Holy slacker mode. I’ve been wrapped up in working on so many things that I didn’t make time to post up on here. Don’t worry, I’ll be back on track soon. Just wrapping up the next issue of DIG and lining up all the stuff for the contest on the 29th. February will be awesome. Don’t worry.
Speaking of awesome; I had the chance to check out Mark Losey’s documentary “Pro Town: Greenville”. I wrote up a little review for you guys. Check it out…
To start this off, I’d like to point out that Mark Losey took a little over a year out of his life (while handling the Nike 6.0 U.S team, shooting photos for everyone all over, and the hundred other things he seems to be involved in) to collect old footage and do interviews with 35 of the major names that helped shape Greenville into the place it was and is today for this documentary. If I remember right, last summer Mark mentioned he was sleeping more on planes than his own bed when we had a chance to catch up in Chicago. I don’t quite know how he managed to put together something as time consuming as a documentary in that time, but he did.
The video covers the story from before Greenville even had a skatepark, all the way through to today with the “new” crew and multiple skateparks. There were times where I figured I had read and heard enough stories about Greenville in my 10 years involved with BMX that I wouldn’t have been very surprised by what came up in the video… That wasn’t the case at all. A few parts of the film like the story of the beginning of the town, the real story between the Mirra / Nyquist beef, or some of the things they talk about involving Colin Winkelmann personally caught me off guard since I thought I heard all the stories about those things.
The story also covers why the town that has really nothing in it keeps attracting pros, and keeps them entertained enough to live there. I can only imagine this video will just motivate more people to go there. I wasn’t surprised necessarily by the things the guys were saying and doing, but it definitely makes me question why I’ve never made my way there.
Other than all of the stories, there’s tons and tons of footage from the entire time period the stories cover. Front brake Dave Mirra getting tech on the decks of sketchy backyard ramps all the way through Dave doing backflip drop-in’s in the Animal House if that paints a timeline for you. Plus riding and words from the likes of Ryan Nyquist, Josh Harrington, Rob Darden, Colin Mackay, Ryan Guettler, Allan Cooke, Mike Laird, Scott Wirch, Craig Mast, Josh Perry, Kelly Bolton, Austin Coleman, Dan Sieg, Jeremy Fanberg, Don Wigent, Colin Winkelmann, Marcus Tooker, Leigh Ramsdell, Charles Cadello, Tim Mirra, Steve Nowak, Alistair Witton and James Foster.
Overall, the 45 or so minute Pro Town: Greenville was what I had expected. It was interesting and opened my eyes to a few things I didn’t know made that town so interesting. I’m sure there’s some of you who feel like you have seen enough footage from that area over the years to know what’s in the video. I won’t lie, you probably have a good idea of what you will see. I still think that the stories and footage I know you haven’t seen that will interest you.
I definitely think this is one of those videos that people who are just getting into BMX would get a real good idea of who or why some of the names you see pop up everyday in the news or web videos are so influential and talented. I also feel like people who have been involved in BMX for quite a while will find it interesting and be something you can understand and relate to in some way- if not give you a better understanding of things you already might know.
I don’t care if you check this out once or you watch it everyday, I just feel this video is significant to BMX and it’s worth a look. I’m sure you will come away from it with a new respect for BMX and where it has evolved from.
I’d like to thank Mark Losey for putting together this video. He didn’t have to do it, but he went out of his way and put in his own time to make it happen and that’s what’s important.
You can pick up a copy on ProTownMovie.com, Albe’s ($17.95), Dan’s Comp ($17.99) and Staff ($17.95).
