2011 ‘Real Street’ Parts AKA The New Zoo York Promo

June 29th, 2011 | 1:47 pm | Daily News | 11 Comments

During last Thursday’s NBA Draft, Quartersnacks, along with those who follow our Twitter account, took upon the task of drawing parallels between skateboarding and professional basketball, mostly by way of pointing out which skaters would be #1 overall picks in their respective draft years. We settled on a variety of conclusions: Guy Mariano in 1991, Eric Koston in 1992, Arto Saari in 1998, Paul Rodriguez in 2000, Mike Mo in 2007, Torey Pudwill in 2008, how skaters would be drafted out of skate shops, how Coliseum would’ve won the NCAA title in 2002, and finally realizing that most of the #1 overall picks somehow go to Girl (Cory Kennedy in 2010) and Chocolate (Raven Tershy in 2011) due to their highly astute front offices. Rick Howard wouldn’t be a bad GM for the Lakers. (That team can go to hell, though.)

If you don’t follow basketball, keep in mind that #1 overall pick does not necessarily equate to the “best” skater, as Larry Bird (#6), Michael Jordan (#3), and Kobe Bryant (#13) were not #1 picks. Manu Ginóbli was #57, and he went on to lead the Spurs to three championships. Then there are obvious draft busts, like Jereme Rogers going #1 in 2003, or Jovante Turner going #1 in 1989, only to have a short lived prime, a la Bernard King.

Someone insisted that Zoo York was overdue for a #1 pick, but sometimes, three top five picks in seven or eight years helps you build a better franchise than one #1 overall, and a bunch of picks above #15 in proceeding years. Look no further than this year’s batch of X-Games “Real Street” videos for evidence of that.

Zered Bassett: Apparently, the kink at the Courthouse Drop is just a regular ledge now. And it’s good to see that the rail they put up at that Washington Heights bump isn’t stopping some people. Zered should’ve won the whole thing last year.

Quim Cardona: Live From Astor Place

June 29th, 2011 | 11:09 am | Daily News | No Comments

(Interesting to hear that this bank is still around, only “hidden.” Quim should return for a 2011 Thrasher photo opportunity. After all, it’s John Cardiel’s favorite magazine cover, so they’d have to oblige and run a 2011 version just off general principle.)

Colin from Mandible Claw put together a three part “Slap Pals” video interview with Quartersnacks favorite, Quim Cardona. (We’re otherwise at capacity for white people with dreads who we can co-sign.) So far, only one part is up. Filmed at the building standing in place of the parking lot / 40 oz. bottle depository across from the Cube, the current installment deals with the frequently mythologized Astor Place to Midtown skate, the story behind the November 1995 Thrasher cover, Non-Fiction era San Francisco versus Non-Fiction era New York, and who Quim believes the best skater from New Jersey is. There’s no reason anyone but the Toxic Avenger should ever be discussed for that title — in fact, he should be the governor of New Jersey once Chris Christie spontaneously combusts.

Part 2 is supposed to go live today. Part two here.

SUMMER 2011

June 27th, 2011 | 9:15 am | Daily News | 8 Comments

Summer = heat waves. Heat waves = asphalt bumps. Asphalt bumps = Aaron Szott, the undisputed king of bumps and curb cuts. Photo by Allen Ying.

Frozen in Carbonite posted up a journalistic masterwork dealing with the correlations between early-to-mid-90s backpack rap and skate videos. It’s a long read by skateboard writing standards, but a must for rap nerd skateboarders. “The vibe at the time was that anyone who could noseslide a handrail and/or kickflip backside tailslide a shin-high ledge could get hooked up. Similarly, dudes back then scored record deals off one verse (AZ and Cappadonna, off the top of my head).”

Things that will never become irrelevant in skate footage: Big L songs and olling onto car hoods.

Billy McFeely has a high affinity for skateboarding in water. He might be a surfer trapped inside a skateboarder’s body. Or is merely trying to establish a new water sport off-shoot within the skateboard industry. Who said you couldn’t skate Flushing when the fountains were on? (For reference: Last year’s Tompkins rain clip.)

Someone followed suit with our request insisting that people on the internet should write some words about Trilogy. The Reskue Blog has a brief write-up, explaining things like the origin of “the ghetto bird.” Can someone explain why the British love Menace/mid-90s Dwindle so much? Or is that akin to asking why Japanese people love mid-90s New York so much?

Random Footage Bits: Kevin Tierney boardslid up the handrail at House of Vans (5:00 mark), Flipmode flipcam, Jersey City junk spot montage.

There is a Girl demo on Friday, July 1st at 12th & A. Mike Carroll & Rick Howard will be present, so it’s a demo that even grown-ups will attend. Rumors of a special guest appearance by Alex Olson are running rampant.

The people have spoken…If New York skaters could have one skate spot no longer with us returned, it would be the Small Banks with 31% of the vote, just barely trailed by BAM with 28%. People weren’t as nostalgic for Bench Down Curb. If you’re wondering why places like the ledges across from the Bronx Courthouse, Ikea, and Ziegfield were left out, it’s because we chose places that haven’t been around for a minimum of five years.

Quote of the Week — Washington Square Park Squatter: “Hey dude, I’ll do a nollie flip in Doc Martens if you give me a quarter.”
Danny Weiss: “That’s not that impressive.”

Words of Wisdom from the aforementioned Carbonite article: “Pulling out some obscure Pete Rock remix is cool n’ shit, and we may derive some kind of existential meaning from it. At the end of the day, though, this particular brand of hip-hop monasticism (or obscure skate video music supervision knowledge) is irrelevant—especially if any form of expert knowledge is accessible to anyone on the planet. If you aren’t making bitches get loose, you really aren’t doing shit.”

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Trilogy Turns 15

June 24th, 2011 | 10:05 am | Time Capsule | 7 Comments

The history department over at Frozen in Carbonite made a timely observation that Trilogy turns fifteen-years-old this summer. We are not qualified to dwell on the finer points of this video’s impact upon release (Photosynthesis on the other hand…), as we were not yet skateboarding when it came out. Those of us who started skating after 1998 unfortunately know Kareem Campbell more as a video game character than the guy in Trilogy. Hopefully, the internet’s prevalent cult of Menace nostalgists will seize this anniversary to write something substantial about what the video meant in 1996. It has held up remarkably well, and though much has been said about skate videos becoming more disposable over the past several years, only a few artifacts from the “golden age” of VHS have stood the test of time well enough to inspire nods from the modern era.

The only full, online edition of this video is on Google Video, and the quality is awful. It has been on there for almost four years without deletion. So we’re hoping the folks over at Dwindle do not mind us putting a better quality version online. (Seriously, if you have anything to do with the ownership of this video and you don’t want it here, please e-mail info *at* quartersnacks.com, and it’s gone.) Unicron has the three DVD World Industries box set for $39.99, and mentions that the set is recently out of print. It’s like a Criterion Collection release, but for skateboarders. Buy it while you still can.

Here it is, in Vimeo faux HD. Even with a correct aspect ratio. Watch it, study it, hope Kareem Campbell called back Pat O’Dell to get the Menace episode done, and enjoy the first weekend of the summer. 80 on Saturday, 80 on Sunday. “Where’s your footy at ‘Reem?”

Slap calls for OIAM NYC Entries, Neglects to Mention a Preference For Skaters With Criminal Records or a Work History in Party Promotions

June 22nd, 2011 | 3:27 pm | Daily News | 3 Comments

Given the overwhelmingly positive response to our “mad real” list of suggestions for Slap’s upcoming edition of One in a Million, it seems only right to inform the world that they are now accepting entires.

Naturally, we have an ulterior motive. We will be spending much of the coming weeks before the deadline with a team of scouts at various nightlife destinations and halfway houses, searching for candidates that 1) could skate well enough to make the list of finalists 2) are partyboys or white, ex-con, two-tone-du-rag-sporting skaters that will give us enough material to write about for weekly analysis once they happen to run the series. (Usually winter, right?) As a result, Slap’s OIAM submission inbox will hopefully be the skateboard-equivalent of the scene in Blazing Saddles where Hedley Lamarr attempts to assemble “an army of the worst dregs ever to soil the face of the west.” But instead of rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperadoes, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, etc., it will be partyboys, ex-cons, snakes, haters, alcoholics, mongo pushers, mob flippers, vibe artists, wax nazis, deck breakers, board jackers, ledge dancers, ego trippers, meth addicts, tantrum cases, 5XL-tee-in-2011-wearers, and anyone with an inordinate amount of face tattoos. Hopefully, their glowing personality or lack thereof will compensate for whatever shortcomings they may have on a skateboard.

Slap is probably preparing a cease and desist letter as you read this to prevent us from ever discussing One in a Million again.

 
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