The Neighborhood’s Changed, But the Beers Are Still Cold

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Godspeed Wavy’s. Although you got a bit too live these past few years, I wouldn’t take back the hours I wasted standing around doing nothing if I could. Wouldn’t be caught dead standing in front of Spring Mart. R.I.P. to one of the final remnants of that neighborhood. Photo via Zach Baker.

“Knowing a lot about something little, and caring about it deeply – even something as ridiculous as grown men making four wheeled planks balance on two wheels – provides a microcosm within which we understand the consequences of those big, nebulous issues.” Didn’t expect this to pop up anywhere: Caught in the Crossfire with an insightful breakdown of the Brexit results, and how they will effect skateboarding.

The Complete History of the 12th & A Rainbow Curb: April 2016 — Later in April 2016.

“It’s 50/50; it’s hard to see, but if you want to live your passion then you have to learn to live with it, or you find a regular job and you go skate on the weekend.” Lucas Puig on making adult decisions that impact skateboarding for a living.

Is Rodrigo TX the new Rodrigo TX?

Literal, on-the-nose #musicsupervision usually get the side-eye at this point, but always thought “Baltimore” would make a great video part song, and also all this Jason Spivey footage is awesome. Is the audio jacked for everyone else though?

Village Psychic travels back to the moonboot era when there’d be seven logos on one shoe, and does a wear test of the DC Relay with John Shanahan ♥ Daytime midtown footage 4 ever ♥ (Is Columbus Circle mellow to skate again?)

NY Skateboarding has pics of the McCarren Park renovation if you haven’t seen it yet.

The internet has a tendency to desensitize us from having to confront other people’s unfiltered brains and emotions, and unfortunately, that played out a bit on the skate internet last year as Billy Rohan, an incredible person who has done a ton for skateboarding in the city, went through it. Like the quote says, “depression is a flaw in chemistry, not character” and sometimes, there’s a lot more going on than somebody “acting crazy.” ANYWAY, Vice caught up with Billy, who’s been doing much better, for a video short on what he’s been through.

An interview with the filmer behind the Rios Crew. Not skating the same spot twice sounds exhausting ;)

Do you believe in life after Love? Go Skate Day 2016 in Philly, via the Sabotage boys.

Rockaway excursions and sweaty summer vibez in Genny’s new iPhone clip.

Taji did the whole awkward Vice host thing with Gino Iannucci for “TAJCAM.”

Dude remember Nadia footwear? Of course you don’t, but guess who does? :)

Chill lil’ Barcelona montage with five Penny tricks at the 1:21 mark.

This is weird. ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT..

Quote of the Week: “Until we elect Trump, the British are the dumbest people on the planet.” — Dylgr

Shout out to my man Torey Goodall for skating to “June 27th” twelve years ago for a Baby Steps B-roll part. Who else you know can go from Van Morrison to Big Moe in the same video? Also shout out to all my Cancers bro.

Love Park in 2015: An Interview With Brian Panebianco

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Looking in from the outside (or from 100 miles north on the interstate), Love Park seems to have always existed in eras. There was the Ricky / Eastern Exposure era, the Kalis / Wenning / Pappalardo et al. / Photosynthesis era, and now, after some downtime last decade, there is the current “pink planter” era. And there’s no crew or series that has been pushing footage of Love Park and Philly in 2015 like the Sabotage videos. Below is a conversation with Brian Panebianco, one of the principal filmers and creative forces behind Sabotage (video #4 is due out 9/11/15), about skateboarding’s most iconic skate spot as it stands in 2015, and all that surrounds it.

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Are you originally from Philly?

I’m from the suburbs, like 35 minutes out.

When was the first time you went to Love Park?

Probably when they had the first X-Games street contest at City Hall [in 2001.] I remember everyone was skating the Municipal Building, but you couldn’t skate Love because the cops were waiting there. By the next year, all the pink planters were in.

Where would you skate in those years after downtown Philly got shut down?

I grew up skating this D.I.Y. spot in Lansdale, Pennsylvania that’s actually still there. Or we’d just skate around the neighborhood.

Did you ever go into the city?

Once I got my license, I did, but by that time, Love was completely shut down. I grew up without it being skateable. We’d try to skate City Hall and sometimes get lucky, but usually not. We’d go to the three block, Temple and those shitty spots.

There was also that D.I.Y. spot with the parking blocks under I-95 that Wenning and Kerry Getz used to always skate.

How’d you get into making videos?

I’d film with this shitty camera until 2005, when I got a VX1000, and that’s when I got hyped on it. I was never a Skate Perception dude or anything, but I had a few friends who were. Some of the first people I started going out skating with were Ant and Dom Travis. Ant had a VX and he was into cameras. We started making little montages from that D.I.Y. spot, but nothing much beyond that. We still didn’t skate downtown much.

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