The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2010: 15-11

December 20th, 2010 | 3:53 pm | Features & Interviews | 12 Comments

Took a week off from the countdown, sorry. There will probably be two of these posts this week. Moving on with the retrospective…#25-21, #20-16.

15. The Dipset Reunion

It is no secret that video part song choices are crucial to developing musical preferences of all those who have grown up on skate videos. From the punk rock of the 1980s, to the indie shit that accompanies any emotional “skating is an art, bro” video of today, skateboarding has a much closer tie-in with music than traditional sports, whose typical soundtrack ranges from “Kernkraft 400” to “I Like To Move It Move It.” If you came of age in the early 2000s, the impact of Dipset, and its days of making era-defining opuses of ignorance, cannot be understated. The reunion was a beacon of hope for all of those who miss the magic that defined early-to-mid-2000s skateboarding — when the internet, skate plazas, reality shows, and awful rap dynasties like Young Money were not a part of the cultural landscape. The reunion was also a chance for New York rap to get another shot at the previous-decade-dominating rap comeback, as Wu-Tang’s return in the 2000s was hardly worth the attention it was given.

Stop By For the Lenox Brunch Special

September 30th, 2010 | 7:10 pm | Footage | 2 Comments

The Lenox Brunch Special is a half-eatern piece of carrot cake, sautéed with a can of Pepsi, served alongside a chilled, exquisite “smooth & fruity” Sauvignon blanc wine, “Sweet Bitch.”

Here’s a clip of some footage from an uptown session filmed this past weekend. All the usuals are up there, Lenox, Garvey, Columbia, etc. Includes a cameo from the one and only Lenox the Menace, and a brief shout from the Ruff Ryders circa 2010. The one thing to be said about this clip, even in the context of this website, is that there is a lot of shit on the lens in some of the shots. Usually, we actually do wipe lenses, but on this particular occasion, it didn’t really come to anyone’s attention until after the fact, but what else is new. Hopefully the Biggavelli soundtrack makes up for it.

Features Tyler Tufty, Connor Champion, and Andre Paige. I think everyone else woke up at 5 P.M. on this day.

Got a YouTube uploading for the time being as well. YouTube here. No direct download, sorry.

Only Built 4 Monday Linx

August 23rd, 2010 | 2:16 pm | Daily News | 4 Comments

Do you read the comments? You should. They reveal a lot of pertinent details: “This site has really turned into a west coast site that attempts to take place on the east coast.” A west coast site taking place on the east coast that constantly references southern rap music. Where does the midwest figure in?

Youness Amrani (it’s not ARMANI, for all you dyslexic guidos) deservedly won the AM Manny Mania competition this past Saturday after killing it on the streets for a week-and-a-half. There are some clips of him online, but only from skateparks. He claims there are barely any street spots in Belgium, so maybe that has something to do with it.

The Chrome Ball Incident posted Gino’s Big Brother interview from 1996.

Just felt we should let everyone know that Lenox Ledges has a Facebook page. Now you can stay up to date with all the latest news about skater fights, crackhead ramblings, and misinformed Parks Department employees claiming that you cannot skateboard there.

Remember those Brooklyn Banks interviews we ran back in July? They all had stories about thugged out skaters and brawls at contests throughout the nineties. By the looks of it, the nineties made a resurgence this past weekend at a certain contest sponsored by an energy drink.

Elephant Direct, a Montreal-based video from the crew that brought you the pretty great Lo-Def video, is premiering in New York on Thursday, August 26th, at 9:30 P.M. at (eww) Gallery Bar. Features footage of QS-favorite, Torey Goodall, a title holder for one of this website’s favorite video parts of all time. Flyer here. Stay Gold premieres today in New York. Pre-2k releases this weekend. (I saw a portion of the video that was not on the original, premiere version that screened at Maloof, and it is pretty insane in terms of nineties degeneracy and antics, the premiere sections were straightforward and tame.)

A good, quick read from New York O.G., Rodney Smith.

If you ever skate North Jersey, there’s a sick new spot along the waterfront. The part depicted is alongside a fountain, so it might be a better winter spot, but there are other things over there. It’s super-smooth polished concrete that’s pretty rare for skate spots in this part of the county. Not going to post the location, but the Palisades in the background should be a pretty dead giveaway if you know your Jersey geography. Just watch out that the rich Koreans don’t call the cops on you.

They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday’s just as bad…

Quote of the Week: “[I've been] training. Getting ready. For zombie apocalypse. Or the Russians. Whichever comes first.” – Michael Gigliotti

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Uptown, Baby

August 12th, 2010 | 1:01 pm | Footage | 7 Comments

Danny Lebron – Hydrant Ollie at Lenox Ledges – Photo by Zach Malfa-Kowalski

Tuesday’s session was a bit more aligned with the routine mentioned in the previous, accompanying post, granted that it involved the common NY trip stop at the Chinatown Double Set, and the authentic experience of getting kicked out of every other spot within the Financial District in a matter of minutes. At least the security guard at World Trade openly admitted to how much he hates his job due to the monotony of kicking out skateboarders day in and day out.

The reason a lot of New York skate trips fall short is because tour guides seem reluctant to take their visitors on fifty block goosechases up and down hills in ninety-five degree heat, which is what the majority of Wednesday was spent doing. From Lenox and 110th, to 122nd, to 135th and 5th, to 137th and Broadway, all the way back down to the lower hundreds on the westside. The running joke towards the end of the day was a plan to basically start skating south on Broadway from 105th with the intention of making it all the way back downtown, without utilizing the assistance of the Taxi Commission or the MTA, and see what cross street these guys could make it to. The most common bet was 86th Street, but the whole plan wound up falling through. (Probably in fear of someone dying from dehydration or a heat stroke.)

One of my favorite quotes about skateboarding (and related to New York, in a way, if you know how to properly contextualize it) is by Jerry Mraz, when he said, “Europe is cheating” in an interview. As someone who has never skated Barcelona, Milan, or any of those fancy ledges in Europe, and grew up skating Hoboken Ledges (which had manageable, but not the most flawless of ground), it really makes me wonder what to expect of any of those household name ledge spots in Europe, Australia, or say, Shanghai (AKA the “new” Barcelona), especially when someone who’s skated all of them claims that Lenox Ledges has bad ground. Shane O’Neil’s overall verdict on Amsterdam Rail was not favorable, and most people, probably even Chaz Ortiz and Rodney Torres, the two crown holders of the spot, would not disagree with that observation, but Lenox Ledges? Kids in nearby cities (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, etc.) that I have met have an odd conception of New York as some sort of ledge mecca, but given that Lenox is our best spot for such obstacles, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how far from the truth that notion is. Boston might be the safest bet as far as ledges go.

Anyway, below is a brief clip of the day from skating around Uptown, not really including any of the Quartersnacks Uptown trademarks that Ben Nazario and Watermelon Alex have made famous around here, because it takes a special brand of insanity to skate a pile of rocks streaming down Amsterdam Avenue (more on that later.) The day was spent at the more recognizable spots, including a pointless trip up to City College to remind everyone that isn’t the 2003 version of Jerme Rogers, that it is the sketchiest foot-and-a-half high hubba ledge known to man.

What Did You Get for Christmas?

December 27th, 2007 | 12:57 pm | Daily News | 12 Comments

Matt Mooney Quotes of the Week…

Inquisitive Gentleman: So did she give you head?
Matt Mooney: I don’t know.

Matt Mooney: My Teeth are fucked up because I go to the dentist on Forsyth.

Thanks to the magic of Google, I was able to uncover a very important historical artifact from times past. I’m sure we’ve all become too aquatinted with a certain individual named Danny Weiss, who was recently disowned by the skateboard community. But who you’re probably not familiar with is DAN WEISS Circa 2000, before any -ny or -iel endings were added to his name for lord knows what reason. So let’s honor a long gone individual, who already at thirteen was insisting that you were not good enough to skate with him.