There’s this thing called the Urban Circus that has “a contemporary look, it boasts dancing, swaggering, swinging, swaying and skateboarding.” The actual name is 7 Doigts (fingers), and it’s a French Canadian operation that is more or less a poor man’s Cirque De Soleil. Traces is the name of the particular show they are currently putting on. All the press keeps mentioning skateboarding, as if it’s an integral part of the show, but all the photos and various video clips out there suggest it might be more “skateboard-inspired.” But still, everytime something gets written about the show, basketball and skateboards get big billing. Well, I finally found some actual skateboarding. Looks like they are using them as little more than dance props. Extreme!™ I’d rather watch the guy who skates and dances on crutches, aka the Virtual Provocateur.

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Here’s a still from the music video for the 2003 track Heartbeats from the Swedish band The Knife. It’s got some vintage skateboarding footage, about 15 seconds or so looped repeatedly. Those kids in the striped shirts look kind of cool going downhill together. I thought they might be up to some editing trickery at first.

[Source: Drawer B]

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Intercooler is either a heat exchange device used on turbocharged internal combustion engines to improve their volumetric efficiency, or an Australian band. Take your pick. This music video (or is it a commercial for Element?) for Intercooler’s You’re Not Gonna Hurt Us Again features two people I’ve never heard of: Australian pro skateboarder Corbin Harris and director Michael Ebner. That’s OK, I don’t live in Australia, but I’m making up for it with Australia day on SnA. The production company that made this video is also shooting “Bondi 3000: The Making Of.” which covers “the schizoid, snail-paced production of a futuristic English epic, about how in the year 3000 the British will reclaim Bondi from Australia.” It must be skatepark envy. And yes, Lorem Ipsum is my favorite perfume. What am I talking about? Watch the video, a heartbreaking story of a hot chick who dumps her boyfriend because he won’t stop skating a miniature mashed potato half pipe with his sausage. I kid you not. (Insert fingerboard joke here.)

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If you don’t take control of your culture, those who only care about the gold and platinum will.

That’s the message of this video series called Instant Def, which is a Snickers viral marketing web site. The story line focuses on hip hop being taken over by money-hungry industry types. Ironically, they cast the Black Eyed Peas, a group that will whore itself out to anything from TV commercials to supermarket grand openings. The production design is sharp, but the story, music and most of the performances are weak. On the plus side, Bootsy Collins shows up in episode 2 and again in episode 5. Speaking of taking control of your culture, they use a dog on a flying skateboard and a couple evil midgets little persons, one of them on a skateboard too. Ahh, the delicious irony. Delicious? I love Snickers, but they sure wasted a bunch of money for something lame. I’m not sure about their connection with the hip hop community, but I’m sure the Peas massive street cred will help. Skip ahead to the finale, which has the skateboard action and is also the most entertaining. More screen caps after the jump. [Source: Media Mindfulness] (more…)

There’s an article being recycled by different newspapers about how a rap act know as The Pack is helping the worlds of skateboarding and hip hop come together, as if that is something new. The research department only went back a couple of years because completely absent from the article are such bands as the Beastie Boys, Urban Dance Squad and oh, I don’t know, who else but Skatemaster Tate, a guy who based his whole schtick on it back in the late 80’s. That’s Tate above hosting Nickelodeon’s SK8 TV with Mathew Lillard. Bottom right is a shot from a video shoot for The Pack’s new EP Skateboards 2 Scrapers. Early skate-rap connections, video links, a Skatemaster Tate roundup and more after the jump. (more…)

Yup, they played a warm-up gig for Riot Fest at a place called The Cobra Lounge in Chicago last Thursday. I didn’t go, but apparently it was a great show. Setlist after the jump. Thanks to Shacklemenot for the images. (more…)

Updated: Instead of just tipping my hat to EPM’s post on Suicidal Tendencies’ Institutionalized video, I decided to turn it up to 11. The vid caps above are from no less than three four different Institutionalized appearances on video: The straight video, a Beavis and Butthead appearance, a fake live appearance in a club on Miami Vice!, and the video for Institutionalized 93 - the remake. More vid caps and links to the vids after the jump. (more…)

One good Devo post deserves another. The Wipeouters are described as a reformation of a pre-Devo garage band, although you have to take that with a grain of salt because those guys tend to make up a lot of their historical information. Juice Magazine did a piece on them around 2001, which appears to have been when they peaked. Yesterday’s Devo video got me interested, so I dug up this Wipeouters video for Twist-N-Launch on Youtube, complete with a skateboarding little person.

Classic Devo and classic skateboarding, circa 1980. Maybe the first music video to feature skateboarding if you don’t count Skater Dater. The DVD compilation The Complete Truth About De-Evolution has been out since 2003, so it’s not surprising that this clip turned up on You Tube. Peep it via Earth Patrol Media, who had the good sense to spot this. Yes that’s Stacy Peralta up top. Some other pros are in it as well, but I can’t remember who.