Here is the video clip we shot last winter to update folks on our movie progress. We pulled our temporary home page down and the clip had no where to live...
so here it is. PLAY

Posted by Colin Powers at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rolling Stone article on Skatopia will be out next week. If you haven't already, check out Travis Dove's photos (link below)

Look for a new video clip on the Rolling Stone website, too. http://www.rollingstone.com

Posted by Colin Powers at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Film Progress: weÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ve added a great editor and assistant editor, and really picked up the pace of editing. Special thanks to them for moving to Plattsburgh for the movie. The goal is to premiere at either Slamdance or Sundance Film Festival (Jan in Park City, Utah) or South by Southwest (March in Austin, TX).

WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡re pouring through tons of old footageÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ thanks to Charno, Dan Rea, Tom from El Destructo, Ryan Swisher from Rezzin, Indica and everyone else who sent us stuff. WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡re going to shoot some interviews with the Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡founding fathersÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ of Skatopia, in the next month or two. Speaking of which, if you run into Little Eddie from Grindline, give him a hard timeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ I guess heÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s scared of the cameraÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ but he was there right at the beginning & built a bunch of good stuff and we know you want his story in the movie!

Also, Travis Dove was shooting photographs at the bowl bash. He is a genius flying under the radar as a friendly, mild-mannered guy who mixes in with the crowd and takes his shot fast. But donÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t be fooled. If you havenÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t seen his stuff, check out his work at www.travisdove.com (for skatopia stuff go to stories / skaterats). TravisÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ pictures will be featured in the Rolling Stone feature article about Skatopia later this year.

Thanks also to the Edit Center in NYC, where students recently cut a bunch of scenes from the movie for their class. They gave us some great ideas.

Posted by Colin Powers at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry the blog has been so f'd up. Try a different browser if it looks all messed up on your main browser.

We'll work on the programming to clean it up and get all our old blog posts restored (they're lost like bodies in the woods around Skatopia.)

Later

Posted by Colin Powers at 09:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back from Bowl Bash XIII. We were a little surprised to find ourselves down on the farm with a camera crew & our trusty pop-up camper yet again, especially after blitzing the 2006 Bowl Bash with an army of cameras, but there we were Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ sweating in the Meigs county heat, peeing in the woods and wearing the same dusty socks every day. We came to shoot the Independent Team attacking the bowls, but they were more interested in SkatopiaÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s unholy trinity of cars, fire and alcohol.

And never sell Meigs County short. It may be the middle of nowhere, but itÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s a crazy-beautiful place with great people. We swam in ponds & drove the back roadsÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ people we ran into were always happy to stop and chat. Elbow room Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ that pretty much sums it up.

Posted by Colin Powers at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have escaped the Skatopia vortex, at least physically, and have landed in a cold wintry place that seems like the opposite of Meigs County. Colin is working at PBS while Laurie is holed up in the edit bay, sorting through gazillion tapes and starting to edit.

We are psyched to be getting tons of video from Tim Clark, who has shot the place for the last 10 years or so. The band Rezzin, who played at BrewceÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s First Party Ever(!) is sending us their old footage, too. Thanks to all the others who have sent their old footage or crazy mayhem shots. If it doesnÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t make it into the film, thereÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s plenty of room in the DVD extrasÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡

Anyone else who has old stuff, you can make the film better by sending it on. WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll copy it and send it right back. WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡re hoping to submit the film to festivals near the end of 2007.

WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡re sad to be gone, but upstate New York is pretty cool. Like the north pole but without the penguins.

Just think, now you can go to Skatopia and no one will point a camera with two mics and a bright-ass light in your faceÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡. till we get back.

Skatopia lives on in our 3 year old son Liam, who walks around without a shirt saying Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡I look like Brewce!Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ and who brings his toy cars to Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡NickÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s garageÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ to get fixed after they get Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡stuginthemudÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡. He also thinks that firemen shoot fire out of their hoses, not water. You can send money for his future therapy.

Brewce, Brandon and the CIA guys finished up 2006 with a big POUR and a big BURN. First a sick addition got poured around the Lula Bowl thanks to awesome December weather, major Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡crete fund contributions and a serious work party. Then we heard someone gave the CIA a nice Christmas Present of a CAR to BURN, which made for a very Merry Fire IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡m sure. But we missed itÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡

Posted by Colin Powers at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As Brewce's new T-shirts proclaim, "CAMERAS INVADE APPALACHIA". (Order one through www.skatopia.org) For the 11th annual Bowl Bash, we had 17 camera people, serious audio guys recording the bands, production assistants and so on... and food catered by Millies. Most people were nice to the crew, a few weren't, but they probably weren't being nice to anyone else either. A few broken cameras, a bruised ego or two and one ninja K.O... but whatever... we got awesome, awesome footage - motocross jumps over the lula bowl, sick bands, triple XXX skating by visitors & CIA agents, and the usual chaos that criss-crossed the line of "barely controlled".

We lost 3 camera guys to the party by the second night. Suddenly, we were shooting our own crew in the mosh pit & skating the bowls! Many stayed up and worked for almost 72 hours straight. They came from all points of the compass... California, Wisconsin, New York, Oregon, Chicago, Philly, and a bunch from Athens. Everyone added something unique and it was a super-cool group. THANK YOU!

It's a weird responsibility to take something like this and record it for the rest of the world to see. How much exposure is good & how much is bad for Skatopia? Most of Skatopia's media exposure in the past has been fun, but usually hyped the same Skatopia myths. Looking beyond the myths at the reality is always trickier. We'll try to do it justice.

We're starting to get serious about editing now. For all of those who have offered footage of Skatopia from the past, we really appreciate it. If we screwed up getting back to you, its because we were too busy shooting (same reason we've been so slow on new vidclips.) We're setting in to work on Skatopia history now - so let us know if you have anything for us...

We'll get a bunch of stills from the party up in the next few days and follow up with some good vidclips.

Thanks for the support. Hit that link on the "Hooked Up" page for our new stickers!

Posted by Colin Powers at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're in the last week of Brewce's incarceration. He's been giving everybody at the farm big lists of stuff to do before the spring party. The lists go on and on... there are 37 bands already booked, PA equipment to be secured, ramps to be fixed, a bonfire to build, etc, etc. Most important: there is concrete to be poured. I put down my camera last week to spend a long day setting templates in the new expanded bowls around the Lula Bowl. They'll be 5 - 6' deep with a spine between them. One will wrap around the shallow end of the Lula and turn into a mini-halfpipe. The other side will be decided by the whims of the workers who show up to shape it. It's your chance to help create a skatepark!

Come out on June 1 & 2 for a major work-party to shoot 'crete in these new bowls! ANYONE WITH 'CRETE FINISHING SKILLS IS ESPECIALLY NEEDED!!!! . If you can't make it, send a donation for the 'crete fund. You can do it at the skatopia website: www.skatopia.org

Posted by Colin Powers at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This story began long before we started filming. Brewce was arrested in early 2005 after getting in a Thanksgiving brawl in Parkersburg, WV. It was over a girlÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ He was essentially jumped by three guys (and a mom) who came to the fight with nun-chucks and a baseball bat. He grabbed the bat (from the mom) and fought back. After he left, the family called the cops. Two months later, the warrants were served.

Anyway, for all of 2005, things are on hold. Brewce's lawyer says "It's cool. You've got a good case Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ self-defense." Brewce plays it all down to usÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ and to his friends.

Jury trial happens in Feb 2006. They throw out a lot of trumped up charges (felonies) and acknowledge that Brewce didnÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t bring the weapons to the fight. ButÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ they want to punish him for his side of the fightÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ (no mention of punishing the other fighters !?!) so they convict him of two misdemeanors.

What does this mean? Well, got to wait for the sentencing hearing on April 10, 2006. Brewce and his lawyer still have some appeals to try out and some alternative sentencing requests.

April 10: I ride with Brewce to see what is up with this. 8:45 am. HeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s in suit jacket and clean pants. WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡re blazing north in the fully graffiti-covered Skatopia mini-van with a broken CV joint vibrating like a motherÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Half way to court, I say, Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡So, is there some possibility that you might not be riding home today?Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Well, itÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s a possibility, but IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ve already talked to the parole lady and sheÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s going to hook me up with a three-day a week deal. That way I can still get the farm ready for the Bowl Bash. IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll just go in to jail on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ OK.

I go into the court with my camera. A burly guard gives me shit for having an Oregon license and a Philly address on my business card. WonÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t let me film. I sit in the back of the court. Only BrewceÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s mom and baseball bat mom are there. First thing. The Judges says, Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡No alternative sentencing.Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Then, Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡No appeals are relevant to this caseÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Brewce starts scribbling notes on the back of an envelope. Judge says, Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡There is more than enough blame to go around in this case. It is significant that Mr. Martin did not bring the weapons to the fightÔø‡Ôø‡¦âÔø‡Ôø‡ etc, blah, blah, blah. You are sentenced to two consecutive sixty day jail terms. Lawyer: Can he have a day to get his affairs in order? Judge: No. Brewce is emptying his pockets. IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡m going whoa! Why canÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t I film!!!!! Bailiff is snapping cuffs on Brewce. IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡m going whoa!!!! Brewce is giving me this funny kind of smile like he wants to crack up. Later I learn heÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s trying to send me telepathic message to run around to the side door where theyÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll take him outÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ but my brain is not receiving properly. IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡m busy thinking Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡Our film is so f***Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡d up now. The Bowl Bash is our big event this year. AhhhhÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡

I go out in hot sun dazed and shoot his momÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s reaction: Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡You got to admit, he had a bad case of the dumbass driving over there that night.Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ The lawyer gives me the key to the ragged-ass van. It's got no gas. I put a few bucks in and coax that broken CV joint back to Skatopia going 25 mph uphill on the highway and coasting down. Holy shit. No-one even knows yet. Not even Brandon!

Posted by Colin Powers at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Note: Thanks to general crazyness, we are posting this blog wayyy late.]

We've moved to Meigs County, OH... 2 miles from the dreaded Skatopia. We've rented a 185 year old house on a giant hilltop farm covered in junk cars, school buses and other broken metal stuff. Our first week we hit a deer on the way to town and destroyed our mini-van grille - the Meigs-icans loved that. Since then, the suspension has been getting beat to crap driving over the gravel roads and the doors got frozen shut because of Skatopia dirt working itself into in the latches.

But we LIIIIIKE it. (as our kid says)

Life is good, but we can't escape our work... now we're on call 24/7 to run down the road with the camera and get the latest crazyness on film (tape actually.) It is exhausting, but at least we don't have Brewce on the phone saying "you should have been here... you missed it!" Now he's on the phone saying, "get over here!"

We're psyched... the season begins...

Posted by Colin Powers at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out "Skate Na Veia" on Fuel TV Monday night (3/13) at 8:30 and 11:30pm. Jon Humphries travelled the globe shooting underground skating. One of his last stops was last fall's Backwoods Bash. If you were there, they were the guys with the serious camera and serious lights (thanks Jon, Greg, & Ike) that made for the brightest Epcot Bean footage ever. I don't know how much of the film is devoted to Skatopia, but it is sure to be cool. From the little bit we've seen, it looks like Jon and cinematographer Greg Schmidt came up with an amazing look for the piece.

Watch the trailer here: http://www.divx.com/movies/detail.php?movieID=123&cID=6

Fuel TV gave Jon & 9 other filmmakers $100,00 each to shoot their dream film. Corey Adams won another cool million to make his film a feature. Here's that story: http://www.globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?Id_news=20090

Here's the blurb from the divx site:
This documentary captures the soul of skateboarding by documenting some of the most intriguing personalities and stories in the sport. From the skate scene in Russia to the inspirational story of polio stricken Og de Souza, Skate Ne Veia exposes a dimension of skateboarding that few have witnessed... Featured boarders include Steve Berra, Diego Bucchieri, Danny Way, Lance Mountain, Sage Bolyard, Paul Fujita, Nate Broussard, Paul Rodriguez, Josh Falk and many more.

Posted by Colin Powers at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just got back from shooting the Skatopia/CIA skate team at the Evolution Skatepark Bowl Jam in Canton, OH. ItÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s got a killer wooden bowl built by Team Pain, two hips, 10 foot deep end, lots of speed lines. The CIA guys dominated Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ a skatopia jihad as their shirts say Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Brandon, Busta, Morgan, and Dan took 4 out of the top 5 place in Expert. Adam took second in intermediate. Brandon raged consistently, high, and every grab in the book. I donÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t know how he can hit so many airs back to back. Dan stuck a backside ollie to disaster onto the extension after the judges had already walked awayÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ MorganÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s layback revert was pretty old school for someone only 12. Busta pulled a sick cliff hanger/gorilla grab off the metal beam that I think won best trick. He also made killer trophies: mounted Sasquatch heads with eyes that lit up Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ no hunting season on them in Ohio.

Brewce is shipping the new Draven Skatopia shoe to skaters worldwide. Using the proceeds to buy more concrete, rebar, gravelÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ all that good stuff that makes Skatopia work. Finally got myself a pairÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ now IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡m wearing them out doing everything but skating.

And our son no longer says Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡fuck youÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡, but all the way home from Canton we did have to listen to him saying Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡I named BrewceÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡. Whoa.

Over the next season, weÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll be living down there & shooting the stuff that happens. Next fall and winter weÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll be editing. WeÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll keep new stuff coming on the web site up until the movieÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s release, and we wonÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t give the ending away!

Also, weÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡d like to thank the academy for recognizing usÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡whoops, got ahead of myself. But we do want to thank everyone who got us footage and stills to help get this web site up. Dan Rea from PoolsnPipes.com gave us footage of Brewce and photos of the bowls at Skatopia. We got flying car footage from Mikie Swartz at WhiplashDVD.com and Turtle flying OFF the car from Chris Gomez with the Old Skars & Upstarts Tour. And finally, our awesome and talented friend Raegan Kelly made this web site happen. Thank you Raegan.

DonÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t forget: Buy Skatopia shoes, shirts, decks Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ contribute for more concrete! www.skatopia.org.

Posted by Colin Powers at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The epic June party was coming up, so we committed ourselves to shooting the party without ever visiting Skatopia. We were paying for this ourselves, so our crew consisted of one camera guy and ourselves (Laurie & Colin). We also brought our son Liam (15 months old) and his babysitter. Yes, we did have second thoughts about bringing a young, pretty babysitter & our small child to Skatopia, based on the stuff weÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡d heard about it. Not much choice however. We found a pop-up trailer (Camp Documentary) and headed off. We made it very clear to our nanny and camera person Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ we donÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t know how many hours youÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll have to work, we donÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t know if the rumors about rape and guns, etc are true, and we donÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t know if youÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll be able to shower or where youÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ll be able to take a shit.

Upon arriving, we scored one and lost one. We did have the cameras out right from the start (score one for camp documentary Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ something is always happening at Skatopia!), but we didnÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t make it all the way up the gravel driveway (minus one for camp documentary and ColinÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s manhood, since he was driving). We looked out to see Brewce Martin - amidst a pack of howling pitbulls and mutts Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ cackling at the city slickers stuck on the gravel drive.

Brewce was a great host. Despite his reputation as a wild man he kindly helped us find the best spot to park our trailer so that the baby could occasionally get some sleep. He also took great delight in telling us when our cameras missed something great. 88 acres & 2 cameras. Sorry Brewce.

We had arrived not really knowing if we were going to find pure evil or if there would even be a story there. But we left really, really psyched about the film. We knew we could make a film that would be a totally hot film for skaters but also a great movie even if youÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡d never touched a board.

And though we didnÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t know it at the time, we all left changed personally. In fact, during the next week, I made several really unsafe driving decisions and briefly took up smoking. Our son came back saying Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡gitÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ and Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡fuck youÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡. But mostly, Skatopia was a big bucket of cold bracing water in our faces Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ a reminder to live and not just to exist.

Well, thatÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡s enough history for now.

Posted by Colin Powers at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Colin Powers writes:
In Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡94 I moved to Oregon and had to check out the infamous Burnside. A concrete vert park built by skaters on abandoned city land, how cool. Went with my old skate buddy, Peter. (We built a whole bunch of driveway ramps in Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡76 and Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡77 and then a halfpipe in Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡78 as soon as we saw the first Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡RampageÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ pipe in Skateboarder.) So Pete and I skated Burnside like the old guys that we were, trying to find lines that didnÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡t involve ollies or dropping in.

There was this guy absolutely tearing the place to pieces Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ finding high speed lines everywhere, hitting inverts and super-long grinds. Seemed like he knew everyone there, but when he saw our old school boards we started talking. Pretty high energy guy.

Turned out he was from West Virginia, doing a big west coat trip. Living out of some shitty little car with his kid who was about 8 and skating around with oversize pads. Had a young looking girlfriend, too, I think. He wrote out his name on a piece of brown shopping bag Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ Brewce Martin. Said he had a farm with some big ramps in Appalachia Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ next time I was in the area, I should check it out. I thought, yeah. right.

Over the years IÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡d kind of bump into that piece of paper, in an old wallet, desk drawersÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ always kind of laughed at the Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ewÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡. Finally lost that scrap.

In spring of Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡05, Laurie and I were talking about new documentary ideas and I wondered out loud what ever happened to BrewceÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡sitting at the computer... I googledÔø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡ holy shit! Ôø‡Ôø‡¦âÔø‡¦âÔø‡Ôø‡skatopia!

.

Posted by Colin Powers at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)