Jazz Step

Lord Conor Prunty Esq. • 📷 Photo by Jared Sherbert

“Fixed the spot, made it doable, and then did it.” The Warm-Up Zone (the proto-4Ply) still clocks into the office once a year for a Fred Gall recap. It may be March, and well past our cut-off for end-of-the-year wrap-up content, but it is, after all… Fred: the 2022 Freddy Year in Review.

Nico Marti, Trung Ngyen, Alan Bell, Zak Anders + pretty much the whole RESPECTFULLY squad spent some time in L.A. and came back with a 14-minute winter getaway edit.

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Stussy’s ‘How Original’ Video Is Live

How Original is the inaugural promo from Stussy’s skate team by Jared Sherbert. Includes parts from …everyone whose name you see in the image above. Having grown accustomed to seeing footage of these dudes in really specific settings, e.g. Diego in the agro Hockey-edit style, Aaron as a reserved fan-favorite in both of the 917 full-lengths, Cyrus in Johnny’s edits — it’s fresh to see them come together in something that feels wholly different than any video they had been in before, even just for twelve minutes. (And bookending together a 2020 Lance Mountain part, at that.)

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An Interview With Bill Strobeck About Supreme’s “BLESSED” Video

Photo by Jared Sherbert

Keeping an almost three-year-long video under wraps — especially in the social media age — is next to impossible. Except all things considered, nobody really knows what to expect from Supreme’s upcoming “BLESSED” video, which comes at the tail end of a year already stacked with incredible full-lengths. We tried to extract as much as we could from Bill about the process behind the video, the legacy of the last one, and where they had to go from there.

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Skateboarding seems like it moves faster each year. Between “cherry” and today, has any change in skating really surprised you?

I don’t know if much has changed in skating. All the social media stuff was going off when we were doing “cherry” already. It’s so crazy to make a video like this for two-and-a-half years, watching all these other videos come out while you’re filming it. You’ve got so much more to think about. Before, you weren’t worried about if somebody is gonna do tons of psycho shit at the spot that you just filmed something at before you have a chance to put it out.

Would you be watching new videos with that in mind?

Yeah, before the next trick comes up, I’ll be thinking, “This dude looks like he would skate the same kind of shit we were at.” Now, even if somebody posts of a photo of a spot, people might see it and think, “Oh, I forgot about that spot, let’s go there tomorrow.” We were skating this one spot for a while, and all of a sudden, somebody hit me up, like, “Dude, no one’s skated that shit for six years, and since you guys are skating it, people are trying to film there.”

Why do you think that happens? I’ll see it, too. A spot will have been sitting there forever, one guy tries, and it’s like, “Oh, you get 20 minutes,” then it’s in every video. It’s like a collective consciousness thing.

I don’t know, and I’m more into going to classic shit, you know? Like, if I’m going to L.A., I want to hit the school yards. In 15 or 20 years, people will still recognize those spots: “Courthouse, that’s New York, schoolyards are L.A.” They are going to rip out the little things that people hit, but in 30 years, those are going to still be here. I want what I make to last a long time. I’ve seen gnarly parts come out, but I just don’t like the spots.

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T.J. 4 S.O.T.Y.

Pretty much any group of skaters that has passed this spot these past ~20 years has stopped and debated whether it was possible or not. I remember somebody pointing out that if Brandon Westgate hadn’t done it yet (he definitely would’ve known about it), then maybe it was impossible. We even posed the rhetorical “how long until” on Twitter two years ago (that photo does the size of it zero justice, btw.) Really glad T.J. was the one to get it. The fact that an ollie is on the cover should tell you all you need to know about how crazy this is. (Well, that and the fact that it’s broad daylight in midtown Manhattan should color the narrative a bit, too.) Assuming everyone will be onboard the #TJSOTY train when that Supreme video drops, so yeah. Photo by Jared Sherbert.

And on that note, Boil the Ocean makes an assessment of the past eleven months to decide who should be eligible for S.O.T.Y.

The match-up you’ve all been waiting for: Nyjah Houston v.s. Alexis Lacroix.

Here is a #longform, Pineapple Express-based Nick Ferro b-sides remix, and here is a #longform, lo-def Memphis/Texas/(?) rap-based Dick Rizzo b-sides remix.

Office favorite, Jawn Gardner, has a new part over on Thrasher full of hairy spots. Glad you’re ok John! ♥

Remember that Weed Maps clip we admitted to being a bit of a guilty pleasure on here last winter? Well, here’s the less jittery version of the same clip that features Jaws skating New York.

Been a fan of this guy since he skated to People Under the Stairs (yeah…) in 411 — if you need some style inspo for the day, Free managed to unearth a ton of unseen Javier Sarmiento footage from the start of the millennium.

After getting shamed for not putting the new OG.2000 video (the dudes who made the “Mariah” video last year and um, ollied onto a Ferrari) in #QSTOP10 contention a week ago, we finally got around to watching it, and yeah, it got way less shine than it deserved on the skate internet. Tons of incredible Euro skating from names that will likely be unknown to you — though I’m sure some #trend-weary curmudgeons will find issue with something. These two tricks in Paris are fucked.

Brian Anderson is the latest guest on Lee Smith’s podcast. The interview is damn near two hours long. Maybe these could benefit from Soundcloud or Podcast links? Or did we miss that?

Looks like SML Talk is updating their site again. Here’s a listicle of 17 “beautiful” moments in skate video history. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and quite frankly, Jason Byoun’s Astor Place line from Life is Goodie got robbed.

It’s no video blog, but Johnny went to Argentina to film the SB team a year ago, and made his own clip of the trip just now. Can’t wait for Beef Patty 2.

Back when Crailtap was a daily visit and the skateboard internet was a smaller place, they used to post these random digi cam tidbits (pre-iPhone obvs) on their site. Someone compiled all of them, 2003-2005.

The building got tired of replacing the rail in front of the out ledge at FedEx and just… knobbed the ledge instead.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Hell ya Louuuuuuuu.

Quote of the Week: “I could see myself adding a nice siesta to my daily routine.” — E.J.

Shout to Cosme Studio for coming through on a slightly higher quality digital copy of Continuum. These are maybe only 10-15% better quality than the ones that have been on YouTube for ages, but hey, slow motion is better than… Also we’ve certainly pontificated about it in the past, but wow was Jerry Fowler’s skateboarding ahead of its time. Jahmal’s is obvs timeless, but you knew that :)