The BUG crew out of Hamburg, Germany first came onto our radar via our friends at Place mag out in Berlin, when we co-presented their Get Bug video a year ago.
Their latest is Bug Overseas, which finds them beginning in their home of Hamburg, then making it out to Berlin, Rotterdam and New York for the obligatory pilgrimage to our city’s most sacred site: Mambo Bar.
For all the interconnected-ness of the global skate crew ecosystem — one that allows you to, say, keep up with what’s going on in the Budapest scene for almost a decade, or know who the up-and-coming skaters out of Milan are — there are obvious blindspots. It is no stretch to say that the average skate nerd knows less about the scene and skaters in Germany than in Spain, France or the U.K. The QS office is also no exception to this oversight, which is why today, we are co-presenting a new video out of Germany with our friends at the Berlin-based Place magazine.
Photo by Tobin Yelland
(Saw that comments weren’t working for most of last week. That issue has [*hopefully*] been fixed. If you’re a devout QS commenter and still getting an error, hit us on social or e-mail.)
“Every interview cemented that yeah, he accomplished a lot but it was about skateboarding and that actually meant something that he fostered: growing a community by supporting people you believe in.” Anthony Pappalardo the Writer wrote a bit about Huf’s impact on him as an east coaster with teen eyes on San Francisco in the nineties.
Village Psychic re: “Huf & Friends” from Interface.
TWS rounded up the words and tributes from fellow pro skaters about the influence Keith Hufnagel had on their lives ♥
All remaining QS tees + whatever else we have left is on sale for cheap on our webstore. Mostly smalls and mediums left ♥ Thanks for your support, as always.
“A disc jockey, prison guard and a lumberjack walk into a vape lounge. A lounge team member looks up and says: ‘I know you folks. You must be coming from Human Resources Online’s list of the worst professions in 2018, ranked in terms of average salary and advancement opportunities, right?’ Before they can answer, a pro skateboarder wanders in behind them.” — Boil the Ocean explores the dynamics of skateboarding’s shrinking middle class as we approach the 2020s.
It seems Michael Jordan has been watching Josh Velez’s past couple parts.
Dudes skating Everson between piles of snow: “…Or Get Off The Pot” is a new Syracuse edit from Lukas Reed.
Village Psychic had a couple nice pieces on their site recently. First, they caught up with contributors to Transworld, old and new, to get some recollections on the mag, and they also got Tony Hawk on the horn about where he (as someone who has had the widest range of endorsement deals in existence) draws the line on corporate sponsors.
Thrasher posted the interviews and photos from their feature on the Chrystie vid.
Even a bunch of dudes from Germany who haven’t grown tired of skating the same downtown spots summer after summer aren’t resistant to T.F. West’s magnetic pull. “Transit Ride” is a half New York / half L.A. mini video by Paul Herrman. (And also confirms that you aren’t really dating yourself by pointing out Gang Starr in the most oft-skated to rap artist conversation.)
Spring is for cab flips. Zach Moore’s part in Skating Is Easy is now online.
“If I saw the spots he skates waxed, I’d just think it was rollerbladers.” Thrasher uploaded the raw files to Brandon Westgate’s “Bog Town” part, filmed primarily (all?) around his home in New England.
Brad Cromer is the latest guest on The Bunt.
Yet another reminder to watch Minding The Gap if you still haven’t summoned the nerve to type in your card # for that free Hulu trial… Free interviewed the film’s director, Bing Liu. They were slow to get to it at first too, but became instant fans once they watched the film.
Ricardo Napoli’s video, Ciao, is premiering at The Woods in Williamsburg (48 S 4th Street) tonight at 7 P.M. You can watch his last video, Making It Happen, here.
Spot Updates — 1) The ledges on 110th and Central Park West had chunks taken out of all of them by the city. 2) Haven’t seen footage of it in a bit, but recently received an email tip that Queens’ Broadway Park is currently fenced off for construction.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Haven’t had Russ on here in a minute.
Quote of the Week: “You know what, his style isn’t fake. He’s just ugly.” — Stafhon
A nice Monday morning mix from Roctakon. Listen while you sit alone in a smoke-filled cafe before skating, watching your past lovers cry ♥
August is always slow. Having three Monday Links posts on the front page isn’t really a good look though, so hopefully stuff starts happening soon :(
Seattle is taking a step in the right direction with regard to more progressive thought than “skaters = skateparks.” Except the thought is a bit better than the execution, because the “skateable sculpture” they built looks absurd and not a good way (it’s designed by a snowboarder…and Torey Pudwill.) Unsurprisingly, even when not making full-fledged skate plazas, the Germans are ahead of the curve with the whole multi-functional skateable sculpture thing.
Skate Spot Porn: Architizer rounds up some works of modernist architecture that happen to be unintentionally perfect for skateboarding.
Get weird with the Juicy Elbows “Summer Trip to New York” montage. Here’s last year’s edition in case you missed it. And if you didn’t know by now, there’s a Venice curb and flat bar at the Fat Kid Spot now.
Watch Raffie Gordon’s part and Karim Callender and Alejandro Batista’s shared part from Belief Skate Shop’s Ever Upward video. Anyone who does a trick at the two-second bust plaza outside of the F train on 42nd Street deserves a pat on the back.
Skaters aren’t the only ones obssessed with the VHS format. Is it safe to say that unlike straight-to-VHS B-movies from the eighties, most skate videos initially released on VHS that are worth saving have already been preserved on new mediums?
Speaking of formats, here is this week’s edition in our search for the new VX1000.
J Kwon / Radio Korea is singlehandedly bringing a nineties plaza vibe back to L.A. skating, a la the USC, Santa Monica Courthouse, or L.A. County days.
This Carlos Iqui guy is keeping the switch push alive.
Brian Anderson skates the B.Q.E. spot and talks about his new shoe, which has been getting some heavy praise from the older, “I only skate in one shoe”-stickler crowd.
Someone (not Ian Reid) uploaded Ian Reid’s Video to YouTube.
R.I.P. to the Instagram sensation Bushwick Bump.
*BONUS* QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: The NBA season is two-and-a-half months away, so here’s White Chocolate with a bounce pass to alley oop in a Taiwanese exhibition game from this summer. FYI: Derrick Rose returns in a season opener against the Heat, and the Knicks’ second game is in Chicago. Also, the Knicks play the Thunder at MSG on Christmas (their last meeting was a good time.)
Quote of the Week: “I hate hearing people drive by blasting that ‘Ain’t Worried About Nothing’ song when I’m worrying about landing a trick.” — Lurker Lou
Our statistics reveal that the past six months have coincided with a 30% rise in traffic from Brooklyn visitors. Does this mean we need to reformat, relocate and cut back on the Lovely Day jokes?
