Northwest Legends
I moved from Atlanta to Seattle in the summer of 1990. The music scene was bursting at the seams and many local bands were on the verge of being catapulted into international rock stardom to a degree that was unimaginable for most musicians. It was impossible for me to avoid being sucked in by the frenetic energy on the Seattle music scene during that time. I would see a show every night at one of the many music venues in and around the city. I was in heaven.
I landed a job at the OK Hotel my first week in town. It was a cafe/art space in Pioneer Square and in its infancy, we’d move the tables and chairs aside to accommodate the music stage. The great contribution that was to be made by this legendary establishment was yet to be imagined, but the OK Hotel’s significance is forever cemented into Seattle’s music history.
As the venue expanded and the stage was built to accommodate bigger bands, I was keenly aware of the fortunate position I had been tossed into… I drove 3000 miles across country with no real plan. My fate was being designed by some curious force beyond my control, a theory that was to be made even more apparent after my first week at the OK Hotel when I met the owner of the snowboard shop next door.
My first question was “What’s snowboard? That sounds dumb.”
John Logic put down the stapler he’d been using to install the carpeting in his brand new shop and walked me to a chair facing a TV. He handed me a shot of Jagersmeister, a lit joint (after verifying my age) and he popped in a video depicting people participating in this mysterious snowboard sport I’d never heard of in Atlanta, Ga.
And there was Craig Kelly. He stomped and spit enormous pillows of snow and hurled his body off of gigantic cliffs, I felt a surge of unfiltered adrenalin (and Jager) hit my system with such a rage it sent me leaping out of the chair, swearing a lot, and I marched to John who had gone back to stapling carpeting and screamed “How do I get to do this?!! Can I go now?!” He responded with “You’re hired!”. And with that, I was officially the second Snowboard Connection employee. I did have to wait for a couple of months. For snow. Because summertime. But in that moment, my life changed in deeply profound ways. I finally had a plan.
This piece, Northwest Legends, is all of those memories and that rush of adrenaline rolled into one.
The board is Mike Ranquet’s 1994 signature board by Lamar. Mike was an integral figure on the budding snowboard scene, blazing a trail for the pack, legitimizing snowboarding as an actual profession and not just an obsessive pass time.
The image on the board is Tom Price’s Les Paul. Tom Price’s resume is comprised of legendary Seattle bands stretching back into the 80’s. He was one of the true pioneers of the Seattle music scene (Gas Huffer, U-Men and you can still catch him knocking socks off in The Tom Price Desert Classic).
I scored this board at Tom’s yard sale last year. It was given to him by Mike Ranquet. I tried to keep my fan-girl geekdom to a low rumble as I strolled out of the house with it. On the outside I was super cool, but inside my head there was cacophonous squealing and joy jumping. The score of the century.
It took me awhile to bring this project to completion, because slack, and there are subtle imperfections and a few spots where I “whoops!” spaced out and lost my line. Still, I’m so happy with it. I think it’s a gorgeous piece and a tribute to two of my favorites.
Cheers to you both, Mike and Tom! And thanks.
I moved from Atlanta to Seattle in the summer of 1990. The music scene was bursting at the seams and many local bands were on the verge of being catapulted into international rock stardom to a degree that was unimaginable for most musicians. It was impossible for me to avoid being sucked in by the frenetic energy on the Seattle music scene during that time. I would see a show every night at one of the many music venues in and around the city. I was in heaven.
I landed a job at the OK Hotel my first week in town. It was a cafe/art space in Pioneer Square and in its infancy, we’d move the tables and chairs aside to accommodate the music stage. The great contribution that was to be made by this legendary establishment was yet to be imagined, but the OK Hotel’s significance is forever cemented into Seattle’s music history.
As the venue expanded and the stage was built to accommodate bigger bands, I was keenly aware of the fortunate position I had been tossed into… I drove 3000 miles across country with no real plan. My fate was being designed by some curious force beyond my control, a theory that was to be made even more apparent after my first week at the OK Hotel when I met the owner of the snowboard shop next door.
My first question was “What’s snowboard? That sounds dumb.”
John Logic put down the stapler he’d been using to install the carpeting in his brand new shop and walked me to a chair facing a TV. He handed me a shot of Jagersmeister, a lit joint (after verifying my age) and he popped in a video depicting people participating in this mysterious snowboard sport I’d never heard of in Atlanta, Ga.
And there was Craig Kelly. He stomped and spit enormous pillows of snow and hurled his body off of gigantic cliffs, I felt a surge of unfiltered adrenalin (and Jager) hit my system with such a rage it sent me leaping out of the chair, swearing a lot, and I marched to John who had gone back to stapling carpeting and screamed “How do I get to do this?!! Can I go now?!” He responded with “You’re hired!”. And with that, I was officially the second Snowboard Connection employee. I did have to wait for a couple of months. For snow. Because summertime. But in that moment, my life changed in deeply profound ways. I finally had a plan.
This piece, Northwest Legends, is all of those memories and that rush of adrenaline rolled into one.
The board is Mike Ranquet’s 1994 signature board by Lamar. Mike was an integral figure on the budding snowboard scene, blazing a trail for the pack, legitimizing snowboarding as an actual profession and not just an obsessive pass time.
The image on the board is Tom Price’s Les Paul. Tom Price’s resume is comprised of legendary Seattle bands stretching back into the 80’s. He was one of the true pioneers of the Seattle music scene (Gas Huffer, U-Men and you can still catch him knocking socks off in The Tom Price Desert Classic).
I scored this board at Tom’s yard sale last year. It was given to him by Mike Ranquet. I tried to keep my fan-girl geekdom to a low rumble as I strolled out of the house with it. On the outside I was super cool, but inside my head there was cacophonous squealing and joy jumping. The score of the century.
It took me awhile to bring this project to completion, because slack, and there are subtle imperfections and a few spots where I “whoops!” spaced out and lost my line. Still, I’m so happy with it. I think it’s a gorgeous piece and a tribute to two of my favorites.
Cheers to you both, Mike and Tom! And thanks.
I moved from Atlanta to Seattle in the summer of 1990. The music scene was bursting at the seams and many local bands were on the verge of being catapulted into international rock stardom to a degree that was unimaginable for most musicians. It was impossible for me to avoid being sucked in by the frenetic energy on the Seattle music scene during that time. I would see a show every night at one of the many music venues in and around the city. I was in heaven.
I landed a job at the OK Hotel my first week in town. It was a cafe/art space in Pioneer Square and in its infancy, we’d move the tables and chairs aside to accommodate the music stage. The great contribution that was to be made by this legendary establishment was yet to be imagined, but the OK Hotel’s significance is forever cemented into Seattle’s music history.
As the venue expanded and the stage was built to accommodate bigger bands, I was keenly aware of the fortunate position I had been tossed into… I drove 3000 miles across country with no real plan. My fate was being designed by some curious force beyond my control, a theory that was to be made even more apparent after my first week at the OK Hotel when I met the owner of the snowboard shop next door.
My first question was “What’s snowboard? That sounds dumb.”
John Logic put down the stapler he’d been using to install the carpeting in his brand new shop and walked me to a chair facing a TV. He handed me a shot of Jagersmeister, a lit joint (after verifying my age) and he popped in a video depicting people participating in this mysterious snowboard sport I’d never heard of in Atlanta, Ga.
And there was Craig Kelly. He stomped and spit enormous pillows of snow and hurled his body off of gigantic cliffs, I felt a surge of unfiltered adrenalin (and Jager) hit my system with such a rage it sent me leaping out of the chair, swearing a lot, and I marched to John who had gone back to stapling carpeting and screamed “How do I get to do this?!! Can I go now?!” He responded with “You’re hired!”. And with that, I was officially the second Snowboard Connection employee. I did have to wait for a couple of months. For snow. Because summertime. But in that moment, my life changed in deeply profound ways. I finally had a plan.
This piece, Northwest Legends, is all of those memories and that rush of adrenaline rolled into one.
The board is Mike Ranquet’s 1994 signature board by Lamar. Mike was an integral figure on the budding snowboard scene, blazing a trail for the pack, legitimizing snowboarding as an actual profession and not just an obsessive pass time.
The image on the board is Tom Price’s Les Paul. Tom Price’s resume is comprised of legendary Seattle bands stretching back into the 80’s. He was one of the true pioneers of the Seattle music scene (Gas Huffer, U-Men and you can still catch him knocking socks off in The Tom Price Desert Classic).
I scored this board at Tom’s yard sale last year. It was given to him by Mike Ranquet. I tried to keep my fan-girl geekdom to a low rumble as I strolled out of the house with it. On the outside I was super cool, but inside my head there was cacophonous squealing and joy jumping. The score of the century.
It took me awhile to bring this project to completion, because slack, and there are subtle imperfections and a few spots where I “whoops!” spaced out and lost my line. Still, I’m so happy with it. I think it’s a gorgeous piece and a tribute to two of my favorites.
Cheers to you both, Mike and Tom! And thanks.