BMX UNION

So, I am going to try and cover new dvd’s that have just came out or are coming out to let you guys get the low down on these. Here is some info on the new video From Nothing. You can spot the trailer on BMXonline or on their website Youth BMX

So here it is!

Name of the DVD?
The Name of the DVD is “From Nothing”, and it’s just a showcase of all of the well know, as well as unknown talent from this city.

Who all has parts?
Full parts are John Dixon, Travis Kiesow, Tony Neyer, Josh Suhre, Jeremiah Smith, myself, as well as a 6 minute random section of all the locals, and a 3 minute “Friends” section which are out of town friends who have came here to film a few clips.

Who is doing the filming for the project?
90% of the filming was done by myself, but certain clips were also filmed by people like Chad Shack, Will Stroud, Walter Perringer, and other riders in the vid.

What is the expected length?
The length of the video I’m not 100% but I think it’s a little over a half hour long. 31 minutes I want to say.

Any special features you can tell us about?
Special features are just the typical bonus material, about 7 minutes of crashing, and a 10 minute random footage montage of just dumb stuff I’ve filmed over the years.

Anything that will stand out in the DVD?
I think what will stand out is how diverse and unique Cincinnati is. Not only the city itself shown through the old architecture in the spots, but also the personalities here are like no where else, and most who travel through here, or stay with us will agree. Every night going out riding mostly consists of non stop laughs and jokes, and I really try to emphasize that in most of the parts. The riders here all have different styles, and after watching every part you’ll notice that. It’s not the same tricks being done by different people, I hate watching those kinds of videos. Aside from all that, just keeping it light hearted, but entertaining. That and I really am picky about videos and filming in general. I hate the elusive overused fisheye, and I try to always think of the best angle for every shot, but since 10% wasn’t filmed by me, there’s always things Im not happy with but that’s life. Same with editing, I tried not to over edit it, other than the intro, I really just let the riding speak for itself.

When do you expect to have it out?
It was actually just released Friday here in Cincinnati, and I started mailing them out the day before. The premiere was amazing, around 200 people crammed into one backyard, I couldn’t have asked for a better night.

Where can people get it and for how much?
As of right now, the only two places that sell it are Dans Comp, and Empire. They are retailing for $12.99 because I am more concerned with as many people as seeing it as possible. I hope that by making the quality top notch, and the price lower than most that it will be successful and get as much coverage to this wonderful city as possible, there’s a few people here that definately deserve it.

Anything else?
Any inquires on the video can contact me at hortonds@email.uc.edu, and the trailer as well as info can be found at www.youthbmx.com. thanks.

I spotted the trailer up on The Come Up and I was curious to know some more details about it so I got a little intervew for you all to check out!

Name of the DVD?
ACT LIKE YOU KNOW

Who all has parts in it?
The people that will have parts are the names listed in the beggining of the trailer. I suck at spelling so im not even going to try to butcher there names. Also there will be a pretty decent sized friends section.

Who is doing the filming for the project?
I, Brandon Galosi will be doing the filming, along with jason who edited the video.

What is the expected length?
Were not sure what the expected length is going to be, just as long as everyone is happy with there parts, thats bascially going to determine how long it will be.

Any special features you can tell us about?
Yeah, were going to have a pretty big bonus section to the dvd.We have two photographers that are friends, nick photo, and scott marceau, they are both hopefully going to have slide show presentations of there work. also there is going to be a decent sized 8mm film section. plus a ghetto footage montage. maybe a short skate film.

Any thing you want to share about what will stand out in the film?
This film in general is a representation of my friends and what we are doing as a whole in Northeast Ohio. Alot of people know this area for the chenga skateparks, but in fact theres much more going on here than that. I wanted this film to be not a one man project, but a group effort show casing everyones skills in whatever way they want to. For example we have one film school major, two graphic desgin majors, and alot of really good riders. combining all those skills and making a interesting fun video is the key goal. Also no one has really made a video in our area just based on kids from here and the spots in the area.

When do you expect to have it out?
We are all hoping to have this done by next summer, we live in Ohio so in around a month there could be 3 feet of snow, and the weather is unpredictable most of the time. As sterotypical as it sounds, theres going to be NO ramp footage, only street because its way more interesting, and theres lots of spots people have not seen ridden before. So thats basically the reason were giving it till then.

Where will people be able to get it?
Well no one really buys videos anymore, So i think were just going to have a release party for it at kerry sayres shop at Rise Above in Lorain Ohio. Then there will be a Google video premier, and I think were going to hand out 100 custom dvds in the local area.

Check out the video at about 2:13.. by far the funniest thing I have seen in a long time..

act like you know trailer from jason jendre on Vimeo.

Nuno is a pretty well known dude around BMX for his part of being with two well known names. When I found out how he was stoked on the website I didnt even hesitate to ask if he wanted to do an interview.. so here it is, I hope you like it.

Name:
Nuno Oliveira
Location:
California

What do you do at Odyssey?
Mostly sales, but we are a small company, so we all wear lots of different hats. We all just do whatever we can for the greater good of the brand.

What do you do at defgrip.net?
Contribute to the best of my ability. I liked the site before I was asked to join, so when Harrison asked me to come on board as a contributor/blogger, I just ran with it. I speak with Harrison all the time, and were always going back and forth about stuff. Its satisfying when people bring up the site, and mention how much they like it.

What is a typical day for you?
Work, eat, chill, pick up dog shit off the ground, and ride around if i feel like it.

Being involved with two very popular names, how do you manage your time?
Well, Odyssey is number one obviously. That’s my job, and obviously more important. But being at Odyssey puts me in contact with lots of people who ultimately may give me an avenue for something for Defgrip. Defgrip is just a fun way to do cool bmx stuff and/or speak about whatever I feel like, and it doesn’t really take up too much time. Major Defgrip work gets done at night or at off times, so it’s easy to manage both.

Do you find a lot of time to ride?
Mostly on weekends.. it may sound crazy, but dealing with bike stuff all day, sometimes the last thing I want to do is look at my bike and/or talk more about bike related stuff after work.

Being with odyssey , your seeing some of the newest products months before they are released, how hard is it to keep it on the DL?
Well, I think there is an unwritten rule that you don’t go around just telling everyone whats being worked on, but once the team are on prototype parts, its hard to keep things on the low, especially with the internet and how small bmx is. I tend to leave that stuff at the office, or drop vague clues if somebody asks. Besides, if we spill the beans super early, it just puts more pressure on us to get things out, and sometimes there are unforseen delays that are beyond our control which delays things even further. We were seeing the Elementary stem for well over a year before the public did, so by the time it came out, it wasnt as unusual to us because weve gotten used to seeing it for so long.

Are there any big projects coming up for Odyssey? (videos/new products/ road trips/ new team members).
Yes. The next video called “Electronical” is well underway. Chad shack from Shook and Will Stroud are doing it all, so you can expect good things. I believe Chad is filming with Chase hawk and Aitken some more this week, and thats always good. They have been filming all over the place. I dont have a definite release date for it now, but it should be out within a few months. Will’s always sending us really nice HD clips after trips, and I like what ive been seeing so far.

Is there any things going on with Defgrip coming up soon?
Theres some stuff lurking, but nothing major or far enough along that I would want to mention now. We like surprises.

Outside of riding/work what do you have going on?
Chilling with my girl Polly and our 2 dogs, and A few of my friends from home (long island) that live out here in Cali as well. I keep a small circle. I live by the beach in a cool little community too, so its always easy to get out and be outside. I like to mess around making some beats too.

You post on bike guide a fair amount, what are thoughts on the forum?
I think Bikeguide and Bmxboard are cool. It’s nothing more than a quick browse for me to see what people are talking about. I think a lot of industry people look at those sites even if they hate them, or think its the downfall of bmx. I just take it with a grain of salt and try not to get wound up by what somebody may say, because realistically, its just kids behind a screename. Ultimately, i just try to help people Odyssey wise if they need it.

What are some of your plans for 2008?
ha, who knows. We’ll see when we get there.

Favorite artists/songs?
That’s hard to answer. Im sure Im like most people when it comes to music, I go in phases. Lately ive been listening to anything from De La Soul, old Metallica, Kings of Leon, old Tribe Called Quest, Papoose, Bruce springsteen, Madvillian and maybe some mixtape stuff that I might download from Datpiff. I do find myself buying older albums though.

Favorite food?
Mexican. I Like burritos.

Favorite place you have visited?
England.

Anywhere you have’nt been that you would like to go to?
Australia seems like it would be nice, or maybe Portland.

Anybody you would like to thank?
You for asking me for an interview. Polly, Whilee and Blu. Jim, Chris and Ben at Odyssey. The Defgrip crew. Anybody who has helped me with any Defgrip related material, and the people who visit the site. Everyone who’s supported Odyssey over the years. All Odyssey distributors. Todd Johnson for thanking me. Industry people. And everybody who thinks they deserve a thank you cuz i cant really list everyone here or my fingers would fall off, ha! THANK YOU!!!!!

Any last words?
why? your not going to kill me are you?

Any top secret Odyssey info can you let us in on?
New site soon.

Dont forget to check out
Odyssey’s website
Defgrip’s website

Name:
Todd Johnson, iTod, Tbag. asshole. I’ll answer to any of them.

Location:
Minneapolis, Minnesota. is my home at heart but now I live by the Mall of America in Bloomington Minnesota.

You work at Quality what do you do there?
this could be a long asnwer so I’ll keep it short.
My title is Category sales Manager for BMX and BMX customer service. I work with shops that show an interest in selling more BMX products. I travel to their stores and work things out to make BMX look good and make kids want to buy BMX. I also take care of technical questions both for our customers and internally from other CS agents. My job is not limited to a certain brand. I work with shops to sell all of our brands, it’s up to the shop to stock what they want so I am there to assist in that process. I also do things like handle warranties, update shops on new products or instock products. Promotional duties as well. if a shop is sponsoring or throwing a contest I will gather up prizes for them and send them out.

Photo: Ben Austin

What’s it like being in charge of a lot of BMX stuff?
I am not really in charge of anything, other than making sure BMX is being represented well in the shops I work closely with. and that is easy because most of the shops I work one on one with are rider owned or BMX specific shops. I do have input on the brands we carry and the colors or the actual product range from a certain company but the final decision to carry a product goes to Tim Gallant. he is the BMX product manager and BMX coordinator for QBP. we all work together to come up with a good mix of product and we work hard making sure our brands fit together well. the last thing we want is to piss off one or more of our brands by bringing in someone that doesn’t compliment the others. it’s a fine line to walk but it makes the job fun.

Any new brands coming to Quality you can tell us about?
this year we picked up a few different brands.
Volume and demolition
DUFFS
and a new shoe company that was started by Brian Osborne called Beloe Footwear (pronounced Below). the styles are cool and the team is pretty good so far. Nathan Williams, Jim Ceilencki, Jim bauer just to name a few.
we are also bringing in a new line of complete bikes and frame from a company that is yet to be named. I know it’s like dangling the carrot in front of the donkey and not giving it to him, but we aren’t ready to announce who that company is yet. It’ll be a good move though.

Photo: Tristan Thiel

How long have you been riding?
I have been riding a bike of some kind since I was 5 years old, I skateboarded for ten years when I was in my teens. started riding a BMX bike again seriously since I was 21. I am 32 years old now… you do the math.

What kind of stuff do you typically ride?
I’ll ride anything that doesn’t get me dirty. I don’t like getting dirty. mostly street now-a-days since it’s free and creative. skateparks in the winter or traveling to ride street. Skate parks are fun but that part of my riding has been neglected. I like a good minispine with sub boxes or bowl corners. the old Chenga bowl was so Fun. I miss that bowl. I don’t like big ramps. call me a pussy or what ever but little ramps like 5 feet tall are fun to me.

What are some of your favorite tricks to do?
Anything backwards. 180’s, backwards manuals. I like smith grinds. I just recently started getting into sliding rails and 360 hops…
I’ll never do a tailwhip or a back flip. I like to bunny hop over really tall things as well. to me that is the ultimate cool feeling. bunnyhopping over or onto something taller than your bike. I am not that great of a rider or anything like that so I like to keep my riding fun and simple.

What are some of the stuff you do outside of work and riding bike?
I have a family. A brady bunch of sorts. I have two kids of my own Nathan who is 10 likes to skateboard and ride his bike with me. Mya who is 9 likes to create anything, drawing, clay sculptures, painting, beadwork, jewelry all that. very creative that one.
I have a girlfriend Jill that has a daughter Zosia (zo-sha) that is 3. So when I am not working or riding I am a regular family guy. outside of all that when I get some free time I like to paint, draw, ride my fixed gear to the bar. hang out with good friends. I am a busy guy so family takes the front seat to any of that…

What are you of your more memorable things revolving around riding?
there is a lot.
Meeting Jay Miron for the first time. actually having him call me out of the blue to set up a meeting since he was going to be in Minneapolis.
helping set up the metro jam in 03 and getting to ride the set up during pro practice.
Going on the road trip with all those cool riders last January..
riding the T-1 ramp with Joe Rich, actually not riding but watching Joe ride that ramp.. ha ha
the first time I did a handrail. they were bugging me for the longest time and finally I did one and they’re actually nothing really. more of a mind fuck.
riding the Unit and Mirra’s place a couple of years ago. it’s all surreal.

Any big trips planned for 08?
maybe… we’ll see. I like to keep it on the DL until it drops.. just kidding. We plan on going on Mega tour next spring. I am not sure who I am bringing along for that one but it will be the same core dudes from QBP with an addition since one of the guys left QBP to go to school and a couple guys from our vendors teams.
This coming summer I plan on going to Europe. Not work related, just me my bike and a back pack full of cigarettes. I hear the cigs are shit over there. just kidding. No real plans but Amsterdam and Germany are in the agenda. I am using this trip as a sort of self discovery trip since I will be alone and in a foreign land where Americans aren’t liked too well. maybe me being an actual Native American might make them less abrasive towards me. who knows…

What do you plan on doing over the winter since, unless global warming is coming on fast, there should be snow?
Travel….. I am getting away from the snow more this year. Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona are on my trips wish list. when I am home I will be the all American dad you know. we also have a messenger race on super bowl weekend that I ride in every year last year it was -18 degrees outside with out the windchill and we still went for it. fun stuff but damn cold thank god for the liquor.

Any new stuff your working on (video parts/tricks/ anything really with riding)?
not too much. supposed to be filming for a friends video but our schedules haven’t meshed well. as far as tricks go? always working on something but it’s all personal I have nothing to prove to anyone. the main thing I am always working on though is my health. I want to keep riding for as long as I can not only that I want to live a long fat free life. I was a fat ass back in the day. made riding harder. now I am down about 40lbs since 2005 and my riding is better and I can ride for longer. so weird how much a little weight loss can affect your ability to handle a bike.

Quality did a bmx road trip this past year, do they plan on doing it again or was it a one time deal?
we’ll go on more. the funny thing about that is we got all that coverage. both the video and the magazine and the cost for everyone involved was very little. That is good when you are working with major companies that watch their bottom line and their spending like a hawk. since it was so inexpensive to do for the lot. more companies are psyched on it and want to go on the next one. QBP was happy with the outcome and the cost of it so they are more than willing to send us out on another one. I guess there is nothing really funny about that answer… ha ha

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What are some of the songs/artists your into right now?
my music taste is all over the board. It all depends on my mood. I can’t nail down a certain artist, song, or genre for that matter so I’ll do the first 10 random on my iPod.
1. Bad dreams interlude – Lyrics born
2. Sofaking – Danger Doom
3.all the same to me- Lucero
4. Touch and Go – the cars.
5. a boy’s best friend – The White stripes.
6. Kiss – Prince. (hey I’m from minnesota)
7.untitled track by Buck 65 from the vertex album.
8. Jailhouse- sublime.
9.Winning style – propellerheads
10. Shovel- Aesop Rock.

Favorite video/video part?
I watch a lot of web videos. but for hard copies… left/ right, roadfools 8, the shook series, can I eat, no where fast, and the wethepeople video from a few years ago for me that video was groundbreaking visually.
parts? Ian Schwarts/chad shack in the system vid. Dan/Joe Cox in any web video part. any part from any animal video, Jonah Lidberg in that one ride video where he filmed himself so good I love that dude. no homo.

Any shout outs?
man, there are a lot of people I can thank. Mike, Leigh, and Jon at eastern for helping me out with bike parts… Thomas at KHE for custom making a geisha hub for me in purple so my bike can match. Jill and my/our kids for supporting me and my riding/ working/ traveling, and scabby shins. Ralph at animal for good deals and for standing his ground, I respect that. Nuno/Jim at odyssey, Nuno was the first industry dude to give me a part for my bike. it was awesome. Jim at sunday. Brian at Beloe footwear, Ron at shadow/sparky’s, Crandall for being awesome. stew for putting up with our disarray during the trip. Both Dave’s at greasy comb. Tom at Empire for being a down ass dude. Chad at Mesh for opening my eyes to what a store should look like. Harrison at defgrip, Kerry at rise above, Chris at Blackout, John at Lastcall, Matt at Profile, everyone at Tenpack in Vancouver. Bill Dies from Ride BMX for keeping me drunk every year at the NORA cup, all the bike companies I have had contact with in the past I thank you for the job you are doing and the dedication you have to our sport and lifestyle. All my local friends and riders. Jonah Lidberg, Eric Holley, Nick Anderson, Ben Austin for making my riding look good on film. Tony Mortenson, Phalndus A for the greenery hook up from time to time, All the guys at Surly bikes. If I wasn’t in BMX I would be in Surly. They’re a cool bunch of fellas. There are so many I know that I’m forgetting some… anyone who has given me a bike part, pair of shoes, t-shirt, a couch to sleep on, or a hit off their blunt I thank you.

Last words?
Keep BMX fun for yourself! It’s not a contest all the time.
Some may notice I shout out a lot of industry dudes, some of which are our direct competitors. To me I look at BMX as one big organic mass that everyone involved has a critical part in. I am not about disliking someone because they work for so and so, or for this company, or this distributor.. Yeah business is business but no one company, distributor, or bike shop can rule it all. It takes all of us doing what we do to the best of our ability to make BMX successful. however without the competition there is nothing to strive for. Besides, outside of work, I would and sometimes do hang out with the guys we are competing against. We all do the same thing, Ride a little kids bike, Just have fun with it.

(I think this is Todd, I youtubed his name)

Video Credit: BJ from Underline