Video Review
Beers Bowls & Barneys
Thrasher Magazine, High Speed Productions
DVD. 2004

Beers Bowls & Barneys is an unbelievable video. Thrasher’s been sitting on all this prime footage for so long. I’ve seen some of this footage on clips on the internet and other Thrasher DVDs, but it’s nice to have it all in one place that I can just pop it in and watch. I can watch this video over and over and still not get bored of it.

Beers Bowls & Barneys is all backyard pool footage. Even though it says ‘Bowls’ there are no skatepark pools or any bowls whatsoever in this video. No pads, no parks, no rules. Just raw, rough, harsh-trannied, jagged edged pools and non-stop skating. Stairs, Death Boxes, and Loveseats. If that’s not your cup of tea, so be it. But, you can not deny the aggressive raw power of the skating in this video (a lot of which is lacking in skateboarding right now).

Some of the skaters that appear in the video are: Peter Hewitt, Al Partanen, Sam Hitz, Rune Glifberg, Neil Heddings, Shaggy, Ryan Johnson, Chet Childress, Pete Colpits, Cardiel, Royce Nelson, Dave Ruel, Tony Farmer, Darren Navarette, Tyco, The Greek, Texas Dan, Alex Horn, Bailey, the list goes on. Even Kale makes a small cameo. Some of the body slams these guys take in the video will leave you gasping for air. Some of the tricks these guys do on walls with little or no transition (and a whole lot of vert), will leave you in bewilderment going, ‘What the fuck?? How in the hell did they get up there, much less do that??’. That’s pool skating for you. In it’s simplest form it’s: carve, carve, grind, turn, carve, carve, grind, or perhaps more realistically: carve, carve, almost grind, turn, tile, carve, severe body packing. The skaters in this video really push the envelope. Instead of grind, insert either Backside boneless, Lipslide, Layback grind, or you know, Eggplant Fakie, something like that.

As an added bonus, the DVD includes some footage from Hellride’s New Zealand trip, which I think is a couple of years old. Phelps, Mark Hubbard, Julien, and others hit up the concrete parks out there. Good stuff.

Beers Bowls & Barneys a perfect 5 stars!