On May 18th Krooked skateboards premiered their first video, the Krooked Kronicals at S.F.'s Castro Theater. If you don't know; Krooked is a company headed up by one of the most respected people in skateboarding, Mark Gonzales CLIP 1

The majority of Krooked's graphics are made by Gonz, with the exception of "gest" artist like Mat O'Brien, KAWS, Dalek and fellow pro, Dan Drehobl among others. They helped to spawn the arty board company movement that has taken firm footing in the skate industry and happy Ebayers out of many skaters. Some Krooked boards have sold for $200.

Dan Drehobl. He and others used to live on 14th Street, back before there was a Hush Hush, Needles and Pens and when the Valencia Gardens were a haven for drugs and gangsters. Ah the good ol' days.

Before the video there was a VIP type thing with a keg (yeah just 1 keg for all those hundreds and hundreds of drunks, either very good or very poor planning) and food. All sorts of folks from the skate world were there, including Mark Whiteley, editor of Trippe's former employer, SLAP Magazine and Sally Vitello.

Mark again with photographer Gabe Morford and Tommy Guerrero.

Schmitty from Thrasher with Jake and Shane of Hightower.

Waiting around sucks, so these kids brought video games. The older kids brought booze and reefer.

Preston, Ezra and I all skated ZT Maximus in Cambridge Mass. during the harsh Northeastern winters, "back in the day." I don't think the 3 of had been in the same state at the same time in over 10years.

Schmitty again with Evan. You might recognize them from their blog-type-thing, epiclytrife.com.

Ezra from Boston and Will Harmon. Will lives with Groshong and Ezra is out here doing high wire electrical work.

The lights flashed and we all went down to grab some seats for the show.

We all sat down to enjoy the opening band, King City.

They were really good! Sound like a bit like Calexico, but in the best possible way, yet different. I mean that in a good, go out and buy their album way.

Gabe Morford hard at work, as always.

Those guys again?!

O'Brien was featured in the video, a short section featuring his art and skating. In the DVD that is about to be released he has a longer version of the section we saw. Hopefully it will show more of his work and his skating won't be upside down.

Mic-E Reyes warmed up the crowd.

He passed it off to Gonzales who said a few words about the video we were about to see.

He thanked Fausto Vitello, who recently passed away and everyone who made the video possible.

The video was awesome. I don't want to ruin it for anyone but all the parts were sick! Dan Drehobl's part was off the fuckin' hook. Go buy it and be prepared to shit your pants.

After the show people split up, some went to Pops and some went to the Lucky 13. Some went to Lucky 13 then went to Pops. Check Epicly Trife for those photos.

I wandered down to Lucky 13 to get my last Coke for the night but it was packed and going inside looked about as much fun as having your eye dug out with a rusty spork. So Matt D!,

Jake and I skinned tough and did some people watching.

Matt works at the Deluxe store on Market St. and always has good stories about randumb people that come into the shop.

Someone brought out a launch ramp. It wasn't sessioned much.

Matt D! and Mic-E.

Aaron Meza of Crailtap and Toad.

The next day. I stayed on Matt's floor and this is what I woke up to. The one nice thing about not drinking is seeing the effects that booze has on others when drunken to excess. While Matt was far from a puking hung-over, he was still in rough shape. Thanks for the flop, Matt. {moscomment}