Skateboarding is an interesting beast. It exists in the underbelly of society, and as of late, in the mainstream media. This might mean that it thrives only in popular locales, such as So Cal and New York, but I beg to differ. The Beast has a foothold in every region, every nook, every cranny and every country. This being said, I was enlightened to say the least when I encountered 3rd Lair’s Top Shop 2006.40 shops traveling all the way from Washington, Florida and even Texas converged on the plywood paradise that is 3rd Lair. When I came around the corner of Florida Ave., I saw boards flippin’, kids dippin’ and I came to find out that this compound is never slippin’. I was amazed that the whole time I was there, kids were skating. From 10 in the morning to 1 in the morning, the shred was on. Skateboarding is back, my friends, and you have to thank 3rd lair for holding it down in the Midwest. There were skaters of every kind amped on the impending competition. Shop rivalry was thrown out the window and everyone got down on some cheeseburgers and grindage. The support was turned up to eleven and my jaw was constantly dropping.The tradeshow section was going off as well. There were over 15 vendors out back dealing the product and spreading the word for their respective companies. T-Bone from NHS, Walt and Vern from Listen, and Kevin Wilkins from The Skateboard Mag (to name my favorites) were all jamming out, catching runs intermittently. Kids were hyped, running around with their braces gleaming in the sun, stoked on anything free. Vendors met with buyers, which ultimately fuels the industry, and business relationships were bolstered. Well done, Muller.Finally, we have what I like to call The Love. You can’t put The Love in your pocket, or in your iPod but you can spread it out amongst the people, passing it on to the youth and showing the parents that we are in fact mature (when?) and eloquent artists of the lumber. The Love was in full effect at 3rd Lair’s Top Shop 2006. If anyone didn’t have a good time, they’re crying wussbags who should lace up their corsets and do a soul grind with Arlo Eisenberg (sorry Arlo, but it’s still lame.) We raged, we screamed, we fell, we laughed, we raged and we met a lot of seriously genuine badass soldiers who have The Love eternally burning in their souls.Shout outs go to the entire 3rd Lair family. They were so on it that I’m still amazed. They’re seriously like worker bees, buzzing around through out the entire competition, and they had an answer for every question and problem we had. Hell yes. Jamie (Angusy), Mr. and Mrs. Muller, Mrod, Sherman, Flobiwan, Munzy and Steve (there were more, believe me) were on point the whole time. Thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.
