Yeah, I remember watching 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' when I was 14 and being scared sh*tless. Honestly, it was a creepy ass movie with some insane things happening. Johnny Depp getting sucked into the bed and then the blood explosion? Yeah, that was a little slice of awesome. Now it looks like the Nike SB Horror pack will be paying tribute to old knife fingers. All I can say is... verrrrry nice.
The past few years there are a few things you can count on in the dog days of summer. The X Games, of course leads the list. The latter would be the US Open of Surfing. It's no surprise by now that the US Open has come to a close and a few people walked away with titles. CJ Hobgood took it for the men and Stephanie Gilmore chalked up the win for the women. What's more interesting though is what happens away from the beach, away from the surfing and what may matter more to the actual surfers themselves. Sure we received more than one drunk dials from a party at Surfline HQ but that's not what we're talking about. Nope and it's high time we jump into it.
Sofia Mulanovich Inducted Into Surfing Hall of Fame Last Friday was the 10th annual Surfing Hall of Fame inductions that coincide with the US Open. Several notables we're heading into the hall among them Al Merrick, Martin Potter, and Bruce Irons. The lone female in the group was none other than ROXY pro and world champ Sofia Mulanovich. With surfers and industry veterans like Irons and Merrick why does Mulanovich deserve the extra attention? Lets look at the facts:
1. Sofia became world champ at age 21 by dethroning six time champ Layne Beachley. 2. Sofia is the first South American male or female in modern surfing history to win a world title. 3. 'Sofia: a Documentary' Enough Said.
So, if that isn't simple enough we'll make it even easier. This young Peruvian woman, at the age of 23 has become an elite surfer. Remove her young age. Remove all her contest titles. What you have left is somebody who is passionate about surfing and has raised the spirits of her native country in the process. That is why she is on her way in to the Hall of Fame. If you haven't seen 'Sofia...' yet leave this blog now and go check it out here: www.sofiadoco.com. You won't be disappointed.
The Only Non X Games ESPN Award or "Why Sarah Burke Rules" While we are on the ROXY update lets take a trip in the wayback machine to the 13th of Jule and the ESPY awards. This one snuck right under the damn radar. ROXY rider Sarah Burke won the 2007 ESPY for best female action sports athlete. While I haven't put on a pair of skis in over 16 years I do know Sarah's gold medal run at winter X Humbled several guys in attendance. With the, now unified, ROXY snow team in full effect for Winter 2008 it's a wee bit scary what they can accomplish. Fellas watch your back and ladies ignore TR's full blown sarcasm. That's why we have iPods
Scotty Arnold on Fuel TV
Cryin out loud if we are gonna talk about Quiksilver snow we might as well talk about Scotty Arnold droppin by Fuel TV's Daily Habit this Wednesday. As the Mighty Stouffer said in his weekly dispatch "He’s revered for hitting it big in the park and on the rails, pro snowboarder Scotty Arnold drops in ... Scotty’s sponsors include: Quiksilver, Vans, Salomon, P Water, Cobra Dog, Grenade Gloves, Boost Mobile and Jack’s Garage." Yes, Scotty is sponsored by Cobra Dog. Indeed. For the record, I did not know Boost Mobile was still in business or is that Amp'd or is that Helio. I can't keep them all straight.
'Young Guns 3' is Here Rounding out our love today for the mountain and the wave... 'Young Guns 3' the movie is out. The premiere went down last week in HB. The tour is coming and you can watch the trailer right here.
'Young Guns 3' Tour Dates U.S. Tour presented by Monster Energy 7/28- Wave House, San Diego, CA 7/30- Ventura Theater, Ventura, CA 8/4- Shore Break Theatre,Narragansett, RI 8/6- DaKine Diego’s, Satellite Beach, FL 8/9- Parque Luis Muňoz Rivera, San Juan, Puerto Rico
All premieres are FREE. First come first served. Dates, times and locations subject to change
Tony Hawks Secret Skatepark Tour
OK, so we aren't actually done for the day. Nope, Thursday night after you are done watching the X Games at the Staples Center cruise by the Figueroa Hotel in Los Angeles tony hawk will be premiering his latest installment in the secret Skatepark series. seems like evrybody who has a pro deck and an MTV show is in this one. The over under on Bam Margera jumping off something is even money and Sheckler flashing a suburban gang sign is a lock as well.
Summer in Washington D.C. can be pretty nasty. After all the city was built on a swamp. Why they chose this humidity capital of North America I'm sure I learned and forgot in some far off history class. You know, the same way you lost all relevant information about Pythagorean theorem all those years back. Please ignore the bizarre references here, really, it has been a long weekend. Insanely hot, humid and I skated more than i should have. Actually, that's a lie I didn't skate enough. Finally, after about 2-3 years of floundering with the same lines, I feel as if I'm back in it and haulin' ass. That's a good thing. OK, pray for eighty degrees with a light breeze and low humidity this week. Now onto the good stuff.
Vee-Co News: The Stone Gets Downgraded On the heels of Thursday's reported lower second-quarter profit Volcom was downgraded to market-perform. This doesn't shock any analyst who are forecasting the slowdown in retail. Piper jaffray analysts said: "Our downgrade to Market Perform reflects our view that VLCM shares are fairly valued given our cautious view of the domestic retail market, increased expenditures, and risk associated with the new European operations. While we are encouraged by the current order trends at Pacific Sunwear (24% of total revenue in Q2), we believe a challenging and promotional retail environment could pressure 2H orders."
However, the Stones chairman of the board had a prearranged trading plan. Yup, Rene Woolcot dropped about 25,000 shares on an average prices of $46 per share and some change. That works out to $1.5 million and change. It's good to be the king of Pac-Sun, isn't it Volcom!
X Marks the Spot of Joy and Pain Yup, if you've been living under a rock the past thirteen years then you probably don't know about the X Games. That could be good. That could be bad. really, it all depends on your point of view. I've seen more good than bad come from the X Games but who knows what will happen this year. SouthoftheNorth.com has some X Games programming coming up beginning Thursday and rolling through the weekend. Stay tuned.
What's new at the X Games this year? well, gone is BMX Dirt and in comes BMX big air. Rally car is back as is supermoto and motocross. I guess ESPN is gasping to bring in the big names of racing. Hopefully non of the programming geniuses over there decide to have an action sports all-stars Kart race. Actually that would be funny. Instead of 'Battle of the Network Stars' or 'Circus of the Stars' they can have Battle of the Action Sports All-Stars. In between we can watch infomercials for the Shaun White chia pet. Sweet.
Also in true PT Barnum fashion they've moved the mega ramp indoors. With the way the Dew Tour has been striking out and cancelling events with the wind this year ESPN appears to be taking note and moving the big event inside. Which puts skate vert...outside. Maybe ESPN didn't learn anything from the Dew Tour. Awesome. Anyways, megaramp is indoors. crews have been busting ass to get it set up. Danny Way is out with jacked knee as we earlier reported. My money is on Bob Burnquist. Skatedaily.net said the same thing, but what else could you say? Bob has a megaramp in his back yard...
Skate street will be taking place in the velodrome at the staples center this year. What's interesting is that you'll find a few attempts at a more street oriented course this year. However, that might just be spray paint. I doubt ESPN actually used brick and concrete, even though they should. Anyways, check the pictures then pray they come to their senses and start pulling together a real street jam for future X Games. Hey, ESPN a street competition should happen on a ... wait for it ... wait for it ... that's right... a street. Anyways here are the pictures, enjoy.
Back to Real Skateboarding... Now that we are done rocking out with our jock out over all the X Games stuff another item of interest popped up. The Wall Street Journal dipped it's toe into the action sports industry with this story reagrding the ongoing blanks issue in skateboarding. Bottom line is this: buy local and support skateboarding. Buying a pro deck doesn't mean you support skateboarding. Buying a blank doesn't mean you support skateboarding. Not to get on too much of soap box but a good chunk of this anger towards blanks is a bit hypocritical. Nobody tears down Powell for selling mini-logos. Here's an idea: make a price point board to compete with blanks. Is that so hard? Sure you want more money Mr. of Miss skatexecutive but have you ever thought about what the market needs? People need new decks after they break and it can't break their bank as well. Local shops need prices that don't chew up their budget. Shops also need healthy margins to stay in business. Skateboard industry quit bitching about how people aren't supporting skating. Start finding a solution. One kid in Iowa who buys 12 blanks a year is not destroying skating. He's a skater. That is the biggest support and contribution to skateboaridng any individual can make, by actually skating. Buy from your local skate shop. Buy from skate and ride shops online. Put your dollars into where you believe you are supporting and impacting skating.
Have You Heard the One About the Catholic Priest and the...? So this is kinda old. Kind of weird and kind of creepy. This video is from Australia where a Catholic priest went ape shit on a group of skaters who were sessioning in front of his church. The priest loses it as the skaters egg him on. Holy crap, I wonder what his sermons are like. Warning if harsh language stresses you out. Don't watch. if you are an adult and don't get offended by words just the narrow minded ideas behind them...have at it.
Turns out the catholic church now has to apologize for this old geezer. wow, that are pretty much batting awful in dealing with any generation of children. Catholic News has the "fair and balanced" report right here. We now return you to your Monday morning Apocalypse already in progress.
Nike wanted to ensure that we did not forget the SB stood for "skateboarding". With the collector-ebay-overall-shoe hype that surrounds the SB line sometimes it can stray a wee bit off the beaten path. Thankfully Nike took their ever so solid crew and did some filming. The end result... "Nothing But the Truth". Stay tuned for premiere dates. In the meantime, enjoy these clips and check out NikeSkateboarding.com for more info.
Typically over the course of the week, thanks to navigating the world wide web on my high tech infoputer, I find some pretty cool stuff. sometimes it's a website other time it's products and in a rare occasion it's something so idiotic it must be a work of comedic genius. Lucky for you we have all three. A blog from a shop who has been around for years but is on the rise, a couple of really cool new items and the first recipient of the "Big Dooshie" award. Can't you just feel the excitement?
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... Alpine Daily Drop Being in Washington D.C. it's hard to find a shop that actually delivers for both skating and snowboarding. some shops have it for sneakerheads, others just do skate but for the combo of skate, snow and the occasional pair of shred slippers I head out to Alpine Ski Shop. Yesterday proved to be a a good day when Alpine Ski Shop launched their new blog. I believe it's in beta but so far they have been unleashing products from Burton, Ogio, Circa, Ride and others with a vengeance. Like any good shop they aren't just posting pictures of colorways they are throwing the products on the staff so you can an idea of real world fit and feel. I mean look at this picture of Alpine Ski Shop owner CB .... pure Blue Steel. Check out their new blog and expect it to evolve rapidly. These guys always take care of their customers and it's nice to see them really expand out into the web.
Oh My God That's Some Funky Sh*T! I don't have favorite skaters and I don't have favorite skate companies. OK, that's a lie. Lance Mountain can do no wrong in my eyes ... but, that's besides the point. What exists outside my Bro-Muda Triangle vacuum is the respect for what people have done and are currently doing. Anybody who embraces the DIY ethic and escapes the whine-bitch-moan trifecta to take on their own destiny has my respect. Getting off your ass and making it happen either for yourself or for the sake of the scene is a bold undertaking. That being said, I don't know much about Kris Markovich outside of skating. I know his video parts. I've seen his art. But, I do know he repeatedly steps back into the spotlight to take on his own board companies. In what capacity... it beats me but, his latest venture Crimson skateboards is gaining momentum and for the better. Bottom line,I suggest you check out the Crimson decks. The Day of the Dead (D.O.D.) series has an amazing look and comes in kick flipping and pool shralping sizes. Being, anti-wall hanging and skart these decks are begging for a session. The D.O.D series pro models are from Markovich, Belton and Atkins. Check'em out and make it happen.
Oh My God That's Some Funky Sh*T! Part Dos So this landed in the mailbox yesterday: D30 Team. so if you are not familiar with D30 it's anew technology that allegedly has some pretty unique properties or as my good friend wikipedia would say: "This lightweight material is very flexible and malleable, until subjected to abrupt force, making it useful in protective clothing in situations where the wearer may be exposed to blunt trauma." So the question now becomes ... what exactly can this be used for? Well, if you follow any of their press or the video that is available on CNN's Skewed View you'll know that they have their eye on snowboarding right out of the gate. If this bat suit material goes to market it will be interesting to see how the public picks up on it. Let me give a few examples of products that have followed a similar path: Under Armour, Recco and Gore Tex. That's good company to be keeping.
watch this press video from D3o
The Big Dooshie Award
Yep, I get a good number of candidates for the Big Dooshie. You know, just the biggest douche bag for one reason or another. Typically it's pretty easy though thanks to the power of Google they seem to fall into my lap. I got this submission in an e-mail and he clearly ran away with the prize. A true 11th hour winner if there ever was one I give you the Big Dooshie for July: Eric Kay! A columnist for CBS Sportsline Eric Kay does his best to channel the spirit of ESPN's Bill Simmons in a witty article about, yep 'Airborne'. That piece of shit movie about a surfer relocatted to Cincinnati who rocks out with his jock out on rollerblades. Now, it's not the mildly shitty jewish-hollywood agent wise cracks he attempts to make (nobody in Hollywood says "shvisting" douche bag) and it's not the fact that he just isn't funny here's the main reason: It's a fucking rollerblading movie. Like you couldn't have picked up 'Rad', 'Thrashin' or even 'North Shore' ? It's not that hard. Hell even 'Out Cold' would have been better.
Picking 'Airborne' to ridicule is like picking the one legged kid first for your kickball team. it's like making fun of the president....it's too easy. We look at all of those movies and laugh. We laugh at the dialogue. We laugh at the screen writers thought we said. We laugh at the close they put the actors in. But, Airborne is pretty far out of that unintentional loop of humor (thanks Bill!) and enters the realm of changing the channel ala "Yeah, isn't Murder she wrote on right now...". All it becomes is another sports writer trying to be funny. What a Big Dooshie.
No, no tales of twins swapping lives but that was a stellar remake with a pre-coked out Lindsay Lohan. That had to be my favorite media whore moment this week. Lindsay Lohan saying the “blow wasn’t hers.” Right, sure things freckles. I’ll remember that next time a D.C. cop is chasing me for skateboarding. “Officer, I may have been pushing around on this here skateboard but I swear ... it’s not mine.” I highly doubt it will work but it will now become the infamous “party girl plea.” Wait, I got way off track lets rein this blog in because w have lots to talk about. We have news from our homies at Sessions, a Zoo York reminder and big drops coming from Nike SB. Yes, we just posted a picture of Lindsay Lohan in a bikini. Because we can that's why. Deal with it.
Sessions News Drop This past week Sessions dropped their July edition of ‘The Informer’. Always a treat to have, ‘The Informer’ loads you up with plenty of news on Sessions athletes, events and products. Make sure you check it out. One of the big things dropped this month was the upcoming 9th Annual Tim Brauch memorial contest September 29th and 30th. Guaranteed you’ll have the vast majority of rippers out there. This event turns out to be better than any Dew Tour or X games event you can see on TV. Plus, it pays homage to a fallen member of our big skate family Tim Brauch. Dust off your Estes Eagle T-Shirt and haul ass to the Tim Brauch Memorial skate park in Scotts Valley, California at the end of September. Ya dig? On top of that cruise on over to Sessions.com they have some pretty interesting stuff going on right now with artist Russ Pope. You won't find too many of these shirts floating around there. Personally, I'm digging Ol' Dirty Crooks shirt of choice. Now if only I could skate like that Carolina bastard.
ZOO YORK Upstate Tour OK, now this is for all the people in the cheap seat with low memory retention skills. This weekend… ZOO YORK Upstate New York Tour. Check out Zoo York.com and haul ass out to the events. You will not be disappointed.
It's SB Mid Day After a big week with the drop of the Nike SB MF Dooms new images are popping up online of SB Mids forth coming. The crew over at Hypebeast knows first and as always they know best. Check their images of the SB Mid Skate Mental and the “Vintage Floral” dunk mids. It looks like after playing it safe for a year or two Nike SB isn’t holding back anymore.
OK, are you ready to synchronize your watches? I just want you to set that fab Casio arm piece for Thursday. "Why Thursday?" You may ask because we are getting into the headlines this Thursday and every Thursday from here on out! Sure we'll have the occasional interesting nugget that gets panned out of the action sports silt and polished into gold. But,lets face it, those moments are few and far between. Shoot, go ahead and read one right here. Lets be honest we thought we could turn action sports into sports center we'd be richer than 1980's Michael Jackson. OK, maybe none of the creepy man-boy lovin' would be happening but we sure as shit would own a Llama farm just for the hell of it. Not to mention a Monkey named bubbles. Monkeys still rule. All right, failed business plans and bad ideas aside here are this weeks few headlines that might keep you from going skating right now.
Update 10:30 AM 7/26/07
Have You Heard of This Shaun White Kid?
Now I didn't see this coming the New York Times has profiled Shaun White.Actually, I should skip the sarcasm. Shaun has clearly gotten off his ass to go after skating a bit more. Granted he look pretty sketchy on lip tricks during the Cleveland Dew Tour but nobodies perfect, especially in Cleveland. Anyways, we get a stellar bit of insight on how Shaun White's mind works as quoted from the New York Times:
"He said the possibility of competing in the Summer Olympics has provided “a bit more fuel in the fire to do well and progress.”
That's right in case you were sleeping under a rock the IOC has been doing everything they can to shoe horn skating into the summer games. You have skaters like Mr. White who apparently are pro Olympics and you have douchebags like this guy who are anti-skating in the Olympics. Does skating belong in the Olympics? Sure, why not? It's a level of exposure that could rise to another round of public funding to build skateparks. Will it diminish the soul of skating? No, because you can't breakdown what isn't tangible. Skating will always be in the streets. Skating will always be raw at its' core. The Olympics would just be another contest with :45 second runs for people to "oohhh" and "ahhh" over. If it makes skating more accessible to people globally, then make it happen. If Shaun White is the ambassador to bring it to the Olympics, fine.
Aside from that Shaun look past the 1080 and start dialing in the smith.
-- 12:01 AM 7/26/07------------------------------------------------
Jereme Rogers Meet Plan B Plan B Meet Jereme Rogers After the demise of his time on Girl Mr. Rogers has found his way to the house that B built. Joining a few guys who have been know to rip. You know ... Danny Way, P-Rod, Pat Duffy, Brian Wenning and few other cats who skate pretty damn good. Would now be a good time to start thinking team video?
Also, will we get some stellar internal dialogue between Sheckler and Rogers during parks comps like in the 'Octagon' with Chuck Norris? You know those brillaint internal monologue moments as "the Chuck" is en route to take down the bad guy aka his brother! Trust me you have to watch the movie and then imagine Jereme and Ryan saying all of that crap in their head as they skate during the jam session. Actually, there's your MTV show Ryan. You know where to send the check. Just don't tell Chuck what you're doing. He'll want a cut and believe me Chuck Norris gets what he wants!
US Open Of SurfingWebcast If you are exploring the world wide web of internet this weekend check out Go211.com. They are hooking up the webcast for the US Open of Surfing. That's right. Small, flat, midsummer waves at Huntington Beach. The Upside? Micke Alba may skate and in the perfect world his second cousin Jessica Alba would show up. Hey, she's single now!
In all seriousness. The soul Bowl is generally worth watching. The surfing ... who knows? Dane Reynolds may or may not show up. Rob Machado may or may not feel like getting out of bed that day. Check out Go211 this weekend if you want to capture any of it with your own eyes and yes this was just a long drawn u]out update so we could post a picture of Jessica Alba.
'On the Lot' and Off the Show
I'm not quite sure how this snuck under my radar but some guy from Owego, NY claiming to be a skater has been surviving weekly cuts on Fox's reality show 'On the Lot'. This week Kenny Luby that very guy got cut. So I received several e-mails he was claiming the skate thing pretty hard. I'm not sure if he's trying to be the South of the North's answer to Spike Jonz but hopefully he can put his lcoal celeb status to good use. Luby, we could use some more good 'crete parks up that way. Hook it up and don't go Joe Hollywood just yet.
The saying goes: “Safety First!” and that may be true for everybody but a few athletes competing in action sports. In the rapidly evolving world of “huck for bucks”, big air jumps on skateboards and BMX bikes the risk is rising everyday. Coming down off ye’ good old news wire I just saw a story about FMX rider Scott Murray who has landed the double back flip. The scary thing is he has now been added to the X games because of this.
One trick and one shot at glory is what the double back means to him. Not sure if anybody out there remembers Chuck Carothers body roll/varial from a few years ago? That one trick got Chuck an invite to the X games and when he stuck it he was a made man …sort of.
Watch Scott Murray land the Double Back flip
Let’s run down the top three reasons why Scott Murray should reconsider showing up at the X Games to try the double back flip.
1. Donde Esta Chuck?: Outside of the body roll …Carothers hasn’t really accomplished much. Not a knock to him, he’s a capable rider, but he hasn’t stepped up to that Pastrana/ Adams level.
Watch Chuck Carothers throw the Carolla
2. Anybody Remember Baltimore?: Two words … Stephen Murray. I am not railing against progression but even to the most competent athletes accidents happen. Stephen’s signature move was the double back flip on a BMX bike and he stuck that trick thousands of times. His accident was a fluke but proof that nobody is safe. Factor in this is a motocross bike that outweighs the BMX bike by several hundred pounds the risk increases. Factor in that Scott Murray probably doesn’t have this trick dialed in 100% and the risk is off the charts. You can practice all you want but accidents happen.
3. When It’s Go Time, It’s go Time: There is no backing out of that trick. Once you commit you are in it for good or bad. I heard something about riding vert on a BMX bike from X games gold medalist Chad Kagy I think that rings true of any action sport. Chad said “It’s not a matter of if you get knocked out but when you will get knocked out.”
I usually don’t draw on too many personal anecdotes but I was there when Travis stomped his double back. Standing at the landing it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. No matter what is said about his decision to do it because of rock-paper-scissors Travis wouldn’t have gone for it if he didn’t have it dialed in. The air in the staples center was electric that night and that kicked off an evening of progression where a few athletes rose to the occasion and stepped up there game in ways never before seen. The question now remains for Scott Murray, what is the glory worth? One door has several thousand dollars and maybe some endorsements. Door number two has the lights out and maybe a wheel chair.
The ultimate irony as I write this is I believe tryuy int he saying "Trust your guy, take chances." Scott Murray may be the one who proves that point or will have me eating ym own words. Scott, if you go for it, land 'wheels down" that's my adivce. Thankfully, with skateboarding, I don't have to make these decisions.
ZOO YORK Heading North I get these question all the time. "What is the South of the North? Is it a a series of directions? A stupid statement? Or is it a place? The reality of it all is the South of the North refers to my hometown of Binghamton New York. You see Binghamton is upstate to about 80% of New York's population (thanks Big Apple!) and down state to another 10% who are true Upstaters. Which leaves 10% of us nestled squarely in the weirdness of New York States Southern Tier.
The Southern Tier has always had its own quirks from mob meetings in Appalachia to NASCAR at Watkins Glen and more cheap beer than you can wave a stick at (Thanks Genny Cream Ale and Utica Club!) we might as well be a little be of the Deep South way up North. Only our food isn't as good and the women aren't as hot. Sorry, had to be said. Actually, we do have spiedies but that is neither here nor there.
I was pretty pleased to see Zoo York has decided to get out of the City and head up North. I hope they experience some weirdness. While you are passing through guys please go to Lupo's S n' S Char-Pit. maybe even enjoy some Pat Mitchell's ice cream. I highly recommend skating the terrain at SUNY Binghamton, sorry, Binghamton University. With more cold war concrete than modern day Berlin the SUNY campus was my skate proving ground for 10 years. Last time I skated there my deck was a SMA Natas, my wheels were 57mm slimeballs and finding a pair of "skate shoes" was an ordeal. But I digress, if you are in Albany or Rochester check them out the Zoo York tour this weekend. With the crew rolling through they list off a few lines below you won't be disappointed.
"... On July 28th and 29th, the 2007 ZY Upstate Tour will host demos and autograph signings in Albany and Rochester. Along for the ride will be ZY Officials Donny Barley, Kevin Taylor, Forrest Kirby, Anthony Shetler, Brandon Westgate, Ron Deily, and Matt Miller."
2007 ZY Upstate Tour Schedule:
July 28 – Albany, NY Signing: TSX Skateshop @ 2:00pm
July 29 – Rochester, NY Signing: Holler Skateshop @ 2:30pm Signing: Krudco Skateshop @ 4:00pm Demo: X-Dreams Skatepark @ 5:00pm
For more information on the 2007 ZY Upstate Tour, and to stay up on all Zoo Crew happenings, check out http://www.zooyork.com/.
DC x Commonwealth and Brooklyn Projects.
You can always count on Hypebeast to make the sun come out on an otherwise rainy day. Long the innovator with tech and style it feels like DC has been laying dormant for a few years. What's frightening is they has some amazing collaborations with Michael Leon and Andy Howell just a few years back. Now DC is stepping it back up by providing two influential shops their own kicks personified. Sit back, relax and lust if you must. Is this the first in a series of things to come from DC? Read the full article on Hypebeast Photos Courtesy of Hypebeast.com
I'm sure it all sounded so good at the time. A bunch of guys sitting around the room saying "...and skateboarding. I love skateboarding. I used to skate when I was a kid! My kid loves skating. We can sell them ring tones and pictures and tons of cool shit ... all for their cell phone! They'll be Amped! Wait we'll call it that. Amp'd!" Ohhhhhh how the times they are a changing ...not really. I am hard pressed to find one MVNO that has fulfilled on it's promise that a niche audience will deliver big returns in the form of cash. It came as no surprise when Amp'd filed for Chapter 11 protection leaving Verizon dangling to the tune of $33 million. The MVNO model is more Wonder Twins and less Superman. By that of course we mean "Form of .... a giant turd!" Obscure 'Superfriends' references aside it looks like Amp'd Mobile is getting their plug pulled. The following text was pulled traight from the Amp'd website: Is Amp'd going out of business? Amp'd is potentially suspending US operations on July 31st. Translation: Verizon wouldn't give us another $25 million to flush down the toilet.
How long will customer service be provided to help with issues such as ports or credits? Customer Service will not be available after July 23rd.
Translation: You are so screwed!
Will Amp'd be bought by another carrier? Amp'd is currently in discussions with several parties.
Translation: Another one bites the dust
So as of Midnight July 31st 2007 is Amp'd going down. is it for good? Well, only time will tell. As previously mentioned the MVNO model isn't panning out the way most had hoped it would (I'm talking about you ESPN) so recovery chances don't look that strong. So that means some people will be out of a phone as of today. On the bright side there can't be that many of them, 0therwise, they'd still be in business.... right?
Update
At some point monday evening all of the literature on Ampdmobile.com switched the shutdown date from the 24th to the 31st. How many customers are going to stick around for the next week or so? What a craptacular performance from the Amp'd management team.
The weekend has wrapped up and lord knows there is never enough time to work, skate and get our blog on. We have news from VBS.TV and a host of other locations. Dear lord it's early and with no caffeine in my system I fell a batch of the "truth" coming on. I'll be honest we've been so wrapped up in skating we haven't paid any attention to the WCT, snowboaridng, BMX or well anything else. I heard Slater is out. Shucks, looks like he'll go have to hang with super model or Hollywood actress in Maui right now.
Epicly Later'd
Patrick from Epicly Later'd recently profiled 5Boro kingpin Steve Roddriguez. If you aren't tuning in to VBS.tv and watching some of their programs ... you're blowing it. Epicly Later'd TV could hands down be the best thing on the info web right now in terms of skate content. About a hundred times more insightful and interesting than a contest they've gone ahead and given a true look at how skaters function in life on and off their boards. What is even more gratifying is seeing how the breakdown occurs from the most jaded (Phelps) to the legendary (Gonz, Hosoi) to up and coming rippers (Olson, etc) one thing holds true: they are all still stoked on skating.
Doing the Dew The usual suspects won and I'm sure Cleveland enjoyed its' first full fledged installment of radness since the Gravity Games last rolled through. Not to much to say about it other than it happened. There was of course some nice gestures all the BMX dirt finalist wore "Stay Strong -Stephen Murray" shirts. If you hadn't heard Stephen Murray broke his neck at the first stop of the Dew Tour. In an even nicer gesture Nyquist is kicking down his prize money to Stephen Murray's family to help with expenses.
There were rumored to be multiple complaints coming from BMX vert and FMX riders thsi weekend due to yet another windy contest site. Reportedly it was the same issue with the Gravity Games a few years back. The Dew Tour will roll into Portland next. Maybe if we are all lucky they'll cancel street and vert for one big jam contest at Burnside? Hey, you have to dream.
Skate Coverage I got a nice e-mail from the CTO over at Skatecoverage.com. They've compiled another round of stats for marketers, editors and sales departments to lust after. A sneak peak would look something like this.... Is Vans unstoppable? Vans, again easily defends its No. 1 position with a huge media buy and excellent editorial coverage. Fallen, but not forgotten Shane Cross, ranks in at #1 R.I.P!
Brand Report
Vans #1, consistency keeps them in the $$ The OG “off the wall” Skate Shoe Brand continues to reign in 1st Element takes 2nd overall Earth, Wind, Fire, Water sweet ad/ed coverage ratio... Nike SB holds down 3rd 54 pages of editorial coverage ain’t no joke Volcom (4th) & Adio (5th) round out top five brands
Skaters R.I.P Shane Cross #1! Fallen, but not forgotten...
Dennis Busenitz Bombs Into 2nd Pro Spotlight’s in TWS gets Real Skateboards, Busenitz paid Stefan Janoski Finesses to 3rd overall Habitat and Nike’s Janoski, shines out of the blue and cause Lee Ralph says so.
If this means nothing to you then, well, I don't really care. To find out more go to skatecoverage.com.
U.S. Open Hype: Dane Reynolds Quiksilvers media machine must be going in overdrive this week. Dane Reynold's, no longer content to be off the WCT, is making a run this year for a tour spot. For s surfer of his caliber the WQS spots must feel a bit lackluster but everybody has to do their time. With a question mark over the head of Kelly Slater I'm sure the heat is on at Quik to line up and heair to the throne. Will Dane ever dial it in to be the tour machine that is Kelly Slater? My guess is "no". Will Dane provide the catalyst that makes people raise their game? My hope is "yes".
Was there too much skating over the past week? Ha, you can never have too much! I promise we'll get into snow surf and another batch of goodness this upcoming week. Right now we are lamenting our next post. Are we happy to see guys like Sheckler and White grab the media eyeballs? Sure more awareness for skating is a good thing. We can always use more dollars for skate parks.
But, Sheckler, White and their planned runs get real old real fast. Granted when Sheckler almost ate it on the hip this weekend and then pulled it out I was wicked impressed. That's what Burnquist pulls out on vert. We'll see though and the next person that asks me about Shaun White pulling a 1080 is going to be shunned. I understand the need to latch onto a "face" but dear god use this opportunity to shed some light on what is really going on.
Please, please, please let Cardiel make a triumphant return to skating soon.
Late last night I was watching Fuel TV. Yes, that cable channel. You see after skating, eating some delicious pizza and a few "adult pepsi's" at the Lost dog cafe I settled on this one fact ... there isn't a whole lot on the tube at 1:30 AM. So, I settled in to watch a little special on surfing "Localism". The concept here is pretty simple for those of you that don't know: Localism is the act of treating someone from outside your community with negativity and hostility. The overwhelming theme wasn't on surfers vs. surfers. No, the big thing all the surfers wanted to talk about was "If you are from Nebraska and you dress like a surfer. Stay in Nebraska and don't come to my beach." Let's simplify that further. The people portrayed in this program were saying this "Quit commercializing my sport and letting the masses in on the fun."
The commercialization of action sports has been a constant theme for several years. Again, for those of you who don't know or maybe don't care here's the deal, at the end of the day money, big business and the consumer drive the action sports industry. Those three reasons alone will be the reason it's anchored largely to retail business for the time being. Additionally, fully making the viscous cycle complete, in retail you must have a hook to bring in new customers while finding a way to keep the old ones on board. So, it ends up being you don't want big business but you need big business to raise awareness and attract new blood. Really, it's painful and I'm sure your super-core-bro- down-rep will be happy to tell me I'm all wrong.
First let me give you an example of where that model is embraced for success
With the right steering to guide the content, product and program becomes a different animal. The transition moves from "I'm turing away" to "I'm embracing." Panasonic got this. Need some skaters for a commercial? Why not get the Girl skate team? Why not get world class filmers and editors? Maybe they said "I have a crazy idea. Lets invest in our audience" That appears to be what they did for the second year running and this is what you get:
So Panasonic figured it out and their website takes it to another level. Granted I don't need anymore Ryan Sheckler after following his exploits in 2006 but still the commercials and blogs make up for the over exposure. Yup, Panasornic sure will make you skate better. Now they just need to start handing out cameras to the media!
Ok, all sarcasm aside Panasonic is here to make money but they figured out the key thing this consumer base wants to know. This was achieved by staying true to the counter culture roots of action sports and dialing in a few questions and themes: "How, in today's digital age, your products empower us?" "What can I do with your technology to achieve my goals?" "You are using me to make a sale, Guess what? I'm using your technology to cement my future."
Embracing those themes got them to here. Whether they keep it up and others learn from it only time will tell.
Yes it is true that Elton John sang 'Friday night is all right for fighting." However, I prefer to think of it as the night when I will not fight. Actually, come to think of it, I can't place a single daty when i do fight. The point being is that it's the weekend and this hot mess is going to get wrapped up. Now if you are in Cleveland odds are you're happy for the Dew Tour Action Sports Tour which is rolling into it's second stop and you don't have to spend another weekend watching 'Drew Carey' re-runs. Then again is you want something better to look at we have a few things below.... A Major Good Time Major is having a good old fashioned throw down & in-store Saturday, July 21 in collaboration with L-R-G clothing. You can hang out, chill and meet the L-R-G crew.
Looks to be a good time and as always the latest addition to Georgetown has new kicks, New Eras and soft goods rolling in (check the L-R-G x Major tee) to the store. Like you have anything better to do...
Hot Chicks with Douchebags Every now and again we stumble upon a site or blog that takes the unintentionally funny and mocks it mercilessly. The latest addition to this theater of pain that is the "look at me generation" HotChicksWithDouchebags.com. we don't know who the poor lonely soul is that has taken this upon himself to record the trials and tribulations of young women and their interactions with total douchebags but god bless him.
The commentary just shy of genius if for no other reason than it adds a voice over to your subconscious. Reading each entry is a blend of laughter and "I couldn't have said it better myself." realizations. Sandwiched between references to guys who apparently watched way to much '21 Jump Street' therefor idolizing Richard Grieco and women who aspire to Yasmine Bleeth's perma-orange skin are the ramblings of DB1. make sure you check this site out. Bookmark it. The funny continues to make a gray day blue.
Overall what makes the site "knock-down-drag-out-funny" is the fact that it lives up to the old saying:"It's funny because it's true." In this specific case it proves another saying very true ...
"You can lead a douche to hot chicks but he still looks like a f***ing idiot."
As we close in on the weekend we better start wrapping this here blog up so we can get out and skate tonight. Are you ready for your headlines today? Lots going down across our little slice of the world. Some skate, some wake, some plain weird and some new drops. Check it...
Danny Way Out of X Games Danny Way is down and out of the X Games Big Air with another knee injury. Having more than one cadaver ACL slapped into your knee would be a sign it’s time to slow down for most but not D-Way, he keeps pushing it year after year. While Way says he won’t compete this year Bob Burnquist put it the best “With Danny you just never know.” That’s right if anybody cares to remember in 2005 Danny won X games Gold with a broken ankle. If there was ever a candidate to "just go for it" he would be at the top of our list. Bottom line is there will be no shortage of snowboard tricks gone right happening that day. However, odds are you won't see the man who kick started the mega-ness get down. I'm sure you will find something to be entertained by though during Summer X. Photos Courtesy EXPN.com
Call Me a Waaambulance Wakestock is going down in Toronto this weekend. Apparently wakeboarders feel they are getting the shaft from the mainstream with being excluded from the X Games, the Dew Action sports tour and other alleged mainstream competitions. While wakeboarding is challenging and no doubt takes a tremendous amount of athleticism lets be honest…you need to own a boat. That expensive, even snowboarding is cheaper than owning a boat! OK, enough complaining wakeboarders build your own scene. Build your own comps. Everybody is getting hosed these days. Photos Courtesy the Toronto Star
I Got Your Page Turner Right Here Former Big Brother editor, ‘Jackass’ Participant and all around flypaper for freaks Chris Nieratko is releasing a book on hard living and hard loving: Skinema. Taking on the tale of his own life Nieratko throws up over 150 porn titles but never gets into the celluloid side. Instead he throws out his blissful tales of booze, trim and times he really can’t remember. SFWeekly.com has the full length interview. I’m looking forward to the book and fully expect this to be a nice foray into F***ed-up-ville. Knowing what little I do about Nieratko from his Big Brother days I hope this picks up where James Frey lied his ass off. Click here to buy Skinema
Burton Summer Sale:
Yep, we here at SouthoftheNorth.com love good gear on the cheap. We love it even more when our riding pals get hooked up. So if you are in Vermont get ready to uh.... hook it up
What: Burton Snowboards’ 20th Annual Summer Sale When: Friday, August 3 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 4 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Sunday, August 5 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Where: Burton Snowboards 80 Industrial Parkway Burlington, VT
A Gentleman’s Pack Please Finally, Nothing says class like the new Nike SB Gentleman’s pack, dropping soon. Check your local Nike SB dealers …
Hello hump day. A nice slab of general malaise can hit you unless you go searching for the good word. Today's good word: skating. That's right decks, skaters and a small touch of controversy. The day is still young hopefully we can overcome it all and live to see the Thursday night street session. OK, on with the good stuff.
Attention NYC and beyond, Zoo York is dropping their latest artist series. The current count has this being series number three for the Zoo York Institute. Not ones to ever stop doing cool shit Zoo has gone in-house and out sourced from some of the most creative visionary minds. We all know how iconic board graphics and artists can be. However, it's nice to see Zoo continue their dedication to progression in skating, art and this culture we create on a daily basis by skating in big cities and small towns across the world. Zoo York’s Artist Series III features custom graphics from nine of today’s most progressive minds including Eric Elms (aka, Adorn), Nate Nedorostek, Bryan Collins, Cubanica, Jim Zbinden (aka, Pulp68), Also Known As x Skuf One YKK, and Zoo York’s very own in-house designers Pete Panciera (aka, Connect) and Damien Correll. You can hook 'em up now at Zoo dealers.
Last night, the 8 Leg Tour came through D.C. and rolled up to Arlington skatepark. They came to session the concrete walls and a god damn demo broke out. Nelson, Greg and Evan plus a crew broke off a nice little piece of Arlington. It's worth noting now... the only boundaries are the ones you set personally. Get out there bust some ass. Do it for yourself and make it happen. Or, as we like to say Trust your gut. Take chances. South of the North wishes the Amped crew safe travels and we hope to see you come back through real soon.
Now for our own private controversy du jour. What's going on with Skatopia? So yesterday Hypebeast let us know the latest and greatest in skater oriented threads was coming from a company called Skatopia. Weird, actually. really weird. The only Skatopia we know is in Ohio. The only Skatopia we know isn't about dressing like a pimped out Tokyo sneaker head. Your mine and our Skatopia is about building a scene where one didn't exist. Not quite sure what Brewce Martin has to say about this but we hope to find out real soon. Maybe he's down with Skatopia Clothing, who knows? Bottom line, Skatopia has been around and standing strong for skaters for a long time. Hopefully nobody is ripping them off.
Excuses, we make them all the time. "I'm too tired to skate" or "the waves suck I'm not surfing". My personal favorite "I'm not snowboarding here the mountains are too small". Please, nobody and I mean nobody has room to make a lame excuse ever again. Why not you ask? You see the Amped Riders"8 Leg Tour" is rolling into town. With Lord Nelson, the Outer Banks Bandit from eastcoastaholic.com leading the charge you can bet this is a group is about to throw down some of the heaviest skating you'll see all summer.
But, why can't you make an excuse? Simple, if you look a around you'll see why the proverbial picture is worth a thousand words. These rippers are adaptive riders. That's right skaters minus a few limbs. So no more bitching and whining. Follow along with the Amped Riders tour on Nelson's tour blog over on eascoastaholic.com.
You can get the full itinerary on their myspace pager or just check it below this here entry. I'm pretty stoked. These guys are coming my local park to skate today and having seen the tour pictures to date I know they are going to charge the 'crete. Sorry no chance day for warm weather quitters, bitching, moaning or a last minute case of the "Mondays". Get you ass to Arlington tuesday evening and watch some good skating. Not "good for a guy with a prothetic limb." Good for anybody who likes charging the world on a deck. C'mon now. Get with it.
Zoo York Denim -- $17.99, The nice price. I was a littl shocke to find Zoo York popping up on sacattack.com. Nothing but good threads and their team is killing it now with Suski. I doubt they are long for that site but who knows e-commerce is a fickle beast.
Sessions softshell -- Robble Robble. Piss poor Hamburglar jokes aside. Summer time and the livng is easy if you know where to hook up next seasons gear. I'm always on the look out for spring shred sledding jackets since I seem to hang up on rails and tear a sleeve off every season in March. You can't knock Sessions for as long as they have been in the game. This popped up for a nice price and I decided to put some style in the shreddin'. Giddyup.
Smell that? That's the smell of Monday morning and no matter what Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore says it does not smell like victory! Actually it kind of does but victory comes in the shape of stifling Washington D.C. humidity and a hot cup of coffee. Hey, you take the victories where you can get them.
I've been taking advantage of my "night owl" tendencies. This is my age old family trend to basically go without sleep for a few nights. I wake up around 3 am and function around the house in a three blind mice fashion just puttering around trying to get something done. The most productive I have been as of late has been when I've grabbed my board and gone skating. OK, sounds a little immature. leaving the house in the early morning to go skate but in these we small hours I feel pretty good. I stop thinking and start skating. Skating, re-learning how to no-comply after 13 years of not trying that particular trick is a night well spent. Of course I usually average about 3 car loads of drunks screaming "Skate or die". That's what I love about skating: I get older, skating gets more fun and there will always be some drunk asshole to scream "skate or die." Good times, good times.
Several years ago trying to get your hands on a pair of vulcanized skate shoes wasn't that hard. You just had really limited choices. You could get a pair of Vans Old Skools aka the style 36 or, well you could get the old skools. Eventually super tech clunk moonboot skate sneakers started going the way of the buffalo and vulcanized not just became popular but a must have inside every shoe line. There were some good ones and some that were notorius for falling apart. It pretty much depended on the manufacturer. Vox footwear leaned into the market s few years back rising from the ashes of 88 shoes and have been killing it lately. The shoes don't break the bank and hold up to the abuse that today's skater and terrain combo that is doled out.. They've done some solid collaborations aka the Dreamland Trooper. A variation on their classic style shoe the trooper. Chris from skatedaily.net said it best in his review:
"The Dreamland concept is a good one; with Vox donating a portion of each pair of shoes sold to support the Oregon based skate park builders. It only makes sense to reward those who have done so much for skateboarding…outside of pros. I’m down for pro shoes, but there is something special about breaking that mold." -Chris, SkateDaily.net
Dreamland Trooper Photo Courtesy skatedaily.net
Vox shoes from the skating perspective are nice and comfy. No complaints from our end. It looks like they've started dropping gell into their shoes to combat heel bruising. They've got our stamp of approval which extends to "We'll actually spend money on them!' I even went so far as to buy these Peter Hewitt's the other night. With a few pairs of sneakers backlogged waiting for the "skate and review" treatment these will be sitting on the shelf for a month or so but they are my second pair. If you are going back for seconds, it's gotta be better than " just all right"
Additionally Vox is getting ready to drop their first movie. Are you in Los Angeles on July 27th? Haul ass to the Mandrake to Check out 'Black and Blue'
I remember watching the Tracey Ullman show and catching a brief glimpse of these weird cartoons in between segments. After seeing one I started seeting up the VCR to record the show so when I came in from skating the cartoons would be wating. I even went so far as to set up a crude vcr-vcr editing set up so i coul just have a tape of the cartoons. hey, what can i say Upstate New York is a boring place growing up. Eventually those cartoons evolved in 'The Simpsons'. A television show whose impact was one of the factors that carved out an everyman lowbrow sensibility in the frame work of pop culture. Also, it's pretty funny.
Bart Simpson has been skating out of that school and down main street every Sunday night and in syndication longer than the current crop of groms. So with the release of 'The Simpsons Movie' it's awesome to see Vans stepping up to drop another amazing collaboration. Hypebeast has been on top of it all from the word go and has an update today on last nights launch party. For the whole story the Point Blank Blog is a must read. photo courtesy: Hypebeast.com
Amazing artist giving Vans 'The Simpsons' treatment. You have to love the current crop of collaborations. These are pretty much guaranteed to sell out with guys Like Dave Flores, Mr. Cartoon, Futura and Kaws. They went on sale this AM. Hope you were lucky enough to grab a pair.
