The Chrome Ball Incident

Another Day Above Ground

March 25th, 2019 · 4:44 am · 1 Comment

Photo via Tao

“Because I’m not trying to compete with the kids in Cali grinding 32 stairs. That’s not me. I’m at Pulaski Park, man.” Chrome Ball interviewed Bobby Worrest about the past and present.

We all spent a lot of last week collectively fawning over Bobby being in his 30s and having not the slightest semblance of misstep, but Dani Lebron is like… 42 or 43, and dropped a fucked up part on Thrasher last Friday, right around the time everyone would’ve been clocking out for the weekend.

You likely caught it already, but the Bos brothers are consistently putting out some of the best New York videos going today. “Wide Open” is Joshua Bos’ going pro part (trash can headliner from last week’s Top 10.) And watch “Steel” again, just because ;)

Two favorites get the skateboard fantasy sports treatment from kind strangers: Someone made an E.T. b-sides remix, and someone unrelated made an Antonio b-sides remix.

Crazy Ass Paterson Skaters have a new video out + Shorty’s may be gone, but Skate Jawn recently posted up a small feature on a new D.I.Y. spot that’s been sprouting up in an old Psterson, NJ gun mill, which they skate a bit in the C.A.P.S. video.

Occasional solitary man, Brad Cromer, uploaded another compilation of IG story footage from New York. Loved the jacket zipped / hoody up clip at Columbus Circle, though don’t want to experience that for like, another ten months.

Not sure if any of us are buying Kirian Stone’s case for a re-assessment of willy grinds in the skateboard lexicon, but his Skating Is Easy part is now online.

“Mr. Phelps had been at Potrero del Sol the day before he died and had run into Mr. Brenes there. Mr. Brenes recalled asking him how he was doing and Mr. Phelps replying, ‘Another day above ground is a good day, Chico.'” Willy Staley wrote Phelps’ obituary for The New York Times.

More #mainstreammedia skate coverage: Noah Johnson wrote Jason Dill profile for GQ.

“There are no strangers when those horn blasts sound, only you and a crowd of people who have suddenly become your closest friends.” The New Yorker has a nice piece on ten years of “Swag Surfing,” which coincidentally may have been the only song not from the past two years played at the Gang Corp premiere :)

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Shout out to the brodie Dirk for passing Wilt for #6 in all-time scoring. 2011 Dallas Mavs 4ever ♥

Quote of the Week: “Before Tinder, there was Enid’s.” — Chopped Cheese

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The whole “people are just waiting for you to make a mistake”-thing he talks about made me think about how people on the street think of skateboarding. Never understood the logic of the first and only thing you ask someone on a skateboard being about injuries or getting hurt. Actually, a ton of the shit he says made me think of skateboarding.

No Griptape in Paris

April 23rd, 2018 · 7:03 am · 8 Comments

“I took so much acid that I started riding l*ngb**rds.” The governor of New Jersey has a sharp memory and is endearing as could be in yet another Bobshirt longplayer classic. Tons of stories about S.F/Philly/New York in the nineties, his mom taking him to *the* Banks contest, and plenty of memories about some legendary names.

We live in a place we are often convinced is the center of the world, despite the fact we all fall victim to the same merry-go-round of spots, tricks, ideas, etc. “Steel” is an incredible ten-minute video by Adam Bos filmed throughout that vast state above — in zones that are closer to Toronto than Brooklyn — and feels more refreshing than a lot of what our center-of-the-universe selves have been releasing as of late. Also…do we do another “core” tour? ;)

No other skate crew has logged more hours on the always en vogue corner of Howard and Crosby Streets. “Mean Streets” volume eleven from LurkNYC is now live.

There’s 7,000 articles out there about the rise of Small Brands™ over the past ~five years, but here’s one about the rise of Small Brands™ focused specifically on women.

Listen the Skater You’d Be Most O.K. With Your Daughter Dating get slut-shamed by Cephas on the latest episode of The Bunt.

Happy ten year anniversary to skateboarding’s Library of Congress A.K.A. The Chrome Ball Incident. Chops celebrates a decade with an interview, tons of stories and some raw clips from World Industries’ earliest filmer, Socrates Leal.

Aaron Herrington reminds you that Diego Najera nollie flipped over Black Hubba, and then had the audacity to follow it up with a switch varial heelflip eight feet over the top of a picnic table. P.S. He nollie flipped over Black Hubba.

Gonz skates around downtown with a white spine ramp for Adidas and Krooked’s collab. They better have left all of those things at Tompkins…

Yonnie Cruz’s lost part from Chocolate’s 1995 video, Las Nueve Vidas De Paco.

ICYMI, E.T. has his first-ever interview over on Thrasher.

Bummed we missed the House of Vans Calgary pop-up / Alltimers premiere, but also we got to host a legendary sporting event that weekend so it’s ok. BUT, if you’re the photo recap type, here you go.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: A 68-year-old beat the Warriors by himself.

Quote of the Week: “I don’t know why they even bother giving customer copies of receipts in 2018.” — Conor Prunty

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Also, somebody nollie flipped Black Hubba.

Monday Slog

November 13th, 2017 · 3:15 pm · 2 Comments

Late one today. Photo via @lottiesskateshop.

“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.

The Times also did this feature on hill bombing in S.F. with GX1000 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“I didn’t want to go to school or work at some grocery store, wherever you work when you’re 16. Fuck it, I’ll go to Russia!” (Umm…) The Chrome Ball Incident got ahold of the otherwise interview-evasive Anthony Van Englen.

“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.

Apparently, the only difference between a 2003 skate shoe and a 2017 skate shoe is the sole. Village Psychic and Lurker Lou did a wear test for Jason Dill’s Mosaic era DVS pro model.

Here’s volume 24 of LurkNYC’s “New York Times” outtakes series. The gap noseslide on the metal step behind Union Square was sick.

The Bunt’s latest is with Drop-In Skatepark alumni, Dick Rizzo, and Skate Muzik’s latest is a Welcome to Hell-themed episode with Beatrice Domond.

The Theories boys went to Chicago.

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.

Midtown’s most photogenic ledge spot is back like it never left.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Dirk, we love you, but this is too funny.

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.”

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Happy birthday Z ♥ No matter the years, this part doesn’t get any less insane.

Five Favorite Parts With The Chrome Ball Incident

August 16th, 2017 · 5:00 am · 4 Comments

The latest faves come from one of the eminent scholars of our craft. As he has mainly trafficked in still images, we asked him for five picks from the history of skate videos. (We’ll get a pro on the next one, but the non-pro streak has been pretty fun.)

Chops even offered a quick intro, so the rest of the words are his :)

+++++++

Big ups to bro-cam, uncleared music, lens rings, slam sections, “acting”, background yelling (preferably in slow motion), self-celebratory rollaways, camera lights, hard copies, dubbed copies, BGPs, pissed-off security guards, random lurkers, supersonic skatecamps and unnecessarily long manual clips.

This list is dedicated to Gonz’s Video Days, Natas’ Fires, Guy’s Mouse, MC’s Questionable, Ricky’s EE3, Henry’s Lies and Heath’s Unseen Sight. Some things, like orgasms and pizza, are past the need of further recommendation.

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A Godfather of Six-Figure Ledge Skating [#TBT]

March 17th, 2016 · 12:55 pm · 6 Comments

So I often ask the subjects of these interviews who they consider to be the most underrated skater of the 1990s and your name has come up more than a few times. Do you think there were aspects of your career that went underappreciated or didn’t get their proper due?

Do I feel like I didn’t get enough shine? No. I don’t feel that way at all. To hear that people think that is awesome but I don’t feel that I’m owed anything or that something should’ve have gotten more praise than it did. At the end of the day, I don’t know what I could’ve done more than what I did. But that’s cool to hear. — The Chrome Ball Incident / November 2, 2012

Nobody was as much of a precursor to today’s brand of highbrow ledge tricks as Jerry Fowler. Look no further than onetime six-figure ledge skater, Brian Wenning, admitting last week that the origin of the backside nosegrind pop-out craze (which very much still resonates in today’s fickle beanplanted times) leads back to a jack-move pulled on Jerry’s west coast-bred, east coast-honed bag of tricks.

Everyone knows that the “this could come out today and still hold up”-hyperbole is wishful thinking 95% of the time. Wenning says it about Photosynthesis in the aforementioned interview, but we have gotten lightyears past the new AM being able to end off his first part with a switch 360 flip down nine. Although his 411 section gets the most burn on the social media circuit, watch Jerry Fowler’s DNA Continuum part. You’ll see the half cab nosegrind revert fishhooks that Puig does, the frontside 180 no comply fakie 5-0s that Aaron Herrington does, and the backside shove-its into backside grinds that Hjalte does — a decade-plus before said tricks would come to occupy the minds of today’s most #trickselection savvy skateboarders.

Six-Figure Ledge Skating: The “Hundred Dollar Autograph” of the Skateboard World ;)