Recently in Zered Bassett Category
I am a slacking kind of guy, I know my job and I know my place. But just like the next guy, I enjoy hanging out with my bud's and having a brew.
Well, I arrive at Maloof Cup yesterday, covering the finals. The way I see it is everyone is covering the contest. Rob Brink.com has soo much coverage it's insane, not to mention the FUEL.TV, Skateboarding.com and Skate Daily!
So on the way to the street course I got sabotaged by the Zoo York van full of secret brew's. The van door slides open "Heeeeyyyy, Get in here!", they cheer. As soon as I take a seat, they pop a top off the cooler, and it was like golden treasure. If I must remind you, it was about 85 degrees' and I hadn't even gotten to the shade lacking course.
A couple cold ones and a chat with the Zoo TM/BM, and he was notified that the finals were over. Wow, time just flew right past and I spent the entire finals in a van with some ugly dudes. But, at that point, I couldn't really complain.
Finally, best trick was starting (I was also notified via text) and we headed off to witness the last .5 minutes of this already high energy and over covered event.
**Couple updates:
- Some knarly homie 900'd in his run, he won, obvees.
- Some dudes got robbed and should have placed higher. (like in every contest)
- This was the knarlest skating ever in skateboarding history. (I also hear that at every contest)**
So here is my blog post about all the random things that you DIDN'T see at Maloof Cup, don't hesitate to head to a couple of the sites above to view some real skating. Have a good one, and lemme know what you thought below.
I walk onto the course, and its just a media frenzy! No hesitation of fired digital shots.
Malto decided to get a massage tho while a looker-on observes.
On Saturday morning our group gathered poolside at our hotel to tape stacks of boards and assemble completes to be donated to the Cuban skaters. After a couple of hours of work we loaded up the skate goods into a pair of taxis with our raw and ravaged griptaped fingers and made our way over to the skatepark. The Skatepark of Tampa's "Board for Bros" program was soon to deliver many rolling planks of freedom to the youth of Havana. Upon our arrival, a small contest was underway with a close to a dozen of Havana's more accomplished skaters. As the government doesn't necessarily acknowledge the positive affect of skateboarding (even in an organized event of that nature), a PA system and amplified music was not permitted.
Nonetheless, as each of these competitors skated around and landed their tricks and finished their runs, the cheers from the crowd of skaters gathered were loud and clear and filled the humid afternoon air with energy. At this moment it became very apparent to us that these kids possessed something that was uniquely special. They shared a common bond through skateboarding that wasn't influenced by advertising, branding, the internet, and high hopes of sponsorships. The beautiful thing here was that they all shared the freedoms and fun of skateboarding...plain and simple.
Next up, Rick, Ron, Mike, Quim and Zered got to business out on the ramps for Havana's first-ever professional skate demo that had the kids screaming in approval and disbelief.
They were so hyped and charged up to see first hand the rapid-fire display of tricks going down in front of them. Ron went ballistic with huge frontside ollies and lengthy back smith grinds, Quim followed through on some stylish melon grabs, McCrank delivered a heap of technical tricks and originality and Mike got wild with front blunts and a looseness all his own. Dropping into the mini mega set up from the shaky roll in ramp, Zared blasted a head high ollie over the gap and connected a line of tricks that fueled inspiration amongst the crowd gathered. The place erupted in excitement. He then followed up with a frontside kickflip disaster and also mixed it up with Rick on a doubles "over and under" line. Without a doubt, the Cuban skaters had been enlightened of the power, diversity and beauty of skateboarding in their own backyard.
We capped off the afternoon with the moment the kids had all been waiting for - the donation of skate products. As Che was the guy in charge, he made it clear that he wanted to do it in an organized manner. He stressed to us that the government is not very welcoming or patient with the gathering of crowds and pandemonium. With several soldiers positioned and watching our every move, we totally understood the situation. A product toss would've landed all of us in jail. So, in a very orderly approach 40 or so completes were handed out one by one as Che read off skaters' names from his list. The decks were then handed out more in a random manner for about 30 minutes and the crowd began to get more and more rowdy. Shouting and shoving ensued as Che attempted to maintain some control of the situation. He finally called it off to avoid any confrontations. The remaining product would be saved for another day.
These kids were SO thankful and enthusiastic about the day's events and their gifts. Several of them were crying with tears of joy and disbelief. It was very surreal for us all and felt very empowering to provide something so little that meant so much to them. We signed autographs for another half hour and gave away our own skateboards and then made our way back to our hotel. Mission complete.
Huge thanks go out to Tomas, Che, Girl, Black Box, Dwindle, Globe, Deluxe, Tum Yeto, Kayo Corp, Dakine, The Skateboard Mag, Sole Tech, and Zoo York for the gifts of goodwill and good times. Cuba is unlike any other place on our planet. Be sure to plan a visit soon before it changes forever.
To read up more from this crazy Cuban Skate Revolution day 2
Over the first few days of our visit we took in the sights, food, music, and culture of Cuban life along with Tomas and Che. The first thing that you will notice in the Havana area is that the imposed 1962 US embargo has had a significant affect on the city's antiquated infrastructure. Of the small amount of US goods to make it to these shores most have come through other countries or via the black market. We also checked out the city's skatepark that was set up with an array of sketchy metal ramps and rails and hit up a small selection of rugged street spots with photo and video opportunities.
Although Havana was the Cuban playground for Americans throughout the 1940 and 50s, the city has become a deteriorating shadow of its former self under Fidel Castro's socialist regime. Evidenced with the longstanding embargo, there is no Coca Cola or US based globally franchised chains like McDonalds, Starbucks, 7 Elevens, Pizza Huts or Walmarts as seen in parts of China and other developed nations. Instead, what you see is the crippled appearance of the city's barrios and arrested decay of historic Spanish colonial buildings mixed with a society void of capitalism. If something breaks, there are no replacement parts or hardware stores nearby. As a result, the Cuban people rig up their own quick fixes or locate needed components from discreet sources.
Along almost every sector of the well-worn city, we witnessed clusters of classic aging American cars humming and churning onward through the streets of Havana. Beat up and partially restored, Chevys, Fords, Buicks, DeSotos, and Cadillacs rule the streets ‑ each of them spewing thick black smoke into the atmosphere and the lungs of passersby as they have for the past 50 years. In truth, Cuba - specifically Havana, truly feels like the land that time has forgotten.
Despite Castro's acclaimed nationalized health care and education programs, the 
Cuban people have very little material wealth to distinguish themselves apart from their neighbors or fellow citizens. In fact, a great majority of the population lives a life void of modern communications including cell phones, and personal computers. The socialist principles of the long standing Castro government can be seen and felt throughout the city just by rolling through those streets. But regardless of the political climate, the Cuban people are generally happy albeit they don't have the freedoms that we do in a democratic society. At least the skaters there have skateboarding to move their lives forward.
Read up on the next segment of Cuban Skate Revolution
Check out what happened in Day 1 of the Cuban Skate Revolution!
Cuba's Skate Revolution by: Bryce Kanights
Throughout my lifetime as a skateboarder I've been more than fortunate to visit and explore far-reaching countries and diversified cultures all over this planet. However, none of those previous travel destinations come close to the surreal experience that I witnessed while on the streets of Cuba. This rare juggernaut of travel all began with an invitation from Dirty Jersey's very own Chris Nieratko with an invitation join him and several others for a goodwill journey to provide skateboards and goods to the Cuban skaters. Without any hesitation, I was all in - committed to the plan come hell or high water, despite the illegality of it all. My father and brother had visited Havana in the late 90s and returned with great stories of the Cuban culture and people with stunning photographs to back up their enthusiastic accounts - and ever since, I became attracted to visit the visually alluring, yet politically charged Caribbean island forbidden by US travelers.
Our collective and skate able crew included Chris and his pregnant wife Cris Nieratko, my wife Donna, Skatepark of Tampa's Barak Wiser, Rob Meronek, Ryan Clements and his fiancé Jenna Becker, Quim Cardona, Felipe Agudelo (owner of four skateshops in Columbia and discoverer of David Gonzales), Red Bull's team riders Ron Deily and Zered Bassett and his girlfriend Jenna Perry, Rick McCrank, Mike Anderson, Scuba Steve Chalme, and Tum Yeto's Tod Swank. Argentine filmmaker, Red Bull field rep and now part time Cuban resident Tomas Crowder was our group's connection and guide for this tour to Havana.
With his help and understanding of the Cuban government's inner workings we were able to clear customs at Havana's airport and roll more than 10 large travel bags full of skateboard gear, a half dozen board boxes and products into a land where the small population of skate starved kids really needed them. Tomas soon coined our weeklong mission to Havana as "Operation Skate Revolution" and from there on out, that is exactly what we set out to accomplish.
For the past few months Tomas had been in production with his new documentary film, "The Other Che" which features Havana's legendary skater/tattoo artist Che A. Pando Napoles (nicknamed after Che Guevara) who in his mid thirties is armed with DYI convictions and ethics to inspire and improve Cuba's small and fledgling skate community. While we were in town, Tomas proposed to document our visit and our interaction with Che and the Cuban skaters including a planned skate demo with the pro skaters from our group and the delivery of skate goods that we hauled into the country with us. His film crew was on hand and we were down for the cause. All systems go.
Second day of Tampa Pro 2009, was insane.. It's really an obvious difference between Tampa Am and Tampa Pro. These guys were amazing.. Watch the video below. And if you havent seen Day 1.. Check that out too!!
Come back for Day 3 and the FINALS!
Another year, and 2009 still on the destruction path of more amazing years! Joey B and the crew opted to take a day of deep sea fishing.. Of course that can't be beat, right? Check out all the skaters in this 2009 contest..
Enjoy, and return back tomorrow for another amazing post of Tampa Pro 2009!
PLUS WATCH DAY 2! and the FINALS on DAY3
JEREME ROGERS
RYAN SHECKLER
JOEY BREZINSKI
SHANE AZAR
RYAN DECENZO
ZERED BASSETT
PHILIPP SHUSTERS
RB: Where is your official home town, and when did you move to NY?
ZB: I grew up in Chatham, Massachusetts. I moved to New York City right when I turned 18.
RB: What was the cause of the move from the move?
ZB: I moved so I could skate in one of the best cities in the world!
RB: At the time we shot this portrait, you were fresh off a 2 month Zoo York tour throughout Europe, home for a couple days then bouncing to Los Angeles for Maloof Money Cup. If you didn't hurt your foot, you would have headed straight to Montreal for 10 days of Zoo York Canadian Demo's then who knows what next. How do you handle all the travel and make you feel at home when on the road?
ZB: Sometimes it gets hard. For the most part just being with cool people and skating good spots pass the time well. A little big of good food will help for sure.
RED BULL: As most normal skate video's conceptualize, you have a theme, and schedule and go from there. But with Skate and Create, it was kinda "created" on the spot. Was their much adapting to the changing obstacles, skaters and shooting styles?
COLIN KENNEDY: Actually, Skate and Create was far more controlled than your typical skate video. Normally tons of things come into play while filming a skate video, weather, daylight, security, skate stoppers, injuries, motivation, etc. But with this project, most of those variables that make it hard to get footage were taken out of the equation. We went into the warehouse with our "look" and I had already picked the song (which I normally do near the end of shooting a part) I wanted to edit to, so I knew what type of tempo I wanted to create. So, the only hurdle left was to get the actual skate footage. The obstacles were constantly changing, but we knew that going into it so it wasn't a surprise to anyone that we were spending hours and hours to build a spot and then only shoot on it for an hour and then tear it down and start all over again.
