Saturday August 19, 2006 : 09:52 PM
Back to the Banks Wrap Up
The Back to the Banks contest at the Brooklyn Banks went off this afternoon, Saturday august 19th. Back to the Banks is strictly New York style: a little chaos, a lotta class, and lotta cash. Five thousand dollars to be exact… doled out in one-dallor bills to five different winners. New obstacles were bult by Dan Pensyl for the day, to be left on site for the skaters from all over the world who skate the banks regularly.
On the first obstacle, a double ledge at the top of the main bank, Zared Bassett killed it with a front 5-0 to backside revert and a frontside nose blunt slide across the upper ledge, and took home a cool thousand.
Next up was the wallride, on the pillar of the bridge on the bank, and 5Boro rider Jimmy McDonald killed with more tricks than can be named. Gonz even showed up for some action.
Next was the deadly banks rail…Ryan Bobier and Jake Donelly split the $1000 in half, Bobier with a front blunt to fakie and Jake with a kickflip frontboard. The last obstacle was the marble kicker, complete with a new wedge at the bottom, and Vermont’s Colin Hale took top honors from a hungry young Chris Mead with all sorts of tricks, including a buttery huge nollie flip.
The final $1000 went to the only skater who skater well in all four best trick contests, Mr. Matt Allen. He got top 6 in every area, including a second and a couple of thirds.
After the contest, the banks were once again cleaned up and returned to the skaters of the world. It cannot be ignored that the Back to the Banks Contest #2 would not have been possible with the tireless efforts of Steve Rodriguez. He’s truly the guardian of the banks, and over the last few years he’s the guy who almost single-handedly got the city of New York to make the Brooklyn Banks a legit hassle-free skate spot, with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.
Besides Steve and his skateboard company, 5Boro, the folks at Emerica Footwear, Volcom Stone, and Skateboarder Magazine all helped with planning and organizing the contest. Red Bull stepped up big with the prize money and more, and Spitfire once again printed up a limited batch of Brooklyn Banks wheels. Demand ‘em at your local skatehsop now! Skateboarder Magazine will have all the coverage comin’ at you soon.
Stay tuned for round three!
Submitted by Mark Waters
Posted by bk
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Saturday August 19, 2006 : 09:18 AM
Element Launches Multimedia Division
Element Skateboards has announced its formation of a new multimedia division, Element Audio Visual to be lead by skate film veteran, Kirk Dianda. The new division will produce, and distribute branded content from within Element Skateboards.
Following the success of Elementality Volume One, Element Audio Visual will be releasing Elementality Volume Two on September 1, 2006. Furthermore, Element Audio Visual has borrowed the name to title a new, branded video magazine to be released twice a year as a free propaganda component to its marketing. Elementality is being re-introduced as a video journal that documents the travels, skateboarding, and life of the Element family. Elementality will be distributed as a free DVD and online at www.elementskateboards.com.
Posted by bk
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Friday August 18, 2006 : 01:36 PM
Chalk One Up for P Rod
Nike SB has recently put together a new commercial with P Rod creatively concepted and titled as “Chalk”. Check their site for the behind the scenes footage.
Posted by bk
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Friday August 18, 2006 : 01:07 PM
Fallen’s Got Footy
Fallen has posted its newest footage from a recent Northwest demo tour. Have a look and check the other clips in their video gallery.
Posted by bk
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Friday August 18, 2006 : 08:54 AM
Rising Son Tour Rolls Out Today
Last night, the world premiere of the new documentary “Rising Son, The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi.” took place in Huntington Beach at Quiksilver’s headquarters. Lots of skating and good times were shared.
The support tour hits the road today and will feature free theater and outdoor screenings of the film as well as demos and signings by Hosoi, Arto Saari, Stefan Janoski, Omar Hassan, Reese Forbes, Kyle Leeper, Dylan Reider, Omar Salazar, Eric Fletcher, and others.
Remaining tour cities and dates include:
August 19 – Wilson Skate Park, Chicago, IL (Demo)
August 20 – River East Arts Center, Chicago, IL (Premiere)
August 22 – Mt. Trashmore, Virginia Beach, VA (Demo and Premiere)
August 23 – Fairman’s, West Chester, PA (Signing)
August 23 - Chester County Historic Society, West Chester, PA (Premiere)
August 27 – Knitting Factory, New York City (Premiere)
August 29 – 3rd Lair, Minneapolis, MN (Demo and Premiere)
August 31 – Bluebird, Denver, CO (Premiere)
Sept. 1 – Denver Skate Park, Denver, CO (Demo)
Sept. 3 – Pacifica Skate Park, Pacifica, CA (Demo)
Sept. 3 – The Log Shop, Pacifica, CA (Premiere)
Don’t miss it!
Posted by bk
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Friday August 18, 2006 : 08:45 AM
Skating the Chili Bowl
Next Saturday, August 26th Toad and Salmon’s 2nd Annual Chili Bowl Cook Off will get hot and spicy at SF’s Crocker Amazon skatepark. If you can handle the heat, be there to skate and get served!
Posted by bk
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Thursday August 17, 2006 : 03:03 PM
Just in Time For Back to School
Here’s one for the mom and pop skateshops. Sporting Goods Business reports today that Copeland Sports has filed for Chapter 11. Skateboarding companies and suppliers should be wise to check up on those shipments.
Posted by bk
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Thursday August 17, 2006 : 10:04 AM
Going and Showing Against the Grain
When he’s not jumping fences, barging backyards or destroying your neighbors’ pools, Steve Alba has been busy lending his influence and rallying a line up of skaters and artists as the curator for an art show with Hurley titled Against the Grain. The show will open at the Hurley gallery on August 26th beginning at 6pm until 11pm. The gallery is located at 1945 Placentia Blvd. Unit G in Costa Mesa, CA.
If you can’t make to that opening, there will be another showing at ASR in San Diego on September 9th through the 14th. That opening reception will begin at 4pm in room 17B.
Posted by bk
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Thursday August 17, 2006 : 08:44 AM
Beneath the Rhythm of Riches
A few of the dedicated individuals responsible for Seattle’s Marginal Way skatepark have been recently profiled within an insightful audio/visual piece by the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Listen in, get ideas, and make a skate scene of your own.
DIY or die.
Posted by bk
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Wednesday August 16, 2006 : 08:01 AM
Fire Destroys Skate Ramp at Mt. Trashmore
Early this morning, a fire destroyed the skateboard ramp and bowl at Mt. Trashmore. The cause is not yet known.
Posted by bk
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Wednesday August 16, 2006 : 07:15 AM
Doing a Little Something to Save the Big O
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit and skate in Montreal, chances are you’ve encountered many lovely looking ladies and had the experience of a good ole session at the Big O. Well, word has come to us that the legendary skateable tunnel entrance originally constructed for the 1976 Olympics is now in jeopardy to be wiped off our skate map.
The crew behind this blog are asking skaters, photographers, filmers, team managers, and company owners to write a simple letter to express how this spot should be saved from being destroyed in part to the energy it generates, the kids it inspires, how it brings skaters from all over the world to Montreal. There’s still time.
Posted by bk
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Wednesday August 16, 2006 : 07:00 AM
Bueno and Popwar Team Up for a Demo
Just as the summer begins to wind down there is still plenty of skate tours and demos rolling towards a town near you. One of them happens this Friday, August 18th at the Skatelab in Simi Valley, CA with select members of the Bueno and Popwar teams dueling for the future of radical moves. These two crews hit the pavement and wood fixtures at 3pm. Bring your digi, a Sharpie, and a sister or two.
Posted by bk
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Tuesday August 15, 2006 : 08:48 AM
Back to the Banks in NYC
This Saturday, August 19th the grassroots skate contest at New York City’s Brooklyn Banks will take place for the second time. This event, now known as Back to the Banks has been made possible with the hard work and efforts of Steve Rodriguez, owner of 5boro skateboards along with the support of Emerica, Red Bull, Volcom, Spitfire and Skateboarder magazine.
Get on out there and support those that support skateboarding and its original street spots.
Posted by bk
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Tuesday August 15, 2006 : 08:18 AM
SI.com’s Stupendous Stunts
Sports Illustrated online has posted their list of the ‘Greatest moments In action aports history’. They’ve got Hawk’s 900, Danny Way’s Great Wall jump and Burnquist dropping into the Grand Canyon. And yes, in the climate of the X-Games these are certainly important ‘stunts’, but are they great moment in action sports history?
We prefer to keep skating out of action sports and would rather point out great moments like the first frontside air by Tony Alva at the Dog Bowl in 1975. How about the first bomb drop by Christian Hosoi from the roof above Cab’s backyard ramp in 1983? Then there are the first boardslides on rails by Gonz and Natas in 1986 and the first frontside boardslide on a rail by Julien Stranger in 1987.
The mainstream media will never understand these truly groundbreaking and life changing moments…and we’re happy it stays that way.
Posted by Chris
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Monday August 14, 2006 : 01:18 PM
Oregon Trifecta Gets Loose and Wild
Once again this year’s Oregon Trifecta, a three-day back-to-back-to-back bowlriding bonanza hosted at a select trio of Northwest skateparks, proved to be a heap of swirling energy with many youngs guns and legendary heads in the mix, laying down stunts and some of them, getting served. Notably, it was quite evident that they were all gunning for fun and perhaps glory as the prize purse was a suggestive throwback to the early 80’s ($300 bucks for first place).
In any case, there was lots of great skateboarding dished out and a few unfortunate slams. But hey, that’s skateboarding. The Greek broke his elbow at Lincoln City and during the Grand Masters practice at Newberg, Mark Conahan and Salba had a gnarly collision which required an emergency life flight situation. Thankfully, Mark made a full recovery with a heavy skull bongo and suprisingly, returned to the event some three hours later to catch up with the action. Dedicated or what?
Fun stuff.
These are the final results.
LINCOLN CITY
Pro/Am
1. Rune Glifberg 2. Chris Cudlipp 3. Tim Johnson
4. Mason Huggins 5. Benji Galloway 6. Mark “Red” Scott
7. Omar Hassan 8. Jimmy The Greek
Grand Masters
1. Steve Caballero 2. Glen Charnoski 3. Pat Ngoho
4. Chris Cook 5. Mark Conahan
Ladies
1. Heidi Fitzgerald 2. Nicole Zuck 3. Mandy Esch
4. Kim Petersen 5. Holly Lyons
WEST LINN
Pro/Am
1. Tim Johnson 2. Benji Galloway 3. Rune Glifberg
4. Steven Reeves 5. Vince Del Valle 6. Taylor Bingaman
7. Daniel Cardone 8. Mason Huggins
Grand Masters
1. Steve Caballero 2. Glen Charnoski 3. Pat Ngoho
4. Chris Cook 5. Steve Alba
Ladies
1. Mandy Esch 2. Kim Petersen 3. Jessica Starkweather
4. Amelia Brodka 5. Liz Brandenburg
NEWBERG
Pro/Am
1. Mason Huggins 2. Rune Glifberg 3. Daniel Cardone
4. Omar Hassan 5. Benji Galloway 6. Chris Cudlipp
7. Ben Krahn 8. Tim Johnson
Grand Masters
1. Glen Charnoski 2. Steve Caballero 3. Pat Ngoho
4. Steve Alba 5. Chris Cook
Ladies
1. Amelia Brodka 2. Nicole Zuck 3. Holly Lyons
4. Cressy Rice 5. Heidi Fitzgerald
Posted by bk
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Monday August 14, 2006 : 10:00 AM
Chris Haslam Wins 411VM Face Off
Judged solely by skaters and visitors through its website, 411VM’s inaugural online trick-for-trick contest now known as Versus continuously gained momentum over the year and endured some fierce battles between pairs of those up for the challenge. Starting last August with the selection of 16 pro skaters, their individually submitted video clips were narrowed down and announced in each quarterly issue of 411VM until two finalists remained early this summer, Greg Lutzka and Chris Haslam.
In the end, Chris Haslam threw down a double kickflip fastplant in Barcelona and has been named by as the winner of 411VM’s Versus contest. Peep the methods and tricks behind Chris’ submitted video clips. Congratulations Chris!
Posted by bk
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Sunday August 13, 2006 : 07:09 PM
Rewarding Skateboarders For Positive Actions
The 2006 recipients of the Patrick Kerr Skateboard Scholarship, the nation’s only college scholarship program for skateboarders, have been announced. There are some good eggs out there getting involved in their scenes and making a difference…making it happen.
Posted by bk
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