Toronto veteran Ken Galloway (fresh and clean on his new Xsjado stormtroopers) is responsible for this masterpiece of urban summer skiing, with Kirill Korzinski as the stunt double (I’m guessing Suzy didn’t do her own stunts) and Chris Savage as the stunt co-ordinator! Awesome job all three gents, share the video around and watch Ken’s smile grow progressively bigger.

We’ve have not only gotten a copy of Sideshow Rodeo (thanks to Olli from Be-Mag and Jenn from One Magazine), but we also have the Nimh Team Video. We’ll be playing Mute and Vine St. as well if you haven’t seen them yet. Everyone is welcome at my place, 176 The Esplanade apt.739 in beautiful downtown Toronto.

Send me an email [ghentish at gmail.com] if you don’t have my number already, and I can call you back with directions etc.

So, this Thursday January 20th at 7pm. is the vid jam. BYOB if you like, and I’ll have some snacks. Hope you can make it out.

All in all I just wanted to share some of my great times with good friends. Browse through the pictures, and look out for a killer edit from our journey to Kamloops that will appear on the Shop-Task Blog soon.

In the mean time, I’ve been pulling out some old gems from the Dekalzshop days and started messing with different setups.

I’m using a pair of Original New Old Stock (NOS) black size 7 Albert Hooi UFS throne shells as the base, and building around it with various cuffs, liners, laces, soul kids and frames/wheels.

Here’s the list of goodies I have so far:

• NOS – Red 2 piece souls
• NOS – Abdiel Colberg souls (Grey rear, black front)
• NOS – Black 2 piece souls
• NOS – White Diamond Hooi 3 piece souls with white backslide
• NOS – Chrome Sagona 3 piece, front and back chrome, black backslide
• NOS – Black 3 piece (Thank you Tim Adams!)
• Extra White 3 piece heel plates
• Kizer Slimline Turquoise  Frames (Thank you Mark Korte and The Conference)
• Kizer Slimline White Frames
• Kizer Slimline team Frames
• White GC Featherlite 1 Frames
• Jug Precise Liners
• Sifika Carlos Pianowski 7 Liners

Here are just a few of the setups that I could think of…. post if you want to see something different.

What should I skate? Help me pick. I should have black cuffs and buckles really soon, if that helps you decide.

-Kevin

Sifted through a bunch of photos from the party, and I’m posting my favorites below. Check out the rolltoronto flickr for the rest of the night’s pics.

Head here for the rest.

We’ve already had a couple of birthdays this month (Dub and Ghent). However neither of these have had quite as significant a buildup as the slow spiral of despair edging Kevin Chow ever closer to today… Kevin is 30.

As the clock ticked over into this morning Kevin learned that his new senior citizen status prevented him from being able to drive. So Chowsa took PUBLIC TRANSIT. That’s right, Kevin Chow used the subway here in Toronto and we have this shaky security camera image to prove it-

The other harbingers of the apocalypse are sure to be along soon. Happy birthday, buddy! And welcome to the club ; )

I mean, look at that, just look at it… what kind of madness is that? I’m due to somehow skate it for the next four days, so I’ll have plenty of opportunity to become blasé about what I consider the daftest, most dangerous set of ramps I’ve ever seen. Come by and say hi : )

This weekend is pretty busy for Toronto rollers, with our own Blade Jam in High Park tomorrow from 1pm. The turnout looks pretty amazing so far with Mike D booked in and ready to rock, Blair Lougheed and Taylor Ritchie representing a certain skateshop (oooh, gossip!) and some old school rollerbladers back from the dead. This incredible afternoon will be followed by MobbMedia’s Sunrise Skate Battle at Iceland skatepark in Mississauga, starting from 7am on Sunday. We’ll be there, but my legs (and liver) are going to be knackered!

I’ve been literally sitting on an awesome photo of Dave Ghent for a couple of months now, trying to decide what to do with it- but I’m bored of waiting for the right time to use it, so here it is… Dave Ghent, rugged topsoul on a joined wooden handrail with gravel runup and landing near Rosedale subway. Bloody purple pants… I blame AJ.

Since Shop Bladr sadly closed its doors and ceased trading in Ontario, local skaters have been asking themselves what’s next for the average roller? What is left to aspire towards? Fortunately for us all, original Grillz roller Leon has stepped up and offered potential spots on the Shop Task team to three lucky Ontarians, which including existing team members Mike David, Jon Craig and Aaron Mcinnis could take the GTA Task What rollcall to six… Good looking Leon, its great to see money being put where mouths are.

So who are these three illustrious skaters you ask? In no particular order they are Taylor Ritchie, Blair Loughead and Erik Foster. Jammy bastards! Good work gents, I look forward to taking awkward and out of focus photos of you soon, then apologising and asking you to do the trick again. Congratulations, friends! You deserve it so much. Now get to promoting!

Gatsby loves Hey Dude v3. He says that the Toronto section is the best section in the video, and probably the best crew section he’s seen since BMC2. He says all this while looking adorable. To pick up your copy of Hey Dude v3, bring $5 to the Blade Jam or the Sunrise Skate Battle and pester Dave Ghent for a copy. Five Bucks! Do it, or Gatsby will be sad. Do you really want him to be disappointed in you?

Dave Ghent made some alterations to his xsjados, adding Razor buckles to the cuffs for a little more support by drilling a new hole just forward of the xsjado cuff holes and shortening the buckle strap.

Dave says he’s cautiously optimistic; they’re a lot more supportive but he doesn’t know if they’ll take abuse that well, or missed soul grinds. They look like they’re doing a pretty good job to me, good mod Aslan.

Taylor borrowed my skates to get a photo- True Topsoul in skates two sizes too big. Good lad.

Last but not least, here’s a photo I took on Wednesday night at the waterfront, relaxing at the end of a funny photoshoot. Considering that I’m a complete novice, I’m really happy with how this photo turned out, and more than a little surprised!

That’s it for this roundup, I’ll see you all tomorrow afternoon!