Here we go… day 3 of Mike V making the rounds to 6 Zumiez stores. Today’s stop was in Brookfield, WI at the Brookfield Square Mall and this was the first event that Zumiez has put on in Wisconsin, EVER. As always with Zumiez, the event went off and and the singing lasted three and a half hours today.

It’s late as hell, so let’s get right to the photos…


Today we woke up in Schaumburg, IL to find a bit of a snow storm was upon us. Yesterday was t-shirt weather, today snow… not cool.


Yes, we’re driving in a Cadillac.


You know it’s going to be good day when you run into a bag of Teddy Grahams.


Killing part of the drive to Brookfield with watching Mike’s “Bangin!” on my iPhone.


We arrived at the mall to find this full crowd scene already in line to meet Mike.


Handshakes and smilies from the first guy in line.


Promo!


Used decks, t-shirts, reissue decks… whatever you have, Mike will gladly sign.


Happy skaters with their new Mike V decks and the man himself.


Vallely Skateboards banner (circa 2002) hanging inside of Zumiez.


Mark creating his next masterpiece.


Lots of Powell reissue decks came through the line today…


…as well as a bootleg of Mike’s Barnyard deck from World Industries.


Stoked little guy waiting in line with his new Mike V deck to get signed.


One of the more unique items to get signed today. A promo photo of Mike from Paul Blart: Mall Cop.


Creative flyer’ing for the event. “Mike V” spelled out in flyers right in front of the stores register.


Haven’t seen one of these in a long time… Snake leaving the city.


Proper pronunciation lesson from Mike’s last deck from World Industries.


Mike V unites with the families.


93 people through the line so far.


We said you guys would be on the website. Here you are!!


This guy is ready for some chilled beverages and some tasty waves with his new Mike V shades.


Elementality Vol 1 dvd.


A happy customer of Mike V: Do Or Die.


One of the most asked questions of Mike V is “How do you kickflip?” Ask and you shall receive an instore demonstration.


Mike V is multi-generational. Dad brought his Mike V board from ‘88 to be signed and junior brought his Mike V board from ‘10.


This kid rules. He brought his original Mike V drawing with him to be signed. Check out those “Sign here” boxes. So cool.


Three and a half hours after it started this guy got the final autograph.


One last photo before we hit the road. Here’s Mike and the entire Zumiez staff that was on hand today to help make the event so great and run smoothly. Thanks for all your help guys!!!


After a quick stop for dinner we were off and heading down the highway. Mall Of America, you’re next!!

Coming up later today:
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It’s on now! After yesterday’s travel day out to Chicago we are now full speed ahead with Mike V’s autograph signings and meet & greets at six Zumiez locations. Today’s event took place at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL and lasted 4.5 hours until every last autograph was signed, photo was taken and hand shaken. The mall even had to remain open an hour and a half longer to accommodate all the people. Epic day all around… let’s get to the photos…


Early morning rise and shine. Mark’s the rookie coming up through the ranks and has “3rd man sleeps on the floor” duty.


Heading out into the world.


The breakfast of champions… Jamba Juice.


After breakfast it was over to the Schaumberg Skatepark to check it out and do a little bit of skating.


Hanging with the locals.


Mike and Mark figuring out the next shot.


Backside Bertleman in the bowl.


Duane Peters inspired layback grind.


It’s a longway to the top if you want to layback wallride rock ‘n roll.


Mike and I. Why are we so bummed?


A few quick autographs for some locals on the way out.


For lunch we grinded it out at the local Jersey Mike’s Subs. Here’s Mike signing an autograph for Jeff, a stoked employee.


Just warming up for later today.


Headed over to the mall a bit early to check in with the store. Full crowd scene. Looks like all the action is on this side of the mall.


Zumiez had the promotion cranked to 11. Flyers and posters were everywhere!


Mike V Fan Club member Justin Stankus and two of his friends got an exclusive and private meet and greet with Mike before the singing started. Thanks for coming out Justin!!


Meanwhile, back out in the mall the line was growing to epic proportions. It extended the entire hallway and down a flight of stairs onto a lower level.


And it begins… 6 PM, this lucky girl was the first person in line and had been waiting since 10am. That’s 8 hours!


Stoked fans waiting in line.


This guy wanted Mike to draw a lightning bolt on his arm and his request was granted.


This was the scene for the entire day. Stoked people getting autographs, hand shakes and photos with Mike.


Taking count of the people coming though the line. Here we are at #171.


This kid was so excited to meet Mike he busted out a cartwheel back handspring right in the middle of Zumiez!


Josh is all smiles with his new autographed Mike V deck.


Thumbs up all around.


“Mike, can you please show me how to kickflip?”


This guy collected autographs of a lot of the people waiting in line.


At this point the line showed no sign of getting any shorter.


Stoked kids but beginning to show the wears of waiting in line for 4 hours.


Autographed copy of Mike’s recent Brooklyn Banks article in Transworld. Long Live The Banks.


A “V” made from flyers promoting the event greets you as you enter the store.


Mike’s pro spotlight issue of Transworld from a year or so back… now autographed!


This lucky guy scored one of the advertising posters for the event and had it signed.


Skate Mom Anna got her cell phone signed.


Here is the last family of the night to meet Mike at 10:30 PM. 4.5 hours after the signing had begun.


It’s over and done. One last photo of Mike and all the Zumiez employees who worked the event. Thanks guys! It was awesome!!

Later today:
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Here we go… Day 1 of Mike’s mini tour of appearances and autograph signings at six Zumiez locations in the Midwest and Northeast. Today was basically a travel day out to Chicago for the first signing at Zumiez at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. This might not be the most exciting blog we’ve posted but the real action will be starting tomorrow… Just getting warmed up with this one. As always, I snapped off a few pics from the days travels and here they are. On with the show… Enjoy.


Mike (sans mohawk) and I at the Long Beach airport. Waiting to board our plane. Photo by Mark Choiniere.


Mike on the tarmac. “You talking to me?”


Boarding Jet Blue Flight 934. Direct to Chicago.


Landed in Chicago, here we are picking up the rental car for the trip. Membership has it’s privileges. I have no idea who the dude creeping into the photo is.


Loading up and headed to the hotel.


Killing some time at Borders. Apparently the two guys I’m traveling with are famous or something. Here is Mark in the newest issue of Outburn…


…and Mike in the latest Thrasher.


More time to kill… Catching a 10 PM showing of Shutter Island. Packed house.


Mike handling some business before lights out.


And finally, Mark captures me posting these pictures. The behind the scenes of behind the scenes.

All the action starts later today!!!

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March 19, 2010

Mike V Autograph Signing
@ Zumiez Woodfield Mall
Schaumburg, IL

Starts at 6:00 PM

For more info call Zumiez
(847) 517-8750

CLICK HERE to RSVP via Facebook.

Here is the last installment of photos from the NYC skating trip. Days 3 and 4…

DAY 3

After not getting much sleep, we awoke at the crack of dawn and skated down to the Google NYC offices to have a meeting with George Strompolos from YouTube. Besides having the meeting, George gave us a cool tour of their offices as well. We also shot a bit of video inside the hallways that will be uploaded to an internet near you real soon. Thanks George!

Just a quick stop to saw off a dog on the streets. We’re on our way to The Banks for the third and final time to continue filming.

Lockport, NY and Edison, NJ united at The Brooklyn Banks.

After we finished up at The Banks and paying our respects we skated off to Penn Station with a quick pit stop at a few stores (stores will remain nameless… gift recipients might be reading) for some Christmas shopping. Here is a shot of Times Square.

Upon arriving at Penn Station, two round trip tickets to Mike’s hometown of Edison, NJ were purchased. Mission: Meet up with members of the Noside Posse and dinner at Tastee Subs.

Destination complete! We’ve arrived at Tastee Subs to meet up with with Don Bruno and Al Battagliotti.

Mike and Al out side of Tastee.

After grinding off a few subs at Tastee we headed over to Al’s shop, Central Jersey Skateshop to hangout, talk skating and swap war stories. Here is Al, Don and Mike checking out…

…some of Al’s Mike V deck collection. Decks from Powell, Transit, Black Label, Vallely Skateboards and Element.

Noside Posse, friends for life: Don Bruno, Mike V, Al Battagliotti.

After hanging out in the shop, Al and Don gave Mike and I a ride back to the train station. While we were pulling our gear out of the trunk, Mike donated the board he put together for this trip to Al for his collection. Stoked!

After arriving back in The City we hoofed it over to The Empire State Building at 1:30 in the morning. Here we are 86 floors above Manhattan.

Here is the view looking towards downtown.

DAY 4

Another early morning rise and we were off to meet up with Carl from Ferret Records for brunch across from our hotel.

Mike signing his Powell Peralta pro model “Model Vallely” ad for a friend of Carl’s newborn son.

Carl and Mike.

Here we are back at the “biggest airport in the world” waiting for our flight back to Los Angeles.

Five hours later we’re back in LA. Cue the Randy Newman song.

Brooklyn Banks… see you in 2014 hopefully. This is a time we’ll remember.

-Larry

Here is the continuation of the photos from our trip to New York City. Day two…

The next morning we were up and at ‘em and down at The Banks for skating and a photo session with Sean Cronan.

Timeless trick at a timeless skate spot.

A break in the action while Sean reviews some of his shots. Lots more action then you see here went down. I shot some video of Mike while Sean captured some amazing images.

Here is Mike at the now unskateable upper Banks.

After skating The Banks we were headed back to our hotel and we ran into a group of skaters on the street who recognized Mike.

Obligatory group shot.

After a quick stop at our hotel to drop off our gear we were back out on the streets to head on down to a club called Crash Mansion to attend a party that our friend Joe DeVito invited us to. On our walk all the way back downtown, we passed by the location of the now gone CBGB.

Once inside the party a lot of people wanted to have their photo taken with Mike.

More photo ops.

Joe DeVito and Mike.

Time to file a cease and desist.

Evan Seinfeld from the band Biohazard was hosting the party. Mind blowing randomness.

The yule log kept us warm all night.

Okay.

Mike and Joe having a great time.

Becca, Mike, Dooner and Joe.

Ratbones.

After the party ended early we headed over to a bar called Max Fish to meet up with Bam Margera and his posse.

A lot of the bar locals were skaters and rapped out with Mike a bit. This guy rocked his helmet the entire night.

That’s it for day 2. Pics from days 3 and 4 are coming up soon. Stay tuned.

-Larry

I just returned home from a four day, action packed trip to New York City with Mike V. The legendary East Coast skate spot, The Brooklyn Banks, will be closing mid-January 2010 until sometime in 2014 and Mike wanted to go to The City one more time to skate The Banks, shoot some photos and video. As always, I brought my point and shoot camera along for the trip and snapped off a few photos along the way. On with the show…

The trip begins at the Los Angeles International Airport. Here we are inside the American Airline VIP lounge killing a little time before our overnight, redeye flight into New York.

View from the VIP lounge.

Our terminal was all decked out for Christmas.

Leaving Los Angeles.

Landed in New York. First stop… the automated teller machine.

“You’re at Kennedy Airport… New York… Biggest airport in the world…”

Loading up the cab for our ride into The City.

This is the ceiling of our hotel lobby. Straight out of the movie Tron.

After checking into the hotel and not sleeping at all on the overnight flight, we hit the streets and started skating from midtown all the way downtown to get to the Banks. Some where along the way it started raining so we made a detour to the Element store in Times Square for an inpromptu appearance.

Element NYC.

Here is Mike helping a fellow skater choose a new deck. Guess which one he got?

The store was pretty busy with holiday shoppers and it didn’t take long for people to start to recognize Mike and the autographs and photos began.

We left the Element store and continued on our way down to The Banks. It was still raining but we thought since the banks were partially covered by bridges, it might still be skateable in the rain. We were wrong as you can see.

Sean Cronan came out to shoot photos of Mike but the session was rained out. We will try again tomorrow.

Where are we?

The rain forced us underground for our trip back to the hotel.

After a quick stop back at our hotel we were off to have dinner and meet up with some of Mike’s family. Here is Mike and his nephew, Matthew.

This is the Christmas Tree in front of Rockefeller Center. You know… NBC and stuff.

After dinner the rain had stopped so we walked (Mike loves to walk and will hoof it anywhere.) down to the Bowery to catch a Matisyahu show at Webster Hall. A friend of ours manages Matisyahu so we got hooked up with free tickets and the VIP treatment.

After the show it was more walking back to the hotel for my first sleep since Friday night.

Stay tuned for pics from day 2.

-Larry

It’s gonna rule.

It’s coming together.