Shaqueefa “Business 4 Pleasure” Tour 2006

Words and Photos by Stalker Steve
Captions by The Body

Jake the Snake almost pulled a half-cab into and revert out of this krooked grind. This is one of the plain ol’ krooked grinds he warmed up with

This dude was at the Sarasota Park and bonelessed everything in sight. He also gave me his change cup (about $3.26) for a bright pink Shaqueefa shirt

Johnny Blaze and Jake the Snake. Brothas from different mothas

Poosta jumped straight outta' the Snack Bar to snag this boneless down the double set. He also frontside flipped it on his 3rd board of the Demo. He breaks boards faster than Stalker Steve on a mini-deck

T4PREZ killed all three demos with the swiftness. This is a backside 360 up the step-up

Jeff Lako reppin’ Johnny B’s cigarette company

This guy helped us get the keys out of Johnny Blaze’s locked van. THANKS DUDE!

Fulton wouldn’t let us leave without a floor shot. Not exactly an up-skirt, but you can see a little bit of that one girl’s stomach

Johnny Blaze enjoying one of the pitchers we consumed on the Underdog credit card

Our hosts in Sarasota, Chris Fulton and Chris Lilly from Underdog Skateshop. You can walk to their shop from the Skatepark

Johnny Blaze gets psyched while Chris Lilly gets bitter beer face

L to R - Chris Fulton, WZA, Sadam, Tredubs, and Robby Kirkland hold it down at the Tavern on Main

Girls ain’t scared of Shaqueefa, but a little creeped out by Stalker Steve. This girl wouldn’t even let Steve take this photo of her, so her friend stepped up and made this happen

The Body started the Demo with a classic Wu Tang track while he introduced the squad

The Body floats an ollie over the hip

Who is “The Body” you ask? Well, actually he’s Scotty Conley, Skatepark of Tampa’s resident “lifer” employee and product review writer, but it’s more fun to say he’s the mastermind behind Shaqueefa Threads, Tampa Bay’s finest and most infamous clothing company. See, without any shops even carrying Shaqueefa gear Scotty has managed to create such an underground buzz for his stuff that every SPoT local knows of and regularly reps the shirts (screen printed on inside-out t-shirts from other skate companies). Seeing as how the fan fare for Shaqueefa is so strong it appeared to be a capital time to rake in on the hype and take a tour of Central Florida.

If you’ve seen the Shaqueefa roster you may have noticed all members have nicknames. I will take this opportunity to break down all members of the Tour; however, there are about 15 more on the roster in other areas of the nation unable to attend. The crew is thick, Brotha’.

WZA - Wes Dipold - I knew absolutely nothing about Wes prior to the tour except his real name, which I only knew because of a photo I saw of him on the Skatepark site. I didn’t really talk to him that much, but from what I saw Wes is a good dude

Johnny Blaze - John Gow - He’s an O.G. and has a division of Shaqueefa starting up called “Johnny B’s.” And while smoking isn’t the greatest idea out there, if you are going to blow the tobacco smoke you’d be smarter than the average man by getting your “nic-fix” on a Johnny B!

Sadam (also known as Sad) - Adam Burgess – He is one of the few people I actually knew pre-tour, and threw down proper tricks at all three demos

T4PREZ - Tommy Presley - He’s a SPoT Team Rider and has been on Shaqueefa since day one.

Schaefer - BRIAN SCHAEFER FLAKED ON THE TOUR!

Jake the Snake - Jason Sink - He’s the sort of guy everyone is psyched on. He ripped all the demos busting out the ill tricks down hubbas, ripping manual pads, and doing it all with a unique flair known to no one else.

C-Note - Craig Kaths - He could only make one demo due to his blossoming art career, but Craig held it down in Tampa for the hometown crowd.

The Pirate (aka “METTA”) Ian Gow - Named after his lazy right eye, Ian gave up his spot on the Team a while back for the then-greener grass by way of Volcom. He’s since realized where he belongs, and Ian is back with the crew and ripping as hard as ever. We go to a Demo, he blows doors and does things the park has never seen (use Mesh for an example) and if we went to a street spot he did something equally as amazing.

The Wangsta - Ryan Wantuch - I don’t think I even talked to Wangsta past, “Hey, how’s it going?” or something to that extent, so he’ll have to remain a mystery to you all, too.

Tre Dubs - Ashley Albritton - I didn’t chill with Tre, who was on the Tour and hung at the Wu-Tang show with ease. He kicked back in the Mesh Demo but dropped some tricks in both the Sarasota and SPoT Demos.

Poosta - Ryne Heslin - He was present for the Tampa Demo, but I never said a word to him. Ryne ripped the Demo though so that’s what you need to know.

The Body - Scotty Conley - He’s the owner, art director, team manager, head of accounting, and a team rider for Shaqueefa. Basically, he runs the whole show. Out of all the people on the Tour, I know Body the best.

So the tour dates were Friday the 17th of February through Sunday the 19th (it was a mini tour) with demos set for Sarasota, SPoT, and Mesh on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Chris at Underdog took care of us real nice for this particular Demo. We were greeted with a BBQ and a cooler full of drinks in a special area broke off from the park where Clements announced the demo. A special treat was Jimmy the Greek and his girl Heidi showing up. Actually, we bumped into them at a random Publix grocery store, but it turns out they were just rolling down to skate the park to session.

Needless to say, The Body, T4PREZ, and the entire Team put it down. After the Demo, Scotty sold shirts out of the van to the locals and really came up. Kids were swarmin’ like Killa' Bees to get a shirt!

Then Chris did the right thing again and hooked up a Shaqueefa Demo After-Party at Tavern on Main. A rock band and two hip-hop groups played. Blaze locked the keys in the van and of course he blamed it on WZA. This minor slip-up was the reason we didn’t get out of the SRQ until 1am. Thanks again to Chris at Underdog for getting AAA on the job. That guy is prepared for any kind of danger you got comin’ your way.

Early on in the day we received sad news from SPoT employee Jeff Lako. Legendary east coast skater Harold Hunter had passed away. This was tragic, but still, spirits were high for the Demo on the home turf. As any real OG will tell you...you best rep yo’ city. So in standard fashion the Team got out there, fueled by Jake the Snake’s “Wu-Pod” (an iPod filled with 700 Wu-Tang and Wu solo album song). Body was crowd favorite and the whole crew was hyped on the newest addition to the Team: The return of Ian Gow! So Ian, Body, Snake and Blaze killed the demo with Sadam picking up the rear and getting loose on the box later in the Demo.

After the Demo, autographs were signed for the kids and shirts were sold. Getting in line to rep the local company, Scotty’s mom and sister came out (both donning only the finest in Shaqueefa swag). Since Ryan was in Miami, we had Yonnie Cruz run his mouth for the duration of the Demo, and the crowd was into it. What more could you ask for? Well, how about Demo coverage from the St. Pete Times? Yup, the St. Pete Times sent a reporter out to get the scoop.

We bounced from the Park fairly quick that afternoon after the Demo because we had to get ready for the illest show on earth…the Wu-Tang Clan concert! We got to the venue in St. Pete just in time to endure some random DJ and some unknown rappers while the Wu prepped themselves for what would most certainly be a great show. They broke out classics and other obscure songs, too, with the whole Wu posse there. Body was so stoked on the concert he was humming Wu-beats and rapping the lyrics to himself for the rest of the night and the next morning before, during, and after the Mesh Demo. He is probably whistling some Ghostface beats as you read this.

Actually it was in Longwood, a smaller town just outside Orlando. Former Chapman Team Manager Brett Peterson owns this park that facilitates the skaters and BMX guys as well. The Demo got going a little late and you’re going to be understandably bummed, but my digital camera ran out of batteries and wasn’t in working order.

About 15 minutes into the Demo Ian spots a deck about 5’ tall with about an 8’ gap out to one of the bank ramps and ollied it first try. Then at the call of $20 from Ryan Clements, Ian got into kickflipping the gap to bank which was nailed within five tries. Not to say the other dudes didn’t rip, but Ian dropped at least half a dozen hammers in a 45-minute time span. WZA put it down on the bank to ledge as did Johnny Blaze who schralped the hip. Big thanks to Brett Peterson for hosting and you’d be wise to check out his spacious, pad-free park that has every type of ramp you could think up.

After the demo we hit up two spots in Orlando and I departed from the crew while they headed to Lakeland Hooters. Big thanks to The Body for taking me on this Tour and for the couch space, as well as all the kids that bought Shaqueefa shirts after the Demos. Shout-outs and big-ups to Chris Fulton and Chris Lilly at Underdog Skateshop for not only organizing the Demo, but becoming the first shop to carry Shaqueefa products. More debts of gratitude are in order for Ryan Clements, Johnny Blaze, Shannon, and Tre Dubs,who drove our broke asses to Sarasota and Orlando and Brett Peterson for hosting us at Mesh Skatepark. Watch out for the Shaqueefa DIRTY SOUF tour as soon as The Body makes some money off of T-Shirt sales to fund the trip.

Stalker Steve