LMB

Rest in Peace Dillon ♥

Hey what’s up hello. It’s the latest Monday post since the queen turned 30 back in February, but this week is a wash, let’s be real.

“The democratic process is going to march on with or without you and it’s up to you to make a difference in it. Whether or not skateparks really make the city a better place or not – you can argue it one way or the the other – the fact is that they bring vitality and youthfulness. That’s kind of the new currency, really.” Village Psychic caught up with our friend Will Cornwall about how the skate community in Providence, R.I. turned a neglected bit of their downtown into a multi-use skateable public space that wouldn’t look out of place in say, Malmö. Honored to have been a tiny part of the story ♥

Hardbody x Humble gear from May’s pop-up shop is now available on their webstore.

You’re telling us we have to wait TWO YEARS for another Hijinx video? Do you have any idea how much angst we’re going to bottle up in that time?

Palace has a new ten-minute video from their trip to Hawaii. They also upgraded from the VHS cam to the Betamax.

We try to steer clear of the “fashion ripping off skateboarding YJ&&&T&%R$$^&!!!” angle considering skate graphics have been riffing on high fashion logos for decades, but Dolce & Gabbana’s DG King line looks eerily similar to that company the guy with that part in The Reason started… A wise man once said “you don’t have to be smart, just don’t be so fucking stupid” — this is more like “you don’t have to be original, just don’t be so fucking obvious.”

Resurrecting a classic spot for each “Go Skate Day” going forward forever is a constructive use of resources. We have some ideas :)

Michael Mackrodt’s “Fishing Lines” in Paris sequel is damning evidence of the fact that Paris is somehow even more afflicted with the “all visitors skate the same exact spots” dilemma than New York is. After maybe ~5 skate trips there, we have been to zero of the spots he skates. Keith Denley claims that it’s because those spots being “in the Paris equivalent of Bayridge,” but also he is not a licensed geographer.

Just when you thought DS1000 was the most fried concept you were gonna get for a video, Rob Fraebel made a 2018 video partially filmed on a Fisher-Price camera released in 1987 entitled PLX2000. (Don’t worry, it’s mostly VX though.)

Took long enough wtf DLX. Austin Kanfoush is pro, thank God.

Boil the Ocean is back with its summer mixtape series showcasing underrated and forgotten video parts from days past.

The Quasi video premieres in New York on next Tuesday, July 10. Flyer + info here.

Quote of the Week: “Fried calamari is just potato chips for rich people.” — Conor Prunty

This is what today feels like in the QS office ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Frog Skateboards, Stingwater, Heineken & Hjalte Halberg Present — Came to Paris For Nothing

After millions of dollars spent on airfare and accommodations, nearly a full day of traveling over sea and land, and much meticulous planning that it takes to get dozens of boys across the Atlantic, we were in Paris asking the immortal question that guides our lives: “Where are we gonna skate today?”

About 70% of the way through the trip, Nolan revealed that the only reason he swam to Paris (he’s not a big fan of planes) was for the purpose of skating the famous colored manual pad spot seen in a myriad of skate videos growing up. Much to his dismay, when those “where are we gonna skate today?”-convos were taking place and the spot would get mentioned, the proceeding thoughts were familiar…

“I think that’s still under scaffolding?”

“Are there other spots around there?”

“It’s not as good as it looks in videos.”

“We gotta take a train to get there…I kinda wanted to push around today.”

See, it doesn’t matter where you are, or how many new spots you haven’t grown bored of skating you’re surrounded by. The struggle is real no matter where you go. The only difference is you might not be able to kick it with Sophie that day.

Watch below to see if we made it, or if we did in fact, come to Paris for nothing.

YouTube blocked the video is Canada on account of the fire George Michael song. Canadians!!! Here is a Vimeo link.

Edited by Hjalte Halberg. Features Keith Denley, Kadeem Walters, Nolan Benfield, Daniel Kim, Jesse Alba, Chris Milic, Hjalte Halberg, Andrew Wilson, and Zach Baker.

Parisian Notes on Cons & Ben Chadourne’s Purple Video

Words & Photos by Zach Baker

It is wild to me that a person could ever get to a point in their given field where they could even consider the idea of making something perfect. In skating, I’m reluctant to say that it is even possible, given the subjectivity that is part and parcel of anything creative. Be it the way a person holds their arms, or the viewer’s disapproval of whatever “bullshit fuckin’ trap song!” was chosen — in 2018, considering the our varied and fickle tastes, no video is going to make everyone happy. I doubt that the people involved in the making of Purple had any delusions in this regard.

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Double Back on the Double Back

Diego Najera with the first trick in last week’s #1 QS Top 10 line. 125th Street. Photo by Mike Heikkila.

Diego and Tyshawn are leading everyone else in 2018 for tricks that leave phone screens and comment sections, and actually enter conversation between IRL humans.

Check the full Humble Laboratories commercial from Conor and Genny (2x as long as the Instagram one) + then go support the boys.

“Midtown to us was really just like 5 blocks though. Like 50th Street to 54th Street on 6th Avenue.” Village Psychic catches up with R.B. Umali for some stories about skating Astor, Pyramid Ledges, Union, Courthouse Drop, Flushing, etc.

Tufty showed up and surprised us in Paris on our first day, then we didn’t see him for the rest of our trip because he was doing grown man shit, like waking up before 1 P.M. to go skate spots before they get too crowded.

Here are seven minutes of recent-ish Sean Pablo footage loosies.

Antosh uploaded a quick montage of all our friends out in Vancouver, aptly titled “Hiatus.” You can also pick up his zine from a summer 2017 tenure in New York at the Stussy store on Spring Street.

Like everyone else, our first thought was, “Whoa, they still do X-Games Real Street?” Bobby’s entry is all Pulaski footage.

Posting “2017 in Review” content the day before May 1 is pretty dumb, but TWS has a quick recap of Cyrus’ past year over on their site, so why not? ♥

TWS also uploaded 411 issue #2, which features a Tom Penny “Wheels of Fortune” section filmed exclusively at the skatepark that Palace’s winter pop-up park, Mwadlands, was based on. Fwiw, 411 creator, Josh Friedberg, said that the Penny section was one of his favorites ever from the video mag’s run.

Staletape is a 28-minute long Philly scene video by Joe Ostrowski.

“Whereas Torey Pudwill’s arm motions often hit the red while balancing on history’s most drawn-out backside smith grinds and backside tailslides, Magnus Bordewick’s flapping generally coincides with rocketing pop and crater-making impacts.” Boil the Ocean re: the state of arm movements in skateboarding and Magnus’ new part.

7-minute iPhone clip of Tyler Pacheco and the Crailtap dudes skating New York.

Popwave” made me want to go skate not-so-good skate spots with all my friends.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Donovan Mitchell should be fun to watch for like, the next decade-and-a-half? Who does everyone have for Sixers-Celtics?

Quote of the Week
11-Year-Old Scooter Kid at Le Dome: “What’s the best trick you can do?”
Adult Skateboarder at Le Dome: “Pop shove it.”
11-Year-Old Scooter Kid at Le Dome: “…you’re kidding me, right?”

This is the first semi-late Monday Links post since we vowed to swear off them in honor of the queen’s 30th birthday. BUT — in our defense, the entire office is a bit lagged from traveling back to New York yesterday. We don’t deserve a Gucci polo, but at least it’s not going up at like 4 P.M. ♥

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.”