Switch 360 Flip Lipslide #2: Guy Mariano

Guy Mariano is a legend. You all know his story, so there's no reason in trying to explain it (and probably not do it justice) when it's already cemented in this iconic character's skating. Guy's progressed unbelievably through his short but impactful list of video parts, and has been at the forefront of progression in skateboarding in general. His epic part in Pretty Sweet was groundbreaking without a doubt, but not the focus for this week's topic. Although, before getting there, I do need to shoutout two pretty sweet tricks that are definitely related to this week's subject: the switch 360 shove it lipslide and the spectacular ender, both of which I genuinely don't think anyone else has done to this extent before. But anyways, if Guy can manage these miraculous tricks, then it's fitting that he is also part of the Switch 360 Flip Lipslide club...which he joined 7 years ago! After about an 11 year hiatus, Guy made the comeback of the century with his part in Fully Flared. And at 6:47 in the part above, you can see exactly just how Guy executed what is likely the first documented switch tre lip in history. It never hurts to back up some of your finest moments later on either, so that the world can watch a master at work, again and again and again.

Pro Too Soon #2: Trunk Boyz

This one might be a bit more personal than the other posts this week. And for the record, the Trunk Boyz I'm referring to here are the three that went pro together most recently in May 2013, not including Vincent and Cory. Most people know these dudes from Pretty Sweet, which is really the only place I know of these three putting out full video parts. Backtracking from Chocolate's introduction of these three as ams to the team, Raven was with the Creature fiends for a while, Elijah with Foundation, and I honestly hadn't heard of Stevie before the introduction. Again, I could have been totally slipping before these guys went to Chocolate, but I also don't think they were very heavily covered before that. Anyway, no major parts from any of these dudes were brought to my attention, meaning between their skating and their sponsors, there wasn't enough of a stir in the skate world to learn much about them. Pretty Sweet dropped and all three guys came through with sick parts for sure. I'm sure being a part of such an epic video aided in overshadowing their ripping parts and even though there were some very memorable and crazy clips, I didn't get that standout feeling like I do with some other ams' parts before (Luan in Extremely Sorry comes to mind). And ever since then, all I've really seen from any of these three were "internet-filler" clips, aka tour footage (like the Pretty Sweet Tour above), skatepark clips, or throwaway street footage. (Minus Stevie's Lakai mini-part that was pretty awesome, released right after going pro.) I value the full-length video part with one's board sponsor pretty highly, and I feel that with only Pretty Sweet up these dudes' sleeves, there's really not enough reason to go pro just 5 months after that video release. Even today, despite all the tour and park footage coming out from these guys (as their recognition coverage grows), I don't feel a sense of professionalism when I watch them skate. Watching the Trunk Boyz together gives the vibe that they shred a lot for sure but also that "I don't care, I'm too cool for everything" kind of feeling. Again, that could be just me, but disregarding that still leaves the rather shallow resume of video parts from these guys. In the end, I would definitely like to have seen more ripping from these three before they got their first pro models. When they were given the surprise in Puerto Rico, I basically felt like Chocolate was trying to make sure they didn't have any ams on their team, making sure they were exclusively professional. Getting that feeling is definitely not what should happen when some dudes turn pro.

Euro/Ditch Frontside Flips #2: Rick McCrank

Again this post is coming a little late, so it's only fitting that it's about Mr. McCrank. Not only was it a pleasant surprise to see Rick skating in the Pretty Sweet Tour, but it was made even better because he was seriously killing it! Even though it may not make up for his lack of footage in Pretty Sweet itself, I was so pumped to see Rick's playful, casual, and totally rad style across spots in the US. Quick to forget how good Rick is (check Menikmati for proof), the reminder of his skills in the Pretty Sweet Tour came at full force. This frontside flip in particular is really incredible not only because the gap is huge and pretty sketchy, but because how nonchalantly Rick makes it look. I keep reflecting on Brandon Westgate's front shove it across this gap from MADE and think that it looked a lot harder in that case. Something about Westgate's style to me shows the difficulty of tricks as they really are, which is awesome to watch. But at the same time, it makes something so easy-looking like Rick's frontside flip that much more impressive.

Best Music for a Part #3: Fitz and the Tantrums

There's something about the music that I've heard from Fitz and the Tantrums that simply stays in my memory. The skate videos utilizing their music were all filled with great skating, but nothing in particular that would keep me daydreaming about those parts (such as Westgate's street annihilation in Made or Guy Mariano's technical NBDs in Pretty Sweet). Yet the upbeat songs and good selection of mood changes, for lack of a better description, allow for full-on enjoyment of the video parts.
The first time I remember getting hooked to a video was with Fitz and the Tantrums' "Moneygrabber" in Kenny Hoyle's Madness Bonus Part (above). Kenny's style and trick selection is easily one of my favorites but despite getting used to watching his tricks again and again, I just had to keep rewatching this video so I could repeatedly experience the huge bump to bar heelflip as the percussion dropped. And right as the first verse starts Kenny comes out with a sweet line that keeps the excitement going while maintaining the soothing vibes from the quieter music. Then the switch back heel at 0:50 perfectly times the slow motion with a new underlining sound for the music as it builds back up. Another reason why I was so intrigued by this bonus part and the song was the strange skip at 1:32 that I knew felt out of place at first. Regardless, after wanting to hear the song in full, I would always picture Kenny's great skating when I thought of this melody.
Now most people probably know "Moneygrabber" from Mike Mo's part in Pretty Sweet, which I must say was an instant favorite of mine in great part because of this song. The clever ground-stomping intro as the song fades in depicts Mike Mo's effortless skill all too well. It's cool to see when that first verse comes in (which apparently is the beckoning for the first line in the video part), Mike Mo takes it back to the ledges we know him for. And then at the first major swell for the chorus, he comes out with a pretty surprising switch nosegrind fakie front 360 shove out at a green schoolyard ledge, which sticks out clearly in my mind. Same thing happens when the next chorus comes around: Mike Mo starts off a 3-trick downhill line at a school that he also skated in Fully Flared with a fakie big heel, flawlessly following that up with his impossible late flip, and finishing the line down a nice set of stairs with a gorgeous frontside flip. And at the part in the song with the 1,2,3 count-ups, Mo's trick selection gets rather crazy but is amplified by its pairing with the song for what is my favorite segment of his part.
More recently, Fitz and the Tantrums had their song "L.O.V." featured in Bones New Ground for Trent and Trevor McClung's shared part. Throughout it all, the song is very upbeat and brings out the positive mental attitudes that the brothers have. While showing off their impressive abilities they appear like they're having fun in the process, which is helped by the song. I like Trevor's 5-0 into the long, steep bank at 15:00 because his rolling away speed wobbles match the singing of "tryy-yy". Just a little gimmick that helped me enjoy the part even more. And directly after, the timing of the drums (leaving and then entering) for Trevor's switch big flip down Carlsbad couldn't have been better, as the epicness of the trick is made to stand out. Then at the end as the music slowly fades out, the saxophone solo cordially invites the two bros to a free-for-all of heavy tricks...and they accepted.
Just like in the other parts, Josh Anderson's part in Organika's latest offering of Grow With Us is really made  memorable because of the Fitz and the Tantrums' "Hey Mr. President". The first few piano chords as Josh ollies over the manhole cover and powerslides down the street are extremely inviting for the viewer. The split second of silence when Josh locks into his 360 flip nose stall at a popular ditch around the 4:00 mark acts as a moment for the viewer to catch their breath out of surprise at a pretty rad trick on a rough bank. On top of that, the chanting of "Hey!" and "Ooh!" work well as solid moments for Josh to comfortably stomp his tricks down throughout the part; they also happen to emphasize his slam around 4:42, but it all adds to the likeability of the part.

Video of the Week: Kevin Phelps

There were actually quite a few solid videos that came out this week, from the awesome team vibes and moments of the Pretty Sweet Tour, Vans release of Gilbert Crockett's part in Old Dominion to show the crusty East Coast spots, and even Ben Raemers' very fun and loose skating his Tiltmode part.
I'd also like to give an even more supporting nod to Tristan Funkhouser (aka T-Funk) with his first part for Baker Skateboards. Dude fits with Baker perfectly and already has a sick bag of man-style tricks at his age, which I respect a lot because the grom-style is not very appealing. His ender wallride is absolutely nuts, but I must say I would've killed to have seen that huge hippy jump from about 0:50 in his trailer for the part though...
Also special mention to Alain Saavedra for being welcomed to Consolidated with an extremely gnarly and just raw part. Big gaps and a really rugged style go together really well here.
And last special mention to Dustin Henry for a sweet On The Radar part for TWS. I'm a fan of anyone getting hooked up by Cliche, but it doesn't even matter because Dustin's quick feet and kickflips are very entertaining to watch.
The main video of this week goes to Kevin Phelps (above) with his part from Culture Shock. Hitting East Coast spots with West Coast tricks is really awesome to watch. It's really cool that Kevin has good pop, a lanky style that can still take some really solid impacts, a great bag of consistent tricks (that somehow kept getting larger throughout the part), and a unique take on well-known spots that lets him add memorable tricks to their histories.  Some of cool clips from the part include the smooth cab flip back disaster revert at 0:43, the front board at 1:37 mainly for the really cool look of all the red bricks at the spot, and the line at 2:17 because of the surprising half cab late back foot flip in the middle of two other really nice tricks. At 3:51, every clip becomes a banger pretty much: tailslide big flip on the NYC courthouse ledge, followed up by a nollie hardflip into that bank! Then Kevin goes to the other coast to double flip the Santa Monica triple set, which is super awesome. Then he stylishly lands a huge 50-50 drop off as well as a long noseslide big spin out on the same long ledge I remember David Gonzalez first lipsliding and then Eli Reed switch lipsliding. Later Kevin visits the huge brick double bank at 6:42 and skates it like no one else before with a giant ollie past the second bank to the flat below. And since 3 is always a lucky number, Kevin nails his third trick of the part at the NYC courthouse bank to finish things off: a ridiculous caballerial kickflip off the top shelf, somehow pulling out the switch drop and rollaway.