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| RUMBLE IN RAMONA 2 / 10.17.09 |
| BLKPRJKT |
Pre-Game Rumbling.
Conks love.
Proper.
Entroduction---
"Well, there's a biker bar in town, it can get a little rough..." Double Tats to Chesty told us, "But you're probably here for the Oktoberfest right?" Wrong. "And there's NO noise after 9 PM, got it?" Oh yeah, we got it. Ramona. Never had a reason to come here, and didn't even know where it was until Darren Navarette and Jake Doomey put it on the map with last year's inaugural Rumble In Ramona. Navs did exactly the right thing at exactly the right time for skateboarding. A hearty group of co-conspirators, Creature, Independent, Lance Dawes, Thrasher mag, and countless minions all shared in this labor of love. Pure genius really, and true vert skateboarding. Chris Livingston agreed. X and Dew have become nearly compulsory routine events, and while each and every one of the guys riding in those contests has something unique, the reality is that they are being judged on "amplitude" or whatever. The Rumble has only 1 judging criteria, either you are in or you are out.
Pedro blasting off.
Rune 80's Glifberg!
Hey now!
Tomulan, Romulan, fuck Captain Kirk and shit. Oh, I mean Tom Remillard, strap-free. Got his first ever frontal invert at the end of the day. Rock on!
Where's Phelps? Here's T-Mo, Sam Smyth, Max Schaaf, Frank Gerwer, Mike Frazier, and T-Webmd Schmitty, that enough for ya?
To see the widely diverse crew of vert guys in Ramona is akin to witnessing dozens of the most prominent painters in history, all attacking one huge canvas simultaneously. Surrounded by hot rodders, Hell's Angels, skate royalty, dirtbags, greasers, go-go girls, musicians and more. How can this NOT be good? Steve Van Doren was on site to perform his grilling artistry as well, feeding the sunburnt throngs. Nihilist, the Creepy Creeps, and Salba's latest combo provided the throbbing soundtrack. If you hadn't gotten the idea from last year's event, this is skateboarding in all of it's grass-roots glory, where respect is key, individuality is rewarded, and raw skateboarding is the reason. It's a reminder of what we all love, and all of the reasons why we love it. The only thing not to love? Parts getting his bell rung on Friday night and not being able to ride on Saturday. I'm certain that he is way more bummed than you that he didn't get to skate.
Al, just prior to turning out his own lights.
Hitzville, USA.
Put away that garlic son, Navs ain't afraid of you.
Chris Livingston!
Legendary Shit---
Justin Lynch - There's a clip on youtube from the early 90's of Justin running off a 46 wall run on a vert ramp in Texas, abusing it like a mini ramp. That's right, 46 walls. Lore has it that sometime later, Justin and Jeff Phillips had a collision which resulted in Justin's departure from skating due to unspecified spinal trauma. Only Justin knows for sure, but what really matters is this dude is back.(bad pun) A little older, a little bigger, but still with the ability to mini-ramp-champ a vert ramp like nobody's business. Snapped his wrist late Saturday, but he acted like it was a mosquito bite. Toughness.
Mike Crum - Loved, hated, one-time single vert guy loved by Big Brother mag. Grosso heckled Mike into a Texas Plant late in the day, but the rest of the time Crum was flying about with drifty ollies, all sorts of cab and half cab variants. All Tex and no Mex. Oh yeah, and really good eggs and inverts. Crum's still got it. Years of skating big, "burn your skin off" steel vert in the lone star state turned Mike into one serious customer.
Lincoln Ueda - I have no idea how old Lincoln actually is. What I do know is that both he and I appeared in the same issue of a French skate mag called No WAY, back in 1990. That's 19 years ago, and this brasilian crusher looked like a grown-ass man. Le Grand Bournand Switzerland or some shit, 9 foot method air on an "old school" vert ramp. I'm talking about his photo obviously, NOT mine. So Lincoln shows up in Ramona this year and goes ballistic. Howitzer body jars, crossbones, kickflip indy's, one-footed japan'd out slobs, and airs that were seldom less than the 8 foot range. So maybe he isn't that old, like a Dominican Republic little leaguer but who the fuck cares when he skates this good. One of the sole bringers of the Gat-air this year.
Chris Livingston - Are you fucking kidding? Smoothness defined. Livi spent the better part of a week camping out in toasty Ramona, but of course to an AZ native, it probably felt even a little bit chilly. Chris jacked his back on Friday, but still got in on the Saturday ripfest, his eggplants are rather perfect and woah tailgrab back d's. One of the coolest dudes you will ever meet, he'll be back for more next year, no doubt.
Hosoi - Epic style. It's all been said before. Slicker than grease. Christian has the gift, and he put it to good use with a few runs of pure brilliance. Last year's Rumble was his coming out party, so to speak, and this year he flowed with his signature airs, including that anti-judo which simply defies any reasonable description. It's always a good day when Holmes is in the house, ripping it up.
Salba and Malba - Each wearing their own pro shirts. Hey c'mon guys, we do indeed remember you, anybody who doesn't needs a serious remedial skate history lesson! But seriously, the Alba brothers ripped it up, and damn if Micke's rock and roll shuffle isn't still one of the most baffling moves ever seen. Steve took some clean flights over the channel and only took a time out to get on stage and rock out. Always great to see the boys from the badlands mixing it up.
Rust never sleeps...
...It just gets ground off and prepped for paint.
Obligatory crowd shot.
800 MPH lipslide. Mike Frazier.
HMC!
Even More Legendary Shit---
Mike Frazier - Freak of nature. Soldier of misfortune. And arguably one of the absolute best vert skaters in the entire history of the thing. Vert was deader than a doornail when Mike was hitting his peak, but he could have cared less. He excelled when others hung it up. He destroyed his body for the sake of his skating. Frazier honed his shit down in Florida and every time he appeared somewhere, he put almost every other dude on the ramp to shame. Back lip revert over the channel, huge mute fastplant fakies, just about every cab-in, cab-out variation of sugarcane, hurricane, and other lip madness that is hard to even classify, tailgrab nose truck bonks, 360 ollie to rear truck bash... I mean you name it, Mike had it. If winners were actually chosen out in Ramona, Frazier would be in the final 3, without a doubt. I did his graphics for a couple of years in the 90's, and those decks are among my prized possessions.
Max Schaaf - I could go on endlessly about my Oaktown homie. Full throttle, 100% of the time. One of the best styles ever, too. 2 years in a row Max has been a crowd favorite, and it's completely justified. After all of these years Max still has a pro deck on Real, and there can be no doubt that it is legitimate. Haul-ass frontside bluntslides, huge frontside ollies, and blazing lines end to end using the entire ramp out to the last row of screws. Max can throw up a back lip at warp speed like it's nothing. Builds bikes, but in his spare time, he skates. 4Q Forkers!
Red - Gray slides. Hip-Hop inverts over the channel. Layback airs that come as close to not sucking as that trick ever will. All kinds of madness. Red is one of several nuclei that the universe of skateboarding revolve around, and any time he's in the mix, the whole thing is just that much better. Frontside 50-50 to air in over the channel. He's done more for you than you know. A true Don among soldiers. And that iPod, hell yes!
Lance Mountain - Simply killed it. Frontside fastplants off of the extension, regular fastplants in the 6 foot range, massive airs, and a frontal invert over the channel that will most likely never be topped. Plaid Bermuda shorts too. Lance is one of those guys you want to show up at every event, ambassador, godfather, analyst, and simply funny, good dude. Assured eternal life as well.
Future Legendary Shit---
Pedro Barros - Just one more hungry kid coming out of Brasil, airs of a magnitude second only to fellow countryman Lincoln. Pedro took a few opportunities to toss up 5's but in a way so as to stoke the crowd, and keep things hot rather than one-upping anybody. Um, Smith grind to free flight over the channel and in??? Ridiculous. Wisdom beyond his years and an explosive style, this kid is keeping the tradition alive. The tradition of ass-kicking Brasilians coming up here and proving their mettle.
Ben Raybourn - Could be the genetic prototype for a new subcultural sect: Nerdcore. But all joking aside, isn't it great that Ben isn't some girl pants-wearing emo guy with purple shoes? Fuck yes it is! Judo 360's, a 5 or two, invert reverts, and the general unorthodox ripping that big Ben is known for. Dropping his hat during a banger, and grabbing it on his exit wall was common. Unfortunately, Ben focused his wrist badly enough to need a fence board splint and a trip to the hospital in Escondido. Raise a beer or 3 to his speedy recovery.
Rune Glifberg - Hey fucker, aren't you supposed to be at the DooDoo tour? No wait, I misspoke. That was the old Right Guard™ Rune I was talking about. Of late, Rune has been a concrete terrorist, all-terrain annihilator, and high octane abuser of skatelite structures far and wide. Ollie north back D's? Are you kidding? Indy disasters, inverts, tail and truck bonk re-entries from massive ollies, might have tossed up a Gat-air for kicks. His temporary defection from big corpo events means we all win!
Trevor Ward - Oztralian madman. When you flush a toilet down under, the water goes the wrong way, so it should not be surprising in the least that big Trevor threw up frontside Caballerials over the channel. Blindside weirdness flowed from him all day, including bigspins, back-to-back-to-back 360 airs, and a simply retarded nosegrind pop shove-it that dropped jaws. The Rumble is all about mystery guests, and Trevor definitely fit the bill.
Div - Scotland, ya cunts! Div is a madman, and by madman, I mean certifiable lunatic. The ramp at Ramona could barely contain this psycho. Countless runs of pure sketch and slosh, punctuated with huge backside ollies and channel transfers. Absolute improvisation and a flair for the do or die, and often, when his trick was disintegrating around him, he still managed to somehow, impossibly, pull it off. After witnessing his insanity, surely no one was in need of anything more.
Grosso schooling Gerwer and Hewitt on the finer points of secretive structures.
Max. Frontal bluntal.
The Creepy Creeps rocking the house.
Lance. Epic!
Big Ben Raybourn.
Classic'ly Holmes.
Outroduction---
The Rumble in Ramona demands respect of all who attend, respect for skateboarding and absolute respect for the people who work so hard and sacrifice so much to make it all happen. If you arrive lacking this respect, there are consequences. T-mag now knows this. He was escorted out by security. Further proof of this respect is that street phenoms Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, and Frank Gerwer showed up to cheer on their vert brethren. Quality control is a huge part of what makes this event pretty much the best of the year. Absent are the throngs of Tony Hawk video gaming fans, suburban MINF's (Moms I'd Never Fuck) and all of the unnecessary components that only serve to foul the fuel-air mixture of a real skate event. All we need is a vert ramp, the guys who are down to ride all day and night, bands, Red's iPod, hot rods, bikes, and beer, plenty of beer, the rest simply falls into place. Our hats are off to Darren Navarette, Jake Doomey, Creature, Indy, Thrasher, Dawes, Bean Bandits, the local Red and White, the bands, and each and every person and company that lent a hand and helped make the Rumble go off in classic fashion. Don't ever stop. Ever.
Crum dog, coulda' been a Thrasher cover circa 1988.
Plaid Patrol approval.
Lincoln Ueda.
Red's channel hopper.
Remy Stratton over the river and through the woods tail slide.
Parting shot: One of the truly "FUCK YEAH!" dudes this year, Div!
-BLKPRJKT / PHOTOS MRZ |
Monday 19th 2009f October 2009 17:09
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