Words by: Jorge Blacktop
Another Rock the Cradle for the Johnny Romano kicks cancer Foundation is under our belt, and this one lived up to the hype. The skate full event raised $25,000.00 and had enough blood donations to save 75 lives. A huge TEXAS shout out to all the sponsor’s that supported the event. Congrats to Ben Johnson, Steven Pineiro, Juan Pineiro, Ken Fillion, Todd Prince, all the Embassy riders that represented Loud & Proud. Highlight of the day was TP in the bowl shirtless. Double D said it, “It’s been 20 years since I’ve seen Todd Prince on a board”. Actually TP has been ripping it up on Old man night @ Southside for sometime now. Can’t keep an old dog off his board!! Todd had fun with it. The Pineiro brothers, came into town on a mission. Steven has melon 5’s on lock. Steven landed his 720 on the big face wall. I think they said, it’s the 1st 720 in Bowl Riders comp, it was sick. I will say, when the brother’s gain some weight, and get a little bigger…LOOKOUT! Juan his younger brother (11 months younger) skates fast, smooth, and blast overhead backside airs at will, with style. These two young guns are going to be ripping it up for many moons to come. What can I say about Embassy Team Captain Ken Fillion, he brought his arsenal of inverts that would give anybody migranes. He did 12 inverts in a row, back-to-back-to-back-to-back, sadplant to eggplant to invert, he just kept on ticking. He also blasted higher than most, not bad for the OG. Tex Gibson was on hand as a celebrity judge, to judge the “Masters” division, and just hang out. Craig Johnson was in the house as well. Speaking of Craig Johnson, I think I saw half the crowd sporting the new Craig Johnson graphics T-shirt. His new model will be out for the holiday’s along with the Todd Prince! Embassy Street fighter Edward Sanchez was on hand to soak in the festivities, and give support. Really he was on hand to see if he could keep up with Craig & Tex @ the Lola’s after party. What happens at Lola’s, stay’s @ Lola’s, so that’s a different story. The Embassy Girls were in full effect, giving out Embassy swag through out the day. Chris Gentry is always a riot, he represented strong with his heel flip body jar and the Phillips 66. It’s always a party, it’s always a good time, it’s always a headache in the morning. Overall it was a killer day, like the old Texas comps of the 80’s. The 80’s were the blurry years. It’s rad to see the same cast of characters living it Loud and Proud. I want to thank Gibson and the Embassy heads for putting me on that Greyhound and bribing me to come out for the weekend. Until next time, nuff said. Below are a few pics. photo’s by: GROOVEHOUSE and Lee Leal

Craig Johnson & Chris Gentry

Ben Johnson

Ken Fillion, one of his 12 inverts in a row!

Lance Mountain, John Gibson & Edward Sanchez (whats in the bottle? Edward)

Steven Pineiro

Juan Pineiro, Blasting ,like a NASA rocket ship!

Ben Johnson, skating for the buck$ in the pool

Double D & Todd Prince

Craig & Ken, representing

Ben johnson, pic by GROOVEHOUSE

Ben Johnson, showing the style

The Embassy girls