New Jersey Hardcore

Skateboarding seems to have a hand in "rocking the casbah"  a lyric from that famous Beatles song.
I've written about the half moon manual before.  I was able to lay one down in a motel parking lot in Cape May. NJ.  Cape May is a little weird, ya'll.

"Marc" review….

I mentioned reviewing these pups… a year and a half ago?  I have this habit of buying shoes and letting them marinate on the closet shelf for a while.  Doesn't mean I haven't been skating in these at all for the past year.  I've done a few wang dang boppity boos with these guys, but I also have a few other shoes in rotation that find themselves face to face with some grippy tape.   

These dawgs are ill to say the least.  After a fairly quick break in period,  I found myself really digging the comfort level and balanced sole.   This version of the vulcanized sole offers a nice cushion without compromising board feel.  It offers the option of a lace saver ( I used it on the top eyelet of my left foot forward) which may have had a hand in lengthening the life of my laces.  No worry because as with most skate shoes,  Lakai does right by offering a backup pair of laces.  

I think these things are probably obsolete by now as Marc Johnson has moved along to a new model, the "MJ", but you could still find a pair out there…. maybe in "Cashew"!

Finishing What The Gonz Started

Okay.  If you haven't seen Wes Kremer's latest Thrasher part…. you should check it.  He wallies a handrail to late shove it, he ollies to dark slide down a handrail and does so much other cool shit, going fast with loose trucks and loose, casual style.  It's really fun to watch.  So after that came this footage at Thrasher's skatepark, Double Rock.  A lengthy and carefree switch front smitty, a fakie front smitty (switch willy?).  Just grinding around the park and laying waste to the quarter pipe with some insane maneuvers.

I don't mind all of the fist bumping and high fiving because you can see that it really is warranted here.  His homies are getting him hyped to land the trick and he sticks it, it's sick and the stoke is infectious. Makes me want to skate with some actual humans again and not just the demons in my mind looking for a cool off.   Skate off?  I feel like I heard about some locals challenging one another to a skate off when I was a kid.  " Well… he did a method air, but other dude did a judo…. tough call"

BUTT BOARDING IN THE OLYMPICS?

Getting him started.

Riding on the metro

Compiling a list of my fave vid parts for 2014 thus far, and this one is sitting at the top for the moment.   A Biggie/Tupac/Kane Live jam,  stripped down to the beat and the rhymes,  proves to be a fitting soundtrack for Molinar's sick lines.  This part makes me want to skate for sure.  Night skate to be more specific.  I'm not big on crooked grinds, but his have gotta be some of the best in the biz.  Gap to crooks is A+.  There's a two trick line that starts with a frontside flip out of a 7-11 parking lot, over a hydrant and ends with a switch backside flip on flat soon after.  It's just two tricks but the style and the street lights make it memorable,  something you want to return to as well.   Backside five-o frontside 180 out on a ledge has  always been a favorite of mine.  Here he does one off the end of one ledge, dropping down to another and opting for a simple fakie ollie down to the sidewalk.  I love it.  It's accessible.

I can enjoy watching stunt skating from time to time, but it's parts like these that remind us that skating doesn't always have to be bonkers.   I'll be checking out what else WKND skateboards puts out there,  along with companies like Magenta,  and Isle.  Companies that are putting out the kind of skating that actually makes me want to go out and hit the streets.  Good show, Metro.