Ride The Sky

Bam in Rochester, 2000 📷 Photo by Ryan Gee.

Nothing more beautiful than seeing today’s brightest minds outsmart the skatestoppers installed by yesterday’s dimmest. “Hold On To Those Gifts” is the latest edit from Neema Joorabchi and his crew (Jasper Stieve, Noah Singleton, Zac Gavin, et al.)

Chase Walker made a five-minute edit of leftover footy from Late Nite Stars’ O video. Def some Zak Anders clips in there that exceed most people’s criteria of “throwaway” though ;)

John Valenti has a new video out entitled Free Time. Includes parts from Dustin Eggeling, Cody Lucas, Taylor Nawrocki, Chris Jata, James Sayres (switch flip back noseblunt?!) + others. Heavy on the New York footy, but tons of Euro travel as well :)

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Monday Links Are In Retrograde

If you need affirmation of how incredibly difficult it has been to do these posts over the past two weeks, look no further than the fact that Thrasher is posting astrology content, this girl is still looking for which one of you who spilled coffee on yourself at Herald Square, and apparently, EVERYTHING is “going right” in skateboarding right now…Spring can’t come soon enough.

“I used to be more of a character back in the day and just dive into the river, swimming for the board and making people laugh. I remember Jaime Reyes gagging because I was in there doing backstrokes. They say swimming in that shit helps your immune system.” Village Psychic spoke to Brian Wenning about some of the spots that were instrumental to his skating.

Caddo and Lou gave up on skateparks in 2016. It looks like it has been working out.

…aanndd John Valenti uploaded five minutes worth of B-sides featuring Lou, Caddo and Taylor Nawrocki from his N.Y. Archive video.

TWS uploaded all the raw footage from the Villains dudes’ trip to New York.

Theories resumed Elkin Raw files, which are always heavy on Leo and Aaron footy.

(Three raw clip links in a row, see what I mean? Springtime hellooo where r u…)

PFP5, the latest installment of Michael Sassano’s now long-running Westchester skate video series, will be premiering up in Peekskill on Saturday the 14th. Teaser here.

The crooked rail at Columbus Park is maybe the last place anyone expected to see a slappy front nose 270 A.K.A. the Explore Page, but there it was in Matthew Martin’s Hombre Hardware part.

“Cyclist stabs skateboarder during street spat.” Ok, the “It’s a fucking bike lane, asshole!”-guys are getting a bit out of hand.

Though Hurricane Maria obviously derailed the recent tradition of every skate crew spending January and February in Puerto Rico, the Scumco guys still made it down there for a fun trip video. Tons of Philly Santosuosso footage ♥

The Bunt’s newest episode is with Austyn Gillette.

Oh and, we have a new project with Nike SB coming out. April 14. More info soon :)

Since skate content is running low, here’s a link to a new Peewee Longway video that is four minutes of him reenacting the quaalude scene from Wolf of Wall Street.

And with militant veganism being so fashionable with New York skateboarders right now, here’s an informative article about eating right that isn’t Alex Olson yelling at you for eating a cheeseburger. Jk hi Alex ♥

QS Sports Fuck the NCAA, Respect to the Players-Desk Play of the Week: Gonna be so sick when J.R. Smith is the 2018 Finals MVP this year.

Quote of the Week: “Lowkey if I ever get rich, I’m gonna buy Brick 9.” — John Choi

This clip got posted on April 8, 2007 (Marcus Garvey rails were a new spot then…), and dubbed “The Neverending Winter.” Same mood eleven years later (a lot of these spots are still around), though I wish the quality of the upload wasn’t full trash.

Everybody Loves the Sunshine

Photo via Stu

Here is a rad ten-minute documentary about the scene in Nairobi, Kenya. Shout out to skateboarding. No shout out to anything we have ever complained about on here.

The Vacation apparently condensed into Politic. They have a sick new montage up with new footy from Ross Norman and curtains from Dave Caddo #officefaves.

Skateboard graphics have always been low-key political, and this came out good: An oral history of presidential skate graphics. “Straight talker?” Whatever you say, Henry.

Two years after the historic “Vogue Skateboard Week,” Anna Wintour comes through with what actually amounts to pretty decent mainstream magazine coverage of skateboarding re: the progressively shifting tide against its gender bias.

“Luke Malaney or Keith Denley?” “Both in 2007.” Jersey Dave interviewed New Jersey sweetheart, Josh Wilson, for Skate Jawn.

Jersey Dave’s part from Stop Fakin’ 3 + cameos from Freddy, Quim etc. is online.

“I guess it’s kind of like, for example, a guy builds his dream house and then he goes off and has a cabin in the woods elsewhere. You know, a lake house. When you can have that, obviously that’s a privilege. You don’t always want to be at the one place, and it’s overrun with children and remote control cars and rules.” Village Psychic with a piece on the rules of contributing to and skating D.I.Y. spots.

Always a safe bet for some interesting noseslide variations — Mark Wetzel’s part from Traffic’s Look Left is now online, and includes guest tricks from Ricky and Rich Adler.

John Valenti uploaded a B-sides clip of Charlie Cassidy’s N.Y. Archive part, and Theories uploaded volume 11 of Elkin raw files. Rest in peace Saint Vincent’s Bank.

Whoa, wtf happened at House of Vans

We’d mark this as non-skate-related reading, but everyone knows it is just as skate as anything else on the list ;) NY Mag has the complete history on the rise of halal carts in New York. “Halal carts cross barriers. Cheap food triumphs over bad politics.”

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Jay Arrrrrrrr Smith!

Quote of the Week: “Y’all lives suck.” — Josh Velez to a group of schoolchildren

Thank you to post-7 P.M. sunsets & anybody who’s ever made a song about the sun ♥

Flu-shion Week

Photo by Colin Sussingham

Happy birthday Zach Baker ♥, breaker of 4 boards in 40 minutes.

R.I.P. (?) Le Dome. Based on documentation available on this side of the Atlantic, it’s tough to tell whether the plaza is getting demolished in full, or they’re just resurfacing it with Skatelite. (Yeah, it’s not local news, but recent local skate spot news stops around, um, that wallride / drug-use area outside of Newark Penn Station being skate-blocked / crack-blocked.) In presumed memoriam, here is an old #PFW QS compilation of all Flo Marfaing’s Le Dome hubba tricks, an old post about the greatest line ever done there, an old post about the only 5050 kickflip that ever mattered, and a clip of The Shady One going all-in #respect on a 5050 after a plane claim.

“Kevin Tierney wouldn’t shut up about how he was going to switch laser flip the Le Dome double set even though it had already been done 15 years ago.” Solo has an appropriate article about the Bronze crew’s most recent trip to Paris.

Matt Velez uploaded Calzone is full, and John Valenti uploaded N.Y. Archive in full.

What the fuck: “You have to take a blood and piss test to skate [the indoor park] so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most locals skip that option.” Medium skate mag has a short feature about how people manage to skate in Russia during the winter.

“This is the best time to skate Rick Owens.” There’s a fun new Bluecouch edit up.

The summer 2012 edition of Elkin’s raw files is now live, featuring a bunch of footage that would end up in Leo’s 2013 Q.S.S.O.T.Y-earning Brodies part.

Village Physic interviewed Reda about the rules of being a skate photographer in the social media age. (Unsolicited link to Reda’s Bobshirt interview because it’s the best.)

There have been a few of these over the past couple years, but Vice has a feature about skateboards’ three-decade avoidance of inflation. I have a feeling that if we keep writing these things it’s gonna be some “be careful what you wish for”-shit and we’re going to walk into a shop and boom, $85 for a deck with grip. Thanks everyone!!!

There’s a Brujas x Gang Corp event at the Spin Club on 23rd Street tonight, 8-midnight + there’s a Deckaid show at NJ Skateshop in Hoboken on Saturday, from 7-10 P.M.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Everything fun in the NBA last week mostly happened off the court, so let’s get weird and give play of the week to the most complicated way of preventing a ball from going out of bounds ever.

Quote of the Week
C.J: “How long is fashion week?”
Fashionable Gentleman: “A week.”

Grind Like That To Shine Like This

Diagram via Charles Rivard, PhD

It was this damnass rock.”

Vert God’s Stop Fakin’ 3 part drops on QS tomorrow

Birdgang 3 is now online *airhorn*

The Bloby videos are still the QS office’s favorite thing going. “Zdroopy,” their new one, is magic. Vince’s front nose 270 out is pure beauty, Karl Salah’s lines are always poetry, and DREWWWWWWW, Franco + Daniel Kim have cameos. No Hjalte tho :(

And the Pop boys also came through with a rad Paris edit that a) avoids a lot of the city’s most oft-skated spots, and b) oddly features a ton of underground footy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jenkem has a great interview with Tyshawn Jones.

…and Skateboard Story has an interview with Calzone maker, Matt Velez.

This is a mega Boil the Ocean post: reflecting on 28 years of Thrasher S.O.T.Y winners…in the bizarro world, where Penny won in ’95, and Tiago won in ’17, etc.

Good bit of new Caddo footage in the friends section of Valenti’s N.Y. Archive project.

So this is the spot Rick Howard would’ve found if he kept skating around the forest after he bumped his head in Mouse.

Our dear friends at Seasons dropped new video over the weekend. That Empire State Plaza spot is lowkey one of the best spots on the east coast now that it’s a go.

I saw a video labeled “Patrik Wallner” and “The Lost Continent,” and my first thought was “damn, these dudes deadass went to Antarctica on a skate trip didn’t they.” They didn’t, but I did have to Google where on the planet they actually went was.

King puts something we’ve all done into writing: Musing on Gino’s Yeah Right! part.

One day Rihanna is throwing you hearteyes across the aisle at #NYFW, the next you’re a crumpled Thrasher tee under a pile of new soccer jerseys. It’s a filthy, fickle business, guys. I don’t believe in nothing no more, I’m going to law school!

Franco???

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Hold up wait a minute

Quote of the Week
Inquisitive Gentleman: “Did anyone pull last night?”
Zach Baker: “No, there were too many beautiful boy friends in there.” #LMB