Video of the Week: Ishod Wair - LOVE Gap Uncut

It's really getting ridiculous at the quantity of good skateboarding that's coming out every week. This week I could include a lot more videos but I'm going to try and keep it short enough with my favorites.
Ultimately, I was pretty pumped to see Ishod take SOTY 2013 after dropping loads of high caliber skating and looking ever-so-relaxed while doing it. The ease with which Ishod does his tricks can be super misleading, particularly for his ender from Wair N Tear. The switch frontside big spin down the LOVE gap didn't come as too much of a shock to me because I had seen the sequence in an issue of TWS and was somewhat expecting it at the time this video part came out. So seeing Ishod barely lift an arm and rollaway flawlessly from this trick made it seem like just another day in the park for him, no biggie. The realization of just how gnarly the trick really was though came this week with the uncut footage of Ishod's work for the trick above. For one, it's the LOVE gap, not small by any means. Secondly, a switch front big spin is definitely not the first choice trick for many skaters. But what gets me is just the volume of attempts that Ishod goes for the trick. The determination to not let the wind, cracks, or commotion at the spot get to his head is already a lot, and then you add on the fact that his body must be so sore after jumping down so many times. If that's not enough, throw in a broken finger, a broken board (and having to get acquainted to the homie's board), and actually sticking it numerous times without rolling away and you have a near impossible mountain to climb. But it's this very reason, and the relatively calm, non-glamorous outcome of landing this trick that make Ishod a great choice for SOTY 2013.

Uncut footage and outtakes are some of my favorite clips of skateboarding because you can connect with the skater more and appreciate the work put into tricks. So just like the 5 minutes of switch front big spins from Ishod, Nyjah's Fade to Black Outtakes are just priceless. While the video part itself was an audiovisual experience for the ages, seeing the raw footage is just as good, if not better. Personally, it was kind of cool to see Nyjah get frustrated with some tricks and just crack a laugh here and there as well. That's the stuff that brings out the fully-realized awe of watching some gnarly skating go down.

On top of that, David Reyes came out with a fantastic part via the Berrics and Etnies. His style is essentially perfect and absolutely kills handrails, along with some other sick clips for a great part overall.
Richie Jackson returns to the radar and doesn't disappoint with a new video part of one-of-a-kind tricks. It's crazy to think just how much he has innovated aspects of skateboarding and continues to do so in ways most of us never would have thought of.
The 5boro squad released a sweet video of footage from Philadelphia. They always come through with some of the best East Coast skating vibes out there.
Though the part will probably be taken down soon, Tony Cervantes' part from Cold War was released. A tad short but very sweet, Tony's footage keeps grabs and gnarliness alive and kicking.
Ashes Griptape came out with a "half full length video" called New Sheet that is just awesome. Full of some serious ripping, including some definite face-melters near the end, it's likely a first for a griptape company to come out with a full team video like this. Tons of gnarly and appealing spots coupled with a really sick European team makes this video so rad. I must also say I was scared for Chris Pfanner at 3:53 but his crazed, fearless assault on anything he comes across allowed him to just keeping on rolling.
And finally for this week, is Old Woops New Groove from Magenta Skateboards. Leo Valls and Ben Gore take the throne of SF by mixing extremely fast and stylish skating with loads of fun and a new look for skateboarding at the streets and driveways in SF. This is exactly the kind of video that gets you hyped to just go out and skate and have fun.

Next Week: Clipper Ledge

Next week is going to be a good one. We'll be taking a look at a bunch of the tricks that have gone down at the Clipper Ledge in San Francisco, California. This topic was primarily inspired by Jamie Thomas's latest addition to the history of tricks with his gnarly ender in Cold War. Just to be safe and not spoil anything further, I'll just say that while the trick itself may be used a bit too frequently these days, actually thinking about doing it down something as big as Clipper makes you realize just how gnarly that trick was. The fact that it was The Chief doing it too just adds to the quality of the history at the spot.

To keep some standards for this week, I'll only be highlighting the grinds/slides done down the ledge. That isn't to say there have been some crazy tricks done OVER the ledge too. Cody Mac's switch flip from Business as Usual (2:48), Jamie Tancowny's backside flip from Strange World (1:25) which just so happens to follow a sweet kickflip front board down the ledge, and one of the highest ollies probably ever done: Milton Martinez goes over the top and down the TWO sets at Clipper! Then there's Eli Reed and Richie Jackson getting creative and doing some footplants, Eli in his Real Street part (0:52) and Richie in this older Pig Wheels ad.
Now for some mention-worthy grind/slide tricks done down Clipper. There's James Hardy in Since Day One with his scary front 180 to switch 50-50 the hard way, Nyjah Huston's hammer of a hardflip back 5-0 from his Last Call part from last year (0:30), Greg Lutzka's really awesome frontside big spin noseslide from Forward Slash, Vincent Alvarez with a crazy switch backside bluntslide back to switch from Pretty Sweet, Ishod Wair with the stylish frontside version, and then Mark Appleyard with three beautiful tricks from Sorry: switch front tail (1:28), kickflip back 5-0 (4:35), and following that with the gnarly nollie flip back 50.

I hope I'm not missing any super gnarly tricks done at Clipper, but these ones mentioned here and the ones coming this week are the ones that stick out most.

Update 6/8/15: Even though Transworld pretty much fully documented the ABD Archives at Clipper, and Thrasher helped unleash a myriad of NBDs on the spot through The Ripper at Clipper to forever cement this spot as one of the greatest in skateboarding history (RIP Clipper), I don't think Daniel Dubois' frontside 360 from his 19th Ave part was fully appreciated, or Sam Baker's crazy ledge combo on the gnarly hubba while under construction. And I almost forgot Alex Conn's gnarly nollie boardslide to fakie!

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.