The amount of people who have been able to pull off skate careers spanning over two decades is low. And in the skateboard-content-creation biz, we often fall on this assumption that these skaters have answered all the questions already, e.g. what can you truly unpack that Chromeball hasn’t?
But that’s false. Because the reason this group has been able to endure through the years is their prolific adaptability. The perspective of someone at the start of their third decade of a skate career is even different than it was when they were headed toward the latter half of decade two.
With A.V.E. on the horn for the “Favorite Spot” segment (thanks everybody for the kind feedback, by the way), not digging a bit deeper felt like a missed opportunity. Farran spoke to him on where his perspective on this thing called “professional skateboarding” stands today, entrenched in the third decade of doing it.
Even in the avalanche of daily skate videos, you can always distinguish the parts that had a little more tact put behind them from the ones that are footage dumps. Gilbert Crockett has been releasing thoughtful video parts for over a decade — many of which are largely filmed in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia by childhood friend, Will Rosenstock — and all of them are distinguishable from one another.
Having just opened up Greg Hunt’s Alright Ok for skateboarding’s de facto Oscars season, we had Farran reach out to Gilbert to speak on his process, and how it all works, often without having to go very far.
We also have a special bonus video of Gilbert’s footage from SunTrust and the surrounding downtown Richmond spots with commentary, all courtesy of Will’s archive ♥
This was the decade that the full-length skate video was supposed to die. We began the 2010s with everyone insisting that Stay Gold would be the last full-length skate video. Then, Pretty Sweet was supposed to be the last full-length video. Some people thought that Static IV would be it — the end, no more full-lengths after that. But I feel like I heard someone say Josh was working on something new a couple months back? Idk.
The experience might’ve changed. We’re not huddling around a skate house’s TV covered in stickers to watch a DVD bought from a shop anymore (if this past weekend is any indication, it’s more like AirPlaying a leaked .mp4 file via a link obtained from a guy who knows a guy), but the experience of viewing a fully realized skate video with your friends for the first, second or twentieth time is still sacred.
Just as we asked for your votes for the five best video parts, we did the same for the five best full-lengths: if you could choose the five videos that defined the 2010s, what would they be? The results were a bit more surprising than the parts tally in some ways, given that it felt like independent, regional and newer, small brand videos dominated the decade, yet Big Shoe Brands™ and Girl + Chocolate still made their way into the list. The top-heaviness of some companies or collectives was less of a surprise, in that certain creators loomed large over the 2010s.
Like the installment before it, this list is sans comment for 20-11, and then via favors from writer friends for the top ten: here are the twenty best skate videos of the past ten years.
Fall QS gear available at Supreme (New York + Los Angeles), Labor, 35th North, 510, Alumni, Atlas, Black Sheep, Civil, Commissary, Exit, Homebase, Homegrown, Humidity, In4mation, NJ (Hoboken + New Brunswick), Orchard, Palace 5ive, Pitcrew, Seasons, Select Skates and Uprise. Hitting Japan this week, Europe next well. QS webstore launches [next] Monday, November 2nd at midnight.
“Dare I say that the Dime Crew is possibly even better than Rick Howard?” Chris Nieratko spent Canadian Thanksgiving with the Dime squad. (Full Disclosure: They don’t celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in French Canada.) Skateboard Story also interviewed Phil Lavoie about the inner-workings of Canada’s greatest fashion house.
If you need some motivation to help you power through the week, Khaled has a new Breakfast Club interview. He’s been meditating, swimming, and is considering flying.
This was awesome: Jim Hodgson uploaded a “lost” German Nieves part from 1997. Great watch, especially considering there aren’t a ton of all New York-based full parts from back then. R.I.P. Hoboken Ledges favorite skater’s part from Life is Goodie is now online. Buy a DVD copy of the video here.
It’s gotta be amazing to live in a place that closes down a legendary skate spot (that’s utilized by absolutely no one else), promises to build a skatepark in exchange, and somehow doesn’t completely fuck it up. That place has something like ~20% unemployment for people under 25 and also feels like a Groundhog’s Day-esque vortex after a while, but hey man, you can sk8.
QS Sports Desk Play of the Week:Courtside angle of Rose’s Game 3 winner. Glad to see the dude doing what he was doing when he was the youngest MVP in league history. Rooting for him, but that series is probably going to seven games…
Quote of the Week: “In all honesty, Daniel Lutheran had my favorite part.” — Pryce Holmes
