Quick Hits Archive: September 27 - October 3, 2007

Oct 10 2007 / Los Angeles, CA

October 3, 2007

The 9th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest
Published: 12:56 p.m. PT by Me

Tim Brauch was a top skater in the 90's who died unexpectedly from a heart condition in 1999 at the age of 25. One of his sponsors, skate/snowboard retailer Sessions, has held the Tim Brauch Memorial Contest ever since his death, donating proceeds from the contest to the Tim Brauch Memorial Fund which helps fund skatepark developments and scholarships.

This year's Tim Brauch Memorial Contest was held at Scotts Valley Skatepark in California this weekend and as with all of the Tim Brauch contests this one was heavily attended by those who wanted to celebrate his memory. Among those in attendance and participating were skate legend Steve Caballero, Benji Galloway, and Holly Lyons. The contests included 5 Categories: Pros, Grandmasters, Women's Bowl, Ams, and Groms. The winners included Galloway (Pros), Caballero (Grandmasters), Julie Kindstrand (Womens), Jerry Gurney (Ams), and Anthony Anaya (Groms). Along with the contests there were also raffles and plenty of giveaways.

For more details on this weekend's Tim Brauch Memorial Concert including full results and a photo gallery slideshow check out the contest recap from Sessions recap from Sessions.

GvR Starting Teams Named
Published: 2:51 a.m. PT by Me

The starting five of the each team in the GvR contest have been announced. Representing the Regulars, Slap Magazine's editor (and team captain) Mark Whitely has chosen the following:

• Ryan Sheckler
• Andrew Reynolds
• Leo Romero
• Rick McCrank
• Sean Malto

For the defending champion Goofy footers, team captain and the Skateboard Mag's Editor-In-Chief Dave Swift has chosen:

• Ronnie Creager
• Nyjah Huston
• Jereme Rogers
• Greg Lutzka
• Darrel Stanton

Details of the contest can be found here or on the official GvR site.


Final Toyota Challenge Story Of The Year (We Think)
Published: 2:29 a.m. PT by Me

Even though the event wrapped up more than a week ago and we're already looking forward to the Playstation Pro in Orlando (the final stop of the Dew Tour), the Toyota Challenge is playing the role of a dirty family secret by resurfacing itself again, this time in the form of the Playstation Trick of the Week Award. After a week's worth of online voting Cameron White won the award for the Barspin Tailwhip Backflip he pulled at BMX Dirt Finals (where he placed 2nd). White beat out the likes of Jamie Bestwick, Buster Halterman, Scotty Cramner, Dustin Miller, and Fabrizio Santos, to take the $5,000 prize and keep his chances alive for the $10,000 award for the Best Trick of the Tour to be handed out after the Playstation Pro.

For more details on White's award, including comments from the man himself, check the link here.

Steve Rocco: 'The Man Who Souled The World'
Published: 2:02 a.m. PT by Me

If you're living in select cities throughout the West Coast (and New York) keep an eye out for the premiere dates for the documentary, 'The Man Who Souled The World'. The film is a chronicling of the career of Steve Rocco, the founder of World Industries and Big Brother Magazine (the magazine that begat 'Jackass').

Now if you're a youngin' you might not remember how influential Rocco and his companies were for skateboarding in the early 90's. This was the pre-X Games, pre-mainstreaming of skateboarding where publicity meant stories about skater Josh Swindell being convicted of murder. Rocco's companies thus draped itself in a complete anti-authoritarian attitude, with Big Brother Magazine articles like "How To Kill Yourself" causing a boat-load of controversy and also causing a whole generation of skaters to either see themselves in Rocco's ventures or to follow in Rocco's footsteps. So in that way Rocco's story was essentially the story of skateboarding in the early 90's, and 'The Man Who Souled The World' is the documenting of that story. Basically What I'm saying is watch and learn kiddies, I mean where do you think we got Plan B from?

For more info on the film, including trailers and exact premiere dates, check out the film's official website.

Element's 'This Is My Am' Recap
Published: 1:51 a.m. PT by Me

So Element's 'This Is My Am' event went down this past weekend at Active in Torrence, CA featuring a contest, demo and signing session, and their website has a full-bodied recap of the whole thing including photos and videos. This is probably something you'd really wanna take a look at with skaters like Tony Tave, Ray Barbee, and Tosh Townsend showing up and performing for the crowd. You can check the photo gallery here, and the video highlights (pay attention to the tricks Tony Carr pulls about halfway through) here.

Oh yeah and there was also the results for the Am contest:
Overall Winner: Alec Beck
Handrail/Stairs Winner: Evan Edwards
Pyramid Winner: Doug DesAuhis
Spine Winner: Alec Beck

Event Notice: The North Shore Festival
Published: 1:39 a.m. PT by Me

As a way to kick off the beginning of the Vans Triple Crown Of Surfing (which starts with the Reef Hawaiin Pro) the fine people of the North Shore in Oahu have created the North Shore Festival. Spanning the weekend of November 10th the event will involve films, music, food, and other surf related festivities.

Among the films to be shown at the Festival (all of which will be screened outdoors) will be 'Surf's Up' the surf-based animated movie, 'Tomorrow Today' which is Transworld Surf's first film featuring pros like Dane Reynolds and Bobby Martinez, and 'Stylemasters 2' the classic document of old school North Shore surfing. Music at the event will include a performance by surf pro Tim Curran, who just recently released a full length album called 'Word Of Mouth'. Also featured at the event will be various booths and activities including paddle surfing (which we hear Jennifer Aniston enjoys), all in order to please the surf enthusiast and to welcome in the big wave surf season.
 

 

For more info on the North Shore Festival check out their official homepage.

Nike SB's Troof...I Mean "Truth"
Published: 1:11 a.m. PT by Me

Having made it's world premiere last night at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, start to be on the look out for assorted premieres of Nike SB's long awaited 'Nothing But The Truth' film. The film features the Nike team skating (of course) as well as participating in Belgian director Lionel Goldstein mission to find "the truth" behind each skater. Judging by the trailer it's gonna be quite a ride with scenes involving huge bird turds, throwing up, porn stars, crazy props, and the obligatory near death experience. Seriously there's little chance for this film to be boring in any way. I mean just check out the trailer and assorted clips at the film's official site.

 

And if you live in anywhere near San Dimas check this out.

Preview The Layne Beachley Classic & Mancora Peru Classic
Published: 12:21 a.m. PT by Me

It's about a week away but that doesn't mean surfing fans can't start getting prepped for the NAB Beachley Classic. With the largest prize purse ($100,000) on the ASP Women's WCT along with a chance for a hefty rating boost the Classic is definitely going to be an event where you see the pros go all out. Among the competitors there's the headliner (literally) in Layne Beachley who's currently tied for 7th in the WCT standings, Stephanie Gilmore, who's looking to bounce back from her Rip Curl Girls Festival showing, and current points leader Samantha Cornish, who's looking to increase her slim lead margin over 2nd place Silvana Lima. For a full rundown prior to the October 9th start date, complete with quotes from the leading pros head over to Cooler Magazine's preview of the NAB Beachley Classic.

In related news, the Mancora Peru Classic has been added to the ASP Women's World Tour's list of events. The addition of the event, which will run from October 30th to November 4th, is partly the brainchild of current #3 and native Peruvian Sofia Mulanovich (pictured) who used to surf the left handed break as a teenager. In speaking about the process of getting the event added to the WCT Mulanovich stated, “The Peru contest has been tentative for a couple of years now, because the Peruvian government and sponsors have been wanting to do an ASP Women’s World Tour event for awhile and now they have made it happen this year. I am stoked because I have never competed in a World Tour event at home.”

For more on the event and reaction from other pros to the addition check the the official ASP announcement.

Fuel TV's 'Daily Habit' 500th Episode Anniversary
Published: 12:01 a.m. PT by Me

Tonight at 9pm EST Fuel TV's 'Daily Bread' plans on celebrating it's 500th episode anniversary by reaching into its past and pulling Benji Weatherley (first ever guest on the show, and 2007 Surfer Poll & Video Awards co-host) to guest on the show, which will also repeat (like most shows on cable) 3 more times. Also featured on the episode is Brooklyn-based band Panthers, as well as a look back at fond 'Daily Habit' memories, so start get your Tivos ready.

October 2, 2007

Billabong Pro Mundaka Round 1 Results
Published: 11:40 a.m. PT by Me

It feels like we were just covering the Quiksilver Pro France a couple of days ago, but apparently there's no rest for the weary out on the ASP WCT Tour as the Billabong Pro Mundaka picked up its first round of action today in Spain. The first round of action didn't see any real surprises with most of the heavyweights, including Kelly Slater, Quiksilver Pro France winner Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, and Jeremy Flores, moving on to Round 3 with ease. Meanwhile Andy Irons and Taj Burrow will head into Round 2 after some competitive heats in Round 1 where Irons was topped by wildcard entry Aritz Aranburu.

For more details on the day's event check the recap here and keep an eye out for further updates as the Billabong Pro Mundaka progresses.

Tara Llanes Update - Good News
Published: 2:18 a.m. PT by Greg

Here's an update from James Herrera, Tara's friend and trainer. It was sent out yesterday:

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday, we had a pretty exciting afternoon at the hospital. Tara was able to flex her left upper quad muscle for the 1st time since the accident. It was a HUGE breakthrough moment for T. Keep sending the positive vibes her way and hopefully more and more muscles will continue to awaken. She also learned how to wheelie in the wheelchair, a feat which took her about 2 minutes to master. I think bunny hops are coming soon.

Thanks again to everyone who helped at Interbike with product donations for an upcoming auction, t-shirt purchases, and other fundraising efforts. The Giant folks were instrumental in securing booth space at both the dirt demo and convention center. Russ, Patrick, Travis, and Tiffany at Giant were amazing! Also thanks to Marzocchi, Kenda Tires, and Oakley for their contributions. A special thanks to Brian and Paula Lopes for all their help raising funds thanks to Brian’s Lopes 55 line of Oakley apparel.

For more about her latest news, check out Tara's MySpace page where she makes some posts herself. Also, you can check this blog post to find out about some new shirts for sale.

To support Tara through donations of any type, visit the Tara Llanes Road to Recovery website. To get updates on her condition, check out our update page as well as her MySpace page.

Here are a couple of recent photos from her MySpace page.


Latest "Proving Ground" Trailer
Published: 1:59 a.m. PT by Me

So we got ahold of the new 'Tony Hawk's Proving Grounds' Trailer. It focuses on the Hardcore Skater aspect of the game. If you didn't know 'Proving Grounds' features a system whereby the player can choose from 3 different skate styles/"paths" (Career, Rigger, and Hardcore) which determine what kind of tricks/functions/settings can be unlocked in gameplay. In the case of the Hardcore Skater things such as Skate Checking (like ice checking in hockey), and Aggro Push are detailed in the clip as well as Mike Vallely's and Dustin Dollin's appearances in the game. Here check it out for yourself:

Event Notice: Boost Mobile RockCorps NYC Clean Up
Published: 1:34 a.m. PT by Me

The Boost Mobile RockCorps is an initiative by Boost Mobile to encourage volunteerism in local communities throughout the country. The idea is that if you volunteer 4 hours of your time at a RockCorp event you would receive a free ticket to a corresponding concert for that event. So in light of that, this Saturday (October 6th) in NYC the RockCorps will help out in an effort to revitalize DeWitt Clinton Park in the Hell's Kitchen Area. The event will be attended by Baker pro Terry Kennedy, snowboarder Keir Dillon, as well as the musical performer for the night Ludacris, all of whom will help out with the revitalization project (i.e. re-painting the park areas). The concert that will follow will be at the Radio City Music Hall and will feature Ludacris, along with Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, Keyshia Cole, Angels & Airwaves, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Yung Joc.

For more info on the day's events as well as the Boost Mobile RockCorps in general check the official event page.

Video Round-Up: Cliche's Cale Nuske, Think's Manny Santiago, Habitat's Stefan Janoski
Published: 1:13 a.m. PT by Me

• Cliche's got some footage of team rider Cale Nuske sessioning up some California skate parks. He's also an eS pro which will explain the watermark on the clip. See the clip here.

• Think introduces their new pro Manny Santiago with a short promo/video clip. Just one trick (a shove-it to feeble grind) but it's worth seeing, which you can do right here.

• IG Boardshop has Habitat and Nike SB pro Stefan Janoski with about a half minute worth of video part type footage in anticipation for his two different releases later this year. Take a look right here.

Man And His Spandex Suit Breaks World Record
Published: 12:56 a.m. PT by Me

Alright we realize that the tights and the helmet make it pretty lame, and we really don't have an interest in these types of things usually, but still 130 mph?!?!! I don't even think my first car (not to mention my current car, the 2002 Nissan Altima I call "Ol' Bessie") ever went that fast. See Markus Stockl recently hit that speed going down a mountain on a plain old mountain bike named "Intense M6" (Markus knew better than to touch the name "Ol' Bessie", that's mine jerk), breaking the world record set eight years ago by...Markus Stockl. The feat was accomplished in La Parva, Chile on a mountain with a 45-degree decline, meaning it was steeper then your mother's failing mortgage rate, and accordingly the speed picked up quicker than your mother's chance of foreclosing.

Sure enough Stockl isn't satisfied with his record though and plans to to break the Eric Baronès’ 222km/h record for prototypes. Keep pushing the envelop Markus, give it 110%, and live like there's no tomorrow. See that's the type of encouragement your leotard will respond to.

Oh yeah I forgot, the whole event was sponsored by Red Bull who so nicely provides us with a report on the story here.

Bestwick Updates Us On His Recent Doings
Published: 12:22 a.m. PT by Me

A Post-Toyota Challenge Jamie Bestwick has posted an update on his blog about the Dew Tour event at SLC, as well as info regarding his part in the Canadian documentary 'Buried Life'. If you didn't catch our feature on 'Buried Life' the first time around, the film is about 4 friends on a tour trying to complete a list of 100 things to do before you die, including things like getting a tattoo, being a knight for a day, longboarding a crazy hill, learning to surf, getting on the front page of the paper and more. It seems as though Bestwick was called upon by the filmmakers to help them accomplish the "fly on a BMX bike" item on their wishlist, and according to the blog entry he was quite successful, helping Ben from the film "fly" and even getting Dave to do a backflip into a foam pit.

For Bestwick's write up on the experience click on this link. To find out more about 'Buried Life' check out our original feature on it here.

FIS Snowboarding World Cup SBX Results
Published: 12:01 a.m. PT by Me

Days after finishing first at the first FIS Snowboarding World Cup Event at Valle Nevado, Chile, defending champ Lindsey Jacobellis finished sixth at the second World Cup SBX event. Jacobellis' sixth place finish happened despite her being crashed into by a fellow contestant causing her to wipe out. Her US Snowboarding Teammate Graham Watanabe finished 5th in the Men's competition.

For more details and full results check out the US Snowboarding Team's SBX recap of the FIS World Cup at Chile.

October 1, 2007

U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Makes It Just That Much Harder
Published: 1:15 p.m. PT by Me

Due to the ever expanding field of quality riders the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix has announced that it will initiate a qualifying system based on previous season's results for its 2008 Grand Prix events at Breckenridge, CO, Tamarack, ID, and Killington, VT. The move is intended to make sure that only the cream of the crop end up competiting in the Grand Prix events as potential riders for the event increase every year.

In speaking of the move Tour Director Eric Webster says, "Moving to a qualification process is a testament to how big snowboarding has become in the U.S. There are so many talented riders out there right now that the Chevrolet Grand Prix simply cannot accommodate the large field sizes in the existing format. That's why U.S. Snowboarding created the Chevrolet Revolution Tour two years ago. It provides a pipeline for up-and-coming riders advancing through the ranks and on to the next level, the Grand Prix."

For more information on the qualification changes check the report here.

CJ Hobgood: ASP's North American Man Of The Year
Published: 12:42 p.m. PT by Me

Floridian Surfer CJ Hobgood has taken the 2007 ASP North American Men's Title off the strength of his North American ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) run this past season, including first place showings at the O’Neill SI Pro (Sebastian Inlet, FL), the Jeep Body Glove Surfbout (Lower Trestles, CA), and the Honda U.S. Open (Huntington Beach, CA).

In speaking of his WQS results Hobgood was quite clear about what led him to take on the tour. “I definitely wouldn’t have done the WQS this year if it wasn’t for my results in North America as I would have been too far behind the ball,” Hobgood said. “As it was the other way around, I was put into a position where I couldn’t turn down the WQS. All I had to do was show up to a few more events and get some insurance.”

Hobgood is currently sitting at #6 on the WQS tour and #15 on the WCT with an excellent chance at qualifying for next year's WCT, yet Hobgood still plans on returning to some of the same WQS events next year, saying “I’ll definitely be doing the Sebastian event and the Huntington event and we’ll see about the rest as I love lowers as well.”

Congrats CJ.

Stephen Murray Update: New Benefit Announced
Published: 1:01 a.m. PT by Greg

Cory Nastazio is hosting a "Ride for Stephen Murray Benefit" that will take place this Saturday, Oct. 6, in Tehachapi. The event, sponsored by Vans and Team Soil, will take place on Nastazio's trails and feature appearances by a slew of pro riders from all BMX disciplines, including Jamie Bestwick, Kevin Robinson, Ryan Guettler, Ryan "BIZ" Jordan, Joey "Whitesnake" Marks, Adam Aloise, Brian Foster, TJ Ellis and Nastazio, himself.

There's no information about the time quite yet but the location follows:

1250 Arabian Dr,
Tehacahpi, CA 93561

In addition to the riding there will be live music, a DJ, mud wrestling, go-go dancers, plus food and vendors.

More details as they are released.

Keep up with all the updates re: Stephen on our Stephen Murray update page and visit www.stephenmurrayfamilyfund.com to donate to help Stephen and his family.

Teen Electorcuted While Kite Surfing
Published: 12:44 a.m. PT by Greg

I only bring this up because it sounds a little crazy -- and perhaps a good warning to those out there who want to kite surf. A 16-year-old kid in Florida was kite surfing when he was pulled from the water thanks to gust of wind. It carried him into some power lines after which he fell 20 to 30 feet to the ground. Dang.

The kid was apparently concious after the fall but he still has "life-threatening" injuries. So let that be a lesson to you: don't kite surf. And if you must, do it far away from powerlines. There's not much more to this story, but here's a link anyway.

Some Sick BMX Video -- And He's Only 15
Published: 12:19 a.m. PT by Greg

A few clips are floating around of a 15-year-old BMX rider from Australia named Todd Meyn doing some sick stuff that pretty much rivals anything you see coming from pros like Daniel Dhers and Scotty Cranmer. And if 15 sounds a little young, don't forget that Dennis Enarson is making quite a splash on the Dew Tour in Dirt and Park at the ripe old age of 16.

Check out a couple of clips before seeing more on his profile.

September 30, 2007

SkatePark of Tampa Site Redesign
Published: 12:32 p.m. PT by Me

One of our favorite websites and certainly the gold standard up to now when it comes to park/shop sites is the one for Skatepark of Tampa. The site has undergone a fairly significant redesign and there are plenty of haters.

First off, the black background is gone, replaced with a basic white background with black text. The top navigation has been moved to the left and the front splash image, which would rotate among some of the site's great photos, is gone.
Among the improvements are an easier way to find the articles (as they are given a prominent place on the main page), a "Skaters in this article" link on the right and the photo galleries are unchanged, though there is a handy code to place the image(s) on your own site.

Webmaster Rob Meronek offers a bit of a round-up of the changes here. Also on that page you'll see a significant number of comments about the redesign. The majority of those comments? Basically "old site > new site" to say it nicely. Still, there are a few positive comments and normally in a case of major change the ones who are most vocal are the ones who don't like it -- the vast majority who don't care or who like it stay silent.

So we're betting all will be fine with SPoT.

'John From Cincinnati' Fans are Delusional
Published: 11:55 a.m. PT by Me

Somebody may want to talk to the folks over at SaveJFC.net (that stands for 'Save 'John From Cincinnati'') about their ad placed in The Hollywood Reporter shown below. The HBO surfing drama was canceled weks ago, the sets are gone and the cast has moved on to sunnier locales, including Garret Dillahunt, the doctor, joining FOX's 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' and John himself, Austin Nichols, being cast in a film.

Sorry guys -- the show's toast.  Plus it really wasn't that good, was it?


Twitch Wins FMX Championships with Broken Ankle
Published: 1:59 a.m. PT by Greg

Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg has found his way back to the top spot of the podium more than a year after his big accident at the Dew Tour had him knocked out of action for months. And even a broken ankle suffered at last week's Dew Tour stop in Salt Lake City wasn't going to slow him down.

Swiss rider Mat Rebeaud was seocnd and Nate Adams was third. The contest was an interesting one, with Adams missing his final run due to some equipment issues and Adam Jones suffering a major crash during his semifinal match. Jones was taken to a local hospital but was said to be talking and coherent.

We've got the full story right here plus a huge photo gallery.

In case you don't want to look at the gallery, here's a taste:

September 29, 2007

Fanning Wins Quiksilver Pro -- One Step Closer to Title
Published: 11:59 a.m. PT by Greg

Mick Fanning has won the 2007 Quiksilver Pro in France, bringing him one step closer to the Foster's ASP World Tour title, which hasn't been won by an Aussie since Mark Occhilupo in 1999.

Fanning defeated South African Greg Emslie, who advanced to the finals after defeating Joel Parkinson. Early exits in the contest by Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow and Andy Irons all but secured Fanning the title. In fact, only Slater and Burrow are still in the running, but they need to see Fanning stumble in upcoming contests while rmeaining almost perfect.

To find out more about the contest and the title race read the full recap here.


'Keep Talkin' Trailer Up
Published: 1:55 a.m. PT by Me

Didn't catch this earlier but Transworld Snowboarding's got their final trailer up for their video 'Keep Talking'. The clip features some nice tricks, assorted high jinx, and great musical selection. The video itself features riders like Marc Frank Montoya, Chad Otterstrom, Lane Knaack, Lucas Magoon, and others, check it along with all the other trailers released for the video here. And if you find yourself looking to buy it you can do so and get a free subscription here (that plug wasn't solicited by Transworld by any means, we're just looking out for you as a consumer...dead serious).

Grind King Gets All Artsy
Published: 1:22 a.m. PT by Me

If you've been paying attention to street wear culture these past few years you've probably noticed the numerous limited edition collaborations between brands and artists, with skateboarding, as a main component of the culture, being on the forefront of the trend. In light of that skateboard truck makers Grind King has called on a few artists to help spruce up their trucks in their Limited Edition Artist Series. Artists (many Graffiti based) that have provided their work to Grind King include Sket One (whose truck is pictured), Nico Berry, Jason Maloney, Downtimer, Josh Taylor, Justin Barry, and others.

The artwork mainly wraps around the axle of each truck with the base and kingpin staying plain so if you're looking to keep these trucks nice and fresh think about not even riding on them, matter of fact think about using them on a deck that you can hang on the wall of your house/apartment/mother's basement especially if that wall is white. Trust me it looks dope.

For more pics of Grind King's Limited Edition Artist Series, check out their Myspace page.

Southern California Beaches Now Cleaner Than Your Underwear Drawer
Published: 1:01 a.m. PT by Me

OK wait I'm confused -- just a couple months ago we did an entry on how Southern California beaches were the dirtiest they've been in awhile (with one of the best headlines that's come from my keyboard in a while) based on the near-record number of closures for 2006 (a total of 2,072!!!). Now I'm reading the same beaches are excellent in terms of water quality. That's because Heal The Bay has released its report on beach quality and the organization says that roughly 88% of Southern California Beaches have graded "A" on their scale this past summer. The grades come as part of a larger grading of all California beaches where the majority of beaches with one exception (Humbolt County we're looking at you) were graded at "B" or better. The report mentions that most likely the drought California has been facing has contributed to the good grades received by the beaches (don't ask us how, we're not the scientists), meaning you have to take the good with the bad.

Other things of note in the story: Long Beach, despite moderate improvement, is still the dirtiest beach in the state, while Santa Monica Bay has shown marked improvement.

For the full Heal The Bay report check is Beach Report Card main page here.

Soy-Based Surfboards? What's Next Kayaks Made Of Prunes? Mmmmmm... Prunes
Published: 12:33 a.m. PT by Me

Head over to surf website Mixed Plate Special for their feature on Jeff Bushman and Kyle Bernhardt. The pair are founders of Country Feeling Surfboards, a company dedicated to making surfboards out of environmentally friendly materials like soy and sucrose-based foams, plant-based and solar-cure resins, hemp and bamboo cloth, as opposed to un-Captain-Planet-like polyurethane, fiberglas, and epoxy materials that make up the vast majority of boards. In the interview the two talk about their decision to make "green" boards, the process and materials it takes to make them, and how they got their company's name. As the interview shows, and With riders such as Pancho Sullivan, Mick Lowe, and Flynn Novak, you shouldn't think of their company as just some hippy dream, it's actually most likely gonna be the wave of the future (pun intended then resented).

Here, check out the interview for yourself.

Dale Richards Is A 'Deadly' Winner
Published: 12:05 a.m. PT by Me

While you're updating yourself on the ASP WCT this surf season (currently taking place at the Quiksilver Pro France) keep an eye out for Dale Richards. See, the 18-year-old Richards has just won a Deadly Award for being the Most Promising New Talent. The Deadly Awards (not "deadly awards" like trophies shaped like nunchucks, but "Deadly Awards" with a capital "D" as in being the name of an award, not an adjective) are awards given out by Vibe Australia, an Aboriginal media, communications and events management agency, to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for their contribution to music, sport, entertainment and community.

The awards took place Thursday night at the Sydney Opera House and Richards was on hand to accept his award. Richards had previously made an appearance on the WCT when he won a wildcard entry into the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast where he was eliminated in Round 2 (by no other than Kelly Slater) which probably helped spur on him winning this award.

For more details on Richards' Award check out the story here.

September 28, 2007

Event Reminder: Swerve Festival This Weekend
Published: 6:06 p.m. PT by Me

Again, if you're in the L.A. area this weekend don't forget about the Swerve Festival happening over at the Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood. The festival will feature films, art and music in an attempt to bring more culture (as if it wasn't dripping with it already) to Southern California. For details on the event go here.

Ey Yo New Yorkers, Get To Surfing!
Published: 4:45 p.m. PT by Me

Living in NY and sick and tired of hearing about surf events all across the globe, like say Brazil, South Africa or Hawaii? Well head on out to Long Island tomorrow to either watch or try out for the Red Bull Triad Surf Series. The Triad is a special amateur contest intended to find the best and brightest surfers from NY with no restrictions on age and style (only NY residents are allowed to compete though) from a field of 60. The contest has an invite list of 40 and an open registration to fill out the rest of the field (number of open slots are based on how many on the invite list RSVP). But don't worry if you're a little late for tomorrow's event, there will be two more stops on October 21st (at Gilgo Beach) and November 11th (at Montauk) so your not out of luck yet.

For more details on the series as well as directions on registering head to the official Red Bull Triad home page.

'In Short' We Have A Snowboarding Trailer
Published: 1:56 p.m. PT by Me

Keeping in line with the multimedia (read: video) nature of today's entries we got another video trailer, but this time it's a snowboarding one. Packed in with a full (and I mean full) review from EXPN we got 'In Short' from the people over at Blank Paper Studios.

'In Short', which premieres throughout this and next month, features riders David Benedek, Trevor Andrew, Mikey LeBlanc, Christoph Weber, Mike Basich, Markus Keller, Eric Messier, Christophe Schmidt, and Sani Alibabic all with the intent of "trying to ditch all rules on how Snowboarding films have to look in order to create something truly original and new in approach and execution. Mixing documentary directors with music video editors this project will try to be as diverse and refreshing as possible without losing the ambition to show top-level riding of well-known athletes." And if the EXPN review is correct, they were quite successful.

But don't just take their word for it. Check out the trailer here for yourself. Then read the review here.

Emerica's 'Wild Ride' Gets The Full Broadcasting Treatment
Published: 1:56 p.m. PT by Me

So Emerica had planned and accomplished a big ass road trip this past June and July which they called their 'Wild Ride'. The tour was supposed to be like a Hell's Angels type thing where their team would start in Washington on "Go Skate Day" and then ride through cities in the Northwest on Harleys (dead serious), camping out, and picking up any skaters along the way that wanted to join them, culminating in their participation in the Wild In The Streets main event in San Francisco. Sounds like a cool idea right? Too bad you missed it right? Well think again, because Emerica has worked with VBS (Vice Magazine's Video Website) to broadcast footage from the 'Wild Ride' tour in epsiodic manner (meaning in episodes) through VBS' 'Epicly Later'd' channel, and the first two episodes are already up and running.

Catch all the Americana-like madness full of riding, skating, and near-death experiences involving Aaron Suski, Brandon Westgate, Chris Senn, and Kevin "Spanky" Long here at VBS.TV.

Multimedia Awareness: DGK/Diamond Supply Company In Montreal, DVS's East Infection Tour, And More Adio Super Session Goodness
Published: 11:56 a.m. PT by Me

• Streetwear/Skateboard clothing brand Diamond Supply Co. has put up video of some of the DGK boys (including Wade Desarmo and Spencer Hamilton) sessioning it up in Montreal. Check it out:

• DVS has put up footage from their East Infection Tour (in what I believe is the New York stop) featuring Daewon Song, Jereme Rogers, Jeron Wilson, and Torey Pudwill (who breaks his arm on camera). Check the video out.

• Active's also got some more footage and a photo gallery up of their Super Session. So if you didn't get enough of what 411VM provided head over to the Active site to get more coverage of the event.

And The NORA Cup Award Winners Are...
Published: 11:36 a.m. PT by Me

So the 2007 Transworld RideBMX NORA Cup winners were announced last night and the winners included Jamie Bestwick (for Ramp) and Aaron Ross (for Street). If you didn't know the NORA Cup is something like the Oscars for the BMX world, where the pros themselves vote for who they think are the best riders in diffent categories like the two mentioned earlier as well as Dirt, Flatland, Race, and Video Part. With BMX Vert wins at pretty much every Dew Tour stop so far (minus the Right Guard Open) it's no surprise Bestwick ended up with his trophy, meanwhile Ruben Alcantara won for his part in the amazing Etnies' video 'Grounded'. Here check the award winners for yourself.

Dirt:
Corey Bohan

Ramp:
Jamie Bestwick

Flatland:
Matthias Dondois

Race:
Kyle Bennett

Street:
Aaron Ross

Video Part:
Ruben Alcantara, Etnies' "Grounded"

For more info on the awards and party pics (coming soon) check Transworld Ride BMX's homepage for updates.

Will the Quiksilver Pro End Today?  (NOPE)
Published: 12:45 a.m. PT by Me

Update (9:33 a.m.):  The semis are decided and a champ will probably be crowned tomorrow at the Quiksilver Pro in France.  Taj Burrow is out, but Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson are among the remaining contestants.  Here are the remaining matches:

Quiksilver Pro France Semifinal Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Troy Brooks (AUS)

Will we have an all-Aussie final?  Certainly looks promising!

Check back tomorrow or follow all the action on the official website.

Original story:  The Quiksilver Pro in France has just kicked off the remaining heats of round four in three-four foot surf. The first heat of the day features Hawaiian Pancho Sullivan up against South African Greg Emslie. Other upcoming heats include Mick Fanning against Ricky Basnett.

The contest was rocked by the elimination of Andy Irons and Kelly Slater yesterday and for Irons, his chance at the world title may be gone, as it marks his third low score of the year (one 33rd place and two 17th place). For Slater, his chances take a blow, but it's his first place below 9th. Taj Burrow and Joel Parkinson are sitting pretty, guaranteed at least an equal-fifth place finish, while tour leader Mick Fanning can do no worse than equal-ninth.

No sooner than this event ends than the Billabong Pro Mundake holding period starts on Oct. 1. After that contest, only three events will remain and the tour picture will clear up pretty quickly.

Tony Hawk Can Kill You With A Snap Of His Fingers Or A Fluttering Of His Eyelashes
Published: 12:11 a.m. PT by Me

I know we've been giving Tony Hawk a hard time recently about all his completely random business ventures (from roller coaster rides, to stints on 'Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader') but now we know what it's all for, because BusinessWeek, in conjunction with ESPN Magazine, has done a "Power In Sports" feature and lo and behold Tony Hawk pops up on the list. Coming in at number 71 Hawk is nestled in between Tom Brady (#70) and Maria Sharapova (#73. We'll just skip #72 because it's Mark Steinberg, some business big-wig I've never heard about, and I doubt he's as attractive as Sharapova...or Brady for that matter), while amazingly ranking above other famous sports figures such as The Maloof Brothers (owners of the Palms Casino and the NBA's Sacramento Kings), Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, and Magic Johnson. That's crazy huh? It's starting to make me worry about what type of vengeance may occur as a result of my earlier jabs at the Birdman. I should just keep Hawk's name from coming out of my mouth (and keyboard) from now on. That's a good idea.

And I almost forgot...

Also making the list at #79 was Casey Wasserman. Given that this guy runs Wasserman Media Group, just one of the biggest management companies in the world. You may not care about all the baseball, basketball and soccer clients, but you may recognize some of the action sports clients. Hell, you may recognize the names of the managers themselves: Steve Astephen (agent for Ryan Sheckler), Circe Wallace (Jamie Bestwick), James Button, Jamie Dobb, Brad Lusky (Mike Spinner, Chad Kagy), Blair Marlin, Robert Moore and Steve Ruff.

So Tony Hawk may rank higher than Casey, but Casey controls about 60 or 70 athletes and is worth a few hundred million dollars. So he's probably pretty happy with his place on the list.

September 27, 2007

Event Notice: Bam Margera In-Store
Published: 3:22 p.m. PT by Me

If you happen to be in Florida on October 1st you might wanna head over to Quiet Flight Surf Shop at Orlando's Universal Studios City Walk. That's because Jackass/Viva La Bam/Bam's Unholy Union star Bam Margera will be stopping by the shop to sign autographs and do the fan shmoozing thing in conjunction with his sponsor Element Skateboards. The event starts at 3 pm and runs to 6 pm, and for those that purchase $25 worth of stuff at the shop you won't have to worry about waiting in line to meet Bam, 'cause you'll be getting a "Cut In Line" VIP pass. That begs the question though of whether there will be a line for those people who have a "Cut In Line" pass.

For more info on the event check the Element website.

Slater And Irons Out After Round 3 At The Quiksilver Pro France
Published: 1:56 p.m. PT by Cary

WOW, what a way for the action to pick up. Both Kelly Slater and Andy Irons (pictured), the two giants of surf, have been eliminated from the Quiksilver Pro France after their Round 3 heats. Slater scored a heat total of 9.13 and was eliminated by Tahitian wildcard Michael Bourez, while Luke Munro took it to Andy Irons, who scored a surprising 4.00 total for his heat. But all that isn't to say that there aren't still several top pros still in the running to win the thing. Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, and Taj Burrow (ahem) plowed through their Round 3 heats, and in the case of the latter two, all the way into the Quarterfinals where they will face each other with both also keeping an eye on their WCT standings.

For the full rundown of the day's events check the Round 3, and a partial Round 4, recap here.

Quiksilver Pro France Round 4 Results:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.27 vs. Phillip Macdonald (AUS) 8.23
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.17 def. Royden Bryson (ZAF) 11.14


Quiksilver Pro France Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.33 def. Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 7.33
Heat 2: Phillip Macdonald (AUS) 14.66 def. Cory Lopez (USA) 9.77
Heat 3: Royden Bryson (ZAF) 12.33 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 8.84
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.17 def. Trent Munro (AUS) 6.77
Heat 5: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 10.50 def. Victor Ribas (BRA) 6.10
Heat 6: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 12.17 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.67
Heat 7: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 13.67 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 8.84
Heat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.00 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 9.13
Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.06 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 7.27
Heat 10: Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 14.73 def. Leonardo Neves (ZAF) 12.50
Heat 11: Neco Padaratz (BRA) 15.67 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 6.80
Heat 12: Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 15.50 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.67
Heat 13: Luke Munro (AUS) 10.83 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 4.00
Heat 14: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 12.16 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 8.00
Heat 15: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 13.17 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 10.87
Heat 16: Troy Brooks (AUS) 11.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 5.57

Danny Kass Celebrates His Sweet Sixteen
Published: 1:31 a.m. PT by Cary

*Cue MTV's 'Sweet Sixteen' Theme Song*

I guess it's cool now to celebrate your birthday with a complete tongue-in-cheek fashion sense now. First we had Shaun White's leopard print pants, now we got Danny Kass wearing a T-shirt featuring...Danny Kass. Either way it looks like the snowboarding phenom had himself quite a blast for his "sixteenth" birthday at Berbati’s Pan in Portland and Transworld Snowboarding documented the whole thing. Festivities included an open bar for all, music provided by 'Retard Riot', and of course open-faced rowdiness.

For a recap of the night (as if it were some type of contest or something) check the TWS story. For some vicarious living check out TWS' photo gallery from the night.

Photo Courtesy of Transworld Snowboarding

*Fade Out MTV's 'Sweet Sixteen' Theme Song*
(What you thought you weren't supposed to imagine hearing that track as a score to this entry? You thought wrong.  By the way, he's 25...)

Gretchen Bleiler Nike Ad
Published: 1:19 a.m. PT by Cary

In case you're not an ESPN head like me you might not have caught Gretchen Bleiler in Nike's newest commercial. The commercial is meant to help boost awareness of women's sports as it features Bleiler along with other top female athletes like Gabrielle Reese, Diana Taurasi, and Picabo street, stepping up to a giant voice-amplifying/megaphone type contraption (kinda like when you used to roll up a magazine into a cone and use it to yell into little babies' ears, or was that just me?) and speaking up (pun intended) for women's sports with quotes like, "The halfpipe doesn't care that I'm a girl" (unlike say babies' mothers caring that I yelled into their babies' ears). Here save me some typing and check out Bleiler's comments on working with Nike, as well as the commercial itself below:

 

Adio Super Session Highlights
Published: 12:44 a.m. PT by Me

In case you don't live or weren't in town 411VM.com has posted video highlights from the Adio Super Session '07 that popped off September 15th at Active Orange, California. The clip features Kenny Anderson, Ernie Torres, Joey Brezinski, Steve Nesser, Danny Montoya, Sean Eaton, Chris Troy, Tony Hawk and Jesse Fritsch tearing up the specially built course for the event (check out Joey B's nose manual to nollie flip manual out...ewwww). Do yourself a favor and catch the clip here.

Rockstar Parties Like A Rockstar By Buying A Bike With A Handlebar Basket
Published: 12:01 a.m. PT by Cary

In news that's remotely relatable to the other stuff we cover here, Tom Meighan, the singer for the English band, Kasabian (don't sleep on their self-titled album and the follow-up 'Empire', they're damn good) has out-dueled boatloads of nerds and 80's fans to land the movie prop of their dreams, Eliot's bike from 'ET'.

Meighan is said to have paid over 10,000 pounds (that's about $20,149 according to my Yahoo currency converter) which isn't much considering some fool paid $752,467 for Barry Bonds' 756th Home Run Ball which is seemingly dripping with steroid juice or some testosterone derivative. We don't know what Meighan plans to do with the bike but sources say that Meighan actually has purchased a lifesized model of ET (we're guessing he's a fan, though maybe deeply disturbed...but his music's great) which begs the assumption that maybe one sparkling moonlit night, citizens of the UK might just see a shaggy haired rocker peddling through the sky in some type of bicycle + bungee + diesel powered energy device only to fail drastically and fall into the neigborhood tree to the embarassment of said rocker who only responds to the name "Eliot". You can almost feel imagine it.

For the more details on Meighan's resistance to growing up check the article here.

Older Archive: September 20 - September 26, 2007