PlayToon book

Here is front of the book of the event, featuring photos, text and graphics from Tyneside street sports scenes. So many smiley tales "Early morning Sean would be there, he'd already been there for two hours. Then Bob would turn up and he'd be "YEAH". Then you'd go to Bob's house and skate the mini-ramp in the back garden. It was called Betsy" (Jamie). Do all mini ramps have names? They have histories for sure.

Pilgrim street sign , 2011

This sign appeared on the Bank of England down Pilgrim street sometime in 2011. The "Leap of Faith" finding its rightful place in Newcastle's architectural heritage. The Bank of England is now under attack. Check out most skate, BMX and free running videos from the Tyneside scenes; all the important places are despised plazas, hated concrete ledges or outlands that are nowhere between zombie malls and rotting car parks. Skaters, BMXers and free runners are great explorers and recognise a fine bit of nowhere when they see it.

PlayToon & PlayOut, two weeks away......

The PlayToon exhibition opens 16th May at Holy Biscuit (Shieldfield, Newcastle). On Friday 18th the exhibition is part of Newcastle Late Shows, 7-11pm. On 19th the PlayOut day features live action 4pm onwards hosted by Urban Games with half pipe for skate and BMX, Parkour c/o North east parkour, street dance, DJs and more. Exhibition features photography, video, words and more mysterious objects from Tyneside skate, BMX and PK scenes: work from Bish, Peter Greaves, Ben Larthe, Jacob Garthwaite, Liam Whitfield, Adam Thirtle, Sam Hutchinson, Daniel Dale, Johnny Haynes and many others. All welcome, free event.

"My first proper board.....

...was from Transit, it was £10, it was a blank with an Elements sticker on it, just the best board. Learnt ollies and kicks on it in my street and the next week I went to my friend's street, did an ollie, nose stalled and snapped my board and started crying" (Jamie). Well, it's either that or "mine was an Alien Workshop, but my truck broke and I was really angry so I chucked my board into the river". Which ever way it is a love story.

"Something insufferably patronizing.....

...about the idea that a city like this needed to be made more like Bilbao/ Barcelona/ London (or in an earleir era, Brasilia)" Owen Hatherley, exploring Newcastle's latest regeneration in A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain. It was the 1960s 'Brasilia of the north' regeneration which created so many classic skate spots, not least the plaza and ledges around the Bank of England and Swan House. But the 'Leap of Faith' along the front of the Bank and the step sets on the plaza behind are now fenced off as developers attack the Bank of England. More little playgrounds lost.

"Storming heaven with a millennarian arrogance....

....It's absurd that something so remarkable should be destroyed" (Owen Hatherley, writing about the 'Get Carter' car park in Gateshead in A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain. Now the Bank of England at the bottom of Pilgrim Streeet has great chunks taken out of it. The Bank is a stunning design, Battlestar Galactica re-shaped in the same stone as St Paul's Cathedral. And part of this loss will be the 'Leap of Faith' drop, a rite of passge amongst local skaters (and some in-lines too) and the very spot that kicked off this defence of street sports in the city ia few years back. In case this gets too miserable the Urban Games Launch was a fine mix of dance, bicycle powered smoothies, parkour and emergency pizzas.

Urban Games Launch, 19th April, 6pm, Boiler Shop

The Urban Games crew are launching their 2012 programme with a bash at the Boiler Shop in Newcastle (tucked away behind Central Station off Forth Street).

All welcome: hear what they've got planned leading up to big street shows in Newcastle during the Olympics, plus performances of parkour, street dance and urban music.