“It’s ironic and sad that a culture whose activity became popular enough to have space allotted for its own built environments would go on to design spaces according to its own tastes that would then become the worst environments for the further development and continuation of the culture.” Dave Caddo got on the Substack wave: Skait Brane explores how to better use street spots as a guiding light in how skateparks are designed. His latest is about how Pyramid Ledges succeeds at being a great place for skateboarding in a way that your average out-ledge at a skatepark does not.
“Once I started skating Pulaski, there was just simple shit that became way more important. Things like going faster, doing things properly, you didn’t have to flip into everything but you had to grind the ledge a certain way.” Skate Jawn has an interview with Carpet Company rider, Rashad Murray.
From New Jersey to Hong Kong and back again: Simple Magic got their Patrick Radden Keefe on and tried to track down the origins of the mysterious bootleg Bobby Puleo boards that have been popping up all over the world for two decades.
Great skate cities alert 🚨 — “CAN’T HAVE SHIT” is an 11-minute Detroit edit from Cooper Vosburg, and Baltimore Pleasure is a 20-minute Baltimore scene video by Ryan Schroeder with a fire Spencer Brown part at the end. Always great seeing footage from both of these places.
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.)
“For longtime devotees of the Art Dump, SHT Sound and goldfish-toting retirement home scammers, it’s difficult to separate dudes’ seeming lack of enthusiasm for skating their own boards with the company’s at times painful evolution.” Boil the Oceans looks toward the future of Girl Skateboards on the announcement of their upcoming am-focused video, Doll.
Element did a Keith Harring collaboration and the only reason we’re telling you about it is because the accompanying video for it contains about a minute of new Brandon Westgate footage from the Banks.
Big week for Chief Keef video parts, and a bad week for that antiquated tradition of keeping an unenthused stone face after you land your ender. Here’s another section from the Buffalo-based Jeb video. We have been claiming we’d drive to Albany to skate Empire State Plaza since before the summer, and now’s it’s probably too cold, huh?
“Bryan saw this pool while landscaping at the house next door and somehow charmed the owner into letting us skate for two weekends. How he did this, I have no clue. Must have been just the right mix of 7-11 egg salad, and ’90s skate photos that gave him the confidence.”
Some of you will be triggered by the aesthetics, but the skateboarding in Romain Batard’s “Giddy” series is always unique, albeit in a fried way. Episode #9 is live.
Ignoring the fact that its objectively horrid to look at (not even talking as a skateboarder here…but what the hell is wrong with them renovating these parks in a way that makes it look like their budget was a $200 Home Depot gift card?), there are these weird slappymetal things at the park on Spring and Sixth Avenue now A.K.A. the old marble chessboard park.
Bad news: McNally Jackson is closing. Good news: They’re insisting that they will remain in the neighborhood. So excited for that corner to become a Chase bank :(
QS Spots Desk Play of the Week: The Trae Young game winner seems like it was the most unavoidable highlight of the preseason. Regular season starts Wednesday!
Quote of the Week: “They don’t play Drizzy in pubs man.” — Tiko re: whether he heard the Spanish Drake song in London
Palomino has QS goods for those in the U.K. or Europe who were unable to snag stuff from the webstore. Includes a handful of items we ourselves are sold out on.
Chris Milic’s Dr. Scarecrow part is incredible. Good bit of New York footage and a barrage of the the most unlikely manuals ever.
“I’m not sure if it is the fact that they are Nordic, but more the idea that they are more socialist and less capitalist. The UK has monetised the idea of public space, especially in the centres of cities, but the Nordic countries are less like this.” …the story of how a breed of skateable architecture initially began and London, and has since been all but phased out only to have Scandinavian countries carry the torch :(
Dwindle’s official statement on the demise of Cliché. Just as Blueprint introduced a generation of Americans to British skateboarding, Cliché was just as pivotal — along with probably the Flip videos — in bringing greater European skateboarding at large to our side of the Atlantic. Thanks for everything guys.
CORRECTION: Despite remarking that the end of days are near due to a rap song appearing in the latest Zero video, we completely spaced on the fact that Chris Cole and Tom Asta skated to Jeezy in Strange World. Sorry Chris, sorry Tom, sorry Jeezy.
2016 has been a rough year on humanity, but at least we found the 2014 Rich Homie Quan buried in Skooly from Rich Kids’ new solo tape, Gucci got his first #1 record, and we have Future’s personal assistant fan fiction. Shout the fuck out to Do or Die.
