Dog Day Afternoon

A late Monday Links post with a photo of Ri on vacation to accompany a prolonged content slump is practically a QS middle of summer tradition. In all honesty, we’ve been working on backend issues of this circa 2010 ass website for the past few months, and are finally closing in towards the end. After that’s all done, we’re back to bringing you all the hot takes on the Osiris D3 like the rest of the skateboard internet. We even started bringing the real camera out again!

“Don’t let the mainstream media fool you, walls are just vertical floors.” The official roster and challenge list for the 2018 Dime Glory Challenge has been released. See everyone there? (Related and related.)

“BLESSED”, the new full-length Supreme video, is on the way.

The Bunt’s new one is with young New Jersey legend, Jersey Dave’s first-born child, and underrated skate hair icon, Josh Wilson.

“It was pretty common to see kids charging through New York City together in big packs, sometimes 30-deep. The energy that creates is insane, and you can’t help but get swept up by it. Everybody’s feeding off it and pushing each other, which I honestly feel was a big contributing factor for all of us progressing so quickly.” Chromeball interview #119 is with Keith Hufnagel.

Vol. 26 of LurkNYC “N.Y. Times” b-sides is now playing over on TWS. Between all the beanies + winter clothes, and that whole hectic section on the Christie Street bike path, it gave the entire QS office crippling anxiety.

“Like so many of life’s conundrums, one inevitably is left pondering the fate of the switch hardflip.”

The Chinatown Manual Pad seems like it has been experiencing a recent resurgence in coverage, with the new D.O.A. promo being the the latest evidence.

Shout out to the Yardsale boys for carving out a #mood with their new full-length video while using the same DSL-R camera that we have been using for QS edits for the bulk of this decade. It is very much documented that some people hate that thing and the quality of footage it produces, but it occupies this loose space between iPhone and going full HPX that compliments homie videos like the YS one quite well.

Village Psychic has a rad interview with Patrik Wallner about skateboarding in North Korea, where he’s been four (!) times.

Kyota went to Boston alone, filmed himself, and eventually made Boston friends.

Quote of the Week: “How much do you think a helicopter from Korea to the Glory Challenge costs?” — John Choi

Took the Links Offshore

This bench has made a long journey from Delancey Curb, to the front of a Rivington Street pizza restaurant, and eventually, back to its rightful community at T.F. — though none of us have been there since Thursday, and also the D.A. softball league is back, so it might be up in heaven now.

Oh, so you’re just throwing barricades now?

Tony Choy-Sutton has a rad new video entitled “Gas,” which features John Gardner, Franco, Pat Gallaher, and a part from Sean Frederickson full of scary spots.

“Sownd” is a 13-minute video of mostly New York footage from some (mostly?) North Carolina ex-pats. The boardslide line at Riverside Park and the ender are wild.

Was kind of wondering how long it’d take for an all-Borough Hall part to come along. Would be shocked if someone wasn’t working on an all-Borough Hall video right now too. (Also, seeing 2k18 American footage of people doing a line at a real street spot with dozens of skaters chilling on some steps in the background is ♥♥♥)

While sifting through a box of random skate DVDs, I remembered I had these two nineties Boston videos, the earlier one of which includes a Jahmal Williams part from literally 27 years ago. Just uploaded to YouTube here.

Mark Del Negro has a new five-minute part over on Theories.

In the never-ending Instagram demo, perhaps the pro daily dribbling out indifferently phone-filmed park clips is not some navel-gazing lazy, tossing half-baked bones to his or her followers while too hungover to step to street spots.”

Krak did an “all tricks” compilation from the long Barcelona hubba ledge that has been popping up in quite a lot of videos as of late.

“There’s something modest to his skateboarding, in that he can realistically do anything, but rarely rolls away with flair or arrogance. It’s a very polite way to ride a skateboard.” A guy with the same name as a former Cons pro offers up a review on the Cons video, which — if you haven’t been on the internet all weekend — is now online.

The Gristedes on 96th Street closed down, which means you can now skate the bank in front of it that only Jaws otherwise skated in some Weed Maps clip…idk dude ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: This is one of those weeks where if it didn’t go to Lebron, it’d just look like some full hater shit. So it’s going to Lebron.

Quote of the Week: “This is a pretty sweet spot. It reminds me of Germany…not that I’ve ever been to Germany.” — Nolan Benfield re: a French restaurant in France

The Ethos of the Forbidden 14 With Dana Ericson

Words & Interview by Frozen in Carbonite
Photo by Lee Madden

“A man must have a code.” — Omar Little and/or Bunk Moreland, The Wire (HBO, 2002-2008)

You might remember the Code of Hammurabi from 9th/10th grade world history or some shit. Long story short, it functioned as the first written code of law in the history of human civilization.

Four thousand years later, from a socio-anthropological perspective, skate spots — and more specifically, the almost-extinct inner city plaza spot — are mini-civilizations with their own dignitaries and codes.

Love Park — don’t push mongo. Embarcadero — don’t get in Mike or Henry’s way. Along those lines, Boston’s Eggs has developed its own code, a central component of which is the infamous “Forbidden 14.” When I first heard of it, it took me back to the days of vibing anyone that did a street grab or railslide. On the other hand, when you saw someone with a nose and tail worn down to the wood grain and a pristine graphic in between, you knew they weren’t fucking around.

When I referenced it here, a substantial amount of #engagement erupted in the QS comments section. So, we hit up Eggs local and Alltimers rider Dana Ericson to shed some light on one of Eggs’ most elusive and #controversial hidden codes.

For the culture.

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Bump To Bleacher 2.0

You can take the Bostonian out of Boston, but you can’t take the Boston out of the Bostonian. In the days of Joey Pepper’s Aesthetics section and Jahmal Williams riding for DNA, Boston was the epicenter of bump-to-bleacher skateboarding. Longing for those sweet green metal days and displaced from their homeland, some savvy New Englanders decided “Fuck going to Reggaeton Ledges” this past summer, and began their own propped up empire nearby. The crowd followed suit.

Other notable developments in Grand’s latest are Spencer Hamilton bringing his two signature moves to Columbus Park, and the QS Spot Desk being wrong about people needing Bondo to skate the one surviving bank under the 125th Street 1 train ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Features Spencer Hamilton, Nick Ferro, Dana Ericson, Connor Champion, Kevin Tierney and Brian Delaney. J.P. Blair on da lens.

Previously: 25 Grand Remix, “Naomi,” “Cindy

On an unrelated note, congrats to Cyrus for going pro ♥ Revisit his Mama’s Boys part below, as it was the first Cyrus part we ever posted on QS and the first one any of us ever saw. Solid batch of those tricks could easily still fit into a 2017 Cyrus part :)

Frozen in Carbonite Presents — Song of the Summer x Video Part of the Summer 2017: The Summer of Angst

Words by Frozen in Carbonite

I turned 40 this summer. Eschewing a crazy-ass party, trip or any other type of midlife crisis-type behavior, I kept it mellow and went out to my local™ bar. Street skating over forty is unknown territory, but if you manage to stay fit, there’s what I call the Reggie Miller Effect: one’s physique remains essentially static, but one’s capabilities — whether because of reflexes or vision deteriorating — decline exponentially. It’s all about managing expectations. 360 flips might flip slower than in the past, but maybe one adds backside nosegrind reverts on small ledges to the repertoire. Other summer activities function in a similar manner; one might not be able to make it to OVO Fest, but maybe one could chill at one of those tiny New York hotel pools with a bag of tequila taped to one’s thigh.

This #frame gives one hope heading into the fall A.K.A. skate season. Indeed, while this may be the first S.O.T.S. x V.P.O.T.S. post without a part from an according-to-Hoyle physical release, at press time, we were still digesting the 917 and Traffic vids, plus anticipating the release of Sabotage 5. So with an eye towards hoody season, let’s take a look back at the songs and video parts that fueled summer ’17.

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