Jahmal Williams | Quartersnacks

Mulberry Street’s Waviest

Daily News June 20th, 2011 · 9:28 am · 7

WAVY MIKE

“Yo, you got a cat man? Is it wavy too?” — Wavy Mike. Quartersnacks Yemen tour coming soon.

If you haven’t already seen Eli Reed’s X-Games “Real Street” part, you should give it a few rewinds. The FedEx ollie is a bit crazier than any footage would lead someone who hasn’t been there to believe. Eli might be the best switch skater out right now, and king of the Alligator Ledge.

Uploaded Jahmal Williams’ tricks from Welcome to M.I.A. to YouTube for the sake of having easy access to the part. The Houston Street footage is great. There’s nothing wrong with a long backside boardslide on a row of Jersey barriers, or still bringing Eastern Exposure spot sensibilities to 2011. The video has been out for a while now, but if it’s not on your shelf yet, purchase it over on MIAskateshop.com.

While on the topic of Jersey barriers, Bushwick Will posted a story about stealing Triton barriers in response to the great parking block heist of 2011. It should persuade any impulsive skateboarder to better assess the consequences when obtaining (presumably useless) objects for makeshift, D.I.Y., etc. spots. (Still do it, just plan it out better.)

Coda Skateboards’ new promo/video, Slappy Hour, will premiere at KCDC tomorrow (06/21) at 7 P.M.. Features new parts from Connor Fay and Jerry Mraz. Trailer here.

Vote for the Familia Skateshop / Flow Trash crew in Nike’s upcoming “Chosen” competition. Davis Torgerson came out of that camp, but there are a whole bunch of dudes all the way up in Minnesota that rip just as hard.

This photo of Bogdan Dzyurak at Columbus Park is pretty sick. Similar to Eli’s aforementioned FedEx ollie, it’s another instance of documentation never being able to relay the sketchiness of the spot, in addition to the decades of urine waiting in that corner if you happen to bail on the trick.

Much like skateboarders should stop decreasing their life expectancy by taking $5 Chinatown buses, you guys should also stop moving into sketchy “artists’ lofts” in Bushwick.

Random footage bits: Goin’ Ham outtakes, Bill Pierce commercial for Roger Skateboards

Skate video news: The Vans video will be out sometime between next week and 2020. That means Little Alex has like five or six parts to film now. Not Another Transworld Video will be out on DVD tomorrow. Short Review = Theotis and Mike Anderson have the best parts. Long Review = Click here.

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Hello Sunday, Hello Road

Daily News May 28th, 2011 · 2:03 am · 3

Gil-Scott Heron died at the age of 62 on Friday afternoon.

Although not a massive influence on skateboard video soundtracks over the years, Gil-Scott Heron’s music has adorned both Jahmal Williams Eastern Exposure 3 part and Nate Jones’ Real to Reel part, so that’s worthy enough of some acknowledgement on behalf of the skateboard media concerned with respectable music choices. (Strangely enough, those two skaters were mentioned in unison in a recent post, and have no association with one another beyond the fact that they both had their own Chrome Ball Incident posts last week, and have skated to a Gil-Scott Heron song.) The artsy video for last year’s Me and the Devil also had some weird skateboarder motif and a whole bunch of footage shot at the Banks and surrounding areas.

Familiarize yourself with the man’s music, as he’s responsible for Nate Jones’ song AKA what this website constantly claims is one of the best skating and song combinations of all-time, among a great many other things. There’s way more to Gil-Scott than “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” and more recently, “New York is Killing Me.” Rest in Peace.

In case you missed it…

Time Capsule May 20th, 2011 · 2:59 am · 3

The Chrome Ball Incident killed it this week. Reason 1: A Nate Jones post (“I think I’ve only seen Nate Jones maybe do about a total of 10 tricks… but when you look that good doing them, sometimes that’s all it takes.”) Reason 2: A Jahmal Williams post.

Between 2001 and today, I have probably watched Nate Jones’ Real to Reel part more that any other, therefore have no problem calling it my favorite video part, despite the obvious ten trick limitation. It’ll probably continue to have that status until Mike Carroll skates to Lady Gaga or Dylan Reider skates to Katy Perry.

INFMS: All fifteen minutes of it

Time Capsule February 4th, 2011 · 2:59 pm · 6

Infamous Skateboards’ fifteen-minute video has avoided a one-part internet revival for quite some time. It has occasionally been chopped up on YouTube, but most of the music is usually stripped away thanks to WMG’s notoriety for clinging to an outdated business model. I *think* this was released around 1999 or 2000 (there’s no date in the credits), a few years before Infamous folded altogether. Puleo’s part gets all the YouTube accolades (and has been on there for probably as long as YouTube has existed), but there are some other solid portions throughout the video’s concise duration, including Nikhil Thayer’s demonstrations of how to properly perform flip tricks, Moya skating in Peter Smolik’s pro model, some young Ian Reid footage, a few bits of Jahmal Williams, some pre-Logic 6 footage of Andy Bautista, and a really sick throwaway montage set to John Lee Hooker after the credits that’s as long as the actual video. Not to mention a glimpse at the less friendly days of Pyramid Ledge security guards. (“You dreadhead muhfucker!!!”) Infamous always had pretty nice, subdued art direction that didn’t shove “East coast, yo!” down your throat and still maintained an identity, so with a to-the-point video like this, it would’ve been sick to see where it could’ve went if it was around for a few more years.

It’s kind of crazy that this and 511 are the only videos from New York based hard goods companies (besides the Zoo videos) to exist from this period. But not as crazy as Funkmaster Flex doing voiceovers for Rawkus commercials at the end of skate videos.

Have a good weekend.

Inspiration

Time Capsule December 21st, 2010 · 5:37 pm · 17

The internet has not provided any useful information as to why “My Favorite Things” is a Christmas song (beyond “the imagery”), considering it originally started out as a show tune. Walking around these past few days, and hearing it playing several times from more festively-inclined establishments in varying renditions, gives us an excuse to post this part. Even though it has been posted on QS maybe three or four times throughout the past several years, it is a concrete choice for the personal, “Top Five” shortlist. (Accompanied by the recently mentioned Nate Jones Real to Reel part, the last two parts in Mouse, and an ever-changing fifth slot.)

Great style, well-done simple tricks, cities, doing things on spots relatable to everyone (like a bump to hill as opposed to some household name handrail) and all that is associated with this brand of skateboarding, will never go out of fashion. Even though a part like this cannot be singled out as that one instance that inspired every kid to try nollie front foot flips, or to start wearing brown high-water Dickies, it will stand as a timeless example of amazing skateboarding, after the impact from the “of the moment” blockbuster parts has become muffled, and the tricks one-upped five times over again.

Of course, saying that trends are bad, or token handrails and gaps aren’t an essential part of skating, is stupid. For all those who have the power to influence those aspects, it is crucial that they continue doing so, as it progresses skateboarding more than anything else. All that’s being said here is to take some time to occasionally admire the simpler things, which too often get pushed out of the way by N.B.D. alerts and C.J. Tamborino parts that cause the internet to implode.

P.S. If you have ever opened Final Cut Pro in your life, this part is an inspiration to anyone who has ever undertaken the task of editing to difficult-to-edit-to music. Let’s get it.