I wanna live

During a recent drive through a traffic-infested north shore, Fred Hein selected an excellent track by The Ramones from my ipod. He would have had no way of knowing this, but the track comes from a compilation which was the first CD I ever purchased. I think that The Ramones are really more of a pop band than a punk band in the sense that they present essentially upbeat, heavily melodic and simple riffs. Sure, they were among the first to pioneer the musical structure that would be adopted and further developed by bands through the coming decades, but The Ramones were never really that confrontational, and many of their songs are complete nonsense. I grew out of listening to these guys, or I thought I did anyways, several years ago; in favor of later heavier, faster, more emotional, and more directly political bands. Still, there is something incredible about the simplicity of statements such as "I wanna live" being the core of a song. How much simpler can you possibly get? These are guys who wanted nothing more out of life than to be left in peace to live their lives as they chose. Have you ever heard that the simplest solution is usually the correct one? I find that to be the case more and more every day, and The Ramones couldn't have been any simpler.

Still with me? Skipped to this sentence already? Still skipping; looking for skate photos?

In the spirit of simplicity, lets remember why we all started skating in the first place. We liked the adventure of finding new parts of the city, the continuous personal challenge to progress, and the camaraderie of people who, like ourselves, just never really seemed to fit in with the rest of them. All of these things can be summed up very simply as having fun. Today, as we go out on missions to get footage and continually punish our bodies in the effort of putting together a video part or getting photos, lets remember: if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. 

You may or may not remember this geezer from the previous post. I had overlooked this fantastic example of fun though, and thought it crucial to share before the file be relegated to the Kiln's Vault. 

The minutes preceding this moment were not fun. Mike Tenney destroyed his board by means of smashing and crashing it against the rocks of the SBLI gap after failing to land a trick. Nobody likes falling over and over and over and failing to get a clip, but next time, maybe instead of smashing your board, calmly walk away form the spot, dismantle it at the shop, and leave it in said shop with a "Free" sign for some kid who comes in with only 27 dollars and can't afford the fanciest new decks. That kid would go on to have a lot of fun. 

Again, yes, not landing tricks is very not fun, as Matt Lane knows full well here. Still, there is something that drives us to do it over and over and over again. The payoff of getting a trick that you have put so much effort into, while not exactly "fun" in the purest sense, does feel well worth it in most cases. Honestly, what would you rather be doing?

Matt Lane continues to draw fun from tricks, that personally, I would be frightened of. Also, skating concrete parks with your friends is fun. FS Nosegrind.

Jason Ross knows all about fun because he invented it with the SBS'ers. FS Feeble 180 out.

Speaking of Jason, He just had this sequence in Focus' Sequence Saturdays promoting skateshops with fun names

The amount of fun that Fred has doing nose manuals is simple immeasurable

These wooden benches are a very fun spot. Matt Lane, BS tailslide in a line that made great use of the obstacles available. 

The following post will include photos from the beginning of my trip across the USA. Right now, I must go to bed, because not getting enough sleep is never fun. 

Back on the "b[e(a)st]" coast; back with a vengeance.

I have likely violated / ignored / invented a few grammar rules while writing the above title. I'm not a writer, nor do I claim to be. However, I do enjoy doing these little write-ups to accompany my dumping of photographs into the rivers of the internet, much akin to the dumping of photographic chemicals into the river of my toilet. Don't worry... a little developer in the water ain't neva hurt nobody. That said, I have a feeling that in the coming months I will be shooting skateboarding more and more digitally as my volume of work has been increasing at a suspiciously proportional rate to the decrease of funds dedicated to film and developing. I will continue to shoot personal work exclusively on film though. After all, I do intend to one day be an old man who gives slideshows that nobody cares about. Longingly though I look into the future for that moment to come, for now I shall settle for another Chemical Kiln post in an effort to bring the blog back from the brink of becoming a digital wasteland.

Almost a month ago now, I set out on a trip across the country from Los Angeles to Boston. So, where did I go first? An hour in the complete opposite direction of course. I drove to Oxnard, CA to stay, shoot and skate with Moose and Auby Taylor for a couple days. Both have uncanny abilities on a skateboard, and unlike certain other skaters, aren't complete plunks off them. A big thank you goes out to Moose for letting Auby and myself both stay at his house.

I shot 5 rolls of 35mm slides on the trip across country, and will be posting a few photos from each leg of the trip in the next several posts, and this edition kicks off with a session from a Bones weekend filming trip around LA. These will likely be the only skate-related photos in this little series of mine.

Trevor McClung Tre Flips while Conhuir Lynn looks on

Auby Taylor with an fs tailslide (trick out, shh) in the background of this one

2/3 The McClungs, Moose, and Seu Trinh watching the session

There is reason behind the awkward punctuation of the title. Since I have been back east, Matt Lane, Kevin Leslie, and Jason Ross have all been in beastmode as far as getting clips. It is hard to beat the west coast as far as skateboarding goes, but Boston will always be my favorite at heart. This realization hit hard on a recent skate around the city with Jason and the SBS guys. The combination of no cameras, no cars, and no worries made for an amazing skate session in the city. We all know that this combination is a rarity these days.  

The following are a few shots from the past days in and around Boston

Matt Lane FS Blunt Boston 

Matt Lane BS Tailslide

Jason Ross Switch varial heel, Dave Profirio filming a line for Cheap Thrills

Jason Ross Switch polejam 180

K-Man getting down on a Backside flip in Providence, RI

Despite the fact that Fred Hein is once again back, the man now handboards more than he footboards, and insists on posing unrealistic crooked grinds. All joking aside, Fred kills it on a regular basis. He's got a sequence in Focus' Sequence Saturdays.

This man in the Navy Yard proved to be a fine specimen of the type of human who sits down directly where other humans are trying to ride skateboards for no reason other than to prove a point that it "Isn't allowed". We conversed for a few minutes after which he decided that we were actually a group of fine young lads and that despite the fact that a (misspelled, yes) sign stated that there would be "No Skatboarding" on the premises, he would turn a blind eye to our trickery and mischief.  

I have never given it much thought before, but skateboarders tend to have very erratic musical preferences. To whom else would it make perfect sense to list Andre Nickatina, GG Allin, The Smiths, and Electric Wizard in the same sentence? I think this this diversity is part of the reason we all tend to get along so well. There is something inherent to skateboarding that lets two people who have never met before get along incredibly effortlessly, and in a way that would not be quite so certain for many others. There are exceptions of course, but this does tend to be the case. 

In other news, I have set a new personal record for earliest swim in the summer season. 

Time to go outside; goodbye internet. 

Adventures in the Windy City

After staying three days in the great state of Iowa with Kyle Bunker, skate photographer extraordinaire, I rode off toward Chicago, heeding Kyle's recommendation to seek refuge at a fine establishment, not to be confused with lesser organizations that go by suspiciously similar names. 

Before I go any further, though, let it be known that Kyle Bunker is a helluva host, and a helluva good dude in basically every way. I can't say enough good things about that fucker, so I shall shut up before I kiss too much ass. Photos from the Iowa adventures to come later once I get a chance to develop the rolls. 

Beerblunt; nose variation

fake axle stall + nose stall + beerses

Following a night that revolved moreso around beers than skateboards, and specifically the lack of landing tricks anywhere near the bolts, the Chemical Kiln authorities decided to take it easy until a night session the following night with one Blake Matthews, chief mastermind behind Ideal Humans. It was a proper night of street skating highlighted by riding in front of traffic, pizza, talking to friendly bums, and the backbreaking toil of skating with a backpack full of gear and joints left frail by years of constant abuse. I've got a bone to pick to the pace of human evolution and why we don't yet have ankles of steel. More film proofs of the escapades to come, but for now, enjoy these digi flicks. 

 Timmy Johnson, crook bonk 

Timmy Johnson, BS 5050

Timmy killed it last night, and on a cruiser board nonetheless. 

Toward the end of my stay with Kyle, we engaged in a music swap, and I came across a few albums I had been looking for for quite a while. Not the least of these was Grey Matter's Food for Thought. The album holds such classic's as the little ditty in Ali Boulala's Sorry part hidden away somewhere within this post, and many more good jams. 

This editions news is strictly skateboarding, and affects absolutely nothing in real world. But in our little world... get hyped! There's a petition to reopen Max Fish,

On the road again...

This one shall be short and sweet. I'm about to start driving across the country, so all you wonderful people will have to wait a little while for another update. Or perhaps at some point I will waddle into a starbucks for the free intertubes and write up a blog post... on a mac... in a starbucks.

To everybody whom I've met and skated with over the past couple months in the LA / Long Beach area, you guys fucking rock. You've made my time here a hell of a lot better. Thank you.

Yesterday, Steven Ban ripped this newly paved LA spot a new one. There is more here than meets the eye, and it shall be revealed in due time.


I've recently decided that Link Wray makes for the best driving music in the world.

Ready for your fun fact?

Blowing the Blog Biz: Vegetative Edition

I apologize for the lack of updates through the past week. It has been one of the busiest, gnarliest, longest weeks on record thus far. College classes are over with forever, and the solo adventure across America will commence shortly. I'll be documenting it mostly with 35mm slides on the Nikon F that Ilja Maran, proprietor of the venerable Dead Pixel Productions recently gave me. I'm looking forward to putting it to good use. Over the past week, Auby Taylor has gotten 2 NBDs in LA, which, as you know, is teeming with ABDs. Be on the lookout for that guy... He's got a part dropping with Index skateshop in the coming month or two, and let me tell you, its a doozy (doozie?). Admittedly, the photos in this update are nothing too exciting, but there are plenty of goodies under wraps which will be released in due time. For now, To whomever figures out the double meaning of this post's subtitle, a Simpler Times Sixer goes!

Auby got a 4 page spread in this month's issue of Trasher, not to be confused with the skate mag of a similar name

Trasher Cover

White trash at its finest

Surprisingly, yes we did walk away with footage form that excursion

After winding up the day at Cherry park, I snapped this random flick of the light in LBC. Can somebody please explain to me what the fuck those evil green spirits are doing? I say we gather a mob and lynch 'em!

Mike likes the recently unicolorized skittles ledges so much that he had to bust out signature stretches. Ilja saw the opportunity, and proceeded to threaten his offspring. 

One of the best parts of skate photography is the fact that there is so much incentive to climb trees, buildings, and anything else you can find for your angle. Damn, I love what I do. 

I've realized that my attempt at double meaning in the title is stupid. It was supposed to be that there is vegetation in all the photos, which is a rarity in the concrete jungle that is LA, and that I have been in a vegetative state in terms of updating this here internet space which is being squandered on the jockish timewaster that is skateboarding. Therefore, if you have red thus far, I am voiding the previous offer of Simpler Times, and will instead give it away to the first person who can tell me who skated to the following brilliant bit of elite musicianship, and also tell me where the devil went. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't. But, if you get it, you also get drunk, so I think that getting it is slightly preferable to not getting it. 

Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster

By the by, a round of applause if due for Kentucky. Of all fucking places in the country to do this... Kentucky is Doing it Right

The economy is dragging us down, man

First and foremost: go buy the Real video. Booze n' Tit's part alone is worth the money. Remember, as Hurling mentioned, that he exists in real life. He is not merely a graphical representation of somebody's idea of the ideal street lines. OG rippers JT Aultz, Peter Ramondetta and Justing Brock, amongst others, all have killer parts, as do relative newcomers Davis Torgerson and Ishod Wair. Go buy the video at your local shop before they run out.

Now, I do apologize for the lack of material over the past week, but after Boston south shore shredder, and loyal Orchard Skateshop employee Andrew Haskell won the first Chemical Kiln Simpler Times giveaway by correctly explaining the differences among bonelesses / boneless ones, fastplants, and beanplants, my financial advisory board suggested that should I continue to post with the same frequency, the venture may soon run out of capital, and be forced to shut down. For this reason, I have suspended activity during the past week, and now that the budget here at the Chemical Kiln is finally under control, we resume. If anybody is wondering how this clearly and undeniable for-profit foray is doing, here are the preliminary ratings as of last night.

I'm relieved that our ratings are represented by a human number, as opposed to a satanic one. 

This past weekend was very successful, and should, in the future, allow me to give away much more Simpler Times, but for now, the best of the best shall remain a secret. Here are some fun things from the weekend...

Ilja Maran filming

BS tailslide - Don't even know who this was, but probably Mike Piwowar (click for large)

Sunday's crew at the first spot of the day

Nate Principato had the idea for a quick snap of this ollie (bad light often necessitates fake BW)

Immediately after, Auby Taylor wanted one too, so I took the time to light it a bit

Nate has the best hardflips I have ever seen in person

Roy Foner Tailslide

Chris Joslin Ollie (No land, but click for large) Chris just turned 15. The way he skates, you would swear he had bones made of steel and concrete. Speaking of bones, he gets Bones and Powell flow. Keep an eye on this one. 

It's a busy day in a busy week, so I'll keep the closing section short and sweet. 

Husker Du is a great band, and this track off of "New Day Rising" is a classic. 

Remember how The Egyptian people ousted Mubarak, and reclaimed their freedom and all that good stuff? Well, the Egyptian military leaders that formed the interim government until proper elections take place are certainly doing a swell job. Oh wait, no they are completely blowing it. 

Obligatory 35mm BW post

I'm going to go ahead and say... scanning 35mm on a 4490 blows. It fucking blows. For medium format, it is a brilliant little machine, but it can't hold 35mm flat for shit, and it simply can't draw all the detail out of the film. Just some quick gear advice. 

Last week, Ilja insisted that I take his Nikon F off his hands for a while, and so I shot a quick test roll while out for a day. I haven't shot a roll of 35 so fast (about an hour) in, well, maybe ever. It's a pretty liberating experience. Also, since the F doesn't have a built-in light meter, I just threw out some educated guesses for most of the exposures. The sunny 16 rule, with a little personal tweakage really does work pretty well, and open shade on a sunny day is 3 stops dimmer than direct sunlight, so everything else falls in between as long as you're shooting during the day.

Between using a camera that was first manufactured in 1959, using cheap $2.19 / roll film, guessing at exposures, and using a really depleted developer and fixer on top of that, I'd say this stuff came out decently for what was really just a test for light leaks and shutter / aperture problems. 

V for Victory

Spot's got a couch. Brilliant

This frame was at the end of the roll, and I loaded up the film super quick so the center of this was partially touching another frame. Just another of the random things that can happen with film. It's not at all hard to develop a roll perfectly by yourself though. (that goes for c-41 and e6 too. Really.)

The people working next to this ledge spot decided to call the cops instead 

of walking 30 feet and talking to us. I love human reasoning. 

Beanplant? Boneless? Fastplant? Whoever can explain the difference to me gets a Simpler Times sixer

homies

Bullshit tones in sunlight = depleted developer to blame. I'll have to splurge on the good stuff soon instead of keepin on with old man d76

Not a land. This ledge had a tiny bank up to it that made it super fun

This post's music section is a very special one. A very special treat, yes indeed. This is the covers edition.  So, for your enjoyment, here are three covers that don't suck, along with the originals. 

Minor Threat - 12XU / Wire - 12XU

X - Soul Kitchen / The Doors: Soul Kitchen

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina / The Monkees - Zilch

Ok, so Mistadobalina isn't exactly a cover, but is draws some clear and present inspiration from the Monkees' song. Row, row, row your boat. 

Recently, Dennis Kucinich displayed the rare and mythical trait that has, over the years, come to be known as common sense. Rumor has it that there is an endless fountain spewing this rare substance from the earth somewhere in the southern hemisphere. Many men have lost their lives in search of it.