Unobtrusive Airwalk ad.
In addition to putting out a gnarly part for Vans called Take It Back, Geoff recently launched his own board company called Freedome Skateboards. Take It Back also featured full parts from Pedro Barros and Ronnie Sandoval, along with some of the other team riders. I'm a big fan of Ronnie and Pedro is an undeniable ripper, but I wasn't super into the video. I think it might simply have been the music. I did like that Omar Hassan had a couple tricks in the mix.
I've been trying to figure out what I think of Geoff as a pro. You have to respect how he and Tom Penny pushed skateboarding in the mid to late 90s and beyond. After watching Take It Back, I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the type of skating Geoff does. For as impressive as the stunts are, it wouldn't ever be my go-to pick for video to watch. Although I will say his part in Sorry is an enjoyable section. Given his longevity in the fickle skateboard world, I'm going to make the assumption that Geoff is probably oddly eccentric, but a decent enough chap if you know him in person.
Daniel Harold Sturt snapped the photograph.
Transworld - March 1999 Volume 17 Number 3
2 comments:
Terrible name for a company, is it an allusion to free dome as in free oral sex? It also makes me think of Dan Drehobl's Freedumb. As for his skating in Take it Back, I have no problem with it, because I don't expect 43-year-olds to spend their days still jumping on huge handrails and hubbas. And street skating is way different on the body than transition at that age. So for him to still be out in the raw streets getting clips, I commend him. Take a look at those Flip videos, and imagine what they had to endure -- physically and mentally -- to produce at that level. It is the same rationale that made Heath retire.
Yeah, Freedome is not a great name and the graphics aren’t looking so hot. Maybe it will get better.
I’m completely fine with Geoff skating how he wants and I respect his commitment to putting his body on the line. Is it something I want to watch? Maybe not.
I’ve been doing a re-evaluation of Rowley since he had the new part and interview out. I know he has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way over whether he’s vegan and/or a hunter so I’ve been trying to look past that and focus on the skateboarding. Avoiding basing an opinion of him solely on content and treating him more as a complex person I don’t really know all that much about.
With that mindset, I watched the video part. There were things I liked, such as him hitting up all the old parks in England he grew up with. As it moved along, I just wasn’t super into what he was doing as a whole. So I decided that maybe his skating style isn’t my cup of tea.
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