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Reader Contribution Page Soul Bowl #3 Master's Contest and Z-Boys Movie Weekend Miami & Ft. Lauderdale This month's Reader Contributions are from Todd Johnson, Alan Gelfand, and Carlos Galvis. Todd was nice enough to write the article below, Alan sent us the people pics from the movie, and Carlos sent the signed board pics from the movie and skate pic of Cab below. Thanks guys! Click here to check the WCSK8 website for the contest results, their story, etc.
Philips Fusion Soul Bowl Peacock Park, Coconut Grove, Florida. November 3rd and 4, 2001 By Todd Johnson
My friend Mic told me there are supposed to be big iguanas in the trees
at Peacock Park. But all I saw was aging
Masters and flying motorcycles in the sky. Philips Electronics and
Norelco were the main
sponsors hosting the entire weekends activities, sparing no expense under the
threat of Hurricane Michelle, looming just below Cuba.
I don't know the history of this particular "Soul Bowl" but
it's the first time it has been transported to the East coast.
I knew they had contests in the bowl where the Masters (skaters over 30,
not necessarily pro) had their own division.
In today's state of skate where the foundation is nothing but a corporate
entity it is refreshing to see some respect given to the elders.
It wasn't until Thursday night that I
learned of the hurricane spinning in the Caribbean. Since we planned on getting there Friday at 1pm, we had to
leave Jacksonville by 6am at the latest. So
I picked up Pat and asked him if he thought Peacock Park was an indoor facility.
We entertained the possibility for a couple hours in route South-bound,
I-95. I remember saying assuredly
"they are not going to plan an outdoor festival the last month of hurricane
season."
We found Coconut Grove with the aid of
very nice woman we met in the parking lot of a Walgreens.
She came walking out with her prescription to lessen her suffering from a
toothache. I asked her if she
knew where Peacock Park was and she mumbled for us to follow her, she pointed us
right to the spot and I was delighted to see the open park grounds right on the
Biscayne Bay. As we pulled into the
parking lot I said to Pat -"holy crap, there's Lance Mountain, Mike McGill
and Tony Magnusson!" Holy Crap
because I was just given fourth place at the very best, if nobody else shows.
I would soon find out how wrong my assumptions were.
After parking and checking in, Don Bostick said to me how they're a laid
back group and I could skate right now if I wanted to.
So I went and grabbed my pads and started riding the bowl.
It is a rectangular capsule with two pairs
of opposing flat walls, one 16' wide and the main wall 32' wide.
there was also an extension offset on the main wall.
The corners are wide open and smooth, you could ride straight up and down
within the big pocket. Flat bottom
was a concern but the overall bowl was fast and fun.
It is molded European Birch plywood on a metal frame and all the seams
were even and unobtrusive. They had
bleachers set up all around with big lights and a major sound system blaring any
kind of ruckus you choose. Skating with the aforementioned pros was great.
It was just the four of us and I knew this would be the highlight of the
weekend.
As Friday wore on more people started showing up adding to the session.
Robbie Weir arrived and I hadn't seen him in fifteen years.
West Palm locals Mike Rogers and Kurt Bodenshatz drove down
and started skating. Chris
Guilfruse came into the session too. Next
to make an appearance, Brewce Martin, all the way from Ohio, the hard way- 21
hours in a car.
Friday night found me and Pat at the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival to view
the Dogtown movie (which is worth all the hype it has created) in front of maybe
15 people. We pulled back into
Peacock Park undercover of the midnight darkness to sleep in my Vanagon Pop-top.
Saturday morning and no one was skating till around 10am.
The qualifiers were to be at noon and finals were to be Sunday at 3. Luckily they made an amendment to their schedule, in the case
of rain, the qualifiers would count as the finals. Steve Caballero finally made his presence known.
Some of the young guns (under 30) showed up too- Brian Patch, Matt
Moffet, Anthony Furlong, Darren Jenkins, Phil Hajal but the real treat was to be
the Masters division.
So around 1pm things started getting set and some heavies were seen
milling around the judges platform, Alan Gelfand, Monty Nolder, Sam Myhre, Don
Fisher, Eddie Reatigui, and Dave Duncan. The
last three made up the core of the judges squad with Don Bostick as the head
judge and a dude called Shrewgy was announcing.
First up was Chis Guilfruse skating solid with some modern moves like
540's and varials. I was up next
and I couldn't keep a flowing run together but tried my hardest.
Mike Rogers dropped in and carved up the bowl with his roundwall
experience half-decking rock drops. Robbie
Weir looked like it could have been 1983 riding a Walker Chris Baucom Model as
he winded up tall layback airs, that's a compliment.
Kurt Bodenshatz flew high Indy and Frontside Airs with an Indy540
attempt. Brewce Martin melted
urethane as he blazed round and round, hip hoppin' Andrechts hi to low. McGill was skating fast and using the whole bowl.
Lance had some nice lines with cool fastplants off the extension.
Tony Mag was skating good too with solid tracks all around. But Caballero took it away from everybody with the
nonchalance his skating is known for- kickflip Indys, the raddest Frontside
Handplants, Smith Grinds thru the corners, you name it.
We all took three runs except for Weir, he broke his shoulder hanging up
on a roll in. We jumped down to
help him and Brewce thought it looked like it had popped out of the socket but
there was something preventing us from yanking it back in place.
Lucky he was too because it was a fracture and we almost started pulling
on his arm to get it back in for him.
The judges took the highest of each riders three runs and used those
scores to rank us and thus the winner was declared unanimously- Steve Caballero.
The young guns decided to have a jam and they tore the ramp up to no end.
Matt Moffet placed first and deservedly so with his huge airs and fast
lines thru places no one rode.
The television cameras were rolling the whole time and it should be on
ESPN2 so look for it as Philips Fusion Soul Bowl.
The weekend line-up also included the California Condor- Matt Hoffman and
there was a crazy bicycle riding contest with nuts from all over.
Those guys are insane. But
not as psycho as the Motocross Metal Militia.
In person, the jumps are unreal. I
can't believe they don't die. There
is something seriously wrong with jumping motorcycles thru the air like that but
it's incredible to watch and I salute them.
Saturday night was the second screening of
the Dogtown Movie and everyone showed up. Most
all the mentioned people earlier were there alongside Florida legends Kelly
Lynn, Steve Marinak, and Tate Clair. The atmosphere was charged as everyone reverently watched the
birth of California surf influenced
vertical skateboarding. I
have two particulars with the film: the portrayal of Jay Adams and the Bones
Brigade tangent.
The movie was divided into various important
sections, Stacy, TA, and Jay all had their own parts.
But as Jays part was ending you see Stacy almost crying admonishing how
Jay should have had it all. Then
there is some sentimental piano music as the screen fades to black on a shot of
Jay as a child. Seeing this again I
could not contain myself. I had to
yell out "Jay's not dead!" Prison is not the end of life and Jay will
be on fire when he skates again, no doubt.
The second part is the Bones Brigade tangent.
Stacy had to pay tribute with citing the influence the original Zephyr
team had on his team. But McGill
paid his dues longer than Tony Hawk on Powell Peralta and he invented the
McTwist, wouldn't it have been honorable to let him be the one doing his trick
in the movie? After all, the world
has the 900 to immortalize Tony. After
the movie I drove back to Miami and set up camp again at the park and enjoyed
the cool breeze blowing in off the bay.
Woke up to a pretty heavy squall moving in from the ocean and my gale-force
wind advisory sensors kicked in and I knew the day was going to be a wash out.
I pulled down the pop top and we got outta town and made it back home by
3pm Sunday afternoon to watch the Blue Angels with my wife and son. The weekend
had almost gone full circle with some Masters of a different magnitude in the
sky again. Todd
Johnson Neptune
Beach FL
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