Truth 2 Review...Sorry for it being so long

Is there a thing as to much Hype for a skate video? Well if there is then its definitely true about the Truth 2. This video was two years in the making and it did nothing but get people very anxious to see if it lives up to the first video put out by Brotherly Love(Sean and Colin Kelso) and Austin Paz of course known as the Truth.
I for one was not one of the people pissed off by the release dates being pushed back like most people were. To me this meant that they were going to put some good effort into this installment of The Truth. So lets get to the important part and talk about the video.
First off just the dvd menu had a really clean look so I for one was very excited to see if the production quality was going to be the same. As the very first shot of the video came in play it was obvious that this was going to be a very well done video and judging just by the intro I was hoping the whole video would have the same feel.
The first section of the video was Philly resident Jon Bolino and let me first off by saying that I have been a huge Jon Jon fan since his early days of being on Antebellum rocking deshis, so this for me was a treat. He shreds in his whole section with some very creative tricks, one of them that stuck out to me most was a fakie 360 monkey plant into a swimming pool. He skates so solid like he has been professional for years, so this section does not dissapoint at all.
Next up is Franco Cammayo and this guy shows us that bigger guys can hang as well. He too has a very solid section with a whole bunch of old school tricks thrown in there on some big obsticales. I personally liked his first "Truth" section a little bit more but this one still has a pretty good feel with a really cool song I might add.
After Franco's section is up and comer/video director Austin Paz who does nothing but impress me with his smooth style and big hammers in this section. I can't lie though I was never really a big fan of Austin but don't get me wrong he is definitely good but I just couldn't really get into his skating until I saw this section. One thing that stuck out in my mind the most in his section was a huge topside tea kettle on a burly ass curved ledge. He proves that filmers can skate just as hard as the other talent in your video.
Mike Johnson has been a busy man with working full time ever since he moved to Philly from California so footage of him has been pretty much non existent. This section to me was one of his best only because it seems as though he got rid of that crazy fast tap dancing style and now just makes all of his tricks look flawless and smooth. I personally think if your a fan of MIke Johnson you need to buy this video for his section alone. And im going to add that the song was pretty dope too.
Up next on the roster is Sean Kelso, if you thought Sean was dope before your going to sure love this section as well. He skates to a Black Angels song and I personally feel like it fits his style so perfect I can't even describe some of the shit this guy does only because most of it seems like its not even possible. I will say that he actually didn't do to many switch ups though like he normally does, and in this section it feels like his style has really matured.
Is he the lil wayne of rollerblading?Nah its just Montre Livingston but everyone knows that with one of his sections you will not be dissapointed. Unfortunately I kind of was only because I felt like he skated a whole lot of smaller stuff this time around and so I guess to me it wasn't rediculous Montre we all know and love. But don't get me wrong it was still a good part and he skates to a sick Jay Z song as well so you can never go wrong with that. I have to say he does a sick as bridge to bridge gap thats pretty mind blowing.
You can't make a video without a friends section so this video was no exception, there was of course the usual suspects in this pretty chill part. There wasn't anything mind blowing but I must say there was some new talent in the making which impressed me quite a bit.
There's not much to say about Billy except that he can take being hit by a car like a real man. Its been a long road to recovery for Billy and in his first section since the accident he shows us that skating is something he couldn't live without for to long. To me Billy has done nothing but change up his whole skating style to more of a tech kind of skating,which is not a bad thing. He skates fast and hard this amazing section. This has to be the best Billy O Neil section to date and this is coming from someone who wasn't a very big fan in the first place. He skates to a pretty upbeat rock song so this is definitely a different Billy everyone is used to.
Of course this video wouldn't be complete without an Alex Broskow part which was nothing but a surprise to me when it was announced. I can't lie though I was a little bit worried about how well this section would have turned out due to him filming so many parts in 2009. But of course he doesn't disappoint us Alex Broskow fans. He skates to a gangsta rap song like he has been lately which personally I think fits his skating swagger style perfect. This is a section that im sure all fans of Alex will love.
Last but not least is king of drama and style Colin Kelso and the only word to describe this eight minute two part section is "Epic" Alot of people talk crap on Colin for his random venting on the message boards but what most people forget beyond all of the shit talking is that Coling has done nothing but make rollerblading look awesome. His first section in the Truth does not even come close to this new part he has put together for every one to make them shut up and just enjoy what he has brought to the table. I will say his second part in his section was just absolutely amazing with him skating alot of bigger stuff and even doing some new tricks I haven't really seen anyone do before. I will go off by saying that he proves himself in a big way that he deserves to have everything he has received in skating so everyone please take note that beyond all the shit talking this guy does he still has the skills and talent to back it all up.
Then the credits hits with some more hard skating from the east coast area but nothing to amazing only because its the credits. After all of this hype for the Truth 2 being put out there I have to admit that it was definitely worth the wait and I applaud everyone that worked on this video especially Austin and Brotherly love. I give this video 4 out of 5 stars due to some a few out of focus shots while using the 35mm adapter but I still commend them for an honest effort. Im sure they will do nothing but perfect their filming skill in the next installment. I recommend everyone to buy this piece of work from some hard working bladers that show me that they are only doing this for the love. MR

Some breaking news...Finally

Seeing as to how right now filming and skating up here in the good ol salt lake is pretty much non existent I am now informing everyone that filming for my video "Dont Sweat the Small Stuff" is being put on the back burner until this snow is a little more under control. I will say that any trips we take will still be filmed and whatnot but as for now I really want to take this time to get shit in order up here, revise the roster for the video, and even brain storm some new ideas in the direction this video will be taking. I have some cool new ideas in the works that I feel will make this video that much better so this time to really think it over is what is needed. There will definitely be more updates soon to come of course but please be patient. The release date is still set for October and I feel like its gonna be a real banger.

Peace and Love
Manuel Rodriguez
Stay Golden Productions

Turkey Bowl-Bowl Jam clip

Im having trouble getting the pictures I took at the jam to upload but I promise they will be up soon. Anyways here's a hot clip by Tj Tregeagle with his new nimh skates.

Turkey Bowl-Bowl Jam!!!

Since no one wants to spend thanksgiving night blading, TNB is cancelled this week. in it's place is the Turkey Bowl. this should be a lot of fun. fairmont skatepark is right next to I-80 on 900 east. session starts @ 10am. And just so everyone knows Tiffany Jackson will be supplying prizes for the session be there or be sqaure.

spread the word.

I Was a Cloud Premier, Boise Idaho

The time has come for yet another sick blade flick to be released and this one comes out of Boise Idaho. This will be Erik Bills second release and its going to feature a great list of rollerbladers frrom Idaho and of course Utah. I filmed a few clips that might be in the video so make sure to come out to Boise Idaho December 4th to support Idaho and Utah rollerblading. I can't remember all the names of the people from Idaho that have sections but as far as Utah goes it will have Tad Tregeagle,Chris Oplin,Cameron Card, and a few others, oh and Erik Bailey will have a section so that should be reason enough to get your self a copy.

I Was A Cloud - Trailer 2 from I Was A Cloud *Promo* on Vimeo.

Elder E-Rocks Grom Jam

Last saturday was Elder E-Rocks grom jam and if there was a good day to pick to have a comp it would have been that day. This was my first day living in Salt Lake City and even I was skeptical the grom session would even happen. As I walked out to see what the forecast looked like I was in disbelief that the snow was already here. But knowing how hardcore the salt lake locals are I was sure this was just a minor bump in the road. Billy "beast master" Anderson and Erik Neilson built a box the night before as a warm up spot but as the weather showed us that skating any street was not a possibility it ended up being the "Spot".
There wasn't the biggest turnout with the weather being so crappy but everyone who did show up was in high hopes of winning that prize money. Finally after an hour of warming up and me complaining about getting the comp started Erik finally got things together and began the comp. Just so everyone knows we ended up putting the box underneath a bridge so the snow was in no way affecting our skating but holy crap it was cold.
Some of the people that stuck out the most in my mind were Jeff Stanger with his ill jew steeze,Tj Tregeagle,Chris Oplin,Kaycee Landsaw and of course the flyin Hawaiian Chris Napolean. Everyone threw down some awesome tricks but in the end Tj Tregeagle ended up taking the cash and the twelve pack of diet coke donated by awesome rollerblader groupie Tiffany Jackson.
Unfortunately E-Rock couldn't make it to the after party with him being mormon and all, but man oh man was it a hoot. I can't wait for next year!!! Photos provided by Billy Anderson

My first day here and we got snow

Elder E-Rock is showing us how its done in the freezing cold

Weird

Tj getting his diet coke shower

Hey Everyone I Moved Finally!!!

In case everyone doesn't know I now am telling you now that I finally made the move up to Salt Lake City. Its not far from where I call home but this place is nothing short of amazing. When it comes down to it there's just so much more going on here when it comes to blading,shows,night life and even the ladies.I can't wait to get settled here and I hope everyone in St.George comes up and visits me cause that would be awesome, hell even if your from another state feel free to hit me up. My video is still in progress even though I moved up here and I think with living up here it will do nothing but help me out with being more creative with my upcoming release. Anyways much love to everyone in St.George I will always call it home.

Black People are good at everything!!!

Even though I moved from good ol' St.George, it doesn't mean the new generation of roller bladers still wont be killing it down there. This is David Martin's first edit of him shredding St.George skate park and frankly he has progressed so much more than I would have even thought for the short time he has been skating. But then again he's black and black people are good at everything. This was filmed and edited by Michigan native Jake Britton so make sure to give him some props if you know him. Good job David and congrats on your first edit, you are now official!!!

Here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z6awPmcKc0

"Extra Sweet Edit" By Jake Britton

I guess lately Jake has been wanting to edit so he put together this left over footage from our trip to SLC with Michigan native Matt Hood Hood. It features me so it must be epic haha.

Elder E-Rock Grom Jam in Salt Lake City

It looks like Erik Nilsson is at that time in his life where he feels like going on a mission is going to do him good. I heard that he is really going cause he wants to hook up with this girl and she wont let him touch her until he does his mission first so thats why he is going to be leaving us for two years. What is there to say about E-Rock except that I always thought of him as Chris Farley's retarded little brother. The one thing I always seem to forget about Erik is that he is actually pretty good on the blades and this he proved to me during the last two trips to California and Las Vegas. Im sure Salt Lake and surrounding areas wont be the same without this kids crazy antics. I've only known Erik for a little while and already I feel like he is someone Im going to miss a whole lot during the blade sessions.

Any ways to sum this all up and end this I just want to make sure that I let everyone know that there will be a farewell session/blade comp in his memory. I know this is going to be nothing but a shit ton of fun. So be there or be square!!!

The comp is on Saturday,November 14,2009 from 12:00pm to 6:00pm @ Fairmont Skatepark

Edit featuring E-Rock and Friends

WRS Finals in Las Vegas

Let me just state that when it comes to Vegas theres really not much to say except that its always a party there and this last weekend was no different. Every big name professional was in town im sure not only to skate in one of the years biggest competition but to also have nothing but a good time in while in the city of sin. I don't know who was in charge of putting the competition on Halloween but I feel as if maybe this deterred alot of people from showing up to competition to spectate. Luckily the skaters who were competing did not dissapoint, everyone skated very hard in the semi-finals and finals all throughout the night.

People like Brian Aragon and Alex Broskow pulled out some technical stunts. But yet again the french were in the house to show us american whats up yet again just as they did in california. It was not only the french who came out though, there were also some big names from Australia too such as Rian Arnold who showed us that dressing like a fag can make you skate really good(only joking...sort of) but the one who does nothing but amaze me was of course up and comer/future of rollerblading/asshole was CJ Wellsmore who personally is gonna be giving chris haffey a run for his money pretty soon. There was of course legend Brian Shima who skated really well against his own team haha he killed it and I will tell you being a fan for such a long time it really inspired me to make sure that I just need to have fun skating and not care about anything else.

Jerf Stockwell was there and he is for some reason always unappreciated even though he deserved to win. Watching him gave me goosebumps throughout the night because I know how technical he can be and this night was no different. I feel the results should have been a little different with Stockwell taking first,Cj in second,Brian in third but what does my opinion matter. Sucks Chris haffey ended up injured for the night but before that he was straight up killing it. Then of course at the end of the night there was some partying and some more skating and more partying and thats all I pretty much look forward to in the city of sin.

Sorry this was so long but words can't describe how epic this trip was.

This was the only pic taken during our day skating in Las Vegas this pool was to much fun to skate but a beast at that. TJ always surprises me with stuff like this

photo taken by Beastmaster

Stay Golden Productions goes to AIL Championships

I know its been a few days since the AIL finals but really when it comes down to it I want to make sure that whatever I write about AIL Finals was something that I truly mean. On October 23rd was the AIL championships and this was my third year in a row going to Woodward west to see the best of the best compete.

Unfortunately it was changed up this year and so there was no professional contest that I do indeed look forward to every year, instead it was turned into a "Demo" which I felt made the feel of all the pro's skating not as exciting. I will have to admit that either way there was some awesome stuff that went down. Especially from french powerhouse Stephan Alfano who did nothing but show the americans that the french simply don't care what or might happen to their body. Really nothing that memorable really went down except for Erik Bailey's sick true fish up on the curved box which proved that the american are not out just yet.

But in the end Stephan Alfano proved to everyone he was going for broke when he disastered 450 true topsoul up on the huge quarter. Personally I think the AIL needs to bring back the pro contest cause I feel like it did nothing but make everyone a little upset with the turn out of the big names in the demo due to everyone partying so much the night before. Still was a lot of fun either way and I was able to see some good friends and even made a bunch of new ones too. One of the best things of AIL weekend was perhaps that a lot of good homies such as Harbor Bickmore,TJ Tregeale,and emo zach all turned AIL pro. So big ups to them and I hope next year is better for sure. Here are some pictures from AIL courtesy of Scott Moffatt.

Me and Jon Jon just chilling

Me and Jon Jon getting interviewed

explaining my setup to Juan

Im kind of a big deal

Wake killed it for sure and he's only twelve

Congrats TJ on turning AIL Pro

Matt Farnsworth topsoul on the high quarter

540

Bailes is always murkin shit

Showing the french how its done

Kevin Carey section from colorado video

Kevin came out to St.George about a year ago to live but soon realized living here was too rough and ended up moving back to Colorado. While he was here we had one goal in mind and that was to film for Greg Freemans video Things to do in denver before you die. We went out filming almost every day before I had to go to work and so theres a bunch of St.George spots in this that I filmed so watch and enjoy the beautiful skating of Kevin Carey. Oh just so you know he also on the roster to have a full section for my video as well so make sure to take note that this is just a teaser of what to expect from this hardcore shredder.

6.KEVIN CAREY from Greg Freeman on Vimeo.

It's about time!!!!!!

Well its been a long time coming but the list of people to have full sections in my new video is finally here. I personally think this is a good group of people to be involved with and I have no doubt in my mind that everyone who has full sections with blow everyone away with how much talent all these guys have. There will also be shared profiles from a few other people all over the states. There will be skating from such places as California,Arizona,Nevada,Utah,Iowa,Nebraska,Minnesota and pretty much anywhere I know people. I still am working on a title for this online video project but make sure to keep checking in for more updates from all the people listed. I know I'm very excited about all the talent that will be featured thats for sure and if you don't believe me then go and youtube their names to check them out shredding.

Mike Scott, St.George Utah

Kenton Angerman, Sioux City Iowa

Aarin Gates, Camarillo California

Duran Bickmore, St.George Utah

Harbor Bickmore, St.George Utah

Better Late Than Never!!! Salt Lake Trip Pics

As everyone knows I have been going to SLC a whole bunch lately and personally I am ready to move there ASAP but due to it snowing I think im gonna hold off on it until april when the snow clears and skating is actually able to go down. Im sorry these pics are kind of late but Im going to sort of blame david because he was supposed to get me these pics a while ago and for some reason it just never happened but anyways the saying is true "Better Late Than Never"...right? Oh I forgot this was the trip Matt Hood Hood came into town from Chicago and he wanted to shred some street spots so thats why we ended up in SLC in the first place. Can't wait to shred with you in Chicago soon homie. Jake Britton is leaving tomorrow to Chicago so hopefully we will have some awesome updates from there soon so keep checking in for those.

Me and Matt working the staches

Showing off

Jake filming me being Indie

Zach Eggbert is the future

John Easy killing the quarter

Matt has some steeze for sure

Rollmartshop.com

Cameron Card is back and better than ever

The crew just chillin

Jeff is always killing sandy park

The nicest guy on the planet

Mousley with a fish stall at daybreak skatepark

Jon with a soul up to unity cess down

see there it is

Me being indie again

Filming little children is what I do best

Huge air

falling blows haha

Matt with the first clip before we even leave St.George