One time I got paid to be a mime at a birthday party at Paul’s Baby Grand. I drank for free in painted face as I gestured throwing a football, going fishing, snorting lines and being in an invisible room until the birthday girl said my shift was over, when I resumed speech and continued partying. She introduced me to a skater named Max Garson, we did IG follows and in the years since, I’ve enjoyed his posted trickery. I see he has footage in Chase Walker’s new video, Still. My beautiful girlfriend is at the grocery store as I drink large black iced coffee purchased while dog walking and hit play on this here:
Still has no skater names within it and no personal parts for the first 23 minutes. This approach occasionally foregrounds certain spots for extended attention; herein Montreal’s landmark Big O receives a medley of tricks off its quarterpipe ending to begin the video. Tyler Blue Golden pops up for roof riding. Isaac White and Kalman Ochletree get clips. One dude rips in a Salem hoodie. The first song is a distorted club remix of T.A.T.U.’s “Not Gonna Get Us,” similar to Lostboi’s version Tommy used when soundtracking my video Heart to Heart. These Late Night Stars are New York based, appearing around New England and reaching San Francisco as well. Blacklight pharmacology shows Frog and Limosine influences, a more transplanted, slightly older Star Team tilting toward Sex Hippies on the road.
With 4 minutes remaining in this 27 minute affair, we see curly hair dark rising above rooftop then Nico, SensitiveThug1, appears full figured, lanky in long purple shorts to pop ollie into steep rooftop bank with silver painted tar silenced rollaway as the homies cheer with delighted pleasure while hazy city skyline backdrop shows how deep in the cuts they are. Fade to black, then pinhole view expands as Nico glides past to pop off bank to back lip a jersey barrier following momentum to fakie while Yaz.so.mean and a skater in animal ears beanie show support. Symphonic sound grows as Nico shares a smile while skating consecutive stair sets halfway, then completes his kickflip, ollie line as Tyler Blue Golden in a Ministry tee stands to congratulate. Backbeat reggae pulses as J Boog’s “Aye OK” establishes its groove. Pushing crossroads Nico presses his glasses into place then back 180s a flat gap to switch manual concrete island in a Holy Diving Team tee shirt with a rosary screenprinted backside on a quest to discover the water Jesus walked on. A sizable residential flatbar gets back boardslide, pop over its perpindicular to sidewalk switch manual. The first time Nico rolls away to pedestrian embrace, then cleans it up contact free.
As dusk descends in zoomed long lens, on asphalt wave sculpted by idling traffic, Nico pops kickflip single to push, a far better momentum continuation than Super 8 B-roll which thankfully doesn’t appear in this video. Next spot in purple Peace Sign tee, Nico exploits shoddy new build construction for gap to back 5050 on residential marble bannister. He pop shove manuals the concrete pad placed upon blue playground bank that Maxxxipoo hit earlier, then Nico attempts to ollie a graffitied Bushwick garagetop drop over gap and pigeon spiked fence, a super sketchy spot where his homies cheer his full commitment to shoulder plant as they would a make. Nico shows off late night stars logo with a heelflip on street, then carves through back of house fencing to back boardslide painted concrete balustrade, far sturdier, though similarly stylized, than earlier broken nouveau-marble hubba. Nico light manuals an NYC island then wallies the ascending beginning of a jersey barrier to blast over the green painted bike lane to sidewalk land on his trusty black wheels. He kickflips out of a pole jam grind on underpass adjacent frontage pitch, then frontside sidewalk carves into an open gate between waist-high spiked iron fencing and uses a mellow cellar door to kickflip himself backside over and out. From a concrete Ridgewood front yard, Nico front 5050s front fencing flatbar to sidewalk drop. He manual back bigspins up Roselyn.
Next Nico streetpushes as he has anticipated a multidirectional traffic’s exhaled exhaust pause, rides up sidewalk in zipped up black hoodie, ascends embankment as street tunnels down, then kickflips up to a higher level absorption before riding down and off barrier drop where his homie in a S HORTY S hoodie and homie in a backwards pink hat who have held back a white vehicle nod along to Nico’s safe passage. Across the top step landing of a brick Brooklyn church, Nico petite pushes to pop front 5050 onto low, steep, creamy hubba that cuts out halfway, right where metal spikes ascend frontside, to scrape the top of two blocks that provide seating along the stairs’ lower half. Headlights illuminate shadowy evening rollaway scene as spectators cheer from around the block. “There you go!” Night settles and Nico dodges a close traffic call that indicates his intuitive stylings.
Over the Franklin Ave flat gap we glimpse Nico’s inside out black Supreme boxer briefs as he ollies into far side manual, riding alongside then off head-high drop before fencing, to temporarily claim street space that otherwise exists as a rarely unclaimed parking spot, heady reminder of the creativity apparent when automobiles are not prestifling so much urban surface area. Nico smiles to acknowledge an onlooker’s shouted encouragement, then backside ollies from rusted white front porch over time-silvered handrailing into crusty driveway that can’t quite slow his successful roll into street. The same homies in S HORTY S hoodie and pink hat are huddlehugging Nico as the fortunate happenstance viewer celebrates with fist pumps, heartily invigorated by the temporary appearance of modern magic.
Ender comes in Battery Park City, where Nico commits to slams that make his friends and passerby cringe then kickflips backside off the stair set into banked brick battery wall to waterfront ride. I think of Nate Jones. A woman tucks her waist toward her man as Nico breezes past. The homies let out howls of pure stoke as they arrive to congratulate their mate for finishing this exemplary crew video with a worthy banger.