this video is going VIRAL, BABY!!!

I did a big time 00's thing and uploaded a video to youtube--the montage from Sixth Sense with the Welsh sw 360 flip at the end -- second-to-last trick actually. Truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of embedded video; it usually falls under the "hey dudes, look what I found on the internets" category. However, it's been floating across my mind's eye ever since the chrome ball dude posted this. Maybe it's a combination of skating through the banks that day and how completely out of left field it was at the time; I mean, the only dude who sw 360 flipped over stuff was...you know who. Note: apparently, it is one of the TOP 10 SWITCH 360 FLIPS EVER. Truth be told, I cannot recall if that was a SLAP topic or magazine article first--a moot point if there ever was one.
ANYWAY, there's some interesting stuff in there in addition to Welsh, like pre-cellar door Puleo, Brad Hayes (slightly ahead of his time), Jerry Fowler, and random footage of whoever was in NYC that spring, i.e. Nikhil Thayer at courthouse. Oh yeah--Dan "2 Fish" Rogers.

Ride the Sky Premiere Report including Gilbert Crockett mini-interview

dateline: Richmond, VA 8/16/08

"You're gay."
That's what my brother said when I called him and explained that I was at a skateboard video premiere. He lives in a house with a bunch of dudes about a block away from the cinema you see above, where the premiere occurred. The centerpiece of the house is a HD television mounted above the fireplace. Presumably, this will function as the locus of activity and excitement during NFL time. That's a few weeks away, though--summer still has 2 more weekends. As you might have surmised, my brother is diametrically opposite from me--total frat dude. Allegedly, he even has pictures on "facebook" of his girlfriend partaking of a beer bong, the end of it down by his junk. To his credit, he is slightly more advanced than I in that particular realm.
I always heard about dudes getting into skating because of an older brother. However, I think that wasn't in the cards because he's 10 years younger than I, which is a little too big of a disconnect to be influenced in that way, you know? But what the fuck do I know...
Anyway, maybe he's right--what the fuck am I doing with my life that on, a Saturday in the second-to-last weekend of the summer, I choose to watch a skateboard video with 400 12-year olds? The thing is, I still don't have the slightest idea what the average 30-year-old single dude does on an average weekend day. Play XboX? Tweak the fantasy football roster? I couldn't go to the gym because it's a JCC that opens at 1:30 on Saturdays. At the end of the day, as with most things that human beings are passionate about, there's some that "get it" and some that will never "get it."
It would take about 7 hours to explain to someone the import and gravitas of watching a video for the first time, and even then there's only about a 1% chance that they would "get it." So it's not even worth trying to explain--not even to my own brother.

ANYWAY...

***WARNING--SOME MUSIC SPOILERS AHEAD***

As one might expect, the soundtrack primarily focuses on Seventies hard rock of the "classic metal" variety, most effectively in the opening montage. Wait, what's that I hear--a flugelhorn playing the "AH AH AHHHHHHHHHH AH" from "Immigrant Song"? A call to arms for the masses of Black Box disciples? Perhaps...
Also of note, James Hardy skates to Skynyrd, the floodgates for which were opened by Chet Childress in that Nike video. If you would have told me fourteen years ago that it would be acceptable to use Skynyrd and obscure German proto-metal with flugelhorns in a skate video, I would have eaten my hat. Who knows what the next ten years will bring? Maybe Unquestionable, when it comes out in 2019, will have a soundtrack comprised of Dire Straits and Genesis. There are no rules--not anymore.
As for the skating itself, I'm not really going to deconstruct anything because, truth be told, this is not my genre of choice. Gilbert Crockett did the most flip-in/flip outs, which was more in my wheelhouse than the other dudes. Chris Cole, however, is on some Rodney Mullen Jedi master shit where there is no disconnect between board and mind.
His second song of a two-song part was "Diamonds and Rust" by Priest--the Unleashed in the East version; gotta love that mandatory fake crowd noise--see every other live record from 1970-1985 for more examples. Excellent choice though--kudos overall to the music supervisor, whoever you are.

GILBERT CROCKETT MINI-INTERVIEW

Describe the process of filming for the video; was it stressful or...
Nah this video wasn't that stressful because we went on a lot of fun trips; it was more relaxed than the Mystery video, so it was more fun.
Describe what it's like for you to be here at a premiere like this, with your family and friends, etc.
It's more exciting than the first premiere, because at the first premiere I didn't really know everybody there. It's like, it was in San Diego, I'm from Richmond, so this is when my family gets to come and everything.
What was the coolest place you traveled to during filming?
Probably Paris or Berlin.
Any goals for the future?
Nah, just trying to keep doing what I'm doing.
Whose part was the best, in your opinion?
My favorite part is probably Harmony.