Plank w/ wheels

The wheels I buy are basically an afterthought once I put them on my board. They feel too fresh for a few sessions, a little too big, then they simply feel like wheels. I generally buy the same size and same duro. If there’s a deal on a set with some kind of variable, like OJ’s Hard Line¹, Universal², or Easy Ledge³, I usually don’t put too much thought into the difference because after a few sessions they all kinda feel the same to me.

The wheel buying process, though, is sick. They have immense fondle value, even looking at them on a screen. I love the graphics printed on the wheel fronts. I’ll spend more time looking at wheels that don’t fit my physical requirements just because they look cool.

The wheel itself is a medium with physical limitations for the art that is printed on it. With this post, I want to survey what OJ Wheels is doing with that medium in their Spring 2018 catalog.

Jon Dickson

The first wheel is the only one that I don’t totally get conceptually. I think the Jeffrey Dahmer theme may be because of two reasons:

1. Jon Dickson enjoyed The recent Marc Meyes film, My Friend Dahmer⁴
2. Jon is a psycho

The wheel features caricatures of Dahmer and Glenn Rodgers (Ed Glen) with fresh blood on their mouths from, presumably, a human meal. The front is black and the art is in reverse. The rest of the wheel is a marbling of fleshy tone. There’s a nice touch in the ad with the wheels served up on styrofoam plate like their fresh from the butcher. The wheels are served, and look like, four pieces of meat. These wheels demonstrate what I mean by fondle value. I want to buy these just so I can touch them. They are like little filet mignons.

Unlike Dahmer, Glen Rogers is still alive on Death Row. The Casanova Killer filed an appeal in April 2005 that is still pending, for prosecutorial misconduct. He’s still out there in California.

Nora Vasconcellos

“Cat and Mouse” has a playful yet badass aesthetic that Nora Vasconcello’s style of skating does. I think it is because of all the smiling. When I skate, I am fighting with the board to make it do what I want. Skaters that look excited to be skating are really fun to watch. It makes you stoked to skate. The happy mouse flipping the bird is emblematic of the feeling I got seeing someone skating before I had done it myself, playful belligerence. Even the cat doesn’t seem to care. It’s too bad you can’t see the mouse’s hand on the wheel.

Ben Raybourn

No extraneous details about the person. It’s got the simple Thrasher hat, the recognizable glasses, and the sunny, California vibe that I don’t understand because I’ve never been there. I think the mellow energy depicted on the wheel is in contrast with the way Ben Raybourn skates.

The behavior in this video doesn’t evoke lackadaisacal, tipsy skating, cruising spots at sunset – the impression I get from the warm tones on the wheel. The contrast makes up for the lack of imagination on this wheel as opposed to some of the others. The impression of the art compared to the potentially bone jarring stunts motivates me to want to try stuff.

The danger aspect is my applied perception to what I see in his videos. To him, it’s just cruising. It’s boosts my confidence, as a skater, to see confidence on display, helping to purge bad ideas when I’m visualizing a trick of my own.

Erick Winkowski

Trippy, liquidy clockwise movement. Some warm, ocean imagery. And mushrooms, which I guess are the big marketing draw for these wheels. I understand that folks identify, to a degree, with the drugs they take, and merchandising that is probably a profitable idea.

Here are some other artists that have found success with merchandising their drug of choice.

Mushrooms:

Weed:

Other:

Drugs go with skateboarding. I wouldn’t be the first person, not even the one hundred thousandth person, to recognize that. I like the psychoactive experience of mushrooms. But tripping is somewhat of a private, special experience, and I think selling something to me based on the idea of that to me is kinda weird. It takes something away from the intensity of the felt experience.

I am a hypocrite, though, because I am sold on other wheel art because of the idea of the felt experience that I identify with, that I enjoy or suppose I could enjoy. I have somewhat of a post-traumautic response to drug imagery in marketing once I realized, as a younger person, that the Grateful Dead all became exceptionally wealthy, and it disrupted my notion of the jam band as a more socialist, communal entity.

Anyways, Erick Winkowski is fucked.

Figgy

Psychedelic rock, guitar pick included. Different color wheels is fun. The art on the wheel accurately depicts the primal urge to listen to some classic rock minded riffing, drink some beers, and try a stunt.

The psychedelic rock imagery better suits Figgy and his personality. You can tell he is happiest when he’s jamming. His whole life is in fisheye.

I noticed a trend in the color scheme of Figgy’s previous wheels.

Does Figgy have a lust for the Joker?

Jason Jesse

“If I was a Cop and Didn’t Skate”

The sentiment in this one is pretty straightforward. Jason Jesse’s wheels tend to veer to the edgy side. I guess someone has to keep skateboarding from not trying hard enough in the vanguard of controversial art.

Case in point:

Jason Jessee might be a fan of other controversial works, such as Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ (1987), David Černý’s Shark (2005), and Paul McCarthey’s Tree (2014).

Maybe he wore his hat like this one time, recognized it was a hit, so he upped the ante. That seems to be the style. Push the envelope in a provocative way. Skate aggressively and don’t give a fuck if people get pissed, because you don’t care.

Piss Christ, however, wasn’t intended to be merely an edgy denunciation of Christianity⁵. These wheels, on the other hand, represent a seemingly adolescent urge to piss on things you don’t like. I can’t see anything deeper in the wheels’ concepts. If you enjoy high testosterone skating and flipping off the man, then these wheels might be for you. The art looks cool, but the concept furthers stereotypes about skaters that I don’t think are necessarily all true today.

Carson Lee

The team manager/videographer/video editor for Enjoi for the last two years. Carson Lee has an impressive resume⁶ as a freelance videographer/video editor, and was a cinematographer for Transworld for several years.

A caricature of the filmer flying blissfully through the clouds on Falcor’s back, lifting the camera in exaltation.

That’s a cool thing for OJ to do. If you’re going to use someone’s likeness to sell your product, then to use Carson Lee’s is giving credit where it is due. Filmers skate as much as the skaters being filmed.

¹: All terrain shape. “OJ’s standard issue skate-park shape. Hardline comes in a conical shape with a wide riding surface for maximum control on any terrain.” http://ojwheels.com/insane-a-thane
²: “Universal shape is a more a narrow street wheel with a hard edge. Slides excellent and locks in on rails, ledges, and anything else you find on the streets.” http://ojwheels.com/insane-a-thane

³: Classic street shape. “OJ’s classic street shape. The rounded shape and riding surface of EZ-Edge keeps you locked in, sliding, and haulin’ ass at all times.” http://ojwheels.com/insane-a-thane
⁴: It’s a good movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Friend_Dahmer_(film)
⁵: “The thing about the crucifix itself is that we treat it almost like a fashion accessory. When you see it, you’re not horrified by it at all, but what it represents is the crucifixion of a man…And for Christ to have been crucified and laid on the cross for three days where he not only bled to death, he shat himself and he peed himself to death…So if Piss Christ upsets you, maybe it’s a good thing to think about what happened on the cross.” https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/sep/28/andres-serrano-piss-christ-new-york
⁶: A very enviable freelance career, so far. Adidas, Nike SB footwear, Transworld, Thrasher, Skateboarder Magazine, Independent Trucks, Krux Trucks, Thunder Trucks, Habitat, Es, Emerica, Etnies, Zumiez, Santa Cruz, 411 VM, Organika Skateboards, LRG Clothing, Enjoi, Almost, Globe, Osiris, Blake Label Skateboards, Skate Mental Skateboards, ESPN, Darkstar Skateboards, Powell Skateboards, DC, OJ, Bones, 5-Boro Skateboards, Slap Magazine, VIO Pov Cameras, CCS, Imperial Motion, Creature, Matix, Volcom, Berrics, Redbull, Plan B, DVS, C1RCA, Deluxe Distribution, Connetic, Alien Workshop, Venture Trucks, Converse, Ricta. I copied this from his Linkedin.

I feel the online skateboarding community is easily manipulated by good marketing. Tech wizard skaters winning in an “old school” contest format shouldn’t be a huge surprise for a fan base that is well aware that the Tampa contest has been affiliated with SLS for a minute.

Burn your idols

Skaters are not likely to burn their idols. Skateboarding progresses beyond the scope of what our idols were able to accomplish, but we revere them because innovation wouldn’t have happened in the direction it has without their influence. The Tampa contest has hosted a lot of people who, if there were some kind of skateboarding hall of fame, they’d be in it.

Watching the Tampa contests is a nostalgic experience for a lot of folks. Its roots are in the past, and we watch those past contests to get stoked on our skateboarding idols. The skatepark itself, however, is a building with obstacles in it. It’s a building that generates a profit. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I don’t think that it deserves the same kind of idyllic reverence in its current state that its occasional inhabitants have. I think it’s that near-mythical standard skaters hold Tampa to that makes them upset when a new pro like Jagger Eaton wins, who was a demonstrably different style than their favorite winners of the past, and even of skaters who compete in it today like Decenzo or Louie.

I think the online skate community might be less irked with Jagger Eaton’s win if Tampa Pro was more forthcoming with the way they judge the skating.

Winning Tampa Pro gives you a “Golden Ticket”¹ to the SLS Nike SB Super Crown World Championship. Last year it was Dave Bachinsky who “secured the North American slot”² in the SLS Pro Open by doing well in Tampa. This year, Jagger “earned the Monster Energy Pro Open Pass”³ to the semi-finals of the 2018 SLS Pro Open, “one step closer to skating his way into SLS.”

The Street League website claims that Tampa Pro is a “far cry from an arena contest…Tampa is old school,” that its winners and losers are up to debate, and that “that’s what makes Tampa rad…it’s all about the moment. Not a trick for trick breakdown…” Tampa is judged differently than SLS. It is a best of three runs format, rather than then real-time ISXTM Instant Scoring⁴ system that is intended to be precise and objective.

Why do I feel that this is a half-truth? I think that Jagger Eaton could have won this year based on the merit of his skating alone, but the influence of SLS makes me think that Tampa Pro now merely services as a pipeline to the broader brand of Street League contests.

The “old school” thing may have been the case in the past, when skaters like Mike Vallely, Kerry Getz, Andrew Reynolds, etc. won, but if you take a look at the last several years, every winner with the exception of maybe one has the potential to thrive in an ISXTM scoring system: Luan, Nyjah, Shane, T Pud, P Rod, and now Jagger – I’m excluding Louie Lopez in 2017 because I don’t think he should do these contests (his street parts are a gift). Without a doubt, all of those guys deserve to win a contest because of their ability to skate. But if Tampa is all about getting stoked on a run, even if there are bails, even if it’s all about the moment, then Decenzo’s run with the wallie three⁵ should have won. SLS is going to need fresh faces and new winners at some point. It makes sense that the skater who wins a Monster Energy Pro Open Pass⁶ is going to score (objectively) good marks in an ISXTM system rather than have (subjectively) good style.

Like so many of you, I didn’t know who Jagger Eaton was, because I don’t primarily watch contest skating. His skating, however, should be celebrated. He’s exceptionally good.

Defining style

As a spectator who participates in commenting online, its hard for me to make sense of what exactly the average skateboarding viewer wants.

I see a flood of reactions that claims he has no style, that he’s a “robotic” skater who relies on going deep into his ready made grab of tricks in order to produce the most technically sound and contest-worthy run. In seemingly the same posts or comments, folks are concerned that the only flip trick he does in his run is a kickflip. I guess the chill frontside flip on the quarter isn’t stylish enough because it was flicked from the same side of the board as the blunt kickflip. The same kind of commentor probably extols the virtue of style, this elusive quality that separates Tampa from other contests like Street League (it doesn’t, as I claim in the last section). That commentor probably throws in references to skaters like Penny and tosses the word “style” and “stoked” around some more to prove their point, forgetting that Penny’s contest runs are a treat of kickflip variations.

In an attempt to defend Jagger’s win, here are the tricks from his winning run. There are no bails. I’m going to omit the reverts and the hopping off the board to run.

1. Feeble entire flatbar
2. Noseblunt 180
3. Switch nosegrind
4. Switch back tail hubba
5. Gap 180 nosegrind
6. Kickflip back lip
7. Blunt kickflip
8. Switch feeble
9. Blunt frontside flip
10. Frontside flip quarter
11. Nollie nose slide

On paper, that’s a seriously impressive list. I guess one way I define style is board control, and I think that list demonstrates an advanced level of board control. I also think that the environment and occasion work to define style as well, so the contest format necessitates tech skating, as it is proven to win. The whole point of a contest is to win, even Tampa. I believe you are deceived if you think the point of the contest was to look cool. The contestant’s sponsorships want them to win. And you’re tuning into a heavily sponsored event.

Also, the last time I saw a switch back tail in a long line, Miles Silvas was in an Adidas ad. IIRC, it was the trick that a lot of folks used to defend his line that had similar characteristics to Jagger’s (hopping off the board a few times).

Jagger did three reverts and one skip down the crowded quarter. I think I, and the judges, know that he could have used the quarters to set up his next trick better. However, I don’t think that the reverts on flat subtract from how impressive his tricks are. It subtracts from his style of skating, the aesthetic approach that most of us cherish more than technical ability, but this is a contest, and the contest works to define the parameters of style: it wanted tricks, not aesthetics.

The beanie

If I learned anything from contest skating’s greatest gift, Life of Ryan⁷, it’s that Red Bull demands that you rep some kind of branded head gear. If you Google Jagger Eaton, he looks young and awkward. Most of all, he’s young, and if rolling the beanie up over your ears is a cool trend among younger skaters, then I don’t blame him for participating in that, seeing as he’s gotta have some kind Red Bull shit on his head. You’re lame if you hate on the way he wears his beanie. If you do, I think you are participating in a broader trend of hypocrisy in skateboarding. You probably got vibed on for wearing baggie clothes, or skinny jeans, or for cuffing your pants, or whatever. It’s a hat, chill.

That said, it does look goofy to me.

Citations
¹: http://streetleague.com/faq/
²: http://streetleague.com/2017/12/08/2017-sls-season-recap/
³: http://streetleague.com/2018/03/06/jagger-eaton-wins-tampa-pro/
⁴: https://www.isxscoring.com/
⁵: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A2FgAnN_QM
⁶: The names of these things are starting to sound like a bit, like Talladega Nights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXry-cXybG0
⁷: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Ryan