Boston Report – Orchard’s ‘Pollen’ Video

“Pollen” is the latest video by Orchard Skateshop videographer Ted Purtell.

Those who were around for a — um, let’s say — “slower cook-time” era of skateboard media, will appreciate what Orchard and Mr. Purtell have done here.

Rather than siphoning all their B-roll into bite-size edits for our most scrollable platforms, they’ve created a video magazine of sorts for the shop that sits at the center of the Boston skate scene.

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Hang Time — An Interview With Brian Reid

Intro + Interview by Adam Abada
Photos by Liam Annis

Following a now-growing list of skaters making Cape Cod, Massachusetts a proving ground for east coast talent, Brian Reid has been adding to his repertoire this year. At 26 years, he is deceptively young for his wealth of wisdom. His hometown of Hyannis (yes – adjacent to that Hyannisport where the Kennedys famously summered) serves as a base for excursions into the northeast’s city centers, where he has a keen eye for a brick-and-mortar aesthetic.

Right after finishing up my interview, Orchard dropped “The Trail” with Mr. Reid front and center. That’s before mentioning Tim Savage’s “Brian, Brandon, and Will,” DGK’s Zeitgeist, and the Boston-area based AM Scramble Brian was invited to this summer — so honestly, I’m patting myself on the back for the timing of this one. Let’s get this man a board.

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Orchard Skateshop Presents: ‘The Trail’

“The Trail” has — through no shortage of hard-wrung effort, we can be sure — accomplished the impossible.

Lee Madden and Orchard’s roster of mainstays (Sean Evans, Ben Tenner, Myles Underwood and Brian Reid) have made a Boston skate video with no Eggs footage. No skate scene is without a riptide of a spot or two, but short of maybe Pulaski’s hold on D.C. skateboarders, Eggs’ magnetism is unbridled on the east coast.

All jokes aside though, “The Trail” is a follow-up to “EGG,” the all-Eggs video that this roster dropped this time two years ago, effectively purging their stockpile of footage from New England’s most famous skate spot, so that they could go ahead and churn out lines on Boston’s brick-and-granite side streets. The entire video was filmed in Boston proper, without taking a refuge for less traversed terrain out in the city’s suburbs. Filming and edit by VX Lee Madden, with 16mm by Vito Ramirez.

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And These Links From Snacks Not From YouTube

Photo by Greg Navarro 📷

Thanks to everyone who grabbed something off the webstore sale last week. Should be caught up on shipping by end of today 📦💨

The NPR Story on the A.V.E. bench spills a bit of the secret on how the bench got to Richmond, Virginia at the end, straight from…the Temple University police. Bravo to skateboarders, for always figuring it out. If you aren’t already aware, @ave_bench on Instagram has been tracking the world tour at every turn.

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Westgate & The Youths — Tim Savage’s ‘Brian, Brandon & Will’ Video

Being a fan of skateboarding is not without its emotional volatility. Skaters show promise and disappear. People get injured and are never the same again. Some coast on good-will from a bygone era while fans plead for anything, even a quick crumb on the ‘Gram.

With all this uncertainty, it’s nice never having to worry about Brandon Westgate. Even after 15+ years of him doing Brandon Westgate shit — he still finds the time to log parts full of new and improved Brandon Westgate shit. This time around, the difference is that he is allowing his longstanding superpowers to supercharge on a younger generation of New Englanders. Just wait for the ender.

Tim Savage — whose Boston scene video, Grace, stands as one of last summer’s best — has a new one out that is effectively a big shared part between Brian Reid, Will Mazzari, and yes, Brandon Westgate. Rather than sticking to the Boston staples like Eggs and Financial District, the video casts a wide net throughout New England that is sure to inspire a few road trips this summer.

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