Tricks Over J-Kwon Ledge

CJ Tambornino, no comply.

As the era of the LOVE Park plaza has transitioned into that of J-Kwon's, one can say that just like every make down LOVE's fountain gap, every trick done over the long ledge at J-Kwon instantly adds to the spot's history. And Josh Kalis is once again at the center of all the action. J-Kwon's ledge is special because there aren't a huge number of spots recognized for individual flatground tricks done. The picnic bench comes to mind (TWS has already archived its historic ABDs), but it can be considered more of a prop. Pier 7 offers a couple more memorable options, as Marcus McBride perfectly demonstrates, though the manny pad technically has a drop - thus not exactly flatground - and I think the last actual flatground ledge in the part is no longer around. Regardless, J-Kwon's ledge is easily recognized and provides a sizable challenge to those that think they have their fliptricks down. (Luan, if you're reading this [it's too late], please skate this spot.)

It's been quite a while since the last post, but the timing could not be any better. I've been wanting to catalog the tricks done over the long ledge at J-Kwon for a while. So when Nick Tucker shocked the web with his turning pro part for Primitive, not only did he DEMOLISH the LA courthouse ledge, but he startled everyone with 3 sick NBDs over J-Kwon's ledge. Getting one new trick is remarkable enough, but 3 back to back to back tricks was simply thrilling. This already got me thinking about the blog post, but the cherry on top was when Walker Ryan and Kelly Hart astonished me with their J-Kwon additions today. Walker's already one of my favorite skaters, and the switch backside flip is probably my favorite trick to see done (because of guys like Walker), so the combo is too good. Couple that with my personal favorite trick to do (fakie 360 flip) done by a master of that trick and I am completely flipping out in excitement from this short video.
(And soon after Matt Gottwig almost ollied over the whole super long ledge too!)

Now to the rest of the catalog of tricks chronologically (for the most part):

1. The "Basics"

The first trick done over the J-Kwon ledge to my knowledge comes as a pleasant, but easily unnoticed, surprise from the Boss himself. We already know his kickflip is one of the best ever, so it's fitting for him to casually open up his Bake and Destroy part in 2012 with a kickflip over the ledge, to start out a line of course (0:10).

Diego Najera was seriously placed on the radar when he was welcomed to Ammo a couple years ago. Besides incredible switch skating and trouble flipping the Hollywood 12, Diego nails a solid line at J-Kwon, speedily setting up for a buttery switch heel down the stairs by frontside 180ing over the whole ledge (1:34).

While Brett Sube's trick (or pair of tricks) is the most basic on flatground, it's possibly the most impressive of all of these cataloged entries so far. Huge double ollies over the extra-high ledges document his impressive pop and control to close out his part in Gracias Skateboarding. (Also note that Alex Olson ollies over one of these extra-high ledges in a line in Pretty Sweet.)

2. 360 Flip - Jordan Trahan

A video posted by Josh Kalis (@dgkalis) on May 4, 2014 at 9:17pm PDTh

 The first trick that really put this spot on the map. Jordan Trahan's unearthly pop and one-of-a-kind miraculous 360 flip, captured by OG 360 flip master Mr. Kalis himself, is a thing a pure beauty.

3. Switch Frontside Kickflip - Carlos Iqui

A video posted by Josh Kalis (@dgkalis) on Jun 1, 2014 at 8:54pm PDT

Leave it to a Brazilian to pop much earlier than necessary and fly insanely far over the whole ledge. Quite a few tricks come to mind before a switch fs flip to try at this spot, but Carlos Iqui once again proves his technical wizardry is no joke. UPDATE (6/2/15): Carlos apparently has decided to one-up himself by doing this trick again in a pretty heavy line.

4. Caballerial - Abbas Glass

I've honestly never heard of Abbas Glass before, but I'll never forget his name after this. This caballerial was executed perfectly, with bonus steeze. NOTE: The original video seems to have been taken down, so here's a separate link to substitute.

5. No Comply - Bobby De Keyzer

Now I was pretty blown away when I saw the photo of CJ Tambornino (above) no complying over the ledge. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any footage surface of his trick. But another technician in Bobby De Keyzer released a shockingly awesome part for DC not too long ago. What better way to start off a part than arguably one of the best lines in recent memory, including that wonderfully enormous no comply (4:10). Mad props!


UPDATES:
I basically would like to keep an ABD Archives of this JKWON ledge spot, much like Transworld is doing. However, I'm going to keep it strictly for tricks done over the ledges because the entire spot itself is definitely blown out. Please comment any tricks that I may have missed!

A video posted by THRASHER MAGAZINE (@thrashermag) on Jun 8, 2015 at 7:59pm PDT

6/9/15 - Kelly Hart, contributor of his great fakie 360 flip over the ledge, filmed the homie Myquel Haddox adding TWO new tricks to the spot's history for eS! Another name I won't be forgetting now after the beautiful half-cab kickflip and fakie big flip.
6/18/15 - Myquel just isn't stopping! Chalk up another one over the J-Kwon block: frontside heelflip. Hope a video comes soon!
7/22/15 - This dude is unreal. Myquel adds one more trick to the list: switch heelflip. He could probably put out a full part soon of just these J-Kwon block tricks...
8/28/15 - I definitely missed this the first time around. Not exactly sure when Furby switch back heeled the ledge, but it can be found in the Supra commercial in the sponsors menu in TWS' Outliers. Unfortunately I could not find a video or picture online so you'll just have to check it out in Outliers for yourself!
9/24/15 - Sabotage 4 was released on DVD on 9/11 and after receiving my package and peeping the video, I was psyched. Not only is Philly footage the best, but parts from Ishod, Suciu, Kalis, and Walker Ryan all got me super amped as well. Amidst the hour long video was a nice little gem from J-Kwon frequenter MATT GOTWIG (see above). While Myquel may have had a picture of his front heel, Matt to my knowledge was the first to release a video of his FRONT HEEL over the J-Kwon block in all its beauty. Cop the full length to see it featured in Brian Douglas's part!
10/8/15 - And of course, a 5 trick fix over the ledge for Myquel. Only a matter of time. Wow!

A video posted by Myquel Haddox (@quel615) on Oct 7, 2015 at 8:05pm PDT

12/25/15 - Cyril Jackson has had a super productive rookie year and capped it off with a solid Deathlens part featuring a tight late shove over the J-Kwon Ledge! Check the full line at 1:18 for the awesomeness.
1/3/16 - Even with Walker getting the trick first (most likely), Matt Gotwig shows again that he's a J-Kwon local by switch backside flipping the block in his Aguora Lifestyle part.
4/29/16 - Quel is back at it! Now getting into the awkwardly gnarly tricks: fakie varial flipping the block in style.
1/14/17 - Like many others in DGK's new "Saved" video, Adrian Del Campo gets his AM intro to the team and comes correct with a solid switch front heel over the block, even if Nick Tucker did it first.
7/9/17 - Never took this one into account back from 2013: Yuri Facchini with a proper heelflip to start a line and his Damn good Blind part!

Switch 360 Flip Lipslide #5: Walker Ryan

Walker Ryan is definitely on another level when it comes to the switch game. All the switch backside tricks most people are proud of landing bolts every now and then, Walker has on lock. Switch 360 flips are no different. He's landed some heavy ones before so why should there be any problem to flick one into a switch lip? Heck, he's even been known to fling some switch tre 5-0s anyway. But the obvious answer comes with beautiful execution in his awesome Perpetual Motion part (seen at 3:44 in the remix above, but it's really worth watching the whole part). What's great about Walker's entry to the switch tre lip club is that because his switch game is so on point, he casually brings this trick back to switch. Now that you definitely don't see too often.

Video of the Week: Youness Amrani - Almost a Part

I may be biased towards anything that Almost does, so their release of essentially Youness's pro part was high on my radar for this week. But even with my favoritism for Almost, Youness is on some next level stuff. The fact that he is one of the best manual skaters out there and can jump down some huge drops and rails is just not fair. His core balance is so strong (just look at his perfectly straight over fakie ollie to start the memorable line at 0:53) and it shows in the way he executes his tricks so flawlessly. And then you can look at his lines, that start and end with tricks other skaters have by themselves, such as back smiths or front feebles down big handrails. Throw in a nollie back 270 switch front tail (in a line at 2:00 nonetheless) along with two epic 360 flip variations down the famous monstrous ditch (with some sweet rollaways as well) and you have quite possibly the best video part of the year.

The Skateboard Mag also offered 6 parts from the indy video Goosenectar. Even though the full length was segmented here to spread over the course of the week, the releases definitely warrant a purchase of the DVD. And if it weren't for Youness dropping jaws and arguably one of the best parts of the year, then Goosenectar would undoubtedly be video of the week. Regardless, here are parts from Jared Cleland, Julian Heller, Sean Imes, Mason Silva, Louie Lopez and Alec Majerus, and Steven Swanson. Everyone seriously killed it!

In other awesome skate news from the week:
Kyron Davis drops a part for Grey Skate Mag and even though I know he's good, this part seems to be packed with more ripping than I've seen from him before and it's sick!
Sammy Montano has a Video Check Out for Transworld and comes through with loads of style and pop.
Cuban Fiedlity is Patrik Wallner's latest project featuring Walker Ryan and Michael Mackrodt traveling and skating through Cuba on pretty much untouched skate grounds.
Emerica's Euro squad absolutely shreds through Barcelona in the fashion only Emericans do.
GX1000 says that San Francisco is Grate, and I agree 110%.
Tony Hawk drops a part entitled Sync, full of Doubles with Andy Mac (even some triples!). This is a true testament to Tony's legendary status and the best showcase of how to have fun and be creative.
Alex Valdez's part in No Brainer mixes gnarly skating with the work put in behind it all and some fun too.
Albert Nyberg has Excess Baggage from AB&A with some never been seen tricks that will blow minds.
Dennis Busenitz basically had a full part in The Cinematographer Project with features from the Real Team, and Dan Wolfe was the lensman to portray it all. This part was just released online by Transworld and deserves a few watches.

Video of Last Week: Lucas Puig and Stephen Khou in Something Sinister

Last week was one of the craziest weeks in terms of video parts released online, so I apologize for the late posting (almost a week late) but I finally got a concise and really gnarly group of videos of the week.

Top honors goes to one of my top favorites: Lucas Puig. His shared part in Something Sinister was the perfect display of nonchalant, stylish technical skating that you'd want in any video. There's a reason why Lucas is one of my favorites, and it's not the first name. It's the fact that he, in my opinion, has the illest style out there and makes all these ledge tricks look so good. I think the leaves caught in his trucks at 1:48 (on a switch front tail heelflip out to switch nonetheless) pretty much sum up the demeanor of how he filmed this part. Stephen Khou killed it too with some pretty tight tricks, but my boy Lucas shut it down! I can't wait till my DVD of the full video comes in.

I would love to write a paragraph for every one of these following videos because they were all that great, but I'll keep it short:

Walker Ryan - A Far Walk From Home - video parts from my two top favorites in one week!? too good to be true! Oh and pairing Walker with Patrik Wallner is a match made in heaven.
Primitive Skateboards - Paul Rodriguez, Nick Tucker, and Carlos Ribeiro team up in one of the heaviest announcements in a while, and based on the jaw-droppers in this intro video, things are going to get heavy.
Karsten Kleppan - Lakai Welcomes this Norwegian with an absolutely shredtastic video part full of super fast skating at a bunch of sick street spots.
Jay Meador - Something Sinister - Jay oozes style (a common thread in Something Sinister it seems) and makes this part a blast to watch.
Jaws - Happy Medium 3 - Just when you think Jaws needs to ice bath for about a year, he ups the ante once again in both skating tranny and deadly drops.
Andrew Reynolds - Varial Heel Hollywood High - The persistence and determination needed for this trick is beyond anything most of us could imagine, but leave it up to The Boss to not accept anything but perfection.
GX1000 - Moving Violation - This will no doubt make you want to go skate in the streets right now and just cause shenanigans with your homies.
Brick City Street Styles - Living in Newark right now, I had no idea how much I was really missing out on until this great all-Newark video came out.

Video of the Week: Visualtraveling's The Persian Version

Patrik Wallner's Visualtraveling has been one of the most beautiful forms of cultural education for skateboarding. Taking on the locations without a blown out skate scene, Patrik delivers once again as he rolls with a terrific crew (including one of my favorite skaters and regular visualtravelers, Walker Ryan) through various parts of Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Sure, there's some really awesome skating involved, but the whole video offers so much more to enhance our desire as skaters to keep exploring.

Other sweet videos from the week:
Brian Peacock - Something Sinister - the craziest switch tech combos you've ever seen
Riley Hawk - Shep Dawgs Tape Deck - 17 minutes of raw, tech-gnar uncut footage
Jorge Simoes - Jart's The Am Project - another tech-gnar, flowy Euro that's blowing up quite nicely
Jamie Thomas - Road Less Traveled Recut - nothing quite like The Chief
Electric Summer - fast, fun, and creative edit that makes you wanna go skate
Travis Glover - that fakie ollie at 1:46!

NYC Courthouse Ledge #3: Across the Edge and Manuals

I'm sort of pooling together a few different ways of skating the NYC Courthouse spot today. From what I know, only Brandon Westgate and Zered Bassett (above) have managed to get tricks along the entire edge of the end of the bank. And it's not like they just got 50-50s or something. Westgate nosegrinds the whole ledge and even manages to twist a 180 off the end and down the 6 foot drop, while Zered hits it switch for the whole length! Not only is the ledge long and the drop huge at the end, but it's a pretty good height to get onto as well. Skating this iconic spot in this new way will definitely spark some guys to add to the full-length ledge tricks, but for now, give major props to these two guys.

Now on top of skating across the edge, there have been some dudes that incorporate manuals into this monstrous setup, utilizing both the main ledge and the drop into the bank. I first saw Kenny Hoyle throw a manual down the bank after a popped out nosegrind in his Madness part. At that time, that was pretty mind-blowing because the spot was definitely familiar enough, but only with single tricks on the ledge or the drop. Carrying the manual through the kink at the end of the bank and maintaining composure while falling to the ground is super impressive. Then Joe Tookmanian came along with a back tail nose manual through the bank. It takes a NY skater to be able to manage something as crazy as that, especially nose manualing through the kink.
Guys like Zered and Walker Ryan decided to take the top drop path via manual and added yet another way of skating this spot. Both tricks stoke me out so much: seeing Zered cover almost all surfaces of the spot switch and Walker popping into the tight bank out of a nose manual.

Video of the Week: Yoshi Tanenbaum

Yoshi Tanenbaum's skill is surreal. The fact that the flick on his laser was perfect nearly every single try and he stuck all but maybe two attempts is incomprehensible. Making something so gnarly look easy enough to just run up and go for it like Yoshi did is beyond impressive, and then landing it twice in a row (what was wrong with the first one?) takes the cake for me.

For time constraints I will just list some other sweet videos from this past week:
Chaz Ortiz and his insanely consistent and buttery backside flips at the Berrics
The Expedition flow bros are extremely skilled
Always enjoy some new Josh Anderson footage, in this case via his Mag Minute
The ever-beautiful varial heelflips and variations from Willow in this Etnies feature
Moose's first pro truck via Thunder Trucks
Sweet new part from Aussie Jack Fardell
Always love some raw VX footage from one of my favorites, Walker Ryan
Connor Champion skating very poppy with this Quartersnacks remixed part
Loving the New Balance team lately, especially with edits like The Second Narrows
Waters and Army welcomes Marek Zaprazny with this awesome video part (fakie nosegrind switch tre!)
Introduction to Zero's Cold War video (so pumped to see it this week!!)

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.

Next Week: SOTY 2013 Contenders

It's always hard to think of there being only one single Skater of the Year, but Thrasher has kept up with the task every year since 1990 of honoring one awesome ripper with the title. Now that we're in the last quarter of 2013, it's an appropriate time to take a look at some of this years top contenders for SOTY. This week will be my personal top 5 picks for who I think could take the title.
It's always tricky with the politics in the skate industry because the award for SOTY can almost be considered a universal title, yet it's exclusively given out by Thrasher Magazine. So whoever decides the winner in the end has to have some preference towards skaters with loads of coverage in Thrasher specifically, as opposed to other magazines. This does shift my Top 5 somewhat, but regardless, here are a bunch of guys that could definitely be deserving of such a title but that I don't think will ultimately win the award:

Dudes like Tommy Sandoval and Dane Burman skated the gnarliest (to say the least) spots in Road Less Traveled, and are likely going to have standout parts in Cold War, assuming it still comes out before the end of the year. Unless those parts are seriously groundbreaking, their not-technically-full-parts-but-more-like-montage-clips from RLT probably won't put them at the SOTY level this year, in my opinion. Same goes for Chris Cole, who has been on the contest circuit this year. You can never count him out for dropping a legendary part in Cold War, yet I think it's going to have to be just that in order for him to come close for SOTY.
Guys like Walker Ryan and Julian Davidson (who dropped most of his footage while still am...would that make a difference towards SOTY?) came out with loads of really great footage this year. Both had amazing parts in Perpetual Motion, which coming from Transworld may not help them in the SOTY race. Walker had a really awesome part in Organika's Grow With Us as well as a sweet Mag Minute for the Skateboard Mag (again probably not helpful for Thrasher's SOTY). Julian had sweet footage in his Element Pro Part including that wonderful Bercy frontside flip, as well as a nice clip for getting on Etnies. Despite both of these dudes killing it this year, I feel like their lack of Thrasher coverage goes against them with respect to getting SOTY.
Then there were guys like Jim Greco and Bob Burnquist who each dropped a single part, but a single part that was insane in both instances. Greco even came out with probably the most memorable commercial ever (for me anyway) for Supra that I'd consider for his year of awesome skating. For these two guys, despite dropping epic video parts, I just have a gut feeling like they're missing something for the SOTY running.
David Gravette came out with a nutty part in CSFU and backed it up with his just as crazy Real Street part. Again, David could totally deserve SOTY this year after these ridiculous parts but I just don't personally see him winning this year.
Daryl Angel is sort of an underrated guy for me but with the potential to still make a really strong run for SOTY this year. He had a memorable couple of tricks in Austyn Gillette's part in Cosmic Vomit 2 and still has a part coming out in Chronicles Vol. 2 as well as some clips if not a part in Habitat's Search the Horizon (assuming that's released before the end of the year). I'd say his more simplistic take on his tricks together with his smooth and speedy style combine for the potential for a pretty awesome part in the Nike video, something worth mentioning with this SOTY talk.
Also, there are guys like Shane O'Neill and Luan Oliveira that likely will have outstanding parts in Chronicles Vol. 2, but much like Chris Cole with Cold War, those parts will surely have to be outstanding to be considered in line for SOTY 2013.
And finally, considering that the Plan B video is not going to drop before the year ends, that takes away a good number of other skaters that could easily be in the run for SOTY. 2014 better watch out for this though...

Switch Backside Kickflips #2: Walker Ryan

For a guy that dominates the switch backside bigspin like no other and has tricks like switch big flips, nollie frontside flips, and switch back 360s down pat, it is no surprise that Walker Ryan's switch backside kickflip is one of his best tricks. Not only is Walker extremely skilled in a wide range of skating (mannys, tranny, gaps, ledges, you name it) but he has a special style. Personally, his style gets me every time in that I forget about what other skaters have done while I watch Walker skate and just lose myself in his one of a kind bag of tricks. It might sound weird but I'm distracted by his elegance on a skateboard so I always have to remind myself just how hard the tricks are that he does.
It's interesting because I think what also attracts me to Walker's skating style is that with a lot of his flip tricks (particularly gap tricks), as soon as he catches the usually slightly off axis flip (which adds cool points for uniqueness already) there isn't that robotically perfect board-glued-to-your-feet moment that every skater has (look at the nollie cab at 3:21 of his Graduation part above to see what I mean). The uncertainty of whether or not he can keep the board with him while watching him land his gap tricks is unexplainably exciting. Even though I've watched his parts hundreds of times and know the tricks and how he lands them, it isn't until Walker actually starts rolling away that my eyes relax from not knowing how the board will stay under his feet. And yet all of his landings are pretty much bolts too, which makes the paradox that much more intriguing.
With that being said, he is without a doubt one of my favorite skaters, so I will chronologically (as accurately as I can) go through his extremely solid resume of video parts that he's consistently put out throughout the past 5/6 years or so and visually remind you why his switch backside flip is one of the best in the game. (And while I could include variations like switch big flips or switch flip back noseblunts - because they are obviously awesome - I'm going to just highlight specifically switch backside flips.)
Welcome to Organika: switch backside flip at 2:04 out and down a pretty well-recognized NYC loading dock gap.
Focus Group: at 2:39 down a sizable stair set, while making it look like nothing
Concrete Jungle: at 2:18 down and across the "Walker-Ryan-made-famous" UCSD gap and in a line at 4:39 after a switch ollie up onto a bench and into a regular manual on another bench
Welcome to Circa: at 1:28 down the well-sized stage/bush gap and immediately followed at 1:37 over a large block to manual off the curb
Berrics Recruit: at 0:40 bump over 4 stair, at 0:57 to switch back disaster, and for his ender at 1:50 to regular backside 5-0 grind down the small hubba (like seriously, who else does tricks like these last two?!)
Shuffl Video: for his ender at 3:30 across the gap spanning two ledges at embarcadero and into a manual because just switch backside flipping that gap wasn't enough already
Graduation: at 2:40 out of a switch manual with a really cool looking off axis rotation (the thought of trying to hold a switch manual and then somehow turn switch backside scares me...), at 3:34 down the very large famous 6 block (definitely one of the top tricks done down that gap), at 3:53 to 5-0 (now upgraded from the Berrics to a street spot), and ultimately a switch backside 360 kickflip at 4:08 off a highway bridge kicker just to prove that this mythical trick is possible in the streets.
Double Rock: at 0:44 to switch back disaster, over the uneven hip in a line at 0:51, and to start a line at 2:09 very speedily down the stairs
Grow With Us: at 1:19 across a pretty well-recognized gap to manny and then front 180 out, down a really sick and pretty big set at 2:19 to finish off a line with proper tweakage, and quite possibly one of the best switch backside flips ever at 3:21 over a tall bump to bar with very little lift-off
Perpetual Motion (remix): at 2:09 into a decently long nose manual and with nice-to-see complete control at 3:21 down the pretty well-known water fountain gap

Video of the Week: Walker Ryan VX Footage

With limited internet access at the moment, this will be a short post. Even though I'd love to make tons of comments one of my favorite skaters right here, I will let his recently posted VX footage show you his really one of a kind skills on a skateboard as well as his enlightening personality. I will mention how I find it awesome that as soon as he throws his board in frustration in one clip he cringes instantly worried that it will hit the doors of the building. It shows how great of a guy Walker really is. And that bump to bar switch backside flip is probably the best one I've ever seen!

Next Week: Manny Maniacs

Everyone can basically do a manual, but leave it to the pros to come up with combinations with manuals that just seem to defy how well someone should be able to balance. A lot of tech skaters these days can do manual tricks and variations that are pretty skilled.  However, there are only a select few guys that can do it well enough to fill up their video part with manuals and make each and every one interesting in some way. Before going into this week's Top 5 Manny Maniacs (from my perspective anyway) I have to shout out some skaters that obviously kill it with manuals.
Brandon Biebel has that proper style where he sets up for and lands every trick with authority, and it's no different in how he manuals. In Fully Flared, from 2:27 for almost a straight minute, Biebel stomps manual trick after trick and ultimately closes it off with the scary ender at 4:17 of a nose manny nollie flip out down a hefty set.
Jason Dill definitely has some sick manny skills (to accompany his all around creative skating style) and even though he kills it in Trilogy and Skate More, I always remember the two consecutive manual clips (and last two tricks) from his Mind Field part at 2:23, the nose manual revert, and the switch 180 manual backside 360 out, which just feels impossible thinking of the torque on the body.
Chris Roberts possesses a control over his manual tricks that I don't think I've seen in many others, where he can pull off any sort of shove it or 180 into or out of the manual (nose, switch, fakie, regular, it doesn't matter), showcased in his Time to Shine part. Also, in Pretty Sweet, he does a nollie big heel out of a half cab nose manny (I think he half-cabbed into it anyway...) that he flicks in the weirdest way possible where you need to rewatch it a few times before you see the trick for what it is. So cool!
Daniel Castillo, despite his lack of clips in Pretty Sweet (clips is plural there), has had some great parts in the past, and what sticks out to me was his manual tricks in Skate More where he throws shove its and big spins right in the middle of his manuals. Spinning frontside into manuals as well, he's got some unique manuals.
Sewa Kroetkov is easily one of the most skilled tech skaters alive. He has without a doubt some of the most ridiculous manny tricks (and ledge tricks too for that matter) that I've ever seen, with proof being right in a trailer for the latest offering from Blind: Damn  at 0:57. Being able to balance like he can and mixing in his serious bag of crazy tricks allows Sewa to pull off some wild NBDs in the manny game. I'm only not including him in this week's Top 5 because I feel like his style is too robotic and unfortunately takes away from some of his tricks.
Marc Johnson is a legend. And he pulls off manual tricks like few others with an unmatchable style. I'd reference one of his video parts but with the number he's released and the multitudes of manny tricks to mention, I'll leave this one open.  The only reason I won't be highlighting him this week is because I've never had him pegged down as much of a manual skater but more of an all around skater, possibly with a higher focus on ledges/benches.
Ronnie Creager is also a legend.  He can do whatever he wants on a skateboard, especially with tech tricks including a wild variety of fun manual tricks that he's pulled off over the years.  I will use the words of Marc Johnson from his latest Instagram post which say, "In a very progressive time for skateboarding, most skaters did ridiculously technical tricks very sloppy and nasty, taking any rollaway they could get because honestly, we were just grateful to have landed stuff. Ronnie was one of maybe 4 guys who were flawless while doing the most amazing tricks in the world." This sums up his skating perfectly.
Marty Murawski is up there for me with manuals because of how impromptu he makes some of his manny tricks and combos look.  Along with that, his frontside 180 fakie manuals are a thing of beauty, and I will always remember his promo part from Blueprint because of tricks like from 3:19 to 3:33 where he somehow throws in a really enjoyable style even while popping or dropping down in between manuals.  And at 5:13, he frontside big spins to fakie manny on a downwards slope at some parking deck; it just seems so difficult!
Now Walker Ryan and Lucas Puig are probably my two top favorite skaters in general, and they both kill it at manuals. (Just look at any of their parts but to be specific, Walker's NYC court house ender in Perpetual Motion is just insane and Lucas Puig's Twelve Pack Mission for Helas just shows how even after injury he makes hard manny tricks look like a walk in the park.) But similar to the reasons I'm not highlighting MJ this week, I feel like they have too many all around attributes to include them this week, even though they are without a doubt awesome at manuals.

High Fives all around!

Welcome to Skateboarding High Fives!  Combining the “no more than one video per day” idea behind Walker Ryan’s Under Saturation blog, and the collective theme behind Oliver Barton’s Top 5 Youtubes of the Week, I present you with this new collection of skateboarding videos through my eyes.  Every week has a theme and every theme will have 5 videos, one for each day of the week.  The weekend will be free for whatever skateboarding goodness comes its way, as weekends are meant to be. High Fives all around!

To get things started, this week will be dedicated to my own favorite video parts.  Over the years I've seen many parts that are nothing short of legendary, with guys like Rodney or Daewon, and quite a lot of parts that are just so epic, Geoff Rowley in Sorry for example.  But despite the incredible skating that still holds strong today, I found that the song choice (along with the edit) really solidifies a video part into something that will never leave my head.  It's cliche by now but you've heard it before, the song makes or breaks the video part.  I'd say there's definitely some truth to that.  The video parts going up this week all have songs that I keep high in my iTunes rotation, even though I usually don't look for music in that genre.  They act like highlighters to these video parts and make everything stand out.  Combine that with a myriad of skating styles and gnarly tricks that also go down in the skate history books, I now present to you my Top 5 Favorite Video Parts.