Ten More From 2011

In no particular order. BTW, Deluxe posted up a link to Jake Donnelly’s missing “Since Day One” part that is salivated over in the posting below, so watch that too if you haven’t seen.

Chewy Cannon – “Tres Trill”
Switch wallie backside 180. RZA = PALACE TM

Torey Pudwill – “Big Bang”
Going forward there will always be a camp that solemnly believes Torey Pudwill was robbed for SOTY 2011 and they will always have a reasonable argument to make. Some of these tricks even six months later seem so obnoxiously difficult, like it’s not enough to jump a rail and lipslide a pic-a-nic table, then you gotta kickflip out too. But it’s hard not to cheer for this dude, his spring and zest for colorful shoes and big ledges.

Gou Miyagi – “Subspecies”
Don’t know much about this dude aside from the Slap interview a while back but have come to think of him as one of the precious few authentic weirdos that hopefully will always be able to find some kind of outlet in a skateboard, whether it’s gripped with felt squares or whatever.

Lucas Puig – Transworld Profile
Think I liked Lucas Puig more when he was a kid who seemed like he had the potential to do anything, versus the grown-up beast man who can and does do everything. I dig the idea of a French counterweight to the US-bred Kostons and Chris Coles and so on though, and Puig makes wise trick choices especially for one of the main proponents of the “Beware of the Flare” school of ledge combos. Also contains Lem Villemin’s challenge to Torrey Pudwill for backside tailslide of the year.

Tom Asta – Mystery pro part
The song got to me after a while, but the Love Park gap at night still is one of the more dramatic/picturesque settings for your power moves, reiterated in the new Mark Suciu ad.

Mike Anderson “Not Another TWS Video”
They are some fast feet

Gilbert Crockett – “Life Splicing No. 005”
Lifting his cat-pounce a few levels out there — was surprised the clip of the bench leap and the three-times manual weren’t held for some more prestigious release, but one of the upsides to the more-disposable nature of the web clip is a sort of throwback to the days when you could catch something inspiring between “Chaos” and the first “Wheels of Fortune.”

Travis Erickson – Santa Cruz part
Still one of the funnest to watch. Like to imagine he’s doing this stuff on his way home from work, keys hanging off the belt and backpack on.

Justin Brock – “Since Day One.”
When I think back on this section I think about the tricks off the bump and onto the shorty ledge, like the noseblunt, the Snowman-Eazy E mash-up and that long run through the park at the beginning. Justin Brock might not be your first choice as a thinking man’s skateboarder but I think he’s got more depth than he gets credit for.

Nick Boserio – “Life Splicing No. 004”
One of the better-edited parts made this year. Nosegrind through the kink was bananas

The Deluxe Online Catalog: Better Than The Post-Jail Gucci Mane Mixtape

No pancakes, just a cup of syrup

In a way I feel like Deluxe is almost too easy to like, they’re sort of like Fugazi. In it for the right reasons, street cred out the wazoo, around forever, down for the kids. Advertisimal NorCalcentralism aside they run a pretty big tent that administers Mic-E Reyes man-hugs to everyone from Theotis Beasley to Peter Hewitt to Peter Ramondetta to Huf. They’ve never done the hardgoods manufacturer equivalent of eating mushrooms and taking off their clothes and going up onto the roof to preach to the neighborhood. So in some ways I kind of feel like Deluxe is that solid, all-around good guy that everybody likes at the beginning of the war movies, the dude who gets shot and dies in Tom Hanks’ arms. Or wait, wasn’t it Tom Hanks who died? Anyway.

While the skateboard industry continues to rejigger video pricing in the post-YouTube world and magazines dip toes into the waters of digital publication, Deluxe seems to be blazing full-speed ahead, looking to harness the internet public’s thirst for pics of new products by turning their now exclusively online catalog into a sort of in-house 411. They’re rolling it out piece by piece; currently clips include a heartwarmingly gigglish video of the Mic-E tribute board on Krooked, the valiant struggles of a cameraman doing what he can to keep pace with a Dennis Busenitz hill bomb, and a short part from this Oklahoma kid named Kyle Walker, who pops a fun playground bridge ollie amongst some otherwise pretty bleak spots.

The highlight so far though is the Krooked section, which opens up with a couple Gonzo-goes-to-New York tricks and then introduces you to the increasingly grown up Krooked ams. I had a hard time keeping all these young yahoos straight in the “Gnaughty” vid, partially due to the hard-to-read titles and also my chronic illiteracy, and they all kind of skate alike (to mellow musical stylings of the 80s) but with their own power moves; witness Brad Cromer’s f/s crooked grind bigspin and mongoloid switch backside flip. Mike “Manderson” Anderson has become good as fuck switch and busts a high-velocity no comply in tight quarters and lil Luke Croker has evolved into a sometimes caveman-haired skateboard beast — his part’s the best I think. Hopefully when the Real section goes up they have footage of Nick Dompierre’s backside tailslide from that Thunder ad.