In order to 1) cheer Scotty up with the warm glow of nostalgia whilst recovering from his knee injury and 2) contribute to the hype around 42's amazing Sunday Circuit idea, thought I'd put some of the old copies of Sidewalk gathering dust in the spare room to good use (though this is by no means a start of Chromeball-esque archiving... Chops is the undisputed Franciscan Friar of skateboarding, no one can compete):
These 3 scans are from the end of the mid-90s-early 2000s period when Nottingham was a dominant fixture in UK skating. A fair proportion of Sidewalk staff lived in Notts, as did two of the founding fathers of Unabomber, Harry and Rushbrooke - and tricks at Old Market Square, Broadmarsh Banks and the Amphitheatre were in Sidewalk every month.
This handrail front-board, from Scotty Underpants himself, graced the cover of the June 2000 edition of Sidewalk - I think the handrail is at the side of a loading bay at the back of a hotel between St James Street and the Castle/Amphitheatre, but I may well be wrong. This was a banger of an issue to boot - with an article on a New York trip featuring Andy Simpson, Matt Prichard and Dave Chesson.
Also in 2000 (Oct/November - before Sidewalk started producing 12 issues a year), this cover snap is of Smedley and his scarily consistent switch front-side flips, down the Amphitheatre big three, and well in 'The Storm' sweatpant era.
Back a couple of years to 1998, and this example of Jon Weatherall's impeccable switch kickflips down the Old Mark Square 5/6 (depending on whether you count the big gap in the first set of slabs at the bottom as an additional step). Got loads more Weatherall steeziness in the magazine piles, so will be chucking them up as soon as I can think of an excuse.
Crikey its cold... Flo on Monday night anyone...?
For pedants out there... I am aware that during the late 90s/early 200s period of which I speak, Rushbrooke and co cleared off to London and opened Cide skateshop amongst other things.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of Rushbrooke and Harry Nottingham-themed covers that I'll post as soon as my scanner recovers