Grit & Grind

d wade d reider

Apparently, D. Wade is a D. Reider fan. He’s not the only one.

Chrome Ball’s 900th post is dedicated to the Brooklyn Banks — “A testament to the resourcefulness of skateboarders when they can just be left the fuck alone.” In case you weren’t going on the site several years ago, we posted a series of interviews about the Banks in 2010, after the spot got completely shut down for bridge repairs.

Nick vonWerssowetz’s new video, CCTV, is great. Mostly filmed in New York, save a part in San Francisco. Great spot selection, presentation, and a soundtrack for all those yet to embrace Future / the future. Features Shawn Powers, Adrian Vega, and others. The DVD is for sale online and at Labor Skateshop for $10.

Check out Hopps Skateboards’ spring/summer 2013 collection on their new website.

Taji interviewed Galen over on the Vice site about his latest arthouse triumph, Mmm.

Were things better when Habitat’s logo was busier?

Mandatory reportage of Corey Rubin and Loose Trucks Max sightings: A sixteen-minute bro cam clip of the Brooklyn homies. All they wanna do is have some fun.

Zered and Eli shred around New England and go lobster fishing in the new Converse commercial.

Notable New York-based web parts: Pat Galloway for Michigan’s Plus Skateshop and Jordan Trahan in WeSC’s “Boroughs to Bayous.”

P. Rod v.s. the Bayside Ten in Queens, 2008.

ICYMI: The second chapter in a tumultuous month for sponsor resignations.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Tayshaun Prince dunks on three Thunder players at once. You know what’s weird? Prince has been in the conference finals seven times in his career; Kobe and Duncan have eight appearances.

Quote of the Week:

riri vs jr

— Badgalriri responds to a devout J.R. Smith fan. Unfortunately, she was right.

Thanks to everyone who linked up the Forrest Edwards edit. Let’s go Grizzlies.

Probably Up In Follies With Jeezy & Cam Newton

riri qs

Shine bright like a Fudge Round

We’ve been fans of Christian Willis’ skating for a while now. After what seems like a bit of a hiatus, he’s back taller and with a sick new video part. Why a legitimate company hasn’t given this kid a chance is absurd. Him and Forrest Edwards should be getting checks for skating.

As you may already know, London’s Southbank is facing an uncertain future. There’s a new six-minute montage paying tribute to the spot, featuring every London-based skater you can think of. Huck wrote a somewhat level-headed appraisal of the situation, which doesn’t seem likely to favor preservation of the spot as it stands. But it’s a bit stupid to say “The British skate media is secretly tired of Southbank’s status as the UK’s EMB,” considering skate spots with multi-decade spanning histories are becoming increasingly rare with each passing year.

The inaugural entry to 2013’s “Summer Trip to New York” cycle?! Part 1, Part 2.

AM New York has a new clip with Ariel Perl shredding around Boston and New York.

Ripped Laces contends that Austyn Gillette will inevitably skate for Converse.

Zered Bassett already rides for Converse and has some photos with a new interview about a recent Cons Hawaii trip over on the Transworld site.

The new LurkNYC video, CCTV, is premiering at 44 Troutman Street in Brooklyn this Saturday, May 18. J train to Myrtle-Broadway. 10 P.M. Flyer here, teaser here.

Still mad street.

There’s another part from Mama’s Boys on YouTube now.

An interview with the Mira Conyo crew about skateboarding in Washington Heights.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Either Iman Thug’s Game 2 putback or Nate Robinson’s block on Lebron.

Quote of the Week:

rogers quote of the week

Didn’t Mark Suciu film more parts last year than Rogers did in his entire career?

Cam rapped over the Golden Girls theme and the new Waka mixtape is pretty good because it doesn’t sound like every other tape he released in the past three years.

It’s Warm Again

g man

Chrome Ball came through with a sick compliation of Four Star ads from the late-nineties and early-2000s. Keenan’s switch pop shove in Australia is super chill.

After hours with Black Dave by Taji Ameen. He 5050s the top of the metal bench at Grace. The guard looked mad though…

Want more mad security guards? Quim Cardona and Billy Rohan shred around Times Square and midtown for their Berrics “Off the Grid” segment. Light wash denim is definitely making the #trendwatch.

Speaking of which, what new spot is going to #trend for this summer’s wave of pro skater visitations, now that the green ledge in Harlem is gone? Or is the stockpile of footage on it enough to keep its memory going?

Guy Mariano offers some wise advice that should be common sense, but unfortunately isn’t for a lot of people: Don’t spend your time in skateboarding bitter and resentful, especially at a young age. That “bitter at 23” shit is the worst. Also, all due respect to Guy, but it’s tough to take his observation about “Skateboarders getting smarter” seriously after skimming through the comments of the Jenkem Mag “New Alien Workshop Rider” April Fool’s video. Then again, YouTube Hella Clips comments are one of modern society’s low-points.

Parts from the Mama’s Boys video are getting uploaded one by one each week. Kevin Maillet’s is the first to go live. Cyrus Bennett and Loose Trucks Max eventually?

For whatever reason, it’s easy to forget about Organika sometimes, but their new promo is great. They literally skate trees in it.

Spot Updates: 1) That new building at Astor is going to have stuff to skate. You can also count on it being knobbed or a six-second bust. 2) With the St. Vincent’s triangle slated for demolition, the actual bank has seen better days. 3) There’s a new box at T.F. It’s high and short. The green wallie thing is almost a wrap, too.

Did we travel back to 2006? Papoose’s album seriously just came out. Though the infamous “WorstPapoose” Tumblr got deleted, you can find the archive here. The stakes is high like the top shelf in the meat market.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Easy. J.R. Smith off Felton’s fumble with two seconds left. Is it too early to start getting scared about some team offering J.R. a better contract next season and him passing on his $2.8M option with the Knicks?

Quote of the Week: “Who hangs out with a girl on a Saturday afternoon? Girls are for rainy days and nighttime.” — Sweet Waste

Thanks to everyone who linked the Eli edit. Enjoy this wonderful week.

The Events That Defined New York City Skateboarding in 2012: 10-6 + 2013 Predictions

lou ruining skateboarding

70% chance of snow for the last weekend of 2012. New Year’s Eve plans? Nets head coach suggestions? Indoor skate spot recommendations? Highest bidder for an unauthorized House of Vans key duplicate? Who’s excited for the new season of Girls? Previously: #s 25-21, 20-16, 15-11. Expect 5-1 on New Year’s Eve.

10. Lurker Lou Ruins Skateboarding

Skateboarders hate everything. It becomes more evident by the day, as the anonymity provided by Hella Clips comments supplants the Slap forum as the skateboard internet’s epicenter of negativity. But we won’t stand for that negativity in our reality shows! This past spring, Lurker Lou — who, looking at it as objectively as possible, didn’t “hate” *that* bad — spewed his bearded criticisms on a bunch of youngsters looking to “make it” via the “One in a Million” reality show fiasco. He hurt feelings, crushed dreams, snapped boards and ruined any fun there was to be had in riding a skateboard for the remainder of human existence, which unfortunately, did not end on December 21st. (No existence is better than existence on an earth with Lou.)

What a jerk!

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Gah Y’all Some Broke Boys

gino iannucci backside noseblunt

Gino Iannucci – Backside Noseblunt. Photo stolen from the DQM Tumblr page. Long Islanders in black and white headline “Monday Links” posts two weeks in a row.

The QS web store is re-stocked with black and white Snackman tees in all sizes.

Boil the Ocean on DGK’s Parental Advisory video “picking up where the Menace video that would never come left off in Trilogy.”

Adidas just won the “Summer Trip to New York” web clip game with their August 2012 venture. It includes Busenitz, Lucas Puig, Jake Donnelly (with the best crusty ledge back smith since Anthony Correa), and Pete Eldridge giving tobacco companies their best advertising in years with an awesome late-night Sixth Avenue line. In an unexpected turn of events, Mark Suciu even figured out a new way to skate the Courthouse. It would be nice to see a full-length video from this roster.

Matt Mooney owns a computer again and he put together a Tompkins / Autumn / 12th & A clip, largely filmed while seated at the comfort of the T.F. bench.

Tompkins Square Park: Circa 1991.

Harry Corrigan, the creator of Film Me and Goin’ Ham’ has a new video due out early 2013. Belief Skate Shop out in Astoria also has a video due in January.

Are televisions as skate spots (see here or here) officially on #trendwatch2013? Now spotted in this Alex Duke Brooklyn cruiser clip.

Zered Bassett and friends escape from New York to skate L.A. Nice “shut the studio down” reference, Joey Brezinski.

Japanese “Summer Trip to New York” clip with a Roctakon cameo.

“Tom Penny, when he loses his mind, he starts talking about Wu-Tang. Billy Rohan, when he loses his mind, he starts talking about Wu-Tang.” ESPN has a article about how skateboarders love Wu-Tang that perhaps unintentionally hints at how many have cocooned themselves away from rap music released since Liquid Swords. Skateboarding/Wu-Tang is an interesting subject that could be explored in greater depth than “skaters like raw shit!” i.e. Wu-Tang was actually once a skate company or Gino (in general.) And for the record, pretty sure a bunch of us yelled at someone for cutting off Dreamchasers at House of Vans last year so they could hear 36 Chambers for the billionth time. (Forever > 36 Chambers. Frat boys ruined 36.)

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Ricky Rubio back!

Quote of the Week: “I’m the Turkish Darren Harper.” — Guy Riza

So what’s better: Parental Advisory or Pretty Sweet? Rodrigo TX might have the best part between the two videos…