Free Buzz

Free Buzz from galensnacks on Vimeo.

West End Girl

West End Girl


I just figure we will meet at TF, but we want to skate Gay Ledge so Roctakon suggests TF West, which makes more sense. I swap my Allen Edmonds for Dunks and skate over on Prince after my job interview, still in tie and two shirts and black wool Freeman's jacket with Red Backpack. The layering is good for the weather and the black Freemans piece is a durable outer layer since I fall some when I skate. I get to TF West first first, set down my bag and take off my jacket since the park is in strong sunlight. I start popping tricks then Roctakon comes though in a Tebow Jets jersey. We politic and Zach Baker texts to say he's off work on and his way. Roctakon and I play SKATE and I set a tre flip to start off that he lands too. I end up beating him with fakie heels and shit as he gives me SKAT. Baptiste rolls through on two wheels and a bike basket full of Sex Hippie gear and vintage menswear. He likes our enthusiasm and says he might come out to Gay Ledge.

A few minutes after Baptiste dips, Baker shreds up with backpack and we skate flat for some more deciding if we are really going to go to Gay Ledge. There is a group of children gathered around a teacher and after some time we hear commotion and look over to see huge spray from a two liter bottle of cola that has undergone a reaction. Then a party boy skater shows up and starts doing back 360s every try, the gentleman way. I film him and ask if he wants to skate ledges and he says it sounds fun but he is kicking it with his other friend so i say Later. I drink to finish my water bottle and go over to the fountain to refill it. While we're drinking an Asian woman longboards past dressed in a trench coat.

We walk past Da Silvano and Pitti then cross 6th Avenue at Bleeker, where we see the long boarder again. She is pushing strong against traffic on a cell phone, along the green cycling path paint job that is sort of worn because autos end up riding on it on the thin street and we have to pay mind to the bicycles heading into us too. Though confrontational, this is the fastest way to Cristopher street and it's tight watching this girl push on a mission. She rolls over a grate with no fear that i always avoid on my smaller wheels and it poses no problem. We end up kind of passing her and she has to notice us even though she is still on her phone, then we cut left onto Christopher and take that down to the water.

Now that we ride downhill in the flow of traffic we can relax, enjoy the ride and pop a couple flat ground tricks, though I don't because I have a backpack so manual more. We get to Gay ledge and it is chill, kinda windy but we don't let that stop us. I do a line of half cab nose slide then back tail then nollie 360 flip. Now that I have done 360 flip and back tail in the same day I am content. Some parks workers give us the boot and tell us about nearby skatepark offerings. Roctakon suggests Strip Club ledge so we cross the highway back into the city. Roctakon's deejaying at Westway that night so we might as well scope the block while there's daylight. I'm chilling on the skating but am down to film and they both want to pick up clips. Roctakon fake 360 flipped down 3 up 3 down the other day and now wants to take his new ledge moneymaker, the back 180 nose grind out to fakie on strip club ledge.

So here we are, at the metal ledge, frontside for goofy, kind of tall on sidewalk. It's pretty high and anything is cool as far as I'm concerned. So you know: Marquez did back nose grind pop out in a line in undershirt and bucket hat. I start filming. Baker lands a nose slide third try then does a wall ride further down. Then he starts going for crooks, to either fakie or pop out as he grinds. He was scraping them through the crusty Gay ledge and now on this angle iron is able to enjoy the grind. I film each of them as they take turns. Roctakon kick flips up the curb first and I film him from the back is fine because his Tebow Jets jersey shows. After a first few pokes he's kinda getting into the 180 nose grind. He depends on the ledge to take him for the ride, not like he was able to stand over it on the low Gay ledge. The attempts look good and he grinds for a few feet then he rolls away to fakie 10th try with enough speed to finesse a switch heels to finish. We scope the footy and I kept his body in the frame.

With this footage the day is officially chill and we agree that refreshment is in order. We skate east and stop by a deli where Roctakon buys a bottled beverage. Baker and I vaguely mention coffee but don't make any moves to get it and just like that, we have dodged a financial expenditure. We decide to wind down with more flat at TF West since we still have daylight, which turns into a blue raspberry sunset and Baker does a wallride. Roctakon dips to go to a meeting so Baker and I keep kicking it since we have no other plans. Zach rolls a spliff and we are about to go in but I saw it was the last of his pack and I don't have any so I say, "how about we wait for a little." He says "why." I say "so we'll have it later."

"I can get down with that," so he tucks the spliff behind his ear then rolls and smokes a cigarette instead. Mooney texts that he's coming through so we sit there as the day turns dark and Mooney skates in, in a sweatshirt and we comment on the cold. It is too dark to skate so we sit along the wall that Baker wall rode and smell the smells coming from the Italian restaurant. There is a girl with a dog over by the dugout benches and she keeps throwing the ball toward us and the dog keeps bringing the ball back to us so we throw the ball toward her back and forth. I don't really feel comfortable around dogs all the time so leave this pitching mostly to Mooney and Baker. Mooney mentions how he is into the girl. Of course he is, we like all the girls who bring things to the parks and if she's going by this park with a dog she lives in this good area. Then she leaves. If we come here around this time again maybe we'll see her again.

A few minutes later a couple more girls walk in. They are older. One is white with short blonde hair wearing black. One is brown wearing orange pants and navy wrap up top. Maybe they are roommates. They both know the Dog and throw his ball around. I wonder if they're lesbians. Mooney says they are not.
One girl smokes something and soon enough this dog is coming to visit us too. This one is big and powerful and Mooney handles him and says the skin is tight because it is fat. He bets they feed the dog human food and we imagine the filling meals these women eat.

They come over and I ask the dog's name. "Knuckles." Mooney says they should name it Tank but the brunette says says that too many boxers are named Tank. "I would name him Jerome Bettis."
"Her, actually. I knew she would come over once she saw your boards. She likes skateboards."

"She's a skateboarding dog?" Mooney says.

"No, she just likes them. She knows that skaters are cool."

"Your dog has good taste in men." They laugh. The girls have to be tough to handle this dog and they kind of are. The one who had been smoking has a rounder face dark hair, the other has short blonde hair and leather.
"Are you single?" I ask. It is best to know.

"Yes,"

"me too." The brunette is the one I wonder. This is good news.

"Me too." So is the blonde. So is Mooney. So is Baker. I introduce myself. Her name is Annette. Her friend is Lisa. Since I talked to them I might as well go further.

"We were about to burn this joint. Do you want in?" The blonde says no first, then the brunette says yes and Baker sparks. passes clockwise to Annette first and she offers it to Mooney after a couple hits but he declines so I take the stick from her. Now we're closer to kissing and more high too. It's good to be passing since that makes the illegal substance disappear quicker.
"Do you ladies feel like spending more time together? We can combine trios."

They look at each other. Lisa speaks. "We're going to a movie first. Do you want to meet up later?" Of course we do. Annette asks for my number. She does not give hers. She says "I'll call you." They head out, south east. Annette and Lisa look older than us and anticipation is almost better than going somewhere right now, though of course they could not appear again once we part ways. She has my number. I don't have to do anything.

And now we have to wait for some time so we aren't wasted by evening. We decide to buy a meal at whole foods that we will take to Mooneys to cook it since that will fill more time and we can buy some beer too. Baker likes to cook and it's easiest to have one person cooking while we drink and Listen to Future. Once Dinner is served, steak and Peppers with pasta, we watch the video Cell Out I reviewed below this entry. I text with Eugenie and Coupons and they're both talking about the moves they'll be making after midnight.

Then Valentine and Thando come out of Thando's room. We didn't even sure they were in there. They're about to go west because Valentine is singing around 10:30 at the 92nd St Y in Tribeca. After our Meal we skate west on Prince and head to Valentine's show where we buy three dollar Budweiser before the show starts. This fourth beer is just what I need to keep my buzz going and there are plenty of girls to observe as Thando presses play and Alison Valentine sings with heart and charm. She is better than the audience expects a singer they don't know to be, and the crowd draws in as she sings "It Girl" and ends with Tele Francaise.

After the show Valentine is glowing and says she want to dance later but let's have a drink first. She wants to pick up her bike and we all have our boards so we go to hers and kick it in the garden. I'm looking at my phone when I get a text asking "You guys still want to meet up."

I say, "yeah, We're still in the neighborhood."
"Barrow Street Pub,"

When I read the text aloud Alison reacts, because Barrow Street Pub is where Alison and I have been meaning to drink for some time so we take that as a good sign. Since 11 is a half hour off I say we'll be there at 11. Valentine and Thando want to meet these girls too so we finish our beers then we all roll over. The bar is crowded but we're text that we have some sitting space in the back. The girls come as we're settling into our drinks and we all have seats and it's not too loud to talk. We introduce each other and tell about the time that's passed. They went to the Basketball documentary and Mooney says how couldn't they have invited us and she said because they had to decide if they were going to meet up with us. They think Valentine is cool too so we're all making roving conversation. Lloydski is back in town so Valentine wants to go to Night People so we decide to go to Le Bain. Eugenie is going to be there too so we decide to make our way, walking since we're with these girls and this time it is Annette with a spliff that we enjoy.

We say whats up to Ian at the door, then they take our skateboards into the security room and I leave my backpack too. Once we are up there it is slow progress in high crowd, a good reason not to have boards. These girls have a card that takes care of the drinks even though Lisa closes the tab and we start walking around as the DJ switches between Young Scooter and Royal Trux. Mooney and Lisa disappear so Annette and I remark on that as we step up to the outside and I don't know what happened to Baker or Valentine either. My phone is out of battery so it's not in my power.

We make it up to the roof where Annette smokes two cigarettes then we're just standing there and our drinks are empty and making it to the bar will probably be a 10 minute 20 dollar project. "Do you want to leave?" I say.

"Where to."

"Yours?"

"Not yet."

"Westway?"
"No."

"Jane."
"Okay."

We take the elevator, grab my things, say goodbye to Ian, then walk down along the Westside. Annette smokes a cigarette and I watch, then we turn the corner on Jane and are about to head up when Annette says, "you're right. Let's just go to mine."

We stop by a deli on the way. The deli guys appear to know her. We get ice cream, snappea crisps and soda water. Annette gets cigarettes. She pulls out a card. I give her a twenty that is my last through I don't say anything. She takes the 20 then she tucks it back into my jacket breast pocket and tells me to save it so I say cool. We walk down King Street, which is the same name of my home Street in Indiana. I hear wheels rolling past and look. It's the girl from earlier in the trench coat. "Do you know her?" Annette asks.
"Not really, but I got footage of her skating earlier today."
"Yeah, I see her skating around all the time. She's a tough chick."
I take out my flip cam and scroll through the clips until I get to hers and show Annette the clip. It's not a magnificent clip, mostly my pushing to catch up with her, but definitely the same girl. "That's a cool video camera. Can you set it up to film us?"
"So long as we keep the lights on."
As she pushes the key into the lock this courtship finally starts to feel real, then she closes the door behind us and it is.

Cell Out with Me Tonight

When poor at the skateshop, things like the best Nike Dunks on the shoe wall are effectively behind bars. Though don't despair, because there are always rarer pleasures like buying the cheapest video there, probably made by some skaters about my age who understand the struggle and make accommodations. In this case I turn over the back of Cell Out, read Gilbert Crockett's name at the bottom and know I have found my purchase. I bought mine from Uprise in Chicago for 8 dollars. You can too and lurk http://cellout.tumblr.com

This Richmond, VA based video is sponsored by Venue, sure, and, groundbreakingly, by DeWalt Power Tools, so read assured that there is certifuckinfied and approved mastery to come.

Enter evidence of the current American police state and the painful physical sacrifices this battalion of skaters endures in the freedom quest. As Bone Thugs and Tupac rap over Gun sounds, Gilbert boardslides a big boy backside, nollie heels at the DIY pitch and party tricks go awry. I recognize the second stair ledge spot from Gilbert's Doin' Thangs part http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xL11HHEkVQ. There are girls, a front nose slide on the the unlatched bed of pick up truck and hand railing in darkness. They tag Cell Out on the passed out homie's neck so you know it's real.

Thando described Trey Jackson as a goofier Alex Davis who receives first part blessing from Mariah Carey's Fantasy, music supervision that sings to how we are the ones engaging at a remove while these dudes have lived this magic. Trey begins with clips on a flatbar, flat gap and flat ground, then pops the Video's Cherry on Sun Trust Ledges footy. In Jackson we have a highly -competent body varialer who also gets nice on a variety of horizontal spots, some quite tall. Also, Brooklyn Banks and the EL GATO SPOT that Galen, Miles and Gigliotti loved while Kosta stayed in the car shows up! I wonder if 2012 will be a high water mark for cuffed pants footage.

Erich Bielefeldt lets us know this roller party is only heating up as he kick flip nose slides a handrail and goes Head Over Heels with Tears for Fears. We observe the construction progression at the DIY pitch, Erich does a flip trick between semi truck backs and rolls out through an open side door. He is really good and Frozen in Carbonite said he gets boards from someone but this is a cell phone video so its hard to make out specifics like board graphics. He does a manual at the top of the Brooklyn Banks and hippie jumps the chain switch. He does a back tail on rail and has two kickflip to grind enders that show his remarkable board control. This video is a great document of these medium sized handrails in unique shapes that the Cell Out Boys are determined to shred every time they see one on every side street. It is a rail mastery arguably as difficult as the commercially popular big and long, though Erich gets down on the big and long too. I found myself thinking of Vincent Bressol during this video part.

More than most, skaters find themselves in close calls with cars, conversations with the recently unincarcerated, and Friends Sections. TLC as the soundtrack is a rarer decision that continues the theme of songs to which your girl can have fun dancing. This one dude in a nice outfit skates this sick spot he made out his front door. There's a chill back lip pop out that deserves the self- celebration. Jake Johnson has a trick. There is one dude whose two tricks are both down a triple set: pop shove tail grab and double flip. Note the impressive scooter riding. Witness the gap to lip slides that mark the pinnacle of the fall's flannel clad downtown night sessions.

Ty Beal is the truck stop rose who begins his part by falling in all manner of ways then shows the gain that follows the pain. I feel like Pat Burke and Ty would get along if they already don't. Again, great soundtrack - This one "That's the sound of the Men working on the chain gang." Ty's shirts fit him well and he does fashionable things like going to the Brooklyn Art Museum ledges for back lipslide shove in a line. He could pass for a Londoner. His pants are often shredded. J.P. Donleavy's The Gingerman


Pole dancing, dribbling the spider and controlled ice sliding mark Will Rosenstock's second to last part. He skates to Madonna's Like a Prayer. The skateboard sounds are the angel's sighs. Will skates Marlo's spot from the Wire. Observe suitable use of a car tow in. There's double angles of this flatbar to stair set up that is deliberately a sick challenge, a triple set ollie, flat gap lines, this ollie to wallie that leaves one wonder if deliberate or an amazingly fast creative adaption, then ends with a commentary on his earlier tow-in to turn the page.

Do you recognize that it's Gilbert Crockett writing his name in piss? The best trick in the video occurs at the beginning of this part when a dark haired babe in a sweater rolls off a curb. We return to cocaine beats in stereo for these pro quality tricks at the spots we've grown familiar with throughout the video. Nickatina's lyrics match Gilbert ducking a chain, then Gilbert demonstrates how to slide back lips really long. He does a back smith no comply, then continues the line at this chill bank spot with painted yellow lines at top and bottom. The fakie flip on the steep bank, knocking over obstacles as he lands tricks, ollies between hotel rooms, the stand up 5-0 and so on.

The credits song is Damn is feels good to be a Gangster. There is a line in nature that shows these dudes are in the state parks rather than Girl's studio space. There are no bonus features because this is an adult production that has already given us more than we deserve.

Chicago's Finest Part 1

Chicago's Finest Part 1 1:30 pm Thursday I traveled west, one hour earlier in time. In a search to be with the most beautiful girl in the Chicago area, I text Amelia Pool, hit Molly Soda on twitter and take the Blue Line from O'Hare to the Damen stop, near Jeremy Tubbs's apartment, where I had stayed before and would stay again. There was a 4 dollar burrito deal since it was a Thursday and I hadn't eaten since leaving my New York apartment at 9am that morning. Tubbs was at work until 9:30pm so I decided to spend the day at work too. I had 50 Dollar Stories in a ziplock bag so I began to walk up and down the six corner streets pulling my Supreme bag on wheels. I was wearing black Corduroy Supreme posse hat, big green Polo shirt from Thando, black Levis from Ryan, and Composition Book print Vans from Rise on their last, shoe goo'ed steps. The day was sunny and warm enough. I asked the first six people who said no, then I approached a boy and a girl walking toward me as the girl walked a bicycle. I said: "Short stories. One dollar apiece." The boy said No Thanks. I turned to the girl. "What about you?" She said yes. I said you can choose from 10. She said, the most popular one. I handed her 2 dollar dances as she searched into her backpack for a dollar that I put into the ziplock bag. I thanked her and kept walking with my bag strap in one hand and sack of stories in the other. There was consistent foot traffic but not too crowded. I made eye contact whenever possible and was more likely to avoid people on phones or using headphones. Some people keep their cash more or less convenient based on how rich they are. I wondered which vintage store held Molly Soda inside of it. Another girl locking up a bicycle asked if I had written any of them and I sold her On Leave. Most people had bags. My rate of success was about 10 percent though thorough canvassing and constant speech. I walked past an outdoor cafe section and I said "Short Stories One Dollar apiece. Amazing Value for Amazing Literature." I didn't stop walking so that I wouldn't be too needy, then I turned as I heard someone say something. It was a pretty girl younger than me. She had a dollar in hand. "What do I choose from." I pulled out my quiver and she wanted the one about the army. I told her I wrote that one. She asked if there was contact information, I said yes and she said she would contact me. I went into St. Jerome where one of the workers paid for his and his friends Copy of the one about the strip club and we talked as I looked around. The two best pieces in the store were Dead Stock Nom de Guerre shirts for like 200. I had not sold enough dollar stories to afford them, but earlier that morning I had packed Nom De Guerre's James Joyce Ulysses tee shirt and showed him that which was folded in my bag. On my way out I picked up a Frank 151 that had a photo of Tabatha and her Dad and one of a BMX rider at the old Manhattan Bridge Park pyramid. One worker knew Jeremy Tubbs and had been to the Moontower (should have asked which one but was happy enough to hear the word). On the corner by the shell I gave Robert Norman's to a young boy waiting for a bus who said he liked wrestling. At the Division and Chicago Ave stop I told a girl with only enough for bus fare to pick one and she chose the pink one. I sold one to a woman who realized how amazing of a Deal One Dollar Is. Whenever there is a pretty woman buying my stories I generally want to sell her mine. I can sell Josh with good enthusiasm too. Two guys in front of a bar said no but the third guy said said for sure and that he was always down to support a hustler. I sold him Joe Koplowitz's Real Americans. When a rainstorm hit I took a cross street into the direction of Uprise. There was a really hot girl smoking a cigarette walking the opposite direction right before I reached the shot but she said no. Mike at Uprise bought 4 copies for the shop and gave me a copy of Uprise, Chicago's Finest. The rain let up and I hit the streets again, where I made 20 more sales throughout the late evening to everyone from parents to pretty girls to veterans to crust punks. Around dark it started rain. I ducked into Urban Outfitters to look for K Merrel Judy but didn't see her. It was more awkward to carry my rolling bag around an establishment than the streets. I had to do something and stood under and awning and watched the rain. Then I remembered I had passed a Lomo Camera store and a sign had advertised an opening party. I walked down that way and was there on the early side. I asked for a 16oz Pabst and tipped a dollar from my 33 story sales and looked around. I remembered the set Stephanie shot including the one of me kissing Katy with my gold teeth that was my myspace profile picture for some time. There was deep dish Chicago pizza and hot dogs with all of the chicago trimmings and there was hard alcohol too had I been in the mood. I kicked it there for over 100 ounces but the food kept me drunk rather than wasted. I talked to some girls with varying levels of success and gave my last two to two who said they wrote. I went home back to Jeremy's once he was there on roads that were drying up. He headed to Indianapolis and left me with the key to his room. I went to sleep easily on his comfortable bed before midnight. I talked to his roommate for a minute again about videos then he had work. In the morning Andy Sisemboune was on the Sofa. He offered me coffee which I took black and he played football while I wrote messages to girls on Okcupid. We watched #miAmor then he made chicken and rice and salad for lunch. Then we watched the Uprise Video (not available online), which gives first part to Jackson Hennessey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLRHZBppSQE doing a tail drop in that basically up there with Josh Zickert's Natty K drop in as gnarliest tricks done this millennium and some other gangster shit that is legendary like the back nose grind the full postal service bench or drop in on the Picasso sculpture. My family came into town so I directed them to Tubbs's where they picked me up and we drove into their Suisshotel, which had fruits flavored water in the lobby that I filled up my vitamin bottle water with. Even though I preferred the raspberry and blueberry combination on sight, taste went to the oranges, since slider, flavored the water stronger. We passed a couple nice black marble ledges right beside that hotel, and gap to ledges too, and caught the school bus to the convention center somewhere an interstate ride away from the hotel. It took about 15 minutes and we passed Shedd Aquarium and I sat beside Tyler. We got out at the place and there was a man wearing a Supreme hat at the bottom of the escalators. We went up like 5 flights of escalators and I tossed a penny down to the bottom and didn't wish for anything but watched it fall to a distant splash. I got a free 5 hour energy bottle that I stashed for the morning of the race, pink for breast cancer awareness. There were some other samples of fine consequence and some candy. Everything besides the free samples was out of my budget. There was a place selling "nearly new shoes" for 50 dollars. If they really wanted to offer people a deal they would make it cheaper though 50 may have been a first day price. Nike had printed a thing where every runner could find his name so he circled it in sharpie we took from Bank of America. Then back to the hotel where we ate salsa mom made from Garden product with tortilla chips and sun chips and watched the Cardinals beat the Braves. Then we drove to a place with thin crust pizza where I drank water and we ordered a white cheese pizza and a fiorentini with sausage and peppers. The waitress may have been into my brother. My parents dropped me off at Pat Binkleys, where we he was with Andy and we drank a beer then skated to the mini ramp in a garage which is close by. 2/3rds of the mini ramp was covered with building materials and partial construction. One part of the 4 foot was in effect. I strapped on my knee brace and did my basic tricks like back and front rocks, backside axle stalls kinda consistently now finally though I still don't stand over them, fake frontside and backside kickturns to rock to fake and got a front disaster, which did not end in disaster though I did kind of fold my knee on one try, but I was ultimately fine and a relief to feel each twisting fall as not being catastrophic and I consider yoga and a brace and not drinking and skating to thank. I landed the front disaster a couple tries later then concentrated on filming as Binkley did a bunch of shit and Andy worked for some cool shit. Then we went back to the streets and skated flat in front of his house for a minute then Andy dipped one way and BInkley and I went to get beers then back to his house to drink 24s and watch the New Escapist video Red and Yellow which features those Kansas city banks and Sean Malto shares a part and there is some dude Aguilar and generally high caliber skating and dudes putting on for their city. We drank our first 24s apiece, then split the third 24 and saved the other 24 for later. I showed Binkley my shredded shoes and he offered me a pair of Emerica Gablers that were good to go, and so we went out the door, to Inner Town Tavern, which was okay for a beer and BInkley said it was usually more busy, so we went to Rainbo room, which was busy. Both bars so far had 2 dollar pints of Pabst, so that was cool and we stashed our boards at both places. Rainbo room was mostly standing room and one Died Blonde girl with an up do and red lips I talked to her and a friend cockblocked but I persisted a minute later and this girl, a visitor from Columbus Ohio insisted that the girl was not her friend and we mentioned friends from Columbus and our course she knew Franz, then we talked about New York and we mentioned Uncle Marty and going to London and she disappeared with friends she was staying with and last call happened after a couple beers and we headed out when told to and peed around the corner and some dudes asked if we wanted to do white and we declined and went back to in front of the bar and talked to some girl with bangs who skated and the homie Nate who skated and was slamming trying to do a nollie 360 shove in 10 tries for 5 dollars but did it in 20 tries anyway and we all kept skating flat on cruisers and making bets on like nollie flipping in five tries and any car that was mad at our games of skate was driving too fast anyway. A cute girl passed on her bicycle and Nate knew her and she was going to ride home to smoke a bowl before anything and I invited myself over but she declined and said to meet her at the Contintental so we skated flat for some more then Nate got us a cab to the Continental Bar, the Conti, where we went upstairs first for beer and shot. There is pool but I would rather not play so I take bathroom break and dance to Magic Man then Pat and I head downstairs and dance to Pulp and I ask the blonde bartender on a date and she says no thanks. Out front after last call we talk to three hot girls, one of whom knows Steve Fauser and recognizes Binkley from when he walks his dog Max past where she eats brunch. Nate knows the Russian girl from when she used to work at the bagel shop. A cute girl at a bagel shop is an amazing sight in the morning. Binkley and I skate home where we pass out pretty fast after eating some pizza, he on his bed, me on the wooden futon. I wake up early with the sun on my black on the black snack man tee. I read from Dave Carnie's Boob, where he makes good fun of religion and features a surreal vulgar road trip in its earliest pages. A shit and a double flush (Juicy J voice) and I've clogged Binkley's toilet. He feels terrible and hungover in the morning already. My parents swing by and we drive past some nice ledges by the Lincoln Park apple store to the Franks N Dawgs where I had some Thai dog and pretzel crusted cheese curds and Neko Case played as we ate. Pat is still sleepy when I'm back so I meet with Nate to take the bus to the Damen spot where we pass the Big Star Tacos across from Penny's noodles. He ask if I care to stop in there and I wonder if he's getting a taco even when we end up at the bar. Where he orders us each a shot of the day and a mini schlitz and a glass of water to silence the shakes. He reads Shaggy's Dollar Story then we skate to Uprise where he buys a new board and shoes then back to Damen blue line downtown to LaSalle where we get out and find the black Wendy's ledge with blossom of square ledges around it. We get nice slides and not kicked out as long as we wish. It is slightly rounded and slick and we avoid very painful falls and Nate suggests we leave after I land my switch front board. Then we go to the car gate bank with the diagonal paint job. No one works mans the adjacent guard station and the nails at bottom prove reasons to plan that leads to better skating instead of annoying obstacles. Dudes have gotten nice on it, Isak Buan should do a wallie Stalefish over it, I settle for carves, ollies and rock to fakie while Nathan films. Then we go to an alleyway bank to bumper that he suitably describes as a Puleo spot where we each get something. We part ways and I give him one of Pete's Dollar Stories for the train ride home and I skate along sidewalks in the end of daylight past a bunch of great ledge spots and over the river to Maggiano's for 6:30 reservations where Adam Schwartz's face is the first one I see outside beside my dad, brother and Mom. Adam's sister, mother and girlfriend are inside with Jen, her daughter and mother, our next destination.