Slam City Jam

So we just worked Slam City Jam this past weekend. TONNES of little skateboarder kids. I was actually thinking the crowd would be 5-6 years older..more teenagers, but it was mostly 9-13 year olds. Not too bad, but some of them can be a bit cocky at times.

Every event we do seems we are more and more organized. I have the tent setup down to a fine art!! I can pretty much setup by myself in under 1/2 hour. I got the old husband to help me though - we are a great team!

We had a special visitor at the event...Animal Chin...who was one of the oldest sponsored skaters in the world!! He was in a SUPER old school movie with Tony Hawk and Lance Mountain called "The Search for Animal Chin". ANYWAYS...us older folk were SUPER stoked to see him, whilst the younger kids didn't even know who he was. We got to meet him and got autographs and photos,...he was AWESOME!! We were SUPER pissed to hear that the Stampede Security (Nazi's) were in the process of cutting offf his wristband and escorting him out of the event..keep in mind that he was volunteering there for them!! Luckily EVERY vendor in the place rushed over to give him their VIP passes. So he was rescued but still not very happy about how he was treated.

Aside from that.I didn't get to meet Tony Hawk. Aparantly there was some sort of skate contest in New York the same weekend so he flew in, did his demo and left right away! There were MOBS of kids chasing after him, but he got away without signing any autographs - booooo.

Friday and Saturday were pretty dead...NOBODY showed up...I think because of the price of admission that most parents waited for the last day and the finals to bring their kids. I can understand....if you have three kids and want to attend all three days you are looking at $450 some odd dollars! So on Sunday it was INSANELY busy!! Tonnes of poeple everywhere!

We had a lot of good feedback...most popular bands were 3 Days Grace, System of a Down and Kasabian. Also were quite a few skater boys who asked for Beyonce posters and said ti was for their little sisters "yah right!". Anyways, we met a lot of cool kids and had great feedback all weekend on our booth.

Ok...I think thats a wrap for me...I will post a blog tomorrow about the exciting new Roller Derby League I've started in Calgary!! Hot Chicks on Wheels - doesn't get any better than that! Skate or Die!!!

Liz aka Sweaty Betty

Ok-who put a "stop payment" on my reality check?

Today I was walking down Queen Street and noticed that a lot of people still rock t-shirts with weird, funny, amusing slogans on them. Im not talking about cool band t-shirts I'm talking about those 8 dollar t-shirts with one liners you get at the flea market. First I saw some dude wearing a shirt that read “I Have Bad Credit� and no more then 5 minutes later I saw a girl wearing a shirt that read “Bitch�. It got me wondering, do these slogan t- shirts people wear truly reflect their personality or body type? Or am I looking too far into this? A week earlier i saw a girl with a shirt sporting the slogan "Instant Slut Just Add Alcohol" I mean why would you want someone to know or at least think that you’re a bitch, slut or have bad credit? Are these people poking fun at themselves, are they spelling out to the world who they are or do they just think the t-shirt is funny? What do you guys think? Do any of you own any slogan t- shirts? Do they reflect who you are? What’s your take on these shirts are they totally lame or do you dig them. Personally I’m not so into them although I must admit I have had a laugh or two over some of them. So post up some funny quotes and your opinion on the matter. When more come to mind Ill post a list of some of the ones I have come across and my take on the whole slogan t- shirt thing.

Back to school special

You know it's that time of year again! In light of getting back to using some brain cells, I was looking for some suggestions of a few good reads. I've been all about the biographies lately....a little less "My Life" by Bill Clinton and a little more "Scar Tissue" from Anthony Keidis. Maybe not the classiest stuff but still slightly intellectual. Anyone got any ideas?


PS. These two were good time-fillers.
"Drugs are nice" Lisa Crystal Carver
"I'm with the band" Pamela Des Barres

Jazzy & The Pussycats

The aforementioned title is for the forthcoming episode of The Simpsons, this fall. Their 18th season is embraced with another special appearance from the music business, The White Stripes. The Photo above was just released last week on MTV's website.

Essentially, without giving away the whole episode, Bart learns to play the drums, which leads to shanghais with The White Stripes. Be sure to watch for Bart's rendition of The White Stripes "The Hardest Button to Button."

Other musical talents that were on the Simpsons includes 50 cent, R.E.M., Britney Spears, Blink 182, Cypress Hill etc...

In closing, Jack White is currently on tour with The Raconteurs. Most noteworthy, they are scheduled to perform at the V Festival @ Toronto Island. As for the Simpsons, their movie is scheduled for July 27, 2007.

The FOO!

Last night at the Hummingbird Centre I saw the best damn acoustic set of my life!!!! Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters talked, laughed, and performed like you've never seen before. The man practically had me begging for more by the end of the night. The atmosphere and acoustic sound in the building were ecstatic.... I honestly can't say anything else without getting goose bumps... For whoever didn't attend the show, if you don't already cry yourself to sleep, by the end of the week you will be feeling like that nerdy kid who always gets picked last in gym class..... So avoid this torture next time and buy a ticket!!

- Ry

Time Magazine - 50 Coolest Websites

School is around the corner and killing time between spares are often spent in computer labs, surfing aimlessly on the net. Fear no more, Time Magazine had recently released a list of their top 50 websites, which inlcudes:

• Entertainment, Arts & Media
• Shopping, Lifestyle & Hobbies
• News & Information
• Staying Connected
• Time Wasters
• Travel & Real estate
• Web Search & Services

A couple of my favourites are Pandora (http://www.pandora.com/) and Zunafish (http://www.zunafish.com/). Pandora is a music streaming website that allows you to search for specific artists, and then it generates a playlist of like minded artists. After that, you sit back and enjoy the music. Zunafish is a site that brings back the primitive age of bartering. Items that you trade includes CD's, DVD's, Video Games, and VHS. Most importantly, students can trade their textbooks with each other, curbing the cost of school!

To see the other websites mentioned in the Time Magazine's article, please visit the following link: http://www.time.com/time/2006/50coolest/index.html

Get your ear plugs ready, tie up your Chuck taylors!!!, brush your mulets!!! for 2 incredible days of pure chart rocking performances by *Massive Attack*The Strokes*The Flaming Lips*Gnarls Barkely*The Raconteurs*Sam Roberts Band*WolfMother*MstrKrft Champion*Alexisonfire*WinterSleep*K`naan*Lupe Fiasco*Buck 65*Kid Koala*Muse*
This is the event we have all been waiting for all year this is the last rememerable festival to bring the curtains up on the summer. I know for myself that there has been a great deal of amazing concerts and festivals that you wished had never ended, for what it is worth the Virgin Festival has all 3 formulas to make your weekend more memerable then any other this year. The first is not only do you get to interact wih a great deal of artists and autograph signings you get the tremendous feeling of having over 50,000 people sharing the same interest and getting completly thrashed and a trunk full of promo. The second is listening to some of the best bands from around the world from Massive Attack and The Strokes and The Flaming Lips it should keep you over exellarated through out the festival. Third it is the last of all the great festivals this summer that is an out doors event, if you have said to your self you havn`t seen anything good this then I will write you a persrciption to see the best Concerts this summer the VIRGIN FESTIVAL BABY!!!!!

Written by Clarence The Incredible!!!
Cheers*

He Is Not Santa

Alright all you Torontonians who remembers that crazy dude who used to run around TO topless, flexing and doing push ups while wearing a Santa Claus hat? Not even the cold weather would stop this man. If you haven’t guessed it yet, YES I am talking about ZANTA!!!! Who else did you think I was talking about? I totally forgot about this guy until my boy Basco hooked me up with this documentary on him that was posted on the net. Is Zanta nuts? Some might think so. Does this dude think he is playing a role or does he think he is Zanta!!!! Do you even have a clue as to who I am talking about yet? If not do yourself a favor and watch the video worst thing that can happen is that you’ll be entertained for 15 minutes. As for those of you who do know who this dude is, what ever came of him? I have not seen him around in a long ass time. I know at one point he was banned form the downtown core is this still the case? Someone hook me up some info or post your own personal Zanta story.So yo, visit this page http://www.robotomedia.com/zanta/ and check out the video!!!!!

WARPED TOUR 2006 - BARRIE!!

Bananas!! We knew it was gonna be insane as soon as we arrived at Molson Park and saw a huge car accident involving a mini van & truck!
Almost 50,000 people showed up, creating a sand storm.. literally! Dust, debris & garbage were flying every where! Kids had to cover themselves with: masks, bandanas & towels.. (Typical Warped Tour combat fatigue)
Best part of the day was seeing Bullet For My Valentine sign autographs at OUR BOOTH!!
Tons of people were hovering around our purple & white tent.



On nother note, Competition was fierce for Vendors & Artists: There were tons of autograph booths, merch booths (shirts & CDs were dirt cheap).. & even friggen myspace had their own booth.
**This is just the Food & Beer section**


Stage wise: 2 huge ass Vans stages and about 5 smaller stages all surrounded the park.

Everybody had a blast.. well, minus the Solo Mobile dude that passed out, due to the heat wave & debris! (I think the dude had asthma..poor soul)


I LOVE ROCK.. My ASSSSS!!


2 of many crazies @ Warped.

(Adam, Elle, Captain Jackie & Alinsor) iz the team!
**4 more Pics, check out the Photo Gallery**

Customize your Mobile.. WWW.MYTEGO.COM

As I said before, for each festival that we (Groundworks Street Team) attends, we always hand out our "I Love Rock" Swag Bags. Inside are various: sticker booklets, CD Coupons, Buttons, Digital Download Cards, Tattoos & Patches. Well, we've just added 1 more item to our pile of goodies...Courtesy of WWW.MYTEGO.COM (a mobile skins design company) have provided us with skins for your cellphones! Thats right, you get to design/cover your scratched up, used & abused Phones, Blackberrys & 2ways!

Everybody who knows me, knows that I have a shitty, ass phone & it was of necessity for me to cover my mobile! My phone was too plain, full of scratches & dents.. and of course, I hated the cellphone company logo!
**Heres how my phone looks like with the MYTEGO skin**

Besides my warped antenna, the phone looks pretty sick!
(TOOL on the outside, SYSTEM OF A DOWN on the inside)
WWW.MYTEGO.COM HAS SKINS FOR ANY & EVERY PHONE!!
(well almost.. Zach Morris Shoebox phones, are not applicable)

If you want to try it out, SIGN UP for our Email Newsletter and you will receive a FREE MYTEGO CODE which allows you to customize your cellphone skin. You can design whatever the hell you want!
-Captain Jackie

Slam City Jam

Slam city jam is coming up in just a couple of weeks. I am so excited I can't even stand it. This is probably the biggest event to come to Calgary in a while. For those of you who don't know this is the BIGGEST skateboarding event in North America. There will be tonnes of pros there as well as music artists.

We will have a booth there and it's gonna be ROCKING!! We are still looking for a few extra interns to join the team and help us out for events such as this. We also need interns to help us do postering around the city. If you want to get some experience working for SONY/BMG and you live in Calgary, then PLEASE contact us at joshb@shaw.ca.

I will be taking TONNES of photos of Slam City - can't wait to share them wtih everyone. it's going to be SUCH a good time. Hopefuilly I can meet Tony Hawk!!

Liz

Get Krump!

The other night I finally had some time to relax and watch a little TV and I came across this movie called Rize. It turns out to be a documentary by Dave LaChapelle, not the comedian Dave Chappelle, which I know you all have tickets for... RIGHT? Anyways this LaChapelle guy went into the streets of South Los Angeles and interviewed local kids who all seem to be gravitating towards a new form of dancing. A lot of the kids in that area of the United States have a hard time finding alternatives to staying out of street gangs, so the local community develops these dance groups to support young people. The two major styles the movie focuses on are Clowning(dancers have their faces painted) and Krumping(which is more aggressive and almost looks like fighting only no one actually gets punched). The dance moves are absolutely ridiculous and the movie also features a huge dance battle between the two groups. Supposedly, don't quote me on this, Madonna and some other artists are using Krump dancing in their music videos; I'll leave that for you to decide yourself. I say if you're at all interested in urban culture, dancing, or even some historical background about the rough neighbourhoods of California, you should definitely check this movie out.

Jamaican Tour Guide

Hello everyone reading this!

Since this is my first post here let me introduce myself. My name is Jackie :)

So I was online the other day and came across this dude who LOVES his Bob Marley. I know we all love our Bob Marley so I had to share! I'm not going to say very much else about the video because you HAVE to see this for your self and I garuntee when he laughs you'll laugh your ass off!! haha!

Enjoy!

Click here

Beware of Cheese.

Alright, this next post has a big cheese factor so don't say I didn't warn you...but this site is too good to pass up! Cute Overload has some of the best pics to soften up the most hardcore of "heshers" (if that word is still around anymore?!?). With daily pics of cats in bags and dogs in clothing how can you go wrong?

OZZY & SYSTEM OF A DOWN - 21ST CENTURY LEADERS

I hope everyone had a blast this past week at OZZFEST. If you’ve missed your chance to catch the show or perhaps didn’t take away a memento, direct your attention to: www.whateverittakes.org

21^st Century Leaders is a charity that incorporates fundraising through art. Each contributor donates a creative piece, along with a message of hope. To further illustrate, OZZY contributed shoes (Vans), t-shirts and wristbands that convey “WANK FOR PEACE�. Also, he contributed a backpack (EASTPAK) that communicated “Built to resist�. Lastly, be sure to check out the System of A Down wristband, which says “My heart for you�.

Here are a few pictures of OZZY's contributions:

System of A Down contribution:

At the moment, total donations are $307, 000 and counting. Let's do our part and contribute to a worthy cause.

Most importantly, all funds raised (100%) are for developing countries and the environment.