Amp'd Mobile and Tony Hawk's Project 8 present the ... Skater of the Year award party: Great American Musical Hall / SF, CA / 12..15.06.

SOTY 2006 was nothing short of awesome. Daewon Song is a true champion, gracious in victory, ever talented, and a true legend. He came dressed in black, rocked with Rancid, and in the end rode off with the glory and the trophy. I give tons of respect to Daewon. He understands the weight of his achievement and still has the time and generosity to give a picture and handshake to every one of his fans. The guy was stoked. Thanks to Amp'd Mobile and Tony Hawk's Project 8 for ponying up the cash for the event--it shows true heart to attach one's name to real skateboarding and the chaos and mayhem that go along with it. So on with the carnage.

BAD SHIT opened the night. These are some bad motherfuckers. For those who don't know, Bad Shit is Thrasher editor Jake Phelps, Tony Trujillo, and Tony's girlfriend, Trixie. Jake had a goddamn Marshall full-stack! Tony ruled it on bass and vocals, and Trixie demolished the drums. I'm not gonna say they were good, they were BAD! Fucking awesome. During their underground hit "Mission Street Coke," Julien threw a pound of Gold Medal flour onto the audience. Pure mayhem, and security was bummed.

Next up were the Slackers. Not much to say about them. I like these guys a lot, but too mellow for SOTY. Thanks for the effort, but wrong crowd.

After that was the announcement of Thrasher magazine's Skater of the Year.

DVS, Matix, and Almost put together a sick montage of skateboard shreddery that got the crowd juiced. Tim Gavin of Tim And Henry's Pack of Lies and Girl/Chocolate video fame led the crowd in a "Daewon" chant. Jake made his annual slurred congratulations (what do you call a mix between a slur and a mumble? A slumble?) and challenged the audience to come correct or get the luck out. Daewon said thanks, held up the huge novelty check, commented on the weight of the trophy, and showed genuine emotion. Beautiful.

THEN CAME RANCID. Rancid! There they were, playing at what amounts to my work Christmas party. Have I mentioned that Thrasher fucking rules? Top that Transfags and Skate Mag goons. This is Thrashers SOTY, not some suburban skate-morn fest. Rancid blew the fucking roof off the place. The best band to ever play SOTY--well, Turbonegro was pretty sick, but ... No. Rancid was the best ever.

Schmitty, Thrasher's webmaster, got punched. Corey Duffel (Yeah Corey!) punched some dude and got punched. Madness ensued. It was perfect. Great night. Thanks to the Great American Music Hall, all the bartenders, Rancid, Bad Shit, the Slackers, DVS, Matix, Almost, and Dwindle Dist. Extra special thanks to Amp'd Mobile and Tony Hawk's Project 8.

There's only one SOTY, and it's Thrashers. Daewon Song, this was your year. Shred on, brother.