We moved out to some property in the country from Germantown 11 years ago. One of the main things I wanted to do was to rebuild the mini ramp me and Jeremy Newhouse (@cecejess_ ) built in my Old Louisville warehouse. You can go back to a year ago for another post. Every year, i think "this will be the year to rebuild the ramp" but something always bumps it down the list (the infamous barn, kid going to college, other 'honey-dos', etc). I'll be 55 in July and I'm wondering will I ever get it done before I die? Especially with the dwindling supply of wood. Just went through the stack and no matter how many tarps/precautions I take, more and more goes to the burn pile. Sadly, now, there is more going into the burn pile than whats left. 😞
Not traditional ANTHEM BOY post but keep reading. For the past 2 nights some of the oldest friends I have got together to reunite after...geez...I cant even remember how many years...to play a show. I didnt have much of a family growing up. Parents divorced when I was 5, my mom peaced out to florida, both my older brothers joined the Navy. My dad was 110% THE BEST dad in the world but he also had to work 3 jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on the plates. So when I started skateboarding in 1986, the part of Louisville i lived in was still very country (if you know what i mean) and wasnt very accepting of punk rock skateboarders. There were only a very small handful of us so we would take the bus all the way down to the Highlands as soon as we got out of school. This is how I met these dudes and so many other like minded punk/hardcore/skaters. Along with my original 3 friends from out where we lived, this formed my true family. We raised each other, loved each other, watched out for each other, through everything. And while I continued skateboarding (and eventually starting HOME SKATESHOP, ANTHEM BOY SKATEBOARDS, RIOT SKATEPARK and RISE SKATESHOP in Bloomington), these guys went into making music and became one of the most influential hardcore bands in the country throughout most of the 90s, with their following bands (Guilt, By the Grace of God, Black Cross, PANK, and many more) continuing the same path. To see everyone together again for 2 nights was amazing. Old friends, some of which i havent seen in years, or decades or more, came in from all over the country. It was like the best family reunion you could imagine. I thank you all.
Had a really crappy...make that a really shitty day today. I said I was going to wait till September to try to skate for my 40th anniversary of starting skateboarding, hoping that would give me enough time and have a goal to get my knees back to where I could do more than barely push. But, today sucked. As I was working on some things a few minutes ago to get our homestead ready for spring, I saw this extra ANTHEM BOY Heart & Crossbones deck (the only board I had doubles of cause its a misprint) laying on top of all the other ANTHEM BOY decks and I said "fuck it! I'm putting it together!" Yeah, its a bit small by today's norms (7.75) but I dont care, I'm stuck in 2005-2010 anyways and...again... I don't care. I even found a brand new pair of 54mm Spitfires in my stash. Now to pay a visit to the skateshop and get some grip. I'm about to explode and I just need to roll around. Taking it slow, but just being out there for the 1st time in about 6-7 yrs since my knees started breaking down, will do wonders for my mind, body and spirit.
Probably one of my favorite graphics series that ANTHEM BOY ever did. Well...I think we had a bunch of great graphics but maybe thats because I picked most of the ones that got made. 🤔 Anyways, the basis of this graphic is 2 fold. 1st is the crest, which I saw on a trip with my wife when we stopped at The Biltmore. It was a crest that was above the ginormous fireplace in the main room. "Da pacem Domine in diebus nostrus" means "Give peace, O Lord, in our time". The fleur-de-lis were obviously an homage to the hometown but with a bit of 1950s/60s MCM (mid century modern) vibe. The plan was to keep this graphic continuing on as a singular board but change the colorways from run to run.
Thanks to @damfs for uploading this to YouTube!!! Hope y'all enjoy, if you havent seen it in a while or have never seen it!!!
https://youtu.be/tx6HPiBVmx0?si=S5V3lnPb1fnDPp9g
Link in bio (thanks Floyd)
Several people, well known in the skateboarding world, told me before i started this, to not talk politics or religion. After today's event, i just can't stay silent anymore. I know Im going to lose a lot of followers and possibly friends over this, and I'm sorry if you fall into that category. Really, it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart about Charlie as well. Charlie was a man of God. He stood there and took all the hate spewed at him with compassion and understanding, let people have their say and returned it with poise, grace, knowledge and truth, even though many refused to truly listen. He will be missed. He should/will be missed by you as well, even if you don't realize it right now. He is home with his savior now. To all my friends that i may lose, remember, I still love you.
This may be the last Anthem Boy post.
I found this while looking for Chaney's Kangaroo Press graphic. Buddy Best truly is a midwest icon of skateboarding. I'm sure he doesn't like to be called that cause it makes him feel awkward and put on a pedestal. I'm glad to have played a small part in helping him and Amy Mullins open Rise Skateboard Shop and how that helped skateboarding all over Indiana. Many people rode for Anthem Boy over the years, many I have lost contact with (Sammy Holton, Ethan Simpson, Matt Creasy, Mike Summers, Tyler Short, Tyler Everett, Jeremiah Stevens) and many moved on to things I've kept up with. Chris Head was/is a high school teacher in Georgia. Alex Davis turned pro for Habitat. Gary Collins owned Galaxy Skateshop until it closed recently. Rick Eusey owns a killer bar in SF. Fauser is being Fauser in LA. Jacob is an awesome tattoo artist, husband, father, and owns Masterworks in Indy. Floyd owns Tiny Skateshop in Indiana. Chaney is an awesome graphic designer, husband, and father. Thom is also an awesome husband and father, homesteading in the Kentucky countryside (like me). Buddy is, in my opinion, so much like me (but way better at skating). So many similar/shared life experiences that we get each other. He always says things straight and honest, and i always enjoy the texts, short phone calls (cause he's always busy AF), and even more so, the long ones.
Chaney has been around since Day 1. He moved here from Ashland, KY, in 1995 to go to U of L, not long after I opened @homeskateshop . Right away, he was a bro for life. He was one of the reasons I started Anthem Boy Skateboards cause, back then, it was nearly impossible to get hooked up with skate companies outside of California and a few other places. He was there from the beginning until the end, and I thought that it was appropriate to post this for his birthday. It's always easy to remember cause it's the day after mine... although this is a day late cause i couldn't find his Kangaroo Press "Modest Mouse" deck. Hahahaha!!!
Anyways... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHANEY!!!
How can a company of any kind from Louisville not do a Louisville Slugger homage?? You cant...unless you get hit with a cease and desist. Luckily we never did. 🤐
I thought about posting decks in order we put them out but decided I'd be more organic and post as they come out of whatever box i grab from.
So here is ANTHEM BOY Slugger, full black dip boards for you to feast your eyes on. Enjoy!
Sooooo...apparently Aaron Vincent (@crunchyav ) found a bunch of my lost tapes while cleaning out the attic of the former HOME SKATESHOP location several years ago and has been posting footage up on YouTube. Super stoked that the clips are finally being seen. If you're in any of the clips and you're not credited, make sure you message Aaron cause he wants to make sure everyone is credited as much as possible.
THANKS, AARON!!!
Here's a link to the footy i took a screen grab pic from.
https://youtu.be/AyCwwjy-N_Q
Brian Jennette (@dirtlits on Insta) was such a huge help in the beginning cause i had ZERO graphic design skills. I would sketch up graphics and then roll over to his apartment late at night, where we would sit in front of his Mac for hours. It was great because it was like we were tuned to the same frequency. Everything pretty much turned out as i had it pictured in my brain. Not only that, but i learned so much about Photoshop that it got to be where i could do most of the graphics and ads. But he played a HUGE part, and I'm thankful for that. Brian sent me this image (split in 2 for Insta) that he had created for the first ANTHEM BOY website.
Sammy Holton, Thom Hornung, Steve Fauser, Floyd Freels, Chaney Given, and Chris Head.
Well...sadly, it was time to tear apart my miniramp that has been sitting in sections, under tarps for about 5 yrs now. Jeremy Newhouse and I built this in my Old Louisville warehouse maybe 10 yrs ago and never even got to skate it. I remember we hammered it out in the fall (20' wide, 3-1/2' tall with a 4-1/2' tall section and an 8' wide/12' tall vert wallride), and was planning to sheet it come December when i had my winter break from work. I went in to start sheeting and the roof of the warehouse was leaking right in the middle of the flatbottom. I asked the landlord to fix it and it took him 6 months to fix it. Then it started leaking in another spot by the vert wallride. Took him several more months to fix. By that time, i needed to get someone else in there to help me pay monthly rent, so i stacked it in sections, against a wall, where it sat for several years. My wife and i bought a house with some land in the country and my plan was to reassemble and double it to 40' wide behind our barn i was building. Then came life. Too many other priorities, plus knee/back problems which caused the ramp to keep getting pushed down the "to-do" list. Now i need to add onto the barn and add septic system where the ramp was going to sit, plus the snow/ice we had this winter destroyed the tarp. Yesterday was the day. The ramp was still in really good shape except for 1 section that had gotten wet for a while without me knowing. I saved all the 2x4s i could and the rest went into the burn pile.
I still hope to have another ramp of my own, out here to skate, before i die.
