High fives and over-priced drinks
Nearly a sold-out crowd filled the Showbox in downtown Seattle for the first big kick-off to the upcoming shred season. Mack Dawg Productions held the NW premier for their two shred videos "Follow Me Around" and "People" both of these flicks were super sick and should be on anybody's must-see list this winter. Many of the athletes were present with autographs being signed on everything from posters to fleshy parts. The crowd completely lit up with the "People" sections featuring regional/national/intn'l heroes Patrick McCarthy and Shaun McKay. With all-agers present in the crowd, the doors closed early and the majority of the party stumbled over to the near by Whiskey Bar, for a fitting close.
Sea-town was on fire and ready for good stuff to fall. least.
Left: 686's Will and Laing
Right : Danielle Hambleton, Jessie Lu, Krush
"please dont call the cops"
Northwest ripper (see cover #4.2), industry vet and recent addition to the POW gloves staff, Monty Hays recieved a birthday party in his honor at the POW Gloves world HQ in Shoreline, WA. A mellow enough backyard BBQ, one could tell that things would get interesting as soon as night fell. And they did. Rooftop walking, kegstands, hot-tubing, topless copy machine action and Carolyn from Mama Fest even had a guest appearance freestyling on the mic. Successful bash and another year younger for Steven's legend Monty (see photo above right).
9th annual Bonfire Pipe 2 Pipe Contest
Summer riding at Hood never seems to stop and this past weekend was no exception: Saturday the 22nd Bonfire held the finals for the 9th annual Pipe 2 Pipe contest. The event was one part snow rail jam and one part skate street jam, pitting season pros vs. campers head to head for prizes, product and cash.
With a mid-90s, record heat wave blasting down upon Mt. Hood's Palmer Snowfield, the contest kicked in. After an hour of both impressive riding and flailage (and solid MC work) the snow portion was over and the party moved to Windell's indoor skate park for a BBQ and street skate jam. The indoor park was packed and the skaters put on a sick show. "Man-Child" was my easily favorite skater, that guy kills it. After points were tallied, prizes were given away, and money thrown into the crowd, the campers fought for product in a classic 80's style swag-toss. Zac Marben, Nick Dirks, Silas Baxter-Neil, Steven "Man-Child" Reeves each walked away with a cool grand. Desiree Melanchon pocketed 2 thousand dollars (see photo above). Bonfire's Pipe 2 Pipe continues its bilateral success.
freq Report Summer 06
Several of the frequency TSJ crew including Jeff Galbraith, Matt Wibby and Dylan Hart ventured southward to Mt. Hood and Burton’s Abominable Snow Jam , to take in the record sunshine, gawk at the incredible performances, and to witness the human spectacle that is Government Camp, OR. Between triple-overhead airs, the larger-than-usual snowfield, and a solid attendance the ASJ was again an unqualified success. Also at Mt. Hood, Jessie Burtner and crew unveil their premier of Think Thank's "Patchwork Patterns", featuring the tech wizardry of Gus Engle, Sean Genovese, and other shreds, the film had the people jumpin' around like Bobby Brown.
Plenty of backcountry summer riding has continued locally with over ten feet of snow still at the end of the road at Artist's Point. Intern Sean McKillop has made several summer missions to date (scroll down).
In other freq news, Senior Editor John Laing recently celebrated his official college graduation. Although we've long given him hell that he was graduating with a degree in frequency, the official frequency TSJ tally was 1/16 of his total credits. Kind of a minor-concentration in frequency TSJ. Congrats, Laing!
A big stoker and welcome to Vans , who has come on board as an advertising and podcasting partner with frequency TSJ. Look for frequency TSJ video podcasts to drop starting this fall.
freq week 07 is on, with a full week (two sessions) already packing them in. Subscribe to win the Golden Ticket and a free freq week session at Baldface.
Thanks for five years of total support. Look for the new issue to hit newsstands, shops, and mailboxes in about three weeks.
Whistler is going off - still.
Whistler has to be one of my favorite places. Whether its the amazing terrain, world-class people watching, untracked powder for days, nightlife that never gets old or, as in my most recent adventure, snowboarding in late May. Whistler Mountain is open until June 4th for snowboarding. The whole freaking thing is open, with great coverage -- well above the gondola midstation, but that's pretty much the only place people ride normally. The snow is soft, rock jibbing is to be had, $29 lift tickets, lines are short, food is half off, bikini's, warm weather. Features of all size, ranging from mellow to super booters. Wax up your shred stick, its not over yet.
Homeschool Rips
Headed over to the Sequim Mervin factory for the video premier of Homeschool 8 -- and when I say headed, I mean flew. Following in the steps of our publisher, Jeff Galbraith, I jumped head first into the realm of private air and I'm all about it. Thanks to friend and pilot James Alton we landed VIP at the Sequim airport, stumbling distance from the Mervin Mfg. factory. First time ever visiting the home of Lib Tech and Gnu, and I got a quick tour of the factory, watched a board being made and even caught a glimpse of some 07 boards. Really cool.
After nightfall, departed from the bonfire and settled in on the lawn of the factory to watch the main event. Memorable sections include Peter Tosh, Banked Slalom footage, solid intermission footage and most importantly the mantra that never got old: "Home School Rips". The night ended with a raffle and all proceeds benefiting the Port Angeles Skatepark. Mervin Mfg. generously threw down enough product it seemed like most everybody was a winner. Ryan Kennedy walked away with a snowboard. Looking forward to "Homeschool 9".
