You like A. A. Bondy? Well I do as you can see here. Recently on the Conan O’ Brien show, the Bob Dylanesque musician is headed on tour with Bon Iver this August, so mark the date near you.July 25 -

Woodstock, NY - Colony Cafe
August 10 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
August 11 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In
August 12 - Bloomington, IN - Waldron Arts Center
August 14 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
August 15 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
August 23 - San Francisco, CA - Hotel Utah
August 25 - Los Angeles, CA - Troudbadour
August 26 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
August 29 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater

Click here to purchase his new album “American Heart,” it’s the mellow goods.

August 30 - Seattle, WA - Neumos

“I want to give them more reasons not to like me.” – Ryan Sheckler

Oh my god! Ryan Sheckler on the cover of ESPN Magazine for the X-games preview! Go figure they’d choose one of the most marketable faces in skateboarding, teen beat heart-throb right?

Ryan is the first legitimate teenage heartthrob in our industry. People who watch him aren’t skateboarding fans, they’re Ryan Sheckler fans.” – Vert skater Andy Macdonald

(My thoughts exactly, they aren’t skateboarding fans)

“Personally, I think skateboarding is harder than throwing a basketball in a hoop, so I’m all for it growing up and being taken seriously. Ryan is helping do that, and he gets hated on the hardest.” – Pro street skater Jereme Rogers

Don’t get me wrong, the kid can skate but so can a grip of other skaters, who some are waaaay better, only difference, they aren’t marketed to high school tweens with their pocket heavy parents. Nor do they carry themselves in a manner set to receive ridicule. Just cut the bitching and drama, but I guess that’s OC steez in “The life of Ryan.”

Read more here.

Before there was Micky Avalon, before there was Dirty Nasty there was another cheeky white boy throwing down some funny hip hop shit. Does “Original Pirate Material” ring a bell?  On a serious note, his beats and rhymes can also be sent with a meaning like that of Atmosphere. Mike Skinner, the British flow master of The Streets is gearing up for completion on his forth coming album “Everything is Borrowed.” The album is due out in the fall.

“I know the title sounds like a Kaiser Chiefs song but I promise it will be better than that. This album started off life as parables but then I realised that it might get a bit cheesy so I got rid of the alien song and the devil song and replaced them with more straight up songs.”

- Mike Skinner

Just like Jurassic 5, it was “a day at the races.” Only these were the swanky Del Mar Races in sunny Dan Diego. It was hot and sweaty like a fat plumber’s butt crack but the scenery was a sight to see. From pretty ladies to fucked up outfits, Barnum and Bailey ring masters, and jockey’s the size of Tom Thumb, opening day was far from spectacular, but aight.

Click here for some photos of the scene.

Amongst the many skate related blogs and magazine sites, the Skateboarder Magazine has always been a little on the weak side. Well now they’re putting more focus on their online site www.skateboardermag.com and it’s looking good. Check out the goods here.

Shepard Fairey is one of the most revolutionary artists of this time. Always delivering beautiful imagery with a strong political meaning, he never ceases to amaze. The creator of one of the most potent political images in recent history - the OBAMA “HOPE” poster, the image found such immediate resonance with Obama supporters that it became ubiquitous throughout the primary campaign and across the web.  Now, at the request of Russell Simmons, Shepard has donated one of three fine art versions of the poster to the charity auction, Art For Life, an annual event which benefits Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.  Hope is being auctioned of for some serious greens. If you got the cash, make your bid here or lurk if you just want to see what it’s going for $$$!

I wrote about the upcoming release of this awesome live Bowie set back in April, and now the goods are out. The album’s mastered at some great audio quality, long guitar solos and way more sic instrumentals, the kind you only get at a live show. If you close your eyes and listen with out any outside interference, it’s almost like you’re there. Listen to the album in its entirety for free here.

The track-listing for ‘David Bowie, Live Santa Monica ‘72′:

‘Introduction’
‘Hang On To Yourself’
‘Ziggy Stardust’
‘Changes’
‘The Supermen’
‘Life On Mars?’
‘Five Years’
‘Space Oddity’
‘Andy Warhol’
‘My Death’
‘The Width Of A Circle’
‘Queen Bitch’
‘Moonage Daydream’
‘John, I’m Only Dancing’
‘I’m Waiting For The Man’
‘The Jean Genie’
‘Suffragette City’
‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide’

Lightyear Entertainment will release of the award-winning and critically acclaimed music documentary “Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal” on September 16, 2008. The film covers the evolution, cultural impact, and musical influence of thrash metal , an extreme form of heavy metal which burst on to the scene in the early-to-mid-1980s. The documentary features interviews with over 50 artists, including past and current members of METALLICA, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX, SLAYER, PANTERA and more! Click here for the scoop.

Check the trailer below:

Yo yo, check the Vox near you.  Headin’ out to all you pokies in the Midwest this July 20, get ready to see some serious shredding from the likes of Dan Drehobl, JT Aultz, Justin Strubing, and more! Click flyer for details.

Here’s the last batch of photos from the Maloof Money Cup! So much money was given away I could smell it! Congrats to all the winners and everyone that skated hard and gave it their all. Until next year …

Click here for photos

For even more details pick up the August issue of LUCID Magazine for a 6-page spread on the entire event and catch all the action on CBS, Sunday, July 20, 2008 at noon PST.