In 1984, 12-year-old Bucky Lasek woke on Christmas morning to find a Steve Caballero skateboard and his calling under the family tree. Amazingly, Lasek, turning 40 this December, still makes a living as a skateboarder after turning pro more than two decades ago.

The Dundalk native, with six X Games gold medals to his name, started developing his skills on the infamous “Hell Ramp” (see photo below) back in the day at the old Fisherman’s Inn on Miller’s Island and with road trips to skateparks in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Returning to Ocean City this week for the annual summer Dew Tour (he bested Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, among others, to win last year’s vert title at Ocean City), Lasek tells Baltimore that he and his friends “would go anywhere to skate,” coming up.

Scheduled this Thursday through Sunday, the Dew Tour features skateboard and BMX competitions, as well as a surf event and multiple music performances. Anybody heading to Ocean...

The weather should be clear most of this weekend. The sky? Not so much.

Late Saturday night into early Sunday morning (pre-dawn, we’re talking) is expected to be an excellent time to catch sight of the annual Perseid meteor shower in the Baltimore area. Best to find an open field or park, if possible — and legal.

The International Meteor Organization says the zenithal hourly rate is about 90 to 100 meteors, but we’ll probably only see a few, according to reporting in the Washington Post. The good news: a waning crescent moon this year shouldn’t create too much light for concern.

The natural fireworks, debris and cosmic dust from an old comet, appears to radiate from the Perseus constellation – thus the name Perseid. More casually, we call them shooting or falling stars....

Looks like Virgin Free Fest is happening after all. After a summer drought of news about the annual music festival, organizers today announced the free concert event will return to Merriweather Post Pavilion October 6. 

The performers have yet to be announced, but if last year’s lineup (The Black Keys, Cee-Lo, TV on the Radio, and Patti Smith) are any indication, it should be dynamite.   

Whatever scant information has been released already can be found here. Apparently, more details will be released via Twitter in the coming days and Virgin Mobile is encouraging its Twitter follows to guess the lineup for a chance to win tickets. 

It sounds like the booking decisions have already been made, but if not, may we make a suggestion? It sure would be sweet to see Virgin Fest reel in some Charm City bands, currently on tour, like Beach House, Dan Deacon, or Rye Rye ont he bill. 

—This post was written by editorial summer intern Lowen Howard