Soooo the ROUGH video is finished and off to get copied onto more discs than I care to look at, which means several things:
1. Go to one of the premieres.
-Culpeper: 5:30 pm Sunday August 22, 105 East Davis St.
-Hampton Roads: 6:00 pm Saturday August 28, Mike's Sk8 Park Norfolk.
-Fredericksburg: Saturday August 28th some time, more details coming soon.
2. No more desperate all day street missions for a while
3. Time to be on the computer where I don't have to search for songs, get footage sent from North Carolina, download fonts, fuck with images, and edit video parts.
So, before I get off the topic of ROUGH, observe the out of date promo from last year:
Just so you know what kind of pizzazz you're dealing with.
On to blog business, recently Andrew Reynolds showed up with this fascinating little ditty about Stay Gold, which I am currently shitting my pants waiting to see.
-Several things he said that I found fascinating:
---He so confidently proclaims tap-dancing ledge tricks over, right on the heels of such dancers Torey Pudwill and Tyler Bledsoe's parts in Transworld's Hallelujah (to be discussed later) drops. True? not really. Going that way? Yes, I think so.
---In that vein, he labels Wes Kremer, Grant Taylor, and Brandon Westgate as the new thing. Interesting considering only one of them is on Emerica, but then again considering the footage, speed, and grace all three tackle the world with, I'm not too surprised. Kremer particularly has gotten mention on here, and strikes both Tim and myself as a young Busenitz. Support for Westgate's case should be forthcoming in Stay Gold by the looks of that easy monster kickflip, and Grant Taylor's drop-in on the Nike tour from the newest Transworld serves at exhibit C. This makes me wonder his take on such noobies as Cory Kennedy and Shane O'Neil, and their perfect brand of technical wizardry and effortless stair-hopping, as evidenced by both the sequence and the corresponding Hallelujah footage of Nuggets switch flip back-lipping a handrail. Regardless, the Boss made some good picks throwing out those three names.
-Random Tidbits I've been brewing on:
---Krooked's filmer for their 3D project built his camera himself, with technology he claims is from the 30s. Talk about tremendous use of time. Good thing the cover of The Skateboard Mag 3D issue came out so well, or else he could well be working on a video the world would turn their head to.
---Josh Kalis seems to have started racking up footage after his move to DGK. Is Stevie reunion really that motivating, or is it possible that Alien skaters actually get LESS coverage than the somewhat anti-media DGK? See his no footage switch big heel street gap sequence, his kickflip back noseblunt ad, and pretty much a couple pages out of each skate mag publication for confirmation.
---Brian Wenning is on Jereme Rogers' Selfish skateboards. I can't help but wonder if the fat, selfish, mean, two-faced, cocky, non-progressive dirty motherfucker is actually doing it as a career move, or if him and J-Rog are trying to play a big joke on the industry that has blacklisted them. Either way, the teammates are a fitting couple.
---Lastly, after watching Hallelujah and oddly finding myself enjoying Ryan Decenzo's part on the whole more than any part other than Bingaman's, I realized that, as with most brother pairs, one is simply boring as hell and the other is amazing. Scott's Vamdalism part got somewhat battered by me on this blog, and in retrospect I believe it's because of his baggy pants and completely unremarkable style. Ryan, on the other hand, has those sometimes awkward pushes, the lankiness, and the crazy hands of the likes of Pudwill, Evan Smith, and Ryan Lay. His kickflip crooked, which apparently he did twice, is just amazing. His whole part is pretty balls to the wall, and it strikes me as pretty amazing that a dude that is THAT talented and yet possessing a completely unmarketable style other than his ability to be gnarly can actually make it in the skateboard industry. Thank God.
Things to learn from Hallelujah:
-Bingaman is indeed a young Cardiel, and shreds everything.
-Torey Pudwill still does ubsurd things with his hands, note the lengthy back smith and his TWS cover 2nd try back 5050.
-Eldridge is still doing the same tricks seven years later, but still proper as hell
-Frontside Hurricane fs kickflip rail transfers are actually possible
-That Colorado fool William Spencer does some seriously stupid shit on a skateboard that I find even more embarrassing than freestyle.
-David Reyes RIPS and is shorter than my kitchen table at the same time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was enjoying reading through your blog until this post. Why do you so offhandedly dismiss William Spencer's skating? Admittedly, his few clips in the Hallelujah friends section are not his best. But have you watched any of his full length parts? I know that he applies to an aesthetic of skating that is about as far from the mainstream as possible, but for someone who has repeatedly bemoaned the lack of variety in skating, why do you hate on him just for trying to do something different? Yea, maybe some of the caveman tricks he does are kinda lame, but have you ever seen someone do a high ledge hop over a 6 foot gap, land on another board and roll off a big drop smoothly? or ride down a huge bank to drop on a truck-less deck and land on another board? or do a running frontflip over a 9 stair, land on a board and ride away? You hate repetition, but why is your mind closed to the more out there parts of skating, where innovation is still possible?
ReplyDeleteI missed your comment, I'm sorry. I'm a fan of circus tricks, this is something I can't turn my back on. I love the weirdness Haslam and Melcher and Richie Jackson pull out, and I'm all for strange little things. However, back flipping and landing on a skateboard and grabbing a tree and floating over a car are not really what I'd call legitimate skateboarding. I hate to be that guy that says there's a right and a wrong, but if we went by that logic, trampoline boarding and soft trucks would be contenders for video parts along with mega ramps and ledge lines. Freestyle itself is commendable because of the balance it takes and the roots of street skating embedded in it. However, unlike Spencer, most of it is actually done on a board. William Spencer to me is practicing gymnastics with precision. That's how I see his skating. I've watched all the parts he's put out thus far, and although sometimes he does do something innovative and interesting, he's not pushing the limits of what can be done on a board, more like he's pushing the limits of what you can do with your body and land on a board. And I'm not really all about that. I like to see progression and variety done with style that stems from unique train of thought and good uses of spots and tricks, not uniqueness to the point of a dude with highwater tight pants spinning around like he's in ballet class and landing on his board. It's almost a deformation of skating, rather than an element of it. I believe that's why I'm not open to his 'style'; it may be mind-blowing what he's doing, but it has no aesthetic appeal like say, watching Busenitz back nosebluntslide. It's just TOO different, and although I'm not condemning non-conformists, sometimes you can go too far. And seeing Spencer in that TWS montage along side such coordinated and gifted individuals really bummed me out.
ReplyDelete