The Intro starts at :55 in this video, and ends at 2:00, that's the segment this post is about.
I started shooting footage for this video in about late February or March of 1990, as my employer, Unreel Productions was being shut down by parent company Vision Skateboards. Vision blew up to huge size in 1988 as vert skateboarding, BMX, and the emerging sport of snowboarding hit peaks.
Then Vision Street Wear clothes, the logo that pretty much identifies the 1980's in action sports, caught the attention of the real, New York City fashion world. After the preppie, big name brand, snobby 1980's lagged on and got even more boring, shit was happening in the urban environment. Hip hop music was breaking through to the mainstream world with the Aerosmith/RUN DMC collaboration, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Kid N' Play, D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Tone Loc, The Fat Boys, Public Enemy, N.W.A. and, of course, The Beastie Boys. New wave had faded, metal had spawned the glam hairbands, and the weird people were looking for something fresh. And the urban world was just that. Rap and Hip Hop had grown out of the tough streets of New York City, and it couldn't be held to the black community anymore. The hyper trendy fashion world looked to these scenes for inspiration, and along with hip hop, skateboarding was starting to take to the streets in a big way thanks to guys like Mark Gonzales, Tommy Guerrero, and Natas Kaupas. Then Vision made clothes, and just put that feel in words in a simple, yet powerful logo: Vision Street Wear.
As over-hyped as it seems to us old schoolers looking back. When it broke, the Vision Street Wear logo was fresh. The fashion world loved it, it got some mainstream TV hype, helped by then Vision skater, The Gonz himself. Vision grew to $50 million in sales in 1988, I think. They bought the huge, 100,000 square foot, former Ocean Pacific (Op) building in Santa Ana (a block from where S&M Bikes is now), and planned to do $100 million in sales in 1989. Vision Street Wear didn't realize how trendy the fashion world is, and didn't have a whole new line of "street wear" coming out in 1989. So the big time fashion world moved on. Vision geared up and spent big, banking on that $100 million in sales year. But they only made $60 million or so. Good, but not enough to keep the gravy train rolling. The skateboard industry started to tank in its 10 year cycle. The mainstream bike world gave up on BMX and freestyle, and put their money into mountain bikes. And the long contract with Snowboard pioneer Tom Sims ended, so Tom and Vision fought over who owned the name Sims Snowboards.
Unreel Productions, the video arm of Vision that never had to actually make money, became a big expense to cut. So the building was closed down, a woman named Laura and I were kept, and all the producers were let go. Don Hoffman, the who started Unreel with Vision owner Brad Dorfman, went to freelance status. I got the job of taking inventory of the entire building, and getting it ready to move out. In that process I found about $10,000 worth of video equipment that wasn't listed on the previous inventory. I didn't sell any to pocket the money. Being the dork that I am, I dutifully listed every piece.
Laura and I moved into a single office in the Vision main building, and in a month or so, she found a job in the real TV world, just over the hill from Hollywood. Then it was just me. Sitting in a big office with the leftover equipment, and almost nothing to do. That's when I started really planning my own video. I started shooting video on the weekends, not every one, but when I found a cool session somewhere. Mike Sarrail went along most of the time, shooting photos and riding.
I shot sporadically until September, never really sure if I could actually make a video all by myself, start to finish. I'd never done a big project like that all by myself. Most riders thought the video footage I was shooting would never show up anywhere at first.
I edited it in late September or early October of 1990. I picked the best shots to make a fast paced and intense, grab you by the shirt collar and wake you up, intro.
When I finished the video, Keith Treanor came over to my apartment, and I showed the video to him alone. That was the "premiere," I guess you could say. After the intro, he turned around and said something like, "Holy shit, I didn't think your video was actually going to be good." I just started laughing.
So as the flatland, quarterpipe, leathers-and-helmet-wearing era of the 1980's was fading, and the halfpipe, dirt jump and street-inspired, shorts and T-shirts, no-sponsors-left, 1990's were just starting, I got a wide range of riders in front of my camera.
Here's the guys in the intro:
Close-up backflip- Jeff Cotter- SoCal local flatlander to most people at the time
Close-up backyard to switch-up- Unknown flatlander at a Rose Bowl AFA contest
Rock-n-roll sprocket fakie on over-vert tombstone- Chris Day- young flatland wonder kid
Wall ride over my sister's head- Me (Steve Emig)- industry guy, cameraman, and mediocre rider at best, to most people. My sister Cheri, then in college, is now a very experienced 4th grade teacher who's earned her Masters and National Boards. Thanks for sitting there, sis!
Leary in the P.O.W. House backyard- John Paul Rogers- P.O.W. resident, S&M racer and jumper
Barspin tailtap on a quarterpipe- Todd Anderson- Camarillo ramp legend and 80's vert pro
1 hand 1 foot flyout jump- Keith Treanor- then unknown rager who just moved from New Jersey to Huntington Beach.
Rope-a roni (?)- Joe "Red" Goodfellow- H.B. local flatlander
Can-can on dirt at Mission Trails- Gary Laurent- Vert pro and Vegas show rider
High tailwhip to feet flyout on quarterpipe (a show trick)- Dan Hubbard- SoCal local rider and trick team owner
Front wheel 540 (with Stacy Peralta-esque hair flying)- Jeff Cotter
1 hand no footer at Mission Trails- Randy Lawrence- Desert rat turned H. B. local and bike shop mechanic
1 footed turndown over doubles- Josh White- legendary 80's vert rider who considered himself a ground rider
Nosepick to rockwalk drop-in over mini-spine- Unknown rider, 2-Hip show, I think.
1 hand no footed seat grab over long set of doubles- Mike "Crazy Red" Carlson- jumping nutcase
Tailwhip footplant on mini-ramp- Gary Laurent
Poorly timed double wall ride- Randy Lawrence (going opposite!) over me
Huge fakie wall ride- Keith Treanor
Lookback table thing off the tombstone- Jess Dyrenforth- GT rider turned inline stud
360 flyout- Keith Treanor
Chicken butt air at the Nude Bowl- 1980's skatepark and vert pioneer and legend Brian Blyther
Rockwalk drop into the Nude Bowl- Keith Treanor
Rock n' roll wall fakie- Keith Treanor
360 over mini-spine- unknown rider at 2-Hip show
High 1 hand no footer on halfpipe- John Peacy- Newcomer on the vert scene
No hander flyout- John Povah- former U.K. vert rider turned Orange County local
No footed X-up over doubles- Josh White
Street abubaca- Alan Valek- H.B. area local ripper
Nac-Nac over doubles- Alan Foster- AA pro racer, P.O.W. House resident (now known mostly as Brian Foster's older brother)
1 foot tabletop over doubles- Josh White
Bank hip 270- Alan Valek
Booster footplant on bench- Keith Treanor
Big 360 over doubles- Mike "Crazy Red" Carlson
Long sprocket grind on ledge- Eddie Roman- Skyway pro, street legend, and guy who made "Aggroman"
Jump over John Povah's head to flat- Keith Treanor. That became the logo of the video in high contrast white on black, from Mike Sarrail's photo. I've seen Keith get a full two feet higher on that jump than he did in this shot.
Oh, and the guy who's screaming "Are you ready?!" at the beginning- John Stainbrook- Toledo, Ohio punk rocker, lead guy of The Stain, and motel to traveling punk bands in the 1980's and 1990's. Now he's a top Republican Toledo politics.
I'm going to be sharing most of my old school BMX stories on the new Block Bikes Blog from now on, check it out...
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