A top of the road perspective of the jam. Photo: Brian Babish.
We’ve all been seeing more and more companies jumpin’ on the “skate everything” bandwagon. Guess what? Earthwing has been skateboarding everything since the beginning. No fakin’—just straight-up skateboarding for, and by, skateboarders. Many may not know this, but Earthwing Skateboards has influenced a lot of what’s going on right now. That said, when Earthwing’s Steve Kong hit us up to tell us they were throwing a slide jam the day after The Broadway Bomb, there was no doubt that we’d be there to show our support. So on Sunday October 9th, 2011 we were in attendance, and what a jammy-jammer of a good time we had.
Steve Kong, GnarBQ slide. Photo: Bandy.
Earthwing’s Steve Kong holding it down with a smile. Photo: Bandy.
Will Edgecombe riding fast and sliding with a blur. Photo: Bandy.
We’re told that there was a 7am session at the hill that morning. Seriously?! Besides Brian Bishop, we’re not sure who the hell got up that early? Anyway, we got there around 2pm and by no means felt like we missed out. That said, we kept the “dream alive” into the wee hours of that morning, so we were in no shape to get rad at sun up—we were better suited to get rad with some aspirin and more sleep.
Josh ‘Wild’ Wright, doing it right with a kicked-out toesider. Photo: Brian Babish.
Earthwing founder, Brian Petrie. Photo: Marcus Bandy.
A rad view of the slide jam from a top of a nearby bridge. Photo: Brian Babish.
That afternoon, after a two-hour iphone Maps goose-chase, we arrived on the scene to a road filled with skaters getting their shred on. The event was “hard wheels only” and the Earthwing dudes are real serious about the hard wheels—they made the duro requirement very clear. Everybody complied and it was fun as shit.
Chris Murphy doin’ his thing for the crowd. Photo: Marcus Bandy.
Andriy Dashenych with his version of a hand plant. Photo: Brian Babish.
This dude may or may not listen to Insane Clown Posses. Woot, woot! Photo: Bandy
Our homie Steve Kong was the event organizer and Cliff Colmen, Sergio Yuppie, and Junior Yuppie were guest judges. As for format, we have no idea? We were lurking too heavily to know about all that. It seemed as if it was a one-at-a-time type formant with a few different classes. We also left before the awards were given out so we don’t have the podium info for ya either. Sorry. Honestly, we prefer taking pictures and skating way more than the competition end of things. Please view the accompanying photos as an apology for our myopic inclinations.
Master Shredder and hardwheel pioneer, Sergio Yuppie, “faster than you” noseblunt slide. Photo: Brian Babish.
Mikael Shredthaterson, laidback through the shadows. Photo: Brian Babish.
Laura Nocka with a speedy stander upper. Photo: Bandy.
We had a great time hanging out and watching all the riders shred it up. Many of the names and faces were new to us, as well as this was our first “hard-wheel only” slide event. But regardless of all that, we made many new friends, we were witness to some serious skateboarding radness, and we definitely look forward to shredding again with our Eastcoast brothers and sisters real soon. Big ups NYC! To everybody involved: we thank you for putting on the event and bringing everybody together. We’d also like to thank Earthwing for holding it down, and we’d like to tip our hats to Skateboarding for always finding a way to Stok’em. Shredlove!
Make sure to also check out Skate House Media‘s event video as well: NYC Hard Wheel Slide Jam
Steve Kong continuing to shred, tuck-knee style. Photo: Bandy.