Windows & Doorways - Joe Bressler DVD

WINDOWS & DOORWAYS by Mike Hickey So this is a new video out of Cleveland called Windows and Doorways. The intro states “Rising from the ashes of Cleveland’s desecrated underground.” and that is nothing short of accurate. You can feel the rough ground and desperate economy right through your TV screen. The intro captures some of those images, but it’s a little too staged. It’s very “Okay, now walk across the street real slow.” But it’s simple and in 16mm. Which is nice. I’m gonna give it away right now and tell you that my favorite part is the opener. I gotta rewind to check how to spell his name. Eric Viccarone. Dude kills it. He skates to an awesome ‘Blood On The Wall’ song and put out a really well rounded part. I’ve seen this kid skate before and expected a really good part. He came through. Next up is my boy Danny. He’s got good style and choice of tricks. He’s got that style where you land and your front arm bends in towards you. Like a waiter holding a towel. If you’re not sure what I mean, check his third trick; a backtail. He has a shorter part, but I know Dan got a bum knee last year. And I think he’s filming for ‘Rich Mahogany. Coming out of his new home, NYC. It’s hard to find people who don’t cheat their back-noseblunts. Danny doesn’t. After that I sorta loose track of things. There’s a shit-ton of obscure spots with obscure, low-fi music playing behind it. I think it could have used something to break it all up. With seven parts and a friends section things tend to run together. Don’t get me wrong, though. There’s awesome skating going on. I imagine 9 out of 10 of these spots has terrible run-ups, landings and cracks. But these kids kill em. I’d love to skate these spots. Just when you think it’s over, a techno song breaks out. Just kidding. It’s a Broadcast song. This part stands out. The kid skates fast. Or maybe it’s because wearing shorts. Not dumb shorts, like the ones you have. The ender goes to another kid I’ve never seen before. Johnny Grogan. He deserves it. His part houses my favorite trick in the video. It’s a frontside flip the pretzel way over a hip. he lands cruising down into.. well, the woods. It cuts before he goes into it and It’s awesome. All that being said, it’s a rad video. These kids rip. They show that you can take a beat-down city and turn it into your own Barcelona. It’s got a mixed feeling of a Blueprint video and an old Anonymous video. Which you should read and think it’s a good thing. I get a feeling that Joe Bressler put a lot of heart into making it. The filming and editing are top-notch. Dan Magee from Blueprint helped w/ some graphics and Josh Stewart likes this vid!