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:

@mmunzenrider further details have surfaced with early draft of official press release pic.twitter.com/9XWGqiCgp9

— Kip Wanger (@senderud) May 20, 2014

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.

@mmunzenrider Good question. I feel like people miss the 'idea' of AWS more than they miss the product.

— David Fink (@dsfink) May 20, 2014

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.

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?

Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content Content

— steve nesser (@nesserfamilia) April 23, 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.

Video #Blessed

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

Visions of Dykstra

Over the weekend we were blessed with two* new skate videos available for free over the Youtubes, Brogazelle 3, ABD and The Hesh Mixtape Vol. 1, above and below, respectively, by the practitioners rival skate blogs, Village Psychic and The Hesh, respectively. Both of them are dope, dissimilar and more similar than I'd have originally thought, and here's the thinking on that. You've got to appreciate the love and care with which these were put together, beyond just being awesome artifacts on their own. Local skateboard videos, maybe excepting the most craven examples, are vehicles of nostalgia, the proof found in Spencer Gillespie's inclusion of himself in Globes and baggy cargos with a little shirt, and Kevin Chartrand's inclusion of, well, a lot of footage, called out as old (the peak of the unseen video-hype-man, it will never be done as well again, I'd predict). It seems strange to call both of these videos highly personal works, but by the 43:00 mark (the videos watched concurrently) when "Bird Is The Word" comes on, so much is just laid out there, in the open.

Via supreme content hunter, Templeton Elliott, a quick tutorial that's applicable to skateboarding, on how to make a sick mountain bike edit. *No Collar, which I have yet to see, should still be available at 3rd Lair or Calsurf, and can be purchased online, right here.

At The Old Fire Station

There's been some progress concerning Mankato's Chelsea YMCA Skatepark, which burned down February 1. Per Jay Jensen, who built the ramp above:

Mankato's temporary skatepark opens this coming Saturday... It will be open for about 6 months until the new building is finished, then the ramps will be moved over to the new Chesley Skatepark. Bummer that an electrical fire burned the old park down!!!

More details, as seen in the Mankato Times:

The YMCA will be operating in a skate park in a temporary location at the old Fire Station at the corner of Madison and Broad until the new park is built or the city sells that property – whichever comes first. Authorization to occupy that location was given at the City Council meeting held on March 24th.

Headline advice: Burnt down skatepark to be housed in old fire station.

Update via vapors, from the comments:

I guess it's technically a Plywood Benders build, at least the mini ramp is. It's 24 wide by 5 1/2 tall. The locs are taking care of the street course setup.

Clips on Clips on Clips

Gotta love it when you're a couple days behind that other skate/rap/whatever blog and you're just pretty much re-hashing what they already posted. This happens. I thought Teenager With a VX was a killer name but Mitch Guth is calling it No Collar and premiering it at the times and places listed above. Couple that with Kevin's crowd-sourced 17-years-in-the-making mixtape and you've got yourself a night.

Breaking, for the last time, my self-imposed park foote embargo, there are two three more worth-while additions to the already crowded catalog of ripping that #FamiliaHQ has witnessed. First, further proof that the kids are alright, Guth's winter ender ender with plenty of heavy lifting by dudes no older than 23*, in three movements. Next, Plat favorite and keeper of old product, Nate Compher, with, probably, his wife and baby waiting for him up front. "IF THIS IS YO FIRST TIME SEEING NATE SKATE AND WANT MORE, CHECK OUT HIS OLDER FOOTAGE BELOW." So that's a concern now. We old! Finally, finally, then the embargo is back on forever (until December), there's the clip from that Cons trip that rolled through here in January, which makes Malto's park look fun and makes snow look fun too, but hell no! *Aware that TJ is >23 but he's probably the only dude, right?