The first two Friday’s in November drew skaters near and far out of the winter woodwork and into LondonTown.
The first was the screening of The Bones Brigade – An Autobiography at The Prince Charles cinema in Leicester Square on Friday 2nd. In attendance were myself, Michael Stride, Paul Price, Nigel Allgood, Ed Brockman, Martin Sweeney, Paul Coupe and Jim “Nutsac”. After a couple of beers at the nearby Moon on the Water we made our way to the cinema. In the foyer we met up with Floater and Stewart Savage as well as Ian Cocking and after exchanging pleasantries we went through to the auditorium and waited for the show to start. As the lights dimmed a “bit of a free for all” ensued, Paul Price’s pop corn being thrown all around, reminiscent of the old post Southbank Wendy’s food fights!
The as the film began a healthy cheer went up from the assembled skaters, this is what we had been waiting for…..
Waiting for the show to start.
I’m not going to review the film – there are many on the web already, but just to say that Stacy Peralta’s film features the six original team riders: Mike McGill, Rodney Mullen, Tommy Guerrero, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain and the sport’s most recognizable name, Tony Hawk. There are some memorable quotes in the film too, one of my favorites was this one from Lance Mountain: “Skateboarding has nothing to do with competition or sport. It has to do with trying to stay as immature as you can for the rest of your life. It’s kind of a lame thing to say, but it really is.” Hmm….yep, that works for me!
After the film we all filed out and stood chatting on the pavement about the film and memories it had brought back before returning to the pub.
The following Friday saw Steve Caballero and Christian Hosoi appear at Slam City Skates in Covent Garden. Steve was promoting his new signature the Cab Lite as well as appearing at the Vans Warped Tour event at Alexandra Palace with Christian the next day.
On arrival I met Paul Coupe and his daughter Chloe outside Slam City talking with the main man, Steve Van Doren (Vans Shoes). Two minutes later Christian strolled up and had brief chat on his way in to the shop to eat his food before the “Meet ‘n’ Greet” began.
We were joined by Sam Gordon, Ed Brockman and Shane O’Brien. As is customary, we had all bought something along to get signed for our various collections. Paul Coupe had bought a few boards to get signed including his now legendary Patti McGee deck. I had bought along my old Eurocana Summer Camp 1981 t-shirt for Cab to sign…..albeit some 31+ years late!
Whilst we were enjoying the complementary beers we amused ourselves with numerous anecdotes from yesteryear and tales of sessions at Latimer Road.
Soon we were exchanging words with the skate legends, proffering our wares for them to sign. I think we monopolized them for some time? I think this was in part due to Paul’s enthusiasm to explain where each deck had come from that he had bought along for them to sign.
Not sure who the chap in the middle is?
Cab seemed quite impressed that I still had a Eurocana shirt; apparently he still has his too!
Paul, Steve, Christian with Steve Van Doren in the background and a whole bunch of decks!
Our time over we said our goodbyes and headed up and out of the shop. As is customary with Friday skate related events we rounded the evening off with a couple of pints in the nearby Lamb and Flag grinning like Cheshire cats with our signed booty.