ROUGH CUT: Silas Baxter Neal’s „Burrow“ Part
Silas poured his heart and soul into the gritty Northwest streets for his Burrow part, with every quick kickflip and hellacious hammer taking its toll. This is what it takes for a SOTY to outdo himself.
Category Archives: Skateboarding
Mañana Skate Shop Drops „TRE“ With Jaakko Ojanen, Ville Nyström and More of Finland’s Finest
Hailing from Tampere, Finland, the crew at Mañana skate shop are no strangers to bringing the heat. Their latest offering „TRE“ features full parts from Jaakko Ojanen and Ville Nyström, along with a buffet of clips peppered in from shop riders, friends and family alike. Everybody gets a slice! Take a look:
From start to finish, the video definitely has a consistent vibe of its own. You can tell they put a lot of hard work into this project. And I’m talking about the skating, sure, but the filming, editing and soundtrack are all on point as well.
Also, it goes without saying, but Jaakko is seriously in a realm of his own at this point. Pretty much every single trick in his part had me tripping out. Pure originality, without sacrificing an ounce of raw talent. You don’t always get both these days.
Related: Jaakko Ojanen and Crew Absolutely Deliver in His New Video ‚END OF IT‘
The entire crew killed it here. Can’t keep these dudes out of the streets!
VIDEO / Vesa Ritola
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World Skate Shares Course Previews in Budapest Ahead of Final Olympic Qualifying Event
Well, the stage is officially set for the final Olympic Qualifying event in Budapest where the world’s hungriest skateboarders will be going for broke this coming weekend, June 20-23 in hopes of repping their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Peep the course previews below, as well as info on where to watch this weekend.
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As always, the talented team at CA Skateparks did a great job on the design and build of both courses. Consistency is key and it looks to me like everything is solid and ready to rip. This ain’t their first rodeo!
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Honestly, there’s not a whole lot more I can say about either course. And I don’t mean that negatively or anything. These qualifying courses are simply designed with the skateboarders in mind and I mean, they always look fairly similar, all things considered. We’re talking about the Olympics here—everything has to be perfect.
Interested in watching the event this weekend? Check the schedule below. And good luck to all the skaters getting after it this weekend. The vibes are high out in Budapest as we inch closer to the big day.
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Grant Brittain Talks Capturing Lance Mountain’s Iconic ‚Flaming Lien-to-Tail‘ at Terror in Tahoe (1985)
Grant Brittain’s photo archive is unarguably one of the most vast and impressive in all of skateboarding. Decades of sessions and inspiration from the best of the best. It’s home to some of the most iconic photos of all time, many that probably haven’t seen the light of day for decades (mainly because, well, there’s just that many).
Thankfully, Grant is very generous with sharing these photos on Instagram for us all to enjoy, often with a little backstory as well. But sometimes, we just want more of the backstory and this legendary photo of Lance Mountain below is a great example of that. It’s actually always been one of my favorite JGB photos, so I decided to reach out to Grant to learn a little more about this epic moment frozen in time that ended up in the December 1985 issue of TransWorld SKATEboarding magazine.
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I knew the photo was shot in Tahoe and as the caption mentions, Lance warned Grant before he lit his board on fire and dropped in, whispering to him, “Grant, get a shot of this, I’m going to set my board on fire.“
„It was in June of 1985 at The Mile High Ramp in Tahoe City in North Lake Tahoe and belonged to Mike Chantry,“ Grant recalls. „We were there for the NSA ‚Tahoe Massacre 2‘ which is called ‚Terror In Tahoe.'“
Fun fact, but Lance Mountain actually won the contest this day as well, which must have added a little extra fuel to his fire. „Lance not only set his board but also threw it into the crowd or forest,“ Grant mentions.
Moments like this are typically one-and-done. I mean, how many times can you set your board on fire and keep skating it? So naturally, I was curious if Lance did in fact do this multiple times, or if that one warning was all Grant would get.
„It was a one-time deal,“ says Grant. „I shot two frames when he came up and I managed to get a cool frame of the lien to tail. I also thought that it would be good not to start the surrounding forest on fire.“
Many skaters and photographers—hell, anyone who was a part of skateboarding in the 80s—will always mention how they didn’t think of moments like this being timeless or iconic in those days. Grant tells me, „I didn’t think in historical terms back then because I thought skateboarding could die at any time as it had before.“
Adding to that, he reminds us, „You have to remember that there were two magazines and no internet or social media and the only people who saw Lance’s stunt were either there at Terror at Tahoe or saw the full page in TransWorld SKATEboarding mag’s December 1985 issue. The non-skate world didn’t give two shits.“
That said, Grant does admit that he now looks back at those times and clearly sees what a classic moment it was, going so far as reflecting on the first time he picked up a camera (in 1979), which inevitably led him to capturing this truly golden era of skateboarding.
Thinking back on the photo, he tells me, „Actually, when I clicked the shutter of his board ablaze, I was just hoping that the film would come out and the photo could be in the mag.“
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The fact that Grant is still out there shooting all the greats to this day is inspiring in itself. He’s seen a lot of important moments in skateboarding history unfold behind the lens of his camera—shoot, he’s created much of that history. So, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d get up on the deck these days—fisheye locked and loaded—and shoot a burning board stunt like Lance pulled off on this legendary day in 1985.
„Fire is good,“ Grant tells me. „Add fire to any stunt and it’s even more exciting…and I’ll shoot it from a distance.“ Fair enough!
If you’re looking to add this epic shot to your collection, Grant has this photo (along with so many others) up on his website! You can see them all right here.
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Watch: David Gravette, Milton Martinez and Crew Skate a Coffin at Famous San Diego Spots
Sometimes you just need to bring a coffin to the spot, right? I mean, it worked for these dudes! David Gravette, Milton Martinez, Cookie and a heavy crew of rippers pushed around a coffin through the streets of San Diego recently, adding an extra layer of radness to a variety of iconic SD spots. Take a look:
From Washington Street to the Concourse, hill bombs to handrails and everything in between, some of the setups these dudes came up with were actually pretty wild. More importantly, it just seems like they had a rad time getting creative with this thing. The double-kinker clips were nuts!
Also, doing something like this seems pretty ambitious—all things considered. If you’ve ever skated any of these spots, you know first hand that a bunch of them are already hard enough to session without lugging around a full-sized coffin.
This definitely isn’t something we see everyday. And hey, it only made sense to burn the death box once the sessions were over. All in a day’s work.
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New Balance Numeric’s „High Noon“ Video
Sean Paul, Connor Reeve, Cato Dobbs and hella homies from New Balance unleash on the dreamy streets of Oz and New Zealand. Sean Ryan’s closing section is essential viewing.
Monster Energy’s „Down, Straight Up!“ Teaser
Monster offers a small sample of the chaos to come from Gio, Felipe and Bækkel.
The New Balance Crew Takes on the Streets of Aus and New Zealand in Latest Video ‚High Noon‘
New Balance’s latest video, „High Noon“ is beautifully shot and features parts from Shaun Paul, Connor Reeve, Cato Dobbs, and Sean Ryan (peppered in with some Tiago Lemos, Jake Hayes and a grip of others). This ripping crew never seems to disappoint and these next 15 minutes are bound to get you fired up. Check it out:
George Kousoulis did an incredible job behind the lens and putting it all together, and the fact that this productive crew absolutely killed it from start to finish really makes this an easy, enjoyable watch. Different styles. Different personalities. All of it impressive.
Love seeing the squad down under getting some shine! There’s really no weak link here. Every clip hits super hard and a few of these tricks definitely took me by surprise. Sean Ryan’s street gap ender is absolutely bonkers, too! Such a beast.
New Balance has done a great job over the past few years building respected teams in the US and beyond. And like all their videos, this edit was a breath of fresh air (and worth a rewatch or two). If you haven’t already, press play and enjoy.
Video / George Kousoulis
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David Gravette and Milton Martinez for Bronson
Gravette, Milton and company break in the coffin at Washington Street before taking it to some famed SD spots for Bronson and Creature.
Polaroid’s „L’Habitat“ Exhibition in Paris
Polaroid’s hand-picked photographers from five cities around the globe will show off some new film flicks in Paris next week. Get all the details here.
