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After spending a Saturday hanging out in the city streets of New York—well, the L.A. Paramount Studios version—we saw Nick Merlino continue to make a name for himself, we watched Jani Laitiala return to the Showdown with a vengeance, and we witnessed Foundation not just making, but taking, the whole thing. Here’s the final results from the 2009 Vans Downtown Showdown. Stay tuned for photos and video coming to you on skateboarding.com very soon.

Girl’s Little China Girl
1. Zered Bassett (Zoo York) - $2,500
2. Angel Ramirez (Foundation) - $1,500
3. Ron Deily (Zoo York) - $1,000

Flip’s Extremely Sorry
1. Jani Laitiala (Blind) - $2,500
2. Nick Trapasso (Toy Machine) - $1,500
3. Louie Lopez (Flip) - $1,000

Creature’s Hesh Cross
1. Vince Del Valle (Black Label) - $2,500
2. Angel Ramirez (Foundation) - $1,500
3. Jani Laitiala (Blind) - $1,000

Black Label’s Drunk Tank
1. Nick Merlino (Foundation) - $2,500
2. Billy Marks (Toy Machine) - $1,500
3. Felipe Ortiz (Blind) - $1,000

Top Am Performance: Nick Merlino (Foundation) - $5,000

Top Pro Performance: Jani Laitiala (Blind) - $10,000

Overall Team Winner: Foundation ($30,000), Blind 2nd ($15,000), Toy Machine 3rd ($5,000) Congratulations rippers!


Josh Brooks

Chet Rules. You got that Chester?
Some people might complain that Chet Childress' parts are not too different from one another, but I think that's a stupid critique. In an age where every trick must be gnarlier than the next and the messageboards overload with a mob-like mentality of "This kid needs to go pro NOW!" whenever some up-and-comer does a couple buttery, banging tricks, skateboarding can get dangerously close to painting itself into a corner of a maze that head's to the dead end of gnarliest skateboarder.

I spoke to Childress a few months back about his art show in Portland and we touched on that subject. In fact, he clowned me for even asking about a particular trick - his lien to tail to disaster revert - which, in some ways, I understand. In today's state of skating, that's refreshing. Not everyone is caught up in tricks, but sometimes you can see that the love of just rolling and letting skateboarding happen organically gets lost at times. So, when you see Chet's part from "God Save the Label" (it's posted up on the Black Label site) - filmed entirely at Burnside -it transends the contemporary sandtrap of "tricknocentric" video parts and makes skateboarding look fun again. Like it's supposed to...

INTERSTATE BOARDSHOP SINGAPORE

NEW PRODUCTS IN THE HOUSE .

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There will be a memorial service for Eric on Tuesday morning, September 29th at 10:00 am at Willow Creek Community Church South Barrington, Illinois in their chapel.

67 E. Algonquin Rd.
South Barrington, IL 60010
(847) 765-5000

If you’re in Chicago today, come out to the TWS Park Jam where we’ll be skating, BBQing, and rocking our Bears jerseys in the name of Eric

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It's not official from Alien Workshop or DGK (beside a leaked board graphic), but Josh Kalis has left Alien to reunite with his homie Stevie Williams on DGK. I caught up with Josh to ask him about the change and what happened with Alien and here's what he said...

I was just wondering how the whole DGK thing came about.
Me and Stevie were just talking one day and were saying, "Man, we gotta team back up on somethin'," you know? We were talking about how just stale skateboarding was and how people just don't really hang out with each other anymore. They just kind of skate for companies, whether it be because it's just a cool company or it's a solid paycheck. Whatever, you know? We were just talking about how skateboarding just lost its vibe of friendship and lifestyle, you know? DGK's vibe was always just that—like, this is our life and we roll together and this is what we do—skateboarding is bringing us together. Stevie and I hadn't rode for the same thing forever and we were just like, "Man, we gotta do something like that," and it escalated into, "Why don't we just roll on the same squad? The DGK squad?" because that's what we are...we're old Love Park cats, you know?

How long have you guys know eachother?
We've known one another since the early '90s.

Since he was Lil' Stevie, right?
Yeah, he was lil' Lil' Stevie.

So, how did everything end up with Alien, then?
It wasn't hard. Nobody made it more difficult than what it needed to be. I just told them that this is what I wanted to do—this is what I'm going to do—and it was almost as if they knew it was coming at some point, you know?

Were there things you were unhappy with at Alien? Or did you just want to get back to that homey connection of being back with your friends?
I wanted to skate for fun and with a friend...go back to the homie connection, you know? Me and Alien just grew apart. You know, I felt like I was Alien Workshop, through and through, for 15 years—that's what I was. Alien Workshop was Sovereign Sect and it just grew into something that I wasn't growing with. Me and Workshop had a long run, but we just grew apart from one another.


On the eve of the Flip video, "Extremely Sorry" our good friend Aguinaldo Melo of ESPN Brazil spent the day with Brazilian ex-pat, Bob Burnquist out at Bob's massive home compound while Bob tried to get some last minute tricks for the film. If reports from the premiere hold any truth, Bob's part in the video is sure to boggle the mind. Click the "read more" tab to see a video glimpse into some of the process Bob has to go through to get his mega tricks.


Following on the heels of his excellent video part in Nike's "Debacle" video, Real, Quiksilver and Nike rider Justin Brock has turned pro.

Hailing from North Carolina, Brock first garnered attention from his powerful video parts in the independent "Carolina Love" and "Southern Comfort" videos. After a chance meeting with the Real team, Brock's career has been on a steady rise with solid video and editorial coverage including footage in Nike's "Nothing But The Truth" video. This past year, he earned the covers of both Thrasher magazine and Skateboarder magazine. Brock's pro announcement came in a unique series of documentary-style collaborative video ads produced by his sponsors airing on The Berrics site over a period of weeks. His new pro models are currently being put to the test as he finishes up filming for the much anticipated, new Real video due out soon. Congratulations Justin!

INTERSTATE BOARDSHOP SINGAPORE

Tons of new stocks in the house.

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Today we bring you the unfortunate news that editor Eric Stricker, a cherished member of the TransWorld SKATEboarding family, has passed away. He was a fine editor and an even finer friend, whose memory will continue to live in the pages of TWS for years to come.

Our thoughts, prayers, and hearts go out to the Stricker family.

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Now that the news is officially out that Justin Brock is pro, Deluxe just released its new part 2 of 4 section of the Deluxe catalog with more from Justin Brock. It includes an extended version of Real’s Since Day one video series plus both of his brand new pro decks. Along with Real’s new videos and products every brand has been updated with new products, pages, and videos. So much good stuff. Brian Anderson skating the streets of SF, Brock getting Extreme, Thomas talking trucks, and new one-offs from Krooked and Antihero just to name a few things. Section 3 coming October 2nd.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

1. 

1. 

GOSK8 is a new iPhone application/tool for physically playing the traditional game of skate. The developers of GOSK8 have gone to great
lengths to spice the game up by adding three different skill levels (basic, medium, advanced) and four obstacle options (ledge, manual, transition, flat-ground), making it the only skate application of its kind.

Rowley - “GOSK8 takes the game of S.K.A.T.E. to the next level. There are so many options with the different levels and obstacles that anyone at any level can play it.”

Ellington - “When I first downloaded GOSK8 to my iPhone I didn’t expect it to be so sick. There are hundreds of tricks depending on what level and obstacle you choose. What I really liked most is that you can play by yourself or against another skater. This is no “sit on your ass” game. You actually have to get out there and skate with GOSK8.”

Geoff and Erik will be battling it out in a series of games using the GOSK8 app. Stay tuned for videos hitting the web soon.

For more information on GOSK8 visit www.gosk8app.com


Sessions Presents

The 11th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest

September 26 & 27, 2009

Ten years after the tragic loss of a great friend and highly respected skateboarder, Sessions is holding the 11th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest. Sessions team rider, Tim, was always true to his roots as a skateboarder and possessed a positive attitude that did nothing less than inspire friends, family, and the community around him. Tim’s untimely passing in 1999 at the age of 25 (read more about him on www.timbrauch.com), led Sessions to create the Tim Brauch Memorial Fund, which donates 100% of the funds towards skateboard park development and scholarships.

Tim always believed in good values and clearly recognized how important the youth of skateboarding was. Whether traveling to far away countries or hitting up a local spot in San Jose (his hometown), he would always take the time to teach the kids how to skate and make sure they were having a great time. “Skateboarding was something that brought Tim that youthful feeling every time he hopped on a board and it most definitely showed up in his style. Fun is the name of the game in skateboarding and Tim was out to prove it. “ – Scotty Greathouse

One donation made from the Tim Brauch Memorial Fund went to create the Tim Brauch Memorial Skate Park in Scotts Valley, CA, which continues to host the street portion of the contest. The street contest is great competition for kids of all ages and is divided into Groms (12 & under) and Am Divisions. This year’s street contest will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2009 beginning at 10:00AM. Sessions will be raffling off great prizes from Skullcandy, Dakine, Bones Wheels, etc and DJ DFunkt will be mixing it up all day.

The 11th Annual Bowl Contest which can now claim the title of the “Longest Running Bowl Event” is hosted by the World Cup of Skateboarding and will be held at the year old Lake Cunningham Regional Skate Park in San Jose, CA on Sunday, September 27, 2009. The Lake Cunningham Regional Skate Park opened early in 2008 as the largest skate park in California at 68,000 square feet. The park also features the world’s longest full pipe, tallest vert wall, and largest cradle. We expect the turn out in 2009 to grow from previous years and continue to help push the future of youth skateboarding among communities. This year the contest will take on a more festival feel in the celebration of Tim as we will be having local artists display their work at the contest with live art shows. This year we are also excited to announce that 5 bands (all featured in the Tim Brauch Documentary “Supercharged”) will be playing live at the Bowl Contest; the bands include No Use For A Name, Clay Wheels, Whiskey Sunday, Shitkickers, and Street Core. The contest After Party will be held at Wahoo’s Fish Taco’s in Cupertino on Sunday, September 27th at 7:30PM with a live performance from RS2 Solid Sound.

In addition, 2 daily raffles will take place giving away great products from our participating sponsors. Food and drinks will also be sold to competitors and observers. This is an event you won’t want to miss!

We bring you the 11th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest to re-live the positive aspects of skateboarding that Tim brought to the table, while also incorporating art and music, two things that were equally important in his life. Tim would have loved to be here for this event and will forever be remembered as a legend in the game.

‘Supercharged’, a documentary about Tim Brauch, will premier on September 26th, 2009 at Camera 12 Cinema in San Jose, CA. It will be showing at 7 and 9PM. The film will also be showing at San Francisco Victoria Theater on October 1st at 7:30. The last stop of premiers will be showing at the Santa Cruz Rio Theatre on October 15th at 8PM. Tickets are available online and also at the box office on the night of the show.

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We already told you the story about how the TWS Best Trick comp in Salt Lake came to be, so once the finals were said and done on Saturday night, we set up some lights, pulled out $1,000 cash for tricks, and it was go time on the seven-stair kinked rail directly out front of the venue. So, Adam Dyet and Kurtis Colamonico put some shit down, Robert Lopez Mont had a couple bangers (and there was an amazing big-spin front board that out filmer unfortunately missed), but Portland’s Best Trick winner, Ryan Decenzo, and his switch all-through-the-kink assault couldn’t be matched. While he was “making it rain” on the crowd with the cash, we were signing his name to the $2,500 TWS Best Trick check.


Watch Rodolfo Ramos get the well-deserved win in Salt Lake. Next stop, Orlando, for the final stop on the 2009 Dew Tour.

FINAL RESULTS:
1. Rodolfo Ramos
2. Chris Cole
3. Nick Dompierre
4. Ryan Decenzo
5. Tyler Hendley
6. Greg Lutzka
7. Carlos De Andrade
8. Kurtis Colamonico
9. Paul Rodriguez
10. Chaz Ortiz
11. Milton Martinez
12. Adam Dyet

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With his win in Salt Lake, Bucky Lasek will be going into Orlando with a first place standing, but PLG and Andy Macdonald will be following closely behind in second and third. For the breakdown of what went down at Friday night’s vert finals

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Josh Brooks

The premiere took place at The Grove theater in Anaheim, which looked like something out of a Hollywood movie.
Flip's premiere of "Extremely Sorry," the video that took six years to complete and is the final installment of the Sorry trilogy, and got some interviews with a few of the riders. Click read more down below to watch them.

As for the video, it's too soon for me to say anything of worth. I'm letting it sink in and I want to see it again. But, I liked Shane Cross' part (Rip in Peace), David Gonzalez, Rodrigo TX and Mark Appleyard. Boulala had a part, Penny is always cool to watch and there was some awesome footage all around. I was also utterly surprised by Bob Burnquist (and I'm not just saying that because I work for a big action sports company). His part might have received the most cheers out of any section and I was honestly blown away. I suggest watching the video and I'm sure you will.

But, before I go on and on, see what some of the Flip team felt like leading up to the premiere of a video they spent so much time on.

SKBSG SK8 NEWS UPDATES

Biebel's Twitter

Did you know? The Red Bull hats that guys on Red Bull wear are specifically made for them and are not available anywhere else? Whatever, though.
I was just wandering around the virtual world of Twitter—the twittersphere as they like to call it—and I came across the always entertaining posts from Mr. Brandon Biebel himself. Unless you're in the twittersphere, you may not have read his recent post, "My New Sponsor!!! I'm Stoked!!" and the link to the photo on the left. Now, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that Red Bull is the same as a skate sponsor (or that it interests me a ton), but I think Biebel's awesome and I want to celebrate his inauguration into the ranks of "funny money" sponsors. Congrats! You're gettin' paid!


Morgan Smith kind of came out of nowhere a few years ago, ending up on Blind and, to me at least, typifying the type of skating I grew up watching in the '90s—baggy pants, super tech tricks, consistency—but in today's era. Not only is he good at skateboarding, but he's from the often and unfortunately over-looked Toronto scene. So I caught up with him to learn more about him, Toronto and the '90s-influenced skating that I think I forced him to admit he does, by repetition...kind of how he warms u

Selamat Hari Raya Idulfitri.

SKBSG and INTERSTATE BOARDSHOP Wish all OUR Dear Muslim friends and families Selamat Hari Raya Idulfitri.

Wishing the rest happy holidays!

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WATCH THE VANS DOWNTOWN SHOWDOWN AND WIN A CAR

One Lucky Skate Fan Wins a Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart

When you tune in on Saturday, September 26 to see skate’s top pros and ams at the Vans Downtown Showdown presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, in addition to seeing amazing skating on gnarly one-of-a-kind team-designed obstacles, you’ll have a little more incentive to watch the action live and in HD. Thanks to Mitsubishi, we’re giving one lucky viewer a Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart. Fully loaded with a 710watt Rockford Fosgate stereo and 40GB HDD Navigation system, you can enter to win today at www.vans.com/downtownshowdown. A name will be announced during the live webcast at which time the winner will have three minutes to call in to claim the car.

So, watch the Vans Downtown Showdown on the web: Catch a live HD webcast of the entire event, powered by FUEL TV, at www.vans.com/downtownshowdown, Saturday, September 26 from 5:00 pm to 9:30 pm. FUEL TV will also be providing live cut-ins on the network throughout the contest to keep viewers up to date on all the action!

Watch & Win: In addition to the Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart, tune in to the live webcast to win prize packs from Vans, Rockstar Energy drink and FUEL TV plus an Epiphone Les Paul Special II guitar.

Who: The top teams in skateboarding including Girl, Flip, Blind, Creature, Black Label, Foundation, Toy Machine, SK8MAFIA and Zoo York

What: Each team will session four unique, custom-made obstacles in a round-robin format with awards going out for top team, best pro, top am and best performance by obstacle.

When: Saturday, September 26 at 5 pm (doors open at 4 pm)

Where: Paramount Studios Back Lot

Prize Purse: $85,000 in cash and prizes for individual and team winners

The Vans Downtown Showdown is made possible by the support of Rockstar Energy Drink, FUEL TV, Mitsubishi Motors, Epiphone and SPoTlight Productions

More info on the 2009 Downtown Showdown including riders and obstacles coming soon! www.vans.com/downtownshowdown