June 13, 2009

Clean Up Hitter: Zoo York's "State of Mind"

Laziest screen grab ever.

It's been a video daze as of late it seems, and that only increases as we embark on the Debacle Premiere this Wednesday. I think we forget about Zoo York sometimes; a one time gritty and grimey East Coast stalwart became some Marc Ecco subsidiary somethingorother, and then there was that Aesthetics clusterfuckup. Whatever; it seems when one really looks at the line up for the video and then looks at how long they've been making it, things become clear. It ripped.

Very quickly as my attention span wanes; it's Saturday night and I'm killing time before going out. Brandon Westgate is a supreme beast, and solidifies the fact that up is the new down. For someone who seems to be a size seven in a 5'4" body, dude has epic pop. I think Matt Miller was next; while his humility may never make him some balls out superstar, his skateboarding would/could/should if the world were a more equitable place. His ender is a NBD, and man, that's getting harder and harder nowadays. Wonderkid Chaz Ortiz follows, and all supposed Dew Tour blandness aside, the kid comes through, more so than expected, especially if you were holding something against him. I have a yet to come out interview with the kid (issue 65 of The Mag?), and he impressed over the phone, as his video part should impress everyone.

For lack of remembrance of the order of the video, let's hit the older pros for a second. Donny Barley skates to a markedly hokey metal song but redeems via a well placed nollie hardflip. Alas, what should have been a switch hards was just a switch front shuv, and his part makes me think of vampires and mormons, yeah, Twilight (of a career). Kevin Taylor has more left in himself than DB; while this isn't some Love Park glory days of hauling ass, KT still can throw craze with a mean frontside crook.

Moving away from the well known dudes we come upon Ron Deily, someone who, outside of Zoo ads and scarce editorial, is a virtual unknown. Lucky for us, dude has a full bangin' part for us to get to know him with, his entire package harkens back to some 90's glory days, and no doubt, the kid is smooth. Rando kills it. Another low key cat is Lamare Hemmings, who, while his part isn't all that memorable, comes through with some bizarro pop and a solid section. I think. Oh yeah, and not to denigrate a bit, Anthony Shetler is in there with a pretty rad part. I'm just getting lazy.

Forrest Kirby, the man formerly known as F.O.R.E. prior to Catholicism (I made that up, I think), brings the crazy arms and some incredible balancey, wall ridey tech. Good Stuff. Aaron Suski reps his namesake grind and some grabbed spins and a well blended mixture of AZ/NY foote and basically brings us what we need.

While most folks I spoke to think that Eli Reed is HERE, I say the guy is a work in progress. While few want to admit it, a skater's gear and hair and other still applies to one's perception of their skating. I'm an asshole and will say, yes, everything Mr. Reed had in his part was banging/borderline mind melting, though he should have jettisoned some of his older foote and simply used the newer shit, where, (asshole again) he looks more put together. In his best moments he's someone to emulate; in his worst moments he still fuckin' rips (see the switch bigflip to nose manny for confirmation).

Zered Bassett is the Lil' Wayne of skateboarding; that fool can put out some shit! Has he ever had a single song part (probably, but for the sake of this fool's gold write up...)? There aren't many skateboarders out there that can mash-up music like Zered can and still come away golden. In this case, Dr. Z reps Dio and a fan (me) favorite, MOP. Here he joins the likes of multiple genre extraordinaires like Mike Carroll and Nate Compher (who successfully meshed Judas Preist/Three Six Mafia and Brother Ali/Dido, respectively). It's a foregone conclusion that Zered is good, very good, awesomely good, and I need to shower so that's that.

If people still want to buy videos, I don't know, go buy this shit.

PS: Seamus Deegan, Zoo's TM, is the best team manager in skateboarding. Think about it.

2 comments:

Paul said...

That vid was so sick...
cant wait to see it again

kill bill said...

I've meet Seamus. Real nice dude. Sick VID!