Snowboard Film Premiere Season is upon us and has been full of parties!
We've been to 5 movie parties in the last 3 weeks. Three of those parties were ours, put on by SnowboardSecrets.com and Flexmeters.com Snowboard Wrist Guards and Gloves, to premiere "Blurred" in high def by
Huckfestproductions.com. Next round of parties is in Boston during the Ski and Snowboard Show.
Check the
SnowboardEventsCalendar.com to make sure you don't miss what's happening this season!
"Blurred" by film maker Tom Vayianos happens to be the ONLY East Coast snowboard flick this season, since Trash Attack II met an unfortunate technical fate when the hard drive with the only copy fell on the floor, or whatever.
The parties have been as different from each other as a freestyle snowboarder and an alpine racer. There was heavy rain associated with EACH of these parties, but the heavens cooperated and the skies cleared in time for the parties to go off. Thanks, Universe! Here's a recap.
The Grenade/Signal Snowboard Party at Gallery Bar on
October 11 was a fun start to the season. Free Iceberg Vodka started off the party right and this small Alphabet City/Lower East Side art gallery/club on 2 floors was the right size for the crowd who included snowboard industry stalwarts like Dave Lee and Lisa Sagato, of Signal, Jeff Schorr of Grenade, Mike D and Jeff Boos representing Spacecraft and Freeville Art Project and a group from Snowboard Mag. Some Vermonters made the trip down, including SnowGurlz.com rail rider Jamie Herbert and friends.
Oct. 19 in New Paltz was the first showing of HuckfestProductions.com "Blurred" on the Blur Tour. The party, put on with
Sacred board shop and SnowboardSecrets.com was at Cabaloosa right in the center of town, and 18 and over could get in, insuring a good crowd of the local SUNY college students. Friends from Plattsburgh and Long Island made the trip.
This party gets the prize for the best dance floor activities as the clock struck 12. New Paltz is a fun and easy party town. Cabaloosa has 2 clubs, upstairs and down.
Across the street the Greek restaurant "Yanni" had live music and dancing that spilled out onto the street. We had the best chicken parm of our lives at Fat Bob's, a few doors down the hill from Cabaloosa. There are other pubs within walking distance in New Paltz.
The big Blur Tour Party was Thursday, Oct. 25, in Tribeca, NYC. SnowboardSecrets.com put on a fashion show for this party with Emilio's Ski (and Snowboard) Shop, which is one of the oldest ski shops in the city, and the ONLY snow gear shop in Queens.
The latest snowboard outerwear from Burton, Bonfire and other companies was modeled by REAL snowboarders, including Amber Rood, Agatha Wasilewski, Erin & Stephanie from NY Pipe Dreams, Lauren Traub Teton, Diego Currier, and Brian Curran. Legendary snowboarder and Blurred star Yale Cousino and the filmmaker Tom Vayianos both agreed to walk the runway in their hot cold weather fashions at the last minute, adding even more juice to the show. Big thanks to Karen De Turris, for modeling, and Paul Pearlman for coordinating the show and narrating onstage.
A free hat raffle was courtesy of
Livity, and we thank Launch Snowboard for the men's and women's board that were given away. Free lift tickets were given to guests from Whiteface, and Windham Mountains in NY, and Mountain Creek in NJ. DJ Probiotic kept the tunes spinning.
Chris Yeaton, East Coast rep for Betty Rides, jumped in to help with the raffle when an expert was needed. Folks who stayed late enough were treated to the fantasy come true in the back room, where hunky "cop"
Jason ripped off his uniform to show biceps, triceps, quadriceps, buttceps, and more, to help celebrate Lauren's birthday which happened to fall on the day of the party.
Eastern Boarder in Natick, Massachusetts (almost in Framingham) was the site fo
r the last stop on the
Blur Tour, Friday Nov. 2. EB is glorying in their fantastically handsome new space, with many of the display cases handmade by resident snow/skate/and furniture expert Jay Roche. This party was an intimate low key affair where it was easy to schmooze with the shop kids and their friends enjoying the movie, pizza, beer, and free lift ticket deals from Crotched Mountain and Ragged Mountain. It was hard for manager Steve Ryan to get everybody out of the store to finally close up.
The tailfeathers of Hurricane Noel brushed MA right after the Eastern Boarder party, and we raced back to NY, successfully evading the storm in time to make it to the Bonfire Film Premiere Party in Brooklyn the next night.
Galapagos Art Space in hip Williamsburg was the site for the
Nov. 3 Bonfire party. Super snowboarder Leanne Pelosi made and rode in the film "
La La Land" which shows off many of our most famous snowboard girlz. She and Jamie Anderson, 2007 US Open Slopestyle winner were in the house at this party that featured 7 djs and 2 free Monster happy hours in additon to a live snowboard art contest.
We always like to see young Spencer O'Brien's stylish rail riding, but if you blinked this time you missed her. Last year's Bonfire film "Ro Sham Bo" had her in a bigger part, and also featured a great dance choreography at the end that was so synchronized and terrific that I'm still trying to figure if it was the snowboarders or professional dancers busting the moves.
La La Land has more star power. In fact almost EVERY famous female freestyle rider is in it (Kelly and Hanna, where r u ?) and really does show off some of our best female riders like Hana Beaman, Victoria Jealouse, Marie-France Roy, Tara Dakides and Amber Stackhouse to great advantage.
German Snowboarder David Benedek's film "In Short" was shown after La La Land. I saw his film "The Gap Sessions" last year at the party in Boston right after Ro Sham Bo, and it was a hard transition from the girls, music and action. TGS was a brainy snowboard film about building a jump, and frankly I enjoyed it a lot more when I watched the DVD at home, because it benefited from some quiet concentration.
By the way, while the Bonfire party was going down in Brooklyn, the Burning Man Decompression Party was raving out at the Queens Museum of Art, over by the Unisphere. We heard some first hand reports that this was THE BEST PARTY EVER IN THE WORLD. Hard to imagine since the snowboarders weren't there, but I guess anything's possible.
See more pictures of these parties and the Snowboard Fashion Spread parties at
SnowboardSecrets.com
