L a s Vegas
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dan redmond drew summersides Cory wilson nick moore
push.ca/vegasvideo
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Concrete skateboarding
Weekday Edition
No. 117, Monday, February 20, 2012
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L a s Vegas words
Las Vegas has always been an American enigma. A town popularized by the dream of hitting it big but built on the backs of those who lose it all. Simply put, love it or hate it, the city is a beast unto itself. Today’s Las Vegas has become somewhat of a paradox in my eyes. Perhaps it’s how the tourism industry has sold its image in recent years. While it still embraces the steadfast principles of gambling, clubbing and a no-holds-bars spray tan adventure, it
Matt Meadows
photos
Rich Odam
design
Kelly Litzenberger
has also pushed to become a family friendly destination. With such a dichotomy, I have always imagined there was more to the city than meets the eye. That’s why when I heard that Rich Odam and Brian Caissie had gathered a crew of Canada’s finest young talent and taken them to the desert city, I needed to find out what the real Las Vegas was all about! I mean… there must be a reason these two veterans
of skate documentation choose Vegas over a more straightforward and standard California skate trip, right? So, with notepad in hand and mission in mind, I began to gather all the info I could on their trip to “Sin City.” After having accumulated varying accounts of the week-long voyage, for once it can safely be said: “What happened in Vegas is not staying there.”
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fahrenheit outlook
Dan Redmond..................64-65,70 Drew Summersides................66-67 Cory Wilson..........................68-69 Nick Moore...........................71-73
Not quite Ocean’s Eleven, but close
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t seems like in every film you see, the choice to head to Vegas is made on a whim. Typically, a group of disillusioned men become frustrated with their everyday mundane lives and make a snap decision, after which hilarity ensues. And while there exists the common theme of the need to break with the every day, the foundations for this trip were laid some time back. Initially spawned from the minds of Brian Caissie, Rich Odam and Paul Machnau, the legendary Red Star skater was forced to back out due to pre-existing engagements. Never ones to give up on a plan until it’s seen through to fruition, Caissie and Odam pulled out their proverbial “little black books” and sent out an open invitation to those they thought could come. Enter Cory
Wilson, Dan Redmond, Andrew Summersides and Nick Moore. With the promise of avoiding Vancouver’s fall rain and not a lot of time to hit up their sponsors, each skater dug deep into their pockets to make the seven-day trip happen. Upon the crew’s arrival Stateside, all seemed to have gone rather smoothly—until Odam realized one member missed his flight, and that member would be “Nugget” [Nick Moore]. “I’m not even sure how he missed it ’cause it’s not like he could’ve slept in for a flight that leaves at 6 p.m.,” Odam explains. “So he had to get a flight the next day. After we went to pick him up from the airport, we went straight to a spot and he ended up getting the first photo, straight off the plane—a pretty sick comeback!”
Dan Redmond
Switch flip nose manny shuv-out
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Drew Summersides nollie flip
Vegas, baby. It’s all business!
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ne can only imagine the trouble that can ensue when you let four up-and-coming Canadian AMs loose in Sin City. Up 24/7, fraternizing with the seedy Las Vegas underbelly and women of the night… trouble indeed! Although, when you have your eye on the prize, there is no time for shenanigans of this sort. Amongst the pillars of work ethic and professionalism, Dan Redmond recounted how the crew ended up breaking all the stereotypes.
“None of us really gambled, but we hit the odd slots and lost a few bucks,” Redmond recalls. “That was pretty much it for gambling. Cory Wilson, Nick Moore and Drew Summersides were all businessmen when it came down to skating and having fun, which made the trip a blast. “As far as staying away from the nightlife, we were all pretty good. Considering we skated all day, every day, it didn’t leave much energy other then to have a couple brews at the hotel afterwards. But, I would say, I was more of the abstainer out of the crew seeing how I don’t party or drink much these days.”
Drew Summersides backside 180
Doubling down: Summersides skates like a boss
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hether it was determination stemming from the desire to impress on his first major trip, or perhaps it was merely the energy of a skate-minded youth, we will never really know. Yet one fact is known for certain—Andrew Summersides made the most of his time south of the border. Often leaving Odam unprepared, the photographer remembered, “Summersides was definitely handling business. He’s really good and a bit of a newcomer, and
this was one of his bigger trips. Caissie and I would just be chilling at a spot while people were warming up, then out of nowhere Andrew would just throw down a hammer when no one was expecting it. We weren’t prepared to shoot, so we’d tell him: ‘You gotta go do it again.’ Then Andrew would just rattle off a bunch of tricks first-try. We tried to let him know that we need a heads-up! He is just one of those dudes that gets something in his head and just does it right away.”
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Cory Wilson
ollie up to frontside ollie
The Dew Tour and rolling like PLG
S
ince the crew maintained a strict regiment of skating, by week’s end there was time to blow off a little steam. Like an omen from the party gods, it just so happened that the Dew Tour finals had wrapped up that day. Connecting with fellow Canucks Jordan Hoffart, the Decenzo brothers and PLG, a Vegas-style night out was unavoidable. “The Hard Rock has this crazy-ass club that’s all snazzy,” Odam begins recalling the evening. “But basically, we were at this little bar at the casino with all
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homies, so once the time comes to roll to the club, it was like: ‘Let’s roll with PLG!’ So about 30 of us rolled behind him to the club, and all of us skipped the line full of all these dudes dressed up for the $30 cover. We just walked through in T-shirts and jeans! Straight up, we got this one dude escorting us through the club to the VIP lounge with bottle service. We had big-ass bottles of Grey Goose and whatever you wanted to mix with it! That was the way to do it, but I was all crackers and water the next day.”
Cory Wilson Bigger flip
Dan Redmond
Nollie backside flip to fakie manny 180
The quintessential Vegas story
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here exists an unwritten rule that states: Anyone who visits Las Vegas must leave with an unimaginable, jaw-dropping story. Not surprisingly, one member of the group had to pay the dues for everyone else to escape such a tale. So, much like a scene from the film The Hangover, Nick Moore described the rest of the Dew Tour Night.
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“Ryan Decenzo and PLG ended up winning the damn Dew Tour, which led to a crazy night of partying at the Hard Rock. By the end of the night, I found myself in handcuffs and banned for life from the Cosmopolitan Hotel [laughs]. Long story short, Rich, Brian, and I went to this hotel late in the night. Brian knew these Jäger girls doing some promo in Vegas, and they had this ballin’ room for the weekend. Anyways, Rich was blackout
Nick Moore ollie
and puked in the living room without anybody noticing. We left the room shortly after and just as we got outta the elevator, two dudes that were paying for the room came after us and started pushin’ Rich around and confronting him about the puke. Rich was way too drunk to know what was going on, so I ended up stepping in and slapped the dude pretty good. Next thing I know, I was in cuffs and being questioned by a bunch of cops; they read me my rights and told me I’m never allowed to set foot in the hotel again.” Concrete skateboarding
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Knocking it off the bucket list
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ow having visited one of the “must-see” cities in the world, I was curious to find out whether the guys would be interested in returning. “I will go back as soon as I have the funds again,” noted Dan Redmond. “I highly recommend anyone who skates to make a trip out there.” Even after being banned from the Cosmo, Nick Moore still gave the city a glowing review: “I’d love to go back too! It’s a cheap winter getaway with tons of good skating and enough touristy shit to keep yourself busy for days.” So, as the city continues to remain paradoxical by reputation, it has now been proven you can leave Vegas with money in your wallet and good memories to boot. Who knew?
Catch all the clips from this trip on March 6th at push.ca/vegasvideo
Nick Moore switch blunt
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