It Girl - Donna Tartt

It was impossible to see the noses of It Girls last week, because they were all buried in the pages of a book with a goldfinch on the front. We now know that The Goldfinch is Donna Tartt's new novel, her first release in over a decade and a welcome return of this reclusive author to the public eye.

The Secret History was Tartt's 1992 debut novel. The Mississippi native wrote and set much of the murder tale at Vermont's Bennington College, while she dated Bret Easton Ellis when he was writing Less Than Zero. Ms. Tartt's talent, beauty and fashion sense all received attention in the press, but the green eyed brunette met celebrity with seclusion while Mr. Ellis started a rumor that she was living on a plantation in Virginia with goats, sheep, and a very young boyfriend.

Truthfully, Miss Tartt split her professional life between Virginia and Manhattan, where her devout writing habits lead to a natural low profile. She released The Little Friend after a decade's work, then spent the past 11 years creating The Goldfinch. In a new BBC interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiL1dIXAQKo) Ms. Tartt reveals she has done recent writing on the Madison Avenue bus and in the Allen Room of the New York Public Library (http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/allen-room). If you missed her at either of these locations, Ms. Tartt will be making a free appearance in Brooklyn tomorrow night (http://donnatartt.splashthat.com/#). , where we expect that Ms. Tartt's choice for neckwear will dictate scarf style in the coming winter months.

HAPPY HOUR

Happy Hour

Happy Hour Trailer

Free Video Premiere This Sunday 8pm at Anthology Film Archive, 2nd St and 2nd Ave Manhattan. Also, release of my new Dollar Story - 2 Girls.

HAPPY HOUR

12th St Seaport

On April 7, 2013
a softball game forced Mooney and me away from the TF wallie box south to Whole Foods. We ate 4$ Bowery Burgers with 2$ sweet potato fries on the Houston Steps. After the meal we still had some daylight so started walking up to 12th and A. I wanted to do halfcab back 5050s. Elisa texted that she was walking downtown from the 14th Street Trader Joe's so Mooney and I met her on 7th St and First Avenue. She set down her bags as we talked. When I informed her that Mooney and I would be continuing to 12th and A, Elisa picked up her bags and departed. I sensed that I was missing an opportunity to carry her groceries for her, but I had already stated my desire for skating so Mooney and I pushed up 1st Ave then entered 12th and A through the 11th Street gate.

For our efforts Mooney and I received 45 minutes of good skating with a low crowd, mostly back and forth lines on the ledges along the wall. The chipped north end of the long ledge gave me further incentive to pop out of boardslides. I wallrode backside on the north wall once I realized that placing my front foot on the front bolts helps me stay overboard on the way down. One kid was consistently sliding back lips on the bowed polycarbonite bench but rarely landing one, while Mooney landed back lips on the shorter wall ledge most tries. I filmed one at his request then stowed the camera because I wanted to skate more than film. I let someone use my Chickenbone wax and someone else use my T tool. I landed a few back tails, but by the time I remembered about halfcab back 5050s the day was getting dark. Mooney landed a back lip 270 before the shadows sent us to the bleachers. Backlip 270 would have been a good trick to film, but I didn't.

As Mooney and I sat on the top bleacher with our backs against the bunker, a boy wearing a painter's cap and a Ghetto Child patch on his jeans continued skating the last brightest spot, which was the no-legged picnic table with waxy top edges gleaming from the streetlight. This goofy footer looked like a San Francisco skater Mooney couldn't name and did switch noseslide and switch crook first and second try. He had tried a few switch backside180 to backside nosegrinds on a ledge earlier, but I hadn't seen him really land anything before these two tricks. Much as I wished I had filmed Mooney's back lip 270, I wished I had filmed the switch noseslide and switch crooks. But if the boys could do these tricks at the end of this evening, I figured they could redo them some next day soon.

Instagram showed that Danny Weiss was at Le Basket so we headed there to drink beer and talk for an hour. After Le Basket I went to Elisa's, where she had been sweet enough to leave me dinner but had no interest in hearing about the 12th and A session until I acknowledged that I had missed an opportunity to help her carry the same groceries I was now eating. I kissed up and down her straight arms as she said I wasn't sorry.

On April 10,
Elisa went to class and I stayed in her apartment on her laptop. Slicky Boy posted "RIP 12th and A" to facebook. An hour later Quartersnacks updated with photos of the broken ledges. That afternoon, when Elisa came home from school, I told her the news of the spot's demise. "There goes the one excuse I gave you to leave me with groceries."

Mooney and I went by 12th and A that afternoon. A city worker stood with his hand closing the south gate so we looked through the fence to see the coped concrete top of the flatgap box hauled into the walkway. City workers and a backhoe had done the work. The two ledges that had been along the wall were already piles of debris.

Mooney and I headed to Tompkins next. 12th and A has always been been an outpost from TF culture and now even the last polycarbonite bench - one that had been the initial draw to 12th and A - was residing at Tompkins. "They didn't even leave us the granite," Slicky said of the broken ledges, but he was already was already brushing off the loss and anticipating an especially good summer at Tompkins. Still, the East Village's most dependable ledge spot was no longer, destroyed without advance notice.

The piles of broken ledge material were removed the next day. Now both 12th and A and TF lack consistent ledges. While unfortunate, this is not a new state of affairs. Though the granite ledges were beloved, they also marked 12th and A's time from 2008-2013 as a curated skatepark with a rotating cast of obstacles. During this time the Krooked eyes, student art and advertisements came to covered the once whitewalled spot with portable benches that had first garnered attention through Lurkers 2 Ted Barrow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXYhF5F91g) and Aaron Szott (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XpMTdM92UI) footage.

To know if a gate was open at 12th and A was valuable currency to convince people to leave Tompkins. 12th and A could be a wind tunnel, but possessed a real appeal as a Tompkins alternative for a number of factors. In 2004, a few polycarbonite benches and lengthy flatground made 12th and A's case as a TF alternative, perhaps slightly less crowded with more potential for lines than the Tompkins marquee-style box. The moveable but sturdy benches at Open Road Park were slightly lower than typical TF fare and, though lacking angle iron, did slide exceptionally well. Danny and Miles commuted from Uptown, thus skating the spot on their way to and from Tompkins led to their early displays of mastery (http://youtu.be/61oGMDDwcaw). Dirty Daddy did kickflip back tails while I skated back and forth practicing back tails and switch back tails. In the days before Yaje did a switch back tail on Black Hubba he asked me me how I slid them so consistently. I said that on 12th and A benches the sliding was the easy part while the dismount is the important thing to make consistent.

Most people I know stopped jumping the fence eventually, especially after Switch Mike broke both wrists when his shoelace snagged and he fell from height. The spiked gates, hours and spot location as school appendage have dictated much of 12th and A's potential. The history of closings and re-openings further added to its inconsistent scene. Yet to have 12th and A open sparked optimism for that grand task of polishing ledge tricks in a hassle free setting. QuarterSnacks captured the buzz at TF that surrounded a re-opening of 12th and A thus:

That’s all that Tompkins screaming, is ’12th & A back’
All eyes on 12th Street, better picture me skating
Grinding brand new rails, but them bitches is slippery
Stranded on Avenue A, Brenda having my baby
But I’m stacking my stickers, need a brand new pair of Indys
12th & A back, 12th & A back
That’s all that Tompkins screaming, is ’12th & A back’

This re-imagined Rick Ross verse, simultaneously impoverished and grandiose, shows the aspiration that 12th and A bred. Though the average age user at 12th and A was probably younger than at Tompkins, the ledges provided a sort of entrance challenge, as one’s ability to do ledge tricks made the spot worthwhile. The blueprint simplicity of benches and granite ledges were sufficient to occupy any skater forever. Though the Dunions have strong 12th and A affiliation, there was a generation of skaters such as Andre Beverly and Stephan Martinez who owe a significant amount of their repertoire to 12th and A. Thando had Blackberry footage of Stephan doing a kickflip backside noseblunt and of course there was the day Stephan beat blood out of the drunken Philosopher after Philosopher picked a fight with Little Steven. Skateboarders' self policing, usually implicit, here became violent, since 12th and A was a place where skaters had earned freedom from outside confrontation and Stephan sought to perpetuate this internal code. The spot's notoriety as a smoking spot has as much to do with the shade tree and swings as the skateboard obstacles, and discrete smoking was more tolerated than Philosopher's indiscrete drunkenness.

For those interested in skateboarding, 12th and A on a good day could be more of a training facility than TF. The ski slope box had a good run and helped everyone's nosegrinds and wallies. There was the third standalone granite ledge for a couple years. The box "Big Blue" existed then moved to Tompkins where it was painted green. Chris Herity was the 12th Street Assassin and manualing in the background of Transworld's Alex Olson wallride coverage. The flat gap was an original attraction then the concrete ledge came to cross it. Before the end, the long flatbar lost one leg and featured cobblestone supports. Then it lost its other leg and stood on its center pole, which eventually came off too and now the flatbar sits on the ground level. There was a small wallie box where I learned wallie body varial one day when Unicron.net was there. There was the wooden mini ramp in the garden for some time. The tall Supreme box was a test to see what tricks you really could do. The funboxes brought for contests lasted for various durations. When 12th and A was at its most official, Billy's Bunker served refreshments and product then Billy would close up for the evening with his megaphone. Charles Lamb lived on 12th Street for a time and would watch Mooney skate from his apartment window.

In summer 2012 we met Amelia Pool there on the swing set when she came with that dude Patrick. She would sit on the swing in her ipaths and one time Patrick sat on top of her the opposite way and farted on her.

Before Billy did all his work, there was the man with the goatee who was in charge of the after-school programs. The spot could open when he unlocked the gate or he might kick out skaters when he brought in groups of children to play. In winter of 2004-5, 12th and A was covered in snow but the TF was dry. I wanted to skate a ledge and decided that the best thing to do would be to bring a 12th and A bench to Tompkins. There was one other skater at Tompkins, a young boy with spiked hair. He agreed to help me with the mission and we carried the bench from 12th and A to TF. The boy wasn't good enough to skate the bench, but I enjoyed the session until the goateed gatekeeper arrived. He said the bench wasn't ours to take and carried the box back to 12th and A on his own. Years passed and I didn't see my collaborator. Then on April 10, while everyone was skating the polycarbonite ledge at TF, I saw the boy again, still with spiked hair. I pointed to the polycarbonite bench and asked him if he remembered helping me move it. "Yeah man."


Though 12th and A's granite ledges signified permanence, the city proved just as capable of destroying ledges as hauling away another Tompkins box. Yet even without boxes, 12th and A remains solvent, as the park is currently open for general use, with the flat, flat gap, wall rides, a metal garbage can and stacked cobblestones to skate. The reason for the ledge destruction remains unclear, but one can infer any number of typical complaints. 12th and A reached heights of international exposure thanks to the efforts of Billy Rohan and many others. Now 12th and A is at its most minimalist. The destruction of established growth has made the spots demise more poignant, but 12th and A continues to offer a flatground option that is always a precious commodity in spatially dense Manhattan.

MMM

MMM from galensnacks on Vimeo.

Free Buzz

Free Buzz from galensnacks on Vimeo.

West End Girl

West End Girl


I just figure we will meet at TF, but we want to skate Gay Ledge so Roctakon suggests TF West, which makes more sense. I swap my Allen Edmonds for Dunks and skate over on Prince after my job interview, still in tie and two shirts and black wool Freeman's jacket with Red Backpack. The layering is good for the weather and the black Freemans piece is a durable outer layer since I fall some when I skate. I get to TF West first first, set down my bag and take off my jacket since the park is in strong sunlight. I start popping tricks then Roctakon comes though in a Tebow Jets jersey. We politic and Zach Baker texts to say he's off work on and his way. Roctakon and I play SKATE and I set a tre flip to start off that he lands too. I end up beating him with fakie heels and shit as he gives me SKAT. Baptiste rolls through on two wheels and a bike basket full of Sex Hippie gear and vintage menswear. He likes our enthusiasm and says he might come out to Gay Ledge.

A few minutes after Baptiste dips, Baker shreds up with backpack and we skate flat for some more deciding if we are really going to go to Gay Ledge. There is a group of children gathered around a teacher and after some time we hear commotion and look over to see huge spray from a two liter bottle of cola that has undergone a reaction. Then a party boy skater shows up and starts doing back 360s every try, the gentleman way. I film him and ask if he wants to skate ledges and he says it sounds fun but he is kicking it with his other friend so i say Later. I drink to finish my water bottle and go over to the fountain to refill it. While we're drinking an Asian woman longboards past dressed in a trench coat.

We walk past Da Silvano and Pitti then cross 6th Avenue at Bleeker, where we see the long boarder again. She is pushing strong against traffic on a cell phone, along the green cycling path paint job that is sort of worn because autos end up riding on it on the thin street and we have to pay mind to the bicycles heading into us too. Though confrontational, this is the fastest way to Cristopher street and it's tight watching this girl push on a mission. She rolls over a grate with no fear that i always avoid on my smaller wheels and it poses no problem. We end up kind of passing her and she has to notice us even though she is still on her phone, then we cut left onto Christopher and take that down to the water.

Now that we ride downhill in the flow of traffic we can relax, enjoy the ride and pop a couple flat ground tricks, though I don't because I have a backpack so manual more. We get to Gay ledge and it is chill, kinda windy but we don't let that stop us. I do a line of half cab nose slide then back tail then nollie 360 flip. Now that I have done 360 flip and back tail in the same day I am content. Some parks workers give us the boot and tell us about nearby skatepark offerings. Roctakon suggests Strip Club ledge so we cross the highway back into the city. Roctakon's deejaying at Westway that night so we might as well scope the block while there's daylight. I'm chilling on the skating but am down to film and they both want to pick up clips. Roctakon fake 360 flipped down 3 up 3 down the other day and now wants to take his new ledge moneymaker, the back 180 nose grind out to fakie on strip club ledge.

So here we are, at the metal ledge, frontside for goofy, kind of tall on sidewalk. It's pretty high and anything is cool as far as I'm concerned. So you know: Marquez did back nose grind pop out in a line in undershirt and bucket hat. I start filming. Baker lands a nose slide third try then does a wall ride further down. Then he starts going for crooks, to either fakie or pop out as he grinds. He was scraping them through the crusty Gay ledge and now on this angle iron is able to enjoy the grind. I film each of them as they take turns. Roctakon kick flips up the curb first and I film him from the back is fine because his Tebow Jets jersey shows. After a first few pokes he's kinda getting into the 180 nose grind. He depends on the ledge to take him for the ride, not like he was able to stand over it on the low Gay ledge. The attempts look good and he grinds for a few feet then he rolls away to fakie 10th try with enough speed to finesse a switch heels to finish. We scope the footy and I kept his body in the frame.

With this footage the day is officially chill and we agree that refreshment is in order. We skate east and stop by a deli where Roctakon buys a bottled beverage. Baker and I vaguely mention coffee but don't make any moves to get it and just like that, we have dodged a financial expenditure. We decide to wind down with more flat at TF West since we still have daylight, which turns into a blue raspberry sunset and Baker does a wallride. Roctakon dips to go to a meeting so Baker and I keep kicking it since we have no other plans. Zach rolls a spliff and we are about to go in but I saw it was the last of his pack and I don't have any so I say, "how about we wait for a little." He says "why." I say "so we'll have it later."

"I can get down with that," so he tucks the spliff behind his ear then rolls and smokes a cigarette instead. Mooney texts that he's coming through so we sit there as the day turns dark and Mooney skates in, in a sweatshirt and we comment on the cold. It is too dark to skate so we sit along the wall that Baker wall rode and smell the smells coming from the Italian restaurant. There is a girl with a dog over by the dugout benches and she keeps throwing the ball toward us and the dog keeps bringing the ball back to us so we throw the ball toward her back and forth. I don't really feel comfortable around dogs all the time so leave this pitching mostly to Mooney and Baker. Mooney mentions how he is into the girl. Of course he is, we like all the girls who bring things to the parks and if she's going by this park with a dog she lives in this good area. Then she leaves. If we come here around this time again maybe we'll see her again.

A few minutes later a couple more girls walk in. They are older. One is white with short blonde hair wearing black. One is brown wearing orange pants and navy wrap up top. Maybe they are roommates. They both know the Dog and throw his ball around. I wonder if they're lesbians. Mooney says they are not.
One girl smokes something and soon enough this dog is coming to visit us too. This one is big and powerful and Mooney handles him and says the skin is tight because it is fat. He bets they feed the dog human food and we imagine the filling meals these women eat.

They come over and I ask the dog's name. "Knuckles." Mooney says they should name it Tank but the brunette says says that too many boxers are named Tank. "I would name him Jerome Bettis."
"Her, actually. I knew she would come over once she saw your boards. She likes skateboards."

"She's a skateboarding dog?" Mooney says.

"No, she just likes them. She knows that skaters are cool."

"Your dog has good taste in men." They laugh. The girls have to be tough to handle this dog and they kind of are. The one who had been smoking has a rounder face dark hair, the other has short blonde hair and leather.
"Are you single?" I ask. It is best to know.

"Yes,"

"me too." The brunette is the one I wonder. This is good news.

"Me too." So is the blonde. So is Mooney. So is Baker. I introduce myself. Her name is Annette. Her friend is Lisa. Since I talked to them I might as well go further.

"We were about to burn this joint. Do you want in?" The blonde says no first, then the brunette says yes and Baker sparks. passes clockwise to Annette first and she offers it to Mooney after a couple hits but he declines so I take the stick from her. Now we're closer to kissing and more high too. It's good to be passing since that makes the illegal substance disappear quicker.
"Do you ladies feel like spending more time together? We can combine trios."

They look at each other. Lisa speaks. "We're going to a movie first. Do you want to meet up later?" Of course we do. Annette asks for my number. She does not give hers. She says "I'll call you." They head out, south east. Annette and Lisa look older than us and anticipation is almost better than going somewhere right now, though of course they could not appear again once we part ways. She has my number. I don't have to do anything.

And now we have to wait for some time so we aren't wasted by evening. We decide to buy a meal at whole foods that we will take to Mooneys to cook it since that will fill more time and we can buy some beer too. Baker likes to cook and it's easiest to have one person cooking while we drink and Listen to Future. Once Dinner is served, steak and Peppers with pasta, we watch the video Cell Out I reviewed below this entry. I text with Eugenie and Coupons and they're both talking about the moves they'll be making after midnight.

Then Valentine and Thando come out of Thando's room. We didn't even sure they were in there. They're about to go west because Valentine is singing around 10:30 at the 92nd St Y in Tribeca. After our Meal we skate west on Prince and head to Valentine's show where we buy three dollar Budweiser before the show starts. This fourth beer is just what I need to keep my buzz going and there are plenty of girls to observe as Thando presses play and Alison Valentine sings with heart and charm. She is better than the audience expects a singer they don't know to be, and the crowd draws in as she sings "It Girl" and ends with Tele Francaise.

After the show Valentine is glowing and says she want to dance later but let's have a drink first. She wants to pick up her bike and we all have our boards so we go to hers and kick it in the garden. I'm looking at my phone when I get a text asking "You guys still want to meet up."

I say, "yeah, We're still in the neighborhood."
"Barrow Street Pub,"

When I read the text aloud Alison reacts, because Barrow Street Pub is where Alison and I have been meaning to drink for some time so we take that as a good sign. Since 11 is a half hour off I say we'll be there at 11. Valentine and Thando want to meet these girls too so we finish our beers then we all roll over. The bar is crowded but we're text that we have some sitting space in the back. The girls come as we're settling into our drinks and we all have seats and it's not too loud to talk. We introduce each other and tell about the time that's passed. They went to the Basketball documentary and Mooney says how couldn't they have invited us and she said because they had to decide if they were going to meet up with us. They think Valentine is cool too so we're all making roving conversation. Lloydski is back in town so Valentine wants to go to Night People so we decide to go to Le Bain. Eugenie is going to be there too so we decide to make our way, walking since we're with these girls and this time it is Annette with a spliff that we enjoy.

We say whats up to Ian at the door, then they take our skateboards into the security room and I leave my backpack too. Once we are up there it is slow progress in high crowd, a good reason not to have boards. These girls have a card that takes care of the drinks even though Lisa closes the tab and we start walking around as the DJ switches between Young Scooter and Royal Trux. Mooney and Lisa disappear so Annette and I remark on that as we step up to the outside and I don't know what happened to Baker or Valentine either. My phone is out of battery so it's not in my power.

We make it up to the roof where Annette smokes two cigarettes then we're just standing there and our drinks are empty and making it to the bar will probably be a 10 minute 20 dollar project. "Do you want to leave?" I say.

"Where to."

"Yours?"

"Not yet."

"Westway?"
"No."

"Jane."
"Okay."

We take the elevator, grab my things, say goodbye to Ian, then walk down along the Westside. Annette smokes a cigarette and I watch, then we turn the corner on Jane and are about to head up when Annette says, "you're right. Let's just go to mine."

We stop by a deli on the way. The deli guys appear to know her. We get ice cream, snappea crisps and soda water. Annette gets cigarettes. She pulls out a card. I give her a twenty that is my last through I don't say anything. She takes the 20 then she tucks it back into my jacket breast pocket and tells me to save it so I say cool. We walk down King Street, which is the same name of my home Street in Indiana. I hear wheels rolling past and look. It's the girl from earlier in the trench coat. "Do you know her?" Annette asks.
"Not really, but I got footage of her skating earlier today."
"Yeah, I see her skating around all the time. She's a tough chick."
I take out my flip cam and scroll through the clips until I get to hers and show Annette the clip. It's not a magnificent clip, mostly my pushing to catch up with her, but definitely the same girl. "That's a cool video camera. Can you set it up to film us?"
"So long as we keep the lights on."
As she pushes the key into the lock this courtship finally starts to feel real, then she closes the door behind us and it is.

Cell Out with Me Tonight

When poor at the skateshop, things like the best Nike Dunks on the shoe wall are effectively behind bars. Though don't despair, because there are always rarer pleasures like buying the cheapest video there, probably made by some skaters about my age who understand the struggle and make accommodations. In this case I turn over the back of Cell Out, read Gilbert Crockett's name at the bottom and know I have found my purchase. I bought mine from Uprise in Chicago for 8 dollars. You can too and lurk http://cellout.tumblr.com

This Richmond, VA based video is sponsored by Venue, sure, and, groundbreakingly, by DeWalt Power Tools, so read assured that there is certifuckinfied and approved mastery to come.

Enter evidence of the current American police state and the painful physical sacrifices this battalion of skaters endures in the freedom quest. As Bone Thugs and Tupac rap over Gun sounds, Gilbert boardslides a big boy backside, nollie heels at the DIY pitch and party tricks go awry. I recognize the second stair ledge spot from Gilbert's Doin' Thangs part http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xL11HHEkVQ. There are girls, a front nose slide on the the unlatched bed of pick up truck and hand railing in darkness. They tag Cell Out on the passed out homie's neck so you know it's real.

Thando described Trey Jackson as a goofier Alex Davis who receives first part blessing from Mariah Carey's Fantasy, music supervision that sings to how we are the ones engaging at a remove while these dudes have lived this magic. Trey begins with clips on a flatbar, flat gap and flat ground, then pops the Video's Cherry on Sun Trust Ledges footy. In Jackson we have a highly -competent body varialer who also gets nice on a variety of horizontal spots, some quite tall. Also, Brooklyn Banks and the EL GATO SPOT that Galen, Miles and Gigliotti loved while Kosta stayed in the car shows up! I wonder if 2012 will be a high water mark for cuffed pants footage.

Erich Bielefeldt lets us know this roller party is only heating up as he kick flip nose slides a handrail and goes Head Over Heels with Tears for Fears. We observe the construction progression at the DIY pitch, Erich does a flip trick between semi truck backs and rolls out through an open side door. He is really good and Frozen in Carbonite said he gets boards from someone but this is a cell phone video so its hard to make out specifics like board graphics. He does a manual at the top of the Brooklyn Banks and hippie jumps the chain switch. He does a back tail on rail and has two kickflip to grind enders that show his remarkable board control. This video is a great document of these medium sized handrails in unique shapes that the Cell Out Boys are determined to shred every time they see one on every side street. It is a rail mastery arguably as difficult as the commercially popular big and long, though Erich gets down on the big and long too. I found myself thinking of Vincent Bressol during this video part.

More than most, skaters find themselves in close calls with cars, conversations with the recently unincarcerated, and Friends Sections. TLC as the soundtrack is a rarer decision that continues the theme of songs to which your girl can have fun dancing. This one dude in a nice outfit skates this sick spot he made out his front door. There's a chill back lip pop out that deserves the self- celebration. Jake Johnson has a trick. There is one dude whose two tricks are both down a triple set: pop shove tail grab and double flip. Note the impressive scooter riding. Witness the gap to lip slides that mark the pinnacle of the fall's flannel clad downtown night sessions.

Ty Beal is the truck stop rose who begins his part by falling in all manner of ways then shows the gain that follows the pain. I feel like Pat Burke and Ty would get along if they already don't. Again, great soundtrack - This one "That's the sound of the Men working on the chain gang." Ty's shirts fit him well and he does fashionable things like going to the Brooklyn Art Museum ledges for back lipslide shove in a line. He could pass for a Londoner. His pants are often shredded. J.P. Donleavy's The Gingerman


Pole dancing, dribbling the spider and controlled ice sliding mark Will Rosenstock's second to last part. He skates to Madonna's Like a Prayer. The skateboard sounds are the angel's sighs. Will skates Marlo's spot from the Wire. Observe suitable use of a car tow in. There's double angles of this flatbar to stair set up that is deliberately a sick challenge, a triple set ollie, flat gap lines, this ollie to wallie that leaves one wonder if deliberate or an amazingly fast creative adaption, then ends with a commentary on his earlier tow-in to turn the page.

Do you recognize that it's Gilbert Crockett writing his name in piss? The best trick in the video occurs at the beginning of this part when a dark haired babe in a sweater rolls off a curb. We return to cocaine beats in stereo for these pro quality tricks at the spots we've grown familiar with throughout the video. Nickatina's lyrics match Gilbert ducking a chain, then Gilbert demonstrates how to slide back lips really long. He does a back smith no comply, then continues the line at this chill bank spot with painted yellow lines at top and bottom. The fakie flip on the steep bank, knocking over obstacles as he lands tricks, ollies between hotel rooms, the stand up 5-0 and so on.

The credits song is Damn is feels good to be a Gangster. There is a line in nature that shows these dudes are in the state parks rather than Girl's studio space. There are no bonus features because this is an adult production that has already given us more than we deserve.