“I went from being a kid skating on my block to hanging out with all the best skaters in New York City because I learned how to do a frontside 360 boneless.” A friend once had a story about how their book club took a razor to The Powerbroker and sliced it up into three books to make it more reasonable of a read. This isn’t that dramatic, but a blog interview that takes over two hours to read is a lot for most people in the era of byte-sized #content — but we’re *SO* happy that people are putting detailed, rich content on the internet that requires a commitment! Isn’t that what it’s for?! The Slam City Skates blog’s interview with Eli Gesner about skateboarding + graffiti in New York in the 80s, night clubs in the early 90s, the beginnings of Shut + Zoo York, etc. is like a little history book :)
“I don’t remember doing this…was it in the Transworld Duets video?” Antonio Durao varial heel the Banks rail in the December 2018 edition of TWS “Sightings.” Photo by Blair Alley.
Village Psychic came through with a lovely Jawn Gardner remix, just as we revert back to mid 40-degree temperatures for this upcoming week :) Thanks for keeping us hyped in 2k18, John ♥
We were so naive to think that we could close the lid on 2018 while retaining the innocence of never hearing “Sicko Mode” in a “Summer Trip to New York” montage *facepalm* Jk, jk. The Chef boys from Milan came through in the eleventh hour and released a montage from their summer here.
Akira Mowatt, Charles Lamb, Robert Lim and some of the locals have a iPhone edit from their time in Shanghai. We were there for like a week and skated maybe half of these places? Place is as wild as everyone makes it out to be for spots.
Another one for the ever-increasing scroll of fun Upstate New York videos this year: “Tailgate” via Buffalo Dave.
Quote of the Week: “At first I thought that guy in the grey beanie was Alex Olson, but then I realized he looked more like Post Malone.” — Dana Ericson
Five out of five Tompkins skaters agree that this is the best box ever made. Sadly, it’s on the other side of the planet. We got to talking about replicating it — anybody know any welders? (Real question.)
Holy big flip, here is an illicit link to Brandon Westgate’s part in the new Element video, Peace. (Read: Will probably get deleted.) Really sick to see him still gunning for it as hard as he was in the Stay Gold days, and on a lot of new/seldom-seen New England spots at that. Would comment on the THPS music, but Brandon Westgate never struck me as a skater who is too invested in music.
Not much other info on it, but “Background 1” is a fun lo-def video with a ton of faces you’ll recognize from Gang Corp edits, Tompkins, and L.E.S. Park. All street clips.
Listen to Bobby Puleo fan out on the Gonz for five minutes. He’s really good at finding the right words to describe why certain small things make a trick or photo extra special.
I’ve found myself using the word “super” too much lately, too :( Gino Iannucci is the latest guest in an hour-long interview on Lee Smith’s podcast.
Always down to plug something that resurrects the lost art of the video review. Livegets all Boil the Ocean on us and uses a bunch of vocabulary stuff and long sentences to do a joint review of Doll and It’s Time, two videos that occupy space on opposite ends of the spectrum (and country.)
The general harshness of the world feels extra apocalyptic in an election year, but if you’re an optimist (or willing to turn your sights that way), I read this article (from April 2018) about the [good] ways in which American life is currently being reinvented on a micro level and felt fuzzy inside, at least for a bit ♥ Love you guys, and please go vote next Tuesday!
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week:This four-second video encapsulates the entire history of the Brooklyn Nets. (And yes, if it was by a Knicks player, it’d encapsulate their past 17 years too obvs.)
Quote of the Week: “A Bennett grind is like another drunk tank trick.” — Dana Ericson re: someone else (forgetting who) originally coining a smith kickflip as being a “drunk tank trick.” (Hypothetical: Has there ever been a Bennett grind that’s been better than even the most generic switch back smith? Actually, nvm.)
And so, the prolonged afterlife of a full-length video released in 2018 comes to its close: the final “B-sides” clip.
No Idea was the video that earned Etienne a Gucci polo. These are the bits that didn’t — in fact, they didn’t even earn anyone a Ralph Lauren polo. B-sides are the U.S. Polo Assassins polo of the golf shirt hierarchy, and these are the ones that took place on various filming trips to Boston, that time E.T. got stuck in Spain for ten months, and Canada. Alltimers for Adidas available in skate shops now.
Happy belated back-to-back birthdays to Etienne “Who Is That Child That’s Always On Your Instagram” Gagne and Dana “Forbidden 14” Ericson — who, coincidentally — have the highest volume of B-sides filmed in New York from the Alltimers No Idea video. Figured this would be as good of a time as any to post another installment of these. Features a few Philly clips but same difference yaknow.
Filmed by Daniel Wheatley, Emilio Cuilan and Corey McNeill. Best viewed while desperately hoping that there are zero acoustic guitars on Slime Language.