Falling In Love Again — Quick Pre-Spring Edit From Matt Velez

Backing this recent uptick of people reviving their dormant YouTube / Vimeo accounts as we ease into spring. (Could a new Krispy Du-Rag edit be around the corner?)

Matt Velez just put up his first [non raw files] edit since uploading Calzone in full over a year ago. It feels like a handful of b-sides from the last Bronze project, that Brad Cromer New York part, and whatever Wade Desarmo was filming for until it started raining — but definitely has enough to get you hyped for whenever the fuck it gets consistently warm outside.

And as far as spots you skate before succumbing to Commodore’s gravitational pull go: they might look boring, but we’re definitely all fine with getting stuck at those plastic benches on Metropolitan instead of Reggaeton for the next year or eight.

Put A Date On It

T.F. Global. Photo via Claudio Majorana’s book, Head of the Lion.

Is there a compilation of board flip challenge fails yet, or are we going to have to assign that grueling job to an intern?

Looks like the solid barrage of upstate New York videos is gonna keep rolling in 2019 (see #5.) The Seasons guys have a new ten-minute video on Thrasher entitled “Albany 2.5” with tons of Empire State Plaza footage, and a mini S.F. section at the end.

Wasn’t really sure what to expect from this upon click, and it thankfully ended up being smiles the whole way through ♥ Here’s a good seven minutes of Fred Gall iPhone footage at some D.I.Y. spot and a bunch of typical New Jersey crust.

ICYMI: Cooper Winterson unlocks another dimension of ConEdison Banks in his Skating Is Easy part.

Had a bunch of “wait, that spot’s been gone for years” thoughts watching this, and then realized it’s more of a remix than a new part. Either way! Any B.A. is good B.A., and Grant Yansura was nice enough to pull together a bunch of his [mainly New York] footage from SB Chronicles 3 and onward for a new-old “Slappy Seconds” edit, which includes a handful of unseen clips.

Theories is doing another “Underground Skater of the Year” thing this year, and we’re writing in a ballot for Jawn Gardner.

“Oh, you were just skateboarding? That’s weird. You can leave.” Solo has an interview with John Shanahan, and Skate Jawn has a lil’ feature on his photos.

Haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but Tim O’Connor posted up an unreleased episode of his podcast with Ricky Oyola, and Steve Brandi has a “Skater’s Favorite Skater” TWS vid where he talks about how Ricky influenced him over the years.

Not a lot of content like this going live on the skateboard internet in the age of Instagram Stories: the Village Psychic dudes drove from Minnesota to Memphis to escape the cold and did a long[ish]form blog post with photos about their journey.

One of those “I’m not really sure wtf this is about” Boil the Ocean posts: something about testing for weed and the Olympics ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Forever love that double noseslide line. Or any double noseslide line, for that matter. Matt Velez uploaded three minutes of Mark Wetzel raw files to his YouTube.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Gotta be that Kyrie v.s. Iggy highlight — no, wait. J.R. Smith’s hat. Yeah, J.R. Smith’s hat is the play of the week.

Quote of the Week: “OVO is the new RDS.” — Torey Goodall

Flu-shion Week

Photo by Colin Sussingham

Happy birthday Zach Baker ♥, breaker of 4 boards in 40 minutes.

R.I.P. (?) Le Dome. Based on documentation available on this side of the Atlantic, it’s tough to tell whether the plaza is getting demolished in full, or they’re just resurfacing it with Skatelite. (Yeah, it’s not local news, but recent local skate spot news stops around, um, that wallride / drug-use area outside of Newark Penn Station being skate-blocked / crack-blocked.) In presumed memoriam, here is an old #PFW QS compilation of all Flo Marfaing’s Le Dome hubba tricks, an old post about the greatest line ever done there, an old post about the only 5050 kickflip that ever mattered, and a clip of The Shady One going all-in #respect on a 5050 after a plane claim.

“Kevin Tierney wouldn’t shut up about how he was going to switch laser flip the Le Dome double set even though it had already been done 15 years ago.” Solo has an appropriate article about the Bronze crew’s most recent trip to Paris.

Matt Velez uploaded Calzone is full, and John Valenti uploaded N.Y. Archive in full.

What the fuck: “You have to take a blood and piss test to skate [the indoor park] so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most locals skip that option.” Medium skate mag has a short feature about how people manage to skate in Russia during the winter.

“This is the best time to skate Rick Owens.” There’s a fun new Bluecouch edit up.

The summer 2012 edition of Elkin’s raw files is now live, featuring a bunch of footage that would end up in Leo’s 2013 Q.S.S.O.T.Y-earning Brodies part.

Village Physic interviewed Reda about the rules of being a skate photographer in the social media age. (Unsolicited link to Reda’s Bobshirt interview because it’s the best.)

There have been a few of these over the past couple years, but Vice has a feature about skateboards’ three-decade avoidance of inflation. I have a feeling that if we keep writing these things it’s gonna be some “be careful what you wish for”-shit and we’re going to walk into a shop and boom, $85 for a deck with grip. Thanks everyone!!!

There’s a Brujas x Gang Corp event at the Spin Club on 23rd Street tonight, 8-midnight + there’s a Deckaid show at NJ Skateshop in Hoboken on Saturday, from 7-10 P.M.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Everything fun in the NBA last week mostly happened off the court, so let’s get weird and give play of the week to the most complicated way of preventing a ball from going out of bounds ever.

Quote of the Week
C.J: “How long is fashion week?”
Fashionable Gentleman: “A week.”

Grind Like That To Shine Like This

Diagram via Charles Rivard, PhD

It was this damnass rock.”

Vert God’s Stop Fakin’ 3 part drops on QS tomorrow

Birdgang 3 is now online *airhorn*

The Bloby videos are still the QS office’s favorite thing going. “Zdroopy,” their new one, is magic. Vince’s front nose 270 out is pure beauty, Karl Salah’s lines are always poetry, and DREWWWWWWW, Franco + Daniel Kim have cameos. No Hjalte tho :(

And the Pop boys also came through with a rad Paris edit that a) avoids a lot of the city’s most oft-skated spots, and b) oddly features a ton of underground footy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jenkem has a great interview with Tyshawn Jones.

…and Skateboard Story has an interview with Calzone maker, Matt Velez.

This is a mega Boil the Ocean post: reflecting on 28 years of Thrasher S.O.T.Y winners…in the bizarro world, where Penny won in ’95, and Tiago won in ’17, etc.

Good bit of new Caddo footage in the friends section of Valenti’s N.Y. Archive project.

So this is the spot Rick Howard would’ve found if he kept skating around the forest after he bumped his head in Mouse.

Our dear friends at Seasons dropped new video over the weekend. That Empire State Plaza spot is lowkey one of the best spots on the east coast now that it’s a go.

I saw a video labeled “Patrik Wallner” and “The Lost Continent,” and my first thought was “damn, these dudes deadass went to Antarctica on a skate trip didn’t they.” They didn’t, but I did have to Google where on the planet they actually went was.

King puts something we’ve all done into writing: Musing on Gino’s Yeah Right! part.

One day Rihanna is throwing you hearteyes across the aisle at #NYFW, the next you’re a crumpled Thrasher tee under a pile of new soccer jerseys. It’s a filthy, fickle business, guys. I don’t believe in nothing no more, I’m going to law school!

Franco???

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Hold up wait a minute

Quote of the Week
Inquisitive Gentleman: “Did anyone pull last night?”
Zach Baker: “No, there were too many beautiful boy friends in there.” #LMB