Takin care of business

And working overtime

This is the 100th post on BTO (an acronym I didn’t even think of until Mike Munzenrider used it) so how about we flip the script today: original content, as opposed to me running off at the mouth on everybody else’s. Well, sort of original. This is a video I edited together a while back featuring about eight minutes of Josh Kalis footage yanked from guest tricks, montages, 411’s, bonus sections and whatnot. It’s not exhaustive by any means, but I used pretty much everything I had at my disposal, running from the “Heavy Metal” days to Big Brother’s “boob” to a board set-up feature in one of the last 411s before they switched the format. Lennie Kirk, Fred Gall and Stevie Williams make appearances. I’m by no means any kind of video editor and I used some pretty wack software. So the parts that suck, that’s my excuse, and any parts that are good I definitely did on purpose for sure.

And before I forget, thanks to everybody that’s read the blathering here, written nice things about the site, linked here, and chimed in with a comment or whatever.

Addendum: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that AWS Filmworks has put up a bunch of updates this past week, most recently a clip of Jake Johnson ramrodding a huge switch wallride in Minneapolis.

Midsummer Video Roundup: Short Ends

Dy-no-mite!

With dark, earnest features reminiscent of a young John Cusack and a fringe the size of the Oahu pipeline, AWS wonder-kid Jake Johnson puts his limitations as a skateboarder right up front in the newish Chapman promo “Short Ends,” starting off his part by bumbling the landing on a nollie 360 flip backside 5-0 grind. I know, I know… no pole jam involved anywhere? I was thinking the same exact thing. But, he’s still new so maybe we’ll cut him a break.

This is Jake Johnson’s big debut part, sort of, in that he is now a somebody in this wild and woolly skateboard industry. And though he never gets around to landing the… ah… n/360f/bs/5-0, he brings the bazooka for several minutes of pure, uncut Colombian destruction at notable New York skate spots. Such as, that one ledge by the water. Or that yellow bar over the driveway bump. Or that one other ledge by all the buildings.

It’s an amazing part, not just because it’s one insane feat after another (fire hydrant varial heelflip, thread-the-needle k-grind transfer, the frontside flip into the hubba, etc etc) but because he’s one of those preternaturally gifted kids with supreme confidence as far as timing and putting down tricks, the kind of kid you have to assume will be reincarnated as a legless lizard or a disabled wombat in the next life since he’s obviously cashed in all his good karma for his current life. He skates sort of like Janoski but without the soft-shoe landings and a different menu of maneuvers. The switch flip backside tailslide on the Philly rail is in there.

The rest of the video’s pretty good too, like the Traffic promo it’s nice and short. Three parts and a montage. Brendan Leddy, who you may remember as Sam Weir in “Freaks and Geeks,” bags a beaut of a backside smith grind across a long ledge, and notables such has Luis Tolentino, Billy Rohan and a backside grabbin’ Vinny Ponte appear in the montage, ahead of some really sick shit from some little kid by the name of Mike Marks. Luke Malaney, who has the other part, bangs a big switch pop shove-it over a block and into a bank, along with a pop shove-it nosegrind down a handrail which was particularly awesome.

What’s the deal with Chapman though? Their website has transformed into an ad for the new video but it used to detail their woodshop operation, supplying decks to Zoo and so on. Now, anyone who remembers the heyday of circus trick ringmaster Danny Gonzales remembers that Chapman once was a branded hardgoods outfit with its own team, graphics, etc–check TWS if you don’t believe me. (Up-and-coming ams like Scott Pazelt and Anthony Furlong!) So what’s the deal with these guys now–is this an all-woodshop team? Does Chapman also make blanks? And if they do… are they driving themselves out of business by doing so?!

If only I had the answers. This video is really good though, and I’m not just saying that out of my slavish devotion to Jake Johnson. Order it from Quartersnacks along with their new video, which is probably way better than that gimmicky Nas album that came out last month.

Survival of the fittest

It’s not unusual

When people talk about how it’s good for skating to get as big as possible—and usually these are the people who have a vested interest in selling skateboard products—they talk about how it’s more money in pros’ pockets, more support for skateparks, and more recognition for skating in general. Never mind that this money probably finds its way into the pocket of a pro who’s already leasing a luxury SUV (as opposed to your Joey Peppers or John Igeis), or that the new skatepark is yet another modular three-foot-high tennis court conversion, and you’re still getting kicked off the local manual pad by a sweaty, moustachioed fellow in a fake cop car who angrily refers to “them rollerboards.”

Separate from all of this are the little indignities suffered when this skateboarding way of life, if you can call it that, is squinted at, hmmm’ed over and sadly misinterpreted by any number of parties who wouldn’t bother if not for the prospect of a quick dollar. With that in mind, behold the Men’s Fitness guide to five of the best skateparks our nation has to offer. They manage to name-check Tony Hawk and the X-Games in the first sentence.

Men’s Fitness on the Vans park in Orange: “Don’t worry, if you forget your board you can rent one for just five bucks a session.”

On the “Louisville Extreme Park”: “The park is also open to in-line skaters and bicycle enthusiasts.”

On the Vans park in, uh, Orlando this time: “If you need a break from all that skating, there is an arcade area with the latest games.”

On the Kona skatepark in Jacksonville: “15,000-square-foot X-game style course with metal surface.”

On the Encinitas YMCA: “It’s not unusual to see guys like Bucky Lasik, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, and Shaun White practicing their moves at this extreme sport Mecca. That’s because the Ecke features one of the greatest vertical ramps in the country. In fact, it’s the same one that was used at the 2004 X Games.”

Coming next month: Our “extreme 15” list of must-haves for an afternoon BBQ/session at Portland’s notorious “Burn Side” skatepark, including Lil’ Smokey^TM grill, ErgoLounger^TM Aluminum Portable Chaise Lounge^TM, syringes, and a “grip” of PowerBars^TM and PowerAde^TM!

Carpooling on the Fully Flared expressway

Marc Johnson and Tyler Bledsoe, regular/switch and switch/regular. I hear they use the same dog groomer.

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

Midsummer Video Roundup: Deja Vu

Make it reign

I’m kind of 50-50 on the videographer-as-skate celebrity thing that really got going around the “Chomp on This” era. I mean I’m all for mission-specific wheels and 20-stair switch firecrackers, but filmer shoe colors and grown men throwing junior high-grade tantrums at security guards gets a little “ehh…”

Howevers, I do think it’s cool and a long time coming that skate filmer/editor types be recognized as legitimate auteurs of a sort, which Cliche is doing with their new Deja Vu project, having a bunch of well-known dudes edit together old footage of the French company’s team. (I really like Cliche’s skaters and their art, but between packaging “Freedom Fries” as part of a box set and now getting a whole new video out of recycled footage, Daclin & co. definitely know how to milk the skate video.)

So, part-by-part:

RB Umali/JB Gillette: amis in initials, Umali provides a serviceable East Coast take on a JB career retrospecticus, including a heavy helping of tricks from JB’s sadly overlooked late-period 411 profile. Gothamist he is, Umali subs in some New York rap for the tongue-twister French linguistics we know and love from JB Gillette video parts. Nice sampler plate from a dude who came up with a mid-90s World pedigree and now matches his XL sweatpants with the mantle of a Euro legend.

Greg Hunt/Ricardo Fonseca: Hunt cobbles together a solid part’s worth of Fonseca footage, and I appreciate the all-around burliness and the fact that he has love for nollie hardflips in the 1990s tradition. But I always got the impression that Fonseca’s skills translated better in person than on video, kinked hubba k-grinds notwithstanding.

Roger Bagely/Joey Brezinski: I’m not sure what Boston/Adio alum Bagely has against young Jojo but between the Nelly Furtado and the fast-motion I found this part hard to watch. It seriously seemed like half the tricks were sped up, and not just like a few seconds of pushing in a line. I dig this sort of thing when done tastefully but this part really puzzled me.

Scuba Steve/Cale Nuske: It was nice to see Cale Nuske’s Bon Appetit part again, it’s been a while.

Mike Manzoori/Javier Mendizabal: Mike Manzoori is for my money (generally not more than $8 American) one of the best working skate videographers out, with his pal Jon Miner, and Mendizabal can be counted on for some of the best shit in any video he graces, so this part is definitely one of the best remixes here. It’s cool to see a younger Mendizabal gliding backside noseblunts on street along with his current assortment of alley-oop lip tricks.

Ewan Bowman/Charles Collette: Kids in E-France-ica. The radio wave music mix is interesting I guess.

Dan Wolfe/Jeremie Daclin: Dan Wolfe does his best to punch up a few minutes’ worth of Jeremie Daclin footage, who in recent years looks like he belongs more behind an actuary’s desk than on a handrail. The part gets more interesting toward the end when it gets back to Daclin’s old days charging beefy hubbas, though the clip of him carving the tanker thing still trips me out.

Dan Magee/Andrew Brophy: Brophy Getts Off with his inhuman pop and pavement-cracking landings, massive 360 flips and Prince guitar squeals. Probably the best section, song-wise if nothing else. Where was the humongous switch heelflip at Southbank though?

Ty Evans/Lucas Puig: I’m interpreting this part as a big slow-motion high-def middle finger to Ty detractors globally, which I guess would include me at times. Entirely in slow-mo, techno-tinged piano twinking as the only sound, it really works in an arty way for a while. But even with a kid as gifted as Lucas Puig, eight full minutes of slow-mo one-off tricks gets boring. The rumor is that Ty sent over the section all in HD or something and the Cliche guys couldn’t properly rip the footage, and ended up having to film the thing off a TV, and while I have no idea if that’s true or not the grainy video does add to the whole effect. But if artsyness was the goal, they missed out on a prime opportunity for a Gonzesque touch by filming the TV footage with a Canon Elph or something.

The video’s up now on the Cliche website along with Puig’s new ad, which is ridiculous as usual. JJ Rousseau and Jan Kliewer were much missed.

Midsummer Video Roundup: And Now

“Fuckin, I don’t know”

Okay, can I just tell you my favorite thing about this new Transworld video, even more so than Kenny Hoyle’s opening kickflip, or Richie Jackson’s paisley pirate outfits, or Nick Trapasso: no fucking voiceovers. This closely approximates my personal reaction, except on a couch. I was wearing basically the same amount of body armor.

Pretty much every time a TWS video has come out in the last few years I’m inclined to think “hmm, this is the best TWS video in years” which may or may not actually be the case after a few weeks of viewing. But this time, guys… this time for sure (no Bullwinkle) I think “And Now” really is the best TWS vids in quite some time. There’s been some hoopla in the magazine about how this is like the new “In Bloom,” which I can see, sort of. But that begs the question: who’s gonna flame out Trainwreck style?

Transworld videos at this point are an institution, like Madonna for instance, and if you took the 20 or so videos they’ve put out over the last 15 years (TWS that is) you’d have a fairly accurate roadmap of trick trends, skateboard fashion, and evolving film/edit techniques that generally represent the best in skate videos at any particular point. A lot of the credit goes to Ty Evans, who presided over the TWS golden age of “Feedback”/”The Reason”/”Modus Operandi,” but the revolving cast of filmer/editors that has passed through those hallowed AOL/Time Warner doors since has taken up his blueprint and soldiered on, with mostly positive results. Filming innovations and high production value aside though, there’s Ty tropes that maintained long past their expiration date, like the intolerable voiceovers (some sounded like they were reading off a teleprompter) and the vaguely hilarious inanity of the titles.

So it’s cool that “And Now,” humorously inane title aside, tones down the starry-eyed “wow, skating, man” and keeps things moving. No overblown intro montage (not too overblown anyhow), no goddamn voiceovers, no skits unless you count Richie Jackson’s whole part. Reckless dumbass David Gravette comes out blasting with his charbroiled rail moves and winds things up with a trick that’s sure to get some novices sacked before the snow flies. Matt Miller I was really looking forward to and he came through with a solid part of fairly straightforward skating, fakie flip body varial noseblunt aside. (That’s what it was right? I had to rewind many times.) But generally he had a minimum of the polejam/wallie/manual combos that TWS videos have showcased heavily the last couple years.

That of course is handled with psychedelic aplomb by Richie Jackson, dark hippie avenger from Oz, who twirls and skids and somehow powerslides down stairs. Some of the tricks are pretty inspired and I was relieved to see him work in some more standard-issue shit, like the b/s 5-0 revert and the switch 360 flip, because sometimes I get the sinking feeling that these guys known for doing nutty/dork/novelty tricks all day long may not be able to actually skate any other way.

Kenny Hoyle is just great. The angle on that switch bigspin heelflip he does over the hump is so good. A prime example of a skater who on paper might not sound that sound exciting but the way he lands tricks does it all. Nick Trapasso is sort of the same (see the way he rides away from the double-set switch frontside heelflip) but freakishly talented enough to inspire head-scratching and rewinding. There’s some stuff I’m not into at all, like the nollie tuck-knee, but it’s hard to complain much. It’s like he can do anything. Both the song choice and the electric blue socks are kind of untouchable.

Then there’s Sean Malto, who seems to be the living, hardflipping nightmare of every skatepark old guy who narrows his eyes and mutters “damn kids” as some 9th-grader glides down the rail. Switch kickflip frontside k-grinds, cab feebles, et cetera. It goes on for some time. I can imagine people complaining that the marquee tricks have already been in ads, but for me, the full gnarliness of those tricks didn’t quite translate through the 2-D photo format, although that could just be my brain problem. Malto, though: So much command and confidence, and he’s so young. At least he looks young. If my calculations above are correct Malto will soon be sleeved up and bloated from alcohol misuse, so as long as the legions of skatepark old guys can keep their guts in check til then, the last laugh may yet be theirs.

In summary, best TWS video in years. I think. No voiceovers!

Two if by sea

Let the boys be boys

Okay, a quick video link update, since I have a bunch more videos I could write about but apparently I have yet to figure out how to make a video post that isn’t 1000 words long.

Slam City lookbook: the new catalog from London’s seminal skateshop, which remains difficult for jeg-lag addled foreigners to locate, even in this age of a stronger British pound. The catalog itself is alright, my favorite part being the two solid pages of nearly identical “Slam City Skates” t-shirts, but the money melon is on the second-to-last page where, if you wait out a couple minutes of high-def slo mo, you’re treated to a lengthy Craig Mack-powered whirlwind that is a who’s who of the 2008 UK skate scene. Chewy Cannon, yes.

Ohhh… on the UK tip, here’s something else: an all-too-brief line from none other than Carl Shipman including one of the more vicious transition moves I’ve seen this summer. I read an interview somewhere recently (48 blocks?) where he didn’t sound too eager to skate for a living again, but wouldn’t it be nice to see him astride a Stereo deck again? By the way both these links I stole off the lovely Tweaker blog.

Next: Twist your moustache and furrow your brow at this Gou Miyagi part from the “Overground Broadcasting” video:

One of the things that I thought kind of detracted from Richie Jackson’s otherwise pretty amazing part in “And Now” was the fact that a lot of those tricks couldn’t have been done without some lengthy set-up time as far as building or otherwise massaging spots to facilitate a powerslide chain-dangle wallride or whatever. (Let me tell you just how excited I am to see kids inevitably waxing up the ground at spots.) Gou Miyagi has a similarly twice-baked view of skateboarding but I like how he uses spots and objects the way they are to perform his bizarre and wonderful maneuvers; case in point, the bike rack. I don’t mind the editing at all either.

Finally, the always-current AWS Filmworks site put up a Dylan Rieder clip today that’s short but almost painfully good. The b/s nosegrind f/s revert took me back to Guy Mariano in Mouse. I basically watched this a dozen times today. As far as I remember the “Mind Field” video was supposed to premiere around, like, right now, but the dudes with the inside poop are supposedly saying it might be more like… early 09. I know, I know. Look at it this way, they’re definitely keeping it skate over there.

Midsummer Video Roundup: Moving in Traffic

To a deluxe apartment in the sky

A lot of people will talk about the whole rap-rock era and condemn the Limp Bizkit/Korn/Linkin Park movement as a load of horseshit, and you know I’d have to agree. But some of those people will be quick to add “except for the Pharcyde” or “except for Rage Against the Machine,” a couple groups who I guess could be considered the originators of the genre, if you want to call it that. The point is that the creators shouldn’t be blamed for whatever watering-down and bastardization followed, which I guess is fair, but rap-rock can stay dead and buried as far as I’m concerned.

Except maybe for those scary clown guys who named their album “Iowa,” cuz they seemed like they were onto something.

Anyway, the same general concept can apply to this new phase of urban/weird spot/”creative”/cellar door skating we’re in right now, and bearded munchkin Bobby Puleo, who set the stage in La Luz way back in 2002. Even those who’ve had it up to here with the pivot fakie craze will tip their hats to Puleo, being as he’s the one who came up with a lot of these moves.

It makes a certain kind of sense that Puleo ended up with the Traffic/Static set, and his BDP-powered opening part in the new “Moving in Traffic” promo is to me his best skating since La Luz or maybe even the Infamous promo, possibly because it came as a surprise to me that he put aside his internet conspiracy theories and aggressive indifference to skating in general to make a notable effort. He’s fleet-footed as ever and his style, to invoke probably the most overused word on this blog, is looking smoother than it has in years as he noseblunts and nosegrinds and manuals all over the place. The spots of course are like the Rust Belt’s greatest hits, and Rich Adler’s rapid-fire editing is right on time. If he wants Puleo can go back into hiding for a couple years off this part, it’s seriously that great.

Later on Oyola grinds some steps, Pat Steiner breezes some lines and Damien Smith wipes down an SUV with his black tee. Oh, and Dan Plunkett (I think it’s him) sails a big ollie out to nosestall to pop back in fakie on a bank-ledge, which is wild. Rich Adler rips and chooses good tricks to do and hooks up some pretty inspired music choices for the parts though.

The other anchor of the video is Jack Sabback who cranks his backside nollies and low-rides long nosegrinds and always seems to rotate into or out of tricks in the most eye-pleasing direction available. You know? He’s looking like a young Egon Spengler and skids the sickest nollie frontside noseslide pop-over to fakie. This is the part that myself and, I can only assume, billions of others have been awaiting since the Ipath promo a few years ago, and it satisfies through the final fucked-up switch frontside pop-shove it.

On a side note I don’t know why more companies aren’t going the Tim & Henry route in this age of the 24-hour filming cycle. Jamie Thomas was talking about putting out a Zero video every fall that would basically be edited around whoever had the most/best footage at the time, which is an interesting idea. Either way, the Traffic promo comes out to the perfect length for a pre-skate viewing and hopefully more companies try this approach. It seems to be translating into board and softgood sales, since Oyola can now apparently afford to put titles for different skaters’ parts and pay street cops to wear Traffic merchandise.

They had this video up at the Traffic website for a while, but now I can’t find it. The site is however home to quite possibly the gulliest news update in some time, check it out.

Midsummer Video Roundup: Seasons 4

Living proof

Many people’s impressions of the San Francisco Bay Area have been formed by occasional visits, Rice-A-Roni commercials and the E-40 backcatalog; from an outsider’s such perspective, Trevor Prescott’s Seasons videos more than any others capture the “vibe”* of the Bay skateboarding scene in these, the mid-aughts–technical tricks and hill bombs, tall tees and blond dreadlocks, jazz/funk soundtrack, super 8 footage, Pat Washington, etc.

The newish Seasons 4 looks to be the too-soon final entry into Prescott’s self-released oeuvre, and it’s probably as good as any in the series, mixing short parts from knowns and unknowns alike, fading into and out of montages and slices of SF life, be they angry homeowners or Be-All-You-Can-Be helicopter money shots. In its way, it’s about as relaxing as skate videos get.

The skating: new City resident Josh Matthews, with the first part, has the recipe for nosebonking fire hydrants, a precision move if there ever was one. Carlos Young executes spin wizardry. Julian Quevado and his impeccable frontside crooked grinds are welcome in pretty much any video, Ben Stewart chomps Clipper with a frontside flip and Hubba with a kickflip backside smith grind and the video could have done with more Keith Cole and Errol Langdon footage. Veteran appearances include Danny Fuenzalida, Gershon Mosely and noted headcase Lennie Kirk, who does a switch f/s 5-0 bigspin out up a loading dock ledge… praises be.

Brian Delatorre’s closing nollie b/s 5-0 was the shit; Jason Wussler makes the choice to mar a line with a supremely ugly nollie 360 shove-it, or maybe a nollie front foot impossible. Jackson Curtain contributes some beautiful tricks, like a line with a super-stabbed switch b/s smith grind, and Ryan Nix is in there too somewhere. That guy needs to get back on it.

Later top-billed Silas Baxter Neal shows up for his nth part in the last couple of years. He skids a noseslide whip-around to switch frontside boardslide transfer on that fountain spot, and frontside kickflips a double-set to hill bomb before turning the stage over to Prescott, whose low-impact flip combos close the show. Verdict: Boil the Ocean grants this video four out of five hubba rocks. Check for it. Also shoutout to the surviving members of Pantera. Photo above via The Larkey Experiments.

*It’s a surfer word!

Midsummer Video Roundup: What the Fuck is a Bachinsky

At least he wasn’t demoted to “Dave Bach”

Image can be a sticky zone for pro skaters, who do well to tread lightly lest they stand accused of orchestrating trend-conscious makeovers, get labeled a lifestyle pro, or run the risk of generally faking the funk. Dave Bachinsky is hardly a blank slate, seeing as he busted onto the scene two or three years ago as the kid who kickflipped El Toro, and has devoted much of his subsequent coverage to living down that dubious honor.

Nevertheless the new City video (following a campaign that set a new hype cycle standard for a purported promo), from the title on down, devotes itself to establishing the finer points of the Bachinsky persona–namely cigarettes, massive flip tricks, burgers, and the unique love between a young man and a supremely soiled camouflage hat. Seriously every time I watch this video I try to think of some camcorder-era skate video that featured a dude rocking the same damn hat through his entire part, and I came up with nothing… anybody? There’s gotta be at least one guy.

Anyway, with a good eight or nine months of ads and various verbal butcherings of the noble Bachinsky name, the kickflippinest kickflipper’s moment is here, and after his teammates and various Norcal commentators mine chuckles from the nuances of Big Bachinsky’s personal foibles, he skates. And it’s good. Tons of flawless flip maneuvers piloted down gaps, assorted ledge techquery, noseblunts and switch backside tailslides on beefy hubbas, that greasy hat. He carries the PJ Ladd influence in his 360 flips and his beat-to-shit Adidas.

No huge surprises, except when he occasionally gets Daewon with it and throws something like a hardflip nose-stall pop-over to fakie on this natural spine thing. I mean, more than enough street pros have pulled limp blunt fakies on Jersey barriers, but Bachinsky has some wild, bizarre moves in mind. Much more than the El Toro kickflipper indeed, and as long as he doesn’t blow his knee on one of these lofty frontside flips, he could be a dude who pushes things in the future.

Elsewise, Jimmy Cao kicks it off with a two-song part featuring the “guess it’s not messed up if he’s cool with it” Carl Douglas song selection. He’s so light-footed the way he catches his flip tricks and alights on his board, it seems like he’s not skating that fast, but he probably is. Jeremy Reeves smashes gaps and rails with slow-motion style. The fakie 360 shove-it was a mind-boggler; Trapasso’s running it too now and Tony Montgomery takes it nollie over a table in his part, so maybe this is trick of the year 09 or something.

City made a good move nabbing Eduardo Craig, coming along with a real smooth, loose-limbed way of landing tricks that’s super pleasing to the eye, like his big fakie kickflip for instance. Russ Milligan stays destroying in the lowest-key way possible for a guy who can land the type of shit he can do, and while I don’t think it’s quite as amazing as his “Crime in the City” section he’s not slowing up.

The forward-thinking honchos at City once again are encouraging the wholesale bootlegging and Youtubing of this video, which of course makes certain that most everyone will hear about and/or watch it. Lumbering dinosaurs with pea-sized brains such as myself still will want a DVD copy to put on while we fall asleep on the couch, but as skateboarding companies stumble glassy-eyed into the digital age it’ll be interesting to see if web-friendly videos maintain the longevity of those that follow the old DVD route. And with City as an early adopter, I also sort of wonder if they’ll stick around long enough to see everyone else eventually follow their lead. Hopefully.