6/27-28/09 Extra Tricks

Another good weekend skating. Saturday Me, Erik Mangal, Collin Bauder and Jimmy Simpson went to the Redbull Manny Mania in Philly. It was a pretty sick contest. Everybody was killin it. After the contest we cruised around for awhile, got some really good pizza and then met up with Tore Bevivino, Zach Panebianco and Brian Panebianco at the Oregon ledges. We had a pretty good session for a while until it got dark.

Sunday we started out at wedge. Collin Bauder and Jimmy got some sick tricks on the Quaterpipe. Collin got his trick first try when I started filmin. I love when that happens. Then once everybody got there we all went to Landis in Telford. It was me, Jimmy Simpson, Collin Bauder, Pat McCullion, Joey Christoffers, Anthony Krystopa, Blake Wetherington, Erik Mangal and Matt Powell. We brought a metal sheet and some cinder blocks to make a kicker up to the loading dock. We were there probably 10 minutes before we got kicked out. Then we tried to skate at this high ledge in Telford that my friend Chop bs 5050 a while back. Again right as everybody was getting used to it a cop cruised by and kicked us out. Joey Christoffers was getting real close to a front tail and Matt Powell was getting close to a back tail. Jimmy landed a quick wallride boardslide but before he could get it clean we got kicked out.

Then we headed over to parkside to skate the aluminum benches. Everybody was killin it. Matt Powell got a real nice run and 2 single tricks. Jimmy got real close to a crook 360 shuv. Collin was getting real close to some ridiculous trick and Tore did 2 crazy single tricks. Then we headed over to this grass gap. We put a plastic bench down the gap. The gap wasnt very steep so the table was really high. The only person to skate it was Collin. He was getting so close to front tail until we got kicked out again. Then we headed over to Genesis in Souderton. Joey Christoffers and Collin Bauder skated it together. Collin got real close to ollieing over the wall but couldnt put it down. Joey Christoffers ollied the wall and got the sickest melon over it.

After that we went over to the metal barrier spot near the providence book store in Souderton. Collin got real close to a switch heel over it and blake got a nice kickflip over it. Jimmy got close to a smith pop over and joey did a nice bluntslide transfer. Matt Powell got the sickest trick. Were gonna save that one. Then we skated for a little over at Rite Aid and called it a night around 8:30. Besides getting kicked out of a few places it was a really good day.


Collin got so close to this and would have got it but we got kicked out.


Matt Powell testin out the table for collin


eyein up the gap


Joey Christoffers ollie over the wall over the genesis gap. He made this look easy.


Joey Christoffers melon. Sooooooo sick

















Heres a clip with some falls and extra tricks from the weekend. Featuring Rayskin riders Collin Bauder, Erik Mangal and Joey Christoffers. Also featuring Tore Bevivino, Matt Powell and Jimmy Simpson. You cant hear it but Erik is manualing the benches not grinding. A nosemanny looked pretty hard. Tore's switch nosebonk is ridiculous and Joey makes the genesis gap look like nothing.

Sorry about the audio in the beginning the tape got messed up. Watch in high quality.



Check out the Rayskin site for sick cruiser decks. New shapes are coming soon as well as snowboards. http://www.rayskin.com/

Billy Simpson "Focus" 2006

Heres my old part from our second video "Focus" from 2006. A lot of this stuff is easy now but back then I was pretty hyped on some of the tricks. I remember being really siked on the nollie shuv manny at oakridge. I always liked skating that pad cause of the speed. Also the switch ollie over the barrier in KOP and the switch ollie down the quakertown 6.

It doesnt really look like it on video but the grass gap that I tried in the beginning where my board breaks, was pretty high. I havent been there since so its probably not very big anymore. That gap is in West Chester in the same parking lot as the tiny rails that everybody skates. Right when I got out the car I tried to noseslide the rail and sacked so bad. Then I waited a half hour and tried that gap and broke my board. It was a really good day.

Jon Mervine

I looked up to Jon when I was little. He is a year older then me and he skated with Dan Ackerman and Jake Hoffman who were the best skaters in harleysville. They all lived in the same neighborhood and I remember being so intimidated to skate over there. Me, Jon and our group of friends probably hung out every day for a good two or three years. I dont know how many nights I spent in Jon's basement. Good times!

Jon would always change up what he was doing. When I met him he was real into skating. Then he got into biking and played in a band. He would get really into skiing in the winter haha. He was all over the place. I dont really see him much anymore but I know hes trying to get back into biking and that were gonna skate sometime soon.

Heres Jons part from our second video "Focus" from 2006. Mid way through the video Jon kind of got out of skating but I still like the tricks in his part. I know its a little gap but when he did that fs half cab heel over the quakertown gap, I remember being so siked because we both just learned that trick a couple days earlier



Heres Jons part from our first video "First Try" from 2004. Theres skating, some biking and even some skiing haha. Some of the footage in it is even older. Jon was always fun to skate with. He would always throw himself down something and try some trick down something that I had never seen him do on flatground haha. A lot of times it would work too.



This is a little biking edit my brother Jimmy made in 2004. You can see I was using our family video camera to film this stuff haha. The last rail that he tries is at Indian Valley in Harleysville. He was so hyped to try it and fell right into the bushes haha. That night we came back so he could try it again. You cant really see it but when he tried it he just stuck up at the top and hit his head pretty bad.

Extra Tricks (6/21/09) and Unused Erik Mangal footage

Not to much skating this weekend. Saturday it rained all day and we had Jimmys graduation party. Thanks to everybody that came! Sunday we stayed a wedge all day. It was me, Erik, Collin and Jimmy. A lot of other people came in out through the day. Everybody else is on senior week. I filmed a trick on the small bank and collin got this crazy wallie trick off the small bank onto the white bench.

The first couple clips of collin were from Sunday. just wallieing off that thing and clearing the top is a challenge let alone grinding the bench on top of that. He got a couple of sick tricks. The clip of Joey Paone is from a while ago that I forgot to put in. The old clips of Erik were filmed by Anthony Travis, except for the first manual trick that was filmed by me. All of them were so sick, but jimmy had a hard time fitting them into his "Collective" part. The cab into the ramp run is one of my favorites I've seen erik do.

2D design Class

Some of the artwork from my 2D design class this past fall

Dan Ackerman

I've known Dan for 8 or 9 years. Dan is another Harleysville kid. Him, Jon Mervine and Jake Hoffman all lived near eachother and they were the best skaters I knew in Harleysville. I remember being super intimidated by all them because they were older then me and I had just started skating. I've seen Dan do some sick stuff way before we ever started filming stuff. Dan was one of the first people to drive me and jimmy around to spots. Thanks Dan! I haven't seen him in a while but every once and while we will skate and he can still do most of his stuff.

Heres his part from our first video "First Try" from 2004. Notice the title. Jimmy just typed up names and filmed them haha. Most of the footage on here is even older. We seriously just went through his old home videos and put everything we could find together haha.

Mike Yandoli Old Footage Clip

Heres a clip from 2007 when we were filmin for our video "Creatures of Habit". Mike Yandoli had a bunch of clips on his old home videos of Himself, Pat Owens and Doug Cole. He asked us to put a clip together for him. When Jim was editing it he decided to throw in some extra tricks that we weren't gonna use in our "Creatures of Habit" video.

Featuring Mike Yandoli, Pat Owens, Doug Cole, Pat Owens, John Provencher, Billy Simpson and Jimmy Simpson. Edited By Jimmy Simpson.

Watch in High Quality

Extra Tricks (6/12-13-14/09)

Another fun weekend of skating. Friday I had off work so I got to skate at wedge with Joey Paone, Joey Christoffers, Anthony K and Blake. Joey C. and Joey P. got some sick stuff on the mini ramp. Then I went to my brother Jimmy's graduation. Congrats Jimmy!

Saturday we started out at wedgewood. It was me, Joey Christoffers, Joey Paone, Blake Wetherington, Anthony Krystopa, and Erik Mangal. Later on Chop, Kevin Pham and Kevin Nguyen stopped by. It was good seeing them. I could watch Kevin Pham do tre flips all day. Check the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZSeCENXqc

After wedge we tried going over to the circuit city gap but it started pouring. We went back to Lansdale and it hadn't started raining yet. We went over to the China Bump. Joey Paone got a nice bs 360 off the ramp and Joey Christoffers got a real nice fs lipslide on the cart off the ramp but I'm an idiot and missed it. Sorry Joey! Blake got real close to a nice crook on the cart off the ramp but it started raining to hard so he had to stop. Then we headed over to Colin Flegeal's indoor mini. I suck at mini but it was cool watching Joey Christoffers, Joey Paone and Anthony K kill it.

Sunday we started out at wedge. Everybody was skating and killin it. There we a ton of people there. Collin Bauder and Mike Forward got some sick manny trick on the marble pad. After a while we headed over to Norristown high school. It was me, Collin Bauder, Erik Mangal, Chop, Kevin Pham, Anthony K, Nate W, Joey Paone, and Blake. Collin was trying this line where he would do something on the ledge in the back and then bs 180 the stairs. The stairs are really sketchy haha. You have to clear the stairs and some big holes in the ground that make it a couple of feet longer. He got the bs 180 but not in a line. Were gonna go back and refilm it. Then we had a session on the manny pad for a while. Collin was trying some ridiculous trick but couldn't put it down. I could tell Collin was getting bored when he started climbing on the roof haha. Nate got close to some really nice stuff too. Chop, Joey Paone and Kevin Pham got some good manny tricks. Anthony was ollieing up the pad, which looks pretty tough, and got robbed when he landed his manny trick but shot out on the landing. Erik got the MVP award for doing 3 sick tricks. Overall a fun weekend.


Joey Christoffers inward heel attempt. Basically landed it but he wanted to try something else. Photo By Erik Mangal


Joey Paone bs 360 china bump. Photo by Erik Mangal

Mangalwood!


Blake Miles Wetherington ollie. Such a rich guy name. Photo by Erik Mangal.


Collin Bauder bs 180. This set is so sketchy. Photo by Erik Mangal

Extra tricks from the weekend. A lot of tranny in this one. Featuring Rayskin riders Joey Christoffers, Erik Mangal, Anthony Krystopa, and Collin Bauder on the roof haha. Also featuring Joey Paone, Mike Forward, and Blake Wetherington

Check the Rayskin site for decks and surfboards http://www.rayskin.com/

Sorry about the crappy mini ramp filming. You seriously have to see this in person. Joey Christoffers just flys everywhere and the footage of Ants ollie up the pad doesnt give it justice. That thing is pretty high. The footage of Joey dancin is after he landed the lipslide. Of course I get the dancin and not the trick haha.

Watch in high quality

Vinni Prosseda

Ive known Vinni for about 5 or 6 years. Vinni is another guy I grew up skating with and I looked up to. He was a grade ahead of me and him and his friends were the best skaters in middle school. I remember being nervous to talk to all of them. Vinni was one of the first guys in our group of friends to get his license so he would drive us around to all the spots. We spent so many hours at the ames manny pad in souderton and at Frank Smiths house skating and hanging out with everybody. Vinni's always doin different stuff. He would skate for awhile, then be into lacrosse, basketball, rapping, art or something random. But he would always come back to skating and still got better every year. He managed to have parts in everyone of our videos so far. He started up his own board company last year called side street skateboards. He was sellin a lot of decks but stopped makin them when he moved to the city to go to temple. Hes trying to start it up again now. Everytime I see him he has a different hair style haha. Hes got dreads now. We have been working together at the boy ands girls club for a couple of years now and hes always been a good friend. Thanks for everything Vinni!

Heres Vinni and Kyle Schmidt's shared part from our Video "Creatures Of Habit" 2007. Some of my favorite tricks are Kyles crook ender and his run at the swenksville school. And all of Vinni's stuff that he did on the barrier. I remember he pulled his car up to the barrier spot to put on some music and his car battery died haha.

Vinni Prosseda and Kyle Schmidt from focus17 on Vimeo.

Heres Vinni's part from our video "Focus" 2006. Some of my favorite tricks were the 5050 on the barrier, that thing was pretty big. the ollie over the 9 in telford. I remember being really surprised cause we really werent skating stairs much. The manny around the boxes behind ames. He was the first person I saw do that. The half cab manny shuv in KOP and the half cab manny down the oakridge pad at the end.




Vinni 5-0 barrier in Quakertown. I miss this thing. Photo by Billy Simpson


Vinni on the train home from philly with his side street stickers.


One of Vinni's old side street boards.


Skating in Philly Fall 2007.

"Creatures of Habit" Extra Tricks Part 2

Heres some more extra tricks from our video "Creatures of Habit" 2007. Featuring Paul Mashett, Kyle Schmidt, Pat Owens, Billy Simpson, Jimmy Simpson, Mike McCrorie, John Provencher, Josh Lowery, Mike Anderson, Chris and Frank Smith. Edited By Billy Simpson.

Watch in High Quality

Extra Tricks (6/6-7/09)

Another pretty fun weekend. Saturday we started out at wedge. It was Me, Jimmy Simpson, Erik Mangal, Joey Christoffers and Anthony. No Collin Bauder cause hes at senior week. Then we headed over to this barrier spot that me, Collin Bauder and Anthony built. It didnt really turn out as good as we hoped.

Me, Ant and Collin tried to make this spot monday night (6-1-09). Right when we were getting done a cop came walking up. We thought we were screwed but he was really cool about it. We told him we could take it down but he said we might not have to. So he went in to the bar to talk to the bar owner to see if we could skate it. He came back and said the bartender was cool with it but we would have to talk to the owner. I never got to talk to him so we just tried to skate it this weekend.

The thing is really hard to skate. Its in a bars parking lot and right when we got there this woman that worked there came out and told us we had to leave. She had the most mest up feet ive ever seen haha. Her toes were criss crossed. We told her that the cop was cool with us skating and she said we could skate it for an hour. Jimmy got a sick trick on it and we all tried some little stuff. Sure enough probably a half hour later somebody called the cops and we were getting written up for a second time at the same spot. They told us not to come back so I guess thats the last time were goin there.

Then Me, Erik and Joey headed over to the merck banks. I always forget how hard that spot is. We didnt really get anything there so we headed to Anthony grad party. Thanks for the food Ant! Then me and Erik headed back to wedge for a while.

Sunday we started out at wedge. Jimmy was killin it and learned some new tricks and Pat McCullion got a sick manny trick. Then Erik took us to this sick gap near Joeys work. It was Me, Erik, Anthony and Joey Christoffers. Joey Ollied it pretty quickly and got a huge kickflip like 5th try. It looked so good. We celebrated by getting some free food at Moes, were Joey works. Thanks Joey! Then we headed over to temple ambler. Joey almost got bit by this dog and Erik took a pretty hard slam but besides that it was pretty fun. Overall a good weekend.


Anthony 5-0. It was so hard to even grind at all. Photo By Billy Simpson


We were about to get a photo of Jims trick when the cop rolled up.


Joey Christoffers Kickflip. Such a sick trick and sick photo. Good job Erik! Photo by Erik Mangal

The first tricks on the spine and mini ramp are from monday (6/1/09). Collin and Joey sessioned the ramp together. Collin was on a mission to do a backflip off the tree and then have joey throw him his board before he landed a trick haha. Collin and Joey got some other sick stuff that were gonna save.

Featuring Rayskin Riders Joey Christoffers, Collin Bauder, Anthony and Erik mangal. Also featuring Billy Simpson and Jimmy Simpson. Check out the Rayskin site for cruiser decks and surfboards. http://www.rayskin.com/

"Creatures of Habit" Extra Tricks Part 1

We had a ton of extra tricks from our video "Creatures of Habit" from 2007. Heres a clip I edited from back then. Most of it is Jimmy. He always would get the most clips.

Featuring Jimmy Simpson, Billy Simpson, John Provencher, Kyle Schmidt, Vinni Prosseda, Pat Owens, Frank Smith, Anthony Forbes, Dave Hayes, Chris, Mike Yandoli and Doug Cole.

Watch in High Quality

Paul Mashett

Ive known Paul since the 7th grade. Hes one of funniest guys I have ever met. I dont even think its on purpose most times. He doesnt really skate anymore but we grew up skating today through middle school and highschool. He always could pop his tricks so high. We still hang out whenever he comes home from school. I dont know anyone who doesnt like paul. Hes always doin something kind of weird like fermenting mead in his apartment haha. But thats what I like about him. I remember in school he wore the same pumpkin costume every year for Halloween. I always used to see him skating around harleysville by himself with his hair up in a ponytail haha. He has are really good beard too.

Paul has always been into playing guitar and piano and stuff. One time when we were in like 8th grade, we were hangin out in his basement. My friend Rick was playing this System of a Down song and paul was head banging with his crazy long hair haha. Then Rick swung the guitar up right when paul was slamming his head down and smacked right into haha. He had this huge gash down the middle of his forehead and the first thing he says is "My moms gonna kill me" hahah.

Heres his part from our video "Focus" 2006. We filmed this in probably a couple of months. I always loved his fs flips.