I cruised out to Vegas to meet up with the Brigada/Deathwish guys who were ending their month or so long Low Life Tour across the country with a party at the Hard Rock Hotel. It was at Hart's Wasted Space and the night went off. Or least the part I can remember. General Ellington and the boys cruised in and took over the place. Bottle service + Low Lifes + Girls = A Good Damn Time.

It was only a one day trip to Sin City. There's just something about it, I can only spend a day there. Once I wake up, I hate everything about the place and just want to leave. I had never driven there either (only flown), so I didn't know how shitty the drive home is. It's a hungover 4 hour drive back to Southern, CA. And if you're like my friend who lost almost $2,000 gambling (he'll remain nameless because if his girlfriend find's out he's in some trouble) it's 4 hours of just dwelling. I don't gamble so I don't dwell. Anyway, stay tuned for footage of the Low Life Tour 2009, and cruise over to Baker Boys Distribution to see what they're all about.

Check out some photos below:


Erik Ellington in middle with two people who's names I forgot.



Some Vegas girls.


Party People.


Mission control of the worst drive home ever.


Three hours of nothing-ness.

The Agenda trade show went down last week in Hurlington Beach, aka Nike Town. I'm calling Huntington that because at the same time the show was doing it's thing, the Hurley US Open of Surfing was in full swing down the street at the pier. It seemed Hurley/Nike took control of the town for a few days, there were hats everywhere that said, "HB," with the "H" a Hurley logo. Not that that's a bad thing, because the Hurley/Nike/Converse crew really saved that contest, which had been ruined by even bigger non-surf/skate/snow/BMX corporations over the years.

Anyway, back to Agenda. It's a show that is geared for the brands that don't really fit in at ASR and Surf Expo. The core-skate/art/fashion brands of the industry were all in attendance. They've been having this show simultaneously with ASR the past few years, offering limo rides right out in front of the ASR doors to their show down the street. Now, that they've picked their own date, which allowed the brands to completely focus on Agenda, the show was much bigger. Let's hope the ball keeps rolling.

Here's some MORINformed pics from Agenda:


The Death/Wish Shake Junt booth.


The floor you had to walk on to do some business.


Shake Junt Art.


Brigada was right next door.


They had party favors. Before I get an email from some irate mom, it's Parmesan cheese.


Three skateboard bosses who are also Brigada team riders: Reynolds, Thomas and Ellington.


Speaking or Jamie Thomas and Erik Ellington they were outside having a smoke.


Then it was off to NHS. Here's the Anti-Hero booty line.


Some more Anti-Hero decks.



The new Real line.


Diamond Boss, Nick Diamond, was hanging.


Speaking of bosses, The Man Behind the Stone, Volcom CEO, Wooly, was cruising.


Art being created.


Some girl wanted her picture with MORINformed's drunk ass.


Some of the new Girl line.


Chocolate decks and Fourstar hats.


This guy tried a little too hard to get to Agenda and became a PCH casualty.


Vans has a Sex Pistols line coming out.


RVCA's theme was "Uke's...


And Guns." Sounds like a Waianae party.


A view from the balcony of the Hyatt.


A closer view of the beach in Huntington during the US Open.


I'll leave you with the Skullcandy girls.

Erik Ellington has been in the game for more than a minute. He burst onto the scene over a decade, and became a skate-household name after the release of Zero's debut video, Thrill of it All. He stayed with Zero long enough to have a super evil part in their second video, Misled Youth.

Then, when his friend Andrew Reynolds left Birdhouse to start Baker, Ellington parted ways with his ever- becoming religious board sponsor, and became one of the original Baker riders. His signature style, and go-big-or-die gnar can be seen in any of the Baker video: Baker Bootleg, Baker2G, Baker 3 and now, the latest, Baker Has a Deathwish.

And that brings us to Deathwish, Ellington's current board sponsor, which he and business partner, Jim Greco run. They own Baker Boys Distribution, which slings: Deathwish skateboards, Brigada shades and Shake Junt accessories. I caught up with Erik last Friday at Baker Boys HQ in North Hollywood to get his thoughts on the current state of professional skateboarding, being a business man and just life in general.

MORINformed: So how are things going at Baker Boys Distribution?

Ellington: Good, just moving along, trying to stay in business.

MORINformed: How's being a boss?

Ellington: It's a little stressful at times. Now, I don't just pay attention to my graphics, or whatever, I have to maintain employees. It's different than just being a pro.

MORINformed: You ever have to crack the whip and fire someone?

Ellington: We try and be mellow, but yeah we've had to lay some people off.

Ellington: Pumped about Lizard's performance at Wallenberg?

MORINformed: Yeah, he killed it.

MORINformed: So now, you guys are the first to bring a sunglasses company to skateboarding that was spawned in the skate culture. A shades brand for skaters by skaters. Tell me how that's going?

Ellington: Yeah, we were the first to do it, I don't know why it wasn't done before, but it's going good. We have a rad team that puts a lot of effort into what they want. It's coming along, the new stuff just came in, and it looks good.

MORINformed: Is there any videos in the works as far as Baker Boys Distribution goes?

Ellington: Well, we just came out with the tour video, Baker Has a Deathwish, that was released about a month ago. Now, we're working on the Deathwish video that will be out October of 2010. There's a Shake Junt trailer in the tour video, and I think their working on a video, Chicken Bone Nowison, and that will be out probably in a year as well.

MORINformed: What the last cinematic thing you watched?

Ellington: : Frost Nixon, it's about Richard Nixon.

MORinformed: Are you doing Maloof?

Ellington: Yeah.

MORINformed: How do feel about those guys? They're basketball/casino barons, but they are putting up the money.

Ellington: Yeah, it cool, they're not from skating, but they're giving the winner more money then has ever been given for a contest, as far as our world goes. It's cool, you know, they made a course that had help from skaters to design. It's a setup for a contest that's actually pretty sick, so I don't have any problem with it.

MORINformed: Any other Deathwish guys doing it?

Ellington: Yeah , I think Lizard's in it. I'm not sure if Slash is. I think it's just me and Lizard.

MORINfromed: Who do you think is going to take it?

Ellington: Probably the same people that always do, you know, Sheckler or one of those guys.

MORINformed: Who are your top five skaters of all time.

Ellington: Tom Penny, Alex Gall (Train Wreck), Jason Lee. Sal Barbier and Matt Hensley. I can't just name five: Ali Boulala, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard and many others.

MORINformed: You have kids now right?

Ellington: Yeah, two.

MORINformed: How's being a dad?

Ellington: It's good, really awesome. My son is three and half, we skate the ramp, it's just fun to do shit with him, we just cruise around and hangout. My daughter is six months old, so I don't do much with her but hold her, but she's rad.

MORINformed: Any tours coming up?

Ellington: Yeah, we're trying to finalize the dates on Deathwish summer tour. It's going to be another Baker Has a Deathwish tour. It will probably be the whole month of August, and it will go through the south. Here through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and we'll see where it goes from there.

MORINformed: We're in a recession, blah, blah, blah blah blah blah. The only thing people have been talking about, but how has that affected you being a professional skateboarder?

Ellington: It's the same as it was before. The difference is being a company owner. Shit is just not as good as it was. Although, we started Baker Boys Distribution a year and two months ago, and we started practically at the bottom of the hard economic times, so all we know as a company is the recession.

[Skate legend and co-owner of Baker Boys Distribution, Jim Greco, who's been in the room the whole time chimes in] We've been seeing improvements lately, too.

[Back to Erik]

Yeah, lately, it's been going really good for us. You don't see much of a difference as a pro skater. When you show up to a demo, it's still the same amount of kids there. It's just, they aren't buying as many boards, which is understandable when there parents fucking houses are getting foreclosed on.

MORINformed: Alright, so now Koston's on Nike, and Lutzka's on K-Swiss. Being a skate company owner from skateboarding, how do you feel about these big companies coming in and trying to make a buck off of your world?

Ellington: I think they've already came in and done their deal. Skating already kicked Nike out once, but to each his own. You know, if they're paying a shit load of money it's hard to resist. I don't particularly like it, I don't like it at all, but I think that it's cool that Paul, or Eric, or whoever, are getting the money they deserve. I don't know what they're getting, but good for them. I don't like it though, that there are shoe companies out there, that are skater owned and run, that are getting swept away by Nike and all these companies.

MORINformed: I'll end it with this, and be a true journalist, and ask the same boring question that everyone's been asking today. Michael Jackson died yesterday, How do you feel about that?

Ellington: It's pretty sad, I looked up to Michael Jackson when I was a kid, like everybody did. I mean, shit he was mixing pills, or I don't know what he was doing, but it was sad, a shock.

For more on Erik, Deathwish, Brigada and Shake Junt go to: www.bakerboysdist.com, www.brigadaeyewear.com and www.shakejunt.com

The Death Wish and Shake Junt crew will be raiding Pharmacy skate shop in Victorville, CA on May 9th. In case you don't know that's: Erik Ellington, Lizard King, Atuan Dixon, Slash and more, in your face...don't be scared.

The king of Lizards will now be clothed by KR3W. Check out this little vid to see how General Ellington feels about the new addition.