Rain City Shred Chronicles: The VHS Tapes

[bustinjustin]

Hello Modified,
This is the start of a long video project I have coming out that I am turning into a video series event. For years Ricky and I were taping our sessions and tournaments and copying our good stuff to VHS so we could watch our progress and work on our game. We have been watching these videos for years and I have finally had the time to make them available for everyone's enjoyment. I have about 2 hours of VHS tapes that I will be turning into 5-8 (ideally) minute videos. So I have about 15 videos coming. I have the first 3 completely done and I am going to release a new video every Sunday night for the next ~15 weeks.
It begins...

The first video is from Las Vegas Jam 04, an event that was highly documented. This video is from our perspective. We video taped the whole thing as it was Ricky and I's first big outing and trip together and it turned out to be a break out event for us. Some combos on here have been published, many have not as we were the only ones to get the early part of the day where it was just Ricky and I. I have edited the video very little and tried to leave it in the order it was shot. I am wanting for the viewer to experience not only the day like we did but also how we have experienced the tapes watching them repeatedly on VHS.

I give you the first installment:
RCS Chronicles 10 Vegas Jam 04 Part 1

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX5m6vcQgbE[/youtube]

RCS Chronicles 11 Vegas Jam 04 Part 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qleow9B ... ure=relmfu[/youtube]

RCS Chronicles 12 Vegas Jam 04 Part 3

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfeabvYifA[/youtube]

RCS Chronicles 13 Portland

RCS Chronicles 14 CSS4

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht4jtdy3oiA[/youtube]

RCS Chronicles 15 YMCA Sessions Part 1

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIV7Z1djOSg[/youtube]

In the coming weeks you can expect a lot more of this, Ricky, guests, training, and events. I will be putting all the videos in this thread so make sure to check back and comment often.

Also, check out the RCS Blog. I am working on a big video and I am posting teases of the strings not making the cut.
Thanks

[Muffinman]

Wicked. (Pun!)
Thanks so much Justin.
I look forward to the whole series.
I remember a lot of these runs really vividly from watching Sam's Summer Falling videos endlessly! I remember really loving your shooting and nuclear runs especially.

[C-Fan]

Extremely excited for this series. Thanks for doing this, Justin!

[bustinjustin]

Ricky and I were very excited to play down in Las Vegas. As a result we started the day pretty early and had been kicking for a few hours by the time the top players of this event arrived. This video picks up where Chad joins the circle. From this point on much has been produced before, but it should be fun to see again. Ricky and I were pretty spent but kicking with Chad was a real treat. We kicked for a bit longer then just taped the other players. This video is nice as it features many vintage players, a theme that should run through out this series. This video includes, Chad Devlahovich, Eric Windsor, Jeremy Mirken, Sam Colclough, Chris Pinkus, and Daryl Genz.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qleow9B ... ure=relmfu[/youtube]

[MathieuGM]

Wow i really enjoy tese pieces of history !
Thanks for making them Justin !
The last trick of part 2 made me go like : Whuuut !?? I don't think i have ever see that move, and especially not with such an esay execution lol!
Also How the hell chad can hitgyro barroque so easily lol

[Muffinman]

Also How the hell chad can hitgyro barroque so easily lol

Didn't Chad invent that trick?
Happy Om looks so teeny next to Chad!!
I think Chad was the highlight for me. Man, I never realized how smooth and calm his style is, despite the kinda hunch he gets from his height. Also, I miss Wicked. I always had the impression that he was one of the first to play really both sided.

Thanks for sharing, Justin. I wonder what we'll get next week.[/quote]

[C-Fan]

Really enjoyed the second video as well. Thanks for releasing these.

Random thoughts:

It was kinda bittersweet to see so many players from that time period who no longer play.
Ducking PS egg surprised me too...mostly that it had been hit that long ago.
It's cool seeing new footage of Justin and comparing it to his style 8 years ago. The difficulty in his game was there even back in the day, but the style and form is like night and day. Props to Justin for putting in so much work on his style; it's really paid off.

Looking forward to more installments of this series!

[bustinjustin]

Here is the final installment of our trip to Las Vegas. I think more of this video will be original and it features Chad, Chris, and Eric. The video ends with what I think is the first time I ever hit flurry bsos. I also overlaid a few songs from 2004 since this section didn't have any real time music.
After everyone stopped filming and was done playing Ricky and I went for another hour and a half just trying big tricks. I got flip gauntlet for the first time and I think Ricky got alpine marius one side if not both.
Funny story from this trip, as soon as we got to the hotel Ricky went to gamble while I got settled in. Being 17 we both knew he would be back quickly from getting kicked out of the Casino. 15 minutes later Ricky does come back but carrying a ton of quarters in his hands, pockets, and shirt. He played 2 rounds on a slot machine and hit big. We spent the rest of the trip hopping from one casino to the next getting kicked out blowing his winnings on the slot machines. We had such an amazing time at this event and made a lot of memories.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfeabvYifA[/youtube]

[C-Fan]

Enjoyed that a lot, thanks for making it. Some of those Chad strings were particularly badass. Cool to see Ricky and Chad playing at their peak.

[fatbagger]

I really like this one and I don't think I've ever seen this footage before, bonus!!! Reminds me of the old days when everyone had their own specialties. It is nice to see some more Ricky footage released although I do feel the need to point out this was not Ricky at his peak but when he was just starting to get legitimately good. As far as I know there is no footage of him at any of his peaks(he had a few). The closest I have seen on film was on the original Fourkast. Maybe Justin has some I don't know about though, we'll see.

[Muffinman]

Yeah. The Chad.
So much style. I could watch him do the same tricks over and over and never get sick.
The highlight for me was actually your S&M Smasher run -- I've only seen that trick, like, a handful of times. Pretty cool. It was also nice to see a little bit of Chris too. Good times!

[bustinjustin]

I'm getting the worse video's out of the way first so this series should continue to get better as it goes along. This is from a trip we took to Portland back when Red was wanting to get footage of us. Ricky didn't have a great day so we had to go back down there a few more times and record what is now the sessions on the Fourkast Video. This was our first attempt at laying down footage for him. I think there is some of this on another video somewhere but we recorded the day as well.
This session is like a form nightmare for me, heck, this whole time period. I had just learned spins and was starting to put them into strings which were dominantly shuffle. Much of my early game I learned from Jane Zerbe. I kicked a lot with Alex and Matt Baker but her style was easy to understand and mimic. As a result I picked up a few bad things along with the good, one being my drifters. I was doing them mid-time and they look just awful.
Originally when I did these I recorded every decent string to these VHS's. In these early ones you expect to see more footage from some players but if they didn't get more strings on here they weren't laying down anything worthy.

[Muffinman]

Rad. Thanks for sharing these, Justin. I look forward to them every week now! But if this is #13 where are the missing 9 before it? I really enjoyed seeing Andrew McCarger in this one. And I really liked Ricky's closing combo. Also love your stepping ducking. Looks so easy. Now I have to wait another week...

[bustinjustin]

This week we are taking a break from seeing Ricky and I showing the footage we captured at CSS5. After this we are moving onto some of Ricky and I's training sessions. The footage for this video did not convert well and has many skips in it. I had to take out a few strings that were really bad. I will see if I have enough footage to make a second video but I think that footage has been pretty well chronicled and done better. I believe Dan Klokow released a video of this event. If it's available would someone post it in this thread?
I did not put music to this video. I'm finding that to be the hardest part of making these and this series. I figure you can play your own soundtrack under this one. It's also cool to hear some of the dialogue, Ricky was shooting so you get to hear his reactions and Lon has a pretty good line too.
I remember being so excited for this event. This was the first event I went to after I cut my dreads. I had been kicking well and I thought this would be my event to break onto the scene. That was not the case and I played horribly. Between the green astro turf and my decision to wear long soccer socks and look like a goof my shuffle did not translate to the shred surface. I remember trying so hard wanting to do my long shuffle strings and getting so frustrated I couldn't get past 10 contacts all weekend. The event was a blast though, this was one of the last tournaments where you had all the old school players competing. It was really inspiring seeing Rippin, Sunil, Chad, Greg Nelson, Ahren German, Peter Irish, Brian McKenzie (who was one of my favorite players) and getting to play with the new wave of players, the guys from Chicago, Erik Chan, Lon had some kid he was training that was really good.
Jim has a section on here where he does the most text book pdx whirls front and center of the camera. I put it in slow mo as a great reference for players to see how the move is done. I find it's a move that always has room for improvement. It's also worth mentioning to watch for his body positioning.

RCS Chronicles 14 CSS4

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht4jtdy3oiA[/youtube]

You can also find RCS Chronicles 1-9 on my Youtube Channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/j2dale?feature=mhee

[Muffinman]

Awesome.
Yeah, this was my first major tournament, like, with a BAP player. I'm surprised you remember meeting me! I remember shredding with tiltless Ricky. He won intermediate I think? And then half a year later chatting with Sam Colclough who was, like, "Ricky's hitting superduperfly both sides!" And I was, like, "No way!" And then he was my favourite player Also, it was actually CSS4. Lon's student was Randy Magliocca. I don't know if you remember but Daryl was giving out Sandmans and Tricks of the Trade 2 DVDs for anyone who could hit a 6 add, and Jim and Randy kept hitting a crapload of them!
Also, Dan's video was just on VHS, I think. I forget which one. Fo Shizza? No -- maybe True Playaz? 'Cause I think I BOUGHT Fo Shizza from him at that tournament...
Sam made a couple memorable videos though:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W99AD0Fv0k0[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGFX2Exo9I[/youtube]

I also made a lot of videos, but the quality is super sucky...
Here's the first one I made: http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/7312

[bustinjustin]

This was the first tourny we met Sam as well. We had a lot of fun with that guy.
That's right, Randi. That kid was good. I was so upset, he was kicking like I thought I should have been. I spent most the weekend trying to out shred him and got my ass handed to me.
Ricky went guiltless as soon as we got back from this event. It was an immediate change and just did guiltless from the next session forward.
I didn't realize that's why everyone was doing 6's this event. I would have done more had I known. Randi did whirl wind a lot. I think I started matching his whirl winds with whirly gigs at some point. I was getting sick of him doing that trick over and over.
I was hoping you would post those other vids, or had uploaded the VHS for your project. Also, I made the correction on the CSS5 typo. Thanks

[rjadamson]

Alex at the end cracks me up every time.

[C-Fan]

Catching up on these vids now that I'm back from Worlds. Weird to see how few of us from that time period are still active players.

Enjoying the commentary on your experiences almost as much as the videos themselves. Thanks again for doing this.

[bustinjustin]

Here we go. Were finally starting to get to some of the payoff with this series. This video comes from the height of Rain City Shred. We held the title of Worlds largest club and we had at least 8 players every session, often more. Ricky was just starting to overtake me on his skill level. Every session we were battling and it created a great environment for players to be motivated and also wanting to join the club. Every Sunday we would get together on the 6th floor of the downtown YMCA. I knew the desk lady and she would let all of us up for free to hold our club sessions. This lasted several years and became the bedrock of our club meetings.
This video features me setting what was the world record for consecutive ripped warrior for the time. I hit 5 then promptly hit 5 again for the camera. I still have yet to break 10, but I don't give it many tries very often. It also features Andrew Johnson an old school player from Seattle hitting fog for the very first time. The video ends in classic fashion between Ricky and I, where I hit my first 5 fearless and next round Ricky hits his very first 6 fearless. As you can tell were all a little stunned.
Sit back, and enjoy the new Ricky footage =]
as always...more to come

RCS Chronicles 15 YMCA Sessions

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIV7Z1djOSg[/youtube]

[Muffinman]

Ha. I had a huge smile on my face watching that one. Thanks Justin! The Moby song really fits Ricky's game -- so chill. I love the ripped warriors twice. And then the fearless runs. I think my favourite Ricky run was the double spinning clippers BSOS and pixie paradon BSOS -- there's something great about huge spins and huge dexes in the same run Thanks so much. I can never get enough Ricky footage.

I also like your write-ups. It really reminds me of my early Hackrifice days. We had a similar setup where the founder of our club had an arrangement with a local community centre and we had a free indoor gym for shred for, like, 4 years, with regular meeting times and a regular crew with multiple circle sessions. Good times. It doesn't seem like many (if any, aside from you and Stanford?) North American clubs have that these days, so it's really admirable that you've been able to maintain RCS!