We began the decade by burning an impossible over a bench into memory — a trick that had, with a few exceptions, largely sat dormant for the better part of twenty years.
Tallying every trick that had gone down at every gap became burdensome. The best real estate for a switch tre down D7 in 2015 was the part of a Johnny Wilson clip when the drums began to cut out of a Moodymann song. (Jk, that clip is one of the best things of the past decade. Switch tre is obvs beast too.)
“4 Cities, 100 Nuggets” is a mini video featuring some Canadian dudes (…I think?) doing a two-week road trip through North Carolina, Philly, New York, and Boston. That back noseblunt bigspin at Baldi really came out of left field + good to see people coming up victorious over the speed bumps at the recently-knobbed plaza on 110th and 8th (which is sure to be utilized by absolutely nobody now, considering it’s in the middle of the street, with no shade, and across from a 840-acre park full of trees…)
“It’s not a boot-camp for the Olympics.” “No, it’s a boot-camp for life.” Given the stature of its alumni, you likely know of its existence, but you probably don’t know much about the skateboarding high school in Mälmo, Sweden. Skateism has a full interview about Bryggeriet, and how’s its not exactly what you would expect.
“Eternal Youth in Tompkins Square” is a New York Times style section feature documenting many of the new(ish) faces around T.F. these past couple years, shot by our friend Danny Weiss, with words from Ted Barrow, the skater who Jason Byoun would show his mom if she asked what skateboarding was.
“This spot is long gone. We called them ‘Chelsea Banks’ because they were on the West Side Highway in Chelsea, directly across the highway from, what is today, the Chelsea Piers Skatepark. Today this spot is a little green triangular park, but back then it was a shit show.” TWS interviewed original Zoo York co-founder, Eli Gesner, and original Shut rider, Jeremy Henderson, about filming Mark Gonzales during the first time he ever came to New York in 1987.
Calzone is Matt Velez’s sequel to Sable, due to premiere in Brooklyn on November 30th. Full parts from Mark Humienik, Nick Ferro, et al. Flyer here. Small teaser here.
Quote of the Week Observant Gentleman: “It’s crazy you ride for Polar but aren’t good at wallies.” Hjalte Halberg: “Yeah, but at least I learned no complys recently.”
Dude, we love themed video parts. Grate themed video parts, garbage themed video parts, dumpster themed video parts! And there is no more beloved theme to build a video part around than to learn every nuance and cranny of a skate spot by skating it for the full duration of said part. Given the rate at which spots worth learning have been diminishing, we’ve been given reason to celebrate such one-spot achievements more than ever. You think it’s a coincidence that both 18-year-olds and 38-year-olds love Gonz’s “just cruising in the street”-thing from Video Days? Cruising is everyone’s M.O. now, whereas maintaining fidelity to one spot takes extra effort.
With that, a genre has skyrocketed in popularity within the skateboard media marketplace: spot-based content. Whereas since the demise of 411 “spot checks,” the story has 97% of the time been about the skater, the team or the event, spot-based videos are the new way to make us remember that we better learn how to skate walls if we ever want to skate an street object outside of a caged-in skatepark ever again ;)
Atlanta’s checkerboard spot benefits from more lenient “plaza” definitions that we allow in 2016. There aren’t many longstanding street spots with multiple ledges left, so it becomes one by default — though it may be the only Great American Skate Spot™ 2.0 that I have no desire to skate. (Shit looks mad high.) The spot doesn’t have a storied mythology or celebrated culture, and its background is not densely layered with regal civic buildings or skyscrapers. It’s just a spot that has been long enough for us to be forced to respect its status in the era of depleting spots. An all-Columbus Circle part was in order for last year to commemorate its ten-year run for the same reason, until a cop decided to pepperspray a teenager…
Jimmy Lannon, noted “regular” Magenta outlier and 2014 “Best Line at Three Up Three Down” titleholder, paid tribute to the spot’s longer-than-usual tenure in Thread / Headcleaner, with a literal #musicsupervision choice that’s one step removed from Mark Suciu skating to Phil Collins’ “Sussudio” or like, Soy Panday skating to “Panda.”
As recently discussed, nobody from the northeast really escapes to Miami anymore. People go to L.A., sure, but San Francisco has become a go-to winter refuge for those easily dissuaded by that traffic-laden city some 400 miles down the coast. (Cue up every person who’s ever said “S.F. is a lot like an east coast city, except _____.” Maybe we make it out there one day and discover just how inaccurate of a job rappers and FTC videos do in portraying it.)
Nick vonWerssowetz‘s new video is a twelve-minute project filmed during a three-week hideout in San Francisco. It has been online for 48 hours, which means it’s pretty old by today’s internet standards. There are standalone versions of every other Cyrus Bennett part on YouTube, so why not? Below is his closer from Braindead.
You can watch Braindeadin full here. There’s a Kingpin Skinny Pimp song in it. (Also why hasn’t someone skated to “One Life 2 Live” yet? Seems like a missed opportunity, especially given the past few years worth of videos’ heavy indulgence in lo-fi Memphis stuff. Night footage edit to “Midnight Hoes” maybe?)
