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This post is a fist in the face to anyone who has ever trained, warmed up, prepared for, or even planned to do any kind of physical activity. Pretty much to every human out there. I will tell you of an amazing feet that Dan Shaw has just pulled off, probably setting some kind of new record without even realizing it. But before I do, I'm going to congratulate Weston on his photography. A couple months ago, Weston got the cover of the Ensign magazine! I put the picture up top so you can all see. For any of you that might not know what that means, getting the cover of the Ensign is like shooting the cover shot of the Skateboard Mag for Mormons. Good job Weston! The Ensign magazine is yet another organization that Bolts of Thunder has successfully infiltrated this year. That sequence up there is Weston doing what Weston does best, skating good and proper. Ok, the next big accomplishment I must put up is almost unbelievable, but it is totally true. I actually didn't believe it at first, I thought it was some kind of joke. But as it turns out, it is completely true. Once again, I have underestimated Dan Shaw... Yeah, you guessed it. Something so unbelievable and unhuman must have been done by Dan. Nobody else would have survived. Speaking of not surviving something that Dan can survive, 12 college kids got blown up last weekend down at the Devil's Arse. They all survived, but I guess they got burned pretty bad. It's this huge pit, as in thousands of feet deep, and you can lite stuff on fire, throw it in, and watch it blow up. I went out there once with Dan and watched as he knelt down on a piece of ply wood on the rebar grate on top over 11 gallons of exploding gasoline. It pushed him about 4 feet in the air, levitating him for a couple seconds, then dropping him back on the rebar. He rode it out no problem. Yeah, 11 gallons of gasoline, and he dared stand on top of it and take on its fury. He kind of levitated in the air like those blue whistle things that you have to blow in at the doctor's office. You know, you blow in that tube and you have to keep that blue ball thing between those 2 lines for a certain amount of time. That was Dan for about 4 seconds, he became a human doctor blowy ball. I guess those poor kids last weekend didn't have Dan's same kind of luck, and they got burnt... Anyway, back to what I was originally saying, Dan Shaw ran a marathon last week. Now you might read this and think, "So, thousands of people run them every year..." Yeah, but did those thousands of people just wake up in the morning and decide to run a marathon that day? Forest Gump is the only other dude I can think of that's done something similar. Yes, you understood correctly, Dan woke up in the morning with nothing on his plate that day, his mom told him about this guy that ran 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days, and Dan thought, "If he can run 50, I can run 1," he looked up how far he had to run to get in his 26.2 miles, put on some shorts, and started running. I repeat what I just said in case you don't comprehend the gravity of this accomplishment: Dan Shaw woke up in the morning, got out of bed, and ran a marathon without any kind of training, stretching, warm up, or planning of any kind. He wasn't even in a race, he just did it all by himself. Do you understand what I'm trying to say now? Do you see why we highly suspect Dan of superhuman capabilities? In discussing this event with Ammon, he suggested to me that Dan might very well be the next link in the evolutionary staircase.Ammon being highly qualified to make such a decision, I agree with him. Now that I think of it, marathons got there name because of the Persian wars with the Greeks. The Persians were invading a city, and a soldier had to run to the closest city, Marathon, which was 26.2 miles away, to tell them they were under attack. He ran the entire way there and delivered the message, but because of all the adrenalin in his body and because of how tired he was from the run, he dropped dead when he got to the city. He had the letter in his hand from his captain that explained the situation, so the people of Marathon got their army together and fought off the Persians. True story, I'm not making that up. Google it if you don't believe me. What I'm trying to get at here is that a highly trained Spartan Greek soldier couldn't even handle the distance without training to run that far. But Dan made it through without any adverse effects at all... Yeah, Dan definitely is the next link in evolution. People, want to know what humanity is going to look like in a couple centuries? Take a good look at Dan Shaw.

Continuing saga of Brandon Miller

I've been excited for this interview for quite some time. Brandon Miller is rad. I just thought I'd get that out first. He's a good friend, a cool guy, and he'll cover you when you're down a couple bucks at lunch. He's been a devout Thunder Bolt since day one, so we're honored to have him on the blog. He's going to be making his debut as a full and official team rider in "Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild", wooing the audience with his moves and what not, in mid August this year. So in this interview, you're going to read some funny stories, learn what the Bolts of Thunder band is planning on putting out, and find the source from which Dan Shaw's powers stem. If you're new to the blog and don't know of which powers I speak, I've put up two pictures of Dan pulling some mean tweaked airs in a vert ramp to illustrate my point. The other two pictures are of Switzerland and have nothing in any way to do with this interview, but I think they are amazing pictures and should be put up. Lauren Cooper (Dave's wife) took them when we were in Switzerland. Yeah, it's that pretty... Enjoy the interview!

(MrThunderBolt) How long have you been a Thunder Bolt?

(Brandon) Well, I have aspired to be a thunderbolt ever since the Days of Yore, but my official inauguration into this, the sacred brotherhood, happened on Friday June 17, 2011.  I remember it well, you posted some bloody pictures of me on the blog and my life was never the same again.

What got you into Bolts of Thunder?

Well I guess that depends on what the definition of “into” is.  And for that matter, what your definition of “is” is.  Actually, I would really like to know how you define most words.  I await your post.

How do you remain bloody after all these years?  What keeps you skating?

I would say that it comes down to a general lack of ability and disregard for my body.

But to be perfectly honest, skating with my buddies and seeing what you guys are up to really motivates me.  I can watch Leo Romero gap out to nose blunt, or Andrew Reynolds kickflip the biggest gap I have ever seen and not feel any more motivated than usual to push myself because the things that they are doing are so far removed from what I will ever be capable of.  But seeing the footage and photos that you guys put out makes me want to be better, to push myself just that little bit farther to get the next trick.

What are you up to these days? What does your daily routine consist of?

I live in LA with my wife Marie, where I’m attending USC for law school, only one year left.  Right now I’m spending my days sitting 8+ hours at a desk reading case law and writing memos for divisive legal organization in downtown LA.  After work, however, any day that I am not immobilized from slams that happened the day before, I skate until the sun goes down and I can’t see anymore.  Lately Dan has been making the trek up from the OC (don’t call it that) to do some follow-the-leader and watch the sun set at the Venice park.  It’s a really awesome spot because it’s actually on the sand in Venice, it’s probably one of the best parks I’ve skated, and usually a few degrees cooler than the rest of LA = perfect weather for skating.

If Bolts of Thunder was a band/group/orchestra, whatever, what would it be? What kind of music would we make? Who do you see playing what instruments and all that? And how would things go down with the band; would we threaten to kill each other, break up, then have a reunion tour 30 years later? How do you see this going down?

I feel so unqualified to answer this question because I only know a few of you, but I’ll tell you this much, it would be fun. I’m pretty sure it would consist of a rotating group of eclectic instruments (you know, a lute, didgeridoo, hurdy gurdy, and lots of timpani, etc.) that would all mesh together inexplicably to make the most fantastic music you had ever heard/experienced (because man it would be an experience).

If you could be amazing at any instrument, what would it be and why?

Jazz flute.

If you could do any trick, what would it be?

I’ve been working on frontside and backside 360 ollies and bigspins.  If I could consistently ride away with any of those tricks I would be super psyched.

What trick do you love to do over and over?

It’s probably a toss up between two very different tricks, 360 flip and (I don’t really know what to call it besides) a backside powerslide.

I love the feeling of popping a 360 flip and just knowing that you are going to catch it perfectly without really doing anything else.  Once you pop it right, it’s the easiest trick in the world. 

The other trick isn’t much of a trick, just a fun little distraction as you’re cruising down the street, but I do it often and it adds a little spark to riding down the street.

Ok, the standard island question: Who would you be on the island with and why? What would happen between you and the cannibals?

The real question should be do we have skateboards, because if we do, I’ve heard that you wield a mean deck as a defensive weapon.  So between your island experience and defensive skateboard kung fu, I think you and I could keep them at bay.  Then we could spend the remainder of our days foraging the wilderness for coconuts, which we would then fashion into mini ramps.  The locals would be so impressed with our creativity that a respectful peace would be reached, and they would decide to stick to their normal diet of blond virgins who sometimes happen to get shipwrecked there.

From what I gather, you have a pretty wide range of high action sports you like to do: surfing, snowboarding, wake boarding, skateboarding, all that. If you could do one of these every day, but only one, which would it be and why?

Snowboarding is a close second, but I will always love skateboarding.  Come to think of it, if I could have one wish, it would involve some way to be magically healed every night so that injury never kept me from riding the next day.  My second wish would be the same for all of you.  My third wish would be for infinite wishes, I’m no fool. 

I've always wondered how the family views Dan Shaw. To the rest of us, he's a demi-god superhero that could survive Armageddon, the Apocalypse, the sinking of the Titanic, the last Ice Age, and the bubonic plague all in the same day and still have time to film a couple tricks. Do you see him this way, or does the superheroness run in the family? Are you a superhero too, Brandon?

I’ll let you in on the secret, we all have a shrine to Dan that we keep in our bedrooms, and regularly make offerings of linseed oil, sandalwood, and broken skateboard decks to empower us with his godgiven natural ability.  I think that everyone who meets Dan understands immediately through some psychic power that Dan is awesome, there is no limit to his influence, may he be healthy and virile, and may his days be long.

I’m not so sure that superheroness runs in the family, or maybe it just skips a generation.  I think that I’m more like an anti-hero (not unlike Travis Bickle, in Taxi Driver though without all the guns, killing, neuroses, hatred and only an occasional mohawk (actually come to think of it, totally unlike Travis)) prone to blown-out knees and large bruises covering the right side of my body.

You live in LA which is a land wrought with crazy people. Do you have any good stories to share with us of your times in LA?

I’ll give you a short story from my first days in LA, so you can be exposed to it in the same way that I was.  Literally days after we moved into our apartment, I went to a downtown art walk with Greg Shaw (brother and confidant of Dan Shaw, my cousin, and newly converted follower of The Blog).  As we were walking through downtown on the way to the neighborhood where the exhibits were, we passed a 7-11 and encountered a man with a scruffy beard and generally inebriated demeanor that decided to squat immediately outside the doors of the convenience store and drop a load.  It was among the most surreal things I have seen; the streets were really crowded, there were literally hundreds of people around, and not only was this guy taking a dump on a public sidewalk, he was looking people in the eye as they passed with this vacant look on his face like nothing was happening. Interesting sights abound in LA.

Any last words for your fellow Thunder Bolts?

Come to LA!  There are root bumps and gritty street spots aplenty!

The Tyler Braithewaite story

 You didn't believe me that Matt was a ninja, did you? Well then how would you explain his popping up behind that barrier without a moment's notice? I don't think you can... So today Tyler Braithewaite is our source of entertainment, and what a fine source of entertainment he can be. I mean that in a good way. Because he does cool tricks. So today is Tyler's couple minutes of Bolts of Thunder blog fame with his interview and a sequence of him skating. I met Tyler the first weekend I got back from Paris. He rode up to me with his friend Finn (Finn, if you think you're getting out of this, you're not. We'll find you, we will film you, and we will interview you...) and another friend that I don't know because he doesn't follow our blog, and Tyler said, "Hey, Bolts of Thunder." That was when I learned what it felt like to be a star, and I got hooked. So I've been following Tyler around ever since so that I can keep hearing him talking about Bolts of Thunder and make me feel important. He is my drug. So keep your eyes out for Tyler Braithewaite in "Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild," because he's going to be in there, whether he likes it or not. So in this interview, Tyler describes the fine process of slowly becoming addicted to the Bolts of Thunder blog, who he'd chose to save him on an island, and how he's become so skater savy (is that a word? My spell check says it's not. I say it is.) in just a couple years. The sequence above comes from a hot Saturday afternoon over the Provo river where Tyler pulled off a boardslide slip off the other side with Matt lurking in the shadows. Enjoy!

(MrThunderBolt) So how long have you been addicted to Bolts of Thunder? What got you hooked?

(Tyler) I go look through sam's blog a few times a week when i'm really bored at school, he hadn't updated so I started looking at the links he put on the side, 'BOLTS OF THUNDER!!!' Being one of the first links is where I entertained myself that day. Then I found my self coming back everyday. Now I can't get enough. Thunderbolt and proud of it

Give us the low down; who are you, how old are you, what do you like to do, etc.? Let our readers know who you are...

My name is Tyler Braithwaite, i'm 17 years old, I Like to skateboard, ride my bike, and read. I also enjoy social networking 'cause I am a teenager and we do that kinda stuff. (twitter, tumblr, facebook, blah, blah, blah)

The classic island scenario. Who would you choose to be stranded with you on the island? You know the drill.

If I Was stranded on an island with a bolts of thunder member.... It'd have to be Dave Law, I know him the best and we recently went camping and that was fun. Plus Dave seems nature savvy.

If Bolts of Thunder made music, what kind of music would we make, what kind of band/ group would we be? Who would play what instruments? What kind of audience would we cater to? Remember, as an official follower of the blog, and because you've filmed tricks for the video, you have full right to be in the band.

If anyone actually plays anything, they do that, the rest will play maracas and shakers, i'll whistle, and Jon, you can sing. We'll cater to people going through mid-life chrisis' who buy ugly motorcycles and are looking for something new to try to be 'hip'

Who's part in "Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild" are you most excited to see?

Dave Law, Jon Hart, Sam milianta, Nick Edwards part is gonna be epic, word on the street. But everybody as well, i'm having a ton of fun filming for this video and i'm excited to see what everyone else does, and the fun they have, and the fun Jon and Matt have editing.

So it looks like you're following in Sam's footsteps by becoming a skate dictionary. What's your mode of operation in studying, recalling, and retaining such information?

I get my information from plenty of sources, mostly read magazines, watch old videos from before I was born, listen to what my elders say. Patrick o'dells epicly later'd videos really give you some good insight on skateboarders. I take alot of interest in things I do, like sam said. I like being knowledgeable, I used to be into basketball and football before I Started skating, I Could tell you so much about a ton of players, not anymore though, pushed that out. I call those the dark days.


What advice would you give to any other local kids out there that want to become involved in Bolts of Thunder as you have?

Follow the blog, for starters. Then follow Jon around for weeks discretely finally introduce yourself. Make him film you. And when he texts you to go skate, actually go.


Have you ever gotten in a fight? If so, would you mind explaining what happened?

No fights, yet. I want to though.

Anything else you want to say for our blog readers?

Yes, skate for the fun of skating. If you're doing it for any other reason, you're doing it wrong.

Tyson Cantrell, Welcom to the team

 

Rarely does one willingly venture into the realm of genius insanity. But today, I have taken that trek and made it out with the Tyson Cantrell interview. Tyson's been my homie for some years now. Actually, now that I think of it, I think I've known him and skated with him longer than any other Bolts of Thunder rider, excluding my brothers. I met Weston and Sam before Tyson, but I didn't really know them until later. The first time I saw Tyson, I thought he was a hardcore Muska wannabe because he was wearing aviator glasses and nosesliding the back of someone's truck. It was a contest in the middle of the road with a bunch of flat bars and home made ramps. No joke. Seeing as I couldn't noseslide, I felt threatened by Tyson and kept my distance. But Tyson offered me the olive branch of friendship, and we've been tight ever since. "Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild" is the long awaited reunion video with Tyson Cantrell having full membership status, so best be keeping your eyes out for his part. The pictures above were taken during one of the funnest skate sessions I've had to date. It was me and Tyson cruising around downtown Long Beach the day before Garrett's wedding. That place is a little Mecca for jib-riders like Tyson and I, so we had a lot of fun. And Tyson killed it... Enjoy the interview.

 

(MrThunderBolt) What's your favorite trick to do? If you could only do that one trick, what would it be?

(Tyson) boardslides duh. although locking into a good five-oh grind feels nice.

What's a trick you can't do but wish you could do?

hands down the Christ air. oh yeah and basically every flip trick, but those are way overrated. you can't make up for not being able to drop in by throwing down 20 mob flips in a row.

Tell us about " 'Chout! A love Story". What inspired such genius? What happened to Wes, has anyone seen him lately?

"chout! a love story" is a constant work in progress that will probably never see the light of day. it's based on a saying a group of us would scream at little kids at the park. when a little kid snakes or decides to drop in at the time of your trick you yell, "CHOUT!" it's a mumbled up version of "watch out! fat barney coming through!" as for Wes i don't know. we've lost touch. last i heard he's still up on that mountain lookin for the
elusive "BUCK OF JUSTICE."

Let's say there was a herd of wild horses baring down on you in the desert. You have a lasso in your hands and a cowboy hat on. That's it, you're naked other than that. First, what are you doing naked in the desert? Second, what's your plan of escape?

           I took some bad peyote and wanted to be more grounded to nature so i ditched the clothes but kept the hat and lasso because of my survival skills. my plan of escape would be to harness my energy and focus it into my hand pulling a matrix move. all the horses but one would bend around my force field. the one horse i chose i would whisper to and make him my ride home.  sound weird?

You took one of the most brutal slams to date when you tried to ollie that long 3 stair and slammed in the gravel road in St. George. Would you please describe that scene to our readers? What were the repressions on your body?

         that was the second time slamming on that thing. i thought that maybe it would go different on the second trip but i ended up slamming exactly the same way. you gotta kinda haul ass at that thing and when you land you roll into grass then a harsh road. basically i landed the stairs rolled to the grass and got pitched about 6 feet onto my left arm, cheese grating the hell out of it. it was bad and i looked like a fool. plus it was at night so the footy wasn't even that good. i think randy delucci filmed it. after that i went to the gas station (the same one i went to a few years earlier after the first slam) and tried to clean up. every skater's been in this situation of pulling out asphalt chunks from flaps of white skin. i never went back to that thing. i just drive by and stare it down and cringe my eyebrows. it's still there if anyone wants to get worked on something that is not even worth getting out of the car for. it's on the corner of tabernacle and 100 east in st. george. get some!

You saw that dance-off I had with that lady at Garrett's wedding. Who, in your honest opinion, won that dance-off. I'm not afraid to lose.

               jon hart won. everyone knows black people can dance. but i didn't know a white mormon dude could pull it off. it was napolean dynamite style.

Do you have any good loss of bowel stories you'd like to share?

          every morning is a good story to be honest. but when i had my surgery and didn't poo for 8 days...that was a good one. i had to coach them out like the f.b.i. in a hostage situation. it was not pretty. i need to started a poo blog called "droppin bLOGS."

When's the last time you violently threw up? 

        when i read these questions. just kidding. it's hard to say. it's been a while. 6 months? nothing interesting to talk about there.

                Every interviewee gets this question: You're stranded on an island with a single member of Bolts of Thunder. There are potentially hostile cannibals on the island that you might have to join or repel. Who would you chose to be on the island with you and why? How do you see things going down with the cannibals?

            well since i'm a cannibal already i wouldn't worry, it would be a paradise for me. i would draw a name out of a hat. present him to the cannibals. feast. and then get crowned king of the island. and then, like sam said, rape the island for narcotics and sell them, and get off the island and seek therapy 'cause thats just messed up man. sorry fellow bolters. ;(       

Anything else you'd like to say to our readers on the blog? This is your chance to be a lose cannon and just go for it.

         thanks granting me team member status. thanks for letting me be in your precious video. thanks to the homies. if you feel daring and depressed go here = http://ty-machine.deviantart.com/

Garrett's videos

I'm telling you, you will find some really weird stuff on youtube if you type in "ooh la la teaser". That's what I had to do to find these trailers that Garrett made for his video. I didn't think about it before I typed that in, but some shady stuff came up. But I did not falter, I stayed the course and watched none of them. So I told Garrett I would put up the trailers for his video coming up. Since today is Garrett Taylor interview day at Bolts of Thunder, I felt it would be a good time to do it. so above me are 2 different trailers. There's another trailer of our good friend Jimmy Atkins on Garrett's site, but I couldn't figure out how to get in on. Anyway, I thought I would put up these videos like an obedient friend for all of you to see.

Garrett Taylor's interview

 As promised, you get to read another interview. In today's interview, we will travel deep into the inner recesses of Garrett's psyche and find out what makes him tick, what makes him happy, and in general, what makes him Garrett Taylor. I didn't have a picture of him to put up, so I thought I'd put up this drawing of all the members of Bolts of Thunder. Garrett is the top left. That's what he looks like as a skeleton. Ok, so for those of you who are keeping track, we're starting our 1 month count down to the premier of "Bolts of Thunder Gone Wild"!!!!! The date is August 12. For all you Thunder Bolts out there, you're totally invited to the premier. We'll be having a barbecue and hanging out, so it'll be fun. Details will soon follow as to where and what time. Oh yeah, and bring some kind of food if you decide to come, we're not paying for all of you to eat, sorry... This also means that we need to get footage of all the Thunder Bolts so you can be in our video. These are the people that don't have full parts but are still loyal to the game. Yes, we're talking about you, Wizard, Finn, Brandon Miller, Drew Danburry, Brian Barlow, and whoever else I might have forgotten.. Seriously, leave a comment or something on the blog so we can meet up and film some time, we want you in. Ok, now enjoy Mr Toad's wild ride into Mr Taylor's head cavity...

(MrThunderBolt) So when we were in Paris, it seemed like you were starting to lose your mind, walking around with febreeze and obsessively spraying out Matt's shoes and stuff. What was going through your mind at that point? What drove you to such madness?   

     

-(Garrett) Two weeks is a long time to be out of my comfort zone, and I had nowhere to get away to. Imagine seven people living in a studio apartment with no windows, no room to really move, and a weiner dog that had the worst farts every single night. Throughout the whole trip I didn't get the best sleep because of someone snoring every night, but I won't mention names........Anyways, at some point I just snapped I think it was after the dog peed on me or maybe after I got a whiff of Matt's shoes (seriously, what is wrong with your feet Matt?).  just started spraying everything with Fabreeze.  

So your nollie noseblunt down that liberty rail is still one of my favorite tricks I've seen in person, or filmed. What went down to get that trick?

- I don't remember too much except it took a lot longer than I thought it would. It was my best trick I ever landed. That rail was perfect for that trick but I found a better one in S.F. but you have to sneak past crack heads to get in. It's at a closed off public park right across the street from where they give out free food and stuff for the homeless so you get all types there. maybe I can go back up and get the trick for the video, I kinda lost my touch with handrails though.

So you film with a lot of teams and pros these days, or at least you did when you lived in Vegas. Are you going to keep filming with them in Bakersfield, or in California? What are the ups and downs of spending days or weeks at a time with these teams?

-the ups are getting payed for my time and footage along with all the free product. Even better though is seeing/filming a trick  go down in person before anyone else then having it come out in a magazine or video and being like "hey I filmed that" or "I was there". It's amazing to also become friends with the ones I've always looked up to like Cairo Foster and Marc Johnson or even some of the filmers like Greg Hunt and Ty Evans. There is not many down sides except it's a little stressful constantly planning the day out with spots and giving nonstop directions like a human Garmin. I hope some of the teams will have me meet up with them in Vegas. Maybe I can get some of them to come out to Bakersfield. 

Do you have any good bum fights in parks stories? I seem to remember you telling me how you filmed some bums fighting or something, or maybe I'm making that up because I wish it happened.

-no I never  filmed any fights before but I heard Bum fights started in Vegas. Someone would have bums fight each other for like $20 and they made videos out of it. 

Ok, so we have this scenario that you get stranded on an island with any one member of Bolts of Thunder. There are cannibals on the island, potential hostile towards you, so keep that in mind. Who would you chose to be stranded with and why? 

-Maybe Matt for protection, but then again he might attract cannibals with his snoring. Jon would be good for the stories he tells, so with him I wouldn't get bored. Dan would be good if he had his trusty pepper spray, but then again there are probably no pimps on the island that I would have to worry about. 

What's the funniest thing you've seen out filming with skaters?

- Probably just being out filming with Sid [Melvin] or James [Atkin]. They are both funny to be around. If you want something specific you have to wait for my video [Ooh La La] to come out with their footage. I have some really funny clips of them.  

What's the most frustrated you've ever been skating?

- Probably the time we were in california and I was trying to front board that rail at that college. I had the worst mental block for some reason and kept riding up to the rail for 30 minutes and it was seriously the smallest rail. 

What's the happiest you've ever been skating?

-When I did the nollie noseblunt, or pretty much all the road trips we have been on with Chris [Ray].

Matt asked me these questions, and I liked them a lot: What's the most scared you've ever been skating, and what's the scariest situation you've ever been in out skating?

-I can't remember anytime being really scared to try something skating, there might have been some fear trying tricks but nothing really stuck in my head. Maybe watching other people try tricks, like Jt Aults nosesliding this rail at UNLV with a 4 story drop on the other side or anything Corey Duffel and Leo Romero tries. Those guys are gnarly. 

Speaking of scary situations, remember the terminator cop in San Bernardino? I told that story a couple weeks ago on the blog, but would you like to share what you remember of that?

- It was you me and Dusty. You told me all these horror stories about that local cop that made it his goal to just go after skateboarders and he patrolled all the schools. Then we decide to go there at night and thought we should be fine, he won't expect skateboarders to be there at night. So we got all the equipment over the huge wall and right about then we noticed a cop checking out my car in the parking lot at the far end of the school, and started shining his spot lights around in the school. Then he went around the other way and you ran and got the car while Dusty and I started throwing the stuff back over. The wall we had to climb was taller than normal but somehow we made it over with everything by the time you drove by with the car. We threw everything in and drove off right after we pulled out that cop came by the other way but didn't see that we were at the school so barely escaped termination. Correct me or add anything that I missed I know you have a better memory.  

If you could refilm any trick, which would it be and why?

-Trick that I did or trick I filmed? Maybe the nollie noseblunt I stuck on this 9 stair rail at that zoo in Bakersfield. It was getting dark and I said I would come back and get it but the next time I went there it was knobbed. Or it would be the fakie ollie on the Reno double set. I landed it but only rode like 5 feet or so and the next try I folded my ankle and took up the filming role instead. As for filming there are a lot of tricks I screwed up or later thought, why didn't I film that fisheye or something. 

Any last words for our blog readers? This is your opportunity to rant and rave in whatever fashion you wish. 

-Ya check out my site  Working on Skating  I will keep posting little edits and teasers until  Ooh La La comes out. James Atkin, Sid Melvin, Philip "pip" Meranto, David "bow" Hafsteinsson all have parts, along with footage of friends and pros.

Man Down: Tribute to our fallen brethren

Today we're taking a step back from interviews and having a much needed tribute to the men of Bolts of Thunder who have fallen during action. I think it's pretty amazing that we're all out making this video given that none of us are planning on doing anything with skating/film making, all of us are super busy with school, families, work, and a million other things, and we're all mid/late twenties, early 30s. You don't see too many other crews out there at our age and in our circumstances giving it all they got. I'm really proud of everyone for what they're doing, and it's been super fun so far working on the video. Now it goes without saying that sometimes in skateboarding, people fall and get hurt. As much as I hate it, it happens. I literally pray every single time that I film someone or am watching someone so that the person will land the trick and not get hurt. For the most part, those prayers are answered, but every now and then someone defies the universe and gets hurt. So I was out skating with Brian yesterday, getting some hammers for his part, and he took a spill that tweaked his knee pretty bad. He has to get an MRI on Friday to see what happened because he pretty much can't walk. So for all of you prayerfully inclined out there, we'd appreciate it if you said one for Brian so that all will go well. Nick's also taken some slams since the last video came out, and he's tweaked his ankle pretty bad. He's recovering, but it still bugs him sometimes. Brian and Nick are both receiving Bolts of Thunder Purple Heart awards for bravery in the line of duty. So as you read the blog and watch the video, remember those that went down while making this video, and give them the respect they deserve. After all, we're old men... So I put up some pictures of Matt and Brian bombing a hill so we can remember that it really is all about having fun with your homies, and that's what the video's going to do a good job of showing the world. The other picture is of Nick starring off into the sunset. This is what Dan imagined the island scenario looking like with Nick. I imagine a little more mayhem than this, but I guess you never know how it would, especially with Dan on the island. So more interviews will follow tomorrow and after, including Garrett Taylor's, Tyson Cantrell's, and Tyler Braithewaite's. Stay tuned...