MERRY NEW YEAR!

But don't say that shit around somebody like Clarence Beeks or you're gonna get checked.



Hope your 2009 was great and here's to an even better 2010 with no kooking it.
あけまして おめでとう ございます!

Stupid Manifesto!

Not a surprise, you already knew that this one was dumb but here is an interesting take on manifestos in general.

Merri Kurisumasu!

That's for my Japanese peoples out there in Nihon.
Speaking of my Nihonjins over in Japan, I just got a great Christmas present right here from my man Junji in Osaka!



This is the trailer for his third Soundboarding video, it's called "LA LA LA OSAKA" and it's premiering on January 24th right there on Junji's home turf.
Osaka ichiban, fool!

Super stoked that the three main dudes that have parts in the video are three of the coolest guys in the scene over there and I've had the chance to skate and also bro down with them and can say from experience that Takashi, Nobutoshi and Shogo are more than ready to shine!
Check out one of Junji's older Soundboarding clips featuring all three of them right here.

Sadly I can't be at the LA LA LA OSAKA video premiere, but I will be able to make it over there to shred a couple of weeks later, so I am definitely looking forward to another fun time in Japan come February.

Ja mata ato de.

Mele Kalikimaka, Faka!

Merry Christmas, fools!
I hope some of you get to experience some empty parking lots and ghost town street skating either today or tomorrow.
It's basically a free for all if you know where to go, make sure and get some for those of us that have to actually work on these magical days.

Also want to shout out to another transplanted Hawaiian homie that made the trip back here to visit family and friends for the holidays:
Andy Henrie, a.k.a. The Professor, Nike SB team manager and all terrain destroyer was on Oahu for a few days and we got to enjoy a couple of sessions with him at the North Shore skatepark and also here in town at A'ala Park.
Mahalo for the good times and for looking out on the shoes!


This is an ass shot no doubt, but Andy knows how to properly lay down a backside Smith grind no matter how you look at it.


Nick Lobdell, Adrian Adrid, David Bowens, Aaron McMullen, Travis Hancock, and Chad Hiyakumoto all were psyched to bear witness to the Andy Henrie savage speed slaughter that went down yesterday up on the North Shore.


For your viewing pleasure, this backside maneuver, sometimes known as a Steadham grind, was thrown out casually by the Professor on the extension.

ALSO, speaking of Travis, I am super stoked that the Hancock brothers are BOTH back in town for Christmas break!
Travis and Lucas are two of the coolest and shreddingest kids to ever come out from the North Shore scene and having those dudes return here, even temporarily, is dope and a big boost to the local stoke factor.


Check out this little clip of Travis just fooling around.


And here's Lucas reminding his hometown park who the boss still is.

Nice to get up to the country now and then, I strongly suggest getting the fuck out of town once and a while.
Have a great Christmas, see you around whenever.

Matt Chaffin @ New Hollenbeck Plaza in L.A.

Found this on the Transworld site, Matt has a few tricks in this montage that features the new skate plaza at Hollenbeck Park in Los Angeles.



Dude always had those manual skills on point to death!
L.A. seems like there's new shit popping up all over the place lately, we could use a plaza type of deal out here ourselves.

Red Bull Team In Hawaii: Video By R.B. Umali

Just saw this little nug over on YouTube of the Red Bull guys that were here recently.
Ryan Decenzo is a monster basically, and so is Ron Deily.
Holy shit, so many bonkers maneuvers in this.
I like Decenzo's backside Smith down the Muska ledge on A'ala Street and Deily's switch frontside tailslide 270 out on the Highlands ledge as well as his backside tailslide backside flip out on the Paki Park low to high ledge.
Yo Beebs!
One clip?
Where you at?
Making weed disappear is not a trick.




Oh and peep the Applenuts cameo at the end, I knew he'd be in there somewhere.

Hisashiburi!

Like my Japanese peoples are fond of saying when they haven't seen someone for a long time:
ひさしぶり!

Yeah, it has been a while but honestly, who really gives a shit?
December is absolutely cracking at my job, so I have been working a shitload and this blog bullshit is not really that much of a priority in my life right this second.

There has been a bunch of stuff going on lately, I have been there to see some of it and I missed out on some of it.
That's what's up.

A few days ago, last Friday to be exact, that best trick contest went down at A'ala Park.
You know, the one with the big rainbow rail and the curvy S rail?
Silent fucking John won it, just like I thought!
Only a few dudes could actually step to that big mega rail and John took the whole enchilada with a frontside noseblunt slide across it.
Congratulations to my man Johnny for representing like that, wish I could have been there but work work work once again takes priority.
Don't know if there's any video footage of this event floating around, but apparently my man Aaron McMullen was shooting photos so maybe those will surface somewhere soon hopefully.

OH, and guess what? The city and county of Honolulu does not like when people alter skateparks or add things in them to make them more interesting, so they actually went down to A'ala Park and cut and destroyed both rails, which were left there for skaters to enjoy.
WHAT THE FUCK?
Very, very, lame.
But then again would you expect anything less from the skateboard hating city of Honolulu and it's anti-skatepark mayor?
WEAK.

The day before, Thursday night actually, I sessioned A'ala Park and it was seriously the most crowded weeknight I have seen in a long time. It probably had a lot to do with the Red Bull guys being in town and local dudes getting into shine mode in anticipation for the contest. Mad heads showed up and saw Brandon Biebel and Ron Deily skate for like a combined 3 minutes, and also witnessed the technical throw down of one Ryan Decenzo, who absolutely killed it all night long. This kid is fucking good no doubt, but I'm not a huge fan of this guy's style, in fact I think it's pretty heinous personally. Anyway, he did in fact do some shit that I'm fairly certain has never been done at the park like kickflip backside noseblunt slide down one of the bank to bank hubba ledges. Whoa.

Then Friday night was the big Deck The Halls skate deck art benefit for my man Kenny, and again work prevented me from attending, but big ups to all those who made it down and purchased artwork and supported the cause in general. Much mahalo to Kavet and everyone else who made this happen and all who showed up, Kenny was super stoked the way it turned out.
Check out the link above for Kavet's wrap-up of the event, and click here for some Metromix photos of people mingling about down there.
Also, check out these photos of the event which are way better than the Metromix ones, I found them when I was checking out Lofa's blog. BIG UP ya self homie!

Just a few days ago, I changed up my entire set-up and reverted back to the trucks that I have always ridden and have enjoyed for most of my years skateboarding, Independent, bitches!
I threw together this In4mation Jamie Reyes deck with the new Stage 10 Indy 149's and some 54mm Spitfire Cardiel Street Burners.



Now that's a fucking skateboard.
Since the last time I rode Independent Trucks, which was maybe almost 2 years, I have ridden a couple of sets of the 33 size aloha print APB collabo Ace Trucks, which were incredible by the way, and a set of Thunder 145's that had a hollowed out kingpin which made them significantly lighter.
I really don't need my trucks to be super light, in fact I like a bit of heft and weight to them.
These new Indys are perfect and I am completely stoked on my whole set-up right now.
Hey, at least I tried something different for a minute.
The old me would have told you to go fuck yourself if you were to suggest that I try riding any other truck besides Indys.

Oh, and also recently some Hawaiians that relocated to the mainland have returned home for the holidays.
Adrian Adrid is back on the north shore for a minute, and he's brought along his homie from L.A. David Bowens. If you didn't know, David is one of the 5 finalists in Slap Magazine's One In A Million competition. Also, David shares a part in the Recipe For Happiness video with our very own Jarold Webb, who also is due back here any day now for a little Christmas break as well.

Also making the trip from L.A. for a winter vacation are Jordan deOliveira and Matt Chaffin, and also I am very excited to session again with my girl Jamie Reyes, who is now home temporarily for skate action and hibernation from freezing NYC.

Welcome home, Hawaiians!
Let's get to shredding.

Red Bull Signing @ APB Followed By Best Trick Contest

Well, here are the details for the Red Bull thing I was talking about a little while back.



Looks like the rumors are true, Biebel will be part of this and no doubt the energy levels will be high.

So next Friday afternoon go check out the signing at APB and then head over to A'ala Park for the best trick contest that will be held on the gigantic rainbow rail.
Apparently it will only be for sponsored guys and invitation only so don't get bent out of shape if you can't enter, you're probably better off, that thing looks like you could get so fucking broke on it.

Later that night everybody should head over to the Deck The Halls event that is happening over at Manifest on Hotel Street that is being held to benefit my man Kenneth.





Looks like a great way to kick off the weekend, please try and make it out if you can.

Matt Chaffin @ new Venice Skatepark

Stumbled upon this lovely montage that was recently featured over on 48 Blocks, and it's the first footage I have seen of the brand new skatepark in L.A., Venice to be exact.

Check out Hawaiian homie Matt Chaffin straight up killing this big three gap.



This is a switch backside bigspin flip, just one of the ludicrous stunts Matt has in his deep bag.
Check out the whole video, it's Matt and some other locals ripping, but curiously there is no bowl footage shown, and only a couple of tricks on transition.

Apparently the bowl and snake run sections of the park are said to be amazing.
Love to see some footy of the entire park but this will definitely do for now.

Big up yourself, Shmatty!
Ripping shit.
Check it out.



Also on a related note, I been sitting on this YouTube clip of Matt skating the Podium TF with his best buddy Daniel Castillo.




That place is super sick. We had a chance to skate Podium when we were in L.A. last January, this is Matt and Johnny winding it down.

Anyway, super stoked that Matt is doing the damn thing big up in L.A.!