ASR September 2008: Too Short, Kimbo Slice, Tap Out, Give Love Back, Random Acts of Art

Kimbo Slice and Tap Out Crew at ASR September 2008.

Last week, the San Diego Convention Center hosted ASR, the Action Sports Retailer Expo, September 2008. ASR is the place where your favorite Surf, Skate, Snow, lifestyle and street brands showcase their spring/summer 2009 collections to retailers from around the world and members of the media. The three-day industry event (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) comes twice a year to San Diego and is not open to the public. See more pictures and a video of Too Short after the jump.

For those of you who have never been to ASR, imagine a huge expo that spans the entire convention center floor. The bigger and more elaborate booths are in the center, coincidentally its where Reef, O’Neill, and Rusty are located. In the north end of the convention center floor are the skate ramp and street course. As you walk there you will find stumble upon the various skate brands exhibiting including, Volcom, Element Skateboards, Bern, Dekline and more. To the south end are the surfboard displays. Toward the middle back (west) was Monster’s mobile lounge setup, where you can enjoy some free Monster Energy drink and kick back on a comfy couch. Most brands seem to stick with the booth that they where in the previous year, which makes it easy to find them again in the vast sea of exhibitors.

When we first arrive to ASR, we generally navigate towards the area where the most noise is coming from. This year we found ourselves standing in front of a stage where a live art installation was taking place with a DJ and MC. The Glue Network teamed up with Tom’s Shoes to “give love back.” People where slipping into a pair of Tom’s Shoes with paint on the bottom and stomping on wooden panels that would later be used as the backdrops by 12 different artists.

At 3pm on Thursday and Friday we went to the south end of the Convention Center for seventeen magazine and ASR Runway show. You can see our coverage of the show, including pictures and video here.

Too Short Performance at the Famous Stars and Straps Booth at ASR September 2008.

Too Short at Famous Stars and Straps Booth During ASR from SanDiegoish on Vimeo.

Thursday we waited for almost 30 minutes at the Famous Stars and Straps booth for old school rapper Too Short to perform. FSAS typically books a live act to perform at their ASR booth. Last year it was Three 6 mafia.

Friday, all the buzz was at Tap Out’s booth inside ASR. America’s favorite street fighter Kimbo Slice and Tap OuT Crew where there taking pictures and signing autographs. There was a heighten security presence to manage the line at the Tap Out booth.

“Our booth was popping!” said Arika Helton, Tapout Director of Sales. “I had a walk-up appointment who did an at-once order of $500,000 and another sales manager wrote over a million dollars with another account all in one day at ASR.”

Volcom Presents Atomic on a Stick at ASR September 2008

Volcom continues to think out the box when it comes to their ASR booths. This year the theme was “Atomic on a Stick,” which looked like a Hot Dog on a Stick stand with corn dogs and lemonade.

In the lobby section of the San Diego Convention Center near the badge pick up area, was the Scion and FM94/9’s Random Acts of Art. On display were custom surfboardd and a Scion XB that was being painted by a group of artists.

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Tagged as: ASR, give love back, Kimbo Slice, random acts of art, Tap Out, The Glue Network, Tom's Shoes, Too Short, Volcom