The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2010: 25-21

December 1st, 2010 | 1:42 pm | Features & Interviews | 31 Comments

These are probably going to run on a once a week basis for the rest of the month. The month is still young, and we are only 11/12ths through the year, so chances for history to be made are still there! E-mail quartersnacks [at] gmail.com if you feel there is something that we may fail to acknowledge, and we will have the event screened before the Board of Trustees.

25. The MTA Discontinues V Train Service
The V train was the MTA’s most self-aware line, in that it proudly wore the title of being the party train. It took you as far as you realistically needed to go, and did not overcompensate for that fact by pretending its duty to the public was anything greater than plopping them off two blocks from the Fish, and five blocks from Lit. It was the train of broken dreams, a route that once seemed endless, but was unexpectedly cut short when an assortment of alcoholic beverages and chances at STDs were shoved in front of it. The V train was special because it was a microcosm for the glimmering road of stardom maligned by alcohol that is New York skateboarding.

The saga, Sega, network and bodega

November 22nd, 2010 | 1:39 pm | Daily News | 2 Comments

Things for Monday that may be of some interest to you.

Christian Hosoi was recently at the House of Vans in Greenpoint for a commemorative skate jam held in light of the Autumn Bowl’s demise. Taji put together a “Taj Cam” clip of the evening, and Billy has a more candid iPhone clip involving pastrami sandwiches and car rides.

The scaffolding is gone at IBM Ledge. They also kept the planters away from the ledge, so there is a lot more space to hit it if you are heading backside for regular / frontside for goofy.

Speaking of skate spots, if you have been skating Midtown on a regular basis for over a year, you are probably aware that almost everything becomes an unforgiving bust in the period between a few weeks before Thanksgiving, all the way through the new year, due to the heightened security presence meant to give directions to tourists and kick you out. That basically means Ziegfeld is a total bust right now, with a special guard posted up there for all previously skate-friendly hours. Consider yourself lucky if you got more than ten minutes there these past two weeks. This night was fun though.

Quiksilver Canada trip clip by Pryce Holmes. Filmed on Super 8 and the very same Sony Handycam that was fortunate enough to be used for this website’s greatest contribution to the cinema. Features Torey Goodall, Alex Olson, and Pat O’Rourke. You can catch the first clip from the trip here.

Reasons you should watch this John Wisdom for Ready Amongst the Willing clip: 1. He skates to what’s probably the best song off Liquid Swords, which is saying a lot. 2. He skates in camo pants. 3. The skateboarding is really, really good.

Here is a re-edit of Luis Tolentino’s footage from the past year or so that has surfaced in various commercials, web clips, etc. Edited by Eli Gesner. Probably the closest thing to a full part from Luis in recent memory. Luis is one of New York’s finest athletes, and more than just high ollies. He has always ripped, and here’s his section from Flipmode 4 as a reminder. The trick at Pyramid Ledges may very well supersede many of the other, ledge-related endeavors accomplished there. How one does an ollie going down an incline over something very high, and nestled between two narrow brick pillars boggles the mind to this very day.

Belief Skateshop is holding a contest at the new Astoria skatepark on this coming Sunday (the 28th.) Flyer here.

Quote of the Week: “It might be funny when you get hit by a car, but not when you get run over by one.” – Rob Campbell

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Monday Night Hyperlinks

September 13th, 2010 | 6:46 pm | Daily News | 9 Comments

Some things to keep you busy while wading through this unpredicted rain and preparations for the remaining portions of beloved fashion week.

There are a whole lot of flip cam videos on the list for the week, so we’ll just throw them into one long-winding list. Hopefully, the arrival of more innovative pieces of glass will take up a sizable market share of the acceptable skateboard video production equipment. (Spotted via RE1000.)

- The roster comes first, so here is Mooney’s flip cam video featuring a golden era of New Orleans rap soundtrack, him shooting bottle rockets into Elizabeth Street, and skatepark footage.

- Westchester County’s Second Nature Skateshop grabbed a bunch of Dusty Fingers compilations and edited them alongside a solid six-and-a-half-minute-long montage of their team. Features Burton Smith and Brian Brown cameos.

- A quick digi cam video from New Jersey via the Jaundice Crew / Adam Abada.

- A clip of Yaje and some others skating around places that admirably aren’t 12th and A. This one doesn’t seem to have been filmed on an iPhone, which is probably why it involves actual skate spots. Hollywood skates to the “Pretty Boy Swag” remix, which seems to have taken the title of “song of the summer,” neglecting the fact that nobody really listens to it past the 1:20 mark. Other skateboard related pretty-boy-swagisms.

The Pryce Holmes Super 8 reel.

Ethnically-themed skateboard companies are usually hit-or-miss, seeing as how they can be either the second or third greatest skate company of all-time (I know there are white people on it, shut up), or a bunch of closet white supremacists, but either way, Quartersnacks backs any company that backs Joseph Delgado.

Rob Campbell skates the Banks uphill in his latest Airspeed shoes commercial.

Even though everyone has seen this Japanese Jason Dill video interview by now, he touches upon a very valuable point in it: destroying property. Something so crucial to skateboarding’s heart is doing just that, and it will never be replicated by the Bronx park, the new Westside Highway park, or the Astoria park.

Full Bleed seems to have reached the upper echelons of attention within the journalistic world, because it got a brief feature from The New Yorker.

Element got Danny Barley back on board. If you need a reminder of his status as one of the most well-versed individuals in the art of skating in the middle of street, please watch this. (The picture quality is unfortunately, pretty awful.)

The most important news of the day: Roctakon is on Twitter.

Quote of the Week: “Yo! This is like, my FAVORITE song of ALL-TIME!” – Sketchy-looking white dude from Yonkers who walked into Supreme while this song was playing

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Drunk as Paul McCartney, I’m 80 Bottle Shorty

July 31st, 2010 | 4:55 pm | Daily News | 5 Comments

Mike Gigliotti > Russell Brand. Katy blew it.

For something that wasn’t all that popular or great of a skate spot, they really went all out in knobbing the flat rails on Metropolitan and Driggs in Williamsburg. The knobs are welded in, so even if you wanted to take them off, you’d be wasting your time. Watch Rodrigo’s part in the LRG video because he skated that place better than anyone.

Jersey City never ceases to be one of the most amazing places on the east coast. No set of Avalon condos or poor attempts at high-end hotel chains downtown can stop that.

If you haven’t already voted for Zered in ESPN’s real street contest, you need to do so while there is still time (tomorrow is the last day.) And if you haven’t seen his new footage, well then you’re just not really in the conversation.

New Jake Johnson footage quickly becomes old Jake Johnson footage because the internet so lovingly re-posts it everywhere (by the internet, I mean Slap), but he wears a snackman tee in it, so it’s more than enough to merit a re-post of something you’ve seen already.

Next time you buy a skateboard, support Rob Campbell’s new company, New Breed. For all the years Rob was on Substance, they never gave him the promotional push he deserved, since they seemed predominantly concerned with a bunch of rail kids, so hopefully this new company is a good shot at all of us finally seeing the full Rob part we’ve been waiting for all these years.

Random throwback link of the day: Danny Supa’s 411 “Wheels of Fortune” section. They really love giving New York footage the “video art” treatment.

Parks being infested with rats is news in New York now? Really? The first skatepark they ever gave Lower Manhattan is a rat colony to this day. Maybe they should go get some footage down there so people can think twice before using that “Isn’t there a skatepark you guys can go to” line again.

Quote of the Week: “Skateboarding is not a crime but it should be. Misdemeanor at least. what kind of city/society lets grown men run around attempting skateboard tricks on streets and sidewalks where people are trying to walk. I’m fine with skateboards as a general thing, but do it in a designated place. I love golf but I don’t go teeing off golf balls down 2nd avenue. Yeah you can accuse me of being the decrepit, get off my lawn guy, but I am from OC, california and I have hated skateboarding and its dumb culture since I was a kid.” — Anonymous Commenter on an East Village neighborhood blog’s re-post of the QS post on the Cooper Union bank being knobbed.

What’s worse: Being a decrepit get-off-my-lawn guy or being from OC, California and thinking anyone in New York cares about your opinion? Grand Torino was great, so you know what side I’m on.

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Brooklyn Banks Week: Rodney Torres Interview

July 12th, 2010 | 12:45 pm | Features & Interviews | 8 Comments

Interview by Ted Barrow on April 18, 2007. Supplementary commentary by Rob Campbell, German Nieves, Ray Wong, and Louie Louie.

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Rodney: When I used to skate the Banks, that pretty much…Rob is interrupting my session.

Rob: I used to steal niggas boards back in the day [laughter].

Rodney: You were theivin’?

Rob: Shit was crazy. Growing up, I ain’t have that much, so I couldn’t afford boards. Sometimes I’d do it by myself, sometimes with friends. It was like, dumbass niggas from Jersey or out of state would show up to the fucking Banks or whatever, and they’d go to Burger King, and leave their board there.

At Burger King or at the Banks?

Yeah, yeah. At Burger King.

Rodney: Burger King was the hang out spot after the Banks. Go to the Banks, go to Burger King, and then go to Seaport, or skate all around Water street. Then go back to the Banks. From the Banks, when it got dark, then go skate to Astor Place. Chill and skate at Astor Place, drink 40s, smoke weed, and then after that, skate to Union, do the same thing over there, and then from there skate to Midtown. All day, all night. Everyone would meet up at the Banks at noon, and skate ‘til like midnight. Then skate to Midtown and like, break night. Stay all night skateboarding. Just causing ruckus, you know? Drinking, smoking, skating. Hopefully hook up with some girls, but if not that then skate, have fun. Just doing little kid shit, you know?

What era is this?

This is like early 90s, right? Yeah. Early-to-mid 90’s. It’s not like that anymore.

Why do you think it’s not like that anymore?

Because everybody now is on some sort of agenda. Everybody’s got to film a trick for a video, everybody’s got to be all secretive, everyone’s got their own little clique of people that they roll with. I guess that back in the day everybody rolled together.

Rob: No doubt, like back in the days, if you wasn’t real, you couldn’t show up at the Banks. I see like half of these cornball ass niggas that look like Pharell and fucking shit like that, goofy asshole looking motherfuckers, like them niggas would totally get robbed for everything they got. It was like everybody that skated at the Banks knew each other.

So if you were from out of town?

It wasn’t even that. It was like, snake sessions? Oh, man. You’d get your board focused. Remember those days?

Rodney: Everybody in New York has a lot of pride in what they do and basically, it was almost like you were stepping on toes if you came out here and tried to run shit. It’s either you got your ass whooped or you got your product stolen. One or the other. It’s still kind of like that now with all the older people, you know? Skateboarding in any sense, if that’s where you grew up, it’s like you’re a part of a fucking huge family of people, a huge mafia in a sense, you know?

People would come here and try to run shit, for no reason. They tried to step on toes. They tried to fucking come up off people, and use people, in a sense where it wasn’t anything genuine.