It has nothing good to offer. The weather is going to do whatever
the hell it wants, despite what the man on the blue screen says.
Now all that keeps the TV in working order for me is its counterpart,
the VCR. So it’s only remaining practical. Purpose has
been rendered obsolete. I like skating videos. They’re
fun for a lot of different reasons, but mostly because they
are inspiring and they make me want to just get right back off
my chair and go back out skating. Ironically enough, their most
self-defeating characteristic is their strongest and most appealing.
There just isn’t much on television these days that inspires
me on any level to do anything. It doesn’t even have anything
to do with skating. I just see so much potential wasted with
so much negative hypnotism (idiots). So this month I got to
go to Miami, Florida to visit my family and friends for a week
and that’s where I watched videos. I figured it would be
a good criterion to judge the inspirational value of the videos,
considering it’s 100æ outside in Miami right now, and there
are always usually a lot of girls at the beach, swimming in
alcohol and salt water all at once. -Matt Cantor
Santa Cruz Skateboards
Ammo
This video was actually somewhat awkward to watch, given the
enormous gap left in the team with the absence of Tim Brauch.
The team shows an amazing amount of positive energy in this
video, though. There are actually several new additions to the
SC team that make their coverage debut in Ammo, and things are
looking pretty solid throughout the film. Much of that can probably
be attributed to the good guidance and filming of Mike Rafter.
The video was fairly straightforward, nothing too fancy, and
no movies in between parts. Some surprises in the film are the
re-surfacing of Kyle Kimberling with a part that shows he has
been putting in work regardless of whether you’ve seen
him around or not. The end of the amateur section of the video
is where you’ll find Levi Martin and Quin Montgomery displaying
a definite knack for technical perfection. Ryan Parsons will
not be needing any “little kid points” for his section,
as he certainly holds his own among his older teammates. Even
though Rafter did most of the filming for this video, he still
has a really good part along with Tony Tieu and Ron Whaley,
which comes after the credits to let you know there is a pro
vid coming soon. On the whole, it’s a good new video; the
team just needs some time to solidify itself and grow together.
But there are plenty of opportunities to do those things with
summer tours and time. Good video with good skating. Sure, I’ll
get off the couch. -Matt Cantor
Concrete Disciples
Revolution Street Contest Video
It’s 1999 and it’s all been done before. Been there,
done that. Nothing’s really new, it’s all just regurgitated.
This video is new. It’s never been done before. Here’s
the setup: Most street sk8ing contests have one big flaw. They’re
not held on the street. For all the good things ESPN may have
brought to the skate industry and the sport, they still tend
to miss the real soul of skating. At the other end of the spectrum,
the Great Northwest has always been a bastion of soulful, hardcore
skating and innovation. (Burnside, Southern Oregon Parks, and
the West Seatttle Bowl). Jeff Greenwood and crew of Seattle,
WA have set the stage for something totally new. A divergence
of technology, creativity and soul. On Sunday, July 25th, 1999
a group of amateur and professional skaters convened for a new
type of contest. Each skater was accompanied by a filmer. Skater
and filmer had one hour to skate the streets of Seattle and
capture it on film. The contest was then judged from the tapes
turned in. Now you can get this video and see the first ever
real street skating contest. Who won? I won’t spoil the
surprise. Don’t be surprised if ESPN picks up on this format
in the near future. Just remember where it all started. -JB
Fall Line Films
Northpark
Don’t call it a comeback because the notorious flim maker
Artie Kreihbel is ready to reclaim his reign as Emporer of the
snowboard flick. However, he’s going to need a little more
umpff to take out Dawger and the Hatchetts. Northpark delivers
a solid and cohesive concept and does it well. Envisioned by
rider Roan Rogers, they built a BMX style line of jumps at the
Tahoe resort Northstar and this is the setting for 95% of this
movie. Don’t worry, it doesn’t get boring. How could
it when Roan starts it off with his smooth and confident floaty
style. Snow vid veteran Noah Salasnek shows us that he’s
comfortable riding switch and going big. Shawn Sterken comes
out post knee surgery only to clear the landings. But best props
go out to Burton hippie John Sommers, who has a style all his
own and filmed the most diverse part. He rules. Mixed in is
some footy of Kevin Jones at the Crested Butte ESPN big air
jump as well as cameos from Chad Otterstrom, Jim Moran, Aaron
Vincent, Brian Richardson, Jason Wordall and Kendall Whelpton.
There are some cool color reversal effects and the soundtrack,
provided by Ubiquity, is one of the best I’ve heard. This
film is only $20 and comes with the soundtrack CD. You can’t
go wrong! -Sonny Mayugba
DLX
On Point
This video featured all of the members of the DLX family; consisting
of Real, Anti Hero, Forties and Stereo. Unfortunately SpitFire’s
team was left out of the mix because it’s team is so large
(and ever expanding) that an entirely separate video is warranted.
This video was a good idea in light of all the recent changes
in the DLX team rosters: some good and some plain old dumb.
There are so many parts in this video that come from great skaters,
but hidden in the vast display of talent are parts like Jarrod
Schall’s in the Real section along with Damien Bravo and
J.T. Aultz. Three skaters that haven’t had much of any
prior coverage come through with such solid style and flips
down some rather large partitions in the riding surface. Cairo’s
part is not hidden at all, because it’s the best one in
the entire video. The Anti Hero section has footage of Tony
Trujillo that just shows how much fun you can have with skating
when it flows naturally right out of every pore in your body.
One thing about Cardiel’s part, that kinked handrail that
he grinds was done first thing in the morning just outside of
their hotel while they were skating in L.A. One thing that is
obviously missing from this video is Bob Burnquist. That would
be the plain old dumb part of the team changes that I refer
to. I can appreciate the slight conflict of interest that may
occur if Anti Hero advertised in Transworld like Bob had wanted
them to... but I really don’t see the logic in kicking
him off the team without consulting the team itself. The Forties
part of the video was put together very well with what sounds
like original music from Tommy Gurrerro, and good footage from
Frank Geruer and Jackson Taylor. The music just made me kind
of sleepy. The last section of the vid was reserved for Stereo,
with it’s entirely redone team with the exception of O.G.
Chris Pastras. The section looks like it was put together to
be an industry section in 411. There are somewhat pointless
bits of information about the riders given before their parts
but their parts have a definitive point being made: the Stereo
team is good. J.R. Nieves has no trouble manipulating his board
through the air to the extent of reminding me of Penny. Joel
Meinholz filmed most of his part on one hot day in Miami and
I’d like to see anyone else do two things that had never
been done before within an hour of each other. Pete Eldrige
is another east coast power house. His skatepark footage alone
would make for a great part, but that all seems to be preparation
for his street skating. Dustin Dolin leaves no room for improvement
with his part. The best thing about his part is that he was
just skating like he usually skates and it was simply documented
for the video. You have to appreciate someone that looks like
they have no agenda whatsoever, yet the level of skating that
they are at could only be reached by most others if they had
a coach and skated like they were putting in work. For how good
the video is, it’s too long. But it’s nice to have
some for dessert later, after you stop in the middle to go skate.
-Matt Cantor
10st Bros. Production
Area 949
Area 949 is the latest skim video from the Bryan Brothers &
friends. Their cinematography and editing have gotten better
with each video they have done. This one includes in-water camera
shots and some super clean 16mm footage. It is awesome to see
how well versed these skimmers are at surfing. Some spots include
the legendary Wedge, Hawaii, and Mexico. These guys rip at snowboarding,
surfing and skimming but lack skateboard skills. They still
get an ‘A’ for well-roundedness. Most skaters won’t
even try to surf. Standout parts include a sick frontside 360
ollie by Adam Menatt. A lot of natural flow from Jeff Gomez
and a lot of drinking from D.U. Ivan. Bill Bryan’s part
is truly inspiring and should be seen by every sideways standing
sport enthusiast. He has so much switch control that I can’t
even tell what his natural footing is. I think he is the first
complete ambidextrous water sport person in the world. This
video can be enjoyed even if you don’t skim or surf. Area
949 is sick. -Antonius ‘Toad’ Dintcho
Torque Skateboards
Black Box
The Southeast is coming up hard and strong and if you have any
doubts about that statement, check this video out. Away from
the So Cal and SF spotlight, the SESK8ers have developed into
a burly and original skaters. Creative lines and strong, aggresive
skating are in abundance in this video. As a bonus, you haven’t
already seen all these spots too many times in other videos.
All the skaters in this vid rip; Stormy Pruett, Chad Kramer,
Sean Stockton, Graham Bickerstaff, John Montesi, Craig Pavia,
Greg Hiler, James Lapuyade, Jason Guthrie and Brian Chung all
charge hard. The vid is well edited and the mostly classic rock
sounds are fun. The show stealer and proof that you’re
older than you think (And that the SE will keep ruling) is six
year old Grant Taylor. This is one of the best shop/regional
vids I’ve seen in quite a while. -JB
Foundation
Nervous Breakdown
This video tells you the truth. As painful as it is at times
to watch the opener of this video, I admire that Foundation
took the initiative to tell the whole story about making a video.
Wanting to do your best can be just as painful mentally as trying
to do your best can hurt physically. This video shows without
a doubt that the entire team overcame both obstacles with a
wide range of styles displayed. Ethan Fowler’s part was
a flawless display of good style, doing every trick going so
fast and with an unmistakable confidence. His first line says
it all. Kickflips six, b.s.l.s. a 10 stair rail, then backside
360æ down another six. His feet are connected to his board—that
makes for classic skating. This video is full of that. The entire
team shares a common trait of versatility while still retaining
their own individual style. I’d have to say that I like
Judd Hertzler’s part the best, but that’s sort of
because I got to watch Judd go through the motions of filming
his part, and keeping his cool through the entire process just
like he seems to be able to do with life in general. Judd will
always have as much fun as possible. I wasn’t surprised
at all to see that Brad Staba had the last (and basically the
best) part in the video. After rupturing his spleen (or something
to that effect) earlier this year, Brad had an obvious amount
of recovering to do. There is always that nervous period that
exists after coming back into skating after being out on an
injury, but Brad just looks thirsty. I guess that you can go
two routes when you’re hurt: either get all depressed and
negative, or concentrate on that desire to skate, and much like
chemotherapy for cancer, let it infest you without allowing
it to kill you. Brad’s part is fucking sick. The water
in Walnut Creek must do something to you. The big surprise in
this video is Daniel Shimitzu. Besides doing the most perfect
kickflip frontside bluntslide on a block, he skates some unique
and definitely gnarly stuff. Finishing his lengthy part with
a backside hurricane grind on a rail, he pops back out to roll
away forward glue foot. So, hell yes this video made me want
to go skating. The music was great, and there are no weak points.
Wherever I stop it to go skating is also a great spot to pick
it up at. The problem is that it’s so good all the way
through that I’d usually just end up killing about an hour
going through the whole thing with my thumb on the rewind button.
-Matt Cantor
XXX Multimedia
XXX TV 4
Brought to you by XXX Sportspark in Nashville, this video has
a little something for everyone: Skateboarding, BMX, fruitbootin’
and even some motocross. The best skateboarding is done at the
XXX Superbowl which is a wooden hipped minibowl that the locals
fuck up pretty good. But probably the highlight of this video
is the dirt jumping and street BMX with the likes Mike Escamillia,
TJ, Nyquist and Shaun Butler participating in the mayhem. Also
some short interviews with riders from all sports and even some
musical tidbits. Contact: XXX TV, 1180 Antioch Pike, Nashville,TN.
37211. -Mitch Soto
