Ark at the Barfly
Wednesday, June 9 2004
Posted by brockito

For those of you in Montréal, Jon Asencio's latest project, Ark Of Infinity will be playing:

Vendredi le 18 Juin/ Friday June 18
at BARFLY 4062A St Laurent $5
22:00 ish

How good can it be ?
Monday, June 7 2004
Posted by brockito

I was sitting at Hastings Park yesterday after my latest attempt at riding the bowls when it occurred to me that things are pretty good right now. I mean, summer is pretty much here, and despite the greying over sky I still had a great view of Mount Seymour and Grouse Mountain from the skatepark - hard to complain. When I first started skateboarding we had no such thing as a park to ride, let alone one with as many possibilities as Hastings. I hear there is a new one going in near Metrotown as well and there are excellent skateparks all over North Van. As a kid in West Island Montreal, we only had a soggy quarter pipe that sat at the foot of my driveway. Since you only get one hit on a quarter pipe, I never learned how to pump transition properly - we'd just bomb down the street at top speed and that was it. I am learning now, and have only been laughed at (audibly) once, although I was called, "Mister" by someone yesterday which was disturbing until I told the guy to never call me that again ! Its bad enough being 37 and almost the worst skater at the park (yes, I am not quite the worst, thank God) without some eighteen year old calling you mister.

Another truly unique to Vancouver event was going on in the flat area beside the park. There were a dozen or more guys, I think the Jaks sk8 team crowd immersed in a game of skateboard ball hockey. Imagine five guys facing each other accross a wide paved area with a crunched up beer can between them at center "ice". The goals were marked at one end by a pair of 7-11 type soft drink cups and by some odd looking green wrapped things at the other. The goaltenders held their decks like blockers but everyone else was mounted. On the signal, they charged the can in unison, pushing thier skateboards like two mad cavalry regiments, and hockey ensued. I found myself watching and laughing in between runs in the bowl. They even had a recording of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song blaring out of the ghetto blaster, complete with the pre-"Don Cherry Coach's Corner" music when they were resting in between periods. Of course the rest of the time it was Cheap Trick, Accept, or Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan.