Skating Videos

Hey, y’all wanna kick it with Pizzy?!

Patrick’s first full length skate vid: High Strangeness. Enjoy.

High Strangeness from pizzy on Vimeo.

In December I got a new HD camera, Panasonic AG-AC30 with a built in led light. My old Sony hd cam was great but half way filming ‘Delirium Tremens’ the touchscreen LCD monitor went out, disabling my ability to manually change my settings (luckily, my stuck settings were set ok), but I kept filming with it including ‘Hank’. After doing some research I chose the Panasonic(which reminds me of a light weight version of the Sony VX2100 but HD, better mic, no tapes, etc) which was released around 2016. Excited to use it I started filming at Cream City with friends, made two edits, and decided to make one more…’Betrayed in the Octagon’

Betrayed in the Octagon from Gabe Chan on Vimeo.

For some reason, I always watch ‘The Color of Money’ every winter season. That inspired me to use the clip of Paul Newman mentioning Vincent and Vince Stranc starting the montage out (and of course I used a song from the film as well). That process got the ball rolling when it came to the montages in this edit.

I always wanted to use another track from PIL and I felt Taylor (tavis), Josh, Stemper, and Rock went well with the track ‘Swan Lake’. *I filmed Josh do a half cab heel on the pyramid three times but being the amateur that I am I must’ve erased it somehow trying to figure out the new Panasonic capturing Final Cut Pro process. I was bummed out about it naturally just like any other filmer but he later said “ahh, no one wants to see that”. I immediately felt better haha.

And finally Gag, Sleepy, and Max (honestly, I didn’t think he’d be skating that soon after brazzing his hand washing dishes) go well with Wu at Cream City. Ever since Wu-Tang Forever came out I wanted to use ‘Cash Still Rules/Scary Hours’. The song wasn’t long enough so I mixed in some Tical in there…

Bill Kaschner is the main reason Cream City is there and why it’s the greatest place on Earth. So I used some clips of him shredding during the early stages of cream to the present. And of course Stella completes the whole package deal.

Okay, gotta go…I’ve been watching ‘Sicario’ while typing this post. Benicio is about to get his revenge…adios amigos!

Nothing beats having a park all to yourself with your friends. We were able to skate Vans’ pop-up House of Vans last weekend before it got completely nuts. Big ups to Aaron, Bill, and Sleepy for making a killer park, and Detroit for the hospitality. Already thinking about taking a trip back there…

Skaters: Jordan Garris, Nick Mistele, Drew Gricar, Harald Reynolds, and Taylor Lalk

I remember asking Blake about a year or so ago if he was ever going to put together another video. I grew up watching Vroman videos and always yearned for more. Finally, Blake has finished a new video and also wrote about the process. Here’s “VRMN”:

VRMN from Blake Van Egeren on Vimeo.

“Over the last 4 years, this footage has haunted me. It was all filmed very sporadically between June 2013 and Sept 2014; during this time I was creating distance between skateboarding and myself. I needed a change in my life. I felt burnt out from being surrounded by skateboarding all the time. I managed a skate shop so it was my job, my community, my creative outlet and so on. Don’t get me wrong, between 21 – 26, I loved experiencing skateboarding in this way. This had been a dream of mine since I was younger, but I was becoming lost in it all. I have been skateboarding since I was 13 and it has given me some of the most amazing moments and friendships in my life. It has always provided me with a community of supportive individuals that have always allowed me to explore my creativity and vision. Yet I was feeling stagnant and depressed in where I was at in life and needed to make a change. I wanted to explore different creative outlets and understand myself outside of the skateboarding world. I got sober as well and found myself finding a lot of pain, resentment, and sadness beneath it all. I needed time away and I had to trust myself and jump into the unknown of that.

A lot of that energy went into becoming an Art Therapist, and one of the principles I hold is that creative energy is essentially healing energy. That trusting the creative process will bring you to where you need to go. With that in mind, I knew someday I would have to edit this video. I would have to look at this time period and make amends with these friendships, skateboarding and myself. Like I said above, this footage has haunted me for 4 years. I didn’t want to look at it for a long time. I was focusing a lot on creating this new life and this footage just reminded me of this past self that I didn’t want to think about. Over the last year, I realized that this resistance was now becoming the stagnant energy holding me back in life. I needed to start doing the work of bridging the past and present back together in my life.

I have always considered the skateboarding secondary in the skate videos I make. I have always tried to capture and express the uniqueness of the time period in which everything happened in and the relationships during that time. I felt a pull to edit this video again a couple weeks ago and allowed myself to fully embrace the process. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day editing it. I love editing and haven’t gotten lost in the process like that for awhile. I have felt a shift over the last couple months and especially after making this video. I would like to keep putting energy into bridging this gap and reconnecting.
So without further ado, here is my latest offering to the Skate Gods. May they bless all these individuals, where ever they are in their lives with radness and the Gnar.
Thank you All and Happy New Years!!
-Blake Van Egeren

PS: I would also like to express and give thanks to all the Milwaukee Artist and Musicians who allowed me to use their music and videos in this film. Support Milwaukee Music and Art.

Cast: Matt Nordness, Drew Rickaby, Gabe Chan, Chase Hopper, Fred Gall, Joel Meinholz
Vince Stranc, Jordan Kratochvil, Max Murphy, Nick Mistele, Sean Hanley, Eric Risser, Tim Olsen
Daewon Song, Camden Cimorelli, Chris Eicher, Harald Reynolds, Jevon Deede, Blake Van Egeren
Danny Stemper, Sam, Freddie Lewis, Drew Gricar, TJ Bohach, Mike Bahr, Reese Slobodianuk
John Rockafellow.

Music:
DJTheJenius:ATM (#blowsmokeverse)
Spaidez :Rock Of Ages (FREESTYLE)
Plantinum Boys: Cruisin USA
Raiannah Zazulia & Blake Van Egeren: Death Valley
Roger Waters: Deja VU

Rejoice, for it is here. 2019 and my first post on wiskate! Honored to be here, Thanks Josh and Happy 20th to this lovely website.

A few of us boarders have been heading out to New York for the last couple summers to experience the street offerings of the big apple. The trip usually lasts a week and involves almost nothing but eating, skating, sleeping and curbside bodega brews. You’ve seen the vids, now peep some stills. *click to zoom*

Labor Gabe. Labor, 2017. Gabe held it down that year. His ankle was in bad shape and he still carried his heavy ass camera bag from spot to spot every day, all day, to film his friends ride wooden toys. Peep the findings in Delerium Tremens. copy and paste, kids https://vimeo.com/251558779

Drew Rickaby nose manuals inbetween toddlers. Regular and Switch. Then he sat down.

My little Pizzy

Jon Rockafellow keeping it loose and classy as always. Here he is having a stretch before conquering this frontside noseslide. Look at that form!!!

Another Rocky classic, dudes got back tails on lock.

Max front blunts the end of this urban twin mattress without disturbing its inhabitant.

Taylor Lalk doing a boardslide for his friends and a gnarly frontside 180 for the projects.

Chase Hopper has a yellow aura.

Here, he and his aura put the POP in this SHUV on a diamond plated legend.

In the end we all had about as much fun as this dog in the fountain at Blubba. Cheers boys.

Hope your 2019 rips.