So we got some more natural snow on Friday…  If you live on the East Coast you really need to pack the car head up to ME, Northern VT, or Northern NH…  Down south may have had a heck of an ice storm, but fortunately we mostly got more snow.  We are in full on winter up here and you really should take care of yourself and come make some turns; you’ll feel a lot better about the world.

So Friday I hopped on a Notch 1985.  I had ridden one of the early protos, but hadn’t been on one in a couple seasons.

Holding an early Notch 1985 proto a couple of February's ago; six riders didn't cross a track...a good day...I still remember George doing a crazy blind drop into a river bed...I think Ron took this picture?

Friday was one of those storms everybody was jonesin’ for, so the parking lot was pretty full by 8 am, and  it got played out pretty fast.    Nonetheless, it was a good opportunity to make some turns on the 1985, to see if I would prefer it as my full-time powder deck.  I loved the ability to ride fakie.  Now, I can’t tell you I was doing huge airs in pow and needing to put down the landing gear switch, but it really was more about coming to a stop in a tight area and deciding that I feel more comfortable taking the option to my left (I’m goofy).   For example, I would never take on a water bar fakie on my tapered Notch, which I did Friday.  It really shows how this board evolved from the Design and much of why I rode the Design before we had the Notch in the line.

I had to give back the 1985 Notch that day, and so I rode my own tapered Notch (158cm) the rest of the weekend.  I was riding it with my Targa’s.  (The Green/Brown one’s look pretty tight on it, lame, I know…)

Ready to Drop - 12/14/08

I had to start the day riding groomers or use groomers to get to “where I was going”.  I will say that for my riding style the tapered Notch is very satisfying at railing on groomers.  I tend to have a lot of fore and aft movement on my board;  driving into the nose to start a turn and powering off the tail coming out.  I really felt more confident initiating turns at speed on my own Notch (on groomers).  Honestly, I really was blown away how well the board coped with groomers; if you ride a bunch of pow and can only afford one board, do not hesitate to buy this as your one board.  Obviously, the board rides pow awesome so I won’t spend too much time on that.

So for myself, riding in VT on lift serviced stuff, I think I prefer the tapered Notch.  I think the same would be true if I was doing frontside and backside stuff out west.

If I was out building kickers or in general riding in more of true backcountry experience (hiking, using snowmobiles, cats, heli, skinning, etc.)  I would choose the Notch 1985.

I hope this helps you understand some of the differences between the two boards and why different people might choose the different models and why both exist.

I would finish my "hot lap" coming down at the foot of this rocks. This line is just over a knoll from the main gully...sometimes a little extra work gets you to a slightly hidden untracked line.

PS-  I did a POV video of riding this gully but I had the camera on the “compact” setting, so it kind of looked crappy on YouTube.  I’m not really a fan of POV stuff so I guess it was karma.

So this is my first post, now that I’m a fulltime member of the design department.

I just got back last week from Spain where I was living in Barcelona for about 6 weeks doing some freelance design.

I thought I’d post a NCW sighting from a few weeks ago. I was walking by a Billabong/Element shop when I noticed that they were playing NCW on all the tvs in the store. As far as I could tell they weren’t actually selling the movie, I guess they just were using it for atmosphere.

Minnesota artist, Eric Carlson worked on the 2009 Solution graphics and is a master of heavy metal type. He makes graphic designs for YouWorkForThem. He also makes work with a small 3-person collective, Hardland/Heartland who have recently gained a light mention in Metro Magazine in regards to a new gallery opening in Minneapolis. Check out the Hardland/Heartland blog if you want to get seriously weird. Below you’ll find our interview with him featured in the Rome 2009 Consumer Catalog. You’ll also get a peak at some of additional work not featured in the catalog.

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Tell us about what you’re doing at YWFT.

I’ve been working at YouWorkForThem for nearly two years now. The studio is beneath a dojo and down the hall from some guys in sweatpants who make legitimate medieval weaponry: swords, battle axes, catapults in the hallway, and so on. I met one of the sword guys at a party, and he brought a war hammer for the birthday girl’s pinata. Mortal Combat aside, I shop books in a Minneapolis dungeon webstore, and pander pixels to designers around the globe.

400 Bar or Triple Rock?

Breakfast? Triple Rock. 

What’s up in Mpls? Galleries, Collaborations, New collectives, etc? 

Art of This, First Amendment, The Soap Factory, Seltzer Art Space, Soo Vac, Medusa, Vampire Records/Fort Santana, Midgitapolis, HopKIN, Wolf Pack, Skull Tower, The Shitizens, tamales, and summer time.

What is Golden Energy?

An idea.

Our chunk of the sun.

Reverse deadly.

Solid worth. 

Pure gold. 

Lead paint.

Absolutely nothing to be held. 

Absolutely nothing to be bought.

It is breath and blood and after that.

It is a series of drawings and puddles peeled off glass.

It is a performance of organs and bicycle wheels.

It is Hardland/Heartland’s twentieth project. 

Piles of treasure are nothing, really, simple worthless weight. 

Drip Goddess

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Golden Energy

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You’re tied in to an amazing blog, HRDLAND/HEARTLAND. What’s the story behind the blog and the art featured on it?

Hardland/Heartland is an amorphous cluster of artistic individuals who are working together to create an ongoing saga of vague and epic proportions. We make jokes and zines and art and music. We have eaten too much pizza.

The blog is one part of HL/HL. It is communication and collection. It is a public sketchbook in digital whateverness. Much of the imagery on the blog is ours, and if it is not, it is arranged with purpose. With a laugh it’s called internet poetry. We’ve never been serious, but we are dead serious.

Nothing Never

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The sidewalls of the Solution tell an amazing story. Give us some background on the quotes.

Each of the boards carries one of the seven seals of the apocalypse. They are not quotes but abbreviated prophecies. The first are the four horsemen: The Antichrist, warfare, famine, and plague. The fifth seal tells of those who are martyred for their faith during the end times, the sixth is an immense earthquake, and the seventh brings forth the sounding of the seven trumpets.

Pop, lock, and drop it, or Go stupid?

I will bob my head, and sincerely tap my foot.

Name one art tool that you couldn’t do without?

Hands. 

What’s on your coffee table at the moment?

 Ashes.

We Wolves

We

These photos were sent to me by a homie from back in NY, Andy Camay. When he isn’t printing up massive amounts of tshirts with his company American Icon, he is apparently doing his best at clogging up his arteries. 

BEHOLD - The Bacon Cheese Log

i will be making this as soon as possible

That was one of the comments on the bulletin board I found this on…

Ali and I went to Nicaragua for Thanksgiving.

We stayed in and around San Juan De Sur for most of the trip

This is the view from the house we rented

Good Times surf shop offers free Cervasa with every board rental

A one hour 4X4 trip through rural towns and jungle to get to.....

Madedas "surf beach"

rented a water taxi for a day and went to Yankee beach

 

fresh fish for civecha

stopped in Granada for a day

 We had a blast. 

 

An article in todays New York Times caught my eye, and had me instantly thinking about my youth. The article, about the family fallout caused by the closing of famed rock club CBGB’s can be found here. This article also touched on the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NYC that opened on Tuesday night, where elements fro CB’s can bee seen, including the iconic awning from 315 Bowery and the stickered phone booth from the club. 

CBGB’s was an epic place to see a show, and i spent my fair share of time there, even if it wasn’t until the mid 90’s. My first photo ever published was shot there (embarrassingly enough, it was a shot of the Get Up Kids on their first US tour back in 95 or 96, published in Thrasher). I got to see some great bands in that place - Texas is the Reason, Lifetime, 108, Earth Crisis, and Farside, just to name a few. Below are some photos stolen from the New York Times website. enjoy.

Tom Verlaine of Television, one of, if not the first, bands to place CBGBs. photo Richard E. Aaron/Retna

The Ramones in 1977. photo Godlis

Closing night crowd outside. 2007. photo Ozier Muhammad

As famous as the awning outside, the bathroom was amazing. Historic and horrific. photo Scott Gries

CBs interior. photo Ozier Muhammad

And the saddest part, this is what 315 Bowery looks like now:

Last year I almost missed Thanksgiving with my folks due to some issues getting out of Asia… This year I was in the good ol U.S.A. and had the time to get out of VT for a bit.  I went and visited my sister in the Republic of Pennsylvania and had Thanksgiving dinner with her and her family and also did some snowmobiling, it was rad.

I was thankful to be ‘home’ for Thanksgiving and thankful that I didn’t have to eat anything like this….

(above) Worm casserole at a hotel I stayed at in Asia.

(below) Live chickens on the way to the restaurant! I saw this during a drive to a factory.

Live chickens

This year I did not eat bird foot or chicken feet soup, only turkey and stuffing for me.

(above) I ate this bird foot. It was gnarly.

Just ride your friends.

While the rest of the office is enjoying hot laps up at Stowe, I’m still a month and half away from getting the doctor’s blessing that my ACL is ready to ride, and so i still distract myself with activities of the two wheeled variety. In a lazy sunday morning YouTube adventure, i stumbled on this little gem. Part sideshow performer, part stunt monkey, and all balance, all the time, this guy is pretty nuts.