Saturday 28 February 2009

Obi-Wan Luigi..

...you're Slam's only hope! Late entry to the game of S.K.A.T.E was allowed as Luigi takes Baines' place. Our last hope of shop staff success, he will go neck and neck (pun intended) with Jak Pietryga. He's memorising the lyrics to juicy in faint hope that his challenge will be to recite the words to juicy..



He did the walk to El Burrito the new lunch spot of choice only to find it was closed today. Just a short fruitless walk to Goodge street. He's still in good spirits. "Look arrogant" I said..



Good luck tomorrow mate. A heavy surprise crew greeted us last night. Stu Bentley, Percy, Howard Cooke and Joel O Connor. Powerful! Percy was still feeling powerful this afternoon..



I'm going to a Christening tomorrow which will be fun. I'm going to miss top boy Dan Henshaw's bday drinks this evening though. Have a good one..



Rob drew this offensive action figure on Baines' box which was sent out yesterday..



Good work Rob. Thought I'd 8 mile myself with that photo. It's been busy in here these last few days. We have a far more attractive complete set-up selection for you..



which has proved to be popular, it's far more workable. One last little rant and I'll be off. Apart from the Soprano's this is still the best thing out..



It's going off!

Friday 27 February 2009

“When the product is right, you don't have to be a great marketer.”

-Lee Lacocca

We have the right product for you this weekend that's for sure. Those in the market for a new board will be pleased to know we have good stock so no marketing is required. We have bare Landscape and Heroin decks. Nuff Real boards. Piere Alien and Habitat decks and a copious amount of Anti Hero. Come in and grab up a new sled and enjoy the new weather trend we've been blessed with. I enjoyed the extended daylight yesterday. Other product of interest is a fresh batch of Nike SB's, two brand new Slam New Era's, a re-lick of Mindfield and more wheels than you could shake a stick at. All of this on top of the new Sole Tech delivery. Be sure to pay us a visit.
I slept on this film but took in a viewing last night..



Liam Neeson is a bad man. The basic premise of the story is that his daughter is kidnapped by an Albanian crew involved in human traficking. Neeson who has a set of special skills you'll soon learn about then flies to Paris to rescue her. This one will have you punching the air I promise. As always I took down a lighter hearted number on the same day for some equilibrium. I am also backing...



"We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins" Give it a watch.."Skadoosh!"
If you're in on Saturday night keep your eyes peeled for the new Last Minute ads that will run consecutively on different channels. Here's the info..

http://goodstuff.lastminute.com/make-tv-history

Those of you who are observant on your travels may have spied Nugget already on the side of some taxi cabs. Those even more observant may have spotted Rob and Dan behind him. One of these TV ads airing on Saturday will contain various London skateboarders. I imagine you may see two members of the Landscape team crowd surfing if you look closely. See those of you enticed by my own subtle style of marketing for a rig Re-up tomorrow.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Guilty until proven innocent

This story is for Henry Kingsford. He likes his blog updates served up for him in the early morning so he has something to entertain him first thing. I'm going to pen a story from last night, wait until he's asleep and post it so I can retire for the night myself. I understand the point Henry is making, I'm just not sure my schedule can facilitate his request. Lets aim to please once a week and go from there. Here comes morning tea break update number one.

After one of his regular visits Shier's stay had come to an end once again so we went for a few local beers after work. The usual suspects were out. There was even a sniff of free booze on the horizon, that promise always causes more than a few coffin lids to creak open. We were in our friendly local house of darts and cheap pints and there was a healthy group of us. Dan and myself went to stand out the front in the street to smoke.
We were a stones throw away from the building which blessed you with those views of London from above in my last post. Directly opposite where we were standing is a building site, the skeletons of many new towers already reach into the sky behind a long wall of hoarding. We weren't looking at the builders progress but a road is all that separated us from it. Something soon caught our attention. Two tall youths a little younger than us ran up to the main piece of hoarding. 'Oi! Oi! Here!" one of them shouted down the street, his voice directed at someone on the other side of a parked coach. Moments later two smaller youths ran up and joined them. I just realised I'm using the term youth fairly liberally here and that I'm not as young as I used to be either. Lets say they were mid twenties.
As soon as the other two had joined them a heated discussion took place. One of the taller ones jumped up and clambered enough to get a view over the top. "it's okay" I heard from where we stood. Then something magical and obviously planned happened. The tallest one gave a board a little less than a foot high which sat between the elevated hoarding gate and the floor a firm shove in the corner. The piece of wood fell down. The smallest one hurriedly took off his jacket, jumped to the floor and Indian Jones'd his way under the gap with a roll. His small friend followed. Meanwhile the other two were anxiously keeping dog, one checking one end of the street while the other busied himself in the other direction. A few shouts came from the other side but they weren't audible.
This whole time Dan and myself were discussing what we thought was going on. It was a quick operation. When I first saw the wood drop and the gap appear I thought maybe this was a stash spot of some kind. Perhaps they were collecting some heat they'd deposited for safe keeping. I soon decided it was far too elaborate for that to be the case. They were going in there with a purpose, a one off chance. Power tools was my next hunch, they were going to roll out any second with a grip of power tools. We had a few ideas. Our cigarettes finished, we waited impressed by their speed and stealth and intrigued as to what their booty was going to be.
A noise of definite glee was heard from the other side. "He's got it!" "Yes!" One body rolled through the gap closely followed by the other. The crime partner who'd created the gap quickly replaced the wood. Relief. They had got over. The first one through the gap held his motivation above his head. It was a miniature foam Nerf American football. They all high fived and moved off quickly up the road. I don't even have the Wire to blame for my suspicion because I'm yet to start watching it. Perhaps an over active imagination is okay though, at least the mundane becomes exciting for a second. This tale even has a happy ending-they got their ball back!

“Like tourists huffing and puffing to reach the peak we forget the view on the way up”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

More than a few of us enjoyed a view not many tourists visiting London ever get to enjoy. There was a party in conjunction with London fashion week, the location of which caused a change in Sunday evening plans. It was held at the top of Centre Point. As you can imagine the vantage point was ridiculous. Rob and myself, thanks to our friend Nicky were lucky enough to be allowed some time on the very top floor. This floor had floor to ceiling windows you could lean your nose against and these windows continued three hundred and sixty degrees around the building. Here's how Oxford street looked from up there..



and here's the only view you're interested in. Glorious South London..



Following a tip off from Shier I watched this Swedish film the other night..



I won't say anything about it other than you need to watch it and that you'll want a friend who's a vampire afterwards. Rob found a clip for you to watch today..



Check out all the other NJ scum videos on that channel too. Happy watching.

Tuesday 24 February 2009

More from the weekend

Henry Kingsford was kind enough to send the Alley some more pictures from this last weekends skate shenannigans. Here's a good spectator shot..



Here's one of the guest of honour..



Stella loves skateboarding. The only thing she likes more than a wheel is getting her teeth into a board..



Mad crew came to watch. Here's one of H for Harmon. Had a good skate with that fellow yesterday. It was a nail biter for Stu and a good laugh for Oli. Half the Elephant house right there..



Thanks for the photos Henry. More from a fun week tomorrow

Monday 23 February 2009

Tip off

One restaurant we're backing at Jake's Alley headquarters is the spiritual home of good chicken. You guessed it..



Extensive research has helped me to develop a new uber sauce using only the condiments supplied in any one of their restaurants. What you need to do is acquire one of these sauce bottles..



This is to be your base. It's a fail safe on it's own and used to be my go to of choice. Later on I branched out and would only use the next bottle I'll show you. Apply the wild herb to your plate liberally and then add..



Always good to get some garlic in there, like the wild herb it's a little spicy too. Maybe apply a little less than you did the wild herb. This combo is pretty good on it's own. Depending on your mind set the next move is up to you. The hot sauce is amazing and I would recommend that as your third party . Recently stringent testing has involved..



You don't even need that much, mix it all together and get involved. Don't say I never do anything for you. This is better than that secret recipe that pesky colonel will never give away .

Sunday 22 February 2009

“If you think dogs can't count..

..try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them.”
Joey's canine companion Stella was involved in one of today's challenges..



Three games went down, one for each dog biscuit. Paul Shier aka the cat from Croydon took on Will Harmon aka the ill Will..



Ches captured proceedings as everyone dodged the alley's perils. I played Boots,
here's Lev cooking up challenges..



A bizarre action shot for you without giving too much away..



Shier and Harmon had an epic battle. One more game was played..



Morph and Charlie went head to head. Morph mixed it up on a filmer board and utilised the alley in another way. You'll have to wait and see how all this pans out. This was a light hearted part of our Sunday. On a more sombre note we're a little worried about Hops. Since he's been away it seems he's falling in with a bad crowd. Look who he's been rolling around with..



Get back to the big smoke Hops, we're worried about you

Saturday 21 February 2009

Once again-gain

A special time in skateboarding can be enjoyed by clicking the link below. Lines for days. They don't make them like this anymore..


http://www.williamstrobeck.com/pigeon.html

Some of the best tricks committed to video right there. There should be some good games of skate for you this coming week. Shier's going to be playing this guy..



Ill keep you abreast of all developments

Friday 20 February 2009

“An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind.”

I wish Ghandi would have had a word with Hops. Serious anger management is required I think. Those of you who visit my Alley regularly will be familiar with Hops and his recent escapades. For those new readers out there (and I know you exist because Analytics told me) I will bring you up to speed so you understand todays new clip. Luigi-who is now confirmed to be involved in the Jake's Alley game of skate!! has been getting fresh with Hops. Here's an example you may or may not have seen before..



Hops thought Luigi had got a bit ahead of himself but chose to suffer in silence. Little did Luigi know that a similar attack to the one I suffered at his hands waited in the wings. He was picking his moment is all..



Hopefully a more peaceful Hops will return refreshed from the countryside

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Doppelganger

Rob snapped this photo of Mikey Taylor watching Rory Milanes' Horizons part or the other way round..



Mindfield is back in tomorrow for those of you who still don't have a copy. We have good stock of Horizons right now though. Hops is back at the family homestead. He's just been hanging out in the countryside climbing trees and such like..



Hopefully there will be livelier Hops updates when he's back in the big smoke.

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Ramp of Doom!

We'd had a good skate in the day time and received a tip off that this young lady was playing a free in-store at Rough Trade in Brick Lane..



Her name's Laura Marling and she's really very good. More about that later. On route Charlie nearly impaled himself on top of a fence but got away with it. It was a bending down to ollie/fart stone incident. We took the back way to the Rough trade shop. Toddy and I spotted a big piece of ply wood next to a metal stair case. It was too good to be true. Years back little Joe coined the phrase "ramp of doom!" Said ramp involves a floppy piece of ply laid down some stairs and ridden down. The wood we found fit snugly into the stair space but was longer than the height of them. I got involved. As soon as you put your weight on the top of the ply it literally levelled out flat. Next I had to trust the see-saw action as the weight of me on board rolling along smashed the bottom of it to the floor and pitched me down and along the pavement. Great fun! Toddy was next to ride the wave and had a similarly enjoyable experience. Unfortunately the clatter we were making attracted a very aggressive security guard who proceeded to knock Charlie's phone out of his hand. We were happy to leave and go round the other way, I just thought it a shame the others didn't get to have a go. Charlie made a pretend police call to complain about the security guards treatment of us. The guy said he didn't care but looked like he was throbbing it a bit. "Call them" he said, "we will see who is light or long!" He certainly wasn't light in both senses of the word and the experience was certainly long. Anyhow we escaped their wrath and took in three of Laura Marling's newest songs. You should check her out, her existing album looks like this..



While I was there I also picked up a copy of this. Also well worth a look..



That's enough music nerd stuff for today. We have a new Slam New Era we put together for you. It's one of three we have coming. This one is the "felted". It's very swish and you need to get your hands on one. They are £29.95..



Our last order from the good people at Shiner came with a back issue of The Skateboard Mag from November. My ramp of doom buddy is in it in a Dekline tour article. Rocking a Slam shirt too..



He has a sick frontside flip photo in there..



Good work LT73. I'm worried Neil's confrontation with Hops has made him lose it a bit. Whilst updating the Alley just the other day he attacked me!..



Chill out Hops!

Monday 16 February 2009

"Slip make a fender shine..Frankie a friend of mine..

..got me off a bender after long legged Brenda died"





Here's a heads up on two great things.

Sunday 15 February 2009

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

Einstein said that. Nobody needs a genius to offer them that life lesson. The games went down again this Sunday in an even more restricted Alley space. Blueprints Neil Smith..



Was pitched against our very own..



..Dan Callow. This was kicked off with possibly the best challenge yet. This guy..



had to play the man at the core of the operation..



Ches had everything at hand today. He got the games logged in here so he could take the camera out filming afterwards too. While he was in front of the lens Dan Cates took over filming duties. How's it going to pan out. Will we see a happy Ches? or..



"Life ain't s*@t without a blog these days!" is a quote fresh in from Cates who has been holding it down in here these past few days looking after that Mindfield dvd downstairs. The games will be up as they were last week so keep them peeled.

Saturday 14 February 2009

“Let us move from the era of confrontation to the era of negotiation.”

Richard Nixon's words aimed to promote peace. There was no negotiation going on yesterday between two good friends of mine. Hops must have spilt Neil's Guiness or something. It takes a lot to annoy Neil, once he's off there's no calming him down. Rob caught the whole incident on camera..



I worked out an interview with our Stereo sound agent in the field just the other day. This guy..



That's right Olly Todd. The interview is ready for you to view on the new Carhartt blog. Have a read and see what he's saying here..


http://www.carhartt-streetwear.com/skate/blog/2009/02/olly-todd-interview


Happy Valentine's day. I'll be mostly hoax phone calling local Pizza Expresses.

Friday 13 February 2009

“Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia”

- Alexis Carrel

There's plenty of drilling going on outside. It's not making life leap like a geyser for me though, quite the opposite. Hops wasn't too happy about all the disturbance..



Could mean that our games of skate will need a re-location temporarily. Where there's a will there's a way. Maybe some ply could fix us up for a few games. The projected finish date of our drilling nightmare is six to eight weeks-mellow one. As well as Alien boards for you this weekend we have good stock of the current Heroin and Landscape boards for those of you braving our erratic climate. Guy! Rob has safely secured your copy of Mindfield..



Finally it's Gorm and Badger's birthday celebrations tonight. Happy birthday guys..

"Have you ever seen a one-legged man trying to dance his way free? "

The song Springsteen penned for Mickey Rourke's return to form in the Wrestler has gotten a decent playout on my i-pod of late. Many people have said they didn't like the film to me. I think it's worthy of your time..



It's achingly sad. I worked out fairly recently that most films I really like are either very sombre or completely retarded. I have a soft spot for an unabashedly depressing film that's for sure. This I have developed, years back I'd avoid any heavy subject matter like the plague. This was until I developed the formula. It requires twice as much of your time but it re-dresses the balance. Take down the heavy film with high probability of onions. Take a breather. Remedy those blues with a suitable antidote. My drug of choice today was..



King Julian really delivers in this sequel.

Wednesday 11 February 2009

“You can't be suspicious of a tree..

.. or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet.”
-Hal Borland

This quote appears today because of a subversive squirrel flavoured item I collected for Dan. I'll show you in a bit. Last night saw the premiere of this go on downstairs..



A massive turn out filled the basement. I was manning the dvd player and lights or else I'd have brought you some pictures. I also nursed a box of beer provided by Rayman, yes Ray! I don't need to tell you that it's off the chain. I'll give you a little taste of what I think about it not that you care. If you do care you'll have read one of the numerous reviews on the internet taking it to pieces part by part already. AVE smashes it, he wins skateboarding. Always good to see a Kalis part. His influence at Fairfields must have doubled DC's profits at one stage. If you filmed a busy Saturday afternoon there at cat eye level you'd be attacked by Lynx's. Dill chooses good tricks and does them better than anybody else, I won't write anymore about it. The standard of the youth is phenomenal and the more seasoned on the team still shine. Buy it is my advice. It just turned up, it's £19.95 and it comes in a book-sweet deal! Another dvd I picked up today is The Harmony's latest release. It comes with a free sticker pack..



I caught a little bit of Jamie Bolland. Reports came from downstairs that Joe Gavin's bit is really good. This is £6.95 and we have ten of them for you. I did the lunch run yesterday, before I went out the door I asked Dan what crisps he'd like instead of the salt and vinegar default. "Surprise me" was his response. Imagine how stoked I was when I saw these..



I was also stoked when I saw this poster in the heart of my hood..



Viva Brom Vegas indeed.

Monday 9 February 2009

“Better to live one year as a tiger, than a hundred as a sheep.”

Those are the words of Madonna. It's been a tiger-ish first year for this blog and I'd like to wish it..



It's tiger like qualities I'd liken more to A.A Milne's Tigger than Kipling's Shere Khan . I hope you've enjoyed the last twelve months of it bouncing around in your browser, I have certainly enjoyed it this end. Bad weather ruined any hopes I had of skating yesterday, it seems Hops found the board skills he's developed adaptable however. Best Hops clip ever?..



Mindfield is ready to go this evening at six so get yourselves down here, we've all heard good things. Revellers keen to celebrate a year of Jake's Alley should meet here at seven for the booze cruise.

“It takes a long time to grow young"

-Pablo Picasso
One thing that's been growing young this past twelve months is..



I find it hard to believe that tomorrow marks the Alley's first birthday, that first post with a mixtape gift occurred a year ago on Tuesday..



To me that's as good a cause as any to celebrate. Hopefully that premiere will go down tomorrow but I'm proposing a toast to the Alley afterwards in a nearby cocktail bar. Failing that a nearby pub will do. It would be far more poetic to have some drinks in the alley itself but our reliable climate may have other ideas. See you tomorrow, hopefully to raise glass to the next twelve months