Video of the Week: Dave Bohack - THAT is what I like

I have to give Dave Bohack top honors for Video of the Week. There's something about seeing those East Coast spots (one of which I know is literally a 2 minute skate away for myself) that lets me connect with his skating more so than the countless other videos I merely glaze at through my computer screen. Watching his part felt like watching my friends in person skating spots I'm used to seeing in person, and then even sometimes cranking it up a notch or two in gnarliness. Seeing snow and rain on the ground, especially for that splashing rollaway for his insane ender 50-50, reminded me that there are some gnarly skaters very close by and that the skateboarding community as a whole is not as disconnected as it sometimes may feel.

In other skate news from the week:
Nick Remon kills it for Vans in England with a super enjoyable style and trick selection, shredding through those gritty streets. The line at 2:20 (fakie heel, fakie boardslide fs 270 out) is too good.
Niilo Nikkanen also comes through with an incredible part in GTFBID, proving that there are some "random" Euro skaters out there that are absolutely crushing it.
Jimmy Cao's new part for Sk8mafia and JSLV is super steezy and stands out nicely a midst the loads of footage the 'Mafia puts out regularly.
Jordan Gesko's part for Skate Jawn is raw and pretty awesome. The switch inward heel at 3:44 was a sweet surprise and reminded me a bit of Shuriken's nice inward.
Kevin Terpening turned pro for FA with a short but sweet welcome video, accompanied by one from Huf too.
Speaking of short but sweet, Forrest Edwards' welcome video for Theeve is quite gnarly and worth a few views.
The Flip Canadian Tour at The Skateboard Mag is too good to be written off as just another tour video, but what do you expect from that young crew of rippers.
If Rowan Zorilla's latest part was throwaway, then there's good reason to be excited for Shep Dawgs 4 (as if there weren't enough reasons already)
Tommy Sandoval takes the cake for the greatest barrage of BIG bangers at the Berrics with his Battle Commander, which timed out nicely with Hellaclips edit of Tommy's Road Less Traveled footage into a personalized part for Fallen.
In The Details was filmed and edited by Jeremy McNamara and oh boy did he do a good job.
As is tradition, Emerica dropped Jeremy Leabres' B-Sides from Made and once again comes through with the Gold.
To close things off, Youness Amrani went pro this week for Almost, a move that I'm super stoked on. Even though I said a little more time with the legendary company would be fitting, it's been some time since then and it feels about right, especially after what Youness masterfully pulled off at The Berrics.

Video of the Week: Phil Zwijsen's Time Chase

Click here: Phil Zwijsen's Time Chase

The European skate scene has so much incredible talent and style that often times us Americans overlook some of the gnarliest parts that come out. Luckily I saw Phil Zwijsen's latest part because it really is one of the more exhilarating parts so far this year. Super fast skating at some pretty wild spots combine for one enjoyable ride of a video part. Definitely get ready to go skate after this one.

Now I missed it last week but Nate Greenwood dropped one heck of an East Coast banger with his part in Theory's Chump Change. I never realized he was a Bang Yo Self finalist when his Stereophonic Sound part came out because the name didn't jump out at me right away. But that part certainly sealed the deal. I was a fan since then and his latest part doesn't disappoint one bit. He brings some gnarly West Coast tricks to the East and has a huge bag of tricks to do so. Adding on a fun style with the East Coast aesthetics and this part is a very big standout from the past couple weeks. 

Continuing to back the onslaught of East Coasters this year, Tony Durao had a really sick Video Check Out for Transworld and the Mountain Dew squad shredded the Big Apple with some famous skaters and spots. 

Vince Duran SURPRISED us all with his great fakie skills in his introductory part.

Sebo Walker is indeed a Turf Killer and is finally given the official Krooked welcome.

Chaz Ortiz has loads of tricks to display in his Battle Commander, including some steezy tech ones.

A unique crew goes Trippin through Europe and gathers some sick tricks in the process.

This Miami edit from Transworld captures the great spots at night that really can't be replicated anywhere else.

I'm normally not a fan of huge montages of skaters I don't know, but Vox nailed it with their Backin Texas video because the tricks and spots are simply awesome. 

Neal Wood, Danny Leon, and Max Taylor all came through as well with solid parts this week that were likely overlooked. 

Skating the Unskateable #4: Richie Jackson

Richie Jackson is very mystical, for lack of a better word. He goes out of his way to...go out of the way. He skates everything with his own flavor to the point of seeing him do "standard" tricks becomes the unusual aspect of his video parts. Coming up with his own tricks and variations is one thing, but doing this opens up so many more doors to spots to skate.
Take a look at Richie's part in And Now (above), for example. He opens up the part at a wall with a telephone pole support cable. That is the spot he chooses to skate and put in his part first. But it's the simplicity of the spot and the creativity of his wallride hippie jump body varial (naming tricks is not going to easy for this post) that makes this clip and all of Richie's so refreshing to watch. Being refreshing also doesn't take away from how impressive a lot of Richie's tricks are as well; there's a reason why he's one-of-a-kind. Take the ollie at 0:17: most skaters would complain about the crack right before the stairs or at the bottom but Richie doesn't mind those because he skates right through the trash can lying at the top stair. Before the fence-skating craze that I've seen at the new LES skatepark in NYC, Richie was skating directly off the fence like at 0:47, four wheels and all. No perfect flatbar? No problem for Richie! He skates chain links at 0:52 and at 2:38. And since when was a perfectly vertical structure a viable skate obstacle option? Since Richie finished his Tony Hawk video games and learned legitimate Natas spins like at 1:06 and the improved nose version at 1:39. At 1:55 people probably look at the set like it's entirely unskateable: way too long for any crazy Jaws-wannabe, and the hubbas have full length statues at the ends. So Richie just takes the easiest way down by firecracking straight through 20 stairs. In an effort to be more environmental, Richie stalls a solid airwalk treeplant (this is the best use of the "plant" as possible, in all meanings of the word) at 2:30 to finish off a line.  In the two clips starting at 2:45, skaters would typically think that the poles are in the way of the perfect ledge, but Richie's hippie qualities get him around the poles no problem. And of course, when you can't find the perfect hubbas down a stair set, just find the closest mall's escalator (like at 2:53) and skate its ledges. (I find it funny that Richie actually hits the escalator switch and rolls away switch too, probably just to bump up his score.)
Firecrackers are definitely not new, but to use the last few stairs during a firecracker as a launching step to a variety of fliptricks definitely qualifies as skating the unskateable. Please refer to Richie's Battle Commander at the Berrics for further information.