Adam Abada | Quartersnacks

Five Favorite Parts With Brandon Turner

Features & Interviews April 20th, 2022 · 12:00 am · 2

Intro + Interview by Adam Abada
Portrait by Mike Blabac

There’s a tendency for skaters from a certain era to have favorite parts from a certain era. Brandon Turner isn’t really an exception to this rule, but instead of piling praise onto the heap of what can be considered modern street skateboarding’s founding documents, he can specifically recall how they related to him in the timeframe he’s remembering. They’re inspirational pieces fueling skaters’ second — and sometimes — third career acts. Brandon Turner still skates today like these are his favorite parts.

The Best Skate Videos & Parts of 2021 — QS Readers Poll Results

Features & Interviews December 23rd, 2021 · 12:00 am · 20

Illustration by Cosme Studio
Ballot Count by 4Ply Magazine

The votes are in, the ballots are tallied, the blurbs by writer friends from the internet are written, and our annual exercise of trying to combat content fatigue and fried attention spans is live.

For anybody uninitiated: back in 2019, we asked QS visitors for the five parts and videos from the 2010s that they would bury in a capsule under the earth for future inhabitants to reference once all other evidence of skateboarding had been erased. In 2020, we adapted this concept to encapsulate one year. And here we are in 2021, with the results of the same excerise.

No commentary for the full-lengths or 20-11 ranked parts. Special thank you to all the writers that took the time to share some words about their favorites. (Lol that the order for the 4-1 writers is the same this year as last. Total coincidence.) Major shout out to Pete at 4Ply Magazine for compiling all the data.

If you are just joining us, this ranking was voted on by QS readers from November 29th to December 3rd.

Thankful For Keith — An Interview With Keith Denley

Features & Interviews October 14th, 2021 · 12:00 am · 6

Intro + Interview by Adam Abada
Headline Photo by Jason Lecras
Skate Photos by Pep Kim

The longer you stay in one place, the more you get to know the people there. If you’ve skated in New York anytime since the Autumn era, it probably didn’t take long until you ran into Keith. As around as he was, though, you somehow never got as much as you wanted. Closer friends saw him skate on trips or sessions between work, while co-workers got some of his hardest working hours.

The skating that did trickle out to the public was always timeless, though. As it turns out, one of those co-workers turned him pro. It is this kind of steady, thoughtful, genuine living that makes Keith’s personality and skating alike so delightful to be around. It’s been long overdue to hear, in his own words, what makes Keith …well, Keith.

In Memoriam — The Oral History of the Twin Towers in Skate Photos, Part 2

Features & Interviews September 8th, 2021 · 12:00 am · 3

Intro + Interviews by Adam Abada
Collage by Requiem For A Screen

It is fitting that there are maybe the most skate photos of the Twin Towers featuring Keith Hufnagel and Harold Hunter: two of the greatest representatives of New York skateboarding.

Revisiting our series from two years ago, here are five more stories behind images of the Twin Towers in skateboarding, including many of Harold and Keith.

Looking into the stories behind them, I learned how essential they were to the fabric of so much of the skateboarding that has come out of the five boroughs. In memoriam photos of the Towers turn into stories about people and eras who shared some form of dual history with them, and in turn, ourselves. They remind us that if anything can be learned from difficult loss, it’s to always make the most of the time given to us. And that can be turned into hope and happiness, at least for a short time.

‘Big Shout Out To The Empanada Lady’ — An Interview With Marcello Campanello

Features & Interviews September 1st, 2021 · 12:00 am · 2

Intro + Interview by Adam Abada
Headline Image by Christopher Zipf
All Other Photography by Jason Sherman

Flushing Meadows Park’s globe looms large in New York skateboarding. It is probably the second most recognizable New York spot next to the Banks.

Just like the eye-catching blue ground at the globe, it was hard to remember where I first noticed Marcello Campanello’s skating. His movements tempt me to use descriptors often left to non-skateboarding journalists: whirling, spinning, twisting, leaping. I noticed him in local projects, namely: Canal videos, and then saw him popping up in Diego Donival’s project Goodily. With the help of Instagram, I knew he was an Astoria Park staple, but I didn’t know much else. It wasn’t surprising, though, when he surfaced on Karl Watson’s Maxallure board brand. Now, designing graphics for Maxallure and with a stockpile of clips, is as good a time as any to find out more.