Weekend of 'Battle of the Shops' @ P58
On saturday we woke up in a drunken haze to find ourselves going to a bojangles that did not carry the cheddar bo. Brett said that was our only option for breakfast. We grubbed, and then me and John left for Project 58 to meet up with Bob Reynolds. As soon as we arrived, I knew something was wrong. When we got out of the car I noticed many of the park’s employees screaming obscenities because of running water blasting from a pipe around back. Apparently, the fire alarm was going off throughout the entire strip-mall, but errrrrbody inside was still crushing the park. So, there was only one thing to do in this situation……..start drinking. John and I got some beers from my homie Robby who hooks me up with DVS shoes, and many other dudes of the industry. I even got to meet OG Zoo representer Jeff Pang. Once many beers were consumed, Levi and I decided to do a little skating. Although I was a little tipsy I knew I had some time to kill before I had to judge the contest. I was glad to see that I was able to hold my own amongst some of NC’s new up-and-comers, and after I shredded for a bit it was back to the booze. I spoke with all the homies, way too many dudes to mention, and then the contest started. Bob was on a mega phone because the microphone wasn’t working. The first Heat highlights consist of Sturgill tossing flip tricks left and right. Everything over the pyramid and its hips. The kid from Dominion skate shop also did very well. The next heat Julien Ethridge was ripping as well as Brett Abramsky, but it was the man known as Rodchester who stole the show. He aired in and out of the bowl into the street course, and had several interesting liptricks on the eight foot that I have not seen since the H-Street videos. He truly represented Blue Tile skate shop. The 3rd Heat was by far the most chaotic. Aaron Green and Conner Champion received the highest scores of the day. Sean Gregorie also destroyed the park with interesting tricks like the full cab backlip on the handrail. The last Heat was entertaining as well as the others. Scotty Moore was flowing through the course, while Dusty was jumping off walls left and right. In the end it was Vertical Urge that won the Battle of the Shops in 2006. Blue Tile was very close, just trailing in 2nd. The Best trick event was insane because people were just charging. Hungry rippers gapping to grind, and getting tech as fuck! Some highlights consist of John Gregory’s kickflip backtail on the 8 foot, Chad Shooter’s boardslide to backlip across and down the ledge, Conner Champion’s fakie 5-0 down the handrail, but there was a tie in the end. Sean Gregorie did a half-cab backsmith down the big rail, and Bobby Worrest did a switchflip backlip down the small rail. After the contest there was a slamming after party at White Collar Crime, I think that was the name of the bar, and we started ragin. All the dudes were out crushing beers, and some even stepped to the dance floor. I would like to give the Blue Tile dudes a shout-out for ragin with my drunk ass. Some highlights of the evening consist of me getting my picture taken with a passed out dude, Drew Hanner’s ridiculous dance moves forced on an unexpected 40-year-old, Travis Knapp-Prasek’s leather jacket that aided him in his break dancing routine, and of course the many dudes who were thrown out of the bar. Drew Hanner got the boot, Josh “Swayze” Bowman got the boot, and I saw this one dude get dragged out for being passed out in the bathroom. Well, I guess the moral of the story is Alcohol is grrrrrreat! I’d like to thank Todd at Vertical, all the industry dudes I met, Robby at DVS, and of course Bob Reynolds for making this incredible weekend happen.