OCTOBER 29TH 2009 | HELP IAN MCDOUGALL OF RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS | AUSTIN, TX
Below is a letter from the band Riverboat Gamblers.
Hello all,
It’s definitely been a trying few days. On the night of Saturday October 17th, while riding his bike home, a car hit Ian McDougall, guitarist of our band Riverboat Gamblers. He sustained some pretty heavy injuries including a broken hip, a broken wrist and hemmoraging under the skull along with many lacerations, torn ligaments, bruises and and scrapes.
He was rushed by ambulance to Brackenridge hospital in Austin and stayed in the ICU for 2 days before being moved into his own room where he is undergoing physical therapy while awaiting the results on X-rays and MRIs as well as a deluge of other various tests.
That being said, the prognosis is better than we had first thought. We are happy that he is going to be ok and that he is alive and with us. Unfortunately, not only is he in for a long recovery and is in a lot of pain, but he will be celebrating his birthday in bed with hospital food.
On another unfortunate note, there are a pile of bills currently gaining a Mt. Everest-like summit from all his hospital expenses. We set up a PayPal account for our band mate and friend to try and help him get on top of the debt and focus on his recovery. His PayPal account email is ian.gambler@gmail.com. Anything you can afford to give will be greatly appreciated by Ian and his family. Thank you all for your support and we wish Ian the speediest of recoveries.
Introducing the KB1. Come in 1st Place with the new “Kyle Busch” signature sunglass from Electric. Built for Speed, this unique hard lined frame is designed especially for NASCAR speed demon Kyle “Rowdy” Busch. Young, edgy, and controversial, Electric and KB share the same aggressive traits. 2nd Place is the first loser, so rock the new KB1 and go straight to Victory Lane!
OCTOBER 26TH 2009 | RASTA ARRIVES AT BLUEYS BEACH TO MEET HOY | SOUTH EAST COAST, AUSTRALIA
Blueys Beach is a well-known hotspot among most East Coast Aussie surfers, and few surfers can claim the heritage of Matt Hoy. The former world number five and Bells Beach pro champion welcomed the Transparentsea team ashore in front of the beach shack that his family has used as a coastal getaway for generations.
And after a long day that saw a large shark trail JJ in the guest kayak, dozens of whale encounters, fluctuating winds and an intense electrical storm – it was a great feeling to hit the sand less than an hour before dark. It is a surf trip too, which Rasta was all too keen to remind us. And there was no way he was going to stop shot of Bluey’s when the weather was forecast to hit hard again from the south. So looks like we could be here for a couple of days, hopefully getting barreled before moving on.
OCTOBER 25TH 2009 | ROCK THE SHOP | SANTA BARBARA, CA
Electric’s first Rock The Shop event to hit the U.S. went down today at the Volcom Retail Store in Santa Barbara, CA. This event was to celebrate the launch of our new apparel and accessories line in all the Volcom Retail Stores.
We couldn’t have a proper Rock The Shop without a live band to get the first ever in-store mosh pit going and that’s exactly what Valient Thorr did. This was the first time Valient Thorr has ever played at a Volcom store and I don’t think it will be the last.
Shortly after they started playing the crowd surfing began, guitarists were jumping off amps, and some serious fist pumping and head slamming was going on in the front row. Everyone who came out not only left stoked on the best live performance they’ve ever seen but also on Electric’s new apparel line and their new custom screened trucker hat made right there in the store for them as well as a few extra goodies that were thrown out.
Big thanks to Valient Thorr for an amazing performance, Volcom Santa Barbara for letting us Rock their Shop and to everyone who came out to support. Stay tuned for the next Rock The Shop to come to a store near you!!
OCTOBER 17TH 2009 | CHRIS FORSBERG TAKES THE FORMULA DRIFT CHAMPIONSHIP AT SERIES FINALE | IRWINDALE, CA
Chris Forsberg drove the NOS Energy Drink 350Z to his first Formula Drift Pro Championship and his second Tires.com Triple Crown bonus this weekend at the series finale at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, CA.
In front of a record track attendance, the pressure was on Forsberg who had to make it to the Top 16 round of competition to clinch the title just ahead of Drift Alliance team mate and close friend Ryan Tuerck.
“We came into the weekend knowing we would have to first qualify and then move into the round of Top 16 to secure the title, “ said Forsberg. “Watching Tuerck through testing and practice, I knew he was going to win the event. We just had to stick to our plan and take each round one at a time.”
The NOS Energy Drink Drift Team came into the event without making any changes to the car from the previous event, 7 weeks prior, for fear of causing more problems than solving. The plan worked as the team qualified 7th overall pairing them with privateer Doug Van Den Brink for the Top 32 round of tandem competition.
During the Top 32 round, Forsberg ran a strong run creating a significant gap to Van Den Brink behind him. When Forsberg switched to follow Van Den Brink, the engine had an intermittent “hiccup” on the main entry causing Van Den Brink to get the advantage and forced a “One More Time” (a repeat run). The “One More Time” allowed Forsberg to have two clean runs defeating Van Den Brink and sealing NOS Energy Drink’s first ever championship and Maxxis Tire’s first Formula Drift Championship.
Forsberg went on to battle Robbie Nashida in the Top 16, but slight contact with the wall straighten Forsberg up handing the win over to Nashida.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our team, Kevin Wells (crew chief) and Sergio Ramirez (crew member),“ stated Forsberg, “and of our sponsors NOS Energy Drink, Maxxis Tires, Clarion Corporation, Mishimoto, Genius Tools and Electric Sunglasses. We certainly would not have been able to do it without their support!”
The team will have a busy off season running in several local Time Attack events and the infamous “24 Hour of Lemons” on the schedule before the end of year.
OCTOBER 22ND – NOVEMBER 30TH 2009 | WIN A TRIP TO KEYSTONE AND SPEND THE DAY WITH ANDREAS WIIG | SNOW.COM
Submit a testimonial and you will be entered to win a free snowboard trip for two people this winter.
Tell us why you deserve a chance to ride with Andreas, about your favorite A51 park feature, the best day you’ve had here or any other memory that you wish to share and you could win a trip to Keystone.
Testimonials will be gathered from now through November 30 and will select the best testimonial and notify the winner by December 4, 2009.
The winner must be 18 or if younger, must be accompanied by an adult. Travel for prize winners must be prior to December 20, 2009.
OCTOBER 23RD 2009 | ELECTRIC SPACE BAR | L’AVALANCHE CLUB, 5 RUE DU CAIROU, LES DEUX ALPES, FRANCE
The Electric Space Bar, will land this weekend in Les 2 Alpes for its first mission. The Electric Bar is in a galaxy called L’avalanche, and it will welcome you during the whole winter season for special party missions.
The first mission is this weekend, so come to test “the law of gravity“ during the Rock On Snowboard Tour in Les 2 Alpes, FR.
Starting at 23pm, every night in L’Avalanche Club.
OCTOBER 16TH 2009 | KYLE BUSCH WINS HIS 28TH CAREER NATIONWIDE SERIES DOLLAR GENERAL 300 VICTORY | LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN CONCORD, NC
Electric’s Kyle Busch does it again with his 28th career Nationwide victory. Kyle dominated the Nationwide Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday night, picking up his seventh victory of the year to move closer to his first series title. Following a week of bed rest and antibiotics, this win ended his 11-race winless streak and expanded his lead in the Nationwide Series standings to 195 points with only four races left in the season.
“I love this place,” Busch said. “It’s my house on the Nationwide side. … This is one of my favorite tracks. For some reason, I really jell with it. … Man, it was a freight train for sure. There was not much that could have stopped this Toyota tonight.”
Kyle also won the Winchester 400 CRA Super Series race at Winchester Speedway Sunday afternoon. He led 170 of the 400 laps, including the final 14 to give him one more victory for the weekend.
OCTOBER 20TH 2009 | HALF WAY THERE, HALF WAY TO GO! TRANSPARENTSEA TEAM ON TRACK TO REACH BONDI NOV 5TH | CRESCENT HEAD, NSW, AUSTRALIA
After 19 days of surfing, paddling and sailing their way down the NSW coast, the environmental awareness group led by pro surfer Dave Rastovich has successfully passed the halfway point of their intended 700km, 36 day voyage from Byron Bay to Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Titled “Transparentsea” the initiative, which began on October 1st, aims to draw attention to the plight of the migrating humpback whales as the team follows their path south and to highlight issues of environmental concern to do with Australia’s East Coast.
Speaking from Point Plomer near Crescent Head on Day 20, Rastovich acknowledged the numerous, unforgettable whale and dolphin encounters his team had experienced. However, the alarming amount of debris that has been located and collected at the various locations the team has visited is a concern.
“At times, adult humpback whales and their calves have chosen to surface two feet away from our kayaks, which has just been amazing,” explained Rastovich.
“We’ve also camped in some of the most beautiful beachside campgrounds and surfed those beaches, but picked up hundreds and hundreds pieces of plastic and rubbish in places that look ‘Good from far, but are far from good’,” he added.
Rastovich, who says his team is on track to reach Bondi by the planned date of November 5th, also urged everyone who shared the vision of the Transparentsea environmental awareness initiative to support the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founded by anti-whaling activist Paul Watson.
Rastovich noted that the Sea Shepherd is the only organisation planning to send a vessel to help defend the whales in the Southern Ocean sanctuary from Japanese whalers in December. While Watson has been a focus of the media after Australian Immigration denied his entry based on issues to do with his visa.
“It has been very disappointing to learn that the Australian Government recently obstructed Paul Watson’s entry to Australia, rather than welcoming him as a great defender of the whales,” said Rastovich.
“Instead of upholding their pre election promise to challenge Japanese whaling in international court and to protect the Southern Ocean sanctuary, the Australian Government appears to have turned their back on the whales that are once again under threat.”
It’s anticipated that dozens of surfers and well wishers will welcome the Transparentsea voyagers, which includes Rastovich, fellow surfer, artist and activist Chris Del Moro (San Diego, CA, USA), musician Will Conner (Byron Bay, NSW), photographer Hilton Dawe (Byron Bay, NSW), a support team and special guests, when they negotiate the last few hundred metres from the sea to the shore at Bondi Beach on November 5th.
For plenty more amazing pictures and blogs from Dave and the Transparent team about Dave’s journey visit www.transparentseavoyage.com.
Be sure to pick up copy of the November issue of Transworld Snowboarding magazine. Electric sensation Pat Moore is on the cover and has a Twelve Page interview that will give you all the info you need on the All American shred-star.
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