Soundboarding In Hawaii

Haven't been on here in a minute, busy with work, skating and all-around entertaining my Japanese friends from Osaka.
Junji and Takashi were here for a quick six day visit and they had a blast hanging out and skating with a wide array of local skaters and a bunch of different spots island-wide.
Junji put in a lot of work behind the camera and filmed a ton of stuff here with Takashi and a good crew of Hawaiian rippers that switched up on a daily basis.
Can't wait to see what Junji comes up with when he's finished editing all of the footage, should be interesting.
Thanks to everyone who showed aloha to Junji and Takashi, they had an incredible time here and were super stoked on everybody who kicked it with them and filmed stuff.


Sampling plate lunches.


In4mBoardshop lurking.


Shokudo post-shred session.


Chinatown chillin'.


Junji filmed some bodysurf action at Point Panic.


Takashi flipped out at Waimea.


Bowling up at Steve's on the north shore with Hartsel and Lucas.


Blurry pic but the boys were hyped to meet Jay Adams at Cholo's restaurant.


Takashi teaches Ziggy Jo the old school Mario Kart technique, Japan style.


Todd's packing some serious meat.


Live at the BBQ, Jun Jo's estate, McCully.


Aloha, boys! See you in Osaka next time...

T-Cock!

I'm going to be writing something very soon for Contrast Magazine and I just happened to be recently scanning the blog over at their website and came across this little YouTube compilation that I've never seen before of Travis Hancock.

Travis is easily one of my favorite local kids as far as skateboarding goes, (that and he's got a great personality and attitude) and the Gecko has always been one of the raddest younger dudes on the scene here in the past few years.

Now I've already seen a few of these clips elsewhere, but there's some shit in here that's new to me and it's straight up baffling how gnarly it is!



Among MANY other things in that montage that are worthy of discussion, I have to point out that switch backside 50-50 180 out on the Highlands Ledge.
Holy fuck.
Do you have any idea how scary it is just to merely roll up to that thing switch?
How about grinding it fucking backwards?
And then doing a frontside half-cab off of the end of it?
Jesus.
People have definitely done some gnar shit on that ledge in the past, but this is ludicrous.

Travis is actually home in Hawaii at the moment, fresh off of a semester in Greece, but he's got a fucked up ankle and can't skate for now.
Also I heard a crazy story from his brother Lucas that he got a gnarly infection in his elbow while he was over in Greece and had to be in the hospital for a bit, glad he's okay and feeling like himself again (except for the ankle).

Anyway, good lookin' out to Lyle over there at Contrast for bringing this to light in the first place because people need to see this shit!

The Nihonjins Are Coming

Next Monday my tomodachi from Japan are coming to Hawaii for a week.
My boys in Osaka have been busy lately putting it down and they've decided to take a little break to see what's really happening here in Honolulu, shred-wise.

When I was in Osaka last March, I crashed on my man Junji Murata's floor for about a week, and now he's coming out here and giving me a chance to return the favor.
Also making the trip over is my little homie Takashi Maekawa, and these two are all about skating, drinking beers and having a good time.

One of the main filmers in Osaka, Junji has been steady filming video blogs for his Soundboarding website, and Takashi has been ripping consistently and getting flicks in Japanese mags.

Coverage-wise, Junji was recently profiled in Japanzine, one of the main English language magazines in Japan.

That's Junji behind the video camera and Takashi frontside boardsliding off of a sign into the street on Mido-Suji Boulevard in Osaka.

Also, Takashi just had another photo in Japanese Transworld.

This is frontside pop shove-it in a how-to section of the magazine, if Japanese kids want to learn how to do those properly, Takshi's the perfect sensei.

Speaking of this issue of Japanese Transworld:


There'a a couple of photos of some peoples that are friends of friends,

Here's part-time Hawaiian visitor Chris Matayoshi from Okinawa doing something inherently gnarly.

Also, a nice picture of Expression clothing rider Kazuto Shimizu, a.k.a. Kaz-One.

Junji took me to session this exact same spot in Kobe with Kaz-One and Venice Nogami. Kaz knows back tails, does them super steezy and perfect on everything.

Speaking of Venice-san, he happens to represent Osaka in the Local Tangent section of Japanese Transworld by writing a little something about the goings-on his hometown every issue.

In case you don't read Japanese, he wrote a little something about me being there last March and filming with Junji every day.

That trip was amazing, and I hope that Junji and Takashi can have just as much fun as I did or even more while they're here in town.

Junji will be filming local skaters at various locations on Oahu, so if you're out there and you see my man with the camera in his hand at the spot, ask him if he wants to film you throwing down!

Fitted Hawaii+KHON News Collabs!

Awwwww shit!
I couldn't mention Cuzzo in the Zoo York video premiere post without talking about the Fitted Hawaii Kamehameha Day drop that made it on to the KHON News yesterday.

If you missed the newscast itself, you can see the segment on the KHON website, just go there and click on the story that's titled "Camping Out For Caps".



Always with the lineup on drop day!


Find the black and gold awning on Kona Street and you're there.


Kamehameha hats and tees didn't last long, 30 minutes to be exact.



Check out Sebastian lookin' all managerial and shit! Good job on the P.R. action, kid.

Hell yeah, Fitted fam always does it big on them drops.

Sorry boys, but I can't make it out to the baby luau tomorrow, duty calls at the workplace, but I'll be there in spirit...
Happy Birthday once again to the princess Capri, have fun and grind some pipikaula and squid luau for me!

Zoo York Video "State Of Mind" Hawaii Premiere

Tomorrow night after you're finished celebrating Cuzzo's daughter Capri's 1st birthday (Happy Birthday, baby girl!) at the luau in Kaneohe, you should head back into town so that you can be at Ward Warehouse for the premiere of Zoo York's latest skate flick "State Of Mind", brought to you by the fine folks over at In4mation.



The video will be shown around 7PM upstairs in the Kaka'ako Conference Room, which is on the second floor Mauka (that's towards the mountain side, haole) of the In4m Boardshop.

The video should be insane, looking forward to Ron Deilly and Aaron Suski the most.
How about you?

Nike SB Debacle Hollywood Premiere

The new Nike SB am video Debacle premiered last night in L.A. and it was some invite-only type of shit.

Of course that means only cool guys and industry types were at the Montlaban Theater for the showing of the very first skate video shot entirely in HD, but those are the kind of heads that The Skate Nazi and his peoples are usually fond of rolling with.

I definitely wasn't there last night, but a bunch of peeps with Hawaiian ties were.
Check it.
By the way, I stole these photos from the Transworld site, big fucking whoop.


Some Nike bigwigs right here. Sandy on the left, Andy on the right. Don't know what Sandy's role is in all of this, but Andy went around the globe with the am team and cracked the fucking whip. You do know he's one of the gnarliest, shreddingest TM's in skateboarding today, right?


One of Mililani's finest ever, Jarold Webb has been Nike SB flow for like six or seven years now! Come on Andy, bump the kid up to full am status, you know he could have had a sick fucking part in this video, brah. Oh well, here's hoping homie has a trick or two in there somewhere at least.


What kind of shirt is that, Jarold? Looks like a possible Brooklyn Projects type of thing. Nice smile, cuzz!


Lil' D himself, Daniel Castillo knows that Hawaiians are the coolest fucking people on Earth, so of course he rolls with braddahs like Matt Chaffin and Jordan deOliveria on a regular basis. Cheeeeee!


Some new guy just got on the swoosh, I can't remember his name, maybe you've seen him around? Supposedly the dude kills it.

Anyway, go to the Nike SB website in about 2 weeks on the 24th of this month and you'll be able to download the Debacle video for free!


Yeah, doggy.
Looking forward to Justin Brock and Grant Taylor the most, how about you?

In4mation Domination!

Went by the In4mation offices earlier today to kick it with the braddahs and to relieve Darin Lee of some dollar dollar bills via some friendly but heated dice games.

While I was there, some peeps from the local television news rolled up, KHNL News 8 to be exact. A fairly cute chick and some camera dude gathered some footage of Jun, Ryan, and Todd talking about all things In4mation related and it came out farkin' sick!!

I forgot to set my DVR to record the television broadcast, but you can see the full length news piece on the KHNL website.

Click here to peep the News 8 exclusive, mixed in with some footage from the A'ala Park contest!

Don't forget to throw shakas next time you see the In4mation posse and tell the boys you saw 'em on the news with the hottest broadcast hottie Stephanie Lum rocking the intro!

Contest Killers

Well, there goes another local skate contest that I couldn't make it out to.


This past Saturday at A'ala Park there was a little jammy jam that Element, ASH and the In4m Boardshop put together.
It was the second event of the 2009 season for ASH, and from what I understand it was well received and attended.

As stated earlier, I couldn't make it to the contest itself but I did find out from several sources close to the action that Danny Hamaguchi from APB took first place in the sponsored division, Troy Boy Pintarelli from In4m Boardshop came in second, and Tim Action Muthafuckin' Jackson from APB rounded out the top three.

Sorry, no word yet on any of the other divisions except that in the young buck 13 and under kiddy division my man Jose Caban's son, little JC killed it as usual and got himself a nice first place prize package! That's what's up! Represent Ewa Beach, kid!!

The full results should be up soon over on the ASH homepage, once again big up to Chuck and Zana for putting in the time and effort to make sure that events like these are continuing to happen on a regular basis.

Finally, for your visual stimulation, here's a bunch of pictures taken throughout the course of the day by my man Keith from In4mation.
Thanks for the flicks, homie.
Squuuiiiiiiish!


Contest tees were out in full force.


Chuck on the mic, Hartsel on the cut, Zana holding it down in the ASH tent.


Cuzzo from Fitted Hawaii reminds Darin Lee and Jun Jo about his dominating ways on the contest circuit back in the day.


Speaking of dominating ways, Jose Caban III is on fire! Rare to see a young boy killing it so hard without that little kid style. Here he is sitting down after securing 1st place, 13 and under.


Conor McGivern mans the shop over at APB and is the filming mastermind behind Treevisions, my favorite local skate site at the moment. Big ol' frontside heel over the hip.


The homie Jon from Vans was manning the grill and keeping people straight grubbin'.



This is what he was working with.


The Pizzle, Sean Payne stepped up to get his dog on.


Hartsel took time out from behind the turntables to steez up the course a little bit.


Darin Lee kicked it with my brethren judges Shane Rodrigues and The Colonel Kyle Collins.


Jun Jo and future contest dominator Ziggy Jo were taking in the scenery in the hot sun.


Apparently the lineup on the plaza was deep all day long.

Donuts

Last week my boy Kenny took what was probably the hardest slam of his life.
Everybody that skates eats shit and has piled countless times, but not too many people out there have taken it so hard to the dome that they've fractured their skull.
My man is doing much better now but there was a minute there where we were all freaking the fuck out when this shit first happened.
Sean Reilly filmed this and luckily they were skating right next to a fire station and help was as near by as possible.
Here's the dome crack captured on video if you haven't seen it:


Gnarly.
Dude got his bell rung pretty goddamned good and he's gonna be out for a few months, but he'll be back sooner than later.
Get better, brethren!
Skate with you soon.

Oh, and everyone be careful out there, you never know when shit can happen.
Protect ya neck!

"More Powerful, More Finesseful"

Mark Gonzales.
That's all that needs to be said.
You either get it or you don't.

Here is his day in the life that just dropped on the Fourstar website:


Also his part from the Krooked Kronicles:


Some dudes only get better with age, Gonz is eternal.

Right here in town 20 years ago at the Blaisdell Arena, Gonz blew minds and ollied this gap that even nowadays still seems ludicrous.

'Nuff respect due, nobody does it like Mark.
Also, just realized that it's his 40th birthday!
Happy Birthday, Gonz.