May 29, 2014

Skatepark Eternity

May 28, 2014

Beats By Rob

"I said, well daddy don't you know that things go cycles,
way that Bobby Brown is just amping like Michael."

May 23, 2014

"Scorching again, old man."

Anachronistic portrayal.

From the Star Tribune archives, 1899:

“Scorching again, old man,” cried one of the prisoners, as the patrol wagon turned into lockup alley, and a curious crowd “rubbered” as if their necks would be stretched off.
“He certainly was good to me,” said another, and the crowd laughed.
But when the iron bars shut out their view, and the youthful trio had nothing but whitewashed walls to gaze at, they began to realize their doom, and the minutes of their imprisonment began to grow into hours, at least so it seemed to them.
It was an ideal evening for a spin. Of course it was a little chilly, but then a spurt of a block or two helped to warm the blood. And that asphalt on Park avenue was so tempting.

Who could help but ride fast just a short distance?

Happy long weekend. Scorch something.

Rumors of Demise, Redux

Texts on texts on texts.

To begin, some insulation: Willy Staley did the heavy lifting on this issue of DNA falling apart days ago, and having reread what he wrote on Monday, I feel like I'd be lifting ideas from the guy if I didn't include this blockquote from the link above:

One of the most incredible things about the skateboarding industry is how well it has insulated itself from all traditional forms of media. It took me at least 15 minutes to convince myself — combing through forums, Instagram posts, tweets and the like — it was true: Alien Workshop (and Habitat) went out of business. For non-skaters, it’s difficult to draw a comparison; there aren’t professional sports franchises known for their graphic design sensibilities, 16mm montages and commitment to East Coast grittiness.
Please read the rest of Staley's post as he goes into a possible post-mortem of the deals, beginning with Dyrdek "freeing" DNA from Burton (remember being hyped on that? I was.), to the probable demise. I say probable, because is it still in question? Here's Kalis on Thursday, captioning a clip on Instagram acting like it is:
There is something going up on Hellaclips today that is mindblowing. Literally mindblowing. Can't wait for y'all to see it. Whether or not AWS is going out of business or is here to stay.... This @manolostapes edit is fucking bananas!!!!
Then again, according to Sam McGuire, who I was talking with in the text grab at the top of the post, the whole thing went down a week ago, May 16. There's also this, from former Skateboarder staffer Christian Senrud, on Sunday:
With all this taking place over the weekend, the strangest thing, to me at least, is that I was so completely unaware of the happenings that I didn't text McGuire until Tuesday, when I finally caught wind of it, via Twitter; it was a link to Staley's post that got me going on my own queries.

Back to the quote from Staley: "One of the most incredible things about the skateboarding industry is how well it has insulated itself from all traditional forms of media." Yeah, right? More than cursory checks of the remaining mags shows little to no mention of one of the major skateboard companies of the past three decades going out of business. No dedicated post on The Skateboard Mag, nothing on Transworld and only a tangental mention of it on Thrasher, in the form of copy for their almost podcast, which features Jake Johnson. The next best things, as far as "skateboard news" goes, The Berrics and Skate Daily, also had nothing.

It raises doubts about something that I was fairly sure about, if only because I know the media entities listed above wouldn't burn the bridge unless it were already going to go. Going through the sites linked above was simply getting pinged with ads, and why anyone reliant on such money would want to draw the curtain back is beyond me.

Then again, a consensus modern hero, close to the situation and now out of work but not facing real longterm unemployment just said, "Haha. Yes"

And (then again), we might be, probably, mostly mourning an idea, which never goes away, so long as we never forget, man.

Addendum: I don't think ESPN has posted anything on the matter, either.

Update, from when before the post, posts: Here's the clip Kalis was talking about above.

May 19, 2014

Content Content Content Content

Strictly for promotional use, and the dudes still bring it hard. I was fortunate to push around Downtown on Saturday because of the weather, and because I got to witness Philly from Humidity rip some spots that locals mostly ignore and 50-50 the highest ledge I've ever seen someone put two trucks on at the same time. Dude rips. Summertime, huh?

May 12, 2014

Front Plaza Is Almost Underway

If this pattern of spring rain ever comes to an end, the Front Skate Plaza build should be well underway, sometime soon. Per an email sent my way on May 7, from David Ronzani, City of St. Paul employee and plaza project manager, the $350,000 build, funded by a STAR grant, will begin once weather allows for stable ground at the build site and the end of vehicle weight restrictions on nearby roads. The contractor has 75 business days to complete it.

The plaza location is the concrete pad from the previous rec center, the pad on which the current park sits will be taken out; the city is trying reuse and place the old obstacles elsewhere. We'll get a heads up when construction begins. For more pictures and news, here's the project homepage.

May 7, 2014

Video #Blessed


We are so #blessed with video premieres, lately. Should be a banger.