VRMN by Blake Van Egeren

Skating Videos

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

Year of the Nap

Skating Videos

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.

Rewind: Mini Video 17 – Chi

Rewind, Skating Videos

I don’t have the edited master file for any of the early web clips. The earliest one I have the final edit for is number 26, from Aug 2003.

Not too long ago while I was trying to throw away some hoarded crap in my basement, I found a pile of burned cds in a box. On those dozen or so cds were files I must have moved off of my hard drive to make room for newer stuff. In other words, some of the earliest stuff I had ever filmed. The gears in my head started to slowly turn.

I knew on a hard drive somewhere I had the tiny compressed web version of the early web clips. Why not try some forensic files shit and try to recreate an early webclip? I dragged the 320×240 3 meg web clip into the timeline and slowly started puzzling the original clips over it. Eventually I found all the files I needed, and Mini Video 17 was reborn.

Some of the files are kind of glitched out with some dropped frames, but there’s nothing to be done. I was too lazy to 1:1 match the idiotic 2000 typefaces I used, so I used some idiotic 2018 typefaces. Good enough.

Filmed Oct 23, 2000. Ben Vance and Greg Lutzka in Chicago. This was the first time I had ever skated down there in my life. I remember those guys skating away from the car before I could make a mental note of where we parked. This was before cell phones, so I had to follow them or lose them. I thought we’d never find the car again.

Mini Video 17 – Chi from Josh Ellis on Vimeo.

I don’t have any photos from that session. These will have to do.

Ben, hucking a big backside ollie. Greg, backside tail at the TF. Before we knew what TFs were. Heiderich Greenhouses. Your griptape would be fucked from the dirt, but it was the best ever. Also a time saver if you needed to pick up some flowers in a pinch for a wedding and/or funeral. Or if you needed to play Wolfenstein 3d on a Packard Bell 386.

Ben ollies at the greenhouses. I always thought this photo was kind of tight, but that only happened purely on accident. I had no idea how to take skate photos back then. Still debatable today.

A little behind the scenes. Quality year 2000 digital 8 vs year 2000 super compressed web clip. Yeah, that’s the quality you would get after waiting 35 minutes for the file to download. And you liked it! You might even debate on the wiskate forums what Ben says at the end of the video. “Sean Todd bails”, of course.

The Fountain From Caligula

Skating Photos

Lately, I’ve spent all of my allotted internetting time talking about things that happened in times long past. I’ve completely neglected our current era of disappointment and regret. Here’s some photos taken in the year of our lord, 2018. September.

Tavis, up and over. Tavis is from Racine. I think. I’m actually not sure. I wonder how much he’s skated at the Racine skatepark? It’s a great place to meet Juggalos!

Last time I took a photo here, Bush was the president, my gamer system of choice was the original Xbox (modded – with 120gig harddrive installed – I’d rent games from Blockbuster video and copy them [it was really scary modding the Xbox, I did it myself]), and Pizzy lived mere feet away from me. Fast forward a dozen years, we still haven’t gone back to the moon and Vince did a wallride melon to fakie, and Max did a wallride nollie out at the same spot that I once took a photo at a relatively long time ago. Coincidentally, it was also the first time in a dozen years that we didn’t get kicked out of this spot.

The best natural quarter-pike in Milwaukee. Pizzy found a way. Do you think anyone has ever finger boarded here? It seems like the scale would be off. Finger scale, this would be even bigger than the biggest mega ramp. Is there a Bob Burnquist of finger boarding? If so, I doubt he lives in Milwaukee.

Same day. This goofy vent ledge. It’s not the best spot out, but it looks nice enough in photographs. Vince, switch fs nose. It’s loud when you skate on this thing, and it made some random hero really crabby. If you used it for finger boarding, it wouldn’t be nearly as loud. But again, the scale is off. Is there a Tiago or Stevie of finger boarding? If you can’t land a trick and get really upset, can you finger focus your finger deck?

Tavis again. He was working on a line, so he did this hecka tall nollie tailslide a bunch of times. Does it burn more calories when you skate a tall ledge? Next time I’ll ask Tavis to wear Pizzy’s Fitbit so we can find out.

Vince, no comply. Reportedly facing a moratorium after the year 2018. Sleepy, switch backside kickflip. I actually don’t even recall him ever doing this trick in the past, so it’s somewhat surprising he busted it down the “Love Park Big 3”. If you didn’t get it, that’s a joke. This gap is about 1/5 the size of the Love Park gap. Which was a four stair, of course. What’s your favorite trick down it? If I had to choose, I think I’d go with Wenning’s switch backside 180.

“Congratulations on your switchstance flip trick, sir.”

“Thanks.”

Nick, kickflip backside lipslides. Some sort of tent city has arisen at this spot. The denizens once mocked and verbally abused Mikey Big Shits because he was too scared to ride down some plywood.

Max, front blunt. I can’t think of any pointless information to add to this caption.

The crew that had assembled in the fountain from Caligula. We were all gathered up so we could dance the night away to celebrate Sky High’s 30th birthday. Biggest crew ever at the spot? Was there any oiled up Greco-Roman wrestling? That’s for me to know…

Happy 30th, Aaron!

A legend on the floor.

Also! An interview with me about hi-8 cameras, html, and seeing Baby Shecks skate at Tampa Am – by Matt Wes of Broke Skate MKE.

“I’m going to get high for the first time as a 30 year old”

Skating Videos

It’s getting chilly out there, old man winter is coming. That means watching Bill play Call of Duty at the greatest place on earth, Cream City…oh and skating too. Here are two clips filmed on two separate days.

Cream City 12 – 1 – 2018 from Gabe Chan on Vimeo.

Cream City 12 – 6 – 2018 from Gabe Chan on Vimeo.

And a bonus clip of 30 random tricks Max has done over the years on his 30th birthday.

Hank 30 from Gabe Chan on Vimeo.

Rewind: Mini Video 35 – Bad Reputation

Rewind, Skating Videos

February 2007. The first video that I made in that year. A new era in a way. I say that because this was the first clip in a long time that had footage that was filmed specifically to use on the website. For the previous few years I had been filming stuff to only put into bigger productions. Maybe we can consider it a relapse. Or a devolution.

When I had first started the site it was the same, filming specifically for the site. There was no bigger purpose, until there was. The web stuff fell off. This was the return.

Mini Video 35 – Bad Reputation from Josh Ellis on Vimeo.

A small mission to the Batman ditch. An early Milwaukee “street” spot. It was barely standing nearly a dozen years ago when we filmed this. It doesn’t exist at all anymore. All of the dirt under the banks washed away and it collapsed. Anyway, we travelled there with some wood to make a janky roll in so the ditch could be skateable for one of the last times in history. Some minor yard work was needed, and then the crew was able to relive the glory days of the past. Unfortunately no one thought to bring chains and/or jousting equipment for a proper gladiatorial battle of wits and physical endurance.

The Batman logo, seen above, was a true vintage skate rat scrawling from the 80s. “It belongs in a museum!”, isn’t that what Indiana Jones says? If only there was a way to look up famous movie quotes. I hope someone invents a technique soon.

I realized I lied when I claimed I was filming all of this stuff to specifically use it on the website. It was more like a dump of “throwaway” footage, but the opposite. We were deep in the creation of the Beez videos at this point. The footage included in this webclip was too normal/good to be included. I must’ve decided to get rid of the good clips so they wouldn’t go to waste.

This group photo was taken right after I was filmed doing a wallride over a bunch of nude Barbies which Russ later edited to emotionally disturbing experimental music.

Wonks! An important member of the crew at the time. Perhaps maybe even more accurately, a mascot/best friend. Would she care if you came home at bar time reeking of Sparks brand malt beverage and desperation? Hell no, she’d wake up, party, and watch Road House with you while sipping a Hamms. She wasn’t sipping the Hamms, I was. She only drank water. Or Hamms, if you happened to spill some during a heated Dance Dance Revolution face off.

James and I were “street fishing” a lot during this time. It was a private lake, no trespassing posted! We’d park in a church parking lot, air up a two man inflatable “fish hunter”, and carry that thing through the woods to the water. I didn’t know a damn thing about fishing at the time, but it was fun, and we’d catch a bunch of bass while trying to propel the boat with farts and laughter.

Like I said, use the goofy crap in Beez, and the more serious clips for the website. If you’re well versed in the Beeziverse, you’ll recognize this photo is showing a moment portrayed in Beez 2 – Unusual Protocol. I knew Russ would never use a clip of a standard pole jam, so like they say, if you love something, set it free. On this day Mike was truly blessed with the spirits of wackiness, and put on one heck of a silly demo for all to witness.

In all of my years skating in the city, I had never really skated the benches at the PAC too much. I always felt like it was the spot with the scariest bust factor. The cops didn’t mess around back then, I feel like they got so much softer on skaters nowadays.

The period this video was filmed was one of the only times we skated the spot on a somewhat regular basis. I remember this night, James, Gabe and I had some brews, then got on the streets. For me, this was one of my earliest tries at shooting with an off camera flash. The thing sucked, it didn’t use radios, just fired (in theory) when the on camera flash fired. In other words, it worked about 6% of the time.

This photo of James was hiding in the archives all of these years. It took a little photoshop magic to rescue it. I’m glad I discovered it.

Somehow I also remember this session pretty well. It was on new years day 2007, and it was way warmer than it had any right to be. The car lot here had recently closed, and for the first time ever it was open season on the flat bars. I remember being really pleased with all of the cool moves we managed to film. How could such a relatively good spot be skatebable for long? Eleven years later it’s still sitting there. A lot crustier, but still ripe for a rippin’.

This plastic bench was the hottest thing out for a minute. Everyone wanted a piece.

That reminds me I forgot to mention that this was the period when we met and started skating with a lot of guys from Illinois. It started with Russ, who I vaguely knew from the 90s punx days, friend of a friend type of thing. He started bringing Gabe up here when we were working on the first Beez. Gabe and Russ knew SAG and Kryger from the local park (pre Jojo I’d assume), and must’ve invited them to get weird for the Beez sequels. It was a FIB fest!!

Back to the topic, we went to the dumb plastic brown bench over the grate with a bunch of people from Illinois. SAG went insane! I don’t know what inspired this vulgar display of power, but SAG showed that bench a thing or three. Which further reminds me, his nickname at the time was “THE ZONE”. The way he attacked that environmentally friendly recycled plastic material explains it all. “THE ZONE!!”.

P.s. I filmed the final clip in the video while I was talking on my flip phone.

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