Events

Surrey Youth Week Jam 2013

Apr 21,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another year of skateboard contests is about to begin and you know that the City of Surrey hosts more events than any other city around. This will actually be the 3^rd event at Chuck Bailey Skate Park in the year 2013 but it will be the first full contest of the year.

Youth Week runs nationally every year on the first week of May – May 1-7, and every year Hippie Mike hosts at least one big event in Surrey. This year it will be at Chuck Bailey Youth Park – 13458 107A ave – and there will be 2 separate competitions, one for skateboarding and one for BMX. Friday, May 3^rd at 4pm the event will begin with qualifying heats for both activities in different age groups 9 & under; 10-13; 14-18; 19 & over. The qualifiers for each category will make it to the finals later in the evening where they will compete for the prizes.

Registration starts at 3pm so get there right after school or work.

And the Surrey Firefighters will also be present running a Free BBQ and participating in some Basketball Tournaments happening inside the Rec Centre.

So come out, have fun, and bring your helmet if you got one.
Let’s celebrate the Youth of Life together.

Extreme Sports Skateboarding Video Reviews

DeathWish Premieres were a Hit

Apr 20,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Hippie Mike stretched his way to Street Dreamz Board Shop in North Delta and to Coastal Riders Skate Shop in Langley last night to check out the local scenes for the Death Wish Video premieres.

At Street Dreamz, Chris Somerville welcomed in the local youngsters with a fingerboard skate park as awesome as an X-games course and they all hung out until the video started and then gathered around the TV for the show. Lots of stoked reactions going on during the video and then there was a Draw for prizes afterwards. Little 3 1/2 year old Protest Skater Kaelen Faux won the Grand Prize of a Death Wish Cruiser Deck. He was PUMPED!!

After dropping Kaelen and Carrie off at home, Hippie Mike headed out to Coastal Riders for a second showing – on the big screen. There was about the same amount of people at that one and once Scott Fierbach got the proxima figured out the show was on. Same style as Street Dreamz, they had a draw afterwards and the lucky kids took home the prizes.

It was a good night for promoting skateboarding, and as for the video, it was pretty good. Lizard King definitely has the most creativity on the team, Neen Williams has the most pop, and all of them know how to land perfectly. Definitely worth checking out.

Here’s some photos from last night

Extreme Sports Skateboarding World Round Up

World Round Up – 2nd Annual

Apr 18,2013 / By Protest Skateboards / No Comment

Last year was the first time for this event efficiently named The World Round-Up. Hosted in Surrey at the Cloverdale Rodeo, it’s a Freestyle Skateboarding Championship event and the top Freestylers of the world are invited (Pros and Ams). The event is all put together by 2 long time promoters of skateboarding – Kevin Harris and Monty Little, and last year some serious faces of skateboard history showed their presence: Russ Howell (one of North America’s first skateboarders) MC’d the event with some assistance from A.J. Kohn and “Dr. Skateboard” Bill Robertson and I believe they are all coming back again. Jim Goodrich was shooting photos, and George Powell even made an appearance on the Saturday. And the biggest name in Freestyle right now Kilian Martin should be showing up again to help out, hang out and put on some unbelievable demos.

It was a killer event last year with some bigtime competition, and the tricks were mind blowing. Shaun Gladwell took 1^st place in Amateur with Protest Team Riders Ryan Brynelson and Andy Anderson taking 2^nd and 5^th places respectively. The Pro category was insane and super tough to judge. Everyone was stomping tricks that no one else would know how to do, and flowing with untouchable style and passion. Darryl Grogan took 1^st place with Gunter Mokulys and Rene Shigueto right on his tail, but everybody did amazing. About 20-30 people competed last year in total but after speaking with Kevin Harris earlier today, we can expect a whole lot more to show up this time. All the names mentioned are definitely coming back to defend their titles, but some more to watch out for are Mic Murayama, Takashi Suzuki, Stephan Albert, Stefan “Lillis” Akesson, Mike Osterman and Per Canguru just to name a few. And maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see Kai Dunkel this time.

If you don’t know much about Freestyle Skateboarding, this would be a great time to learn. It is a huge part of skateboarding’s history and there is only a small core group throughout the entire world that still dedicate their lives to it. These are definitely some of the best skateboarders of all time, young and old, and everyone of them skates completely different from the next.

Last year we showed up just for the Finals and weren’t really prepared for how much filming we ended up doing – but this year www.protestskateboards.com will be covering the entire event in full HD so be ready for some serious coverage….

Check out the video compilation of last year’s Finals and try to show up to the event this year

May 17-20, 2013

Cloverdale Rodeo & Fairgrounds

62 ave off 176 st

Learn more about the event and check out who’s already registered here

http://www.theworldroundup.com/

https://www.facebook.com/events/134844980024458/?fref=ts

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

50 Skate Parks in Calgary?

Apr 17,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

The Calgary Sun featured this article on Monday announcing that they are planning to build 50 new skate parks throughout the City of Calgary in the next decade. Calgary being a huge city and one of the fastest growing in North America has the space and need for such a project. Home of the Millennium Park, Calgary is full of park users, skaters, bikers and those “usually in the way” scooter kids, and they have helped to produce a few core names.

With an $11 Million budget, it has been proposed that they will be producing 50 new parks overall but the City itself will not be in charge of maintenance or operations so they are looking for non-profit organizations or groups to take ownership over each park and manage it. This could be easier for the skaters or harder, but what we see it as is a huge step backwards in partnership between the skateboard community and the government. But it is Alberta…

The article is a little confusing and not quite convincing that they are fully prepared for this venture, but it is on the table, and it sounds like it’s about to begin.

Guess we’ll be making some more trips to Calgary in the near future

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/04/14/calgary-officials-start-wheels-rolling-on-new-skateboard-parks

Extreme Sports Skateboarding

Steven Burke joins Coastal Riders

Apr 16,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another one of those young local kids that I remember as a little dude, coming out to my events with Ryan Barron and competing with all the others, but this one you could tell had some serious talent inside him, even back then.

Steven Burke was always good at skateboarding and he picked the right crew to hang out while he was growing up. Localizing the North Delta and Fleetwood skate parks, Steven skated with the best of the best from the Delta/Surrey/Langley scene. As Steven grew, he grew extra tall, and that can be a huge benefit to a skateboarder, especially one that likes to skate ledges and rails. Not afraid to try the super tech tricks, Steven Burke has proven himself to be totally amazing in the past year and I am proud to see him get put onto the Coastal Riders Team.

Skating with Jordan Zazula, Magnus Hansen, Dave Stevens and the rest of the crew all the time has definitely helped to push him along, and you know he’s only gonna get better from here.

A sincere congratulations straight from Hippie Mike buddy! You definitely deserve it.

Now go out there and kill it

Extreme Sports Skateboarding Video Reviews

Ace in the Hole

Apr 16,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Ace Trucks did a Canada Tour to Montreal last year and are just releasing the footage now. So far 2 out of the 3 videos to be expected are now out for your viewing pleasure. The team is stacked up with “80’s Style Shredders” living in the new millennium. They rip any tranny and are fearless in the streets. Promotional sponsorship comes from Mehrathon Trading and King Shit Magazine and the team consists of Joey Tershay, Ron Chatman, Tom Remillard, Oscar Navarro, Ronnie Sandoval, Marc Tison, Adam Hopkins, Riley Boland, and Leon Chapdelaine.

These guys kill it.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 still to come…

Andy Anderson Extreme Sports Skateboarding Team Riders

Andy Anderson turns 17!

Apr 13,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It amazes me in so many ways the relationship I have built with this kid over the years, and it baffles me that it has now been almost 10 years that I have known Andy Anderson and he is just turning 17 today. I still remember having his big sister Alex Anderson in one of the first skateboard camps I ever taught for the City of Surrey at the South Surrey/White Rock Skate Park and their Mom coming over and asking if it would be possible to let her younger son into the next camp. She said he was only 7 (the minimum age was 9) but assured me that he was already experienced on a skateboard and wouldn’t slow down the class. I allowed it of course. Every kid deserves a chance to learn.

Little did I expect, this little tiny kid shows up fully padded and just starts riding through the bowl and launching out the end. Not only did 7 year old Andy Anderson not slow down the class, but he was instantly pushing the older kids to step it up. This kid was a natural and I took the opportunity to mold him into an awesome little skater-kid. Andy picked up everything so quick and I would just show him a trick and tell him how to do it and he would stick it no problem. This relationship continued like this for years and Andy started getting really good. He began coming out to my Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Contests at age 8 and was blowing minds. He started winning in Beginner right away and it sparked an extra stoke in the young skateboard master.

I treated Andy like he was my own kid and every chance we had to skate together I would make the most of it and push him to go bigger and get better. Now at age 17 years old, Andy has made a serious name for himself in the local skateboard world. He’s won more than his fair share of prizes, trophies and cash, and he is just at the beginning still. Having Andy Anderson on the Protest Skateboards Team was like a dream brought to reality for both of us and I am so proud of him every day. He is so good at skateboarding in every aspect and it separates him from every other skater I know – he can destroy transition of any shape or size and always gets a crowd stoked; he has no fear in the streets launching huge gaps, grinding nasty handrails, and utilizing any obstacle he sees skateable; and he even proved himself to be an amazing Freestyle Skater last year and got put on a Demo Team consisting of him, Ryan Brynelson and Kevin Harris – it’s unreal. And what I love about Andy the most is that he is not a follower, and he doesn’t care what the rest of the population is doing, he does what he believes in and lives his life his way, like a real man. Andy skates his old school style decks wherever he skates, and however he skates, and he rocks a helmet whenever riding on his 4 wheels. Most kids would bow down to the peer pressure to take that helmet off by now, especially when out street skating with the big boys, but Andy says Fuck That and does what he believes in, without giving two shits about how he’s judged. Let his skating defend him, and it’s definitely hard to argue that when you sit and watch him.

When I was young I was very much the same in the stubborn way of living life my way and making the world change to accept me, instead of me changing to be accepted by the world. That is the sign of a true man and there aren’t that many of them out there.

10 years later, and many more to come, I believe that Andy Anderson and Hippie Mike will be friends and teammates forever, one way or another. I love this kid like I love my son, and in a way he is my son as a skater. Praise him, respect him, understand him, and believe in him – he will be a legend to many.

Proudly riding for Protest Skateboards, Skull Skates, Monke Hardware, Kilian Clothing & Vans, expect to see a lot more of this kid –

Happy 17^th Birthday Andy Anderson!

Check out this flashback from last September as I featured Andy in the 3^rd episode of Glory Daze with Hippie Mike

http://www.protestskateboards.com/hippie-mikes-messed-up-mind/glory-daze-episode-3-andy-anderson-its-good-to-be-king/

Extreme Sports Skateboarding Video Reviews

JAKS no how to Party

Apr 12,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

For those of you that weren’t around in the 80’s or maybe just weren’t hardcore enough you might not know who the JAKS are, but if you skated any of the parks back in those days you definitely do. China Creek Locals always partying and having a good time, and shredding the bowls on their skateboards. Every year for at least the past 20, the JAKS have held their annual contest on the 2^nd Saturday of September at Vancouver’s oldest skate park – China Creek. The Creek is still a sick spot to skate if you know what real skateboarding is. All that’s there is a bathtub bowl and a tea cup bowl and you can shred them for hours. Real skateboarding came from surfing and this place is perfect to go fast, crave hard and slash everything.

Dennis Regan at RollingBonesPodCast filmed the contest last year (2012) and put together a full montage showcasing some of the highlights. It’s super awesome just to see the younger generation kids showing up to skate and actually understanding the park.

If you know about the JAKS contests, you’ll love the video, and if you don’t then it’s time to learn a history lesson….

Hit up the website and watch the vid. Who knows, you might even see me, Hippie Mike in there.

http://rollingbonespodcast.com/

You will have to download it if you’re watching from a computer.

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