Going to school in Boulder and working at Installation all my co-workers were skaters, I was the sneaker head actor/host and they were skaters. At that shop I really was introduced to skate culture, that being films, professional skaters,and one of my favorite websites, THE BERRICS (we went in on watching Battle at the Berrics!).   The truth is I don’t skate but most of my friends in Boulder skated heavy and many of my friends in NYC do as well, but even if you don’t skate, being around it there is an appreciation and a beauty in watching it.  I recently went to The Tribeca Film Festival to see a film entitled The Motivation directed by a film maker I highly respect named Adam Bhala Lough, the last film I saw of his was The Carter, a documentary on LiL Wayne (one of the best vérité styled docs I’ve ever seen, do your self a favor and watch it).  In this film he follows eight skaters who compete in the biggest skate competition in the world called Street League which is ran an was created by Rob Dyrdek. I watched this film and I was enthralled, I’m a fan of all of the skaters featured and I loved that I was able to find out new things about them, the human side of them.  Adam and his production team were able to mix great skate footage with stories that as an audience member had you invested and at the edge of your seat.  Highly recommend seeing this film!  Go support them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and if you get the opportunity, do see this film, it’s worth it!

Screening of "The Motivation" at Tribeca Film Festival

Ryan Sheckler

Tim Dowlin of The Berrics and one of the producers of "The Motivation".

I have a friend, his name is Tyson Johnston, he is 22 years young, and is bad ass director.  After years of knowing of each other in Boulder, we finally met in Los Angeles and right away talked of working together and made that happen in less than a year.  He directed the video for The Pains of Being at Heart’s “Until the Sun Explodes” which was the band we featured on the first episode of “MTV IGGY Artist to Watch”.  A supernatural video that imagines the last day on earth over Brooklyn, that being said in the video I definitely party like it is! The previously unreleased song was recorded live during the shoot at St. Mark’s Church in Bushwick. Produced by my friend Josh Karchmer of Level 4 And Andy Ross Rowe of MTV and shot by Will Mayer.  I’m sure this is the first of many projects we will get to work on together.  Congrats to MTV IGGY, Tyson, Josh, Will, and everyone at LEVEL 4!

the rapture in brooklyn

Working with MTV IGGY has it perks,  at Iggy we get put onto some great music from around the world, I consider that a perk!  Last year we featured a band, actually more like an indie quartet out of Australia named San Cisco.  The first video I had ever seen was called Awkward, and from that point on I was hooked. Recently San Cisco put out the video for their latest single “Fred Astaire.”  In this video San Cisco takes you back to the sock hop with their addicting indie pop sound, mixed with some nice visuals, this has been on repeat for me!  You can get their Awkward EP on I-Tunes now, and you should!

Click here to view the embedded video.