Paul Sharpe and the rites of passage of Heath Kirchart – Transworld UNO – 1996

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0-gZWX0BpU?rel=0]

We don’t really have all that much footage of the incredible pop of Paul Sharpe. Back in the mid-90s if your looking for someone to straight nollie that obstacle, he was the guy to call (maybe Paulo Diaz if Sharpe was unavailable). Digging in the online video crates, there are really only a handful of parts from his career.

Let’s take a moment to visit this buried gem from Transworld’s first non-Dreams of Children video, Uno. Paul Sharpe switch ollies a fence,  locks into a tall smith, and I really love the backside flip up a curb to start a line.

And then we get a couple tricks from a babyfaced Heath Kirchart. I see that final kickflip as the death of young barbarian at the gate Heath the birth of the HK that continues, still, many years after his retirement, to own skateboarding with mystery, dignity, and a slow motion death defying grace.

The groundbreaking, music-free Andrew Reynolds part you missed… Best of 411 Vol. 4

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3RvMC5USg4?rel=0&start=1247]

Most would consider Andrew Reynolds performance in Birdhouse’s The End (1998) to be his graduation from Willy’s friend into an elite realm of professional skateboarding. This metamorphosis was presented rather completely the following year in the Baker Bootleg video, condensing Andrews growth from fuzzy headed Florida grom into the proto-ringmaster of the band of degenerates who would soon take over skateboarding. Baker Bootleg’s Hi-8 B-Roll of all the motion picture filmed Birdhouse stunts seemed to make those monumental tricks all the more real… the Boss had arrived.

But those of us paying close attention during this era had already witnessed Andrew’s undeniable proclamation of manhood. Tucked neatly away twenty minutes into a Best of 411 volume from 1997 lies nearly three minutes of golden Reynold footage. No music, no embarrassing spoken intro, no filler, no drunken orangutans, just Boss trick after Boss trick.

Even to this day, it is very rare to come across a skate part without music. Outside of Tim Dowling’s Listen video, I can hardly think of any (coincidentally enough, Andrew Reynolds in Bake & Destroy comes to mind). Without a driving rhythm or narrative of a song, the tricks and lines attack relentlessly. Heavy trick after heavy trick bludgeon the viewer providing only the slightest breathing room with a stylish line or a broken board.

It’s understandable that this part would be forgotten quickly, even in an era of repeated rewatchings of every skate video released. 411s, while popular, tended to only be on topic until the next issue came out. Except for the slow motion intro tricks (and even then), a 411 part rarely got the shine of a board company release. The “Best of” even less so.

The potential impact of Andrew Reynolds’ Profile in Best of 411 Vol. 4 can be revisited by watching the entire video, or even browsing a few different parts. In a video full of present and future legends (Marc Johnson, Daewon, Rodney, Jerry Hsu, etc.), Reynolds’ part is truly unique, memorable, and only dated by the low quality of the magnetic video tape. Future business partner and pre-identity crisis Jim Greco also has an incredible part in this tape that predates his Misled Youth reveal, but see how the song and overall “411-ness” of the whole thing lower what should have been Greco’s big debut into just another 411 Wheels of Fortune for the pile.

Why more skaters and skate video makers don’t choose to make an edit here and there without music is beyond me.

the correct way to make a quick Vincent Alvarez part – Static V

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glbd51sC59g?rel=0]

Theories of Atlantis recently posted this Vincent Alvarez quickie from Static V, and it is infinitely watchable. The strength of Alvarez’s skating lies in the style and flow. It’s those set-up tricks up the curb and the arm dangling roll aways that make him my favorite line skater (maybe a tie with Bobby Worrest).

There’s also some good content featuring Theories kingpin Josh Stewart talking about the unwritten rules of skate video editing and music selection over at Village Psychic. An interesting read, particularly after watching this Vincent Alvarez part with what I would consider questionable music selection.

Jamie Thomas and the call for the Killaz

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_mg0exFEh0?rel=0&start=68]

update: you can find a higher quality version here (the 42:20 mark)

Jamie Thomas, or any human for the rest of existence, is not likely to ever top Welcome to Hell. While his parts in Thrill of It All, Misled Youth, Dying to Live, even Cold War and Heavy Metal are all pretty thrilling in their own right (and would rank tops in the CV of most  skaters), the only Chief part that even comes close to Welcome to Hell in rewatchability is the curveball that is 2002’s Chomp On This.

At a time when Jamie was fully ensconced as the king of big rails and tall drops, he unexpectedly dropped a part sprinkled with tech goodies, footplants, and what at the time  would be considered ‘dork tricks’. Expectations are filled with lofty frontside 5-0 grinds, bike rack nosegrinds, several satisfying backside 5-0 180s, and the obligatory Adrian Lopez cameo. We even get another classic Chief ‘I-can-do-that-one-better finger’. All the time honored tradition of a Jamie Thomas video.

But, wait, what’s this? Wallieing boards to tabletop tech dancing? Schoolyard lines featuring both a bench front crooks and a flatground bigflip? Laying hands on the Clipper hubba? And I don’t even really understand what the no-comply-flip-in-and-out manual thing was. And then there’s Master P. Against all odds it works, damn it.

In 2002, Jamie Thomas had reached an elite plateau of ability where he could cut loose with uncharacteristic tricks like this and produce something memorable, fun, and gnarly. A land with a short list of occupants such Koston, Haslam, the Gonz, and permanent resident Daewon. This part is also unexpectedly prescient of a future where steep rails and footplants are comfortably mixed in a single video part. Perhaps knowing this silly footage was going towards the homie video that was Chomp enabled Thomas to log tricks that were decidedly ‘non-Zero’. Jamie looks like he is having fun and not taking things seriously overall with this part.

One also hopes Jamie’s wardrobe at this time was also part of not taking things seriously attitude. I imagine the gold fronts and balaclava were just being silly. I don’t know if we can so kindly dismiss the extra-long frayed pant cuffs, the flapping sleeves, and the conspicuous bandana placement. The Chief had more fabric flapping than a semaphore conversation, amiright? The Freddy Kruger sweater kind of makes up for it all, though.

Anyways, I still prefer the Chomp era Jamie kit to that cop ‘stache he is sporting nowadays.

 

TJ Rogers – the most underrated skater of the recent past of the future

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In the not so distant future, when we all continue our never ending critique/celebration of skateboarding on whatever media formats will have replaced Instagram and the Slap Message Boards (some virtual reality gathering where holograms all just yell at each other, I imagine), I have no doubt I will contribute mightily to the ‘most underrated skater of the 20-teens’ argument with a quick mention of TJ Rogers.

While he might get a little moment of sunshine for a massive switch frontside 360 here or there (Wallenberg here, Hollywood High 16 there), nobody seems to notice that he just finished top 5 at Tampa Pro, or released easily one of the greatest skate parts of 2016.

Ladies and gentlemen, TJ Rogers in Enter the Red Dragon:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp4KMFuw84k?rel=0]

This one checks nearly all the boxes for a legendary skate part:

Four minutes of footage with minimal 2nd angles and slow motion congratulatory hugging. Even the end zone dancing and bird flipping clips are rapid enough to keep the flow going rather than interrupting.

Boatloads of illmatic tech skating with nary a park ledge in sight. Front foot late flips, manuals out of ledges, and of course with all the spins and shoves.

Big gaps and stair sets: Fakie, nollie, regular, and obviously switch… TJ even drops a varial flip with style. He loves skating!

Street gaps, flat rail to drops, no push bump-to-bar lines, blind-side rotations into crusty banks, famous Philly ledges… and he even manages to keep the omnipresent Red Bull logo somewhat incognito.

And all this is held together with the perfect wrapping of a Masta Ace song that has been begging for skate video usage for 20 years. So, c’mon, you brainiac dumb dumbs, add Enter the Red Dragon to your playlist and let’s promote TJ from underrated to properly rated.

Fuck you and have a nice day.

Let’s not forget Ben Sanchez

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkhkV-sIfa8?rel=0]

Perma-Am Ben Sanchez, as seen here in Chocolate’s Las Nueve Vidas De Paco, was probably the least celebrated of the Chocolate (and maybe even Girl/Chocolate) team. His subtle and efficient style, quick push, and consistent lines were always tossed into the middle of the video, and he didn’t have the camera-mugging of a York or the popularity of a Gino. But I always appreciated his parts and think they stand out even more when singled out from the entire full length via youtube.

Even better is his part in Mouse:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7U7Y5TFJXs]

Hell Spawn Nowison – Dustin Dollin 2011

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The last Piss Drunk standing filmed an entire part for the Vans video (that would eventually be Propeller), but he clocked too much footage too fast and nobody else on the team had anything and wouldn’t for another four or so years.

So Dustin Dollin gave his footage to his homie and griptape sponsor and made a classic video part that stands soaked heads above everybody else’s in the video. He then re-upped enough footage for a shared part in Propeller and that slam-only / Pee-Wee’s nightmare part for Volcom in the meanwhile.

Torey Pudwill’s fantasticly frantic flatbar free-for-all film

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZd6NsTDSsY?rel=0]
Throughout all of 2016, Torey Pudwill was all hopped up on Red Bull and frantically searching the globe for interesting flatbars. Surprisingly enough, he found enough to log 4 minutes of footage and managed to throw down a decent part that celebrates creative architecture as much as (perhaps even more than) the skate tricks executed upon them.

The curvy beach rail was in contention for trick of the year, the lengthy log jam backside lipslide was refreshing, I’m still baffled that folks are skating those mini-arches border fence things like flatrails (never mind kicklfipping into lipslides on ’em), and don’t think I didn’t notice that frontside crooks on the convex bench bar.

On the down side, the arms flailing that was relatively under control in 2014 was back with a vengeance on some of these tricks. I also feel like they ran out of time on that sundown coy pond boardslide and couldn’t log a better trick at that spot.

All in all, without the big swill money to globetrot for single tricks and import flat rails into the salt flats, a nifty part like this wouldn’t exist, so Red Bull logo hats off to Torey and Bragg for putting this together. I’m a big fan of interesting spots and Flatbar Frenzy is worth another view now and again.

Brian Anderson – Yeah Right! – 2003

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCiR2b8UCj8?start=829&w=560&h=315]

Brian Anderson has given us a lot. Starting with an as-yet unsponsored front blunt down Hubba Hideout through two Toy Machine parts, a Sheep Shoes part he somehow failed to reminisce about on the Nine Club, a SOTY, a Transworld Part, that whole first openly gay professional skateboarder (who isn’t a woman) thing, and, most importantly, his part in Girl Skateboards 2003 film Yeah Right.

The skating is just enormous and powerful. Ty Evans hadn’t gone off the deep end with his editing and camera gimmicks yet, the music selection is tops, and Brian hadn’t yet developed his affinity for bonelessing into all his tricks.

That rollercoaster bluntslide after the 3-up-3-down line is my favorite trick in the part.