Let’s get it going — a review of the year when it rained every single weekend in the summer.
Without further ado, here is the minutiae, the laughter, the tears, the triumphs and defeats that defined the year 2023 in New York skateboarding.
Tag: Jake Baldini
Scumco & Sons Bible Belt Tour
Words: Ronnie P
Photos: Mike Chinner
Video: Tristan Mershon
Squad: Kevin Taylor, Josh Narvaez, Ty Beall, Jake Baldini, Brian Downey, Justin Grzechowiak, Tristan Mershon, Mike Chinner
Special Guests: Matt Anderson, Giorgio Villone
Objective: Footy
Last to bed, first awake; cleaning and frying eggs: Josh
Glutathione Goo: Downey
50 pushups a day: Chinner’s whip
Beers and no A/C: Giorgio’s whip
Temperature: Hot
Verdict: Sweaty n Ready
The Good Times of Yesterday, Today — Pangea Jeans & John Shanahan’s ‘ROADRAGE’ Video
The old proverb goes something like, “Yeah, now well, the thing about the old days is… they the old days.”
Yet for all the handwringing that gets done about things changing and spots disappearing, there sure are a lot of remaining markers of the old days for nostalgia exercises. Take for instance “ROADRAGE,” the new edit from John Shanahan’s Pangea Jeans imprint, filmed on the same camera they probably filmed Real’s Non Fiction video on in 1996. In it, you’ll find the Battery Park three-stair that Gino nollie back heeled in The Chocolate Tour (with a Las Nueve Vidas De Paco-looking nollie backside flip floating down it.) The Greenwich Street windowsill ledges where Harold Hunter did the sweaty backside heelflip at! Tricks at the upper portion of Pyramid Ledges! The L.A. Department of Water and Power Building! The past is — at a bare minimum — thriving.
Mashed Potatoes
Nik Stain by Paul Coots, who has a couple shots from John’s Vid over on his Instagram.
Patrick Kikongo, creator of The Black List, has a public service announcement to keep in mind while you’re doing any skate-related holiday shopping.
“I think you’re the first person to actually own up to drunk claims in one of these interviews.” Joey Pepper talks drunk claims and everything in-between for his new Chromeball interview.
Really know nothing about this edit, but enjoyed it a lot — maybe because editing a pandemic-era skate video to “World Hold On” is funny and perfect. “TFTI” is a fourteen-minute homie edit by Reilly Schlitt that looks like it was largely filmed during lockdown days, as all the Stroud, etc. footy is from when none of the courts had hoops. If you don’t have that whistle stuck in your head after hearing that song…idk, one day you will have to answer to the children of the sky ;)
Celebration Station
“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 :)
“This skatepark was founded in 1906 by the Black Panther party.”