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Mild in the Streets 48: Ain’t slowing down (probably)

Time is an Illusion.: Lunchtime doubly so. (Douglas Adams)

It’s true. One moment you’re in your twenties saying to yourself “This LSD I took half an hour ago isn’t working. I think I should have another one” and then next minute you’re in your late forties thinking “I should refrain from bread this week where possible”.

I guess my decision making has improved. It really has to. I have to maintain a high level of discipline these days if I want to do the things I love at a not too piss weak standard. Yoga, gym (I never thought I would be a gym bloke) and I’m in my third year sober. I never thought that would be me either. The fact is it is working for me, generally I feel really good. Well, I have been skateboarding since 1988 and there is certainly some wear and tear…but I feel good. Mostly, I am optimistic. In some aspects of my life I feel like I am just getting started and it is invigorating.

Some days I feel like Mr Burns. Some days I have anxiety as I am about to get out of bed and stand to make an assessment of the self inflicted hiding I undertook. I accept that. I’m totally OK with that. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and I want to give it a nudge as best I can. I know my standard relative to others and accept that as well. Comparing yourself to others (unless for motivation) is the most futile and pointless use of your energy. That would be my solemn advice. Social media turbo charges this.

Anyway, here is this years half a dozen photographs. I started this project eight years ago now. It really is just for myself and serves its purpose of making me get out of my comfort zone. I’m under no illusion as to where my skateboarding lies in the pyramid of it all. Thank you so much to @r0b0p1x for the photographs. Always up for it, always positive. The patience of an owl. I am so appreciative of your time and skill.

Shout outs? On a blog? Yes. I’m particularly grateful for my wife for supporting me no matter what. My mates are the best. My trainer Steve @preston_health_and_fitness and Will at @munawellness for keeping me aligned and moving right. Find them specialists, people.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” Hunter S Thompson.

Ollie in Chinatown.

This roller door was loud, corrugated and very unstable. Wallride.

Bank Rock 4 was wild. I was feeling it and has so much fun. Slappy 5-0 on the Skate Blocks/Fish Taco curb.

Same spot but another day. Slappy feebles locked in so good on this. Rodos and I gave this curb quite a seeing too.

Wallie boardslide in the local neighbourhood. I thought this would be way easier than it ended up. Pants game strong.

Like all these photos it was just me and Robbie. This was genuinely terrifying and I was concerned about doing myself a mischief and not having anyone else to help out if things went pear shaped. A nod to Shanae who is one of my favourite skaters.

No comply tailslide.

Thanks for stopping by to check it out.

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Mild in the Streets 47. Old man yells at cloud

BLOGS NOT DEAD!

Good old blogs. The undisputed king of social media. Everything else is a dystopian dumpster fire. This version of the future sucks I wanted Bladerunner. I ended up with attention span ruining dancing for nefarious data mining spyware. Slow clap world.

So you know the drill by now, every year after 40 I try and struggle out a few skateboard photographs. I was fortunate enough this year to have the charming and always enthusiastic @r0b0p1x on duty. I tested his patience pretty good he is a resilient fellow. You should follow his insta. I am genuinely stoked with how they turned out.

Here’s the thing. 47 feels fine. Good even. I have had to put in the work physically. I eat well, I’m at the gym every other day, I stretch at the spot for ages to the confusion and occasional disgust from youths. It is my third birthday sober (who would have thought? Certainly not me!) However it is all worth it. I can keep getting pummelled into the concrete riding my childs toy about and that makes me happy. It stabilises the undiagnosed and unaddressed mental health issues I bury in the pit of my soul. Problem solved.

I keep chipping away at my architecture and skatepark career with the guidance and assistance from Playce, my wife is the best and continues to inspire, challenge and surprise me. I have rekindled the love of mountain biking and snowboarding and challenging myself as a driver in motorsport environments. It would be helpful if I didn’t partake in such expensive hobbies.

I have gone from having two or three carloads on the session to Nigel No Mates. Shoutout to them heads that hit me up on the regular (particularly Rodos) and for those that try and schedule sessions with our conflicting small windows of opportunity with our schedules. People leave town, people have to stop or just stop…I get it.

I still have that fire in my decreasing in girth belly to give it a nudge. This is all I got. Behold…Yeah sure.

All photographs by @r0b0p1x

Had to go fast into this to get on top. Got a couple of nice hippers. Slappy

Bank rock was excellent. Punk bands in a ditch. You should go to the next one. Backside boneless wallride

Another wallride photo. Obstacle was sketchy and you had to haul to get to it

Can do them bigger but whatever…I was not aware I was being photographed and I’m not going to ask someone to wait for me to land one! 360 flip. Fitzy rules.

Ollie up to ollie over. Angles are all weird to hit it and you are rolling cross ways along the beams. Thanks Isabel for the suggestion!

Skateboarding on cars is such a big thing for me. First videos always had cars at the comps, I used make sure the comps I hosted had a car. The owners of the car came out. I said it wasn’t going anywhere, they agreed and stayed to watch.

Here is the clip. Thank you for making it this far in your busy lives 🙂

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Mild in the Streets 46: The Pandemic years

Blogging eh? Blogs are pretty much extinct. Sure it is unpopular however this is as close to a diary as I ever had, albiet public. I like to see how people in my life are doing, and to see what people I find interesting are up to, but social media is a social cancer for the most part. It is getting worse, and the pandemic supercharged the awfulness of it. So by all mean sneer at my persistance with blogging (once or twice a year in reality)…it is undeniably a better medium than any other social media. Bring it back I say!

Since turning 40 I try to get a few humble tricks that aren’t too embarrassing and use my birthday as a deadline. The whole purpose of it, in all entirety, is to try and push myself. It is an intrinsic motivational tool. I have missed the last few birthday deadlines (last one is https://joshuafeggans.com/2019/05/12/mild-in-the-streets-43-its-all-downhill-from-here/)

Unsurprisingly, this was 2019 for my 43rd lap. Things went to shit for all of us after that really. To compound this unaudienced pursuit my mate and fellow photographer Duncan Ewington (https://joshuafeggans.com/2015/12/03/respect-where-due-duncan-the-baron-ewington/) left to go live in LA. I suffered a few mischiefs as well. Did a good job on my ankle (https://joshuafeggans.com/2021/03/30/unfinished-business-at-the-desert-pipe/) Fractured femur, then was cleaned up good and proper by a car while riding my bicycle to work which saw me undergo 6 months of TAC sponsored therapy. After months of physio I couldn’t hop on or off a 100mm step and honestly thought I might be done with playing skateboards. It is play after all, not to be taken too seriously.

Also, we all had it tough. Motivation, mental health and positivity were brutalised. I was working full time and studying full time, and since completing my architecture degree working two jobs. Throw some heavy family things in the mix as well. Not making excuses we all had a time of it, I’m sure we can all relate to a few challenging years that tested our fortitude like a sparring match with a much stronger opponent. And you are also in fire.

So as grandfather time continues to kick me in the spuds like a metronome run on fusion I am honestly just grateful to still be rolling. Skateboarding is a large part of my identity. Skateboarding (or anything for that matter) doesn’t owe you shit. You have to turn up and be prepared to be disappointed, humbled, humiliated even. It is sometimes painful, always childish and for the most part a foolish pursuit if you measure it in practical terms.

I’ll always do it though, so long as I can walk. Below are some images and a clip of times where I have surprised myself.

I’ll do my best to meet my 47th deadline in May.

Slappy on a sketchy screed by Sky @transitionphotography. Pandemic sex pest beard was a mistake

Wallride to flat. Maybe the only time I wore these pants? Also a mistake? No regerts. @transitionphotography

RIP the Tannery. It was a gem. Curve to bricks (orange bit) @transitionphotography

I did make use of the empty pandemic streets. Ollie up to tuck knee clam rider. Shot by my talented wife @josiejette

Harsh exit front bash. Sensing a no trick these here. By @r0b0p1x

Grinding bluestone feels excellent. Pic by @r0b0p1x

Behold my “part” Witness the Shitness. Prepare to be underwhelmed!

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Unfinished business at the desert pipe

It was time to roll the dice and cross state borders again. I was hanging to hit the road and catch up with old mates, shoot a bunch of photos and skate new terrain. I had never been to Adelaide either. Still have not. I had to cut the mission short after a slam and subsequent ankle blow out. Driving 1000kms back to the hospital was brutal and I kept thinking about the next mission after I am back at full throttle. I tried not to be too disappointed as I was amped for this mission and I have had a bit of a shite injury streak, but acceptance of the situation and utilising the experience for future motivation is where I ended up. It is all part of skateboarding and every now and then your bill comes due.

Simon “Sac” Reynolds has a birthday bash out at the pipe every year and I have wanted to go to the pipe since I first saw it. He is a bit of an Aussie punk skate icon and larrikin and even though none of my mates were available I thought I would mission into the desert solo for the shindig. It was his 57th and he was showing no signs of slowing down. On the edge frontside thrusters right up in the menacing beast and hurling out heckles mid run.

The pipe itself is rad. A bit rough in the bottom and a few joins to watch out for but it is intimidating, fast and fun. It is on a slope too, so you pick up speed on the way down and it is long enough to leave you properly out of breath at the end. It is about 3 hours north of Adelaide in the rust-coloured outback, down Wolf Creek vibe dirt tracks and under a railway that hosts kilometre long coal trains that hurtle along with a thunder every hour.

After the session was wound down by the fire with beers and the smell of BBQ and it was a perfect night for this. I did not really know any of the folks, but they were good people, and I am sure I will cross paths with them again. Good vibes all round.

I felt like I didn’t get out of 3rd gear in the pipe before I got broke off, and I was sore as so didn’t take too many photographs. The lighting is pretty harsh, so it is a challenge. I try and usually get a photo of everyone on the session but not this time sorry.

Anyhow, I’ll see you again you bitch of a pipe.

Plenty of cool vehiclular graveyards on the way

The Jimny was loaded up and eager

The silos are pretty cool. I reckon it is time for the artists to get back to their roots though. More interesting and push it a little. Everything is a bit watercolour painting at your nans house or like a tourist tea towel.

I camped by the Murray at Merbien and was treated to quite a sunrise. The birdlife was prolific.

I still had a good 400kms to go to and missed the rendezvous by a good hour. The more I looked at my information about where in the desert this pipe actually was, the more concerned I was that I would be driving around aimlessly for hours. It all worked out though.

Found it!

Michael was a rad didgeridoo player and the resonance in the pipe was pretty awesome

Mick (I think, sorry!) got some. He drew the intricate Dorfus tribute flag as well. Rolling on a Schmit Stix Yard Stick

Was great to see BJ back on board. All style.

Graham AKA Ninja was shredding

I only got half a dozen runs in before getting chewed up

The birthday boy, 57 years young and on a tear. Sac Reynolds

The trusty Beryl. Apparently Sac rolled her in the pipe one year

The fire cranked and I popped the cherry of my new camp oven. Cooking with a shovel is rad. I’ll keep working on my stew game.

The drive back sucked and I waited 4 hours in the hospital. Xrays came back clear!

I’ll be back to finish off my unfinished business next year. Hopefully I can russle up a few Victorians for the trip it is worth the long haul. An epic bucket list spot for sure.

Young Bohdi manhandled the pipe all day and night. Should have snapped more photos of him! This caveman in is a worthy ender to the post for sure.

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Retrospective:TBC Compound

I was asked by the killer duo “The Shadow League” to dig up an old photo from one of the TBC parties our crew threw. I managed to hunt through my archives and surprisingly dig up my old raw files of the photographs. My archiving is on point!

The photos are noisy and grainy and from when I first started shooting, taking photography up whilst I waited for my knee rebuild. I am so stoked to share the memories though, these were times worth capturing.

These images are from seven years ago, from a house in Thornbury that is surely pushed over for over priced high density housing. Gez lived there (amongst other crew over the years) and Bristol built the humble little mini that was the catalyst for so many good times. Some of the bands that played our parties included Guttermouth, The Shadow League, Strawberry Fistcake and The Clowns.

Despite the large number of drunken punks in the backyard, we never really had any trouble. Crew knew how we rolled and what we wouldn’t put up with. People knew if they fucked up we would kick them and all their mates out, so people got loose as hell but maintained respect.

I remember one of the neighbours  coming over with his kids, his kid getting really hurt by a flying board. He took him home and put them to bed, and came back with a slab for the party, staying until stumps.

I knew a lot of these heads for years before these old photos, and am really chuffed that so many are still part of my life.

Damn good times. I’m not going to caption all these! Feel free to share with credit and make sure you write a small yarn about one of the parties.

SUGAR (1 of 1)SPLIFF (1 of 1)SHADOWBW (1 of 1)SHADOW3BWCROP)SHADOW2BW (1 of 1)SEANY (1 of 1)SEAN2 (1 of 1)SASSY (1 of 1)ROB (1 of 1)RAMP (1 of 1)PLATFORM (1 of 1)PARTY (1 of 1)NIGHTCREW2 (1 of 1)NIGHTCREW (1 of 1)NIGHT3 (1 of 1)MORRIS (1 of 1)LIEN (1 of 1)LAYBACK2 (1 of 1)KISS (1 of 1)KICKY3 (1 of 1)KICKY (1 of 1)GRIND (1 of 1)GEZSTEFCROPPEDCUNNAZ4 (1 of 1)DAVE1 (1 of 1)DAZ (1 of 1)GEZ (1 of 1)GEZ2 (1 of 1)CREW223 (1 of 1)CREW22 (1 of 1)CHICKAS3 (1 of 1)CHICKAS (1 of 1)BRISTOL (1 of 1)BONE (1 of 1)BISHO (1 of 1)BISH (1 of 1)BERT (1 of 1)BAND3 (1 of 1)BAND2 (1 of 1)BAND (1 of 1)

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Respect Where Due: Josh “Morph” Malthus

Over the many years I have known Morph he has always held the throttle wide open. Full speed, one hundred percent committed and head first. There is no hesitation of caution about his skateboarding, and he is not intimidated by brutal terrain. He will cop a beating on a trick that will make your eyes water, he won’t stop until he rolls away in his trademark crouched style.

All these photographs were taken over a couple of days on the road in the South Island of New Zealand. He was nursing an injury, I had seen him a couple of months before with a full cast on his ankle to his knee and a cane. That didn’t stop him rolling into Lynfield bowl!

He may look like a Warlock’s understudy, but he is a kind hearted, considered bloke and loyal to his friends.

Hope to roll with you again soon mate

Textbook boosted boneless

Then a 270 boneless one

Stalefish in Grom Boy’s front yard

A very loud layback smith

Layback five 0 on a brutal vert wall.

Flapped out frontside air

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Respect Where Due Revisited: Tim “Cunnaz” Cunneen

I reckon it’s about time I did a few more of these. The last one on Cunnaz was 5 years ago. Has old mate slowed down? No chance. Sure, he has a spawn now, but fatherhood has not taken the fizz out of his Fanta fuelled veins. It is rad to see him embrace his new role as well.

The “Respect Where Due” articles were really about giving a nod to the underground rippers. Those skaters that everyone respects, that throw it down during the session, time after time. Most of these photographs are from our recent New Zealand trip you can check out here.

Cunnaz absolutely slayed it. Ten days on the road, ripping it up every single spot. Damn good road company too, keeping the yarns and vibes rolling along as we chalked up the kilometres.

I’ll let the images do the talking, and endeavour to keep these going.

This hip was a really harsh blend, old crusty west coast battered concrete. Steep as. Blasting after ten days straight.

Hucking a solid melon in Wanaka, before cooling off in the river. Les Hiddins attire.

It took me a million goes to chicken scratch here. Go there, it’s fucked. Back tail that would have to be an NBD

Back d’s on lock. How’s the serenity?

This think is jacked. No idea how he got into that bit. Pitted.

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Mild in the Streets: 43, It’s all downhill from here

Every year since my 40th birthday I try to get a few skate photos together as a way to motivate myself.

Predominantly street suff, it is always satisfying to ride what was not intended to be skateboarded on.

I have my birthday as the deadline. The aim is to push myself and get something I am not too embarrassed about. It is like an annual time lapse as I turn into Patrick Stewart, but less fabulous.

So, behold, bask in my mediocrity! Is what it is. This is where I’m at.

Thanks as always for Duncan Ewington for shooting the great photographs and sprinkling glitter on this turd!

Threading the needle into a steep slappy. Ewington photograph

Frontside wallride. Ewington photograph

The warm up slappy made a cool image! Ewington photograph

NYE wallie. There is a general theme emerging of just bashing into stuff really. Tom Peden photograph

Beanplant on some 1970’s New Zealand crust. Tom Peden photograph

Backside tail slide. Ewington photograph

Wallie 50-50. Ewington photograph

Ball tampering. Ewington photograph

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Mild in the Streets. 42, Don’t Panic

Since I turned 40 I have tasked myself with getting a few skate photos together, with my birthday being the deadline. Perhaps one day I can stitch my face in each of them together into a time lapse, so you can see me turn into Voldemort from Billie Corgan.

Underwhelming as it is, I am ok with my skateboarding. I know where my level fits into the greater scheme of things and these are my limits to push. Is what it is.

Thank you to my old friend Duncan Ewington for his patience and for always coming through with excellent photographs. I’m sure going to miss our regular rolls and your stoke.

I work pretty hard to maintain my pop. I have a weird looking pre skate stretch routine. I try not to make eye contact during it. Ollie into some cool obstacle

Back boneless on a roof. “You should get higher” Yeah sure, you go skate it.

Arty tail block on a crusty spot

Slappy stand up. The best feeling trick ever. This was on a solid 8/10 hangover

I’ve seen some heavy stuff go down on this. This is just an ollie

You have to go super fast into this. I landed proper on both my shins going pretty quick so I was so stoked to roll away. Slappy fifty fifty onto the road