Speed Demons #5: Omar Salazar

Omar Salazar is a ball of energy. His wild eagerness to straight out go for anything is portrayed in as much as in his lifestyle and as it is in his skating. It's this energy that keeps Omar skating super fast and attacking anything that stands in his way, making most of his footage very memorable simply for the pushing or flying along at full speed towards obstacles.
In his Nothing But The Truth part above, the line at 0:15 looks like he should lose control with just about every movement, but Omar handles the speed and flies on by with a couple of fun, fast tricks, following them with a beautifully stomped switch heel without slowing. Seeing his shirt flying around at 0:55 gives you a reasonable idea of just how fast he is going, uphill nonetheless. Really, this whole part is filled with some very fast skating, and Omar's controlled-chaotic style is what makes him stand out as a super fast skater.
In Mind Field, Omar snakes around a sweet channel at about 1:08 to show off his control at such high speeds. Obviously there are tons of speedy clips throughout the whole part but this one in particular sticks out.
Looking at Omar's part in First Love, there's not much need to go further than the introductory hill bomb at 0:36. The way he shows no problems at all with the speed and even has enough confident control to woosh around with his scraping ollies just for fun is remarkable. Also, in the line at 3:08, he hits a ledge with a back tail at probably the highest speed I've seen someone somewhat swerve into the ledge. Then the last 4 clips are all just full-on fast assaults of the spots, including some sweet downhill action.
In this Spitfire commercial at 0:43 Omar hits the top ledge on a bank fast enough that he doesn't even need to get on top of the smith grind to cover more than half of the ledge, all before gliding through a few more pushes (exaggerating how slow the crowd is skating) towards a huge ollie. And the clip right after that with the gap to 50-50 all the way through is a true testament to how fast he skates.

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?

Return to the Radar #1: Tyler Bledsoe

Tyler Bledsoe is probably one of the most overlooked skaters today.  His quiet persona matches his smooth and stealthy spot destruction.  A dizzying array of fliptricks and a spot selection that naturally flows together with any edit also help make Bledsoe footage that much more valuable.  As far as my knowledge goes, he's put out two pivotal full length video parts with TWS's Hallelujah (above) and his part in Mind Field, as well as an artsy piece by Benny Maglinao and a couple of commercials all for Etnies. Not to mention awesome clips in the Gang of Fourstar tour video (front hurricane to switch crooks at 2:29 is amazing in so many ways). Through Etnies, Bledsoe has thoroughly put out stylish footage at unique spots that demonstrates his ability to get tech with ledges without going overboard, come up with tasteful manual tricks, skate different kinds of inclines, and especially throw some tricks down gaps. Watching Tyler skate provides some kind of impalpable sensation that may come close to admiration but mixes in a soothing vibe to it; basically it's just pleasing to watch him shred.  His frontside and backside kickflips both switch and regular look wonderful and I'd say he's got one of the best big spin flips and quite possibly THE best frontside hurricane grind in the game (just take a look at his Hallelujah ender at 3:43 for proof, along with the many other sweet variations.) His gap tricks are done with a flawless style, exemplified in Mind Field with his tweaked hardflip at 1:18 and his big flip ender down Carlsbad at 2:31 (one of my favorite tricks for sure down Carlsbad).  And he keeps ledge skating interesting and fun with creative combos that stray away from the overkill of some ledge dancers.  Just look at the back lip to blunt in Mind Field at 1:39, the nosegrind shove to 5-0 at 0:50 in Hallelujah where he actually sits on the ledge and grinds for quite a bit (you see way to many short grind taps these days, holding the trick out looks much better) as well as the front board over to noseblunt at 2:07 and the back tail pop over to noseblunt at 3:38.
With very little sighting of Tyler over the past 2/3 years, I am getting very anxious as to when new footage will arise out of him.  A beautiful style like his cannot sit around for too long without appeasing the needs of the skateboarding world.

Ams that Should be Pro #4: Marquise Henry

I first remember seeing coverage of Marquise Henry through Transworld’s Check Out and some ads and sequences in the mag.  This was back when he just got on Alien Workshop through Kalis as Mind Field was coming out.  I liked what I saw in the mags already of Marquise, but when his bonus features part in Mind Field came out (above) I was shocked. He’s got that wide array of tech tricks in any stance with that totally G style that is always a good watch.  Mixing his high pop with his back of switch tricks is the perfect combo for skating everything street really well.  Not only that, but did anyone else notice his inward heel 5-0 down Hubba Hideout?! (1:56) How does a trick like that not get someone into the primetime spotlight and go down as one of the historical benchmark tricks at that spot? After switching with Kalis over to DGK, I knew Marquise was still fairly new to the industry but definitely had the skills to turn pro soon. He also dropped a really awesome part with the DC Shoes: Skateboarding is Forever series. Again, Marquise dazzles the viewers with technical skating, impressive pop, and a smooth style. More recently, when Parental Advisory dropped, Marquise’s part was instantly my favorite of the video.  His last 6 or so tricks are total face-melters and two tricks that specifically stick out to me are his half cab fs nosegrind nollie flip out at JKWON and his inward heelflip bluntslide on a downwards bench and slope at that popular schoolyard somewhere in Cali.  Super hard, super tasteful, and super exciting.  This would be the best time as any to turn ‘Quise pro, but DGK chose Keelan instead (probably for his marketability, which is understandable from a business point of view, but not from most skaters’ I’d say).  And after still showing his fresh tricks and style in the DGK United Nations Berrics video, I’m really hoping Marquise gets his first pro model really soon.  He and his powerful tech style deserve it.

Favorite Video Parts #1: Jake Johnson - Mind Field

Coming from Jersey and living in Newark, I really respect the way some skaters make East Coast spots look like standard obstacles at the skatepark.  Jake Johnson filmed what seems like most of his part in the New York area, and I didn't notice anywhere the typical ledges or sets you see in California. That in and of itself makes this part extremely appealing to watch with all the grittiness and difficulty you'd expect from East Coast spots.  Combine that with Jake's raw shredding power and Alien Workshop's memorably unique editing, and out comes one of the most aesthetically pleasing displays of skateboarding I've seen.
Jake covers it all with strength and finesse, something you don't see too often with tall dudes like him.  The ride on 50-50 at 1:46 looks sketchy to begin with, but no problem for this guy to go switch apparently. Later on you'll see Jake flying through a speedy back 180 at 1:58, a classy Easy Coast trick at 2:03 (just kept on pushing through those streets), and a baller fakie heel at 2:19 at the Banks that is just unfair to have down like that.  Jake must be ready for marriage with the way he's committed to the kickflip back lip at the Black Hubbas at 2:25, which are a lot more intimidating in person that I'd imagine. Jake's switch pop is super entertaining to watch, particularly at 2:45 when he switch back 50s the bench (in a line!) and then decides to go switch over the rail at 3:38 because going over the top regular has been done too much already.  And to top it all off, Jake throws down an enormous double set wallride at 3:21 and closes everything with a huge switch one.  Man it must feel good to skate like that...