Skateboarding in the Second City

party

“This one guest skater is a party boy in white v-neck with both kness ripped out of jeans who does a chill switch line.”

A combination of today’s 70-degree forecast, shipping t-shirts, and late night Chris Paul bank shots / torrid Golden State shooting nights threw off our already loose editorial calendar. In consolation, one of the few widely circulated Chicago videos in recent memory was uploaded to YouTube yesterday.

You might remember Chity from Galen Dekemper’s 50,000+ word review play-by-play, in which he felt that “these guys kick it with girls who go to music shows” and offered commentary on a myriad of outfits worn in the video. We’re all waiting to see if unnecessarily riding on long grates will emerge as a space-filling novelty trick in the same way unnecessary powerslides have become acceptable for chino-wearing skateboarders in urban environments.

Midwestern videos have continued to develop followings outside their immediate scenes in recent years, and Chity is a solid companion piece to Debris, Homegrown, St. Losers or whatever your favorite may be. Whether or not the midwest skate video renaissance will come in contact with the Chicago rap renissance remains to be seen, but we won’t get our hopes up. And since the Bulls are the only team left in the league that doesn’t take shit from the Heat — let’s go Bulls.

“On a first watching, it may be difficult to remember which white skater was doing which tricks where, but differences emerge after the repeated viewings this video encourages.”

Hurricane Sandy Links

Rest in Peace Reggie Destin. Reggie’s friends are continuing their fundraiser to cover hospital costs and services. Sam McGuire and Joe Hammeke, two midwest-based photographers, are selling prints of skate photos for the same cause. (This shot of a back tail on the Sundial Ledges in Chicago is great.) Our friend Martin Davis is also printing a run of the original Push Skateshop tees to raise money.

Austyn Gillette and friends skating around New York in this last minute (and extremely saturated) entry to the “Summer in New York” clip cycle.

Skateboarder posted an interview with Chris Keefe about DQM’s collaboration with Cliché. It includes a bunch of photos by Jonathan Mehring.

Whoa, a Corey Rubin sighting AND a Loose Trucks Max sighting in the same clip?

Some young kids shredding cutty spots. Anyone born post-1990 and still skating the best material / worst ground State Building ledge gets extra points.

Blacking out on 4Loko (#trendwatch2009?), and Luis Tolentino and Rob Gonyon skating those two skateparks in Queens.

A lifestyley clip of skating in Harlem, unsurprisingly set to Big L. At first, it seemed appropriate to point skateboarders in the direction of this Rap & R&B section on the “People from Harlem” Wikipedia page, but it doesn’t include Charly Wingate (or G. Dep), so consider it useless.

The Skateboard Mag re-posted a New York article with the Stereo team from 2009.

Our friend Stephen McClintock’s photo show, “Happiness is Expensive,” is supposed to have its closing reception tonight from 6 to 10 P.M. Click here for the flyer. As you could imagine, it is weather-dependent. Todd Jordan interviewed him over on The Heavy Mental.

The NBA season starts back up tomorrow. James “I Disappeared from the 2012 Finals” Harden got traded to the Houston Rockets, thus ending any sort of QS Sports Desk pipe dream scenario where the Bulls amnesty Carlos Boozer and somehow end up with Harden, or Oklahoma extends Harden’s contract and trades Westbrook for a guard who actually passes to the best scorer in the NBA (ideally Rondo, but you know, these are mere fantasies.) Brace yourself for a sportswriter’s dream / New York fan’s nightmare of a Lakers-Heat Final. In other news, 50% of the Knicks roster is already hurt, and Jeremy Evans had the best play of the pre-season.

Quote of the Week: “It’s fun…as opposed to boring.” — Torey Goodall


Good luck with this Hurricane Sandy mess. Here’s our “Ten Hurricanes Better Than Hurricane Irene” post from last year, which could easily be re-applied to Sandy.

Help Out Reggie Destin

October 27: Reggie Destin passed away this morning. Rest in peace. Read a statement from one of his close friends here.

Reggie Destin, a longtime staple of the skateboard scene in Chicago, was hit by a drunk driver while skateboarding in a bike lane on Friday night. He suffered severe head injuries and is currently hospitalized in critical condition. The driver fled the scene and was caught by police several blocks later. It was the driver’s second drunk driving offense and he is currently being held on $400,000 bail.

Though I do not know him personally, friends from Chicago say that Reggie is behind a ton of great projects that helped build the city’s skate scene over the years. He is the founder of Push Skateshop, ran Affiliate Skateboards, and has worked with Girl, Chocolate and Empire Distribution (former distributor of Vehicle.) One of Reggie’s friends has organized an online fundraiser to help cover medical costs as a result of this accident. Please donate what you can and keep him in your prayers.