Thursday, December 3, 2009

JFA '85 Skate Tour shirt


I've been buying, trading and collecting hardcore shirts for a long, long time and like any collection, there's always that one piece that kicks it all off. My start came in 1986 from a small and short lived punk record / merch store in my town called Grot. Nestled in the back of a tiny and quite strip mall with it's main draw being a Chinese restaurant, Grot was one of those virtually hidden gems. Hanging over the door was a hand painted, totally punked out Grot store sign done by Philadelphia punk artist / Pagan Babies drummer, Bruce Boyd. Working in the store was a local mohawked punk rocker named Jon LeVine of Faith Fanzine / Records fame.

At this point in time I was 12 years old and for the most part, cared about very little other than skateboarding. The only thing that I was starting to take interest in other than skateboarding, was punk rock and that's mainly because at the time, the two went hand in hand. One band that made the skateboarding to punk rock connection so strong, was Arizona's own, JFA. I remember hearing JFA for the first time on the second Thrasher Skate Rock comp, "Blazing Wheels and Barking Trucks". Their track, the classic, "Beach Blanket Bongout" was one of my favorite tracks off that comp and I became an instant fan.


One day while scouring the Grot t shirt racks I stumbled upon this JFA '85 Skate Tour shirt and knew I had to buy it. Not only was it a t shirt from one of my newly found favorite bands, but it also had a skateboarding skeleton on it, which made for the perfect combination. For some reason or another I've been lucky enough to hang on to this shirt for all these years. On top of that, the shirt is still in great condition with no holes and stains. Granted it's a Screen Stars XL from 1985, so the fit is definitely a bit snug, but I can still get some wear out of it.

Expect more DCXX entries like this one based on other shirts pulled from my hardcore shirt collection. -Tim DCXX


17 comments:

  1. I had the tie-died shirt with Reagan on it... wish I still had it!

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  2. Yeah JFA! Arizona style. Still at it these days. I've seen Brian around skating here and there. He rips! You can get a version of that shirt (without the 85 Skate Tour) on eBay.

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  3. Man, I had that shirt, minus the '85 tour, and the tie dye reagan, both long gone... sad!

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  4. cool post, tim. JFA has been around forever! where was that store you mentioned? i never heard of it. sounds pretty cool though!

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  6. Nestled in the back of a tiny and quite strip mall with it's main draw being a Chinese restaurant...

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  7. I like your blog very much. It has nice photo and designs that has got a flavor of youth.

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  8. I loved the JFA tshirt..It is printed so nicely, I must say.Someone please tell me, how can I get it?

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  9. I want those t-shirt . thanks for share . Keep up good things .

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  12. At this point in time I was 12 years old and for the most part, cared about very little other than skateboarding.

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