Planning the formation if The Ryan Christopher Maki Foundation

Deranged Brain LLC, which is Corpsehustler Skateboards, is planning to found the Ryan Christopher Maki Foundation. The Foundation will be a Non-Profit Organization that will help Children of broken homes, as well as from low income families get access to Skateboards, Safety Equipment, as well as access to Musical Instruments and Music Instruction in the hope of giving them a head start in the direction of a positive healthy active lifestyle. Hopefully which will keep them from being a statistic related to violent crime, drug addiction, gang activities.

In addition The RCMF will also plant Hard Rock Maple Seedlings in an effort to replenish the number of Trees cut down to be used by the Skateboarding Industry as well as other Industries.

The Ryan Christopher Maki Foundation will also donate to The Tony Hawk Foundation. The Mission From their website is to.

"The Tony Hawk Foundation seeks to foster lasting improvements in society, with an emphasis on supporting and empowering youth. Through special events, grants, and technical assistance, the Foundation supports recreational programs with a focus on the creation of public skateboard parks in low-income communities. The Foundation favors programs that clearly demonstrate that funds received will produce tangible, ongoing, positive results."

Corpsehustler Skateboards will donate a percentage of it's profits the The Ryan Christopher Maki Foundation. In turn The RCM Foundation will donte to The Tony Hawk Foundation to Assist their effort To Stand Up for Skate Parks. It may seem obsurd for a Start Up Company that has not even raised seed money to be talking about "Donating Profits", but a major function of starting a Midwest Skateboard Brand was to be able to make a difference in Skateboarders Lives. A positive Difference. Currently we are raising seed money, and have high and lofty goals.

Who is Ryan Christopher Maki?
Ryan Christopher Maki, was affectionately Known by his many loving friends as "Maki". He was a big hearted gentle giant, and was thought of highly by every person he ever met. A hardworking butcher by trade, who was an avid Death Metal Music enthusiast. He had the largest home stereo set up I personally had ever seen. He had a collection of over 200 death metal CDs. Maki would also probably want me to mention his love of Mexican food. He often described himself as "Part Mexican" to which I'd reply "Yeah your lower intestine and bowels".

He was a very generous person that would always help a friend in need. Although he was not famous he was a legend in the Madison Wisconsin Area for his wild parties, and his harmless demeanor. Maki was the best friend I had in the world, and the only other friend I had that still loved Death Metal. He also was an avid Skateboard Fanatic. When Maki and I first met Skateboarding was the common thread that founded our friendship.

Maki and I had more than just skateboarding in common. Both of us were children of single mothers. Both of our fathers were not a part of our lives. Maki was someone who understood the demented sickness of my sense of humor and also always was straight forward with me. He was one of the most honest people I have ever known.

If Ryan Maki were alive today he would be my right hand man in the formation of Corpsehustler Skateboards. I know he would see the heart of my vision, and support me 100%, even loaning me money if I needed to make it come true. Also I am sure he would be behind the meaning of Corpsehustler Skateboards. Not only the goal to have the worlds most extreme horror skateboard graphics. But also the goal of making the difference in the lives of today’s skateboarding youth as well as a positive environmental impact.

Maki's friends were shocked at the passing of this amazing and unique soul in May of 2011. Although Maki was not famous, the world is a dimmer place without him in it to make the rest of us smile and be in awe of his winning demeanor. More than once have I contemplated my hope that Maki was reincarnated into the body of my Son James, II. I guess I'll find out if when I ask him to clean up his room before he can go to the skate park if a majority of the mess is Taco wrappers.

R.I.P. Ryan Christopher Maki 1979 - 2011. I promise never to let you be forgotten my brother from another single mother!

Pockets of resistance amoungst positive feedback...

So recently I printed up my business card. My current slave labor job is in a copy center at a Insurance Company in the Madison area. I set up the cards so it could be printed in gray scale, so they wouldn't have to pay the cost of a color print. Printed it, they looked nice so I had them cut down to size at Kinko's since I don't have a machine cutter at work. Getting off topic there, so any way I went around to some local skate shops to hand out my card, and ask them to refer any skaters inquiring about sponsorships they were not interested in to my business card.

Here is where I decide to be a "dick" or not in this blog. Which I wont be since I would like to build a relationship with these shops eventually. There are not many skate shops in the Madison Area so if you are near me you can probably guess who I am referring to.

The first shop I went into I was optimistic because on the front door it says "Support Local" in big white decal lettering. Apparently this only applies to their shop, and any of "their friends" products or companies.

When I asked if they'd be likely to carry the Corpsehustler brand they answered a self serving "No, not really, We already carry two Wisconsin brands"

"1031, and Beer City?" I inquired.

"No, a local Madison Company Community Skateboards, and Avela which is a company of one of our friends"

Hmmm it sounds like they are giving priority to the brands they want to and ignoring what the customer really is after. I don't mean to be a jerk, but those two brands could fall right out of the industry and no one would notice I'm sure. 1031 Skateboards has some pretty interesting logos and graphics, and Beer City is just that. A great American Blank Company that you could buy a nice all American low cost blank. Personally I'd rather support a company that sponsored skateboarders and put their graphics out for sale. But I do own a Beer City Blank I bought in 2006. It's a great deck.

"Whatever" I thought and handed him my cards and told him it would be up to him if he handed them out. At least he was nice.

Now the thing that ran true when entering both of these shops. And this goes for previous shopping, and browsing experiences. They are eerily empty of customers when you go in. I am thinking they are shaking in their boots that they and their precious "friends companies" are going to suffer because of Big Bad Corpsehustler Skateboards. In all honesty I want them to flourish. Good competition is what breeds winners. Would a pro skater want to enter a rigged contest? No, they want to prove their worth against the best! We don't have any street cred, but I guarantee were not going to be a company to be ignored, either people will love us, or hate us. Anything else is suicide in an industry that is so watered down.

The next shop was a few days later on State Street in Madison. On my way there on my Diamondback Mr. Lucky BMX bike I ran into a few local skaters and gave them my cards. I was happily met with "Cools", and "This is something Madison is missing", meaning a Horror skateboard company. I was intending to give them some free blank deck samples to test if products were good enough to have my brand name on them. Unfortunately none of them contacted me after the initial in person meeting.

So this "State Street Shop" which apparently is really popular with the local punk, metal head, skate scene was dead when I went in. The cashier let me bring in my bike as long as I put it aside out of the way.

I approached him with the same good natured spiel. "Do you wanna hand out my card if your not interested in sponsoring skaters?"

He took offense for me even insinuating such a thing saying. "We sponsor pretty much every body so, we wouldn't do that because we wouldn't want the competition."

What? What? What? I forget what my response was but I was floored. These skaters they sponsor mean nothing more to them than a walking, skating bill board. You know they are greedy assholes since their shop boards are "Made in Mexico", yet they charge a whopping $45 dollars for them as if that's consolation for having some ten year old enslaved for peanuts to make them.

The parting comment from this guy was. "Why even start a skateboard company?"

By this time I was done with him. I replied with "Because I want to!" and walked out.

Never again will I set foot in that store, because they have shown their true greedy two faced colors to me. If they want to sell my products they can order them from a distributor. I have been a consumer for more than 25 years for skateboards, accessories, DVDs, clothing. I was loyal to a shop at one time. They eventually started treating me like a dollar sign. I went to use a gift certificate there I got as a present for Christmas. They sighed and said, "That's fifty less dollars going in our bonuses", and the shop owner who had been the same man that sold me my first trucks, wheels, gave me a dirty look.



On to more happy matters. I finally gave away the first samples of some of the products that the Corpshustler Skateboards brand will be using. I'd never have expected trying to give away gear in return for just a email telling me how it stood up would be so damn hard!

Although the decks I gave away I found were made in China mostly, and I wont stand for that. I just ordered sample decks from a verified full USA made company. They should be arriving in about a week or so.

Here is a YouTube video of the deck manufacturing process courtesy of Sk8factory.com. Notice real live Americans making the decks.

The Idea, Meaning, and Motivation behind creating Corpsehustler Skateboards

Being a life long skateboarder, of 26 years I've had a love affair with the fantastic phenomenon of skateboarding since I can remember. At age eight, my Grandfather purchased me a Nash Executioner. This was an awesome starter board. It had some bitchin' graphics of a sick looking dragon with multiple heads standing on a pile of human skulls. It was neon pink or orange, and I loved the thing! But I eventually spray painted it, as I began to be ashamed of riding a Nash.

Soon after I realized that this was a generic brand, and there were pro quality skateboards out there. My uncle that is 5 years older had a Powell-Peralta Rat Bones deck, and every piece of hardware was a custom selection. I eventually started begging for a Powell-Peralta Tony Hawk deck. Which I eventually got, as one of the only presents from my estranged father who was living in Austin Texas at the time. I ordered it from the California Connection (Now under the moniker CCS) catalog I had signed up to receive. When the deck came it was way too big for me, but I was so tits, and ass excited that I couldn't have cared. I told my mom that it was pro quality and I would grow into it.

Yet it was just a deck. I still needed all the wheels, hardware, accessories, like rib bones, lapper, tail bone, copers, you name it I had to have it. We were basically on welfare, and moving place to place running from my Mothers abusive boyfriends. My Father had to give out his credit card info to my Mother to complete it, and we went to the then, best skate shop in Madison Wisconsin, Flying Fish. I was literally like a kid in a candy store. My mother was actually younger, and the shop owner was kissing our ass to try to get in my Moms panties. A dirty ass hippie named Ben, and I would have loved if my Mother was fucking the owner of a skateboard shop. It would have been so much better than the scum of the earth she had dated up until then.

Invariably I ended up with Tracker Ultra-Light Trucks, Tracker Copers, OJ II Wheels, German Bearings, Powell-Peralta Rib Bones, Lapper, Nose Bone, Tail Bone. When all was assembled and done, the thing was heavy as hell, and was a tank. I was full of pride, and could not wait to get my little blond haired, blue eyed, ass on the streets and raise hell! Since then I had several Powell-Peralta decks, in the 80's other than the Tony Hawk I had a Steve Caballero, Mike McGill decks. Most with similar trucks and hardware. Then I got a Cell-Block Hellraiser deck. It had a graphic with a likeness of Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes. He had a pinhead face from the hellraiser movies and was dragging a half ripped apart Hobbes. This deck was loaned to a friend, and it got stolen. The only deck I still do not have to this day. This was when the skateboard shapes started to move toward todays short board shape. I got a Powell-Peralta blank deck, and then a Planet Earth deck with some really cool graphics that were a metaphor for the raping of the oceans, and sea life by commercial fishing.

I had learned to Ollie on the Caballero Deck, kick flip mechanics on the McGill deck. What stood out most to me, and was the major reason for my purchases was the graphics. They gave the deck personality, and were a statement about me, and my individuality. Never was I a conformist, and in the 80's skateboarding was a counter culture phenomenon. You were labeled, as a skater punk if you skated. Still a majority of the graphics that caught my eye, and my parent's wallet contents were 99% graphics that contained some horror element. Bones of animals, Dragons, Skulls, etc.

Sometime in my early twenties, my relationship with skateboarding started to fade. I began to drink, and do drugs, and all the while skateboarding was always in my heart. It got neglected. Thinking back, I have had many countless hours of happy enjoyment, physical activity, and self confidence from skateboarding. It's a sad thing. Growing up, I was lost and I realize now at the age of 34, that skateboarding kept me on a good path. I changed schools almost every year, and being a skater helped me make friends. To this day some of my long time best friends in the world's friendships started with the simple question. "Hey do you skate?" During my youth, had there been the acceptance to the sport there is now, and the number of public skate parks there are. I may have ended up somewhere else.

Recently after being in a drug rehab program I rediscovered my love for skating that's always been there. By no means am I a good skater. But I do love skateboarding. There is nothing in the world barring being in love with someone like I am with my Fiance', Nicole that can top the feeling of landing that first... Ollie, kick flip, it's a personal accomplishment that helps build character in the way that it took so much work and dedication to do. You achieved something that you've assigned this high value to. There is a beauty, and art to skateboarding that creates the awe that's made the sport have such longevity, that it even remains a steady industry when the economy is in downturn.

This year I finally fixed my Beer City Blank board with twenty year old Gullwing trucks on it. The Kingpin had broke the first time I want out to try a 180 Varial three years ago. This year I ordered a kingpin on eBay and repaired the truck. That love affair I've had with skateboarding came rushing back. The fact that I had a son on the way was a big factor in my decision to start my own brand Corpsehustler Skateboards. I wanted to be able to share this with my son to be. Who is now just over a month old, James II. I started looking up old skaters so I could buy their new deck. I found Tony Hawk had a son who was a skater, Riley Hawk. I imagined the feeling Tony got when he saw his son get on his first board and push off. "This is something I want to share with my Son", I thought.

So I ordered a Birdhouse Tony Hawk complete from TGM skateboards' EBay store. Much to my surprise I was able to buy a complete for less than One hundred dollars. I must say I was really impressed with the Amphetamine Bearings, and Core trucks. Now the thing to realize is I'm by no means near well off. By the time I got the board in the mail, and assembled I had some buyers regret and thought of trying to turn it around by selling it as a brand new complete on Craigslist or something. My fiance' said something to me that made me decide not to. It was along the lines of, "you work hard, and it's good to have a healthy hobby". Yet I thought how fun it would be to sell skateboards, and even to watch people ride them. If I could get more people in love with skateboarding, then how much I would help society would make up for the drudgery of my button-pushing slave labor job.

I started looking up "Custom Skateboard" graphics on google for some reason or another. I found several companies that did it. One had a setup where you could have your own board shop online, but the downside was if you wanted to make any serious money you had to gouge the hell out of the consumer. That or make a paltry sum on each deck while they walk away like bandits. As well as there is little opportunity to sponsor skateboarders. After all, to me that would be the best part about running my own brand. To touch people's lives, and to maybe keep someone from having to perform back strains for corporate gains, like I've had to the past twenty some years.

It hit me like a freight train, and I began to feel a lightness come over my being. Like the meaning of my life had just uncovered it's self to me. It had been there all along, and I was too stupid, selfish, and wrapped up in substance abuse to see the nose on my face. I have so many ideas for cool horror graphics, why not start my own skateboard brand. My motivation is my loving, and supportive wife to be Nicole. My wonderful newborn son James William-Walter, II. Also my golden retriever, Europa. You all mean the world to me, and the fact I'm writing again shows I've come back from the abyss. Nothing can stop me now, and watch the fuck out, Corpshustler Skateboards will take the industry by storm.

This blog is the story of what takes place along the way. I hope someone reads it, and is inspired to go out and skateboard. It could change your life.

Also check out our T-Shirt Shop at corpsehustler.spreadshirt.com, then go out skating!

J.W. Hollibush

*Dedicated to my future wife, Nicole, my son James II, and Europa. You've all got me through tough times, and are my inspiration.