Two notable fashion houses of 1990s sensibilities — Shawn Powers and Palace Skateboards — have joined forces to bring you their latest collection, “POWER SURGE.” Given a focus on quick ollies, lines on both sides of the street and a great many of spots that were previously not thought of as spots, their collaborative effort is an extension of Powers’ work in “Shawn ‘Manson’ Powers,” “A Night in the Life,” Caviar, 56k, etc. (except with perhaps a larger presence of technical outerwear and light washed denim.) And with most SoHo-residing millionaires taking refuge from Manhattan in light of Hurricane Sandy this past November, Shawn was able to go I Am Legend-style and utilize their homes’ obnoxiously loud diamond-plated exteriors without having water dumped on him.
Fun Fact: Shawn Powers’ dad (as seen in this clip) is actually Slicky Boy from the future. There are obvious VHS time warps going on here (another example of a 2012 skate video from 1998), but this T.F. wormhole of time travel gets deep, man.
Previously: An Interview With Shawn Powers (February 2012)
The collision at 3:50- We all do dumb stuff in the streets, sometimes with consequences and sometimes without, so no judgement on Shawn Powers, but that ghost music and the editing.. it just leaves me with the worst feeling. Even with assuming that everyone walked away fine and that there wasn’t a kid in the kids’ seat on the bike.. it just feels like poor taste. It’s rad to see a skate part that has a feeling to it, but there is no need to cultivate a feeling you’d get from watching facesofdeath. Is it too late to say that Shawn Powers’ skating was great?
“but there is no need to cultivate a feeling you’d get from watching facesofdeath” why not
Because celebrating doing harm to random bystanders is fucked up. I don’t know why, but something like Scott Conklin’s part in memoryscreen, where there are fist fights etc, just feels more (film-making-wise) responisible.
DAP DAP DAPS fo’real! MUCH RESPECTS=Thrasher!!
If it makes you more comfortable watching it, I was there for the bike crash, and it was not nearly as bad as it looked on film. It was like a slow motion fall for both parties, the cab just blocked that part out. There was no baby in the back seat. I also tend to think baby seats on bicycles (especially in New York) are absolutely insane.
But yeah, people gotta be more careful. Would have been worse if the cab driver wasn’t so quick to brake and fully Shawn’s fault.
espy the ghost. hence ghost music…
it just leaves me with the worst feeling. Even with assuming that everyone walked away fine and that there wasn’t a kid in the kids’ seat on the bike.
The film didn’t glorify the accident. The film is just a naturalist documentation of skateboarding in New York, and I think it was pretty accurate.
It wasn’t embellished in any way (considering Shawn does throw his board up in the air in the middle of an intersection on occasion) and accidents like that happen all the time where it wasn’t the skater’s fault–like when a minivan pulled a hard right turn onto Stanton while accelerating as I was skating down Clinton and almost broke my leg. I nearly pulled the guy out of his car. So this time Shawn fucked up a little. But he didn’t mean to, it’s just the chaotic nature of New York skateboarding and had they left it out, it still would’ve happened.
So I don’t think there’s any place for a commentary about what’s in good taste; it’s a fucking skateboard video.
Moreover, please do comment about the taste of the skating, which was fucking rad.
Totally glorified the accident- as Snack wrote above, it was actually a relatively mellow event and it was “not nearly as bad as it looked on film” (don’t mean to misdirect that quote, rather just pointing out that the video does have power to it- which on a sidenote is a good thing). Besides, when an accident happens whose impulse is to casually walk over and continue filming?
I think calling it “just a fucking skateboard video” is way more shitty and narrow minded than commenting on a matter of taste (which, in retospect- though some of the sentiment is still there- I regret writing). There is literally poetry in it, they had a concept for the type of skating they wanted for it, deliberately worked in a specific landscape (post-sandy soho), and then heavily edited and art directed it. It’s pulling in a visual and cinematic language that is beyond whatever skatepark-stunt-clips-on-some-other-site-that-doesn’t-matter, which is more than welcome, but with that (hopefully) comes a dialogue that is beyond, “that’s chill” or “nah, they’re biting palace/magenta/politic/ polar/etc”
Like I said, I think Shawn Powers’ skating was rad, but writing any more than that in a critical comment like this probably comes off as phony and apologetic.
sick how you linked his other parts cause this really was a shitty way to introduce him to AM status or whatever it is…all the vx 1 clips were legit skateboarding but that was only like 5 lines…the rest was kind of shit. I dug the vibe tho, loved the music and editing but this just def wasnt the best way to really bring him out especially when ive seen homies footage and i know he was sitting on a good 2 and half minutes that wasnt in 56k since that was all throwaway
Shawn is a real nigga and a product of his environment just like everyone else. Big words and hipster judgement don’t mean shit to them street dogs.
So, why is this dude on Palace?
If I had a nickel for everytime I was horrified by something I saw on the internet I would be goddamn rich. Now just because you get squeamish easily doesn’t give you the right to hate on an otherwise dope video. Seriously though, that gave you a bad feeling? Have you watched the news recently pal? I think you just saw an opportunity to voice your holier-than-thou opinion.
cuz the palace dudes like him, he pretty much fits their image to a T, and he’s good at skating most likely @Dae.I
I’m bout how this website has turned into a forum for provocative, well mannered and timeless debates.
Perhaps we should start a QuarterSnacks book club, we already have the fine people at this site offering book recommendations; a fine idea, albeit a tad misguided. Endorse a book whose subject is skate-related health care and your assuming that the people who visit this site actually skate. Who has time for such simplicities when the fine art of polemic has been available!?
I suggest we start with Glenn O’Brian’s The Style Guy.
It’s perfect, written by a true new york staple and about a subject that we are all supremely interested in.
Here’s a link to where you can buy the book.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Style-Guy-Glenn-OBrien/dp/0345427270
Tell me what you think! I’m already excited!
So much reaction to this part. Creative, but more of a lifestyle clip. But who the fck asked me. Or any of you.
Killa tape, re: “Have you watched the news recently”- just because something is the way it is now does not mean that’s the way it should be. That doesn’t mean that there should be 120 channels of all cat videos, it just means don’t let other people set your standards for you.
I think Palace is great. They make great videos. One reason why their videos are great is because they provoke discussions like this. If we (skateboarders) just want to shoot ourselves in the foot and say “you’re taking this too seriously, chill” and “it’s just a skate part” then the guys behind Palace and others like them are just wasting their time. Why try to do anything other than just show tricks and put a song behind it?
note the time
Homie vids repping their area’s punk rock history in music supervision….#trendwatch2013
Shit like that happens; I don’t think they planned a car accident to make the clip cool is all I’m saying.
All this rantin and ravin over that ender with the accident?!?! C’mon really, get over it!!!! If it bothers you that much, go wear a helmet-life is dangerous. More seriously and importantly, when’s the next batch of QS t’s dropping? My white jawn is all stained the fuck up with bbq sauce, resin and blood. To me that’s more a tragedy then the accident footage. Palace is a dope company, Powers kills it, give up the message boards and go watch the berrics if it upsets you.
Is this what is considered good skating in NYC now? Dude will be great in a few years.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcksmgCox21rj4guvo1_500.jpg
sometimes I write in depth comments on QS, then backspace, laughing at myself.
What makes this so 90s in execution is the second song. respect.
yeah i guess if goin slow and doing really shitty sloppy tricks is cool then yeah fuck it! it’s all about being a degenerate right? “downriver”? Lame
That black dave video is terrible. I feel skating and hip hop are the same. Kids today are doing things that have already been done,just not that well. Rakim and Nas or Chief Keef and Wayne. Same as any old head in pretty sweet vs Wade Desarmo and Lenny Rivas. Or shawn powers vs Zoo York Mixtape. Been there, done it better.
I get the Shawn Powers : Mixtape analogy, but something about Chief Keef : Rakim seems off.
. Hip Hop came of age the same time skating did, mid 80s to mid 90s. The come up is always better then when you get there. And hip hop has gotten very stagnent. Alhough the overall level of skating is way higher then the overall skills of a rapper. I was talking more about the creative direction. And I love your site. Where else will someone put this on the front page. Moral of story, listen to good hip hop and keep doin what you doing.
What’s the end song, Mobb Deep remix cut “That old real shit?”