“DINNER” – Intro
These dudes are crazy. From the “Family Matters” themed intro, to Nick Taylor’s diabolical French chef face, to Drew Amato taking a shit with a ONE mag in hand, to Mike Dempsey’s Kung-Fu fighting bacon slice costume, it is pretty much always entertaining to watch. I believe this is their fourth online video now. In addition to “Breakfast,” “Lunch,” and “Dinner,” I’m pretty sure there was another onliner there somewhere before. Whenever I see this crew skating I know my eye balls are in for a treat of some crispy camera work, probably shot with the latest gear you wish you had. And I don’t know if it is all of them or just one dude in the crew, but they seem to really be big ballin’. From the fancy neighborhoods surrounding the driveways of their p-rail edits, to their pools, to the inside of the house in the intro; it’s a pleasant change of environment from the traditional ghetto skate spots and scenery of most videos.
“DINNER” – Casey Geraghty
The video opens with probably the most well-known name from the crew, Casey Geraghty, who once held a spot on the |B|unique team and has been well-known for his steeze for a while now. A great upbeat section to start out with, Casey runs a lot of lines, catches a lot of airs, laces some fakie 5s and some 7s. It’s a really good, all around flowing section that doesn’t bog you down with heavy tech skills you have to stop to figure out.
“DINNER” – Nick Taylor, Zack Smith, and Andrew Smolak
The shared Nick Taylor, Zack Smith, Andrew Smolak section was next. It starts out with another comical scene of Nick tearing up the kitchen, literally tossing some salad. Though very different style-wise from Casey in terms of body posture and movement, Nick’s style as far as trick vocabulary is very similar and with a likewise upbeat song, it keeps the juices flowing into this section. Next was a name I don’t think I’ve ever heard before, Zack Smith. He doesn’t have a lot of clips but the clips he had were enjoyable, nothing mind boggling but he did hold out one long tts on a low drop ledge that was really impressive. Andrew Smolak isn’t a real well-known name either, but I have spotted him here and there in several videos and edits in the past. When I think of this dude I think of hauling ass and a powerful style that I would say is similar to Franco Camayo. I think they even both have the same hair cut. This is the first section in “Dinner” to focus mostly (maybe entirely?) on grinds. He hits some tech switch ups, soul grinds a shoulder-high drop off rail in a stadium, and laces a true spin rockio I think Randy Spizer would be proud of.
“DINNER” – Mike Dempsey
The intro of the next section kills me. Mike Dempsey in this god damn bacon slice suit or something, kung-fu-ing some pizzas like they just slapped his mama, somehow keeping a dead serious look on his face the entire time. This alone could be his section and I would be happy. But wait, there are tricks too! Not just any tricks, but crazy-ass Mike Dempsey tricks. Bitch slap JC Rowe, to alley oop pornstar, to fast slide to true pornstar, to backside backslide to topside pornstar — all in a line — is just one of his opening clips. Other highlights include a truespin negative misfit down a 10-stair LEDGE. He also backside pudslides said ledge. He soul grinds a ledge with a ridiculously high drop off and he ends the section with a pretty gnarly fastslide down the rail from the LA IMYTA, if you remember that far back. It’s a really good edit I’ve watched quite a few times since it dropped. Well done, Mike.
“DINNER” – John Lyke
Up next was John Lyke. I’ve always kept an eye on this dude as he seemed to have potential of becoming a household brand. Sometimes seemingly held back by his own overly tech vocabulary, the way it sometimes happens to skaters, but he still carried some style and a somewhat unique identity. It didn’t take long before I could recognize his skating, I guess is all I’m trying to say. I could tell, “Oh, that’s John Lyke skating there.”
He opens up with skating inside an empty warehouse, launching some makeshift plywood, already catching my attention with a 540 to alley oop wall ride. He pulls off a number of other really tricky moves, like early on he backside torques a handicap rail to a quick makio stall on the connecting rail (at a 90 degree angle to him as his momentum is moving straight at it [easier to watch than explain]). And later on torque sliding the one-foot-long flat at the top of a stair rail and then gaping the rest of the stairs. He hits this bizarre savannah switch up I’m not going to waste your time trying to narrate (watch it at 1:40). The whole section is filled with impressive clips; I don’t really know if there are any that I would call “filler,” and he covers every element of a well-rounded, entertaining profile. He ends it off by hucking a forward 7 off a couple of arranged picnic tables, kicking out a hard liu kang in the middle, then proceeds to scream strange monkey noises about being hungry for dinner. Definitely the best choice for the ender of the video. When these edits first dropped back in December, I seemed to favor Mike Dempsey’s section and I think a lot of others did too, but re-watching them now, John’s section really blows away all the others.
