“Next year!” NOVEMBER 2018 LINKS

November is the month of transition into winter. In the beginning of the month we were still skating outside, and now it is so cold that even the Tunnel™is a bit extreme. Our November report, which you can watch above, shows this transition pretty well: last LNB sessions with an unfinished line left for next year, Fricis skating in Stockholm’s parking lots and subways, and Riga heads skating G-Tiim indoor while it is snowing outside. The odd one out here is Pavel with a line from Barcelona, fucker skates in a T-Shirt and is completely indifferent to our meteorological struggles. Well good for him.

November also transitions into the end of the year, which mean conclusions must be drawn. The most authoritative conclusion making organization in Skateboarding: aka the Bible, aka Thrasher, is going to conclude the Skater of The Year shortly. While they are on it, we are celebrating the SOTY nomination of our favorite pro: Madars Apse! It is absolutely insane that our friend is a SOTY contender. Although Madars didn’t get in the final 8 nominees it is still extremely rad! There is always next year.

In other news:

Riga skateboarders probably have seen this weird baggy dude freely drifting the streets. Mostly seen at the Museum and in Barona skatepark. Well, his name is G, he skates with one of a kid style and makes videos. He tends to post them to facebook and delete shortly after. So make sure you catch his latest video below. Also his facebook page is called WAATE, give it follow. And say “What’s up!” to him when you see him skate next year.

Arturs Bogdanovičs compiled clips he filmed this year into one video. Some park clips slipped in there, hopefully next year we will get a full street part from him! Also don’t miss his website.

Hugo Berziņš and his crew released a video called SEMIRAW 3 which I assume was filmed this summer. Again, same as Boga, dudes chill way too much in the parks. Riga streets are bored with seeing same old faces they need some new blood, go and film in the city next year.

Check out his psychedelic video from a young Riga sk8 crew called Upperground skateboarding! The kids are alright I guess. Next year they are going to go harder etc.

Estonians Romario Simmer and Aleksandr Tubin been killing it on that raail in that skatepark! Romario is on some next level already. He doesn’t even remember how many tries it takes him to do his tricks. Those guys did so many tricks on this raail that next year there will be no tricks for them to do anymore, and they will have to skate a ledge or something. In that case raail will take a rest or even retire. I wonder does that raail have a name?

Lithuanian homies have been doing a game of skate championship too, in Kablys skatepark/nightclub. What can I say about it? It is definitely much tidier and better organized than our championship. They have sponsors, they have TWO cameras, and more importantly lights. They are even not lazy to write the names of tricks. The only downside they upload it strictly to Facebook! Other than that shit is pretty top-notch over there! So maybe next year we can make our championship a bit better too. Here is one game with our favorite Lithuanian skateboarder Kelvinas Litvinas.

Transworld skateboarding has posted our video! This is an NBD for RAJON! So hyped. Maybe next year we can get into the mag too? To celebrate this occasion here is a little video of Fricis Štrauss and the battle he went through to score the ender!

#RAJONTOP10 November winner is Deividas Barkauskas! Congrats G. He is going to get a RAJON t-shirt! RAJONTOP10 is a monthly countdown of best tricks! If you got some tricks you can tag @rajontv in your posts. In December we accept indoor tricks too.

This is it for November! The year is almost over, so finish everything you have started, don’t leave any unfinished business for next year and happy Holidays!

Upcoming Events:
Make sure to visit Pis Taisni video premiere this Friday 7th of December at Nemiers. Unfortunatelly Leticia, Curren and Malto can’t make it, but you guys can, right?

Band NeimoM is presenting their debut album in Lokal House this Saturday 8th of December. Front man Martiņš Neimanis has a mean 360 flip!

December 1, 2018December 1, 2018

RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2 [ROUND 2 GAME 1]

Round two of the game of skate championship is here! Tunnel™ enthusiast Roberts Krums is playing against a man of thousand words — Emils Metlans. The guys were the only brave contestants who wanted to play in the Tunnel™, other refused or just didn’t show up. No one blames them, as Tunnel™ is not the most chill place to skate. However, back in the day dudes used to skate in this Tunnel™ every winter, and they were lucky. Others had wait for -10° because then you were sure it was dry outside. Times were rough unlike nowadays!

Major shout out to the supporters of RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP:

CLOKWISE SKATESHOP TIKARI SKATESHOP COMMUNE DIY

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018

#RAJONTOP10 – November 2018

Here at RajonTV office we back full length videos 100%! Your trendy instagram clips and pigeon dick sized edits are cool an all, but fuck them! Full length is where it is all at. Did you notice how many full length videos came out this year? Well, Converse – Purple, Quasi – Mother, Etnies – Album, Fountation – Souvenir, Polar – We Blew It, Element – Peace, GX1000 – Roll Up, Girl – Doll, Bronze56K – It’s time, Supreme – Blessed etc. This only proves that full video are making a greater impact and should be produced. Full length videos have longevity and are generally more interesting to watch. When friends release a video we are stocked and FULLY support that!

So for this month’s top ten we pay a tribute to Fully Ghetto Gang and their latest video “Needle in the Heist“. This is a Fully Ghetto edition! Video had many dope tricks and it was hard to include everyone, but here are some tricks that stocked us out during the premiere in Riga!

We are giving a Rajon T-Shirt to Deividas Barkauskas for stomping that heelflip which got him the first place in the top!

Next month probably going to run an indoor edition, it is quite cold outside for skateboarding, also stay tuned for the game of skate tomorrow. Have a dope friday everyone

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018

#lvskatenostalgia: Latvians at Big 4

Barcelona’s Macba Big 4 used to be one of the most famous gaps in the world. Its convenient location, no bust, appearance in countless videos, virtually unlimited run-up and roll-away made it into an iconic world-famous spot. Back in the 2000s Barcelona was the main destination for filming trips, and Big 4 was an obligatory visit. Spot wise it was basically a very good-looking drop, and back then drops and gaps were very important. People filmed there a lot, and Big 4 appeared almost in every video. Pros were eager to show off their sack capacities, and Macba Big 4 was one of the finest places to do it.

And now imagine to see one of your friends skate there, and actually pull of a trick at a legendary spot like that? Pff . . . dope! For a small scene like ours, any trick done at a world famous spot is a banger! And recently Mr.Boga did a halfcab heel at Macba which made me thinking: what were some other tricks Latvians did at that spot? Of course there were some. Latvian homies, like the rest of the world, have traveled a bunch to the capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, and some of them managed to land some tricks down that yellow four stair, Madars even did some NBDs.

The frist time I remember seeing this spot in a Latvian skatevideos was in Sea Side Sk8’s Legalize. There a younger Rudolfs Baltiņš tossed himself down the marble beast, slammed a bunch of times, and as I could see in the video he didn’t make it. This trick was in the slam section of the video. It still caught those times when slam sections were a thing in videos.

After that Macba big 4 was spotted on the cover of Latvian Thrasher – Triecienspeks magazine issue 7! It was Jazeps Podnieks with his signature trick at the time – early grab cannonball. It looked perfect for the cover. Jazeps was not only perfectly caught midair by Maksims Kalaneps, he was also wearing sunglasses, smiling in the frame and had Hello Africa written on his board. All of these elements made a hippy induced cover, which probably boosted the sales of the mag that month.

It was a bit of a struggle to find the video of this trick. Shout out to Niks Kolosovskis who filmed it. As far as he remembers this clip was not used in any edit or video.

This clip of Jazeps represents the spot pretty well. I also asked Niks wheather he tried anything there? “I tried a fakie varial flip” Niks replied. For anyone who remembers his heydays it is not even a suprise, and also his fakie varial flip is legendary.

Also that same issue of Tricienspeks, as far as I am concerned, had another photo from Macba, this time it was Karlis Bogustovs with a trick only he could do back than – a tucknee.

Karlis Bogustovs same session with Jazeps. Photo – Maksims Kalaneps

This was the pre-smart phone era, and nobody filmed this trick. At least Karlis doesn’t remember anyone filming it. He has one early grab filmed at Big 4. Also film credit to Niks Kolosovskis.

Then Madars went to Barcelona. . .

Ender in Maksims Kalaneps’ Good Times video 2009?

This perfect bs 360 is retrieved from Maksims Kalaneps’ Good Times video, which I didn’t manage to find on YouTube. There are too many skate videos called Good Times. It is probably the most used title for a skate video, along with Locals Only and Concrete Jungle. Anyway, I have uploaded it and here is the link. Madars was already really good back then, but after seeing this bs 360 it was clear that he is more serious about his skating than the rest.

And then Madars moved to Barcelona. . .

This nollie bs 360 from Madars’ part in the Vans video that no one has ever seen. It was the Vans Euro video called 1966 and Madars had a part in it. He organized the premiere in Riga and it was one of the frist international video appearances by Madars, and we were stocked on it.

360 shove-it from Element Get Busy Living video

Madars had the openning part in Element’s Get Busy Living video. And this 360 shove-it was stomped in the middle of the part. Back in 2012 360 shove-its were cool for some reason and I believe this was an NBD at the spot. Sick.

The spot is a bit smaller now, meaning there is less risk to break yourself there. However, nowdays people skate so good that all possible tricks were done just in one session.

There must be some other people who skated Big 4, if you know anything let us know.

words by: Ed Gaba

GAME OF SKATE INFO:

SECOND ROUND FIRST EPISODE IS COMING ON SATURDAY!

ROBERTS KRUMS VS EMILS METLANS!

November 23, 2018November 23, 2018

Fully Ghetto video premiere in Riga

Despite being ghetto, the Fully Ghetto crew showed some pretty good organisational skills and managed to come over to Riga in full cast for the premiere of their latest video. „Needle in the Heist” is more than just a funky video title; there is an idea behind it which shows the attitude these guys have towards their craft: they are quite serious about it. So serious they came to Riga to show it, which is the first time in recent, maybe whole, Baltic skate history when a video gets outside the home country for a premiere. Which is a positive change in our clicky scenes. Instead of keeping it all to themselves they came here hosted a best trick session at G-tiim (shout out to Valera), showed their film and partied with us till the morning. And this is just the beginning of this tradition; it will continue! More Baltic contests, premieres and collaborations. We are so small we need to unite and make it together! So thank you Fully Ghetto for bringing good mood to Riga!

We talked a bit with Domanats, the guy behind the video, before the premiere about his skating, filming and Fully Ghetto.

Fully Ghetto guys would like to thank Commune DIY and 14 Skateshop for helping them along the way!

The Full Needle in the Heist video is here too.

Follow the Fully Ghetto guys:

Žygimantas Rudys Domantas Antanavičius Lukas Matusevičius Deividas Barkauskas Oskaras Šimkūnas Dovydas Jucys Edisonas Gridziuška Ernestas Zinkevičius Kelvinas Litvinas

November 22, 2018

RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2 [ROUND 1 GAME 16]

RajonTV Game of Skate CHAMPIONSHIP 2 first round is over! It was a wild ride with some of the best skaters in Latvia showing their phenomenal flatground abilities, strategic thinking and ķilis. And to close the first round we have two more guys, who are not a bit less talented as the rest of our contestants. In fact, these two were even beefing online about who is cooler and whose tricks are better. These two are: Clockwise Skateshop’s rider Niklavs Vetra and G-Tiim skatepark papa Krišjanis Kalvans! Enjoy the game!

GAME COMMENTS

It was pretty obvious from the start that Niklavs had a good skating day. He nailed everything and was on his way to a flawless victory, however, Kalvans’ experience kicked in and he got some tricks after all.

Exhibit A – Krišjanis with that pressure move

Niklavs on the other hand settled on some unconventional tricks like ss fs 360 shove and ss bigspin heel, these tricks are fresh for our games, something still unexplored. Also Niklavs landed a nollie fs 360 shove. Normally this trick looks awful and should not ever be done, however, in this case it was surprisingly good. Well done!

Exhibit B – a good-looking nollie 360 shove?

And of course the closing trick in the game, Niklavs’ signature, fs shove late flip. What a great way to close of the first round!

The results of the first round are know and who is playing who in the second round can be seen in the brackets bellow! \m/

Stay tuned for upcoming games!

Clockwise skateshop has recently got some fresh Frank and Antiz boards. Check it out.

November 20, 2018

RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2 [ROUND 1 GAME 15]

Quick one between two sick dudes. No interviews, no bullshit just the game! You might remember Emils from last year, or heard his name associated with StraighForward Skateboards. He is a tech one, has all sorts of switch moves. And Janis is a laid-back dad with a relaxed style. He is a newcomer to the championship. Both of these guys don’t skate indoor that much, so a lot of slippedy stuff is coming! Unfortunately our last year location at Prisma Stoyanka is unattainable anymore, so indoors or underground tunnel it is. Btw if anyone has any suggestions for locations, would appreciate a lot!

Coming up next – the last game in the first ROUND:

KALVANS VS VETRA

November 15, 2018

RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2 [ROUND 1 GAME 14]

Don’t miss tomorrow FRIDAY 16th @Gtiim 19:00 – 21:00 BEST TRICK CONTETS and video PREMIERE from FULLY GHETTO GANG!

Oskars Berziņš, the guy we have never met before, but who was rumored to be really good, could not make it. So we invited another member of the Berziņš clan – Hugo Berziņš. Anyway, finally Hugo participates in RajonTV contests, the deserved it. Actually when the Championship was announced, some people were disappointed that Hugo was not invited, so here he is! By the way he is the guy behind HBD grip. As for Leon, he is a rad guy from Germany who is living in Riga at the moment. The two have never met prior to the game.

Game ANALYSIS!

The referee, Aleksis Sokolovs, was criticized for his decision to call out a redo on Leon’s fakie flip, which led to Leon’s missing the fakie flip and presumably losing the game. We do not encourage anyone to criticized our competent and always objective referees, although there is a room for discussions. In his defence Aleksis said “You think Hugo can’t do a fakie flip bled?” And he is right! Hugo can do a well-poped and high fakie flip, however in a game of skate every trick is vital and plays an important role. Maybe he would have miised that particular fakie flip same way Aleksis missed his kickflip which led to defeat. So many things could have been different if only that fakie flip was accepted, if only.

A lot of wll executed tricks in this game by Leon. Don’t know why this fakie bigspin seemed rad. The easier the rader.

As for Hugo, switch hardflip. A rare one in our games, especially done the way he did it. Looked like a regular hardflip, usually people do it Muska flip style.

Another great game is over, we are glad to announce that there are only two games left in the first round. NEXT WEEK:

EMILS METLANS VS JANIS RIJNIEKS
NIKLAVS VETRA VS KRIŠJANIS KALVANS

Also tomorrow FRIDAY 16th FULLY GHETTO BOYS are going to come to Riga to show their latest movie “Needle in the Heist” @GTIIM 19:00

November 14, 2018November 14, 2018

RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2 [ROUND 1 GAME 13]

“Was it fakie or nollie?”- Every skater has asked this quesrtion at least once, and watching this game you are also going to ask – was it switch or regular? As these two mix all stances when they flip their boards, Marks Voronenko and Linards Viksniņš, who is Tikari skate shop’s rider, skate together a lot and are quite familiar with each others tricks. The game result is unpredictable till the very end, and so far this is our favorite game in the second season. Enjoy.

Game ANALYSIS

Linards makes tricks look good. That is it!

More below. Kids take note!

Coming next – HUGO BERZIŅŠ VS LEON RUPPERT

November 12, 2018November 12, 2018

RAJONTV TOP 10 UPDATE

As you may know, we are making monthly Top 10 edits with your rad clips. We had one in July, August, September, October and now in November we want to upgrade it. From now on the trick that gets the 1st place will receive some prizes. In November we will give out Rajontv T-shirt.

What do you have to do?
Simply post your tricks and most likely we will see them. However, it would help if you tag @rajontv on instagram. Or send a DM.

What makes the cut?
In Rajontv Top 10 we post street clips of Baltic skaters – skateboarders who live in the Baltics or are from here and live abroad. We want to see recent clips filmed or posted this month. We don’t want to see stuff from your old part that everybody has already seen us included.