Photo by Jonathan Mehring

There is always the one skate video project that dominates rumors and anticipation above all others. For the past year-and-a-half, that project has been the Supreme video, which we now know will be called “cherry.” We sat down with its creator, Bill Strobeck, to preview what we’re in store for without giving too much away.

Supreme has been around for twenty years and never had a full-on skate video. How did the idea to finally do one come about and how did you get involved?

My Cinematographer Project part had just come out [in spring 2012]. Kyle [Demers] saw my section and seemed hyped on it. He had recently started working for Supreme, and was wondering what everyone else has always thought: “Why has Supreme never done a video?” Them wanting to do one would always go back and forth a bit, but ended up not working out every time. Kyle asked me if I could do a little something for the shop. First it was supposed to be just a commercial. Dill was in town at the time and they wanted me to skate with him and Tyshawn [Jones]. We ended up making the “buddy” commercial and then Kyle asked if I would be down to make a full-­length. The rest is history.

How did you pick the skaters who ended up being in it?

It was mostly who was already hanging out at the shop, like the guys who set up boards there, and some others who I had been working with at the time. Some of them were working on other videos, and some people got hurt. There were a lot of things that came into play later in terms of who was able to be in it. Also, it’s a shop video where there wasn’t a real team, but a team sort of got created along the way of making it, and I’m hyped on that.

Why has it taken you so long to make a full-­length of your own?

Well, I need security. I live by myself in Manhattan and everything costs a ton of money here. I have to work for other companies to support myself, so there was no time to do a full video on my own.

Another brand once asked me to make one for them. I tried doing that for a minute, but it ended because they canned their whole skate program. I’m glad my first full-length is for Supreme.

Photo by Jonathan Mehring

There’s a certain crew of kids that assembled over the course of filming the video. A lot of them ended up riding for Fucking Awesome. How did that crew get involved?

While I was working on the Transworld part, they flew me out to L.A. It got cold in New York and I needed a few last-minute clips. That’s when Dylan did the switch backside flip over the table and Dill did the nollie full cab. We were running schoolyards pretty hard, and would always bump into Sage [Elsesser], Aidan [Mackey], Na-kel [Smith] and them there.

I went back out to L.A. while filming for “cherry” and saw that they’d always be hanging around Supreme. I’d see Na-kel doing hardflip backside 180s on the sidewalk in front of the store, just fucking around. After a while, I figured I’d ask, “Hey, I’m filming this video. Do you guys want to try some shit?”

We’d go to little spots around the neighborhood, but after a while, I’d end up on sessions with them and Alex Olson or some other pros. Na-kel would be doing gnarly shit right out the gate. I heard he was good, but in person I was like, “Whoa.”

You feel youthful hanging around those kids. Go skate with them, and you’ll see that they’re funny and have good energy. I feel a little jaded, so it’s fun to skate with people who aren’t.

They seem to be a real focal point. That new ad for the video in Thrasher is just a picture of Tyshawn.

Initially, we picked out a group of great, established dudes who we thought were fitting for the video, like Koston and AVE. Down the line, I ended up skating with the kids way more, and eventually knew they were perfect for the project. They’d be the ones ready to go skate first, so I just focused on them. It’s funny, the pros would be the ones showing up to the session later on, not the other way around.

Where did Tyshawn come from?

The story I heard was that Ty [Lyons] met him at a skatepark in The Bronx. He asked to see Ty’s board to mess around and did a kickflip down a set of stairs or something right away. Ty told him he worked at Supreme and to come and get a board whenever he wanted. Tyshawn was just like, “What’s that? Where is it?” Down the line, he showed up and asked for a board for his uncle — who is actually the same age as him — because supposedly he was weird about asking for himself.

When I met him for that commercial, he was super quiet. Now, he’s the goofiest, craziest one who talks the most shit. He’ll express himself real openly. His personality is super rad and his style is already developed for his age. When he nollie flipped into the Courthouse maybe eighth try, he looked good doing it. There aren’t a lot of ­13-year-olds who look natural on a skateboard.

What was the filming process like?

If you’re out with one of those kids, you’re out with four of them. Some of the older guys understandably wouldn’t vibe with that. Whoever was on the sessions is in the video. I do wish there were certain people I could’ve got in it, but it was just who made the effort. I’d call people and get no answer sometimes. After three or four calls, I had to give up and be like, “You call me.”

If Sage is the one hitting me up, I’m going skating with him. When Koston was in town, he’d hit me up every day, so I’d skate with him. That being said, the video is packed with all types of heads.

Did you reach out to any of the original Supreme guys from when the shop was first starting for the video?

Yes, and they were all down, but it was tough. They have lives. Some of them are getting up at six in the morning and working all day. Others hardly skate anymore. I really wanted Jeff Pang in there and I know he could have done something rad. It sucks, but he ended up breaking his collarbone while we were filming for the video. I still got him out one day and that was fun. I can also respect how a lot of those guys who haven’t skated in a while wouldn’t want to go on a session with a bunch of 17-year-olds jumping around and landing everything.

Photo by Jonathan Mehring

How did some of the newer names like Dylan Rieder get involved?

Supreme definitely has a certain side of it that people have come to expect, but for me, it has always had a fashion vibe to it. Peter Bici is the perfect example from when the shop started. He’s a really good-looking dude and did Calvin Klein ads, but still ripped on a skateboard. I think that’s where Dylan and Alex come in. Also, they’re my boys and fit perfectly with everyone else in the video.

Dylan is just a great skater. He’s a super hero. Look at the photos in his recent Transworld interview. Watching him in person is way gnarlier than seeing anything he could do on video.

Over the course of you guys filming, it seems like people started skating L.A. a lot more like New York. You’d see way more random cutty stuff on the street than in past years. Was that a conscious thing you tried to do when filming out west?

It was the same thing back in the day when Ricky Oyola and them were doing it. Dudes in L.A. and S.F. started doing more pole jams and weird slappies.

Those kids like to be creative. They’re going to think of shit that other people aren’t doing, which is refreshing. I can explain it in terms of Pappalardo and Wenning when they were doing the crazy nosegrind pop­-outs. They didn’t do it first; Jerry Fowler was the king of that first. They just got creative and added their twist to it. Pappalardo would do it with a shove-it out in the middle of the ledge behind him, or Wenning would switch back 180 into one. They just blew it up into something new. I remember thinking “These kids are onto some shit and it’s getting me psyched.” Same deal here, they seem to look to older stuff for inspiration.

Would you put them onto older parts or would they go about it themselves?

Aidan asked me the other day “Have you ever seen Ethan Fowler’s part in Tincan Folklore?” — like, not even from A Visual Sound. I don’t remember the second Stereo video at all. I know for a fact nobody told him to watch Tincan Folklore. I got psyched that it wasn’t the popular Stereo video; it was the second one that people always forget about.

That’s not to say they don’t watch new stuff. They know tons of gnarly new skaters that I’ve never heard of, and they all like different skaters from one another. They get a little bit of everything.

Photo by Jonathan Mehring

You filmed a lot of Photosynthesis, Mosaic and those sort of projects, which are considered definitive VX1000 videos. Did you ever consider using VX for this project?

I filmed the Transworld part in HD, and wanted to stick with it for this. I was used to it already. I look at VX footage now and I personally think it looks dated. Obviously, I still like some things about the VX, like the sound, but I don’t think it looks better anymore. I was the first one, in maybe a 48 Blocks interview, to say “Fuck using HD, I’m sticking to the aesthetic I’ve had.” Eventually, I found my aesthetic with this other camera.

I’m not trying to make it look old. I like all the stuff people make with VHS and VX now, but I don’t want to make this video look like it is from another time. The video is meant to represent what skateboarding is like right now. Maybe in ten years, people will look at “cherry” and be like “Oh, that’s what it was like back then.” To me that Thomas Campbell film [A Love Supreme] has that feel: “That’s what 1994 was like.”

Was it hard getting people to take a video for a shop seriously?

I think once they started hearing what others have done for it and seeing coverage in magazines, they knew it was for real.

The last few months are always when people start going apeshit. Around the time of the first deadline, Dill was busting his ass day after day. I found out that we had been given an extra couple of months to film, but decided not to tell anyone so they wouldn’t fall back. Dill showed me a photo of his wrist, and I realized I had to tell him in good conscience. He would send me clips every day of either some sick shit he was working on, got on film, or just him killing himself, so he seemed relieved.

Photo by Ben Colen

Did you have to keep your aesthetic in line with past stuff Supreme has done, or was it all you?

All the guys at Supreme have been super cool about everything, just letting me make it the way I envisioned it. There was no “we want this or that.” I’m psyched they trusted me and didn’t put any walls up. It made everything flow perfectly.

I think people have preconceived notions of the video. I’m sure some of that is partially right, but there are a lot of surprises in it. Videos like Penal Code and Eastern Exposure 3 came up as what we had in mind. Those videos were sick because there was no limit to who or how many different people could be in them. Dudes now have clothing sponsors, and I sometimes had a feeling those companies were getting weird about certain things, but this is a shop video. Supreme is still a skate shop where people go to set up a board or get a bearing.

Your stuff from the past few years has been a bit different than what most expect of skate clips these days. Did you preserve that direction for this video?

I like skateboarding, but I really love the personalities around it. There is a lot of personality stuff in “cherry” that caters to somebody who doesn’t skate. That said, it is still a skate video. You get an idea of who these people in “cherry” actually are. Their personalities are special, not only how good they are at skating.

The video wasn’t about doing the most epic shit. They did what they wanted to do, and what they thought looked cool. If someone looks cool doing some psycho trick, it counts for just as much when they do a big ollie.

The “I’d rather watch Gino push” thing…

Yeah, or Reese or Huf do an ollie.

It’s hard though, because you see two seconds of a trick on video, versus in real life — having been there for the entire session and remembering everything about it. You lived it, that’s the funnest part. No one but you and your boys will ever truly know how gnarly something was.

Are you nervous about the reception since the video has been speculated on so much?

Part of the excitement for me now is waiting on the reactions from everyone else. I bet New York is going to judge the hell out of the video. That’s fine, I like a strong opinion. I remember people saying it was a tough crowd in New York for the Pretty Sweet premiere, but this is different. I’ve seen the video like 2,000 times at this point — every time I have to re­-export it, I have to re-watch it again to make sure nothing is wrong. I think I’ll be living through everyone else’s first viewing of it now.

This is going to be the first video of all those kids. People will remember what they were like when they first came on the scene. They’re going to grow up, be totally different and way better at skating in five years.

I think I speak for everyone when I say I appreciate you guys not taking four years to get the video done.

Yeah, they’re putting it out at a good time. Spring is going to be a great time to pop that “cherry” and go skate.

Thanks to Bill for taking the time out to do the interview, and to Jonathan Mehring and Ben Colen for the photographs. “cherry” is going to be out a lot sooner than you think…

There’s officially a Quartersnacks-themed vanity plate on the streets of Los Angeles. We got Virginia down (#QSisforlovers), now we need the other 49 states. Maybe not Florida though…

Jerry, George and Kramer watch a sponsor me tape.

Dime rounded up a minute of the best flatground tricks ever done in the Dime Flatground Open: Masters Series, though oddly no Kalis or J.B. to be found. The tricks over the Love can and Newport fakie flip go without saying, but always been a fan of Kalis’ turnaround then 360 flip in Stevie’s Reason part (3:18).

You’re going to be seeing a lot of interviews with Bill Strobeck about “cherry” these next few months: Transworld has one and Live Skateboard Media has another one. (ICYMI: Here’s the one we did, though it came out before the video and had to avoid talking about certain things in detail, given our #spoileralert-sensitive culture.) There’s also some speculation on post-“cherry” developments over on Boil the Ocean.

Another LurkNYC “New York Times” throwaway reel.

This could be a cool series: “Skaters in Cars Looking at Spots.” The first edition is with Mike Anderson. The world desperately needs a Fred Gall one.

Kingpin put together a #listicle of ten great “no push” lines. Torey has two really good ones and Jason Spivey deserves some recognition for filming a “no push” part.

Leo Heinert’s intro part for Torro Skateboards is solid. He’s gotten way good over the years, and the kickflip into the knobbed bank at Fort Greene Park is one of the gnarliest things done at a New York spot in recent memory.

Route One Mag has an interview with one of the few Manhattan-born pro skaters.

In honor of its rebirth, the Green Diamond released a 20-minute B-sides reel.

Best #musicsupervision of any “New Yorkers in Puerto Rico” clip thus far.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: J.R. Smith was put on this earth to break the NBA’s “most threes attempted in a game” record, with 22. (He made 10 of them, by the way.) Also very happy the Knicks aren’t making the playoffs, so we can avoid all the 1999 playoff “8th seed, but we have a CHANCE!” montages. This team doesn’t deserve to be in the playoffs, and if you’re rooting for them to make it, you are rooting against the concept of America as a whole, plain and simple.

Quote of the Week: “Yo, you have chest hair, you’re too old to be in a product toss. It’s quiet for you.” — T-Bird

Follow @quartersnacks

Because man, you deserve it.

Been saying this song would go great for an NBA postseason commercial ever since Pluto came out. Or at least a hell of a lot better than Will.i.am or whatever else they have been using.

New tees and a hoody restock now available in the QS webstore. Also available at Supreme New York / Los Angeles, Exit, Humidity, NJ Skateshop, One-Up, Commissary and Seasons this week. Available internationally soon. Support your local skate site.

“Well, if you’ve lived in Brooklyn for fifty years, you just know shit sometimes.” Volume 6 of Lurk NYC’s “New York Times” raw footage logs. Whoever tried the rail at 2:47 definitely didn’t live in Brooklyn for fifty years.

The remix of Grecco’s best part since Baker 2G is really good, as is Mike Anderson’s “surprise full part” at the end of Yellow Van Chronicles.

Kingpin interviewed one of this website’s heroes, Dani Lebron. (Relevant.)

Someone rounded up all of Robbie Gangemi’s footage for a dedicated remix video.

Hypebeast has another interview with Bill Strobeck, in which he reveals the story behind the guy smoking drugs at the Water Street Veteran’s Memorial alongside Anthony Pappalardo’s commentary, among other things.

Muckmouth is starting a multi-part series about what happens to talented, aspiring skaters when they realize a career as a professional skater just isn’t going to happen as a long-term thing. In the first installment, they caught up with Andy Stone, Brian Hoard (!), Malcolm Watson, and a not-talkative Lavar McBride.

A nice tribute to an incredibly underrated skater: 10 Tricks Danny Montoya Did First.

TWS put the spreads from their April 2014 “New Balance in New York” feature online.

The “cherry” crew at House of Vans & NJ Skateshop at House of Vans.

Paul Hintz’s part from the Westchester-based PFP3 video. Are pajamas the final frontier of pant decisions in skateboarding? Is there anything left?

A small blow to the upper tier of many broke skateboarders’ lifestyle: Chipotle will begin raising prices 3-5% this week. Not as big of a deal as when dollar menus became “value menus,” but still an unpleasant development for the underemployed.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Despite an awful shooting slump in Game 1, this is somehow the shot that Jamal Crawford hits.

Quote of the Week: “I heard they got a Wet Willy’s in AC. I gotta check that out…I might do that tomorrow.” — Carl Williams

Follow @quartersnacks

Honest is really good, BTW. Big Boi or Big Gipp on a “Benz Friendz” remix or something would be cool ;)

Bill Strobeck throws his VX in the trash, Solomon finds it, Alien goes under..? Hmmmmm…

Still the best Alien Workshop video.

Considering Alien Workshop is responsible for tens of thousands of skateboarders enrolling into art / video / film school over the past two decades, some of you may get a kick out of this lost 8mm footage from the Photosynthesis era. If there was any justice in the world, SVA would owe AWS millions of dollars. With no Alien around, just watch the amount of skaters going to art school plummet. SVA is going under next.

Licking windows at 12th & A. So happy it’s back! :)

Muckmouth tracked down Justin Case, one of the forgotten names from the P-Rod City Stars era, and a guy who was pretty susceptible to rumors after Street Cinema. Glad to know he’s doing well. Dude was actually on Alien flow when his Logic 6 part dropped, which was a personal favorite. He was a 14-year-old with Kalis outfits and Pappalardo/Wenning nosegrinds, but a Cali backdrop A.K.A. your hero if you were in middle school at that time. He also has the most pun-prone name in skating.

Ollie one bar to superman the next may be trick of the year via the new LurkNYC clip.

The Belief Skateshop crew filmed a team clip at the new(ish) wooden spot in Long Island City. It’s mad photogenic b. Looks like the chunks that the Parks Department hacked out of all the ledges did a lot of good…

Once people get sick of doing no complys and slappies into grinds down hubbas, and some fashion forward skater decides to take a pass at making early grabs into grinds cool, you can thank some guys in Rotterdam for jogging his memory.

There are some REALLY big Dylan Reider fans out there, huh?

Kingpin with another Josh Stewart interview about Static 4. Word is that the DVDs should be available mid-June.

Quick Aiden Mackey mini-part with some second angles of his “cherry” tricks.

Guy Riza sighting @ 8:13.

Five tapes in five days from the Haha Funtime crew.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: 1) Since when is Steve Kerr the new Gregg Popovich? 2) Coaching doesn’t matter; the Knicks are garbage for the foreseeable future forever. 3) If you use “Kevin Love” and “New York” in the same sentence, you are a moron. 4) Despite looking idiotic for months, the Sports Desk’s Pacers-Spurs Finals prediction is looking slightly less stupid after Game 1. Like, what?

Quote of the Week: “Having ‘Most Dunks’ be your defining stat is like being the skateboarder with the most handrails in your part.” — Pryce Holmes on the Los Angeles Clippers

Follow @quartersnacks

When is the new Travis Porter dropping? Need some Memorial Day Weekend music.

“Once upon a time I used to grind all night, with that residue that was iPod white.” Happy belated Thug Motivation 101 Day to everyone. Let’s get it.

Congratulations to everyone who was involved with this: Skateboarding at the Santa Monica Courthouse is now legal. A colossal step forward with how skateboarding is treated in America altogether. Small Banks restoration next? :)

Despite having literally no interest in the Life Extension video whatsoever, the running commentary at SMLTalk piqued the Quartersnacks Office’s interest. (Susan Sarandon is still sorta hot for 60+ btw.) And good thing it did. Pat Pasquale AKA Sinner’s part is INCREDIBLE. We’re talking Josh Kasper in The Storm meets Guy in Mouse meets 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Total Recall. It’s amazing.

Well that was quick: new Supreme mini video with all the “cherry” kids on the way. Sean Pablo also discusses it briefly in his new Vice interview.

The Skate Jawn four-year anniversary clip is a good time.

Speaking of good times, we have a frontrunner for 2014’s “feel good” part of the year. Cult favorite of apparently Kenny Anderson and anyone who grew up on Baker videos, Scott Kane stepped away from handrails and filmed a really fun comeback part.

Four-minute slideshow of the Palace crew in L.A. over on the TWS site.

Bill Strobeck posted up some Jake Johnson alternate angles / regular motion versions of tricks from the Mind Field days on his Instagram.

Now that the Beef Patty dudes are attending venues with bottle service, Video Blogs have occasionally morphed into HD “Instagram Direct” videos. Here’s the latest.

Boil the Ocean sorta talks about remaining pockets of shock value in skating.

Frontside 5050 back 180 out the ledge over ten at Grant’s Tomb and other good stuff in this dude John Shanahan’s part. That cellar door bank between the Citibike racks by EJ’s house is also way sketchier than footage could ever do it justice.

New clip from the Juicy Elbows crew. (#Trendwatch: “Sexual Healing” covers.)

“Grinding curbs is not that extreme compared to rails.”

Quote of the Week: “If you fuck up on building a skatepark, you suck for life. I don’t care if you win a Golden Globe afterwards.” — Francesco, C.E.O. of Quartersnacks’ Scandinavian Branch

Follow @quartersnacks

From the trunk of the rental to the Greyhound bus…

Final post of the year. Previously: 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 2014 in T.F. Obstacles.

Happy New Year. Be safe tonight if you’re inclined to go outside.

5. The Burning Question of 2014: “Is Chinese Seaport #Legit?”

It is bad enough that our culture has been diminished to an abyss of spots-that-aren’t-really-spots and Houston Street construction scraps. New York-based skateboarders have now found themselves overthinking miracles like the resurrection of Seaport.

“Does it look too much like a skatepark?”
“Will my footage here still look #core between the traffic barriers and late-night wallrides in my ‘Summer Trip to New York’-part?”
“Am I lame for thinking a metal ledge needs wax?”
“Will my friends back home say I sold out for not skating Reggaeton Ledges instead?”
“If there was some #urban graffiti on the ledge, would it be more #legit?”

Do you think the dudes at Para-lel, who attained ungodly manual and ledge abilities over the years, ever stopped to question as to whether or not their spot was *too* good? Americans, man.

4. Zered’s Transworld Part

“I haven’t cared about a Transworld video since _____!”

For whatever reason, anyone who grew up on Feedback, Modus and Sight Unseen loves to brag about how out of touch they are with current Transworld offerings. Except their “haven’t cared”-benchmarks usually don’t end up reaching as far back as they think. Everyone watches TWS videos; they’re a safe, reliable product. You know what to expect with each one, and we expect them to be pretty Californian.

This time around, they gave a guy who once filmed — maybe not the greatest “New York part” per se — but the best part filmed by someone whose primary residence at the time of filming was in New York, a four-minute window to show us how he’s still the best, ten years later. Nice way to win us back ;)

3. Enron

^^^Maybe it’s dropping tonight at 11:59:59 P.M?

Anti-Hero received much fanfare for releasing Destination Unknown without any build-up — except they, like almost everyone else in 2014, were biting Bronze. Enron dropped without warning on a Sunday night, to the befuddlement of web traffic analysts everywhere who could not fathom such disregard for #peak #web #hours.

The video marked ~eight years of annual output from the Sidlauskas Institute. Flipmode-turned-Bronze may be today’s longest-running, still-operational independent skate video series besides Static.

2. Paych (or whatever)

These videos have been enormous leaps from one another in quality. Paych is way better than Beef Patty, which was way better than Space Heater, which proceeded that video called “video,” etc.

With success comes great responsibility. Analysts are expressing concern over the growing rate of bottle service club footage in the Wilson franchise’s supplementary video blogs. Some pessimistic corners are already making grim references to Brian Wenning’s ominous DC Video intro. Only time will tell if 1OAK and HD cameras will throw it off the rails, even if 2014 was bright for the Most Productive Crew™ in New York skateboarding.

1. “cherry”

Photo by Atiba

[Full disclosure, in case some genius wants to point it out: There is a Supreme ad on the right column of this website. That has nothing to do with anything written below, but you’re going to believe what you want regardless.]

Nobody knew what to think when Pretty Sweet came and went. People assumed (maybe out of habit) that Girl/Choc’s product would steer everyone on a certain course for at least a few years. Why not, right? Fully Flared had long-lingering effects on any kid who began skating with skate plazas already a standard part of life, just as Yeah Right! was the definitive blockbuster video of the early-2000s. In 2012, the minds that had navigated skateboarding for fifteen-plus years let up on the gas. Shit, it happens. Two decades is a long time.

“cherry” didn’t push skateboarding in a single direction, in as much as it was the perfect way to sum up that nobody cared about exactly which way to go anymore.

Marquee pros were saying bye to the legacy brands, some of them starting their own thing, because, fuck it, what better time to seize a niche than now? Instead of an extra flip-in or another step, kids talented enough to have a lens pointed at them redeveloped a bag of tricks untouched since the eighties. The video itself openly expressed its non-skate inspirations between the tricks, and was more free-form than what we’ve come to expect in the routine of first, second-to-last, and last parts.

Even if you’re some stubborn, “those-damn-kids!”-adult who has never spent more than $20 on an article of clothing, it’s tough to say that anything besides “cherry” better encapsulates what has been going on in skating these past few years. It is the most resonant east coast video since Puleo brought cellar doors to the mainstream.

Quartersnacks 2014 Readers Choice Award Winners

Skater of the Year: Max Palmer [100%]
Best Non-Regular Stance Hardflip of the Year: Lucas Puig – Switch Hardflip on Flat in Helas “Captains Attack” [44%]
Slicky Boy Facebook Status of the Year: “yo why everyone suddenly wants to be artsy it’s corny as fuck” [47%]
Static of the Year: Static 4 [64%]
Album of the Year: Rich Gang – Tha Tour [63%]
Producer of the Year: DJ Mustard [58%]
Thing Ruining Skateboarding of the Year: Shaped Boards & Instagram [32%]
Part of the Year: Antoine Asselin – Dime: Lunch Break [27%]
Jam of the Year: Chris Brown – “Loyal” [100%]
TM101 Award Winner: Jerry Fowler – Orchard: Stone Soup [40%]
Hottest Move in a QS Clip of the Year: Tommy Cuba – Frontside Wallride w/ a Bottle of Moët [40%]
Hottest General Move of the Year: Jake Johnson – Slappy 5050 Clipper [31%]

[Full results here]

Even if it happened in 2013, it made its way to video in 2014. We leave you with this:

See you in 2015. Rich gang.

Yoooooooooooooo

Out of all the unlikely things to become recognizable spots, this rail behind Stuyvesant High School maybe tops the list. Lenny Kirk 5050ed it, a over a decade went by, Jake did it switch, a half-decade went by, and now, it’s a thing that kids just skate in videos.

Word that Kevin Bradley ollied over the rail — from less than two-foot wide ledge to another less than two-foot wide ledge — has been around for a few months. Reider’s impossible over the Seaport bench was probably the last time rumors of a trick within city limits were that inconsistent with normal people’s ideas of skateboard reality. The photo verified it a week or two ago, and the footage came out today. Wow.

Joe Valdez would probably be proud, if it were thirty feet higher.

the red devil. is Bill’s new montage for Supreme, named in honor of Aidan Mackey’s vibrant hair. (Finally! It seems like our efforts have had at least some morsel of an effect on redhead acceptance in the skateboard world.) Features all the ever-progressing “cherry” kids, plus a bonus A.V.E. line. (Vans vid April?)

Previously: “Joyride“

Photo by Zach Malfa-Kowalski.

Cyrus is on Polar, Ben K is on 3D, and Steve Nash retired.

Found this podcast piece about “defensive architecture” with Ocean Howell really interesting (he’s an architecture professor now.) His points about developers positioning skateparks in rundown areas so they give way to gentrification seem to make sense. (Check where on the map the new Jersey City skatepark will be.) We might even be under homeless people on the persona non grata list though e.g. we been kicked out of FedEx while a homeless guy was firing up a crack pipe worry-free fifteen feet away from the security guard before…

An interview with Chad Bowers, former Alien Workshop team manager and principal figurehead behind Mother Collective about working for and starting a skateboarding company in…Ohio. “They forgot about the fourth coast.”

Nieratko interviewed Bill Strobeck on the occasion of cherry’s one-year anniversary.

#MPC: 1) HD video blog #9 from Johnny Wilson. 2) Max Palmer, Andrew Wilson, John Choi from Dime, et al. with one of the better clips from the now defunct Coda warehouse. 3) Some Paych second angles via Paul Young.

New Hi-8 clip (oxymoron?) with all the Bronze dudes.

Slam has a quick photo feature with the bro Rob Mathieson from his time in New York.

Hey, these guys like Virtual Reality Bump as much as we do!

There are some hot moves in this Evan Dittig part for Underground Skate Shop.

SMLTalk looks back the the first-ever skate re-edit contest. What up Jeremy.

Dunno what the deal with this blurry and dark Leo Gutman re-edit is (art?), but it was a good reminder to revisit The Brodies part that earned him Q.S.S.O.T.Y honors in 2013.

Even though he is quite obviously the entire QS office’s favorite skateboarder, it should be noted that Lucas’ slappy back smith IG vid was not the first known documentation of said maneuver on social media. This guy did it for the Vine back in January.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Nice to see J.R. Smith excelling in a city with minimal nightlife. Imagine him on the Thunder? He might become MVP.

Quote of the Week: “Tribeca is like the Equinox of skateparks.” — Connor Champion

Follow @quartersnacks

Photo by Curtis Buchanan

Noticing a trend in these where the transcript word count from filmers/editors is about triple that of the skater ones. So while everyone is proclaiming Propeller to be “the last EVER full-length company video,” remember that there are still tons of guys putting a lot of thought into the nuts and bolts of bringing skate videos to your screen ;)

The latest installment comes from “cherry” creator, Bill Strobeck.

Mike Carroll – Girl: Goldfish (1993)

Goldfish was a pretty interesting video, because everyone had quit Plan B and started Girl, and the video came out almost right away. It seemed like they didn’t film for too long, a lot of the parts were short, and there was no lead-up to it. Questionable and Virtual Reality were so next level, and I remember thinking how Goldfish wasn’t as psycho as those two. It’s funny watching a lot of those older videos and thinking how they were such next level shit that nobody had ever seen before. Goldfish was a little more casual. Girl didn’t seem like it was about being next level. The whole point of it seemed like everyone involved just wanted to have fun. “Let’s show everyone kicking it.”

This is when Carroll looked the best to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love his Questionable part, but this is when his style was coming together, he was making it all look easy, and the clothes were getting smaller. It seemed like he was goofing off; he looks like he’s having so much fun here, so this is *the* Carroll part for me. I feel this is when everyone really started wanting to be this dude.

They skate Hollywood Boulevard a ton in this video too, which I love and is probably the reason why I always try to get people to film there. I wanted to see that spot in videos again. The bump is gone, otherwise it’d probably be in something I made these last few years.

Paulo Diaz — Chocolate: Las Nueve Vidas de Paco (1995)

I love nollies. This dude has the sickest nollie. The first day I ever skated with him, we went to the park AVE and them have, and he nollie half cabbed a saw horse the size of my desk right out the gate, after having not skated for so long. He inspired a lot of people. I think it’s safe to say Dill was inspired by him in his Trilogy footage, which is another one of my favorites.

In this part, Paulo looks like he just grabbed his board and started cruising outside his house. Everything is so spontaneous. I think he’s one of my top five skaters of all time. Even when this video came out, it might’ve been one of those parts that I didn’t really get, but now I always come back to it. He looks like a wild street banche. Those nollies are crazier than any flip trick someone could do.

He’d always go by the shop right when we were about to start working on the Supreme video. We asked him if he’d want to be a part of it, and he’s the type of dude who would be like “Yeah, yeah, I’m down” and you never see him again. But then, he’d be in the back alley messing around switch 180ing stacks of cardboard boxes. I remember Dill calling me saying “He’s still so good.” We asked him if he wanted to be serious about it and told him we’d help him out with whatever he needs. Whatever he needed to keep him skating with us all day, we took care of him.

I went out with him every day for two or three weeks. We would drive far out to random places he’d remember: “Dude, I know this lil’ bump in Pasadena, it’ll blast you. Let’s go.” Skateboarding comes natural to him, whether he wants to have fun or really try something crazy. At times, he had more energy than some of the kids, which kept me motivated.

Jerry Fisher (and Fred Gall) – Eastern Exposure 3 (1996)

Everyone at the time was fascinated by these guys. People would turn into them. You would go to Love and see all types of Freddys and Jerry Fishers — dudes skating and doing the arm, the beanie, the Half Cabs, the big wheels. Wolfe was really doing it at this time. He had the right dudes and he had the city everyone wanted to be in. It was popping off because of his eye to it. This video itself was so fucking special to people. I went to the premiere at Sub Zero with thirty kids sitting on the floor watching it on a tube TV. Everyone was blown away. I still bring people to that ride-on grind [in Battery Park] because of this part to see if someone can do anything else on it.

I didn’t know Fisher that well and I don’t think he was even skating much by the time the video came out. Wolfe must’ve filmed it a while beforehand. Freddy was the best back then; he was this guy who came out of nowhere and switch crooked and switch 180 5-0ed Hubba Hideout. Before that, he was some skate rat from New Jersey who was in the G&S video and shit, but nobody really knew anything about him.

The first time I ever met Freddy, I was out skating with this dude Sky Weiss who took a bus from California and crashed on couches in Philly. He was the kid who would get hand me down sneakers too small for him and still curl his toes to fit in them. He was the best dude. Sky if you’re out there somewhere, hit me up. One night, I was skating with him at the Wawa up the street from Love, and Freddy rolls up solo. First thing he tells Sky is that he’s tripping on acid. I’m thinking, “Holy shit, that’s Fred Gall, and the first time I see him, he’s out skating alone at night tripping his balls off. That’s so sick.” Rumor has it that when he does that ollie up to 5050 on the straight rail at Love, he was on mushrooms, and that after he landed it, he pushed away and left the spot. Maybe Wolfe can tell the story?

Stevie Williams – FIT/FTC: Tantrum (1997)

Stevie is one of my favorites ever. Anything in 411 that showed Philly at that time was sick. His “Wheels of Fortune” was practically the reason I moved to Philly. He’s so natural and looks so cool on a board. He looks like he’s dancing sometimes; he had that good dirty east coast style. Philly and S.F. were super raw back then, just a bunch of kids with no money skating around.

I feel like this is when the vibe was more, “Yo my boy’s got a camera, let’s film this.” Even when I first started filming, I had a regular 8mm with a fisheye. I’d be at Love filming my friends and Stevie would say “Yo film this real quick.” I really like that style: “Get this footage from so and so and then get the footage from this other guy.” The part is a surprise for everyone when you see it put together. When you film everything in a part, you know what it is before the video comes out. I like not knowing because it feels more special. I filmed Stevie do a switch pop shove manny at Pier 7 and it wound up going into the FTC video. When I saw it in the video, I was so psyched. The placement of it was a surprise.

Dylan Reider — Gravis: Dylan (2010)

I worked with him a bit on Mind Field and he went on that crazy hiatus afterwards. I hadn’t heard from him from a bit in that time, but I knew he was working on this with Greg Hunt.

I remember this was supposed to come out on a certain day. The night before, someone leaked it online and it got taken down in maybe ten minutes. I knew Dylan was good, but this was the only time I’ve ever called or texted someone after watching their part to tell them they really fucking did it.

Nowadays, it’s so hard for someone to have that one really classic part because everything zooms through the internet. He really busted his ass for this. When someone gives you a solo part — like the entire video is only you — you can’t let people down. Gravis didn’t have a big team and Dylan was their guy. He came through and people noticed. This is the part that really implanted him in people’s minds. Greg also picked a classic song, so overall, I think you’ll be able to watch it in fifteen years and have it still hold up.

Previously: Aaron Herrington, Jerry Hsu, Brad Cromer, Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams

Before the concept of a “skateboarding shoe” really began maturing and booming in the nineties, a lot of “skate shoes” came from discount stores. Nike’s GTS was a canvas tennis shoe that covered sales racks at Marshalls two decades ago. It has largely been forgotten, beyond the fact it made its way into a bunch of skate photos and video parts, mostly on the feet of dudes who paid attention to their gear as much as the tricks they were doing. Today, with about 1/5th of the kids at a peak-hour L.E.S. session trying to look like they stepped out a Marshalls in 1995, it makes sense to revisit a cult-classic — which in many ways, was a proto-Janoski.

Supreme is releasing a run of GTS Nikes later this week. In the lead-up for it, they got Brian Anderson, Kevin Bradley and Alex Olson to skate both the most iconic plaza spot that still exists, and the most photogenic new plaza spot to be built in the past ~three years. With so many new skate videos (at least the ones filmed in cities) taking a spots-that-aren’t-really-spots approach, there’s now something refreshing about seeing B.A. do his first-ever Love line in a twenty-year-spanning skate career, or Challex doing improvisational turn-around lines at Republique that aren’t far off from Stevie’s wandering Love lines in The Reason. And shit, when’s the last time a pro simply did a crook fakie on a ledge to start off a line? Like 1999? That was nice to see.

We got the shoes, now how do we bring the plazas back? :(

Previously: the red devil, Joyride

Thanks for all the love for the ten-year. The book drops December 8. It’s really cool. More info soon.

Late one today, but late-day posts during #nyfw are kinda like a QS tradition ;)

Labor has Sabotage 4 DVDs. (Also ICYMI.)

2015’s version of skateboard literature’s longest running summer wrap-up is here: Dubai or Not Dubai – Frozen in Carbonite’s S.O.T.S. x P.O.T.S. post. “Indeed, using the most powerful communication medium of our time—Instagram—as a yardstick, following the most popular thirst trap accounts down an Instagram wormhole leads to a dark place where every comment is either in a foreign alphabet or ‘Come to Dubai.'” (P.S. Who the HELL is responsible for deleting that Tiago Lemos We Are Blood remix from FB? Someone please re-upload it. P.P.S. “Stick Talk” > “I Serve the Base” for Tiago maybe. P.P.P.S. Can confirm Future cuts the music off and puts his thumb in the air after the “I ain’t got no manners…”-part when performing “Stick Talk.”)

Malfa uploaded a lot of great photos from the “CORE” upstate New York trip.

Tim O’Connor interviewed Bill Strobeck for an hour-and-a-half.

Jim Hodgson uploaded a five-minute 1996 edit of QS cult-favorite, Andy Bautisa, largely filmed at QS cult-favorite skate spot, Lackawanna Ledges. (Relevant.)

Free Skate Mag has an article and some photos from a Palace trip to Paris that ended up producing a lot of the footage from Paramount.

Rob Harris posted a 13-minute throwaway reel with a bunch of footage from the M.P.C.™ guys, and Max Hull uploaded another video of their trip down to Puerto Rico (includes Watermelon Man sightings.)

Ten years prior to Canada’s current #moment, it had a smaller, more skate-centric #moment when videos like North were dropping. Village Psychic revisited the 2004 Anti-Social video from that era. (Anti-Social has a new one dropping next spring, btw.)

Youness is without question one of the top-three most impressive IRL skateboarders I have ever witnessed. Someone made an Instagram remix of his footage, and I’m sure he did it all in under five tries probably joking around.

Most of my friends rocked the Staples way heavier as far as Lakais went, but there was definitely a later cult around the Manchesters. SMLTalk has a requiem for maybe the last Lakai shoe to make an imprint in the skate footwear landscape.

The soap shoes documentary is finished!

The new Bust Crew video is basically a Mother / Quasi bro-cam montage, and that Gilbert back lip on the Kent Ave. step is super cool :)

Gonz kinda sorta tells the story of the original ollie over the eventual “Gonz Gap.”

Quote of the Week: “I don’t fuck with that ‘bros over hoes’ code. That’s some skater bullshit.” — C. Williams

Follow @quartersnacks

Present-day Paris is a case study in how one street spot could revitalize an entire skate scene. In the few years that République has existed, we’ve seen an indigenous sect of skateboarding emerge from the spot, company trips to Paris increase tenfold, and a jolt of energy to other places in the city that had otherwise found their way out of coverage circulation. The best spots are the ones we are left alone in, and there’s no greater compliment you could give Parisian culture — or any culture that applies, really — than to say that people mind their own business. No bust, no “you almost hit me,” no “there’s a skatepark down the block.” There’s a unanimous respect for your right to be in a public space, on a skateboard or whatever else your purpose may be.

You can stay in Paris for a week, meet up at République daily, but still come back with zero footage from the spot. It’s a vortex where modern ideas of “productivity” wither away in exchange for the joys of being unhassled in an open space with ledges. “Pussy Gangster,” Bill’s new one to commemorate the opening of Supreme Paris, treats République like he treated Love in 2001. While it only takes up a quarter of the screentime, you feel it at the origin of every clip. And when you’re back at the spot — the lurkers, the crazies, the unplanned lines, the sure-what-the-hell clips from the O.Gs and the interactions with traffic all count for as much as the wildest trick to go down outside of it.

Features Sage Elsesser, Sean Pablo, Tyshawn Jones, Na-Kel Smith, Kevin Bradley, Ben Kadow, Jason Dill, Mark Gonzales, Greg Cuadrado, Vincent Touzery and Kevin Rodriguez.

Previously: “Swoosh,” the red devil, Joyride

Photo via Matt Weber

Love Park is still skateable!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, somebody unearthed this good bit of footage from a 1994 Love Park contest featuring Huf, Ricky Oyola, Matt Reason, Fred Gall, Andy Stone, etc. Remember when contests just involved jump ramps?! “Yeeaahhhh.”

An interview with Dick Rizzo and Josh Wilson, two prominent figures keeping the rich tradition of New Jersey skateboarding strong in 2016.

Dave Carnie was always everyone’s favorite Big Brother writer, and has probably written more enjoyable words about skateboarding than anyone else out there. Kingpin published the most detailed interview anyone involved with the publicity blitz surrounding Shit has given, with none other than…Dave Carnie. “You know how when you go to an abandoned house and you just start breaking shit and throwing rocks at windows because you can? That’s pretty much what we were doing.”

Better Skate Than Never put all the Lucas Puig #deepcuts in one place.

Genesis Evans & Jason Byoun skating around Tribeca. DANY video soon.

Someone combined all the outtake clips from Bill Strobeck’s IG for a single vid.

Quick minute-long clip from Cooper Park via Johnny Wilson and co.

“Fifteen years since Rob Welsh nearly single-handedly rescued the noseslide from that doomed scrap pile of tricks too basic for blocks and too ‘Muska’ for handrails, a new era beckons in which legs weary from four presidential terms’ worth of pop-outs are offered respite…” — Boil the Ocean on noseslide shove-its and the rise of “dad tricks.”

An interview (+ new clip) with the crew behind Canal Wheels.

Yo Darkstar x Harley Davidson is fire.

Just in time for summer: Sremmlife 2 available June 24.

Spot Updates: 1) You likely stopped caring four years ago, but the Banks won’t re-open until November at the earliest. 2) You likely never cared unless you’re Austyn Gillette, but that bump to wall on Lafayette and Howard is a wrap.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Something still feels off with the east being more exciting than the west for the first time since the “Lebron has no rings”-era, except everyone knows that Spurs-GSW are the real “Finals” in as much as Lakers-Kings in 2002 were the real Finals. Hopefully no poisoned room service. Wasn’t an eventful first weekend though, but Jamal Crawford still ripping is kinda like J.B. Gillett still ripping. Understated, underrated and classic.

Quote of the Week: “Ever since I moved to New York I got worse at skating and better at drinking.” — Jesse Alba

Follow @quartersnacks

Get well soon Weiss.

Hmmm…whose “board” is that?

Tell your friends you love them.

The State V.S. Radric Davis & Lucas Puig. Literally the greatest.

“What do you want to hear about: money, guns or drugs?” Chromeball has been killing it with the nineties New Yorker interviews lately. The one with Vinny Ponte from today is incredible and is really going to make you want to party, and the Steven Cales one from last week is as comprehensive of a story on him as you’re gonna get. Hear there’s another one in line with a personal hero of the QS office…

Did you know that Dustin Hoffman’s “I’m walking here!” bit from Midnight Cowboy was completely improvised? “Mean Streets” is a new LurkNYC montage series for the Transworld website. Great looking 360 flip in there.

Surprisingly enjoyed the hell out of this. A 25-minute interview with Josh Kasper. Yes, he does talk about ollieing the DJ. Osiris really was the best man. It was the definitive creative force between skateboarding’s closest counterpart to rap’s shiny suit era. My lifegoals are to produce a documentary on Osiris and own a Paine Webber bench.

Sometimes it’s just great to watch a feel-good “Summer Trip to NY” clip, yaknow?

Bill Strobeck uploaded four minutes worth of extras from the Supreme Paris video.

A new video blog from Johnny Wilson and friends + a new iPhone clip from Johnny Wilson and friends + a new Cafe Creme interview with Johnny Wilson where he talks about his friends. Shout out to Conor’s back noseblunt. Logan have you filmed anything for your part yet?

Boil the Ocean kicked off its annual “Summer Mixtape” series with one of my five favorite parts of all-time. Best #musicsupervision ever pretty much :)

Could this news be more shocking than Kevin Durant’s switch to the Golden State Warriors? Peter Smolik has parted ways with the Sk8Mafia in exchange for a spot on the rebooted Menace team. Yeah, they rebooted Menace.

The rideaway at the Wall Street gap is fucked now.

QS Sports Desk: What a weekend! Although it was a day before the world got turned upside down with the KD news + Tim Duncan retirement, this has been my favorite bit of free agency coverage. And remember, The Mavs won the title the first year of the Miami Big 3 ;) Enough with all this “this makes the league boring!” shit. Also, this GQ eulogy for the KD+Russ era is quite great.

Quote of the Week:

Follow @quartersnacks

Our good friend Roctakon recently dropped this mix of current day hits + dancehall classics + other stuff with Formerly Erock. Just in time for summer and BBQ season :) Pretty sure it’s his first time doing a mix since the QS-fave, NPBS mix.

Thanks to everyone who came out to China Chalet on Saturday. The smoke took a good seven days off all of our lives. DANY DVDs later this summer.

Free beer to whoever disses it with a Tas Pappas tag. Photo via The Shady One

“One thing I realized once I started being in the world of Instagram was that people don’t let go of things. If something has emotionally affected somebody in some powerful way sometime in their life, that doesn’t fade. If anything, social media kind of fans the flame of that and almost reestablishes that emotional connection.” With so much discussion of social media and its pros/cons in any skate interview these days, it’s nice to hear that it actually does have a way of bringing about some greater good from one of the happiest people to ever ride a skateboard, Ray Barbee.

“With a skater like Jamal Williams, Ricky Oyola or even Pat Steiner, people aren’t pulling out the yardstick to measure how high they’re ollieing. It’s more the feelings people get by watching that person on a skateboard.” Also with a good bit of social media talk + skaters having an impact on people’s lives, Get Born Mag has a detailed interview with Josh Stewart. ~feelings~

Hotel Blue is the new board company from the LurkNYC camp, and Nick just dropped a nine-minute promo featuring the entire team over the weekend. Back smith backside flip on the Leonard Street ledge was wild.

Bobshirt has a 25-minute interview with Bill Strobeck detailing pretty much every last anecdote about the prime era of Alien Workshop + Habitat. Includes a special guest appearance from a former orange-beanied colleague halfway in ;)

Huf gave Jenkem a tour of some of the places he grew up skating in Manhattan.

Boil the Ocean on Anti-Hero’s persistence in an increasingly tense landscape of board brand longevity, and a potential Daan Van Der Linden S.O.T.Y. run.

Some warm-ups from Yaje Popson and friends at the L.E.S. Park.

Village Psychic has a content monopoly on anything having to do with the little guys keeping the romance in printed skate media alive. An interview with the minds behind Germany’s Solo mag.

Mushrooms to switch flip into a bowl + other debauchery from CPH Open.

Part two of The Bunt’s interview with Spencer Hamilton is now live.

Well, this is the first instance of someone skating in Polo shoes I can remember, which re-opens the hypothetical discussion of what the Ralph skate team would look like…

Quote of the Week: “Positivity is sexy. Creativity is even sexier.” — Andrew Wilson

Follow @quartersnacks

Thank you for everything Gene Wilder.

“King Puppy” is the latest from Bill Strobeck, the Supreme boys and Grant Taylor, released in anticipation of the new GT Blazer they have dropping tomorrow. Highlights include a brief unofficial sequel to the Bronx bank-to-ledge session from “cherry,” switch street grabs, and Vincent Touzery displaying the finest bit of same-but-different line choreography (this website’s favorite brand of lines, tbh) since Danny Brady’s back 180 5-0 180 / back 180 5-0 shuv line at Republiqué.

BUT, the best part is Grant’s hypnotic section on the Supreme L.A. bowl. Making a three-minute section on a shop ramp look interesting isn’t the easiest thing in the world. More often than not, anybody who doesn’t know the people in front of the lens never makes it halfway through your average shop mini ramp clip. Grant annihilates every crevice, ending every line (is “line” accurate transition terminology?) by implanting thoughts of “…wait, what the fuck did he just do, why did it look so simple, and how did that light not break into a zillion pieces?” in your brain.

Previously: Pussy Gangster, Swoosh, The Red Devil, Joyride

“Dylan Rieder’s contribution to all this isn’t quantifiable, which is partly the point. He rose up with the technical chops and California-dream profile that opened a potential path to a Ryan Sheckler lifestyle enabled by the deepest-pocketed surf and sport gear sponsors. Instead he sought counsel from addled iconoclasts AVE and Dill, pared back his trick repertoire and designed skateable loafers; his Street League runs read like some lyrical argument for quality over quantity, and he got to see the movement he helped shape flow across borders in ‘cherry,’ setting one of the more vibrant arcs for skating so far this decade.” — Boil the Ocean. Rest in Peace Dylan Rieder ♥

A link to the best video part of the 2010s.

There’s a new old bad obstacle at 12th & A. Also the barrier might be gone from TF?

An eight-minute compilation of Strobeck outtakes via his Instagram clips.

Already getting preemptive anxiety about when The Bunt’s season ends, and a new episode is no longer a regular part of the QS office’s work week for a while. The new one with Rick McCrank is great, as always.

Anthony Correa gets Bob Shirt’d. Hoboken Ledges are my favorite Jersey spot too :(

Always had a soft spot for cheesy nineties KTU dance songs. A bunch of Jersey dudes did a summer trip to Montreal. The nollie inward heel is #lol.

Village Psychic dwells on the difficulty of an effective [regs] inward heelflip.

Skateboard Story interviewed Marty Engren of Flippin’ Goods about running a European skate distro based on #small #brandz (Theories, Bronze, QS, others.)

The Watermelon man is throwing an event at the 2nd Nature Park this Wednesday.

Rick + Chico + Gonz + others mess around at Tompkins and elsewhere.

Gavin Nolan has a new welcome part for Mighty Healthy w/ cameos from Connor et al.

Jenkem’s Tim O’Connor Show sat down with Ian Reid and Mike Carroll to talk about Ian’s interesting forays into bondage photography, traveling to Chernobyl, etc.

The best ledges in Manhattan are now partially blocked off by scaffolding. You could still skate a lot of the spot, but half of it is super uncomfortable because you’re always at least four feet away from some bolt sticking out.

On this 10/17, please allow me to point you in the direction of “paint like Play-Doh the alfredo Lambo, the shrimp scampi Chevy and the guts look like egg yolk.”

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: All QS readers who hate sports are probably going to have to put up with a couple Russell Westbrook highlights getting thrown into #QSTOP10s this next half year. 2017 MVP let’s get it.

Quote of the Week: “I’m not sure I could live with somebody who could nollie backside 180 a bump to bar.” — Conor Prunty

Follow @quartersnacks

Shout out to the boy Jonky Jack.

Tiago at the Katz ledge. Photo by Matt Roberge.

Most steez clip of the day, couple days, week, month? — Juan Saavedra, Santiago Sasson and Karl Salah in Italy for “Futur Timeline 03.”

Didn’t want this minute-long clip of the Supreme crew in London to end. Also off to a great start on compiling our top 25 (100?) Ride Channel headlines of 2016.

Minute-long parts — the new…3-minute long part?! Pint Sized: Aaron Herrington.

The video for the Humidity x Butter Goods collaboration is the first time I’ve been excited to hear a nineties New York rap song in a skate video in who knows how long.

A remix of Cyrus Bennett’s HD video blog footage via Adam Lewis.

The Bunt’s season finale is with Brandon Biebel. Can’t wait for the third season :)

“And there’s also another strategy where we look at spaces that could potentially be skate spots but they lack some functionality, and then we add that. So we’ve added granite blocks and granite benches to squares that could use the life that skateboarding brings. By doing that we create these sort of meet-up hubs and social spots that really help unite neighbourhoods and give kids somewhere to go.” — An interview with Gustav Eden, a man employed by the city of Malmö to improve its public spaces for skateboarders, reminding everyone to concentrate all life efforts on securing at least part-time residence in a Scandinavian country.

Ian Reid runs down his top five moments from the notorious Ian Reid’s Video.

Andrew Reynolds has an interview in Rolling Stone.

Knowing Mixtape dropped at the exact moment the world needed it to heal its wounds.

“…it clicks in the spirit of Keenan Milton and Gino Iannucci, Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen, Brian Wenning and Anthony Pappalardo, Mike Carroll and Rick Howard.” — Boil the Ocean on Bobby and Hjalte’s “Looks Ok to Me” part. Is it too late to modify the S.O.T.Y. rules to enable joint winners?

Village Psychic behind the new Barcelona-based Be Magazine.

“Hajji’s was crowded on a recent Friday night. Femi Agunbiade, 24, had driven an hour from Maplewood, N.J., with his girlfriend to get a chopped cheese.” What…

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: Oooof. Ibaka game winner against the Thunder.

Quote of the Week: “They had Papoose perform right before Christmas when I was going to BMCC.” — Greg Huff

Follow @quartersnacks

Mr. 3-2 was killed in Houston last week. 3-2 held a special place in my heart thanks to a handful of incredible features on UGK songs, and for creating much amazing, smooth, oozy rap music that Houstonians have always been better at making than anyone else. Rest in Peace.

Parts with Josh so amazing.

We’re so lucky to share this planet with dogs.

I _______ in #myalltimers. Alltimers relaunched their website with new holiday goods, a dedicated board wall page, and expect a clip later this week :) Small preview here.

Palomino has QS goods for those in the U.K. or Europe who were unable to snag stuff from the webstore. Includes a handful of items we ourselves are sold out on.

Chris Milic’s Dr. Scarecrow part is incredible. Good bit of New York footage and a barrage of the the most unlikely manuals ever.

Damn, who’s your favorite Bloby? After this new ten-minute mega mix of all their Instagram footage, it has gotten harder to answer that question than ever.

“Kinky Love” is the new VX + steez cam clip from Jesse Alba, which features footage of the legendary Tompkins bank to ledge. R.I.P.

Johnny Wilson and the boys hit up a bunch of concrete parks in Connecticut, and then John Choi skates a large set of stairs on the Trinity campus.

“I’m not sure if it is the fact that they are Nordic, but more the idea that they are more socialist and less capitalist. The UK has monetised the idea of public space, especially in the centres of cities, but the Nordic countries are less like this.” …the story of how a breed of skateable architecture initially began and London, and has since been all but phased out only to have Scandinavian countries carry the torch :(

Bill Strobeck posted a minute clip of a heavy sesh down the Columbus Park rail.

Eli Reed has a new barrier-heavy part over on Jenkem.

Hold up, get too choked up when I think of old stuff.

Dwindle’s official statement on the demise of Cliché. Just as Blueprint introduced a generation of Americans to British skateboarding, Cliché was just as pivotal — along with probably the Flip videos — in bringing greater European skateboarding at large to our side of the Atlantic. Thanks for everything guys.

Haus of Altr: Mint Green is a fun, low-def ten-minute video via the youth. Columbus Park manual made me #lol :)

The state of little kid spots in New York City circa 2005 was really something to behold ♥♥♥ You never truly appreciate anything until it’s gone.

CORRECTION: Despite remarking that the end of days are near due to a rap song appearing in the latest Zero video, we completely spaced on the fact that Chris Cole and Tom Asta skated to Jeezy in Strange World. Sorry Chris, sorry Tom, sorry Jeezy.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: National treasure Nick Young steals a pass from his. own. teammate and hits the game winner. God bless him.

Quote of the Week: “There’s a hospital really close, but it only has two stars on Yelp.” — Dom Travis

Follow @quartersnacks

2016 has been a rough year on humanity, but at least we found the 2014 Rich Homie Quan buried in Skooly from Rich Kids’ new solo tape, Gucci got his first #1 record, and we have Future’s personal assistant fan fiction. Shout the fuck out to Do or Die.

Photo by Emilio Cuilan

This guy nollie flipped Black Hubba, and then followed it up with the highest white rapper ever done in skateboard history. But also he nollie flipped Black Hubba.

Speaking of nollies, The Bunt’s latest episode is with nollie legend and Antwuan Dixon’s favorite skateboarder, Gailea Momolu. Monster Children also interviewed Cephas and Donovan about their ascent to the top of skating’s current pod boom.

“What did you buy with your first check?” “Nothing. Them shits is in the bank.” Monster Children also has an interview with smart kid Tyshawn Jones.

Jack Greer’s film, Circles in Tompkins Square is now available on Vimeo On Demand.

“If you land it this try, I’ll go vegan for the rest of the trip.” Vinny Ponte interviews Zered Bassett about the old days for twenty minutes.

Three-minute reminder of how poetic Javier Sarmiento looks on a skateboard.

Labor’s All City Showdown installment is now live over on Thrasher, with stock music straight out of the EST archives. The Frog/Max Palmer section is gold, Jerry. Gold.

Skaters from Atlanta really like that manny pad to rock at 20th & C.

Adam Louis put together a montage of Johnny’s outtakes featuring all the 917 dudes. The world needs another Genny part and can we get Kohlton skating again?

Someone compiled a bunch of Bill Strobeck’s IG videos into one convenient clip.

Pretty much everyone in our age group and under looked up to Rodney Torres growing up. First New Yorker to flip into a handrail (pretty sure…), first to hit the Hooters Rail (R.I.P.), etc. “The King of Queens” is a quick video portrait by Carlos Felipe. Chrome Ball’s Rodney post has also been an all-time fave.

Theories of Atlantis, champion of all things independent and #small in skateboarding, put together a year-end list of 2016’s best videos, a month late ;)

“However, the recently proffered notion that Chad Muska’s ‘illusion’ frontside flips looked good, wrongheaded as it is, speaks to a similar, latent yearning for diversity in trick form that seems to have been squeezed out in the online video age.” If no complies, beanplants, pressure flips and noseslide shoves can come back, there’s little reason to believe the mob or illusion flip won’t become a fashionable alternative to the tricks’ homogenized norms/forms by April of this year.

An interesting read on just how Brexit impacts the skate industry in the U.K.

Paul Young uploaded four minutes of raw footage from a 2015 S.F. trip with Josh Wilson, Brendan Carroll, Adrian Vega, Tierney, Duster, Dick Rizzo and Nick Ferro.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week: DEEEE JAAAYYY KHALLLLEEDDD!!!!

Quote of the Week: “I have too many totes.” — Keith Denley

Follow @quartersnacks

Here’s to happier times in Atlanta ♥