Monday, August 31, 2009

The Revival NYC, No Web Edit Mentality



After all of the riding that I had been doing previous to my arrival back here in NYC, I had no idea as to what new things would develop in the following weeks.  Shredding with so much effort sometimes leaves you tired, wandering whether or not you will even be able to go out and just have fun.

A lot of things from this trip, blurred together, and are still very blurry, but I will try my best to state some things in the order in which they happened.  

A phew days after settling into my new place,  Wayne Morhart, the director and cinematographer for The Revival, contacted me and mentioned that he was arriving a phew days  earlier than the rest of the Skitch crew.  At first I didnt know what to think about this, because I was slightly nervous about going out and filming with just Wayne, Wonka, and I.  I felt like it might have been too much pressure or something (which is weird not that I think about it).  This was totally not the case at all. After Wayne experienced one the worst introductions to NYC ever, having to put up with this loser Caby driver, he arrived at my place.  Wonka, Wayne and I just chilled out, for Wayne's jet lag was already hitting him full fledge, and that day possessed spraying rain, on and off.

The next day the three of us went out and proceeded to get some work done.  Things seemed stiff at first, but that changed as soon as we all arrived in the city.  Things went off, instantly!  I was surprised at how quickly things began to pick up.  This pattern went on for the next phew days, and when we caught up with Jacob Ruff, from Seattle, things got even more intense.  We now had a crew of four people with energy blasting everywhere. 





Jacob Ruff is one of the nicest dudes that I have ever met.  He seems quiet at first, but with two dudes like Wonka and I goofing off and speaking loudly all of the time, that doesn't last long.  Jacob's style is insanely smooth, one of the most fluid for sure.  He surprised me, mostly because there isn't much coverage of his riding, so everything seemed new to me.  As stated before, I am not into wheelie toe/foot slides, but man, Jacob makes them look nice! 
This dude is totally down to help out whenever necessary.  At one spot he stood out in the street and blocked cars from blasting in the way of some good progress.  This is just one incident of Jacob's good deeds, the kid's righteous!  I totally enjoyed having him around, not to mention he laid down some nice riding, for sure.




The first day that the rest of the Skitch crew arrived, I was super hyped.  I have been a part of the Skitch family for almost a year now, and when I first found out that I would meet Tom Briggs (the main creative mind behind it all), I was beyond excited.  This is the dude who felt that I was worth adding to the fam., and not to mention he treated me like a friend, well before I was even a part of Skitch.  When Wonka, Jacob, Wayne, and I were chillin at the bottom of the bridge, and all of the other dudes rolled up, I knew from that point on that this trip was going to be awesome.
That night we went to the local concrete skatepark and everyone put in a little work.  We were at least 10 people deep, and we devoured the park.  Almost everyone got at least one clip.  I wrecked myself sooo hard...  Seriously.

We woke up early, a usually action that occurred on this trip, and headed to Staten Island to squat on some spots that probably had never been ridden in the Freestyle Fixed scene.  The ferry ride over was beautiful.  We were all sitting down blabbing about how stoked we were to go ride something totally new.  Little did we know, that this day would bring all of us together as a true team, family, unit.  




The spots in Staten were amazing, varying from little nibbly weird things, to huge bangers that made you shit down your leg a little.  We stacked clip after clip after clip, moving from spot to spot, all while thinking to ourselves, "man, Staten spots are awesome!".   Staten itself was sort of weird, and unbelievably suburban, saying as it is only a 30 minute  fairy ride outside of the city.  Non the less, Wonka was in his old stomping ground and he fucking shredded this one spot apart.  Both Tom's did/attempted two new tricks that were never before seen.  This day was ridiculous.  Things went off!





A day or two following, we all sessioned the ramp at Tron's spot, and man, I cant believe what went down on this thing.  Prolly showed up a little later and put in his two cents as well, leaving the ramp totally ripped.  This day was crazy, and the lighting, partnered with Wayne's skills...  I have nothing else to say about that one!



There was one night, after we rode through the city with at least 10 people, when we came back to Brooklyn and just chilled in McCearen Park; A true local regular.  That night was one of the best times that I have had in a while.  Everyone was there, chilling out and just chatting it up.  People slowly left and went on to do what they do, but the Revival crew was still there, relaxing and shooten many breezes.  That night I talked to Tom Briggs for hours about anything and everything.  Tom is straight edge, and I just don't do shit, so while everyone was getting sloppy loose, we were just laughing at them all, and solidifying our brotherhood, ha.  After chilling with everyone that night, I totally knew that Skitch was one of the best things that I could be a part of, family, friends, riding, a love, for sure.  I had so much fun, that ended up staying at Tron's with the rest of the crew, that night.  

I loved how much this overall situation made me feel as if I were a part of something real.  A real sport, a real crew, real pain, a real trip.  I remember on one rainy day, we found this setup and camped out there for hours, patintly waiting for Briggs to get his clip.  He attempted it 170+ times, and we were all there for him.  He didnt land it that day, but later on in the trip, the trick came.  That patience made the trick possible...




We went through tons of tubes, two broken chains, a tire, seat post, saddle, bent bars, a rim, and two broken frames, but all in all, we had fun.  I think that everyone developed in some way or another, from this trip.

There were tons of new spots that we found, and tricks that were never before seen.  There was tons of eating, sleeping, laughing, and more cursing than you can ever imagine.  As stated before, a lot of things happened that are now meld together, with only the video itself to divide them, so I am skipping out on a great bit. You had to have been there... yeah, those were some insane times.
 
It was sad to see you guys go.






Be good guys.














4 comments:

  1. Im really stoked that Jacob is gonna be in The Revival in Seattle and New York. Hopefully he can bring some New York steez back to Seattle.

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  2. http://skitchclothing.blogspot.com/2009/09/revival-nyc-recap.html

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