The great Mississippi River known for Mark Twain, Steamboats, and Skateboarding. Ok, it's definitely not known for skateboarding, that is until Red Bull decided to send a group a skaters on a floating skatepark down the Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans.

The 28-day, 1,705 mile adventure, known as Red Bull Mississippi Grind will feature plenty of guest pros including Luis Tolentino, Joey Brezinski, Ronnie Creager and Converse pro Kenny Anderson.

Red Bull recruited renowned skate park builders Spohn Ranch to develop the course which includes a hubba ledge, a bank to many pad and double stair set with some additional sections to be added along the way. The ramps will be donated to City of New Orleans to help provide a skate park to the city.

New Orleans provides the obvious final destination for Red Bull Mississippi Grind, both in terms of geography and of supporting skateboard culture. A three day celebration on October 7-9th in New Orleans will mark the climax of Red Bull Mississippi Grind, with the final ceremony dedicated to Red Bull giving the skate structure to the City of New Orleans.

Be sure to check back for highlights along the way.

Check out the photos of the departure from St. Paul courtesy of Red Bull.

Aerial Shots in Prairiedu Chien, Wisconsin on the Mississippi River. p Ryan Taylor/ RedBull Content Pool
Barge from above. p Ryan Taylor/ RedBull Content Pool

Luis Tolentino showsoff during a pro demo at the St. Paul Mississippi Grind Stop. p Dan Neufield
The barge sails off from St. Paul after the Ticket to Grind Competition. p Dan Neufield/RedBull Content Pool

Last night, in a funky part of Downtown Los Angeles Converse Skate Ambassador Kenny Anderson and friends celebrated the launch of his first signature shoe, the Converse KA-ONE, and the "L.A. TO VEGAS" brand campaign.

The gallery was packed with Kenny's closest friends, including fellow Converse Skate Ambassadors Anthony Pappalardo and Tom Remillard. Throughout the Crewest art gallery Kenny displayed his photography (his passion second to skate) from the campaign shoot at the event. Some of us were hoping the photography was for sale we definitely would have bought it! Along with Kenny's art the other cast members from the short film displayed their photography and art work as well.

With the Tequila flowing and the Dj's spinning all night the shoe release party was deemed a success.

Congrats on the new Shoe Kenny.

June is shaping up to be a monumental month for the Industry with two major sports companies launching nationwide campaigns using their Action Sports Athletes. The credibility and recognition continues to grow outside of the Industry.

Converse launched a nationwide campaign featuring their Skate Ambassador Kenny Anderson who is unveiling his latest Signature shoe, the Converse KA-ONE.

The creative minds came up with a cool concept to help launch the shoe-

The "LA to Vegas" brand campaign follows Anderson and his increasing number of influential friends, who join in the procession along the way, while Kenny nose manuals the entire way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The campaign, shot in an authentic and gritty style, pays tribute to Anderson's introduction in the 2001 skate video "One Step Beyond," where Anderson nose manuals all the way from Las Vegas to Redlands, California before tripping on a rock just short of Los Angeles. In "LA to Vegas," Anderson overcomes the rock and makes his way back to his childhood home, picking up new friends, passing by friends and enjoying the adventurous journey along the way.

Take a German cruise with Girl and Chocolate riders: Eric Koston, Chico Brenes, Cory Kennedy, Sean Malto, Kenny Anderson, Vincent Alvarez and special guest, Lem Villemin.

The Crailtap crew toured the Deutschland and brought along a video camera to document what went down. And now, presto there's an internet video to motivate you to skate.

Watch as they skate through: Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Leipzig and Berlin on this cleverly titledDer Brat Wurst Tour Ever. Get it? The worst tour ever, but since it's Germany they give it a little weiner twist, and reference a favorite German treat.

The video was directed and edited by Ty Evans, and produced by: Rick Howard, Mike Carroll, Megan Baltimore and Spike Jonze. With names like that behind the scenes you know it's good.

Check it out:



Der Bratwurst Tour Ever from Crailtap on Vimeo.

I cruised over to San Pedro last Friday to do my part and clean up the skatepark. Then, it was off to the Sunken City skate shop, which is right down the street, for the Elwood Ramp Jam featuring Kenny Anderson and John Rattray. It was a rad shop with everything you need, especially the mini ramp in the back.

John Rattray killed the ramp like he always does, he skates transition so good. Then Kenny made his impression felt when he started attempting a b/s noseblunt on the extension. The kids were amped, and Kenny wasn't leaving until he stuck it. He did and the place went nuts.

Besides that, there was a BBQ going on outside and plenty of product for the kids. The only disappointment was there was no Clyde.