‘B-Team Documentary’ by Classic Griptape

October 30th, 2020 · 1:15 pm

Making it through 2020 with a morsel of mental health in tact has required all of us to look for silver linings. For most, this meant reconnecting with those we may have fallen out of touch with, due to the hectic pace of pre-COVID life. For the Classic Grip office, it meant rekindling the flame with a childhood flatbar, taking it on a cross-country journey, and giving it the best summer of its life with a ragtag team of Canadian heart-throbs in tow (who you will recognize from Alltimers, Dime et al. edits.)

“B-Team Documentary” is a modern road film masterpiece — an Easy Rider for the the coronavirus age, Thelma & Louise if Louise was a 10-inch-high flat bar bought from a Canadian Tire, or simply Paris, Texas on a skateboard ♥

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Weekend Viewing: Jordan Trahan’s ‘Broth’ Part

October 23rd, 2020 · 10:15 am · 2 Comments

Broth is a new video out of New Orleans, and it features an ender section from Jordan Trahan filmed over the past two-and-half years. A lot of Jordan’s video output since 2015’s 5BNY feels like it has come via NB# vids, most of which are filmed on skate trips abroad. There’s a special charm to established pros filming hometown parts — think Gilbert’s Bust Crew sections, or Jake’s bro cam outing in last year’s Zeta Cacti video. Watching Jordan skate Louisiana porches, do bayou-side wallies, and string together lines at whatever that rusty pier Philly and them always skate carries the same feeling. (Yes, Jordan is from Lafayette, not New Orleans, but you get the idea.)

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Josh Velez’s Quaranteam Part

October 20th, 2020 · 12:00 am · 6 Comments

Anybody selling hard goods can attest to the “skateboard boom” that began in the lockdown months. People who had not picked up a board in years because life got in the way were buying new completes because, like, wtf else was there to do?

But what about those who never let life entirely get in the way of skating? For them, this past spring was a tidal wave of free time that no gainfully employed adult skateboarder thought they would experience until they were retired with bad knees. It was a pass to be 17 again, at least for a bit.

As outlined in 2019’s outing, Josh has been on a half-decade streak of filming parts mostly on his two days off from work a week. For a sizable chunk of 2020, there was no work, so this year’s is an extended edition — complete with cameos from some extended QS family members who haven’t popped up in an edit for deep.

Edited by Eric Cruz. Appearances from Connor Champion, Kevin Tierney, Troy Stilwell, Zach Baker, Kadeem Walters, Ty Lyons, Meatball, Ryan Santiago, Cyrus Bennett, Haffa, Antonio Durao, Ron Parker.

Same City, Same Friends, Just Skating

October 14th, 2020 · 12:00 am · 7 Comments

Tompkins Square Beach

“Making edits for no apparent reason” is perpetually on the list of QS office initiatives in need of a reboot. (There are probably people who began skating after “Start of Summer” edits ceased circulation who are already pro.) With so many who came of age staring at Instagram being familiar with QS because of Top 10, we must remind them that poorly filmed, sometimes-good-but-often-just-okay skate clips have been the bread and butter of this media enterprise since the days when waxing a ledge in front of your elders earned you a slap upside the fucking head with an insistence that you “just go faster.”

Anyway, here are some bits and pieces from the summer that weren’t due to go anywhere else. Short and sweet. Gonna *try* and make these a habit.

Features Antonio Durao, Connor Champion, Emilio Cuilan, S.P, K.T, E.T :)

Lucas Puig Oceanside Remix

August 5th, 2020 · 12:00 am · 1 Comment

Once upon a time, a remix video was a bi-monthly occurrence on the pages of this website. But as the the floodgates of daily skate content opened, keeping up with all the Insta posts and raw files got exhausting; we left much of the remixing duties to the random YouTube accounts we follow, whose work we happily link each Monday when they happen to clock every Nik Stain and Vincent Touzery appearance.

Even so, the “Poolside” remix of Lucas Puig loosies circa 2014 has remained a personal favorite in the ol’ editing portfolio. This was before skateboarding on Instagram was what it is now, and some of the dubbing is way off, but it still feels like a skateboard fantasy sports season triumph.

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