No Griptape in Paris

“I took so much acid that I started riding l*ngb**rds.” The governor of New Jersey has a sharp memory and is endearing as could be in yet another Bobshirt longplayer classic. Tons of stories about S.F/Philly/New York in the nineties, his mom taking him to *the* Banks contest, and plenty of memories about some legendary names.

We live in a place we are often convinced is the center of the world, despite the fact we all fall victim to the same merry-go-round of spots, tricks, ideas, etc. “Steel” is an incredible ten-minute video by Adam Bos filmed throughout that vast state above — in zones that are closer to Toronto than Brooklyn — and feels more refreshing than a lot of what our center-of-the-universe selves have been releasing as of late. Also…do we do another “core” tour? ;)

No other skate crew has logged more hours on the always en vogue corner of Howard and Crosby Streets. “Mean Streets” volume eleven from LurkNYC is now live.

There’s 7,000 articles out there about the rise of Small Brands™ over the past ~five years, but here’s one about the rise of Small Brands™ focused specifically on women.

Listen the Skater You’d Be Most O.K. With Your Daughter Dating get slut-shamed by Cephas on the latest episode of The Bunt.

Happy ten year anniversary to skateboarding’s Library of Congress A.K.A. The Chrome Ball Incident. Chops celebrates a decade with an interview, tons of stories and some raw clips from World Industries’ earliest filmer, Socrates Leal.

Aaron Herrington reminds you that Diego Najera nollie flipped over Black Hubba, and then had the audacity to follow it up with a switch varial heelflip eight feet over the top of a picnic table. P.S. He nollie flipped over Black Hubba.

Gonz skates around downtown with a white spine ramp for Adidas and Krooked’s collab. They better have left all of those things at Tompkins…

Yonnie Cruz’s lost part from Chocolate’s 1995 video, Las Nueve Vidas De Paco.

ICYMI, E.T. has his first-ever interview over on Thrasher.

Bummed we missed the House of Vans Calgary pop-up / Alltimers premiere, but also we got to host a legendary sporting event that weekend so it’s ok. BUT, if you’re the photo recap type, here you go.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: A 68-year-old beat the Warriors by himself.

Quote of the Week: “I don’t know why they even bother giving customer copies of receipts in 2018.” — Conor Prunty

Also, somebody nollie flipped Black Hubba.

20 Years of Girl: The Ben Sanchez Tribute Post

benolliechrome

Before anything: Manolo’s Tapes went live with an incredible retrospective of all the Girl and Chocolate videos yesterday. We can talk about Keenan’s switch flip, or how ahead of its time each Koston part was, or all the crazy stuff Marc Johnson has done, but let’s talk about some real shit…Ben Sanchez.

A longtime personal favorite Chrome Ball post is the dual tribute to Ben “Burger Boy” Sanchez and Shamil Randle. For a pair of twenty-year-old companies, very few of their riders have been afforded the ability to fade into obscurity like those two, and nostalgic reminders of less prominent names are among the greatest joys of The Chrome Ball Incident.

If Richard Mulder, Mike York, Chico Brenes were the seventh, eighth and ninth guys off the bench, then Ben Sanchez was something like the twelfth. Not to sound like a broken record, but the era when Girl and Chocolate were a batch of the best skaters alive surrounded by dudes who were more style than pushing the envelope is the one we most frequently put on a pedestal. Those guys helped the videos feel more like skate videos, and less like blockbusters. Koston and Guy were there to show you how good skateboarding could possibly be. Mike York got you hyped to try some pretzel spin noseslide combo that inevitably ends with a tic-tac. Ben Sanchez, on the other hand, was the guy who made you remember, “Damn, I haven’t done a half cab noseslide in a while.”

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