Manboys in the Park

Press play above, and feel free to ignore the rest of this writing:

Old friend, Robjn Taylor, who I've also known for a long time, just finished this edit of from up in the park on Blackcomb this January. It's titled Shakespeare in the Park and features some vintage Manboys from the Crapneto days shredding in non-vintage form. There are whirly birds with several go-arounds, rail bonks, back (and probably front!) side boardslides, Shakespeare, a spoon and more!

Manboys

Robjn Taylor
Andre Benoit
Mark Sollors
Geoff Brown

Also Looking Good

Matt Belzile
Logan Haubrich
Jeremy Lafrance
Matt Sedunary
Jesse Millen
Ryan Tiene

Better Looking Than The Above

Jaime Kerrigan

Rah Rah, Rahgina

Rah Rah is a Canadian band from Regina. I hadn't heard of them before seeing this new album, "The Poet's Dead" show up yesterday in my feed. The album was released a day before that, on October 2nd. Now I'm going to have to dig up their two older albums and a couple of EPs.

The songs on this album are a mix up between male and female leading vocals for various songs, and I like it that way. It makes the album almost feel like a mixtape more than a series of songs by the same band, even though the style is pretty consistent. Well then, that's the extent of the review you're going to see here. You'll have to head somewhere else for an adjective riddled review about prose and poise.

Oh, Wikipedia had this to say...

Rah Rah was named ‘Best Alternative New Artist’ and ‘Best New Canadiana Artist’ in iTunes Best of 2009 list. Rah Rah headlined the Whistler Live! stage during the 2010 Paralympic Games and performed at the Saskatchewan Pavilion. The group has been noted for their energetic live shows which often feature Pop Rocks candy and confetti.
— Wikipedia

He's new here and his name is Tom Nugent

willis01.jpg

Good friend, drinking buddy, music lover and all around Top Shelf Human, Tom Nugent is joining Love & Rum. He'll be heading out with his camera to document music being played and alcohol being drank around Vancouver. Look at that damned photo of Willis Earl Beal above. Fantastic stuff, my man. Expect more like that real soon.

​His personal site, tomnugent.ca can be found here.

Don't know Willis Earl Beal? Watch this video below. The boy's got chops!​

Dave Lee and Tim Ostler will Make You Happy Today

​Holy shit! That's the best way to start this one off. Signal founder and ex pro-shred, Dave Lee got together with a bunch of awesome people (including a quick cameo from old friend and hero, Jason Brown) to create this magical adaptive snowboarding device for Tim Ostler. 

No failures. Just bumps in the road.

When you watch the video, you'll learn that Tim used to be a pro snowboarder back in the 1990s, but in the early 2000s had an accident riding halfpipe and was ​paralyzed. To get Tim back on the shred, Signal Snowboards and Crankbrothers Mountain Bike Components teamed up to build a brand new adaptive snowboard concept. Just watching the guys, you can see how exciting this project was, and I hope it's just the beginning for them. Just watch the video.

I was lucky enough to become friends with Dave Lee and J. Brown through snowboarding. Haven't seen the boys in ages, but seeing this made me miss them and that life. Both of them are some of the most quality and creative individuals in the snowboard world.

While it's damned amazing, it's not a surprise that Dave Lee would be the driving force behind this. I never knew Tim Ostler, but I definitely had a magazine cut out of him on my door when I was a young shred back in Ontario, dreaming of moving to Whistler.​ Eventually I escaped high school and made the move. Through putting down too many frontboards and nosepresses, I was able to hook up with these guys and had some of the best years of my life. 

Dammit, that's some fine work, gents!