A while back I stumbled across some videos from these two jokers Adam Colton and Adam Stokowski, also known as Adam2. When I say jokers I mean that in a good way. These two clowns (again, in a good way) have made some interesting videos that often time border on the severely goofy. Lett’s face it, they are not going to win any popularity contests over at Concussion. They definitely have more of a Concrete Wave with a little Dan Gesmar vibe going. Even if you don’t dig their style, one thing that definitely comes across is their originality and pursuit of pure fun in skateboarding on their own terms and completely unconcerned with mainstream skateboarding.
Adam2 practice a style of longboarding that is a throwback to the surf-inspired moves of the past. Don’t think Dogtown aggro, but instead more along the lines of fluid footwork, and definitely loose. A long time ago there would have been room for them in the pages of Thrasher (other than being made fun of in the “Anatomy of” section) and several of these sequences could have easily been at home in the early Bones Brigade videos. If you are looking for macho pool schralping and tech-flip stair sets and railings, this isn’t going to be your cup of tea – I mean can of Pabst.
Make You Smile is a collection of videos from Adam2, most of which have been available as separate downloads in various places on the web, albeit at a lower quality and screen size. Make You Smile also features 8 new segments for more than two hours worth of footage. A lot of the segments are collaborations with a couple different longboard companies like Longboard Larry http://www.longboardlarry.net/ and the company actually releasing the video, which is Loaded. Some of the segments are like traditional skateboard videos while others are more experimental in nature, almost like short film exercises that happen to feature skateboarding. A large part of the video is devoted to the documentary of a skateboarding trip across the United States. Even this documentary is more film exercise than actual documentary. It’s kind of short on actual information and voiceover and long on scenic skate footage. I think there are more segments from the trip in the works. Another segment on the DVD covers an organization called Stoked that mentors at-risk youth through action sports. In fact, $1 from each DVD purchase will be donated to the program. Make You Smile isn’t all touchy-feely. There is a downhill segment and a longboard park riding sequence thrown in the mix as well.
Adam2 have their own production entity that is able to straddle different companies, maintaining ties without being tied down. It’s another aspect of their uniqueness. They also score most of the music themselves. The videos in on Make You Smile have a similar artistic style. These guys must spend a lot of time in the editing room trying to achieve a cohesive finished product. It goes beyond matching a trick shot to a good break in a punk song. There’s always going to be room for that, but it seems like the film making is almost as important to their art as the skateboarding.
This video probably isn’t going to appeal to the majority of our audience. We’re already out of step with mainstream skateboarding, and Make You Smile is out of step in a different direction. A lot of the segments are too long, or too uncool for some. These guys dork it up some times, that’s for sure, but we are fans of the dork session here at Skate and Annoy. If you are in the mood for something different, a little skateboarding anthropology, Make You Smile is ready to fulfill it’s title. One thing that definitely comes across in this DVD is the sense of fun and commitment that Adam2 have for their flavor of skateboarding.
Interested? check out the high quality trailer on Loaded Boards or the YouTube version.
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