Brian Krans's Blog, page 13
August 12, 2015
Podcast #23: Bfree, Omezzy, and the Oakland Blade Jam
Brian Freeman and Omar Onitveros run the Oakland Blade Jam, which returns to Town Park on Sept. 19.
We talked about the upcoming contest, the rich history of competitions in the Bay Area, recruiting new bladers with skate demos, and more.
Please tag responsibility: #OaklandBladeJam2015 and @oakland_blade_jam
Oakland Blade Jam 2013:
Oakland Blade Jam 2014:
Read more about Taig Khris and Chris Haffey and their world records on BladeorDie.com.
Follow Bfree as @masterthrilla, Omar as @omezzy_jsf, and Krans as @citizenkrans.
To support the podcast, order goods from RockTownPress.com
Intro music is “Devils Poker” and the outro music is “I Ain’t Dead Yet,” both by The Afterdarks. Music on the break was a segment from “Bay to L.A.” by the Grouch.
July 28, 2015
Podcast #22: Mike Opalek
Mike Opalek was on the original Senate team, and has performed stunts in such 90s classics as Airborne, Brink, Double Dragon, and Batman and Robin.
Yes, Mike was an Ice Thug for Mr. Freeze in the worst Batman movie ever made.
Ice thug for life, circa 1996.
And he was one of the Preps in Airborne and on Team X-Blades in Brink, making him the embodiment of evil in rollerblading cinematic history. But we still love him.
Mike, far right, on Devil’s Backbone, circa 1993.
Mike and Matt Andrews on Team X-Blades, circa 1997 or 1998
From his front porch in Salt Lake City, Mike talks about rollerblading in the movie industry, being a blade coach, and, of course, making whiskey and beer. We end by hashing out possible plot points in the script for Airborne II and whether or not it could ever get made.
(For more on Airborne, check out Blade or Die’s 20-year anniversary retrospective.)
The alternate title to this podcast would have been “Ice Thug Life with Mike Opalek,” but we’re better than that.
Follow Mike on Instagram. He’s @opalek.
To support the podcast, check out RockTownPress.com
Intro music is “Devils Poker” and the outro music is “I Ain’t Dead Yet,” both by The Afterdarks.
Mike Opalek was on the original Senate team, and has per...
Mike Opalek was on the original Senate team, and has performed stunts in such 90s classics as Airborne, Brink, Double Dragon, and Batman and Robin.
Yes, Mike was an Ice Thug for Mr. Freeze in the worst Batman movie ever made.
Ice thug for life, circa 1996.
And he was one of the Preps in Airborne and on Team X-Blades in Brink, making him the embodiment of evil in rollerblading cinematic history. But we still love him.
Mike, far right, on Devil’s Backbone, circa 1993.
Mike and Matt Andrews on Team X-Blades, circa 1997 or 1998
From his front porch in Salt Lake City, Mike talks about rollerblading in the movie industry, being a blade coach, and, of course, making whiskey and beer. We end by hashing out possible plot points in the script for Airborne II and whether or not it could ever get made.
(For more on Airborne, check out Blade or Die’s 20-year anniversary retrospective.)
The alternate title to this podcast would have been “Ice Thug Life with Mike Opalek,” but we’re better than that.
Follow Mike on Instagram. He’s @opalek.
To support the podcast, check out RockTownPress.com
Intro music is “Devils Poker” and the outro music is “I Ain’t Dead Yet,” both by The Afterdarks.
July 27, 2015
Podcast #21: John Vossoughi, Neil Chen, Tyler Noland
Tyler Noland, John Vossoughi, and Neil Chen are three master shredders exploring Montana by escaping wildfire in Glacier National Park, putting in long days skating in the hot sun, and soaking in hot tubs full of dudes.
This episode was recorded this on July 23, 2015, over a few pots of coffee and many cigarettes on the deck of a cabin just outside the Lolo National Forest.
You can download the episode directly from Libsyn.
To support the podcast, check out RockTownPress.com.
Intro music is “Devils Poker” and the outro music is “I Ain’t Dead Yet,” both by The Afterdarks.
June 26, 2015
Podcast #19: Brandon Ford
For episode 19, we’re lucky to have guest Brandon Ford, a staple of the Boston blading scene.
You can directly download the audio file here.
Here’s a sampling of Brandon’s skills…
This week Brandon drove a 26-foot Penske truck from Boston to move the furniture for three more people in the already overpopulated Bay Area.
Upon reaching Oakland after three and a half days on the road, Brandon stopped by the Rock Town garage, where I filled him in on the latest news in blading, including blading in the Olympics and the Jenner effect.
Yo I can’t I love when my sister is in town. @kidboyikid skates
A photo posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Jun 20, 2015 at 11:56pm PDT
We also talked about Brandon’s last trip to the Bay, neighborhood crime, the power of good weed, solving the California drought with beer, conspiracy theories regarding Middle Earth, the mindset of mass shooters, and why dogs make the best homies. 
Trying out for #familyfeud with my mother, brother and sisters. @ginutt @leannarenee @marglominton @monicagascon @theresemichelle // familyfirst #tvshow #sf #sanfrancisco A photo posted by Vinny Minton (@vinnyminton) on Mar 17, 2013 at 2:36pm PDT
A friend recently unearthed 100 clips of Brandon from his younger years, so be on the look out for that, as well as the edit he’s currently working on.
I had a good time hanging out with Brandon, so I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you don’t miss out on future episodes of the Rock Town Podcast.
And so you all know, I worked for Brandon the next day. We moved two former Bostonians into their new homes in San Francisco. My Fitbit went wild as I tried to keep the sweat rolling off my forehead from splashing all over other people’s stuff.
But I’m proud to say, furniture mover is yet another job title I can add to things I’ve done while freelancing.
Until next time, put some blades on your feet and have yourself a good time.
Blade or Die,
— Brian Krans
P.S. — My favorite title, in case you’re wondering, is book author. To support that endeavor, check out my three books for sale on RockTownPress.com.
If you enter the promo code PODCAST at checkout, you’ll get 10 percent off your entire order.
June 3, 2015
Blader Digest: Chris Farmer and the $5 Pirate
When Chris Farmer’s VOD from Vibralux went live last week, many people gladly paid $4.99 for it.
But, for a small window of time, if you Googled “Chris Farmer VOD” on your way to the Sellfy page, a YouTube link came up.
Well, that fun is over.
Now, if you use the same search terms, you’re going to find things like this…
So Farmer’s VOD that was released this week—part of the Vibralux series that’s included Alex Broskow, John Bolino, Brian Freeman, Chris Haffey, and next Don Bambrick—skirted the $4.99 charge for a few hours.
Someone downloaded it and posted it to YouTube.
But that’s not the end of it and those behind it—or at least in favor of it—put in extra effort to ensure their version was seen in favor of the paid downloads.
Spamming /r/rollerblading
/r/rollerblading, Reddit’s subreddit for all things blading, was spammed with dozens of links pointing toward the pirated video. Moderators spent hours watching the activity and removing the links.
Hunter Dasten, one of the mods, sent these over:
The accounts doing the posting were created within minutes of each other, and hammered /r/rollerblading with links of the YouTube upload the same night it came out. As you can see, the account names centered on rollerblading, anti-VOD, or anti-Vibralux.
Technically speaking, that kind of spamming is simple work for a bot. It’s not even that hard for someone with an axe to grind, like the kind of spiteful hatred that fuels comic book villains.
A reddit user going by the name mike_jibbs—whose account was created in the same barrage of new handles as the spammers and since been deleted—had some choice words to share on threads related to Farmer’s edit going live.
The first was on a link to the Sellfy page:
“So we should blindly give money to a ‘pro’ that is too lazy to be professional enough to get sponsorships from large brands that aren’t in the small circle of aggressive companies? Fuck that. Some guy posted it on youtube, go watch it there.”
And on another post on the pirated version, he’s essentially taken away /r/circlejerk’s thunder:
“More people need to do this. VOD for income generation is just fucking lazy. Pros need to market themselves and get sponsored by companies that are outside blading. Look at the Yasutokos, they have huge brands paying for them to travel the world and don’t need to work service jobs to pay their bills.
Every VOD should be spammed all over youtube so this bullshit will stop.
Thanks man!”
I wish there was more to go on regarding this. That’s as far as my internet sleuthing has on whoever had such a crusading vendetta against VODs, AJ, or Farmer to hit them where it hurts most.
I’d love to know who was responsible, just to ask them what’s got them so riled up they need not only upload the video to YouTube, but to go to such efforts (i.e. spamming /r/rollerblading) to make sure people see that version over the $4.99 version.
At this point in rollerblading’s history, if you don’t think people like Adam Johnson, Chris Farmer, Chris Haffey, Alex Broskow, John Bolino, Brian Shima, and other who have released a VOD—all equating to pennies per hammer—don’t deserve a few bucks, then fuck you.
But Chris took it jokingly as a compliment that of all the people in rollerblading, the instant piracy would happen to him.
“It is what it is. Shit happens. All we can do is move forward,” Farmer said. “All I know is that I’m going to be the happiest dude on Earth to be rolling around tomorrow for the first time in a month plus.”
(Chris injured himself repeatedly in the making of the VOD.)
People can harp and moan that pros should blade full-time but find outside sources to pay rent so the audience doesn’t have to pay $5. Maybe next time you see Chris he’ll be wearing a T-shirt from Red Bull or Draft Kings, but as I’ve noticed, but that’s really not his style.
AJ’s thankful for the support of his videos, and prefers that the $5 pirate go ignored.
“I like that the community responded by notifying us to the bullshit rather than taking advantage,” AJ said. “Fifteen snitches to the 230 views. Pretty good.”
Before we leave the topic of /r/rollerblading, check out the AMA with Jelle Van den Audenaeren, the developer behind the upcoming inline skating video game “On A Roll.”
Floyd Mayweather Doesn’t Rollerblade
Blade video pirates aren’t revolutionaries and they certainly aren’t Robin Hood because in this game, they’re hurting the artists dedicating their own time and resources to make videos that rarely break even.
If this sounds too much like a MPAA PSA, I apologize. It’s not meant to be because the people you see in videos—and those behind the camera—aren’t working on Hollywood budgets. Personally, I like that AJ flies people out to film awesome tricks and puts together something I own and can watch whenever I want.
The VODs being released are seeing a miniscule number of eyeballs compared to anything shown in a place that charges $12 for a popcorn and soda. We’re not talking downloads in the millions here. Not even in the thousands. Maybe, if it’s a good one, it’s in the thousand.
If making videos continues to be a money pit, well, there’s only so long a love of rollerblading and art can remain top priority. Facts are facts, rent doesn’t pay itself, and Comcast doesn’t accept hopes and dreams as a valid form of payment.
Instead of asking pros to sell-out, why is it so taboo to ask rollerbladers to buy-in?
I don’t think I’m reaching too far in saying the majority of rollerbladers—most who are strapped for cash themselves—are forking out their debit cards. We may not have the numbers, but those who put up their own hard money to watch rollerblading videos online, well, you know you’re awesome.
In February, Broskow did an AMA on Reddit. One question asked if Alex could say how much he made, as the user inquired about supporting VODs.
“I can’t, but I will tell you that the VODs help a tremendous amount. Its kinda unreal,” Broskow replied.
Tuesday, he was out filming for his section in the upcoming Thee Strange video.
A photo posted by ALEXANDER BROSKOW (@alexanderbroskow) on Jun 2, 2015 at 3:58pm PDT
I hope when that head injury heals he’s ready to go pitch himself to Vitamin Water or the Navy to cover the hospital bills.
We’re fortunate that such talented people have stuck with pointing lenses and people who want to wrestle with inanimate objects at high speed. Even the worst rollerblading clip is still better than whatever gender a Kardashian chooses.
Popular culture, well, they disagree. Doesn’t means they’re in the wrong, but it does mean they’re wrong.
Rollerblading kicks ass. We all like watching it. And unless you’re experiencing it with your own two eyes, thank a blade videographer and the skaters getting injured to do it.
“The function of the artist is to make people like life better than they have before.” — Kurt Vonnegut
That’s what video makers do and improving your life ain’t cheap.
Right now, someone with a name you probably don’t know is schlepping away at crappy job for too long to buy their first legit camera.
And that’s why we’ve had people like Dave, Lonnie, AJ, Ivan, Beau, Erik, Todd, Joey, GL-Joe, Carl, Lomax, Vinny, V3000, Yeter, Negrete (RIP), David, Kevin, Blake, Bruce, Danny, Victor, and countless others that have arranged spots, directed skaters, collected footage, run out of battery, brought spotlights, risked their gear being stolen, went blind in front of a computer editing, waited on renders, pulled their hair out over technical difficulties, and still had to deal with ocial media strategy and execution, interviews, and everything else that comes with promotion just to make something people demand to see but don’t believe is worth any money.
I tried walking away from a Best Buy with all the equipment needed to produce a quality blade video, and now I’m facing shoplifting charges the prosecutor is considering charging as felony burglary.
Who knew all that shit wasn’t free?
But I’m with you in the idea that it’s hard to justify paying for content on the internet. Fuck if I’m ever going to be the guy who has to explain porn charges on my credit card.
It’s good advice to put your money where you mouth is, and so many rollerbladers have been pulling out their wallets that VODs are helping supplement pro blader income.
No one is excited that the current economic climate of aggressive inline skating has turned itself into feeling like a strip club, but like both places, if you want to see something, pay something.
But standing outside the front door holding copies of Hustler won’t change things. If anything, it’ll get your picture in the paper, or some half-ass blade blogger calling you a piece of shit in a thousand different ways. But this is where the crusade ends.
It’s over. You lost.
It’d be cool if you used your obvious talents on something useful, but you do you, and the rest of us, well, we’ll keep investing in the people who put in the blood, sweat, and tears to entertain and inspire us.
Blade or Die,
— Brian Krans
P.S.—I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written here. We do a blading podcast you should check out, if you haven’t already. (Yes, it’s free.)
If you want more to read from me—especially if you don’t fancy yourself a reader and and you’ve made it this far—try out one of my books: A Constant Suicide, Freeze Tag on the Highway, or Assault Rifles & Pedophiles: An American Love Story.
You can get them from your local skate shop or at RockTownPress.BigCartel.com. Use the promo code BLADING to get 20 percent off your entire order from Rock Town.
If you don’t want to read them and can’t afford to pay for them, check your local library. If they don’t have it, let me know and I’ll send them a copy.
May 29, 2015
Podcast #18: Skookum
Skookum is an all-blader rock band from Oakland, comprised of Sean Salazar, Patrick Calilung, Brendan Tidd, and Brian Shima. Sean and Pat stopped by the Rock Town garage to talk about the meaning behind their name, picking a rock star death, and blading before playing. This podcast features music from their live set on May 27, 2015, at the Stork Club in Oakland, Calif.
Check out Skookum on Bandcamp and follow them on Instagram.
Check out Skookum at 9 p.m. this Saturday at Toot’s Tavern in Crockett, Calif. Find ol’ Swanny Cash and tell him you heard about it on the Rock Town Podcast. He’s got a $10 bill to cover your cover and first beer.
Swanny Cash
Support the Rock Town Podcast by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, or buying something from rocktownpress.com.
May 24, 2015
Podcast #17: Chris Dafick
Chris Dafick is one of modern rollerblading’s most prolific nomads and currently en route to Spain. He stopped by the Rock Town garage to talk about blading, the Shredweiser life, the need to always keep moving, and looking up from your phone every once in a while.
Visit shredweiser.com and follow them on Instagram as @shredweiser.
Support this podcast by shopping at rocktownpress.bigcartel.com
April 13, 2015
Podcast: Michael ‘Gumby’ Braud
Michael “Gumby” Braud is a do-or-die blader from the South living in California. He talks about his new video, “On the Rise,” almost dying, peeing blood, the right-wing side of UC Berkeley, childhood dreams of being a stuntman, the unionizing of rollerbladers, and $100 skates.
Michael would appreciate if you supported his Kickstarter to pre-order “On the Rise.”
The Drought – Michael Braud from Michael Bro on Vimeo.
You can support the Rock Town Podcast by buying merch from our website.
March 29, 2015
Podcast: San Jose Street Comp
On Saturday, Aggressive Mall hosted the first San Jose Street Comp.
Here’s your audio coverage of the event, including guest commentary from Korey “Sneaky” Waikiki, Jose Fuentes, B.J. Bernhardt, Joey and the Wolves Den Crew, and others.
Support for this podcast by buying goods from Rock Town Press.
