Some Alberta goodness right here, Aaron Cheng shredding, filmed and edited by Andrew Schubert.
This is the trailer for the DWOK Mixtape from London, Ontario which looks really good. High-jinx and street riding from Mason Grey, Eli Taylor, Jack Leonard, and more.
Another year, another slew of year end wrap up lists. In all honesty, this past year has been the best yet for Embassy. I feel like we’ve put out the best content we ever have, released a DVD that we were all proud of, put out some great products (hats and t-shirts that didn’t last long in our store and sold out fast), ran some fun contests, gave out lots of prizes, and proudly showcased Canadian BMX from all corners of the country. I went through the last year of posts on the site to find the top 10 most popular entries we made (based on web analytics), to share with everyone. In case you missed any of these the first time, or wanted to re-visit them, have a look at the top 10 posts of 2012 after the jump.
This one goes way back, so much so that the video that this jam was featured in came out on VHS. At that point, jams still played the role of bringing scenes together (a role that’s largely been taken over by videos). In our area, this particular jam is often brought up as being memorable, and I think it’s for good reason. These are just a few things I can remember from ten years ago:
FBM Ghetto Street had recently happened, so we decided to build some additional ramps at one of the relatively terrible ’90s era skateparks in the Okanagan. By the end of the day, literally every shottily constructed ramp we built had been reduced to a pile of lumber.
Odyssey sent roughly $1000 worth of free stuff to give away and they sent it directly to us (not through a distro). This still seems pretty incredible.
Slinger and Lazer were all over the place doing awesome stuff.
We premiered the Salvation Video, which is pretty memorable to this day.
Cory Fester came down from Edmonton and did a bunch of awesome flatland inspired stuff, including the long downhill hang five at the end. To put it into perspective, this was before hang fives were a street trick. We were having a downhill manual session outside of the video premiere and Cory did the hang five in the video pretty much out of nowhere. I’d venture that most in attendance had no idea what a hang five was. Minds were blown, and fun was had by all.
When I saw that this had happened, my first thought was that they had re-created the set of CTV Morning Live and hired an actor. This would not be outside the capabilities of Brodie Gwilliam and team. The best part is when he fumbles the title of the video. It’s a great case “what is that word/can I say that on TV”.
Let’s Get Fistical is available now from Bad 4 Life, and it’s probably going to be awesome. I have a copy coming and will post a review when it gets here.
Luke Santatucci spreads his cheer to all the girls this season, good or bad. Happy holidays from all of us here at Northern Embassy. Enjoy the season and the time with friends and family. Thank you to all of our readers, contributors, advertisers, and everyone else for their support over the past year, and we’ve got a lot more in store for 2013!
Colby Knowler sent this one over from Victoria. I met Colby a few years ago in Whitehorse (where he grew up) and he was awesome enough to show us some of Canada’s Northernmost spots, including what I think was a miniramp built by Ben MacPherson.
Spencer Wilson and I riding at Onesix Boardshop in Victoria, BC to fight off the winter blues. Edited by Spencer Wilson. Support your local shop! -Colby Knowler
Back in the fall I spent an afternoon riding around with Keven Salmon. If you are like me you may remember Keven from his short lived clothing label Iahmperial, or his appearances at some of the most memorable early to mid 2000’s contests in Ontario such as La Rev and the early Metro Jam events. He would hold his own in the pro class with strangely original tricks like one handed icepicks down rails. I shot this simple one handed icepick on a poorly designed and steep quarter pipe in the middle of a line at my local skatepark.
Creativity ensues, and nowadays Keven’s focus has turned more towards his music, which he writes and records under the pseudonym Dread Eye. Check out a live recording and video of his song Fire Bombs & Sunscreen below, and try to catch him at an open mic night at venues across Toronto.
Our history with Dillon Lloyd runs deep. Deeper than the 2nd place section for The Hunt that we worked together on last year. I remember him since he was a 12 year old boy at the skatepark with food stains and crumbs all over him, riding better than the guys twice his age, and Jeremy’s history with him runs even deeper. All that makes us even more stoked and proud that he just got the bump to the Éclat pro team to a roster of some pretty heavy hitters. One could say that he is carrying a torch for a new generation of Canadian riders on the world stage now. Check out this amazing video filmed largely by (occasional Embassy contributor) Sean Cooke, and put together by Jeremy Deme.
Heavy Hitter 1#