Boston | Quartersnacks

Took the Links Offshore

Daily News May 7th, 2018 · 4:54 am · 6

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

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The Ethos of the Forbidden 14 With Dana Ericson

Features & Interviews November 8th, 2017 · 5:00 am · 54

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.

Bump To Bleacher 2.0

Daily News October 11th, 2017 · 11:15 am · 2

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

Features & Interviews September 27th, 2017 · 5:00 am · 7

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.

A Dying Breed — The One Spot Part

Video & Remixes February 24th, 2016 · 2:12 am · 6

Photo: Cronan

A one-spot part was once a natural occurrence and a reflection of habit. Just as partying ate into the time we spent dedicated to night clips, a nationwide depletion of friendly plaza space pushed us into the crust. It now takes a concerted effort to film an entire part in [or mostly in] one place. On a week where we are mourning the loss of skateboarding’s most serendipitous crossroad with public space, let us not forget to celebrate the living.

By previous conservative definitions, Eggs wouldn’t have been considered a plaza. It’s in central Boston, but tucked away in central Boston; the nearest store is still a bit of skate away, rendering the “run, skate, chill, go to the store”-litmus test a fail. As center-city spots turned to memories over the last decade-and-a-half and our friends went searching for cellar doors, we had to widen the classification.

In 2016, Flushing’s a plaza, Third and Army is a plaza and Eggs is a plaza. We had to look past how far they were situated from sustenance. They had open space, they had a history and they had a culture.

Today, we celebrate Eggs with Gavin Nolan, via the lens of perhaps the most well-regarded one-spot part in skate video history. The rest is just a bonus reel. After all, how much actual footage of the subject was there in that 4:30 Reason part ;) ?

Filmed by R.B. Umali, Tom Gorelik, Evan Walsh & Elliott Vecchia. Also maybe the most boom-bap QS remix / clip ever, even though it has a guy from the Bay rapping on it :)