Filming by Dan Levy. Edited by Alicia Gilmour
“Bones Brigade pioneer and icon, Caballero has had one of the longest professional skateboarding careers in skateboarding history. Maintaining sponsors and pleasing crowds since the ’70s, Cab has excelled as an innovator and ambassador to the skateboarding community. Your favorite skateboarder’s favorite skateboarder is Steve Caballero. Ride with the Dragon! “
Nov 8, 2014, Steve Caballero 100% rocked his 50th birthday party at the Vans Skatepark in Orange, CA, with his band, the Faction, featuring Gavin O’Brien, Keith Rendon and Ray Stevens II. To be able to see the Faction play is always epic, but the highpoint of the night was seeing Cab jamming out while his family cheered from the side of the stage. When his daughter ran out between songs to give dad a kiss, it was the truly one of the best moments in punk skate rock history.
After the Faction set, the one and only, John Cardiel, manned the DJ booth, and kept the party bumping and the skate session in the combi on point. I had to take a few minutes to cruise outside and check out the slick Circle City Hot Rods Car Show and then stop over at the Love and Guts art show, curated by Pat Ngoho, which displayed Cab-inspired artwork by Lance Mountain, Christian Hosoi, Chad Muska and 27 other artists, including Robert Vargas who drew sketches on-site of VIP skateboarders there in Cab’s honor.
Agent Orange then slammed out a classic set of punk rock anthems with a guest appearance by MoFo, while over in the combi, Greyson Fletcher and his dad, Christian Fletcher took a doubles run at mach speed. Other highlights of the skate session were blasting airs by Corey Juneau, Kiko Francisco and Daniel Cuervo. Christian Hosoi, Andy MacDonald, Brian Patch, Chad Shetler and Scott Foss worked the coping in the square and the round. Ffej and Josh Rodriguez threw down timeless inverts in respect to Cab. While the bands jammed and everyone ate cake, the skate session went off as the embryo crew flew higher over the coping than the mega groms. Cab rounded out the night with a super smooth 5-0 to show, at age 50, he’s not just in the game, he’s leading the charge! It was an incredible night with our skateboarding family.
Happy Birthday, Cabbie! Thank you for all that you do in the name of skateboarding and punk rock.
One Response
Dan, nice photos and a respectful write up. You rock! It was a nice evening, but I missed you there, you must have been on the job getting those nice shots in the combi. while I enjoyed and schmoozed old friends. Did you see the amazing time line collage Jim Knight put together for CAB? It was amazing… There were enough classic photos and background lifestyle B-roll to do 20 articles on CAB! It was in the opposite corner from the art show, but probably should have been over there. VANS did an amazing job of putting on an epic B-day party, and Steve Vandoren and the entire VANS crew deserve huge cudos for that. They do give back to skating in ways no other shoe company has ever done.