Damn, I got Shown Up…

Sep 15,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

3 solid months the Show Up Mike contest ran for, and there was definitely times where a lot of people were on the site to vote. September 11^th, ironically, was Judgement Day and the man with the most votes at 305, was Sean Lowe.

Sean only entered the one video filmed at Kensington Skate Park, but it was all he needed. With some super technical talents he wowed the voters into checking out his vid and pushing the Thumb’s Up button. I met up with Sean on a busy street corner to hand over the prize money and get his opinion of how the contest went and what winning the $500 felt like.

Hippie Mike: First off Sean, congratulations! How does it feel to finally win the Grand Prize after all this time of wondering?

Sean Lowe: Feels good, have to have a little celebration tonight.

HM: What did you think about the Show Up Mike Contest overall?

Sean: I thought it was cool, I liked the concept of it. I don’t know, it’s a fun way to have a competition where it’s not like Head to Head but it’s more people voting on it. I thought it was cool like that, I liked that concept.

HM: How did you hear about the contest and what made you enter?

Sean: Well I saw you at Centre Distribution when I was picking some stuff up there, and I don’t know, who doesn’t like money, really? So that’s pretty much how it went down.

HM: If there was another version next year, would you enter it again?

Sean: Yeah I’d be down for sure, yeah it was fun. I enjoyed it, got to hang out for a day and skate, that’s always fun. And yeah for sure I think I’d do it again.

HM: Well thanks for entering this year Sean and Congratulations again and have fun with that 500 bucks

Sean: Oh you can believe I will (laughs)….

Hippie Mike’s Re-Sheet the Ramp Fundraiser

Sep 14,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It was just like old times, the way we used to party in our yard, except there was a full on Ramp Contest happening. The weather was a little shafty so all the people that said they were coming who had never been to my house before must have thought it would be cancelled, when in reality, the whole point of the contest was to raise money for new masonite and another new tarp to keep us dry all winter. The beauty of my ramp is we float the tarps like a false roof and skate hard when it rains out here. So as soon as the drizzle started the tarp went up for the rest of the day.

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There was only about 50-60 people that showed up to party, some of the usuals, and some that even I hadn’t seen in a long time – Russia, LegenBarry, Homer and the Pimpin’ Kings to name a few, so I already knew it was gonna rock. We started warm up around noon, and threw the best trick early because that obstacle wasn’t covered from the potential rain. It was a normal Hippie Mike obstacle, just a straight up nasty tombstone built out of a fridge and a monster truck tire, no big deal…

This thing was tough to skate, maybe the toughest obstacle built in the yard so far. I tried filming on it on Friday and only hit 2 tricks, and they would be considered basic on anything else. Eve struggled for rock & rolls the whole time, Jigga Jay stuck down a couple for him. Cisco did a frontside rock but had to grab it in and Andy landed the most but still couldn’t get on top with trucks. Russia went hard at it the first attempt and actually shot himself over the whole fridge into the tree roots, but he came right back and kept givin’er. He was the only one who was getting’ trucks on this thing. Russia battled it out hard and finally won with a feeble stall. That’s how god damn hard this thing was to skate. Good efforts form everyone there, Russia took home a complete new outfit donated by legendary Moses Itkonen – DVS Shirt, Fallen Pants, Shoes and RDS Hat. Not bad for a guy that hadn’t stepped on a skateboard for about a year and a half.

We let the dudes warm it back up on the fresh masonite mini while the Pimpin’ Kings rocked out hard for almost an hour on my roof. I’ve had these guys play at so many of my contests and I always say the same thing afterward – “Best Small-Man Band I’ve heard”. And I’m not saying their midgets, they just only have 2 band members, Chris Burnstad on Drums and Chad Whittingham on Guitar, but they threw in a sick Bass player named Mike Currie to bring extra power and sounded awesome. Every time someone drove down my street they would stop and stick their head out of the window to get a good taste of the tunes. Sick set boys, glad I could reunite you for a banger show, everyone loved it.

The keg was getting emptier and the burgers were getting scarce so it was time to start the Ramp Contest. Only 9 entries, but they were all destroyers. I split it into 2 heats and each heat got 3 minute rounds for the guys to throw down as much as possible and try to make it into the finals. It made good cause for lots of snaking and barging from everybody to try and get more time in the ramp, especially in Round 3. There were a few times where I saw 3 people on one piece of coping at once, no mercy. 49 year old Barry Blatter was the Barge Master for sure never losing a battle that he dropped in for and even smashing his face fully off the flatbottom at one point and just getting up, licking off the blood dripping from his nose and dropping right in again for more. Andy Anderson was crowd favorite of course completely annihilating the entire ramp like he knows how with a zillion tricks. Jeff Cole was another one who throws down the tricks you’ve heard of before but never seen, and he was showing them to ya, Fighter did every Judo Blunt combination imaginable, Eve Feaver put his 40 year old bones on line with handplants, nosepicks and huge airs over the hip, and Giver even Gaver, hitting up the whole ramp fast and frontside and even bonelessing in off the side rails. It was insanity.

The judges, Jay White and Brad Milburn did not want to be judges anymore, but I fed them more 311 Lager and we went over by the wood shed to discuss who was making finals.

Cisco Gooding did a lot of switch and techy tricks but didn’t pull through to Finals. Allen Handley threw down a bunch of dirty manoeuvres that others do not understand, but didn’t make the Finals. And Fighter did not make the Finals…

That left the infamous 5 – Andy Anderson, Jay Mykyte, Eve Feaver, Jeff Cole and Giver (Michael James), plus Barry who got the buy in for being the most hardcore without a doubt. It was a 20 minute, straight up, Battle – for $200. Shit went down, chaos everywhere. Jeff, Giver and Eve were all missionning hard throwing every trick they knew how with pure old school styles and skills, and Andy was in his usual “I can land anything I try” mode, but the eyes were on the Jigga, Jay Mykyte. Big Flip tricks, fast grinds and solid tech tricks left right and centre. Every one of them was touch every square inch of the ramp, the hip, the inner kink the decks, the rails, everything. And the more time that ran down the more snaking that went on. Finally right near the end of time, Jay climbed up onto the top railing behind the platform and tried to Tail Ollie over the deck into the ramp. Like true skaters, everyone kept skating but giving him the opportunity to try again and he stuck it down 4^th try. Contest over. Jigga wins the cash!!

It was an insane event, and it wasn’t over yet. Nothing ends retardedness like a Barefoot Best Trick Contest. Only Cisco, Fighter, Allen and Ryan Barron wanted in. Cisco had it right from the start with a frontside 50-50 around the inner kink to nollie 270 in, only to have it stolen from him by Allen at during the final minute with a tailstall fingerflip disaster. Took home a pair of Fallen Shoes, some funky Shorts, and a Protest Deck. If we had known Cisco had already drank 12 beers at that point we might have let him have that win, damn.

Thanks to all that came out, we raised lots of funds and had a great time. Thanks to my Chef Bogdan, my Bartender Deena Z, to everyone that came out and supported, and of course DJ Cuzo. Until next year, that’s the Jam…

Results:

Jay Mykyte – $200
Eve Feaver – $40
Andy Anderson – $20

Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Grand Finale

Sep 13,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Don’t forget about the Grand Finale of the 9^th Annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey happening this Saturday, September 15^th at South Surrey Skate Park 14601 20 ave.

As always it will be an awesome event with tons of kids, families, and hardcore skaters that want to win prizes. Every year the competitions get crazier and crazier and the kids get better and better. This will be the first time we ever close down the Tour de Surrey in South Surrey. Be prepared to stay the entire day, as Mike will announce how much food and money we raised for the Surrey Food Bank, and will wait right till the end to hand out the prizes at the Grand Finale, and all the rippers that place Top 3 will receive plaques, The Most Improved Skater will be announced, and so will this year’s King of Surrey. I wonder who they are.

Only one to find out – be there…..

Uncategorized

Last Try Tuesday In Surrey??

Sep 13,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Gotta love seeing the local boys gettin’ footy, Langley/Surrey loc’s and Coastal Riders Team Members Dustin Locke and Jordan Zazula represented for Color Magazine’s Last Try Tuesday recently at Fleetwood Skate Park. Both hitting a nasty Nollie Crook back to back down the red rail, they proved that they are both still amazing. Then they showed off a bunch more tech tricks that they’ve had locked down at Fleetwood for years….

Check it

9/11 Countdown – Last Day for Voting

Sep 11,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

The Show Up Mike Contest is finally coming to a close. You had all summer to present the world with your 5 trick videos at any of the 49 local parks in this insane land of skateboarding that we call home. Fighter took the lead early with his Chuck Bailey submission, but ran out of friends too fast. Ryan Brynelson crushed the competition with over 120 votes the first day his video went up and raised the bar even higher sitting on top for close to a month. The only person man enough to take him off the podium was Sean Lowe and after quite a back and forth battle is still living the high life with over 300 votes. Today, September 11^th 2012, is the day that decides everything. Will Sean hold on for the $500 or do some of these guys have reserves hiding somewhere just waiting to vote at 11:30pm or something. Who knows?

You have until midnight tonight to vote…

The winner will be announced at Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey 2012’s Grand Finale this Saturday September 15^th at approximately 4:00pm.

(All 18 runner’s up will be receiving a Custom Show Up Mike T-Shirt for participating)

Click here to go to the Leaderboard for voting

http://www.protestskateboards.com/leaderboard/

Battle at Hastings Video from Protest

Sep 8,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Alright, last but not least, The Protest Skateboards version of the Battle at Hastings 3 is finally released. Filmed by Jordan Strong and Hippie Mike, it has the same dudes in it as everyone else’s video – Chris Steggles, Adam Hopkins, Mason Merlino, James Clarke, Stu Benoit, and many more. It was an amazing day of skating, and there were so many people filming it was awesome. But there’s actually some tricks that weren’t in the other vids so you should give it a watch.

And here’s a sequence of Chris Steggle’s 360 over the fence – Tiiiiight!

A Day on the Island with Protest Skateboards

Sep 8,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Back in August we a few of us from the Team packed into the truck and headed over to the Island to skate the Victoria Parks with the Posse from Tsawwassen. Jaden Easton-Ellett, Cisco Gooding, Andy Anderson, myself and Fighter (Brad Muscat) loaded up early and got to the Ferry just in time to miss it. A little skating went down at the Terminal while we waited and of course, Brad rolled his ankle 180ing some gap. Good start to the day, right? We got across an hour later than the other boys and drove right past them as they were shredding the Sydney Skate Park, hooking up at Gordon Head Skate Park. This park is lots of fun, especially if you were around during the era that it was considered to be amazing. Lots of sick tricks went down there, tons of kids were stoked, and of course some random lady from the local paper showed up and was bugging Mike for photos, I don’t mind, it’s always a Hippie Mike Show. We hooked up every kid there with a free Protest T-shirt, held a Best Trick Contest for a Protest Deck, and then headed over to Esquimalt – Vic West Skate Park.

Andy just started annihilating the place, while the rest of us just basically skated the one hip. The place was packed and all people there were having fun, lots of dudes commenting on Andy’s styles. We got shut down early because of this insane thunderstorm that swept over us and poured so hard that the raindrops were bouncing knee high off the ground. Posse out, we went back to the place where the Tsawwassen Crew were staying, had a quick BBQ and headed back to the Ferry for the 9:00 Boat. A good day. Shadd Trepp, Graeme Betts, Michael Ray, Andrew Classon, Tyler Burke and some other rippers all hung out for the rest of the week hitting up some sweet Island Skate Parks. Wish we could’ve stayed, next time, we’ll try to stay longer.

Check both vids

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The Train to Success

Sep 7,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

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“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

–Bob Marley

He was a man of wisdom and positive emotion, and expressed so many words that meant so much to so many people. Bob Marley was the Malcolm X of music and was an inspiration for all to unite.

With so many ups and downs in life it’s tough to remember the ups all the time, because some of those downs are just so rough. This has been a long year for me so far, surrounded by sad days, death and lack of money. If it wasn’t for my family keeping me happy all the time, and all the friends we have in the skateboard world, I might just disappear sometimes. But one reason I don’t is because I have so much more work to do in this lifetime. I’ve been changing the world for a long time, and trying hard to make it better for others, sometimes I forget about myself. But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I will keep on pushing my body and mind to the limit to succeed. And when I’m offered help from someone who just wants a piece of my pie, I will still turn them down and do it the hard way. ‘Cause that’s me, and that’s the way it has to be. The golden light is at the end of the tunnel, and there’s always gonna be a couple people who throw down ropes to help you get there faster, but those people always want a commission after. I look past those ropes at the other people just routing me on, and encouraging me not to give up and say thank you, I’ll see you at the end. And success will be there waiting.

I give you one of the best quotes of all time from the song: Zion Train –

“Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver and gold.” – Bob Marley

You gotta recognize who you are as a person and what that means to yourself. You gotta know that what’s in your head is worth more than what’s in your pocket. And you gotta learn to say no to anyone that tries to change who you are.

Find what you believe in, and express it…

Learn more about Bob Marley here

http://earthtones.org/featured-artist/bob-marley/

B . C . P .

Sep 6,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

You down with BCP? Yeah you know meeee!!

If you don’t know what BCP stands for then you definitely were not there during the eras of destruction at Surrey’s own Bear Creek Park. Back in the day, even before my time there, some serious tricks used to go down. Back when Clint Proulx used to be skinny and knew how to fly, blasting Benihana’s over the big volcano – everybody would go huge there. People always say that Bear Creek was a bike park, that’s ‘cause they don’t understand how to ride those obstacles properly. Clint Proulx, Chris Bone, Scotty MacIntosh, Ben Wheeler and others all created what that place was about in the ‘90’s. Then came the era when people stopped airing so much and tricks were getting more tech, Jay Mykyte, Stu Benoit, Drew Boyle, Joel Chamberlayne and myself set the standard for the young bucks in the new millenium. And then kids like Scotty Tyson just learned everything. BCP was an amazing park to be a local at, and still today lives on as one of the most unique skate parks I’ve ever skated. So many tricks I can think of that I need to go to Bear Creek to do, because that obstacle doesn’t exist anywhere else. That’s awesome.

Just to reminisce the old days, Jordan Strong and I hit up one of my fav parks so I could toss down some memories…

BCP!

Battle at Hastings Video 1

Sep 6,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Here’s the first Battle at Hastings 3 video I’ve caught so far. Brought to you by Arnica Productions it shows off a lot of the chaos that went down that day. Adam Hopkins, Mason Merlino, Chris Steggles and many more. Not much to say except push play…