Tilt/ Sky High BBQ Jam 2015

Every year before the Chicago Street Jam, a barbecue jam is held at the Tilt/Sky High shop to hang out and shred with just the bros.  Logan Fuller was in attendance, and busted out the camera to capture the moment.  Tons of gnarly tricks from the best in the biz, this one is good.

Seattle Street Jam 2015

Street Jam season might be the best season.  Chicago, SD, Milwaukee, and most recently, Seattle.  Tons of shredding and good vibes out of this one.  Although I gotta say, Garfield (that school) is getting old and I hope they come up with new spots next year.  Props to ADVCT for producing this video.

ARNAUD "Warneup" MARCHENOIR | 2015

Wow.  Arnaud has been a talented scooter rider for a long as I can remember but this is by far his craziest, most impressive edit yet.  If you aren't constantly being bewildered by what he's doing in this video, you aren't a human.  Definitely the most unique edit of the year.

Milwaukee Street Jam 2015

Milwaukee has had its own street jam for a few years now.  This year was the biggest one so far.   Five spots were hit before an aftersesh and the amazing Estabrook DIY park, where the flat rail was absolutely demolished.  The Sky High team really put on a show, as well as unknowns like Zack Rowan.  It was an awesome day and I'm psyched there are more and more legit street jams nowadays.  Props to Jonah Holter for organizing everything and putting on a great event.

Ryan Ruegg aka BADGERCLIT Interview

Badger and Thomkat.

I first remember Ryan Ruegg, AKA @badgerclit as some kid shredding bmxer Stevie Churchill's local skatepark.  I never saw too much about him other than clips here and there, and eventually I heard his name as someone to look out for in the future.  This summer he showed up at Chicago jam and took home amateur MVP, then a month later was killing it at the San Diego street jam.  The dude kinda came up from nowhere so I hit him up to see where he comes from, and what he's been up to lately.

Jordan Jasa:  So first of all, you just got back from a cross country road trip, right?  How was that?

Ryan Ruegg: Yea haha it was crazy I had the best time. I'd do it again fasho. I can't believe it worked out how it did to be honest. We made it 3/4 of the way back before having any car troubles or anything and it didn't rain once the entire trip.


Who all was with you?  What were the main stops?

It was me, Lew Hobbs, Jimbo Hawkins and Draven Woolley. Lew has been one of my best friends/go to scooter pals for a while and I worked at Woodward all summer and Jimbo and I had become very good friends from that. That's the crew I drove to Chicago with. And I met Draven the first day of the SD trip. We had a lot of stops. Me and Lew met Jimbo and Draven at Woodward from CT and we stayed there for a night then went to Kentucky in the morning. Jimbo is from Kentucky so we stayed the night at his house. (am I elaborating too much haha?). Well we rode spots in Kentucky the next day and then headed to Missouri. I think the next stop was Tulsa, Oklahoma and it was 106 degrees out so we said fuck that. Then we drove through Texas and stayed at a rest stop pavilion haha we set up our hammocks in the rafters. It was extremely windy and we woke up to find out there were like 500 windmills a football field away from us hahaha it was crazy. Next stop was Albuquerque New Mexico skatepark. That park is crazy if you're ever in the area its 1000% worth stopping there. We met some homies there that found us weed after bein dry for two days it was perfect lol. Then we went to Phoenix, Arizona. 100+ temps there too so we made moves to SD and got there a day early.

Downside tooth shot by Max Peters.

Before that trip, you were in Chicago for the street jam.  How was that experience for you?

Best weekend of my life. I met so many people. First street comp I'd ever been to.

Its always the best weekend of the year, no doubt.  What was your favorite moment from this years?

Seshing that rail spot, or at grant.  I finally met so many people that I've been Instagram homies with for years lol sounds stupid but it was cool for me to be in the same environment as all of them for once.

Haha not stupid at all dude, the internet is how I met almost everyone I know in scootering.  This year we let Chris Aponte stay at our house, who I knew solely from snapchat hahaha.

Hahaha yea he's a homie.

So whats up with the sponsor situation, did AO hook you up?  How did that happen?

So the day we got to Chi we had nowhere to stay and it was like midnight and Lew is already on AO and shit so he hit up Corey and Elliot and all them and they were like yea come thru, so we stayed at the apartment Andy rented. So I had met Tanner, Elliot, Corey and Andy that night and it was cool and then they saw me do some stuff at the jam and they were kinda hyped and Ian announced that I got AM MVP and tanner pulled me aside after and said he wanted to put me on.

Did it change your mindset at all, knowing that you're riding for a company now? Like, are you more motivated to go out and send it? Being a part of a team, having the chance to be able to travel if you're killing it everywhere you go?

Nah I didnt feel that in San Diego but there's a lil pressure for this Seattle jam, honestly I feel like I have to make an impression. The last spot at the San Diego jam was more of a sesh than a competition. It was awesome. I love riding with Issac haha his attitude motivates me. And David Coe, that's my fuckin boi.

Double peg to front board to heelwhip.

Yeah I was gonna ask you about that rail sesh.  What's it like being at the top of an 18 rail, knowing you're about to hit it and possibly eat a lot of shit?

It's like any other rail haha I've eatin WAY more shit on little down rails than I did on that 18. It was definitely intimidating but watching other people throw down made it look easier.

That shit was too gnarly.  So lets back up, where are you from? When did you start riding?

Bristol CT. About 5 years ago I started only scootin. I skated for a while. I rode my ultra pro to the park with my skateboard on my back for like a year then I just started progressing more at riding and I was over skating.

180 shot by Mankong.

Who, or what inspires you today to ride?

Well on the day to day just riding with Lew and all the homies at Rockwell. Their squad is @theforestboys you should check em out haha they all shred.

Will do!  So whats with the name "badgerclit"?

Haha I had a feeling that was comin. A while ago one of the homies from the original Rockwell generation said I looked like a badger one day.. and everyone started calling me badger... so ya that's how that happened and then I was trying to think of something clever and my friend's name on twitter at the time was "clitlord69" and I just copped clit from him haha.

I was always so confused as why this kid on instagrams name was so weird haha.  You got a video in the works yet?

Uhh I mean there's gonna be a video from the road trip but as for an actual video of me no I'm trying to travel a lot more just to film.

For sure.  What do you like to do when you're not scootering?

Hammock and cannabis with my pals.

Word.  That'll about cover it, got anything else you wanna talk about?

Not that i can think of.

Haha aight, thanks for your time dude.  

Check out Ryan shredding in the videos below and follow him on instagram @badgerclit.

Kaaden Bewley - Third Vision

Traverse City local Kaaden Bewley has been making moves lately.  On the heels of the Anaquda disbandment, he traveled to Detroit to finish up this video before heading towards California.  This one features plenty of his trademark combo moves and rail destruction.

I remember my first Cali burrito...

Parrish Isaacs has pretty much been on a road trip for the past couple months, going down the East Coast to Atlanta, over to Chicago, then spent a lot of time in Vista, California, working at the Proto shop.  He put together this footage of himself and the homies he filmed along the way.  Good times all around.

The Crew Video Comeback

When it was just Razor and Micro in the scooter industry, the only videos that existed apart from solo minivideos were crew videos.  It was practically a miracle when a group of riders would live close enough together to progress and make something worthwhile.  But as luck would have it, several areas across the US would develop scenes large enough to result in legitimate crews- The Philly Crew, Scooter Insanity, The Baboons, DXG, NBS, RAD, and so on.

Right as the industry slowly began to take off, lots of crews were popping up and making full length videos.  You had the 951 team, Nukk Scooters, and the OG TPC guys were at their height. But as time went on and the industry began to expand, the crews who were making videos got sponsored.  Nukk became Lucky, 951 turned into ScooterZone, and many others ended up like TPC- half the guys did become sponsored, and others simply faded away.   

The sport did a complete switch- the majority of videos coming out were to promote a scooter company, rather than just because people were doing it for the love of it.  Seeing “Welcome to [insert company] made the whole thing just feel like a cookie cutter “This is what I’m supposed to do” move.  Not only that, but you wouldn’t really see many full-lengths in general because members of that crew were filming for other purposes- their sponsors.  So they simply wouldn’t have footage to use in a crew video.  

So now, at nearly 3 AM, having just rewatched Sam Thomas’s inspired, gem of a part in the Fat Cat Crew’s DC Diaries, I psyched.  To me, full-length videos are the highest level of scooter related achievement.  Not only are they the most rewarding projects a rider can work on, it’s the best way to watch scootering (anyone who has attended a Tilt premiere will agree).  DC Diaries was preceded by What’s Hilary Duff Doing? a video by a bunch of riders from Imnotsurewhere, Pennsylvania (spoiler:  you don’t find out what Hilary’s up to).  This video features a bunch of riders who do seriously have amazing talent- but sadly their production value is severely lacking. But what they’re missing in production value is made up in heart and soul.  These are dudes who aren’t doing it for a sponsor.  They’re not getting money for the footage, there’s no coupon codes to push or clip quotas.  They fall, they bleed, they rip their clothes, they spend exorbitant amounts of money on gas and fast food.  All to experience the feeling of traveling somewhere new with their friends, challenging themselves in both a mental and physical capacity, risking the possibility of injury, and the ever-fleeting, insatiable high of landing scooter tricks- and of course, documenting it in audiovisual form.  Their fisheye is scratched and has shit all over it, steadyshot is on, but who cares, they’re filming scootering because it’s damn fun.  

The FatCat Crew and the WHDD? guys aren’t the only crews working on videos.  The Bay Area Concrete crew is currently filming a video in full HD- contrasting the raw, SD style of the East Coast with some of the best filming in scootering.  Peachy is also working on a follow-up to Honey and Jenkem called Flaccid Flop.  And let’s not forget probably the most anticipated crew video ever, Friendly’s LUX, dropped earlier this year.  It really is an exciting time in scootering- scooter riders are growing up, becoming more dedicated and serious with how they present scootering.  The riders in these crews will be the stars of teams for companies that don’t even exist yet.  They will be the trendsetters of the future, and in some cases they already are.  They are the crews of scootering today, and they are the heart of our culture.

___________________________________

Check out Sam Thomas' DC Diaries part below:

Phoenix Pro Scooters | Joel "Wezma" Erwin

Wezma is the guy behind the Kovu Krew, but he also rides for Phoenix and Sky High.  This is a part he just dropped for Phoenix.  Featuring a mix of park and street footage, this guy really shines on the flat bars.  Dude has no problem dancing around on rails like it's nothing.  All while keeping it nice and clean too.  Jake Durbin does a pretty good job behind the lens as well.

PROTO Intermission | Andy Koke

Texan Andy Koke is the latest Floto rider to have an Intermission part.  Andy's part has all the ingredients for a timeless video- variety of amazing spots both grimey and clean, solid but unique trick choices, and great style.  I like this video more and more every time I watch it, so definitely give this one at least a couple views.

The Recap: San Diego Street Jam 2015

The San Diego Street Jam went down this past weekend and it was a huge success!  I wasn't at the first spot, but from the looks of it, it worked well.  We got the kick from the second spot pretty quickly, but not before a bunch of people had already landed some gnarly tricks (sadly not captured in this video).  We then hit a bump to bar that got destroyed by everyone.  The fourth spot was a long curved ledge setup that we got kicked out of, and finally the last spot was the 18 rail.  That hour we were there was probably the single most progressive hour of scootering ever- almost every trick done was one that had never been done on such a big rail before.  Issac Miller, TomK, David Coe, Ryan Ruegg, and Andrew Zamora all threw down bangers.  See for yourself in the video filmed by Bryan Hillman for SR.



Props to the Scooter Farm and all the sponsors for putting on a great event!  Can't wait for next year.

Phoenix Pro Scooters | ION Deck Promo

I've been hearing/seeing a lot about the new Ion deck lately and it's all been pretty positive.  The release of this deck plus putting Tyler Bradley on the team really shows that Phoenix is making moves in a different direction.  This promo even more so shows that.  Also, Tyler and Dan Barrett are really good at scootering.

Grant Park Handrail "Warm Ups"

This short session went down right before the Chicago Street Jam.  Issac Miller, Devin Heald, Zack Martin, Mark Williams, and more just destroy this handrail.  Brian Stokes with the nac-nac boardslide caught me by surprise, never seen that done before.

TSI 2 CHI

The TSI crew made their annual summer migration across the US to Chicago for the street jam, and of course documented every step.  They made a bunch of stops along the way, making for some great times.  Features Mike Hohmann, Hep Greg, Cheddie, Ben Jelinek, Brian Noyes, Keaton Saunders, and J Cott.

2015 Milwaukee Street Jam

The Milwaukee Street Jam is a fast growing jam in Wisconsin.  They've got a stacked sponsor list this year so all the Midwest homies should definitely make plans to get out there!  Save the date for September 20th.  Shouts to Juleon McGinnis of Eon Fotography for the poster photo.

The D.C. Diaries (Full Length Video)

The DC Diaries is a video by the Fat Cat Crew, based in Washington, DC.  These are primarily a group of unsponsored guys doing it for the love of scootering.  Making a full-length without sponsorship backing is no easy feat, and these guys did a great job documenting scootering on the East coast.  A bunch of bigger name riders have guest appearances as well- McKeen even has a small part.  It's awesome to see more full-lengths coming out, especially lately from the East Coast.  Sit back and enjoy this one with some homies.