Meekster Brau

Colter Romero, Corner Invert, Buena Vista.

Here is a photo that took of taking a picture of me taking a pic of and a photo of me taking a photo of Colter that Chris took, then the photo of Colter that I took, it’s like a barrel of monkeys I tell ya!!

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Today I am 11 years sober!! Feeling healthy and happy, completely content with everything going on in my life, drama free and full of stoke!! Getting sober is definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life, for myself, my family (who have been nothing short of amazing in their support for me) and my friends. Thank you all for everything!! 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you for all your patience and love throughout the last 33 years, I’ve learned so much from you, it’s amazing!!

Today I get to enjoy an amazing gift from my good friend , thank you Nellie you have been a major support factor in my sobriety!!

A photo of me taking a photo of the band for their upcoming European Tour, photo of me taken by






hat

Jump Ramps and Street Plants, no thank you!! Caught in a moment of non enjoyable “street ramping” at a demo at Harvey West in Santa Cruz lol

My old friend Dion just handed this off to me about 30 minutes ago. He took it back in 1986. I remember when I was skating pro back in the mid 80’s it was a different world than it is today. The industry was in control of your destiny, your sponsors held your career in their hands, no social media to promote yourself, I skated demos, spots and with people I never would have chosen to skate with a lot of times, just to please my sponsors. I was not very good at my job, I believe I pretty much let my sponsors down. It wasn’t me, I didn’t enjoy competing, never have. When I was skating for a living I was surfing way more than I was skating. I was always more comfortable in the underground movement of skating rather than the commercial part of skating. Don’t get me wrong, I had insane times and met people that would become lifelong friends but skating as a job ruined it for me. When I was let go back in 1988, I didn’t try to hard to keep that lifestyle alive, I went back underground and skated with my friends, I was skating more and still progressing and it just felt right again. Skateboarding was fun once again!!

When I saw this photo today it just brought back memories of skating things/spots that I would never have skated if I had not had to. So I thought I would share. Be yourself and never let anyone tell you who you are!!

Skateboarding has been really good to me the last 50 plus years. I have learned so much in life through skateboarding, I am very thankful for everything, opportunities, friends, a career in the design world and traveling. These things likely would not have happened if I didn’t first pick up that “vehicle of pain and joy” back in 1973/74.

Colter Romero flying high above his own creation.





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This pic shows everyone in one photo, RIP Mike, you will be missed!!!

Great turnout yesterday at Derby for Mike Carrillo’s ceremony of life. I saw a lot of people I haven’t seen in decades.

My condolences go out to all of Mike’s family and friends, we lost a good one.

Raging Waters deep pool, they drained it, we skated it, 1986.

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Nice Mothers Day hike today, love you Danna you are such an amazing Mother/Wife…

So last night was a pretty crazy night, I started out the night going to my goid friend artshow at the ,then jammed over to the Vet’s Hall to see Slam, Casino Youth, Nothing Over Silence, Intrusive, Give You Nothing, IDWTHI and Worship, I didn’t get there until Intrusive’s set, then had to leave in the middle of IDWTHI set, so I could get to the Crepe Place to see The Scalps , Hayride To Hell and The Monsters from Switzerland . I took photos at all three locations but I am only going to post a few photos from the Crepe Place gig, I will post the other photos in a different post.

All the bands killed it last night!!!

I can’t believe I pulled off all three gigs, lol if you know me well, you know I get really comfortable just chillin at home…

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I know I’m a little late but I got my 62 bday grinds in today, thanks for the hospitality and photo!!




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Drunk Injuns shot from side/backstage Trippy Blurry Effect. This gig was like reunion. Great show all bands laid it out, good times!!

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It’s called a Frontside Hazard, kind of a boneless frontside invert deal but not as rad as either of the moves. I’m riding a Bullet Deck so this is a year before the first Slasher deck launched. I was as running production at NHS at this point in time, hired Mike Neider then Dave Freil, it was the 2 of us pulling squeegees for a while, then Dave came on after NHS moved to Soquel from 40th Ave. thousands of boards, good times!!

More Capitola Classic 1984 shots from Matt Ethridge

meeksterbrau.com

Some old photos are starting to surface for the first time ever. Here is a shot of Fausto handing me my 7th place check at the 1984 Capitola Classic, Kevin Thatcher is also in the photo. I’ve never seen this shot until today and it means a lot to me to have Kevin Thatcher looking down at me while I accept my winnings, he had a huge part in molding me when I was a grom, so this photo speaks wonders to me. I lived with my mom on Depot Hill at this time so to enter the contest all I had to do was roll out of bed and skate down the block to the contest. Skating against the best in the world in front of all your friends i. your own neighborhood, how often does that happen. After a run people would hand me beers and pat me on the back as I walked back up the hill, the support was insane!! I’ll never forget that feeling. I took my winnings and bought a keg for the Derby after party/skate sesh. Good times with good people…

Photo: Matt Ethridge

meeksterbrau.com




#1984

Meekster Brau Mafia zip hoodies in stock now!! Get some, it’s easy just click the link…

Capitola Wharf, 1982. This spot used to break every year in the winter months, I hear it is pretty rare these days but still happens every now and then. Back in the early 80’s you could surf this left even when it was breaking out towards the end of the wharf, there was a right off of it also. We used to walk out to the boat launch and wait for sets then jump in the water and let the current pull us into the line up, you could hold onto ropes from the boat launch also to avoid the current, you had to time it right though, if you let go of the rope or jumped off the boat launch at the wrong time and missed the wave, the strong current would drag you down the beach, you could paddle against the current or come in and try your luck again with the boat launch. This was only on the bigger days. When the swell was the size of this photo the current wasn’t too bad. Back then they used to open the river on the north side of the flew (not sure how to spell it) I think this would help the sand build up in front of the beach but now they open the river up on the south side of the flew so the river runs out by the jetty, not sure but maybe this is why it doesn’t break like it used to. Anyway it was always a short lived sand bar that we always kept an eye out for. There was a huge crew that would surf it, dudes like myself, Tony Roberts, Chris Heinen, Wharfy, the Lansing brothers, the Douglas brothers, John Hunter, Todd Adams, the Reed brothers, Adam Replogle, the list goes on…

Mugger gave me this sticker back in 1980, when Black Flag played the warehouse gig at Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz and I still have it 44 years later. If you don’t know who Mugger is, he was the roadie for BF in the early years and started the band Nig-Heist. I met him that night at the gig, he pointed to me and handed me the mic to see Louie Louie for Black Flag. The band ended up staying at my friends Frank and Brent’s studio that night, then saw them again the next night at 10th Street Hall in SF, then a week later in Reno days, too many stories to type lol

Those days were epic, getting screamed at by people driving by, food thrown at us, we would walk into parties and people would start calling out DEVO lol I even heard it in the line up surfing back then, funny thing is all those people ended up cutting their hair and listening to punk when it became safe and excepted lol

Good times, just found this sticker in a drawer, thought I’d share…

Still got some old flyers around somewhere??




lol

Not sure what year this was taken but I do know it was the first runs I took at Lake Cunningham. I was there checking out a contest, drinking beers and catching up with old friends when I decided to take some runs.

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New logo for Danny Ward Real Estate in Santa Cruz. Danny is related to the original Mitchell Brothers that Mitchell Cove is named after, so we went the Mitchell’s Cove route with the design. This is a view of the tip of the cove from West Cliff Drive. If you live in Santa Cruz or have ever driven West Cliff, you’ve definitely seen this view.

If you are looking for any design/layout work or need a logo hit me...

[email protected]

Best Road Crew ever!! Reeps, Todd Prince, John Long and Jason Freeland, doesn’t get more real than this. Todd wasn’t on the road with us but he is part of the crew no less.

This was an epic journey to Arizona with a stop at Reeps in Desert Hot Springs for a session at his kidney, cold dip in his other pool and Cheesy Tacos on the outdoor grill.

We need to get back on the road boys, what you say?

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I just found this old photo of my daughter Madi and her Great Grandmother Sally Caponetto, they are in living room of her Palos Verdes house that Madi’s Great Grandfather had built back in 1948, one of the first houses built in that location. From that chair you can see all the way up to Malibu on a clear day. The house is still in the family to this day. Whenever I was visiting with our family for holidays I would run down the trail in front of their house and surf Haggerty’s or RAT beach. Good times were spent at that house, these days Danna’s mom Annette rents the place out. The Capponetto’s were a well respected Sicilian family in the Palos Verdes community for decades, sure do miss those two. Anyway, this photo brought back some fond memories and has some emotional value to me, so I thought I would share. 🙏🙏🙏

The influenced and the influencer…

Happy 60th Birthday Clifford, it’s been a good run, keep it going my friend!!!

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No way I post post all the photos I took this night, I’ve got a special project in mind for ya Cliff.

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Slappin a rock in the little bowl a few months back…

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This pool in Carmel Valley was huge at least 3 feet of vertical but completely rippable. Got it about 3 times, wonder what the state of it is these days? let’s check it out? Had a sick session here with and with filming.

Never before seen shots:

Happy Jay Day!! Jay Adams was one of my top 3 guys when I was a grom, I loved seeing photos of him in the mag. I would eventually see Jay skate for the first time in person at the Hester Series Newark contest and I was not let down, see fu***ng aggressive, just ripping. Then I got to meet him later that year at Wi******er, we were learning inverts together on the washboard, I didn’t talk to him, I was kinda trippin just skating next to him, taking turns bailing on inverts, he just started chatting me up and we started asking each other questions about what we were doing wrong, that’s when I realized Jay was different from most of the other pros at the time, he was real, he was cool, he made you feel like you have known him for years. That day always stuck in my head!! Then I got to see him a few months later on a trip with Mike Fox to Marina Del Rey, I was skating the Dogbowl and he was chilling on the deck with some of his homies, I was gonna say anything to him cause I only met him that once but he called me over, complimented me on my style and backside airs, that’s when I reminded him of the time we were learning inverts at Wi******er. We ended up gibing Jay a ride out to Lakewood and back, burned a huge joint that took between the two of us. I couldn’t even skate I was so baked. We said lates and that was it until he popped into Santa Cruz Surfshop with my soon to be friend Frank Vanderhoff who was one of the first punks in SC, Jay remembered me and we were hanging the entire to he was staying at Frank’s, good times, Jay only brought a long sleeve spring suit with punk graffiti all over it of (in the middle of winter lol) The next time I saw him was in the early to mid 80’s, he was back in town and staying at my buddy Ward Bowers house, again we had some sick times, hanging, and surfing and skating. Then he came back about a year or so later and lived with me on 35th Ave. on the Point for months, we surfed, skated and raged everyday until he broke his arm at Raging Waters ramp. Later on in time Jay would pull in out of the blue at crazy hours to my house with homies from Venice, I’d run into him at contests for years to come!! Man I miss running into him!!

Raging Waters, San Jose, 1986/87.

Two years in a row they drained the deep pool at the now closed down Raging Waters in San Jose, I was among the lucky handful that got to skate this 12’ deep beast. While dudes were a couple of hundred yards away skating the legendary ramp, we were satisfied with the pool.

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Snapping one off in the shallows, Charm Bowl, Scotts Valley, 1988.

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Stoked on this new collab with Bad Grease. These are available now at badgrease.com but hurry up if you want one, only 50 were made!!

(9.125” x 31” with 15” WB)

Part Two drops at 8:00pm tonight, go to talkinschmit.com or hit link in bio.

Well, I’ve received quite a few messages from friends concerned with my bad language :) but instead of apologizing or trying to make up any excuses for my bad language, Schmitty and I decided to embrace it with our “F-Bomb Blowout” Challenge.

WIN A SLASHER COMPLETE, MEEKSTERBRAU SHIRT AND HAT

First one to email: [email protected] with the correct number of F-Bombs dropped by me wins!!

I promise I’ll clean my act up lol…

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Someone just set up a phony Keith Meek account, don't except any friend requests from me!!!! Beware the kooks are everywhere!!!