by The Editors on March 5, 2009
Brad Kremer, the director of Burton’s film department commented to Twincities.com on Tuesday’s citations of their film crew in St. Paul saying the guys did not know they were tresspassing and that they’re “not a bunch of punks.”
“We travel all over the world and film the best snowboarding, whether it be in the cities or the mountains,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve come to Minnesota for quite some years now for a couple of reasons. First, you have good snow; second, there are really good features for urban snowboarding; third, the people are very kind.” . . . Kremer wasn’t present Monday, but he said he thinks the police were doing their job. . . .”Were they trespassing? Yes,” he said of his co-workers. “Did they know? No. I think they probably should have just got a warning, but I’m not upset at the police.”
Kremer even included this video to show just how polite they are to local officers. That is some nice PR work.
[Link: Twincities.com]
by The Editors on March 5, 2009
The parents of Gregory Jacobs, 18, an Ohio man who died from injuries he sustained on March 7, 2007 while snowboarding at Peek ‘n Peak Resort, are suing Hamot Medical Center claiming that doctors at the hospital killed their son so they could sell his organs to the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, according to a story on WTOL.com.
The suit, claims medical personnel at the ski resort and at the hospital failed to diagnose his closed head injury quickly, and that the delayed treatment caused him further harm. . . .Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs claim that over several days at Hamot Medical Center, doctors encouraged them to sign a do-not-resuscitate order, even though they didn’t want to and they believed their son was improveing.
Wonder if they think the $5 million they are asking for will make them feel better about his death?
[Link: WTOL.com]
by The Editors on March 4, 2009
According to a list of Australia’s biggest brands compiled by Interbrand, Billabong is number eight. They are right after ANZ Bank and ahead of St. George. Sadly, out of the top 20 Australian companies we only recognized four. Since we’ve heard of Telstra, that makes Billabong the number two Australian brand in the Boardistan rankings.
[Link: Media Biz Ne]
by The Editors on March 4, 2009
Not that we want to continue on the bad news program, but Zumiez same store sales for the month of February were down, according to a press release on Market Watch:
Zumiez Inc. . . .announced the company’s comparable store sales decreased 13.4% for the four-week period ended February 28, 2009, versus a comparable store sales decrease of 2.6% in the year ago period ended March 1, 2008. Total net sales for the four-week period ended February 28, 2009 increased 0.2% to approximately $23.1 million, compared to approximately $23.1 million for the four-week period ended March 1, 2008.
Turns out people are only buying what they need these days. And apparently, they don’t need T-shirts with advertising all over them. To hear someone read the above quote please call (585) 295-6795.
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on March 4, 2009
Now we actually know someone who has done work for “the President of the United States of America.” Check out the new logos that designer Aaron Draplin worked on.
Creative director Steve Juras led designers Aaron Draplin and Chris Glass in the assignment to create two logos, one for projects completed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and the second for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) team. Stay tuned …
Crazy good. . .and they will symbolize everything done by the government stimulus package. How insane is that? Click here for video of the president rolling it out. And to think, Aaron got his start as the art director at Snowboarder Magazine.
[Link: Mode Project via Daring Fireball]
by The Editors on March 4, 2009
Burton photographer Jeff Curtes, along with Aaron Hooper, Gabriel L’Heureux, Alex Andrews, Keegan Valaika, and Kenneth Zima ran afoul of the law in the Twin Cities yesterday after police found them snowboarding in a West Seventh Street neighborhood, according to a story on Twincities.com.
They set up a 6-foot steel tower and connected a wooden ramp to it in a St. Paul neighborhood. Then, they snowboarded down the ramp, along a 2-foot ledge of a limestone cliff, and jumped — 20 to 30 feet onto the railroad tracks below, said one man who saw Monday’s action.
The paper reports that the snowboarder were rude to a local neighbor so the man called police:
“Eff you, eff this. We can do whatever we want. This is our job.” He asked not to be identified because he said he believes “these guys are important to the snowboard world” and he fears retribution from “their idols who feel they have been messed with.”
Luckily, the six were cited and then released. Maybe they should have been nicer to the nosey neighbor. . .
[Link: Twincities.com and Star Tribune]
by The Editors on March 3, 2009
A 14-year-old snowboarder from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is lucky to be alive today after being swept away in an avalanche while riding out of bounds at Mt. Washington, according to a story in the Vancouver Sun. His friends reported him missing at 3:30 PM.
Two hours later, at 5:30 p.m., searchers heard the boy calling for help near a precipice and were only able to reach him by descending on ropes. . . .The avalanche had pushed him up against a tree, which rescuers said saved him from being pushed over the cliff. . . .When rescuers uncovered him, they found he was hypothermic and both his legs were broken. . . He was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox, then air-lifted to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
[Link: Vancouver Sun]
by The Editors on March 3, 2009
Rob Williams, the 29-year-old founder of British online music equipment retailer Dolphin Music died Sunday March 1, 2009 at Verbier after falling more than 60 feet off a cliff, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
[Williams] and Jason Tavaria, also 29, had become separated from friends while snowboarding in the resort of Verbier. . . . They were part of a group of London-based entrepreneurs attending a conference. . . . Mr Williams’s body was discovered by search teams late on Monday, shortly after they found his mobile phone. . . .Local police confirmed that he had fallen 66 feet onto a bed of rocks.
Williams was in Verbier with Michelle Dewberry, the winner of the BBC show The Apprentice.
[Link: Daily Mail]
by The Editors on March 3, 2009
Snowboarder John Zsolt, 45, of Toronto, Canada died Sunday March 1, 2009 while riding at The Beaver Valley Ski Club according to a story in the Sun Times.
Zsolt, who was wearing a helmet and who was described as a skilled snowboarder, died after he fell and crashed into a tree at about 10:30 a. m. Several witnesses, who watched the crash from a chairlift, said Zsolt was traveling fast when he tried to carve a turn and fell. He slid into a tree.
[Link: The Sun Times]
by The Editors on March 2, 2009
Snowboard photographer Cole Barash is only 21 years old and it seems like he’s been around for ever. Shooting first for the snowboard mags when he was fresh out of high school, then Forum Snowboards, and for the past two years he’s been on the Nike Snow program. This month Photo District News has chosen Barash as one of their top 30 new and emerging photographers in their story PDN’s 30 2009.
While shooting action is a big part of his business, Barash also shoots portraits and behind-the-scenes images. “Snowboarding culture is much more than just the action,” he relates. “I want to show what the trip is like getting there. I want to show the crazy story in the hotel room after.”
Wonder if Cole ever had to sit through a “you’re wasting all your talents” lecture with his high school principal. We’re guessing no.
[Link: PDN via Jared Sourney]
Brad Kremer, the director of Burton’s film department commented to Twincities.com on Tuesday’s citations of their film crew in St. Paul saying the guys did not know they were tresspassing and that they’re “not a bunch of punks.”
