Welcome to the first episode of RajonTV podcast where Ed Gaba (me) and Clockwise skateshop rider, Niklavs Vetra, talk about skateboarding. On this show we will talk about current events in the local and global skate scenes. On some episodes we will invite guests, and on others, like this one, there will be just the two of us talking about stuff we care about.
In the zero/pilot episode of the RajonTV podcast we discuss Intense days “skateboarding show” and why Niklavs is so cringe, future of Gtiim indoor skatpark, mental health in skateboarding, and our 2019 POTY, Nauris, debut in Thrasher Magazine.
As we are total noobs in this podcast game, feel free to give us feedback and tell us your valuable opinion. Sound improvement is on our agenda.
A few days back Madars sent Rajon a photo of a letters section from an old Transworld. The issue dated January 1990 with one of the letters called Soviet Skaters. The letter author was non-other than Gints Gailitis, the president of Latvian skateboarding federation (1989-2011) and a passionate skateboarding devotee.
The letter goes like this:
Soviet Skaters
This letter comes to you from a skating fan in the country of Perestroika, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, more specifically Riga, Latvia. Like on the West Coast of the United States, there is a similar ghost, illness, or god knows what in the western part of the USSR, and it is called skateboarding. I am one of those who has sunk into it and I doubt whether I’ll ever get out of it. Sorry to say that I am not alone. There are tens, hundreds of us in the western part of the country in Riga, Liepaja, Vilnius, Tallinn, Leningrad, and Moscow. I even dare to say that there are thousands of us. Recently this drug has extended itself even to the other part of the country. We have learned that there are skaters in Alma-Ata, Krasnoyarsk, and Habarovsk. It is extremely painful to us when we notice that some of the skaters have gotten a skateboard magazine or even some foreign equipment. We’ve got our own equipment, but it basically differs from the ones advertised in such magazines as TransWorld SKATEboarding.
Presently about 80,000 skateboards are produced annually in ten Soviet enterprises. However, the majority of them are meant for children. The quality is not high. Getting good equipment is an unsolved problem for us. I can say the same for skateboard information from other countries. It has been rather scanty. You shouldn’t be surprised that we learned about streetstyle only a year ago. There haven’t been any international competitions in this country either, but there will be very soon. The first ones will take place in Riga at the end of spring. The organizers hope to see leading skaters from Sweden, West Germany, and other countries. We also hope that the contest will shock not only thousands of outdoor spectators, but also those watching it on TV.
Riga has good traditions in organizing competitions. Undoubtedly the most popular competitions are RIPO. Since 1983. skaters have tried to get to Riga. Every year about a hundred skaters come to Riga. The most popular events are slalom, high jump, freestyle, and marathon, or Soviet street at a lenght of two thousand meters. The skateboarders comepete in different age groups and the skateboard company, Sarkana Zvaigzne (The Red Star), gives their products for prizes. I’m sorry to say that up to now foreign sponsors haven’t been interested in us. We hope to solve this problem, too.
Skates from Liepaja are the most serious competitiors of the Riga skaters. This year they plan to finish a halfpipe, which will be ten meters wide.
Some Latvian skaters wish to get in touch with American skaters. If there is anybody in your country who’d like to write us, here’s our addresses.
The Association of Latvian Skateboarders
Barona Street 20/22
Riga 226012
Latvia, USSR
The center of Skaters
Lenina Street 192
r/a “VEF” Sport Club
Riga 226039
Latvia, USSR
Gints, Gailitis, President of ALS
Gints Gailitis was the leading man in Latvian skateboarding since the early days of the sport until 2011 when he tragically passed away. Unfortunately Rajon has never met the man. There could have been a lot of things to talk about with such an enthusiast. Now through small pieces like these we can attempt to preserve the memory of the original Latvian skateboarding fan, Gints Gailitis.
Although January was more of a snowskate month, we got some bits here and there from those not scared of the cold. Since most parks are closed (or restricted to private sessions), it was only logical to dedicate January Top 10 to the most popular current go-to location: the parking garage. Parking lots normally don’t have anything to skate except flat and walls, but some of them are more unpredictable. Olimpija garage has some mysterious wooden boxes and Riga Plaza has some mini rails. Stuff can get interesting.
Our soul mate Rob wants to share his new video with you guys. You remember his video series Rob’s Vision and you know what to expect. Adventure, gorgeous scenery, and skateboarding: the things closest to our hearts. Of course, this wouldn’t be Rob’s production without a hidden deep meaning. But it will be up for you to figure out.
The video is mostly filmed over at Jersey island which was introduced to Latvian skate scene by Valters brothers and Rob himself. Rob and his friends lived, worked and skated on the island for a few years. Obviously like most skaters would, they made friends with the locals. This connection brought Pillo wheels (Jersey based skate brand) to Riga in 2017. In 2018 RajonTV made a collab with Pillo which was sick!
Rob returned home, but the connection remained and hopefully will be refreshed soon.
All good skate brands have their sound. I’d say for BRONZE it is 18 Carrat Affair, Theo Parrish for Palace, I’d love to say Roxy Music for Emerica, but, instead, it’s stoner rock jam sessions.
You get the idea: brands have their distinct sound.
Of course RajonTV is nowhere near those heavy hitters, and I am not quite sure we are a brand at all. But if we were! And we had to choose our sound, I’d go with—MF DOOM.
MF DOOM is RajonTV’s favorite musician, artist, and rapper. His music sparked creativity which influenced our early edits. Now, it seems so naïve that we used DOOM’s songs in our crummy edits, but he was too good not to. And who wasn’t blown away by ALL CAPS when they heard it for the first time?
R BROADCAST the our first edit that featured a DOOM song also the first edit when we used the R logo. We also got a fish eye for the photo cam. This vid marked a new start for Rajon.
After the discovery of DOOM, he became the go-to soundtrack of Rajon edits for awhile. His music didn’t have that traditional rap swag when dudes show off chains, money and cars. DOOM’s sound was fresh. His mood coincided with ours in some way, and it seemed like a perfect fit. OFF THE RADAR was our next edit which is a continuation of R BROADCAST. It just starts where the previous ends.
DOOM’s songs also inspired names for some videos. This one was filmed in the first G-Tiim park on Tallinas street. I think this was also one of the first times Rob and Fricis were in Rajon vids.
At some point it became evident that MF DOOM’s music is way too good for our videos. Seriously. it felt like a disrespect to him. Also, it seemed too easy. Almost any song from Doomsday, MM FOOD, or Madvialliany fit skating. For some time I stopped using his stuff so much. Maybe just a little here and there.
Obviously, had to refer to DOOM’s collection when making VISS SAFE. squeezed two pieces back to back. One Jazzy beat, and a piece by his alter ego Viktor Vaughn.
Not sure if we pulled it off good, but, nevertheless, thank you DOOM for the inspiration.
For everyone who had a hard time in 2020, hope this mix cheers you up! This mix obviously doesn’t show everything, but Baltic skateboarding is alive and well.Can’t wait to see your clips in 2021.
We can’t fully dive in 2021 without dealing with some unfinished business.
2020 gave us a lot of headache and sad moments, but somehow skating didn’t suffer much. Maybe to get away from all those headaches, but it seemed people skated as much as before and even more at times. We even managed to make Top10s for every month of 2020 without much hustle (okay, all month except January).
In December we watched street videos such as Unity by Rainer Kaur and Flaming Riga by Fully Ghetto. Also, we saw one young man pull a backflip. December TOP 10 is a mix of all of that.
Enjoy!
Original clips
10. Lukas Matusevčius – Fully Ghetto – Flaming Riga
9. Domantas Antanavičius – Fully Ghetto – Flaming Riga
8. Mihkel Vahermaa – UNITY by Rainer Kaur
7. Juris Šantars – insta clip
6. Meelis Erm – UNITY by Rainer Kaur
5. Jakob Aruvald – UNITY by Rainer Kaur
4. Artis – insta clip
3. Kristjan Eier – UNITY by Rainer Kaur
2. Kristo Õismets – insta clip
1. Leon Ruppert – insta clip
2020 is almost over and it is a perfect moment to look back at the highlights of the year. The year sucked for the most part, but still plenty of memorable things happened. We would like to highlight tricks, events, videos and other things within the Latvian skate scene (and a bit of Baltic too) that made us happy. There’s is no particular order in the list.
Despite its short existence, Barspin Skateboards have managed to become a household name in the local skate community. Now whenever you do a sketchy taildrop, a drop in of a roof, or a flip tick from another dimension, you can describe your actions by simply saying Barspin Skateboards out loud. Everyone immediately understands what you are up to when you say these magic words.
The crew, Kristofers Ozols, Edijs Plume and Artis Strazdiņš, turned into a movement that spanned across Latvian and Baltics borders. But even more than that, Barspin Skateboards is becoming a subgenre of skateboarding where slams and almost makes have worth too. Well, skateboarding has no rules, right? Long Live Barspin!
Skate Baltica
Skate Baltica was a first events that we made where skaters were invited to experience skateboarding through videos, photos, and community. Also, because most skaters are opinionated chatterboxes, we organized a discussion panel on Baltic skateboarding. The whole day was a blast and we finished it off by giving awards to our favorite Baltic Skaters. Skate Baltica is definitely going to return as soon as we can make events again.
Skaters rode Uzvara monument since the dawn of Latvian street skateboarding. The bank, the flat, the gap, the drop—everything was pummeled since day one. Uzvara was a central place in the upbringing of Latvian skaters, and Madars went through this school of life with straight As. He did a bunch cool stuff at Uzvara as a teen and as an adult he only did better. In 2014 he put Uzvara on the cover of Kingpin. In 2018 he put Uzvara in Thrasher with that kickflip photo. And in 2020 We got to see it in a video and we were not disappointed.
2020 Go Skate Day
Really hope that kids will remember 2020 GSD and brag about how cool it was in 2030, like old farts brag about 2005 GSD now. But even for old farts 2020 GSD was very special. Maybe COVID made us appreciate real life interactions more and we were happy to be outside together. Along with a proper crowd, we had cool new DIY spots to skate. Linards took the MVP with a 5-0 bs 180 on a bank to box spot just as the green torch was burning. That spot in particular was dedicated to Kristaps Horns, our fellow skater who passed away earlier this year. Special shout out to Fricis for mobilizing everyone and fixing the spots. Shout out Clockwise for support!
Although done in 2019 summer, this insane fifty saw the light of day in 2020 in Antiz Via Baltica video, so we will count it as a 2020 event.
Well, probably, every single person who has ever skated at Kongress, or has any understanding of what a spot is, looked at this rail and imagined skating it. The spot is basically a skate park flat bar with two drops on each side. You can land tricks on one side and die on the other. Also, since majority of skaters can’t comprehend 50s on round rails, let alone backside ones, this trick is nothing short of nuts. Respect Rudi!
Lermontova parks, bridge barriers, the box and quarter at VEF—these are some of the best projects made by Riga DIY, a brain child of Fricis Štrauss. Along with these gifts, Fricis organized the remake of VEF DIY which now shines in new colors. The place was always a gem, but now it is a whole new deal for the skate scene and whole city. Fricis is not planning to stop and all of us can only join him in this epic quest. Let’s make more spots in 2021!
Print stuff: HARI mag/ Ohota na Molodostj
2020 gave us tangible publications to hold and flip through. Estonian skate mag HARI appeared in August and Arturs Bogdanovičs presented his photo book, Ohota na Molodostj, in September. Both events are equally exciting and hopefully set a start to a new tradition in the whole Baltic scene. Print gives longevity to skate photography. It is completely different to see photos of your mates in print compared to insta shit where you just scroll further. With that in mind, let’s make sure we support print related projects in future.
Legend of Viss Taisni
Most of you either participated in Viss Taisni video or at least have heard of it throughout the year. Its notorious author, Armands Baumanis, is said to have filmed everyday from dusk till dawn. You’d hear stories of tricks and secret Audi trips. All the rumors surrounding Viss Taisni built its reputation of the most anticipated video project of the year in Latvian skateboarding. We have seen a bunch of teasers by now and we have seen the Overboard episode too. However, due to known reasons the premiere got postponed. Most probably we will include the video in our 2021 review, but for now Viss Taisni is an intriguing urban legend. People say it is real, but only a view have seen it.
Mind Work Ramps keeps washing out the good-stuff-only-happens-abroad mentality from our pessimistic minds. First they built these Street League plazas around Riga in the last couple of years: a feat that startles all of the used-to-skate skaters from the ply wood park era. And, in 2020 they went even further and built this futuristic urban space in Kaunas, Lithuania. This spot became “the first ever urban area in the Baltics designed and built with action sports enthusiasts in mind”. We can only hope that this will become a trend in the future.
Barax Gawn
Situated right in the heart of the city, around 1.675 square meters of perfect concrete flat, served as a meeting spot home to skateboarders from Riga and periphery for the last 10 years. The spot got dubbed Berrics by the founding fathers as a tribute to the famous American super skatepark. But Latvian Berrics were not so polished and not so gentrified. Hence, the name morphed into a more appropriate version that reflected its character. Berrics turned into Beriki, Barraki, Barankas, Berliki and finally Barix and the most common—Barax.
Barax DIY, as it was called on the pages of Confusion Mag, was a minimalistic spot. It wasn’t overbuilt. Ledge, flatbar, quarter, pyramid, manny pad—these few constructions would blend perfectly in the sea of flat that the Barax essentially was. In addition, the notorious Barax gap, which if kickflipped, granted a pass to newcomers, served as proving grounds for rehearsed flatground maneuvers. A slappy curb in front of the judgmental benches opened a view on the whole spot. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. In fact, it was everything a skater needed.
It is a miracle that a place like that even existed. It was a piece of land detached from civilization, but in its center at the same time. A little escape from the city in 2 minute cruise from it. A magical place that will be missed big time.
The word that Rainer Kaur was filming Unity reached us early in 2020. We saw the first teasers and even made some plans for collaboration. Rainer wanted to come to Riga to film and we wanted to go to Tallinn and make an Overboard episode about his filming process. Of course, all of our plans got destroyed due to Covid restrictions, but Rainer kept filming nevertheless and finished his project by the end of the year.
Enjoy the video if you still haven’t and read a small interview with Rainer, the creator, and Meelis, the main star of the film, below.
How come Meelis has so many clips in Unity?
Rainer: This kid with his energy, stacking clips easy on a daily bases. I think there wasn’t a day Meelis didn’t get anything
Meelis: Kid? Man, I’m 23! haha yes, I think I had a time when I was addicted to clips, because for me there were many new spots. The spots were new because I’m not local in Tallinn, I just moved to Tallinn in spring. I only have seen spots in Estonian street videos. So all the time I thought what can I do on these spots.
Which vids did you watch? And which Estonian videos inspired you guys?
M: My all time favorite filmer is Herman Aadamso. I like his style and of course he’s a overall good guy! Really like his edits of Rain Lindemann in the streets!
R: All time favorites are Antti and Ranno! They both killed the most of the OG street skating back in the day.
M: Annti and Ranno for sure! OG Estonian VX filmers!
Meelis with his signature. Photo: Rainer Kaur
So, you Meelis would get clips every session, were there any tricks that you battled for longer? M: Fuck man, I can’t even remember. Did they really came so easy? Rainer, refresh my mind.
R: The power ollie from Pirita spot [editor’s note: the trick on the cover photo]. You only started committing when the security came finally.
M: I did it with the guard and in the dark and everything! It was mental, but easy.
R: The guy was actually chill. But he got pissed after the second try when Meelis ignored him and I started filming again.
What’s a power ollie? M: Tail drop?
R: I guess it has many names. Power ollie is what men call it haha.
What do you guys like more line of singles? I really like the line with 5-0 fs shove that Meelis did. It showed more of that spot. R: Lines. They look nice and you can make good cuts and edits to pump it up.
M: Yea, I think I can say lines also because I like to look at spots a bit differently than I have seen in the videos you know?
R: With lines you can see more and also the trail the skater picks and how he does it.
Did COVID impact filming? R: Didn’t really impact to be honest. Or maybe even better. Less people around.
M: I can say really early in the spring police almost wanted to fine me because we weren’t following the rules. Rainer remember?
R: Oh yeah that, there was some suss at some point, but after that was chill. I even talked to the police woman to give Meelis a last warning, they where so ready to write a fine. But eventually we got away with a warning. That was the only encounter with the police we had.
M: Yeppp!! FOTY! taking care of his skaters.
A nose bonk in the end of a line. Photo: Lauri Täht
Meelis, it looked like you had a lot of outfits. Every clip in a new kit almost. How important are outfits for a skate video?
M: One shop- HUMANA! But yeah it is a hard question. It depends… If you aren’t a try-hard then it’s okay. If it makes sense hahaha. But of course baggy pants before skinny. Baggy makes tricks look better.
R: If you know what you are doing, then cool man, other than that it’s not important. Different styles from different people. The outfits usually come with style and the way they skate.
Watching the video I notice a few scenes with GIN cans. Is GIN preferred drink of choice for Estonian skaters? R: One was non alcoholic!
M: Mine was non-alcoholic. I was the driver, so. . . but Rainer liked to get fucked up sometimes.
During filming? M: Yeah, when the days were long.
R: Yes, we did lots of filming. I got thirsty, so had some beers to keep the fuel up.
Filmer got to stay fueled up. I wanted to ask you guys about support and motivation. Not a lot of videos come out in Estonia and the Baltics in general. What do you think, what are the main reasons for that? Do people need more support, or no one cares about filming street parts etc? R: Could be a lot of reasons, the fact that there is always almost no support is a main issue. But I think it will get better in the future.
M: Yep, that’s the one thing. I believe Instagram has also something to do with it unfortunately.
R: People would be more into making videos and films if the time they spent on it is given back somehow, but there are more hardcore people who do it for love and passion.
Unity premiere
How was the premiere? M: Yep, we did a premiere, and there were plenty of people actually.
R: Yeah, event was fun a chill, something to keep your mind off being busy and just having a nice time with the skate community.
What’s next? Do you both have plans for 2021? R: More skate clips and videos. Also more skating if possible. I need to buy a decent bag for all the equipment I have that I should use.
M: Yes, I’m buying a camera. Wanna make my own skate videos again! Also, whatever projects are coming: I’m in!
Shout out to all the outdoor skaters who still pretend it’s summer. Who knows maybe we will all join you soon, as indoors might close their doors. Imagine what kind of winter that would be. We would probably have to re-learn all of our tricks next spring like back in 2005.
But according to your clips, indoor facilities have no intentions of slowing down, and this month we start to blend indoor clips in the mix with street ones. Still trying to maintain a healthy balance, but it won’t last long.
