sorry folks, I've been on the down low myself for the last little while, should be getting some regular posts up and running again soon though. Figured I'd give ya something extra special to make up for my lack of posts.
the rambling continues after the jump:
On the down low was made by Ells Watson, and the other Gonz, the one that did as much for bmx street riding as his better known counter part did for skateboarding. This was made in 1998 and must have been an insane step forward in the face of street bmx. In my opinion this is largely due to the "video days" era of riding which it took place in, a time when progression was dependent upon the mind of the riders responsible for it, as apposed to the collective mind the internet seems to have created. This sort of creative freedom is something that i think fgfs seriously lacks do to its dependence on the internet as a means of progression. while it's allowed us to come a long way very quickly, we seem to be going in one direction (with exceptions of course). kids are force fed the precedent bmx has already set, and the slew of fgfs edits that appear on the internet, and the result seems to be that an impression of pretty stock tricks has been branded onto the vast majority of dudes riding. Take a note from this video, progression isn't taking a stock trick and doing it bigger, its finding a style of riding that you can truly make your own and growing with it, than you can bring something new to the cypher. Whether its barspins, tabletops, grinds, or spinning in circles on your back wheel, work with what you've got and if at all possible do it amongst direct peers. Try to remove yourself from what and how anyone else is riding, outside of that direct group. If your the only person riding in your area, all the better, get inside your own head and pull something out which you can give to the way we ride these stupid bikes. AND HAVE FUN. AAAAnywhoo, Mark Gonzales (bmx gonz) was quoted in an interview saying "I will say that probably nobody is doing wut me and ells were doing… as far as the psychological aspect of the films… the way they affected you as whole if you were open to it and watched it in the right way (by yourself, in the middle of the night, on acid)." So, if possible, do it up as intended and maybe take some inspiration away from this 36 minutes of pure psychedelic induced creativity... which happens to take form as a super progressive bmx video featuring The Gonz, Ratboy, Chris Toth, and smoker Dave.
