gyppo army: November 2008

One for Elliot here!

It's that time of year

when Thrasher announce skater of the year.

I'm going to do my own little version, it's called "smart alec of the year" and it's split between Doug and Elliot of choosing the best place in the world to light a zoot, which was in a car park full of kids. Well done lads

*sarcasm"

Anyways, we did the Gyppo Army Days demo at Pioneer skatepark last weekend which was alright, I filmed a few things there too so if the shutter speed and light balance were fine expect to see a clip up on the internet sometime soon.

The next demo will be at Castleford skatepark, the date is tba yet. It's likely to be in the last week of December though.

Vodka slams round 2 will be happening sometime soon too. Still have to sort out a location and date for that one as well!

We're going to be heading up to the Vans mini ramp championships next weekend too. Look out for the teenage athletes who spend more time in the car park smoking fags and doing other things than actually in the skatepark skating.....

See you there!

Well

it has been 10 days since I last posted something up here, I'm slacking on this front!

On a brief one of what activity has been happening.

Kev and Aaron went to Amsterdam, we took the coach, it was 12 hours long and Aaron seriously fucked his knee doing an ollie on a funbox, so we spent our time doing things that you'd be expect to go down in Amsterdam, such as going to the Van Gogh musuem, the Ann Frank museum and playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with prostitutes!

I (Kev) have been learning some new tricks, maybe you'll see them in image form in certain UK publications, maybe I'll just do a couple of them at my local park then head off to the pub!

If any certain bodies from Vans are reading this, especially any scousers involved with website work, take out your notepad and write down that, yes, I'm still on making that video which will increase your shoe sales!

Oh and I took £11 off of John Cardiel in multiple games of Rock, Paper, Scissors starting off with £1. Normally I'm the worst gambler in the world, but I got lucky and afforded to get more pissed, plus get the bus home, which I didn't actually get and ended up skating home.

Oh and my internet alias has to change as someone pointed out too me that I'm not actually "Meanwhile Kev", that title belongs to Kev Firth, so now I'll guess I'll have to be known as Cantelowes Kev (only to find out a few years later that somebody called Kev skated there in the 80s which isn't really that unlikely!)

On a last skateboard related note, Gyppo Army boards will be available in "Another" skate shop, which is a new SOS shop opening in Brighton on December 1st as far as I'm aware. Stevie Thompson is behind that one so you all now know where to go and spend your money and more importantly which product to buy!

More Gyppo Army Days!

Thanks to all those who showed up last Saturday! Here's the 2nd edit from the demo!

Gyppo Army Days demo at Revolution >>

The next Gyppo Army Day will be at Pioneer skatepark, here's the flyer!

See you there!

Revolution demo

Don't forget about this Saturday's Gyppo Army days demo at Revolution!

See you there!

Italy

Kev and Aaron have come back from Italy. After landing in Milan airport we drove 3 hours south and spent an extended weekend living in the lap of luxury. We were put up in the finest hotel eating the finest cuisine and drinking 40 euro bottles of wine each night, all on the card. Who's stoked? Well, Kev definitely was, as was Aaron until this knocked him back a little...

On top of that, we both netted 500 Euro for our skateboarding efforts.

Having said that, you can take the Gyppos out of the "insert derogatory term for a housing area where the majority of people are earning under 60% of the average national income therefore placing them into the poverty bracket" but you can't take take the Gyppos out of "insert derogitive term for a housing area where the majority of people are earning under 60% of the average national income therefore placing them into the poverty bracket".

We hung around a showground each day for over 12 hours which didn't provide too much entertainment other than skateboarding, add in really bad weather and you have to make up your own fun. I might (in fact I know I am) be right in thinking that we find certain things funny that most of the Italian audience watching wouldn't...

Hanging around all day can get you tired, especially when you have to wake up at 6am. Kev found a place to kip and as pictured, Kev is kipping with the Gyppo Army "Value" board.

There was a booth giving out untold amounts of a new Lynx spray as a promotion and Kev and Aaron worked on their new stunts involving cans of Lynx and a lighter. Scotty seemed pretty into this too. Hiding Kev's beers and watching him get pissed off seemed to be a game found fun by everyone involved except Kev, until the point where he punched Aaron in the restaurant where this took place, only for Aaron to throw a harder punch back which landed to his head. So Kev threw back a harder punch which knocked Aaron off of his chair to the amusment of the entire restaurant. All fun and games though!

Kev and Aaron also tried out the Snowboarding simulator too and had a crowd of Italians watching them try it out, I guess they found the part where we fell flat on our arses funny to, judging by their laughs and smiles!

Here's a couple of photos of the pair wearing the necessary safety gear in order to use the simulator!

There was some sort of party on Halloween in the trade show and most stalls had a generous supply of booze to themselves and friends. Watching us make new friends and get pissed for fuck all was good too! Kev and a german beardo

Random photo of a glass of free wine and some flags found in this pot...

A lot went down that weekend and there were both good and bad memories and lots of new friends made which was sick. Aaron hit his head really badly on the vert ramp and had a concussion which wasn't a highlight, but these things happen....

Here's one of Aaron doing a crail air over the gap