FASHION!!

A month or so ago, in true Libran style, I was presented with two opportunities. One was to drive the Girl team to Sydney, the other was to have a part in a fashion parade at the start of fashion week. I writhed around internally, playing off boyhood dream with boyhood dream, knowing what the right decision was but also knowing I would be pissed off if I gave up the chance to get drunk with Brian Anderson. In the midst of this, I had a slurpee with Prior and explained my plight. He reflected for a second, then declared, "You could do both".



So I flew back from Sydney and had 24 hours to get the show together. It was a flurry of picking up jeans, a late night at the stooge, hooking up cheap Vans, choosing music and making projections, talking to Scottie on the phone, getting an hour-by-hour schedule from Sarah so I didn't lose it, buying t-shirts from Supre, then rocking up at the alotted time and place and feeling uncomfortable.



My models were fine, local stock. I enlisted Sam the night before (he was already modelling for James Cameron, but agreed to help out. The ginger prince is everywhere these days!) and Prior an hour before the event.



Once my boys got there I felt a lot better.



The run-through was a shambles. But when my boys hit the stage, we knew we were in for something special. Look at them, so attentive!



Taking time out to use the projector to construct elaborate shadow puppet narratives. The skater reassesses everything presented to them (as does Tom).



Prior took this of me. I had two beers and started to enjoy myself. God I was nervous before then.



Liege, Andie and Liz were in charge of music. Liege was keeping it together despite an earlier altercation with Jordan.



Then people came in and it started! Sarah took over blogging duties from here, as I was behind the scenes, fanning myself and wearing sunglasses.



We were second to last. Ed's jewellery was paraded on dogs, who were apparently well behaved, surprising considering how they handled the run-through.



Then it was on! To the strains of Jean Genie, no less. Prior's rig was pretty much a clean version of what he was wearing that day.



Sam, too. Look at that technique.



My projection was a collection of things I like from google images. Here, we have George Clooney in a lighter moment. Did you know he cuts his own hair?



Jordan, ever the showman.



The jeans were too small for the girl models, but they trooped on.



Gino looked on approvingly.



The curtains belonged to Tom. He didn't disappoint, doing some sort of voodoo rockabilly shuffle, inspiring hoots and applause.



And that was that! It went down well!



Sam modeled proper clothes by James and Scottie which looked amazing. Then it was over and I realised I hadn't thought past that moment for the past month! Good times.

Skate trip part three

We got to Canberra and headed to Erindale.



I found it really hard to figure out. It's rad though. Alex and co skated it very, very well.



On the way back, we looked at a hubba or two. Mike Mo believes that skateboarding is not a crime.



This is Feds, the crazy filmer.



Flattening grass patches is part of Fed's job to get the shot. He approaches it like most things, with much enthusiasm and abandon.



This is my extreme sports label that keeps me in cash so I can support more creative avenues.



Check the steez. Koston's elbow got wrecked on this thing.



Biebel with a bug on his finger, chillin'.



Brian was always drawing on this newspaper. He's pretty rad.



While Koston was getting stitches, the others were getting food and I was riding balls.



I went for a skate at the Civic park and inadvertently ran into Mark Alcorn from Adelaide (visible at right). He was there on a geology conference, as he now plans and anticipates waterways and stuff. Alex, Brian and Rick showed up for an impromptu shred, which was pretty amazing. Three of my faves.



Big night in Canberra, with the added ingredients of a Thrasher trip, including Jake Phelps, Lee Ralph and others. Needless to say, Brad was quite loose upon his return to the hotel.



I was hungover the next morning. I vomited.



Biebel was in good spirits, as he had exacted some street justice on some fools who messed with him. The story was spectacular.



I skated this spot when I was 12 and had a Natas mini. The option of jumping over the bench did not occur to me that day, neither did it on this one.



A few of the dudes had a go though. Malto, BA and Rick made it over, Rick nearly got the frontside flip. Massive!



The cops turn up and who should it be but Sarah's brother in law, Ben! Hilarious. Look how hungover I am, all squinty and sick.



A funny drive to Sydney ensued, complete with condoms and a fruitless search for Kangaroos. And then that was it, I said goodbye to my heroes and flew out the next morning. Completely sub-conscious yet hugely symbolic, I left my board in the van.

Roadtrip with Americans

We stopped at the Imax on the way out of Melbourne. Did you know you can only really do tricks up the gap now?



In what would become a continuing theme, Malto skated whilst others sat around, got food, or did something wacky.



The drive was punctuated by many a detour such as this.



Sometimes, someone would do something interesting, like throwing a knife at a tree.



Such events were always well documented.



Brad Staba instigated most of the hijinks on this trip. I think he was drunk all of the time. Most days, he didn't acknowledge me at all. He thought my name was Ben.



Don't get me wrong, some of these dudes were really nice. It was weird being the driver, as I was sort of nervous the whole time, having looked up to these guys all my life. This was balanced by being tense about my upcoming fashion do and not really being able to relax.



We got to Albury late and some of us headed to the park to meet a local dude Crampy had worded up. Turns up the dude worded up the rest of the town and they were all waiting there for the girl team to skate.



Noone did skate (apart from Malto), seeing as it was dark, they were tired and there were 150 kids there who had been drinking since midday. I had a roll, the snake run was sweet.



We stayed in a resort with a spa shaped like a sombrero!