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  • Interesting way of doing things.  But it is what it is, Black Flag hasn't been Black Flag in many years.  Some bands are better left in our memories, listening to the classics.  50 year old "punks" just don't seem legit anyway.
  • Mike V cant help himself no matter what the industry is can he. He seems to love being a part of quitting, kicking people out etc for idealistic reasons. Great talent but such a basket case. The more stories you hear like these the more I find it easy to believe Powell in no way lied to him or misled him. He is just a drama queen.
  • He does seem to have more drama than the normal joe.
  • Is he back yet?
  • edited December 2013
    haha nope maybe he did it right this time and i dont think he will come back due to the money trouble skate one is having
  • Bums me out they're having money problems. I kinda understand why but kinda don't at the same time
  • edited December 2013
    alot of reasons but out of respect not gonna say but it's kind of obvious
  • Hope they pull through, I'd be beyond bummed if there was no more powell- peralta
  • i think they will always be around because they make great products and as long as u do that u will be fine
  • Brigade_Bill, since you brought it up, what financial issues do you speak of? It seems, on the face of it, that Skateone is having a renaissance of sorts.
  • They have a golden opportunity to change the entire culture, like they did in the 80s. Back then you related to a specific skater and because of him you connected with a brand. Today there are standout skaters but you really don't connect him with a brand or a graphic, nothing. Houston is everywhere, Shekler was everywhere, but you really don't make the connection to a board, wheel, or anything else that makes you run out to the shop and buy his stuff. Basically there is no marketable individuality. The culture changed. ... Change it again. Use the things that hurt your business to your advantage. Utilize the internet better, it is an untapped resource that isn't being used to it's potential when it comes to skateboarding. I have been thinking about this for a while, a way to re- dominate the market while not selling out. Staying true but taking command of where the sport is going. It can be done.
  • Chris brings up great points. PP advertising in the 80's was awesome. I remember laughing my ass off when the Lance " Sex Sells " ad was in TWS or Thrasher ( I can't remember which ). I would start with more " shaped boards " with modern concave and kicknose. I would also run way more very limited run graphics to increase folks having to check frequently for new product coming out. PP needs to drive folks to their vendors ( internet or brick and mortar ) to increase brand recognition again. I also might consider making some vids that don't just show the money shots. One of the reason the BB videos were so awesome is you saw them bail all the time. It seems like the vids out now have taken the tricks to such an absurdly high technical level that a kid might be intimidated to not just buy a board, but to stick with it. How often do you see a modern street guy tell someone in an interview that a insane trick he did in a video took him a week to recover from? Never, but the perception is this is a normal day of skating for these guys. When you see Lance skating around in BB1 or Future Primitive, you are not intimidated at all. You wanted to learn a goofy Lance street trick. In turn, you connected with Lance and he became " your guy." I bought a LM Future Primitive deck because of this. I nearly killed myself one summer learning to do a Sad Plant because Lance did it and he made me feel like I could too.I bought a Tommy G flaming dagger because he was the shit in street at the time and he said , " yapple dapple " in " Animal Chin " and I watched the cartoon that he got that from. I reckon it to the scene from Tombstone when Johnny Ringo does all his gun twirling tricks in front of a huge crowd to show how good he was. Then Doc Holiday spins his empty tin cup in a similar manner to mock Ringo and show he has nothing to prove. That attitude that PP had was it for me. Yeah, I skate and can do some cool tricks, but we do it for fun first and foremost. That is the market niche that is missing from skating right now that PP could dominate again.
  • That's just it, Back then they had a captive audience. There was Thrasher and TW, that was about it as far as getting your product and brand to the masses, videos were the only way to let kids see the newest tricks. Exposure was so limited back then you took in everything you could. There was an emotional attachment because we got excited when we did get to see images or videos. We all knew that the Inxs devil's inside and Tom Petty's free fallin videos had skating, we watched Rad, Thrashin', and police academy citizens on patrol. All because we got excited any time we saw skating. Now, with the internet and much more exposure, we don't get as excited. Nobody runs to the local shop just to see the new decks, nobody rushes to grab the newest TW to see new images. It's all on the internet the second it happens. The key today would be to get that excitement back, create a means to expose kids to your product and your brand in a way you can limit it to create excitement. Why did beanie babies Sell so well and for so much? Limit someone's access to it, create your own demand. It can be done with product and with your brand as a whole. The internet has removed excitement we had, but the internet can be used to generate excitement too. Skateboarding has become Too sterile, no individualism. All decks look the same, graphics are lacking, and all tricks look the same. PP has a great foundation, It's time to re - energize the culture.
  • Chris has nailed it. The anti - authoritarian World Industries business model has had marginal success in the 20 years it has existed. There is nothing wrong with a large ( I mean NHS, Skateone, etc ) company in skating as long as they do not try to prevent competition thru use of their size, buying power, etc. Heck, Rocco admitted to threatening to pull all his ads out of TWS over an ad he wanted that TWS would not allow. This is the exact type of thing that he railed against when attacking PP, SC, etc.Powell, SC, Vision, etc. provided high quality products ( with rare exceptions like XT decks ) to customers. They took care of their riders, they took care of their employees and were generally well run companies. As many of the rider - owned companies found out, trying to control skaters is like herding cats. I always find Vallely's comments on the BB Code of Conduct handout he got to be hilarious. He was young and did not understand that without clearly specified rules, the employer opens themselves up to a ton of lawyer - specific crap that could boggle the mind of the typical person off the street. I would bet dollars to donuts that Elephant has some sort of employee conduct paperwork that a new employee must agree to. But, in 1988, Vallely thought it was crap. My company has one. I wrote it. It is two pages long and would insult the intelligence of a baboon, but I have to go over every line of it and have it signed by the employee, myself and a witness to be able to legally say it was covered and agreed to. Moronic, but a necessary evil in the world of today. Anyway, the sterility of today's industry is not only true, but hilariously true. The deck graphics are purposefully controversial to combat the mainstream acceptance of skating. A big marijuana leaf or Neil Blender's coffee drinking dude, which is cooler? The interviews ( print or vid ) of the majority of the " pros " now seem to consist of them trying their damndest to have a " who cares " attitude instead of being stoked to be able to do what they love for a living. Once again, compare Lance Mountain to the majority of today's pros. Lance has admitted he felt he was the least talented of the PP vert guys. He did anything he could to stay in the industry he loved ( he even screened boards at the PP plant for a while ). Now, he is revered by the old school as " our guy." Cab has said on more than one occasion that he loves skating and has always considered it a " job." McGill has his own skateshop. Hawk is a huge philanthropist and the face of skating. Mullen is a renaissance man in skating and manufacturing. All still rip it up. All gave as much to skating as they got. These are the guys that PP needs to find to be the next generation of skaters. Guys who love skating and understand that they must do their part to promote their company and themselves. Skating to get sponsored is weak. Skating because you love it, get good at it and have someone want to sponsor you is sweet.
  • there just needs to be alot of changes over there in the simplest terms
  • I see. Well, lets hope that they get them done with as little financial hit as possible. They have made it thru some pretty tough times already. Heck, my company made it thru the worst construction downturn since the Great Depression and I am dumber than a box of hammers.
  • Promote your brand: first and foremost, build a new team to film the next PP video, think Metallica's through the never. .... or an animal chin for the 21st century. Story line, bad ass skating, no "yapple dapple" cheesiness. Get the older bones brigade riders to make a cameo, more bad ass skating, good music, sick locations. Something better than just an hour and a half of flip tricks and rails.

    Of course my ideas are usually dumb things that only I want to see happen.
  • Chris, your idea is good except we need more "' yapple dapple." It's like cowbell, but better. ;)
  • I read in an interview with the Bones Brigade, its a few years old I think, Lance responded to a question about doing a follow up to Animal Chin where it would feature new skaters with cameos for the originals. He said he wouldnt do that, it would have to be the originals starring in it or no part at all. He was not keen at all to be have a bit part as a way of just giving a nod to the past.
  • Lance is a star. Nuff' said!

  • box of nails
  • In terms of selling decks, Powell should offer shaped decks with modern concave but in a sizes around 8.75-9 inches, not in 8.4 inches like they are now.  This is short term thinking because us 30 and 40 something skaters will have to quite at some point, but for the moment its working for companies like Elephant, Black Label, and Welcome, etc and is a way to get them through these economic hard times.
  • edited December 2013
    . Double post
  • hi i am christy i am a health consultant i want to inform you all that High levels of depression anxiety or panic attacks may make it difficult to drive safely if you are facing these issue you are needy to depression treatment
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