UNM Spot #1: Center of the Universe Gap

Center of the Universe Gap, exit pathway

The Center of the Universe is a decently traversed area by most UNM campus travelers. It's a simple design that's aesthetically pleasing and a nice little tunnel for anyone walking or riding bikes on through. Now if you're riding a skateboard, there's a giant grate right in the intersection of the structure that I'm pretty sure only longboard wheels can roll over. The chimney-like part of this structure allows light to shine right on down to this grate, highlighting the exact gap for skaters to fly over. One day while cruising around the campus, I was lucky enough to run into not only Clive Dixon and Clint Walker (and homies) from the Fully Torqued RV Tour but also some of the Emerica crew: Jon Miner, Spanky, Jerry, and The Boss himself. I was fortunate enough to witness Reynolds skate this gap and realized on the spot exactly why he got his nickname. Without spoiling the trick (just wait for Made Chapter 2!), he took 2 or 3 tries to land one and after checking the footage with Miner, landed another one just for perfection in another easy 2 tries. Handled only like The Boss could. Let's just say I was too stoked for words.

Now apart from Andrew's trick here, and some of that day's crew just ollieing over the gap for fun, I've only really seen one other trick at this spot while randomly browsing Instagram. Major props to the dude for the sick last-minute-before-darkness hardflip!

The spot itself has plenty of room to run-up, at least in one direction. (It was really awesome watching Reynolds start running with his board in his right hand and then throw down regular and take a few pushes. But no more details!) You can start by the scenic Duck Pond on campus, get a running start, and still have time for a few more solid pushes before entering the structure. You can also see the brick tiles that line the exit pathway; this is not worth trying to push on because you need as much speed and leg energy as you can get for this lengthy gap. And going in the other direction does not offer much of a runway either, though it may be feasible.

                                     

The run-up surface itself is quite perfect really. Nothing at all to worry about there.

Now to the gap.  The next two photos should hopefully show the length of the grate, compared to the length of my board (32"). It's always bigger in person too but this one's still quite a doozy in pictures. Like I said earlier, you need a lot of speed to clear this.

Another cool thing about this gap is that it's visible on Google Maps pretty clearly! The plus-shape of the structure isn't too hard to find, though just in case I pinned it here on the map. And what's even better is that it's right next to two other sick UNM spots too!

UNM Spot #2: Nuclear Engineering Hubba

Rowan Zorilla, Barley grind 

The latest Baker ad I found in The Skateboard Mag issue 123 came with pretty awesome timing for this blog post, along with the release of Shep Dawgs Vol 4.  Most recently at the Nuclear Engineering Hubba, we have Rowan Zorilla, Baker's newest am, nicely adding to the spot's trick list with this sick Barley grind. The trick also happens to be his Shep Dawgs ender.  A Barley grind doesn't seem like the craziest of tricks to end a part with, but when you take it to a tall hubba like this, the ante is upped considerably.  Not too long ago there was also Leo Romero's kickflip front board at this hubba as seen in Made Chapter 1. (I didn't see the trick in his B-Sides so here's the clip straight from the epic Emerica video itself. Sorry Emerica, had to.) 

 

                                          

For what I believe is the only fliptrick onto this spot, Leo knee bending when both getting on the ledge and riding away helps show the height to this hubba, and the gnarliness of the trick in general. Then there's Albuquerque's finest, Daniel Lutheran, nailing two tricks at this spot in his Brainwash part below. With only a gnarly 5-0 grind in between the clips, Daniel effortlessly pulls a 180 nosegrind at 1:19 and then follows up with a sweet back overcrook at 1:27 (in a mini-line nonetheless!)

Again, please comment if I've missed any important tricks at this Nuclear Engineering Hubba. And refer to the picture below for my reasoning behind this spot's name.

The 10-stair itself is a pretty long gap. I'm not too surprised I haven't seen any fliptricks down the stairs, not only because of the limited run-up and long set, but because you don't go to the Bahamas to go skiing, if you're picking up what I'm throwing down.

 Now you can kind of see how far the run-up actually is in the picture above, as it extends just about to the doors to the building. But what's also noteworthy is the brief rough patch on your way to the ledge. There's easily enough space after the patch to get ready to pop, so as long as it's not a mental roadblock then it's really no big deal. The rest of the run up is as smooth as can be. And of course there's the classic sign trying to deter us from the spot. I give UNM credit for its placement though.

 Like I mentioned before, this hubba is tall. The handrail that runs down its side is probably close to the ideal height you'd wanna ride for most grinds. But that extra foot up makes quite the difference. You can really tell how the skaters need to pop up and out to ride this thing from watching the 4 aforementioned tricks. Even just the drop off at the end of the ledge seems daunting.

The ledge itself has definitely been waxed and grinded down pretty well before, so there shouldn't be too much forcing going on here. Though, as I'm not one to really grind hubbas like this, I really can't say as an expert.  

And just a couple more pictures to get a feel for the spot. 

And of course for the spot-searchers! This spot is in the SouthWest corner of the Central UNM campus within the group of engineering buildings. There's even a basketball hoop nearby randomly if you and the homies need to let off some steam from the session or something.

UPDATE: Upon rewatching A Happy Medium 2, it turns out Tyler Franz does in fact skate the stairs themselves and not the hubba. His half cab flip goes to show that once you see a spot in person it becomes instantly recognizable in almost every video you watch thereafter. 

UPDATE 2: Just as Taylor Smith goes pro for Foundation, coming off of two sick parts with Shep Dawgs Vol 4 and Tee-Hee, he was interviewed by Thrasher to show us this gnarly and super tall back tail down this very special spot. 

 

UPDATE 3: As Blake Carpenter goes pro for Toy Machine, he unleashes another crazy trick on this spot that looks way too easy when he does it: heelflip noseslide.

UPDATE 4: Nike released some unseen footage from filming during Chronicles 2, and Justin Brock gets a smooth front noseslide down the hubba.

UPDATE 5: Never noticed in my earlier days that Caswell Berry back smithed this hubba back in 2007 in his Feed the Need part.

UPDATE 6: Jordan Maxham gets weird and creative while keeping the gnar level high with whatever you would call this combo grind of a willy and a 5-0 seen in The Skateboard Mag 147. So psyched that he's finally pro and for his Sun Machine part!

UNM Spot #3: Angled 8-Stair Rail

Daniel Lutheran, switch heelflip. Ph: Anthony Acosta

Now this 8-stair angled rail was the only spot from Albuquerque that I actually knew about. (I had no idea about UNM until this summer though.) I remember seeing Daniel Lutheran's New Jack interview in The Skateboard Mag a while back which included a photo of a 360 flip over this very rail. There was something about going over a rail for me at that time that was extremely appealing, so the trick stuck in my memory. The trick later appeared in Daniel's Mag Minute, again instantly sticking out to me as the Albuquerque spot. Since the Lutheran family is from Albuquerque, it makes sense that Daniel can consider this a local spot. And at local spot, you can get multiple tricks. So a bit later, Daniel comes through with a buttery switch heelflip (photo from The Skateboard Mag's Contenders Interview) that appears in his Brainwash part.

With Daniel and the Lutherans as the Albuquerque tour guides, there've been some solid posses coming through the city over the years. On one such visit, Jamie Tancowny came through and landed a pair of tricks himself as he was filming for Stay Gold. First a frontside pop shove it and then an upgrade to the varial heelflip (photo below by Anthony Acosta).

Jamie Tancowny, varial heelflip. Ph: Anthony Acosta

These are the only 4 tricks I know that have gone down at this spot, but please comment below if there are any I missed!

The spot itself is pretty awesome for someone craving some jumping. The set itself is a pretty sizeable 8-stair with decent height and probably slightly longer than a standard 8-stair.

The rail is knobbed obtrusively enough so there's no real chance at an angled grind, except maybe for the adventurous and clinically insane.

 But it is placed at a pretty ideal angle for popping tricks over.

There's enough room for run-up, but a little turning to get the right launching angle is needed. It's beneficial in this case to approach with the proper carve to go over the angled rail. And there's the standard crack at the very top stair, so a trick would probably have to be popped about 6 inches before the top stair.

Overall, with really nice ground to ride up with and land on, the spot is a must visit for anyone in the UNM area. If you have the testicular fortitude to chase a trick or two at this spot, there are definitely a few opportunities here!

And the guide for the spot-hunters: (If you go up the stairs at this spot and skate along to the right, you'll end up right at Johnny Layton's Wallride Spot. How sick is that?!)

UPDATE: Looks like Josh Hawkins also wanted some of that varial heelflip action over the rail, as seen in his latest Happy Medium 3 part.

Video of the Week: GX1000 Medellin

I already described my love for the Adidas team tour edits with that incredibly talented and eclectic group of skaters mixed with aesthetically beautiful editing. But at the same time, the utter rawness of the GX1000 edits are untouchable. "Raw" may be used quite often here but it's the perfect word for everything GX1000 puts out, from the street skating to the citites and spots skated to the fun and entertaining encounters the crew finds in their environment. The latest edit takes place in Medellin, Colombia, which can almost be compared to SF (at least with a few of those downhill-driveway spots), though more vibrant and colorful with its surroundings and much grittier as well. The city lends itself to an appealing edit (also because Medellin isn't too popular or overused with skate trips...knock on wood), but the crew of raw rippers works its magic. Some new Jake Johnson clips are always appreciated and Stevie Perez shreds so hard in the whole video, reminding me a little of Ishod with his total comfort on the board. Yonnie Cruz always comes through with a sick interpretation of the streets, as evidenced by his repeated ollies leading to a 50-50 and almost powersliding into a car at 1:16, as well as his synchronization at 4:43. Josh Velez surprised me at 2:32 with potentially one of the longest back lips and then officially seals the deal with a good two-story ollie or so at 2:57. The final bump into the older gentleman at the end sort of sums up how great the trip must've been, with locals as friendly as that. 

Also released were the B-Sides from Leo Romero's part in Made. Leo skated some crazy rails and put in loads of work into his part, which is given the necessary recognition with these clips. I would argue that Emerica is one of the best, if not THE best, at producing videos in general. The B-Sides are no different and often just about as exciting as the video part itself. The Berrics puts it best, calling Emerica's B-Sides as a "modern classic". While Leo deserves the credit once again for his sick part in Made, Emerica deserves the credit for continuing to put out the best skate videos.

Christian Vannella just came out with a part at the DC Embassy. I'm just going to say that the hardflip late flip and the hardflip backside nosegrind to manual 360 flip out were NOT the craziest tricks I saw (at least in my opinion). So take the time to witness Christian's craziness and remember his name.

In other skate video news:

Anton Arratia displays some super techincal ledge skating in his Mag Minute, along with other great tricks.

Shaun Gregoire released a new part via Pyramid County with some of his awesome style.

Stan Karbine's part in $14 The Hard Way was released and showcases his great use of pop.

Erick and Mikey Winkowski share a part filled with brotherly love...and some gnarly tricks as well.

Living in Newark, NJ and seeing this Ironbound edit from NJ Scum made my day.

Tony Hawk gets a Krooked guest deck and still shreds the halfpipe as well as any other guy out there today, showing why he's such a legend.

Speed Demons #3: Brandon Westgate

Everyone knows Brandon Westgate skates fast. Just look at this inhuman ollie from Emerica's Made and realize that there's no way he could make it up onto this loading dock without flying in from the car tow-in (besides the pop). Throughout all of his videos parts he comes through with that East Coast Powerhouse style of attacking spots with speed and pop. It's pretty rare to find a clip in his parts that doesn't involve some good speed to the trick.
Starting with Stay Gold, you can feel the speed with the pushing lead up at 0:47 as he gets ready to gap ollie between two banks spaced pretty far apart, banks that are typically only used for some manny tricks. Then at 2:12, Brandon begins the line by lofting a tre flip as the ground flies by and then pops a couple ollies in preparation for a huge gap to lipslide, finishing the line with soaring a front 180 much further past the stairs than necessary, all because of his speed. (This line is cleverly mimicked in Made with a fast gap to smith grind and a backside 360 down the stairs, once again sailing well beyond the last stair.) And at 2:35 you get the start of some high velocity SF footage, from sweet downhill driveway lines to the gigantic house-length ollie at 3:10.
In Brandon's Emerica Shoe Part, the downhill line at 0:46 starts off with nothing special in particular but quickly picks up so that his last ollie across the driveway is another flying moment. I haven't seen many people actually "push" going downhill, but Brandon does it in the line at 1:05 to prepare for a distance-covering frontside big spin, because there is never a thing as too much speed. And then at 3:06, to match his lines from Stay Gold, Brandon delivers two new and improved variations of some downhill lines from SF, of course zooming by at full speed.
One of the craziest clips I can remember from Brandon was the first one in his Real Street part, involving a tall ollie up onto a ledge from a small curb cut and then somehow managing to clear the length of an alleyway afterwards. It may not appear super fast at first but maintaining speed is mandatory to accomplish something like this.
And finally onto Westgate's latest epic video part in Made. The pushing in the title sequence alone is rather stunning because you know of just how fast he skates. The first 35 seconds of skating is all uncommonly fast, including some more sweet downhill SF lines, a couple gap to ledges, and an enormous street ollie. The 3 bleached-hair tricks are all super quick, including my personal favorite drop down ollie to prepare for the huge front 180 over the planter. Westgate's downhill frontside flip at the same sketchy looking spot as Trevor Colden's hardflip and Ishod's backside flip involves a serious switch hill bomb after he picks up a lot of speed from the run up. And then there's the double rail ollie into the bank at the school near the end of the part that again requires a bunch of speed.

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #1: Collin Provost

 

This was one of the craziest things I've seen in a while. I thought Anthony Schultz and Chad Bartie already stretched skating over full fences to its limits, but Collin Provost's ender from Emerica MADE goes above and beyond with an insane frontside flip over a seemingly-impossible Euro/Ditch gap. You know it's enormous when just about everyone else skates the lip of the ditch. If you haven't seen his part in MADE or the whole video for that matter, get the DVD and get on it ASAP!

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #4: Jeremy Leabres

Probably the most under-recognized trick in Jeremy Leabres standout first part for Emerica's Made was his enormous ditch/Euro gap frontside flip. (Watch the full video here and look at 2:38 if you don't remember the trick.) What's crazy to me is that this was the same gap that Westgate ended the video with when he 360 flipped it! Now I don't remember seeing the gap before but I definitely won't forget it after Westgate's crazy ender. But rewatching the video shocked me when that gap appeared underneath Jeremy's frontside flip. The angle doesn't do the frontside flip justice by itself; the clip works extremely well in Jeremy's part as a whole, but thinking of the trick itself, it's so much gnarlier than it appears. Here's to recognizing Jeremy's huge frontside flip and appreciating it a bit more.

Slams #1: Jerry Hsu

Jerry Hsu is my final selection for pros with slams primarily because of his part in Stay Gold (above). The opening minute and a half and more of just bails and freakouts from Jerry edited to the singing of "some days you just can't win" is pure gold for skateboarders. We all know Jerry has had some incredible parts like in Bonus Round and Bag of Suck so his part for Stay Gold was on the shorter side but oh so sweet. LITERALLY, without exaggeration, every single trick in the part was switch minus one nollie back tail (which is still using the nose though) so it simply works to have a part of half bailing and half tricks. As weird as it sounds, watching Jerry's bails and mental breakdowns in this part provide some sort of catharsis for skaters living vicariously through him: as he falls and screams we too feel the pain and frustration, but we also get a sense of relief for not actually having to deal with those situations. Or is just me? Anyway, amidst the first minute and a half of the part, Jerry has some seriously nasty falls. The first clip provides an instant migraine as Jerry finds out what happens when you lose balance before being able to swerve away from a wall. His head hits the wall harder than I've seen anyone else bash their head through whiplash when eating it down a set of stairs. Hitting the corner of the brick wall at 0:50 gives you that instant realization of just how bad that could've been when Jerry points to the corner with a painfully exhausted look. Also, Jerry bail off of the long out ledge at 1:24 just look rough when his legs twist very awkwardly. Not to mention the harsh butt shot at 1:34 on the gap to rail.

The Stay Gold B-Sides are also worth watching for all the raw footage and extra clips that didn't make it into Jerry's part. As for bails, they're not worth spoiling in a list so watching the B-Sides in full would do Jerry and Emerica the most justice. 

Also, for some bonus carnage, Jerry's extras from Bag of Suck show some really twisted bails, particularly from 1:14 - 1:43. The bump to dumpster tumble still shocks me.

Slams #2: Heath Kirchart

Heath Kirchart is very mysterious to me. I haven't heard many words from him but I've seen his video parts and they most certainly have some of the groundbreaking tricks and spots for a time. Heath has one of the best styles for skating large hubbas, handrails, gaps, etc. But because of its natural fluidity when he lands, his bails look just the opposite: impactful and awkwardly painful. Take this enormous kickflip above for example: full on commitment to a strong slam into the ground with a rough-looking whiplash.
One of the greatest parts of all time is Heath's part in Sight Unseen and one of the most memorable clips for me was his pair of back to back lipslides down two huge rails. The first one was perfect but the second one resulted in a full body force of a slam into the ground. Just look at 0:52 of the outtakes from the video part to see. Also in the outtakes is Heath's attempt at a huge 5-0 grind down a hubba that he 50-50'd in the part. At 0:10 he has a couple of solid slams trying this, one of which includes a hard head bash against the ground. Along with that is a bail for his ender tailslide gap out at 1:22 where he misses the rail and skips down the last set of stairs straight to his shoulder.
In This Is Skateboarding Heath sticks to the top of a large hubba at 0:53 and falls a long distance down to a bouncy slam. Any bail like this just hurts to watch when you can almost feel the impact of the ground.
In Mind Field at 1:24 Heath commits to one of the largest bump to bars known to skaters. The board leaves his feet with about a foot of distance in between and he still tries to stick it, only to be thrown into the ground when he couldn't roll away. (Huge props to Colin Provost for 180'ing over this beast!)
Looking at Heath's most recent footage (just before his "retirement") from Stay Gold in his B-Sides, we see Heath skidding down a street sidewalk at 0:34 for way too long as he tries his flying line downhill and kickflips over the fire hydrant. At 1:47 you'll see Heath take some hefty slams as he battle his brick rail back tail backside flip. And starting around 8:27 are a series of bails when Heath was conquering the Mega Ramp. While Heath's bails from his video parts may not have been as gruesome as some other dudes', they are extremely memorable for the spot, for Heath's painful reactions, and simply because of the energy that Heath and his filmers create when they're on a mission. Just adding to that, how many street guys can actually say they broke their collarbone skating the Mega and still got the trick afterwards?

Slams #4: Figgy

Justin "Figgy" Figueroa without a doubt skates some gnarly rails. The fact that I've seen him in more torn up, shredded T-shirts than whole ones should demonstrate that. Not only that but his hands are always cut up from the battles he must go through for his difficult tricks. He's a pretty big dude so when he's tossing his carcass down some hefty rails and something goes wrong, the results are rather sketchy.
Though the clip is fairly old by now, the video above from a Skate Rock tour gives a nice view of the bone-jarring thud you hear when Figgy slams hard. Ankles, face, just a full body blow. Try not to grimace.
Figgy's stand-out part in Stay Gold was extremely rad because he skated so hard to get his gnarly tricks. All of Figgy's B-Sides from Stay Gold are great to watch for both the makes and the bails, but the main falls for me include the couple harsh and fast slams on the long tre flip at 1:51, the broken ankle and weird bending of his leg while trying to switch flip the ATL 5 block at 3:28, and the horrible sound of the bashed head on the front feeble bail at 4:19 where he just so happened to get a board to the head as well. Insult to injury. There's also a smith grind from the part where Figgy sacks the curved rail rather nicely that's fully explained here; the spot is also carried into the next part...
From Stay Gold to Bake and Destroy, Figgy didn't stop working and skating really hard. Right away you see the cut up arms and hands at the start of the part immediately followed by two gruesome bails involving some skidding on the ground and that impactful thump that never sounds good. The giant gash in his hand seals the deal. Getting totally flipped over the rail at 0:46 to the point where his legs just add to the weight crushing his head and neck into the ground adds to Figgy's list of rough bails.

Best Music for a Part #2: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

When you look at the number of skate videos that have used songs by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (who I will call ESTMZ for short here) on Skatevideosite.com, the long list is quite stunning. But there's a reason for the madness (pun intended as Kenny Hoyle will explain) because ESTMZ simply produces great music for skate videos. Mixing qualities that make videos memorable and epic at the same time, the music makes you feel happy while watching the skating but excited too for the trick progression throughout the part.
If I remember correctly, the first time I heard ESTMZ was the heavily-used-in-skate-video song "40 Day Dream" through Addie Fridy's Mag Minute. The part came out a good 3/4 years ago I think but The Skateboard Mag re-released it this year. What caught me off guard was just how many bangers Addie kept coming out with, even in the quieter verse of the song. The slo-mo's near the end of his Mag Minute matched the hype from the good-feeling refrain and the double-take on his nutty ender goes hand-in-hand with the double-take on the final words: "Ohhh oh, I could die". (What's crazy to me is that while this part is pretty old by now, for these day's terms, it's still super gnarly. I'm surprised Addie is just now coming up on flow with Expedition.)
My second experience with "40 Day Dream" was through RVK's Younited Nations entry to the Berrics a few years back. But the defining video part for this song would be Kenny Hoyle's turning pro part in Expedition's Madness. The introduction as Rob Welsh leaves Kenny in the dirt to shovel out his first pro model is ideal: short enough that you don't start begging for the skating to be back, funny with the solid acting from the Expedition crew, and meaningful enough to the unleashing of the new pro. Kenny's few stomps on the dirt patch covering his board cue the fade in of the music, which slowly amplifies to Kenny's opening line of buttery ledge tricks. The first "Ahhh-ah!" at about 1:38 is timed out perfectly with Kenny's line in that clip: a sick flick on a nollie tre and a cruising no comply together build up with the music and then unleash with a huge frontside half cab flip at full energy. The held out "yeahh" at 3:55 on the varial heel across the long Chinese street gap works really well. But probably my favorite clip is right after when Kenny switch heelflips into a manual and the music momentarily is silent, suspending the suspense perfectly only to have Kenny switch 360 flip out! That culmination of excitement was too awesome so that every one of Kenny's following bangers is just made that much better. The quick cut to black after his ender and the short cut off on the music also leave that stunned feel as to what just went down.
ESTMZ's radio-popular song "Home" was featured in Lakai's Am I Am feature, with Vincent Alvarez, Riley Hawk, Raven Tershy, and Daniel Espinoza. The song was the last song used and goodness did it do a great job of closing out the video. The skating by these four dudes was heavy (enough to have 3 of them be pro by now, and arguably Riley should be as well) and "Home" created that really epic feeling with every trick going down.
Walker Ryan skated to ESTMZ's "I Don't Wanna Pray" in Organika's Grow With Us. The very beginning seemed rather quiet, but as soon as the upbeat tempo starts, you just want to start snapping your fingers along with it. It helps that Walker keeps it playful with his first few clips: 180ing into a bus after landing his grind and cruising along a sick DIY bank spot and even skating some tree branches. Walker's positive attitude shows through his skating and this song could not fit better to bring that out. The whole part takes his great skating and leaves you feeling impressed and happy at the same time. When the song quiets down again at about 2:58, it highlights all of his pretty crazy manny tricks. It brings in feelings of amazement that all work up to Walker's insane switch backside flip over the bump to bar ender. Satisfaction completely guaranteed by the experience.
Lastly, with one of the most epic video parts in recent memory, Andrew Reynolds skating to ESTMZ's "Om Nashi Me" in Stay Gold (see above). The introduction fills you with pure joy: visually Reynolds skating around his backyard and playing with his daughter is complemented by the song's cheerful introductory chords. So as soon as the music builds up from the intro and Reynolds frontside half cab flips Carlsbad, you know the part's going to be magical. The song provides that really epic video feel as all the tricks are going down. After he nollie noseslides a gnarly rail at about 3:08 and gets the elated high five from Herman, the music calms down a tad. At this point, while watching Stay Gold with my friend for the first time, we literally remained speechless with our eyes glued to the screen watching legendary spot after legendary spot be crushed. The music matched the compilation of tricks in a way that left me with feelings of pure awe. And when Reynolds kickflips the UC Davis gap at the end, the final melodies from "Om Nashi Me" make the kickflip feel like the battle has been won and celebration is in order. Exactly how an epic video part should conclude.

SOTY 2013 Contender #2: Brandon Westgate

Brandon Westgate's part in Emerica's MADE Chapter One was unbelievable to say the least. Everything about the part was perfect, the kind of high quality skating you'd expect from the Emericans and the kind that deserves SOTY. There is no one with the same rugged, fast, and powerful style like Brandon has, or anyone that can skate the same spots he does. Words don't do this part justice, so after watching his ender above, rewatch his part again...and again and again. And again.

Besides this instant classic of a video part, Westgate also looks to be coming out with something of a clip for his new Emerica pro model as well as some always appreciated NYC footage through Zoo York's King of New York at the end of the year. These are just the cherries on top of MADE.

Skating the Unskateable #5: Brandon Westgate

By now, everyone's probably watched the new Emerica MADE video at least ten times by now and has witnessed the full-speed all out destruction left by Brandon Westgate. So if you don't know, now you know. But for those that knew already, it's clearly understood that Brandon Westgate is a spot-slaughtering machine. His extreme pop and fearlessness mixed with his ability to adapt to the harshest of surfaces has allowed him to set new standards for what spots can be skated, even if no one else will step up to those spots in a while. Below are a good deal of tricks that Brandon has made that has opened up new spots to skate or new ways to skate a spot.
In Zoo York's State of Mind he skate three spots in a row at 0:20 going UP instead of down (NYC Black Hubbas, the loading dock gap, and the tapered pyramid ledge spot). In Emerica's Stay Gold (above), Brandon finds a really innovative way to skate the manny banks at 0:48; no one's ever looked at the spot as actually using both banks together. Even ollieing into the bank at 1:00 was quite a new look at the spot. The SF line at 2:35 with the two stairway ollies going extremely fast was the first of many visits to that spot for ridiculous lines that only Brandon could do.  At 3:10 Brandon basically ollies the length of a house over a parking railing nonetheless and lands pretty far down in a slope. There's a gap to rail at 4:13 that Brandon lipslides that I'm pretty sure hadn't been skated before and other than Alex Olsen recently in Pretty Sweet still hasn't been touched. And then there's the ollie up at 4:19 that is just incomprehensible.
Soon after Stay Gold, Brandon came out with his Emerica Shoe Part where he finds another unique way to fly down the hills of SF at 0:46 with an alleyway ollie to finish the line. In the line at 1:54, Brandon finishes off a sweet line by 50-50ing a shoulder high rail off a natural sidewalk kicker. In a short clip of Brandon just Talking about the Westgate, he skates up two kinks of a pretty legit hubba. Definitely hasn't been done up something as legitimately kinked as that. Then there's Brandon's Real Street part where his first tricks involve him ollieing up onto an insane ledge all from a little sidewalk curb cut and then out over both the street and stairway. In his Mini-Bangin at the Berrics, Brandon 180s where no skater has before because no one would think of going from the 5 stair section out and over the tall bar off the far side of the bump section.
In Zoo York's latest promo video of True East, Brandon hits a super sketchy step up gap at 6:30 that clearly looks unskateable. He chooses to backside flip up it. Directly after that he ollies over the extremely tall bump to bar in ATL that I doubt no one else will hit in a while. And of course the ender ollie in Pittsburgh at 7:22 that is the definitive combination of sketchiness and gnarliness. No sane skater in their wildest dreams would ever picture ollieing something like that.
Finally, in Emerica's MADE Vol. 1, Brandon continues with his ridiculous SF sidewalk lines that only he can see with his experience there. There's a huge 180 over a flower patch after a quick drop down about an 8 stair. The crazy part of this would just be to visualize where in the world he could get speed from; dropping down the stairs beforehand does not seem like an option until Westgate does it. When the music first calms down for a little there's a very tall, sketchy curved ledge that drops down into another crusty hubba that he powers a 50-50 through backside. Later on in the part, Brandon ollies over a tall black pole off of a sidewalk bump (that blends into the background so a double take is usually necessary) that is unlikely for anyone else to even get the courage to skate straight on. There's the gigantic bump to bar against the full brick wall near the end that seems super hard just to keep speed up through, much less pop and land way down below. And of course the van-tow-in loading dock ollie up that defies all gravity. But of course Westgate follows his own laws of gravity.

Return to the Radar #3: Tom Knox

This was the first time I had ever heard of Tom Knox.  Seeing that he rides for Emerica and Blueprint (at the time), there had to be something special about him.  So when the two brands collaborated for this introductory part, I was very impressed at this Londoner's extremely quick feet and spontaneous street style. The edit is fast paced and every clip matches that pace because Tom somehow manages to throw tricks on obstacles immediately after landing a previous trick.  The first line at 0:15 is a good example of how he doesn't stop in between tricks but seems to start setting his feet up as he lands the trick before.  It takes this precision skill set to pull off a line like at 0:41, navigating through the narrow alley without losing any control of his position.  (Just look at this fun clip of Tom skating on a moving train, weaving in and out of the support poles, recovering from veering off to the sides with an alertness I can only relate to Mark Suciu's.)  Quick feet allows Tom to pull of his body varial at 0:57, which looks like he waited for the last possible instant to actually twist.  The fact that Tom has a great deal of tricks and can skate just about anything (adapting perfect to his London environment) makes him that much more enjoyable to watch, not to mention the London aesthetic that never fails to please either.  Other notable tricks from this part include the tightly spaced gap to back lip at 1:47 that requires the utmost concentration in positioning to avoid the brick wall, the perfect finish to the line at 2:14 with the quick no comply off the last step, and a huge fakie ollie at 3:01 that is terrifying but the conceptual simplicity of the trick makes it that much cooler too.
There is also his older Square One part that includes more of that quick-footedness, the precision placement and control, and an even wider array of flip tricks to show for.  The 180 up to switch backside 360 ollie at 1:38 gets me every time.  Skateboarding could definitely use some spontaneous quick footed skating like Tom's to be in the spotlight, especially when he has the beautiful and much less than perfect spots that London offers at his disposal.
Now that Isle Skateboards has officially started up after the termination of Blueprint, I really hope they are working on something as a team so that Tom Knox can again put out his great skating.

UPDATE: It slipped my mind, but I am extremely pumped for his Eleventh Hour part coming out soon!

Video of the Week: Emerica MADE

Emerica MADE: Chapter One

Let the skating speak for itself.

Favorite Video Parts #2: Andrew Reynolds - Stay Gold

Emerica knows how to make me smile.  Just starting off with the sound of running water mixed with "Om Nashi Me" from E.S. and the Magnetic Zeros provides that soothing feeling, which is only amplified by Andrew enjoying time with his daughter while cruising around his backyard park.  It's the same happiness displayed here in the intro that you later feel with every trick as Reynolds somehow defies the laws of aging and effortlessly crushes skateboarding's largest and most historical gaps.  When a part starts with a frontside half cab flip down Carlsbad (later followed by a switch back heel down it as well at 2:19), you're instantly hooked and understand exactly why he's The Boss.  I could probably write about every clip with how perfectly it contributes to this epic part as a whole. (Don't worry, I won't.)  But Reynolds comes through with the ideal balance of heelflip tricks with his iconic [frontside] kickflips, super solid lines that show his powerful style and pop, and the nice array of handrail/ledge/gap tricks we all love him for.  For some specifics, the nollie inward heel (to close a line nonetheless) at 1:27 and the fakie tre down the same gap are two of my favorite tricks in this part for the way Reynolds flicks and catches both.  When the music changes at 3:13, I felt a definitive change in the part where everything that follows was nothing short of an absolute banger. This was a hard statement to make considering all that has already happened, but when I watched this for the first time with my friend Steve, we just sat in silence awestruck at every clip to come for the rest of the part. Getting two clips at a few of these spots, Reynolds hits the big ones: Wallenberg, the ATL 5 block, Bercy 5, Hollywood High 16, UC Davis Ivy Gap.  Every single trick here is utter perfection. But you wouldn't expect anything less from The Boss.