The 2nd Annual Rock the Cradle was a HUGE success, raising over $17,000 for the “Johnny Kicks Cancer Foundation” This year it was the last stop on the World Cup Bowl Riders Series. This is a special event in honor of Johnny Romano. The young 10 year old skater from Galveston who lost his life to cancer.

THE MASTER’s: This year we can say Bryan Pennington is BACK. A big TEXAS shout out! Smooth fast lines, Stylish high airs and a Andrecht-to-Fakie, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Right on Bryan! 2nd in the Master’s was another Houston local Mr. Jason Espeseth, always quiet and skating w/ authority. Lester Kasai was an Embassy house guest during the week. He stayed @ Ken Fillion’s loft across the street from the park. Ken brought home 4th place. Ken joked during the ceremonies about letting Lester stay @ his house! A big shout out to Troy Chason for skating injured, he killed it for the short time he skated.

THE PRO’S: Had Brazilian sensation Pedro Barros take the prize and the cash. Pedro has been making a name for himself since he opened up a lot of people’s eye’s @ this year’s Pro-Tec Pool Party. Nolan Munroe scored a 2nd place and Tim Johnson came in 3rd.

THE LADIES: What can we say, Cara-Beth proved age wouldn’t be a factor, showing the crowd she can still take over a contest. Lyn-z finished 2nd, Mimi 3rd, and Embassy team rider Priscilla Lee 4th. The bowl in Houston is TEXAS size. It IS intimidating. Congrats to all the ladies who made the trip!

The Cradle winner was Nick Parenti once again, Nolan Munroe 2nd, and Embassy Team rider Ben Johnson taking 3rd a second year in a row. The highlight of the weekend for me, was getting to photograph a Daggers / Embassy Session in the pool with Craig Johnson and Dave Duncan. Friday night’s practice session was off the hook!! Overall it was a kick ass weekend, We got to hang with old friends and make new friends. The After party this year was held @ Mango’s. Performing was Billy Smith’s band from Dallas “Charlie Mancini”, The re-union of Ken Fillion’s & Troy Chason’s band “Contortion Session” and Skaterock Royalty “McRad”. Shout out to Chuck Treece!!! I’d report more here, but my code is “What happens in Houston after hours, STAY’s in Houston after hours.

Big EMBASSY Thanks to EVERYONE who contributed to the success of this event and fund raiser. LOOK forward to next year! Next stop, 15th annual MAKE-a-WISH November 7th.

Embassy Team Captain, Ken Fillion

Craig Johnson, TOTAL PUNK ROCK,

Captain Dagger, heated up the pool session w/ old Alva teammate Craig Johnson! KILLER SESSION

Craig Johnson, STYLE

Cradle Winners, Nick Parenti 1st, Nolan Munroe 2nd, Ben Johnson 3rd

Masters Winners, Bryan Pennington 1st, Jason Espeseth 2nd, Lester Kasai 3rd, Ken Fillion 4th

Tex and Priscilla Lee

Troy Chason, took home some $$$$$ this year!

World Cup’s, Sasha Steinhorst & Dave Duncan w/ local judges

Ken Fillion with his patented invert!!

Ken during practice!!

Day 2, Pier Park
Clear skies were on hand for this Grass-roots party. The Oregon support was in full swing on this day. With the smell of Bar-B-Q and loud music flowing through the air. This was a 100% Skate-Fest. The rounds got going early. It all started off w/ the ladies division once again kicking off the festivities. Just as the previous day before, Julie Kinstrand topped the field. This young lady KILLS IT!! She’s for sure @ the top of the ladies division, but coming in right behind her is Embassy’s own Priscilla Lee. CONGRATS to Priscilla on representing and coming in 2nd place. She kills the vert. Priscilla’s goal was to finish in the top 2 or 3, she achieved her goal. For only being 12 years old, she ripped Pier Park like a seasoned vet. We look forward to representing again next year. The Ladies Pro division is no joke, and it’s just a matter of time before Priscilla Lee is a house-hold name. Again CONGRATS Priscilla!!!

In the Pro Division, Embassy was well represented. Gary Morris & Capn’t Gnar Gnar Ben Johnson did a lot better than @ Tigard the day before. This place was more their liking. Congrats to Ben for going over the mouse hole on his 2nd try. After further review, and checking out the video footage he cleared it by over a foot. AWESOME Ben, you killed it!! Gary skated without a shirt, and had a message with sharpie, check out the pics from Earth Patrol Media. He skated the place fast and smooth, frontside one-footed frigid airs, madonna no tail, judo airs. He had it all. Ben & Gary respectfully came in 21st & 22nd out of 56 riders. After it was all said and done, once again like last year Benji Galloway came out on top. He totally shredded the place. I’ve yet to go to an event without Mark “Red” Scott doing something of “Shock-Value”. The highlight of the day was seeing him shoot the bottle rocket through the full pipe,to the sounds of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve been everywhere” and drop in while it was going off. The crowd went CRAZY!

The Masters killed again, what can I say! CONGRATS to Ken Fillion for finishing in 7th once again out of 24. He killed his runs. He made use of the whole bowl, while showing off his trademark tuck-knee contorted inverts and stylish big backside airs. For a guy 45 years young, he still skates with enthusiasm and charge’s it harder that thousand’s of skaters half his age. Way to go Ken!!! The Bi-Fecta is history, Overall the Embassy crew represented Loud & Proud. Thanks to EVERYONE who helped put this on. Oregon will always be on the agenda for Embassy. Hope to see everybody again next year. Next up “Rock the Cradle” in Houston, TX. October 24th. This is a sanction World Cup Event. It will count for points on the World Cup circuit. See you there “RIDE WITH PRIDE”

Capn’t Gnar Gnar Ben Johnson, killing it with a stylish Smith

Gary Morris

Priscilla Lee

Killer front side air

Landscape shot

Embassy sticker girl

Ben & Sky

Big Backside Air

KFC=Ken Fillion Contortion, SICK Tuck-Knee contorted invert!

In practice, Blast from the past, feels like the ’80’s again!

Dave Tobin & Lee

Capn’t Gnar Gnar over the Mouse Hole on his 2nd try. Only Lance & Benji cleared the hole

What a killer day! The Crown Royale was off the chain. Skaters from all over came represent. We’re proud to announce Embassy’s Priscilla Lee getting 3rd place in the “Ladies Pro Division”. She killed with her patented switch stance routine. Rock-n-Rolls and big frontside airs on the big vert wall. Nice transfer’s, killer style. She is on the rise. Looks like this little lady will be ranking up there for many moons to come. Time is on her side, we expect GREAT things for Priscilla. CONGRATS!!!

The Men’s division didn’t fare as well for Gary Morris & Ben Johnson. The contest was held mostly in the street section of the park. Ben did kill it with his stylish smith’s and tail slide’s on the vert wall. Gary did land his 540 McTwist on his first try during the jam, and he also did some sick frontside tail taps off the dinosaur’s head. Gary’s was stoked to have his first competition on the National stage behind him. We’ll chalk this one down as a good learning positive experience. Ben & Gary were both hyped and look forward to the bowl (Corn Cup) session @ Pier Park on Sunday.

THE MASTERS: Being from the “Old School” I looked forward for this. Embassy Team Captain Ken Fillion skated hard for a 7th place finish out of 24. With not having to much practice, hell for having “no Practice” in the street course, he KILLED it. Sick Tuck-knee inverts and big backside airs off the vert wall. He flowed the park, hitting the corners and just having fun. Buck Smith the reigning Tri-Fecta champ did it again, with his smooth lines, awesome style and SICK frontside inverts, the judges took in consideration Buck had been drinking all day. This guy just kills it. Lance Mountain came in a well deserved 2nd. It was cool to see the star power mingling around the crowd, with Tri-Fecta being such a Grass-roots event. The Crown Royale was a 100% good time. Embassy looks forward to representing next year!!

Ken Fillion, Invert off the vert wall

Ben “Capt’n Gnar Gnar” doing his thing

Killing the vert wall

Gary Morris during his heat

KFC representing TEXAS!!!

Lance Mountain & Gary Morris

Proud Poppa & Priscilla

First Place Ladie’s Julie Kindstrand & Ken Fillion

The Lee Family, Alex, Priscilla & Dad

Priscilla & Julie

The Ladies winners circle, CONGRATS Priscilla

Embassy Road Manager, Nate Dawg & Ian

Frontside air off the wall

Rock-n-Roll, off the vert wall

Gary Morris, playing w/ the dinosaur

Capt’n Gnar Gnar on the mic

Todd Prince @ Lab33 After Party

What a killer day! Props go to Houston’s Cockfight Skateboards for putting on a killer event. The crowd came out to represent. The 6:00 pm start was a good call. On the eve of the Embassy crew leaving for the Oregon Trifecta. Money is at stake in the sponsored heat, Ben, Gary and Max were going for the cash. I’ve got to give little Max Peterson props for holding his own with the big guys. Max was skating in the final round, even after already claiming top honors in the 11 & under. Congrats on nailing the Allie-oop on the face wall. Skating w/ the big guys brought out the best in Max. It’s gonna be an adventure watching this little man grow up!

In the money round, Embassy had Ben “Captn Gnar, Gnar” Johnson and Gary Morris, who made the trip from Oklahoma, representing. The money round had killer action. The early favorite was Nick Parenti, with local “Boy Sensation” Jeremy Smith a close 2nd. Well someone forgot to tell that to Gary Morris. He was busting out Madonna no tail, Frontside one footed frigid airs, Airwalk to fakies. The only thing he didn’t do was go over the steps. After it was all said and done. Jeremy brought home the gold and the $500.00 cash, Nick came in 2nd with $300.00, Ben 3rd & $200.00. Gary didn’t even place. I will say a pool contest is just that, a pool contest. Skate it like a pool. That means do a trick over the steps ala the 50/50 Max did.

Judging is always subjective, but I will say they got it wrong this time. Most of the people including the skaters would agree. Nick Parenti felt so bad for Gary, he gave Gary a new deck. Kevin Lane gave Gary $40.00 out of his pocket, (Thanks Kevin) Jeremy Smith Kills it. He does Frontside Boneless that give me goosebumps. I want to be a good sport about it, but on any given day…”A trick is a trick”. Gary did some wicked stuff in that pool that’s never been done before. Nuff said about that! It’s all good!!

Overall it WAS A GOOD TIME!! Everybody seemed to enjoy it. The prizes were handcrafted wooden pools by Kevin Lane. Props to Ken Bridge and Pinks Pizza for supplying FREE pizza, free Gatorade and water to everyone.

Now it’s off to Oregon Trifecta. The crew is on the road. Follow the link and stay tuned to SKATEHOUSTON for updates. (Groovehouse is on the bus) They bombed Indian School ditch this morning in New Mexico!!! Pics to follow…

Ben “Captn Gnar Gnar” Johnson with a stylish frontside air. Ben took 3rd place.

Ben, Friday night practice sessin

Tail Slide

During his run

Charlie Johnson took 3rd place in the 11 & under

Gary Morris, Killing the big bowl!

Gary Morris

Gary in his run. His first time in Houston

One footed frontside air

Frontside Frigid Air

Frontside Nose Grab

Max Peterson, brought home the Gold in the 11 & under!! Way to go MAX!!!!

Max is STOKED!!! Another 1st Place!!!

Max and his Proud Daddy

Max, Mom & Kai, Kai took 4th place

News from the RAT (Regional Amateur Tour):
Saturday started off BLAZING hot. This year’s Houston stop of the R.A.T. was conducted at the Katy Mills Mall parking lot. The $1,000.00 1st place cash prize was enough incentive to bring out the best Texas has to offer on the amateur circuit. The clouds started to roll in right as the heats were getting announced. The clouds were dark, very dark! then came the rain, a light sprinkle turned into a gnarly storm, which brought on a 53 minute rain delay. The crew got busy with the squeegee. The practice session was on again. All the guys ripped it up. More rain, this time hard windy rain. The RAT crew called it an Official Rain-out! “We’ll try to get it off tomorrow @ 9:00 am”. That means a 7:30am Sunday wake-up call!! That meant one of 2 things, we could pull an “All-Nighter”, party like Rock-stars, and see the sunrise. Or I could set the good example and feed the team, tell some stories, chill out, get a good night’s sleep, and be ready to charge the RAT @ the crack-of-dawn. We choose the second option.

Edward Sanchez is “Officially” now Eddie Hana! He killed the mini-ramp. Benihana’s to fakie, Blunt kick-flip fakies, Blunt judo kick to finger flip, Ollie blunt melon grabs. He has an arsenal of tricks. Ben Johnson killed it as well. Ben usually likes his breakfast, but this Sunday, he skated w/out his Egg McMuffin. “It’s to early for tricks” he said. Overall it was a good time. The contest got warped up before 2:00pm. Just enough time to get to SouthSide for the “Young Guns Showdown” were $4,000.00 was at stake in the street competition. Our lone representation in the Showdown was Eddie Hana. He ripped it up, but didn’t place in the money. I could tell he was physically drained from the days events. Eddie will be off this Wednesday to the Warped Tour in Chicago and surrounding areas, before heading to this years Oregon Trifecta with Ken Fillion, Todd Prince, Ben Johnson, Gary Morris, Priscilla Lee and Gene Hare. Oregon promises to be an adventure! The results from the RAT are as follows:
1. Ke’Chaud Johnson
2. Ryan Thompson
3. Edward “Hana” Sanchez

I’d like to give a special Embassy shout-out to Cockfight’s Jeremy Smith. This kid kills it! His Frontside Boneless is 100% punk rock, Phillips would be proud!!! My top 3 had Ke’Chaud 1st, Eddie Hana 2nd, and Jeremy in 3rd!! Below are the pics. I’ll start it off with Groovehouse’s pics from Saturday before the storm. Thanks Eric!!

The Benihana by: Edward Sanchez

Eddie, photo: Groovehouse

Ben Johnson, photo: Groovehouse

Mad Style!! photo: GrooveHouse

Eddie “Hana” Sanchez

Ben Johnson, Texas Foot-Plant

Ben Johnson

The “Tongue Twister”

Eddie Hana

E.D.D.I.E.

He killed it ALL Day!!!

Eddie & Lee

Saturday got Rained out!!

Today was the Van’s Warped Tour in Houston, TX. IT’S FREAKIN HOT. 103 degree’s in the shade. It was almost as hot as Edward Sanchez, who happens to be on a Texas Warped Tour winning streak. He took home the gold for the second day in a row, Yesterday was San Antonio Warped Tour. I can talk about Edward, because he’s the newest member to join the Embassy Team. CONGRATS Edward!! Edward hails from San Antonio, Tx. where he grew up with Embassy team rider Ben Johnson. Edward will be joining Ben, Gary Morris, Priscilla Lee, Ken Fillion & Todd Prince and the rest of the Embassy cast in Oregon, for the 2009 Oregon Trifecta August 5-9th. A big shout out goes to Gary Morris, who made the trip from Oklahoma City, and received 4th overall. All the skating was killer, Huge Embassy Props to everybody that skated, everybody ripped it up (way to represent Texas!!).

This is the 15th year anniversary of the Warped Tour, and it has changed a lot since 1995. I miss the vert half pipe and the tops pro’s showing off their vert skills. The bands back then were solid hard-core punk rock (Unlike 3OH!3, gimme a break!). Not to mention 90% of the venues were indoors in a climate controlled arena (AC). I’ve got to hand it to the kids who showed up stoked to see their favorite bands, spend 8 hours in a parking lot “dust bowl” with no cover or no shade, spend their parents money on $7.00 lemonade’s. It’s the scene that creates a demand, and Van’s Warped Tour has capitalized on the branding out of it. It all goes hand-in-hand. Overall it was a fun time for all, except probably for the 3 goons in black speedo’s. Nuff said, it’s time for some fireworks, real Punk Rock and Bar-B-Q @ Todd Prince’s.

Max Peterson

Embassy Oklahoma Chapter: Gary Morris

Embassy’s newest team Rider, Edward “SICKNESS” Sanchez

Edward Sanchez killing the Mini-ramp

Edward

Gary Morris

Gary Morris

Max Peterson, It’s HOT out here

The Peterson’s

Gary Morris, showing grip tape skills

E.D.D.I.E.

Texas Heat!

This past weekend, we went to Irving, Tx. to skate in the Concrete Rodeo Tour contest. Ben Johnson and Embassy newcomer Gary Morris placed 1st & 2nd in the overall standings. Gary hails from Oklahoma City, Ok. This kid has an arsenal in his bag of tricks.

Concrete Rodeo had a different format than I’m used to seeing. It was almost 2 contest within 1. They had age groups, which Gary took 1st (19-26 yr old), Ben Johnson 2nd. Then they had a “Joust” format, where the top seed goes against the last seed, 2nd seed against next to the last, and so on. The brackets got interesting when Ben was matched up against Jeremy Smith from Cockfight, and Gary Morris was matched up against Adam Wiggins, also from Cockfight. The results: EMBASSY SWEEPS. Ben was doing Feeble grinds to Fakie, Frontside Smith’s to tail grab re-entry’s, SICK tuck-knee airs over the hip. All this while he was sick, puking in the corner between runs.

Overall the event was hot, not that many in attendance. Those that did attend were treated to some killer action. A big Embassy shout-out to Anthony Parsons and JJ from Concrete Rodeo for putting on a good contest, good P.A. blasting the jams, Good MC’ing, good ‘ole Texas vibe. Next year Houston is on the map for the Summer stop. I do want to thank the Cockfight crew for making the trip. Without them there it would have been a boring day. Jeremy, Wiggins & Kevin all you guys ripped it up!! See you in RoundRock!!!!

Ben Johnson Sunset Session

Ben Johnson during is heat

Gary Morris

Concrete Rodeo’s Anthony Parson’s

EMBASSY SWEEP! Ben 1st, Gary 2nd, Wiggins 3rd

Ben was puking during is heat, TRUE TEXAS HARDCORE!!

Gary Morris, 1st place in age division

Frontside Smith to tail grab re-entry

Christian Hosoi breaks out his camera for the shot!!!

Ben Butler Pool, 100% Authentic Pool.

Troy Chason, “HEADBANGER” on his 4th attempt.

Ken Fillion, Backside air in his qualifying heat

Steve Olson & “Tex” Gibson

“Tex” & Pat Gnoho

KFC

Post Pro Tec Party @ Alcatraz, Ben Schroeder, Duncan, Craig & “Tex”

Johnson & Johnson

Tex, Ridgeway & Pro’s winner Bucky Lasek

Ben Johnson @ Ben Butler’s Pool, This place is an Authentic Pool w/ GNARLY COPING

Daggers & Embassy Ambassador’s

Ben Johnson, Backside Air in the Square Pool

Tex’s interview with FUELTV

EMBASSY Welcome’s New “Team rider” Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson, TEXAS BRED, TEXAS PROUD!

Backside Air!!

Ben Johnson, FrontSide “BARKHARD” Grind!

Ben Johnson, Killing it Frontside!!

Ben & Lee

Max, stands above the rest!!

Max, FrontSide Tail Slide!! and another 1st Place!!

Max, Huge BackSide Air!

EMBASSY’S Government Issue, Jimmy Young

Sargeant @ Arms!!

Max, Frontside “tuck the Knee” Air w/ STYLE!!

Max, HE LOVES TO SKATE!!

Max, clear griptape!!

Todd Prince!!

Jimmy Young!

“Tex” & Kim Cherryhomes, @ Bino’s AFTERPARTY!!

Todd Prince & the Ladies!

Ken Fillion

Troy Chason!!

Embassy “Board Toss”

Embassy Team Rider, Ben Johnson, 1st place

Embassy “Team Captain” Ken Fillion

Troy Chason, Ken Fillion, Lee Leal

Max and his Proud Mama!!!

Max Peterson, Frontside Air!!

Max Peterson, 1st Place, 12 & under,

Troy Chason, Eggs For Breakfast!!!

Troy Chason, FrontSide Specialist

Troy Chason