It was a fun evening and we mostly went to support my little cousin Chadd.  Here he is a bonafide Thrasher.

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Dennis McCoy was on hand. Apparently he lives in Lee’s Summit and was involved in helping the process along with the skate park and the city.  I knew his face and name but it took me a moment to realize who he was.  Then I started thinking about all the times I played his character on video games or watched him on X Games.  In case you forgot who he is and what he can do go do a video search. Here he is trying to tell everyone to wear a helment without actually telling them.  And he has a good reason too!  I remember watching that too!

It was obvious many of the younger kids didn’t have a clue who he was because they kept getting in his way.

This is Chadds friend Zack.  I think he said he is 26 but hes got the style of somebody 15 years older.  As you can see he rides an older shape board.  His style doesn’t stop there.  He pulled out a ghetto blaster and played some old school sounding punk tunes.  Get this, he recorded the music he was playing from vinyl onto cassette tape.  After his display of style including his riding I told him I had to get a picture of him.

My uncle Scott put together a skate team.  They call themselves “Wipeout”.  You gotta see these guys in action.  The whole sk8 team thing and  Scotts grown out sun bleached hair is very reminiscent of the movie Dogtown and Z-boys. It would probably make sense more if you knew my uncle Scott.  He was always a little adventurous riding motorcycles up cliffs, jet skiing, water skiing, surfing…ect.  Anyways this 6 year old Evan Doherty is on the team.  SIX YEARS OLD and he drops in on the 10ft (est) ramp.  Its crazy…and its even crazier there is no ladder or stairs to get up on it.  You gotta ride up it.  Just google Evan Doherty and you’ll see how crazy this little…munchkin is.

Heres the boys with Chadd, Scott and Chadds mom Judy.  Jet and Oliver think Chadd is the man.

Chadd is skating today in a competition at Penn Valley Skate Park 31st and Broadway.  I was going to take an early lunch to watch him but it didn’t work out.

Video here. You can see the hit that came flying right at us. Although it doesn’t show Yohan and they don’t even mention it.

BRILLIANT GEOGRAPHERS

Aug 2 2008 7:00P

@ The Hard Bean Cafe

Last weekend dreamer played a reunion benefit show for Nick Martin and his family. It went pretty well. Dreamer played well for only practicing a few times and of course Jet found out his dad can shred. We had a good time and decided with the effort that was placed into remembering the songs we should play once or twice more. I’ll “promote” those here so anyone who is interested can get a heads up. Kyle took a few pictures.

$8,300 was raised for the Martins through the auction, food, and various donations. A lot of money that I wish could go along way but I’m thinking it won’t go that far. I believe they intend to buy a van with the money and I imagine those vans with wheelchair access aren’t cheap. Continue to keep the Martins in your prayers and remember to pray for Nick.

Last night was one of Grams last horras as a single man.  We went to the Wilco concert in the CrossRoads.  It was a good show and a good venue.  Before we went there we set out to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Ordered up 100 wings in a variety of flavors.  An excellent time was had there eating wings and watching several games.  It was good to be able to hang out with some guys other than the norm.  Whatever that means.  Most things said last night cannot be repeated unless of course you ask.  At which point you’ll be reminded that it was a bachelor party.  Context is everything!

Andrew Bird opened for Wilco.  Somehow this guy has totaly gone under my radar.  He played (mostly) violin and it was captivating.  Which was making me laugh a little inside because just the other day the neighbor boy came over to show us his violin.  Of course I was polite to him but inside I was thinking, “what type of father lets his kid come home with a violin?  Thats almost as bad as a flute.”  Well now I almost wish my dad had done the same.  Anybody that can make his violin sing like Andrew Bird is an exception to whatever sterotype I have built up.  I’m not going to try to explain what Andrew sounded like you’ll just have to investigate on the WWW.

Wilco was as expected for the most part which is a good thing.  You can find a basic review here.  Some of the highlights besides the music was the sarcasm Tweedy offered regarding the crowds boos for the nearby and obvious Elton John concert.  The Sprint Center had its first concert last night with the bloated EJ cutting the ribon so to speak.  What seemed like a dozen spotlights flying threw the sky was quite the site to behold.  The best part was the cool kids(at Wilco) were not jealous of the Sprint Center attendees.  There were times where I felt like Nels Cline(newest guitar player) didn’t fit with the rest of the group but his abilities were so unbelievable that I just laid any opinions that might interfere to rest.  I felt like my legs were about to give out when Wilco almost played a 4th encore.  That would have killed me and IMHO it would have left the crowd a little sour.  But really who knows?  Nobody else had to be at work at 7am the next day like me.

As far as Nick goes its still bad.  Many things have happened since my initial post that he was in an accident.  He is still in the coma and still on a life support.  The damage to his brain stem seems to be the focus.  Doctors are running reflex test every hour.  These test determine what the status of his brain stem is.  I believe he has responded to these a few times but not 100%.  I’m sure some part of this is not completely accurate so don’t quote me.

Over at Facebook someone created a “Pray for Nick” group.  It is great seeing how many members the group has.  Last I saw it was over 600.  The comments and pictures posted are warming and good reminders of the impact Nick has had on us thus far.  I would link to it but the site is banned here at work.  Plus you probably already know about it.

This is going to be tough no matter how it turns out.  Obviously continue to pray for this situation.  Its good to keep in mind that the most difficult part will likely be whatever the outcome is.   It is great to see the outpouring of support from friends and family but we need to remember that this will be needed in a extended fashion.  Nothing is worse than the load the family will be handed after this and its important that the Family of God is there in that time.