Quite by possibly the longest skateboard video review ever written.

By Galen Dekemper

In Boston, Shape Deuce rings through the tea-scented air much in the way “Swag,” “Waka,” “Shake Junt,” and “Wu-Tang” have been ad-libs of certain times and places. As ad libs are wont to do, Shape Deuce invokes the good life, with its flip to grinds, vomiting in the company of friends, confrontations with authority, camouflage, street beer, and wet, bare breasts. This potent stew brings to mind Miles Marquez’s flask based younger lifestyle. Before the Doors finish their intro song, the Shape Deuce boys further engage in skating into and through bodies of water, popping confetti and skating New York spots near and far from the Fung Wah bus stop that drops them off at the base of the Manhattan Bridge. The introduction ends with Dave Bachinsky doing a line at a spot from PJ Ladd’s Wonderful Horrible Life, which may as well be a quality comparison.

As with many independent videos, there is the question of initial name recognition. The Shape Deuce crew features Manny Santiago, known for complicated handrail tricks in baggy clothing, the Krooked affiliate Brad Cromer who has done difficult tricks over the bank to bank in Greenpoint, and Dave Bachinsky, who may have a different shine in a homie video than a corporate production since, despite his barrage of bangers and sponsors, has not embraced superstar status in the way of a Greg Lutzka and is the first person to leave Adidas sponsorship for Vox Footwear. The shops that sponsor Shape Deuce’s habits are Eastern Boarder, the Massachusetts skate shop collective and Identity, which has taken Shape Deuce under its west coast wing as they make names for themselves and vie with the City People franchise for a spot atop the post-P.J. Ladd Boston scene. Blues rock replaces Brit-Pop, and as reminders of Coliseum’s presence wither, lampposts, bar bathrooms and ledges feature fresh Shape Deuce stickers.

First part goes to Manny Santiago, who came up on Think and here shows east coast roots as he skates to a rap song and does handrail tricks that nobody else does. He skates the Chinatown double set, performs a 360 shove it noseblunt on ledge, and a tre shove lipslide on the (now-defunct) Banks 9. (Will there continue to be footage from the closed spot as far into the future as the 2011 Christmas clip?) Lest you think skating is all on Manny’s mind, we see a girl walk past in the footage. He has a hammer song with the unexpected tricks one may expect. Black hoodies are popular amongst the crew.

Next is Brad Miller, a shirtless party boy, who starts offs with a banger and a kind of recognizable blues rock song. He does good tricks at democratic spots and ups the ante throughout. One remarkable spot is an elastic tow-in up a slide that must be fun to skate if one is talented enough. There will be police station footage. Wooden rails are nice to see, as are gap to nosemanuals. This crew also steps to those two-sided rails with a gap in between that seem frightening during missteps. Lest we worry that this video would slip in its second part, Mr. Miller does a back lip and back nosegrind on the rail Ishod back smithed in Real’s newest. Much as Habitat’s Mosaic used tricks on the SF 3-up-3-down to show they were on par with Girl’s Yeah Right at the end of the VHS era, Shape Deuce has the viewer considering parallels with Since Day One as much as a shop video par excellence.

Justin Clements, tattooed firecracker, begins his part skating in the face of a Ziegfeld guard, then appears at the Greenpoint bank to bank. This young man shoots guns and skates to snotty punk rock as he begins his part with a heavy double set. Consecutive clips of a trick regular and then switch is a thoughtful touch. There’s the high five motif. In penance for any inconsideration Justin may have shown at Ziegfeld, he later makes a security guard happy when he lands a trick. He skates those ledges and 4 stairs in the south Williamsburg park near where Tyler James Mate used to live. The Shape Deuce fondness for particularly dangerous handrails continues. We feel compelled to warn viewers that there is a Red Sox hat in this part. The ender comes at a spot that professionals skate as the part fades out to a Bass Pro shop hat and beers in a black plastic bag.

Nicky LaMarche liked it when Chad Bartie skated to Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” so he did, too. He skates up rails on a Think board and brings to mind Andrew Allen both in his stature and trick selection, such as front tailslide front shove-its. New York wise, he skates the Morningside Heights school in an extension of the Jason LeCras manner, Wall Street gap, that Herald Square gap (RIP) that not many have skated, and a flatbar that looks like it’s in Brooklyn.

Brad Cromer begins his part with girl footage, a static-y song, and by doing a new trick at the SF 3-up-3-down. He likes those Cons with rubber toecaps. A line of frontside Smith grind and front crooked grind is pleasing combination of burl and finesse. The next song artfully changes to chopped and screwed blues rock. We see Miami, button up shirts, further song changes, a beanie so low as to be sunglasses, the Autumn shirt with not Spanky smoking, a boardslide ender and an unacknowledged high five. The mélange of locales and fashion sense hints at Notorious Party Boy territory as we await a joint approval for this claim from Dobbin Block. David Clark may appear to speak on his behalf.

By the time Jay Clements’s part rolls around, one finds oneself longing for a hip hop song, then settling for big heelflips and up rails. Jay gives an example of an east coast picnic table, skates some spots we’ve seen earlier in the video, has back 360s, close calls with traffic, a Shape Deuce board, and Shake Junt grip. A fifteen dollar price tag is more than fair for this display of skill and commitment.

In Sight Unseen, Kyle Hagerty proved that rooftop roll ins are a good introduction to a friends’ section. Shape Deuce gives us near-Seaport footage, the Fort Greene obelisk and TF figure BK skating at Black Hubba. There are hard tricks like a front blunt shove-it in the middle of a ledge at a basketball court spot that looks fun. Someone ventures into the yellow t-shirt territory trod by Caswell, Switch Back Ted and Andy Mac. “Never watch TV except when I’m stoned,” goes the song as we see controlled substances and Substance skateboards. Creative manuals and Copley Square are inclusions befitting a nameless homie section, as are bonelesses and the Eggs ledges. Andre Page appears barhopping in headphones, the very young go very big, and Danny “The Chilean Prince” Fuenzalida confirms his double-paged Think ad of backside noseblunting the other side of Courthouse Drop. If you are counting spot overlaps between Shape Deuce, Quartersnacks clips and the Real video, the Vernon Jackson ledge appears as well.

Boy, do these boys enjoy their blues rock. Dyllon Horne does a 360 off a wavy spot and wears his jeans until they have a wallet mark. He skates over a fence and gives us another ender at the Philly ledge gap over sidewalk and hydrant to street that Getz skates.

Shane Perry is a white boy in big clothes, so we’re back to hip hop again. He does front shoves and wears a Venture Awake shirt. “Chain is Alaska.” It is too bad his part is the shortest in the video.

Pat Donfro rolls away from tricks while his tail snaps and Janis Joplin sings. He dodges security to ollie over a rail into a bank. He does a sweet back tail. If this video is lacking in one thing is it backside tail slides. Patrick skates the top of benches. He gaps into the second part of this interrupted ledge in front of a row house with a door open. One wonders if he went inside. His ender is at that NJ school with brick banks and silver rails on top that doesn’t appear in as much footage as it did five years ago.

Tom Kruper skates to the Rolling Stones and has thought about style. He too skates the Tyler James spot. As cracks proliferate at the TF, manual tricks with no pad involved proliferate, and Tom K. gives us one one of these. He has an Alien Workshop connection and does a combination ledge trick for Tyler Bledsoe. He kickflip noseslides at the beginning of lines and as single tricks. He skates sockless at a spot where his board could go into water and also does a 360 down a big set.

As one persists in watching an extended video offering, he expects to be entertained. This next part is entertaining. It begins with a pickup truck demolishing a car while the driver consumes alcohol. Matt Fennell skates to Rick Ross and skids truck tires over a dead possum. He skates that one grey multi-level spot on like 37th St and near the eastside that’s not there anymore. Railwise, he crooked grinds a long low round one, back 5050s a wooden apparatus down and flat, and is the next person in the video to skate a particularly curved rail.

The song lowers in volume so we can better read John Coyne’s name. As Rozay raps about the tastelessness of credit card scams, Coyne skates a cool concaved manual pad. Much as Brad Miller, he blesses Ishod’s rail again with a couple of tricks. Speaking of Since Day One, there is a 180 switch crook. John does a kickflip front noseslide to bloody hand and stacks footage in a cast. He lands his ender with pressure on from the guard and fans watching, which inspires a homie to commit to his own trick.

If in a one night sleeping arrangement, sometimes homies will end up pouring beer on sleeping homies. Joey Ragali probably likes Dylan Rieder most out of the crew. He has good relations with security guards and a style that brings to mind Max Palmer. It’s convenient to use boards to prop up banks. It is fitting that Ragali rides a Krooked board, as he reminds one of Brad Cromer as well. He does a long, fast switch ollie at the SF courthouse and just when you thought you had seen the last footage from the Banks, he blesses the 9 stair rail with a Bennett grind.

Bachinsky’s part starts off with his Thrasher “Firing Line.” He is of a similar skill level to PJ Ladd with a slightly different choice of terrain. That he does not have last part indicates an important point about the video. Shape Deuce will not blow up an entire scene as PJ Ladd’s video did, rather features those more established providing a vehicle to showcase the vast talents of other crew members, perhaps in the Paul Rodriguez Forecast style. D. Bach does both ways of alley oop kickflips on the same bank to bank gap. He wears Oakley shirts and camouflage shirts in consecutive clips. M.C. Escher may approve of people skating down gaps over stairs leading the opposite way and landing on what is generally the takeoff zone. Dave takes his renowned mini ramp tricks to a graffitied quarterpipe in the woods. He does a Lutzka trick and also reminds one of Zered sometimes. City Skateboards is a very good skate company. For his banger song, he uses another track by Donovan. He does a heavy trick up that ghetto banked ledge in Miami, a really big kickflip and a trick at the tow up slide. He returns to the huge brick double down bank for some more hard tricks, not including his ollie up the top level featured in a recent Venture ad. His ender comes at a sports venue with dream ground and features a trick on the scale of stadium sized entertainment

This dude Serge Murphy has last part to follow that up. All the homies scream his name while he tries to land a trick. We hear the opening of “Hard in the Paint” as we watch a wrestling party with all homies. Serge appears shirtless in a Santa Claus hat with a handle of vodka about the time we realize this is Jeezy going in over Waka’s track. Corporate thugging indeed, and rap music gives him ender automatically. He skates that colorful bank spot in Philly and that SF brick double set familiar from “One in a Million” and Since Day One. Serge wears RVCA and does big tricks before and during his ender song. He visits D7, does a trick at the set Bachinsky ends on, then his ender ender at the Baker/Deathwish 4 block in Atlanta where Atiba and Spanky played a polite rhythm. The homie here rattles off a fast intricate number that properly ends the raucous last part.

“Drink Beer, Get Women Nude,” is the video’s closing statement. You will likely leave feeling inclined to do both of these, but if you’d rather keep watching, there’s an entertaining credits section and more bonus footage than I haven’t watched yet. Is it beer or rain on camera lens? With the Lurkers franchise dormant, Gigliotti at large, Marquez busy with Uncle Sam, Flipmode preparing the follow-up to Caviar and Fat Bill continuing his run of web clips, it is refreshing as springtime to see a crew of mostly grown men taking care of full-length business on many of the gnarliest spots the East Coast has to offer.