The Backcheck Mixtape went live today at 3 pm on the Cult Crew YouTube channel. The mixtape features sections from Trevor Holotka, Chase Dehart, Andrew Quinlan, and Joby Suender, along with guest appearances by Nicky B., Kevin Vannauker, Pat Schlitzer, Ryan Niranonta, Adem Gunaydin, and many more.
Filmed by: Tom Nguyen
Additional filming by: Matt Williams & Justin Benthien
Edited by: Veesh
Tom Nguyen has been quietly curating a new clothing brand, Public Impression, for some time now. Today, the first half of SS21 dropped online with the first Public Impression video, No Charges Filed. The video includes riding from John Yoh, Kevin Vannauker, Nicky B., Chase DeHart, Damian Spedes, and Aeden Feher. You can check out the Public Impression website for more info. and pickup something from SS21.
Joe Niranonta is the definition of the term, working-class BMX rider, juggling a full-time job working in boiler rooms in New Jersey while maintaining his status as an AM rider for Animal and Kink Bikes after hours. In those after hours, Joe can usually be found in the streets of Philadelphia pushing his dreams forward one pedal at a time.
Joe is from Levittown, Pennsylvania and is the oldest of three brothers. All of which ride BMX. For the Niranontas, BMX has become a family trait. One that started with their late father, Paitool, and has transcended through four generations of the family name. On the verge of completing filming for the highly anticipated ‘Chocolate Truck Two’ video, we spoke with Joe about the upcoming video, the launch of the Niranonta brand, how it all started and much more. You can read the full interview, after the jump.
Joe Niranonta and Tom Nguyen have been hard at work on some projects for Sneaker Lab that have begun surfacing online. An interview conducted with Joe and Tom about the current state and future of BMX was posted on the Sneaker Lab website earlier today. The interview is complete with a handful of photos of Joe riding that were shot by Tom. You can view the full interview by clicking here. And although this one made it’s way online back in August, above is an edit for Sneaker Lab’s “Sneaker Wipes” featuring Joe that was filmed and edited by Tom.
Tom Nguyen’s new video “Sorry For Partying!” premiered in Philadelphia on Friday, June 23rd. After the release of the videos trailer online we expressed our interest in the video and a private link of the final cut was made available to us for review twenty four hours prior to the videos premiere.
“Sorry For Partying!” was filmed by Tom Nguyen using a VX2000 / VX2100 over the past two years and features a cast of fifty five BMX riders from all over the East Coast and beyond. The run time is on par with most full length BMX videos with a duration of just under twenty two minutes.
The videos party theme provides a great vibe and the intro sets the pace for the following sections. “SFP” does a great job in wasting no time building it’s momentum. The intro is a blend of random party footage, slams and teases of some of what is in store throughout the video. From start to finish the video is consistent in the level of riding being presented and the flow of each of it’s sections. The video is composed of four well structured mix sections, and a full length closing section from Andrew White.
Adem Gunaydin – 60/40 Grind
Photo: Chris Girouard
“Sorry For Partying!” is packed with diverse street riding and a wide array of styles due to the large cache of riders it showcases throughout each of the videos four mix sections. It would be impossible to talk about this video and not acknowledge the work that Adem Gunaydin put in for his footage. I went in watching this video anxious to see Adem’s footage and he really delivered. Adem closes out the second section of the video with one of the most creative and impressive rooftop moves I have seen.
The fourth mix section of the video is a Philly mix which features riding from the Chocolate Truck crew and friends. Although a lot of the Chocolate Truck crews footage has been seen through Instagram clips filmed on cell phones, it was refreshing to see those clips in DV format and edited together.
Some other highlights throughout the video include Fateem Williams who shuts down the third mix section, the LFS guys, Brett Tocco who provides some of the videos most creative riding, Brandon Bunting who drops a big three down a stair set in the first mix section, Breyon Woods for closing out the fourth mix along with the Chocolate Truck crew, Dave Raffa, Pat Schlitzer, Baboon, Court Freeman, Colin Varanyak, Chase Dehart, Jersey Joe, and too many others.
You can check out more photos from the “Sorry For Partying!” world premiere right here.
The final section of the video belongs to Andrew White who closes out “SFP” with it’s only non mix section. Andrews section is made up of a lot of technical street moves, bangers and his own unique style of riding. Having the closing and only non mix section is pretty heavy but Andrew manages to come through with some of the videos best riding. The final trick of the video is on a setup that literally has everything wrong with it and watching Andrew roll away is near perfect. Cue the credits.
Tom Nguyen did a great job all around with this project between the filming, editing, promotion, Everything was on point. I’ll be very interested to see more works from Tom in the future. Easily one of my favorite aspects of this video is how many riders it’s drawn my attention to that I was previously unaware of. “Sorry For Partying!” is a must see / own video for any East Coast BMX enthusiast. Copies of the DVDs will be available for purchase in the coming weeks. Special thanks to Tom for setting up a private viewing of the video.
In order of appearance:
Mix Section One:
Mike Ware • Sean Guest • Brandon Bunting • Matt Mazzone • Josh Vodopija • Jared Manganelli • Luke Gajtkowski
Mix Section Two:
Chris Girouard • Adem Gunaydin • Pat Cregan • Chris Schaeffer • Jake Grelli • Drew Quinlan • Chase Dehart • JD Whitehead • Matt Krumins • Court Freeman
Mix Section Three:
Old Man Dirt • Victor Behm • Menardo Simon • Eric Tkacz • Jersey Joe • Nick Maltese • Pat Schlitzer • Mike Verdecchio • Kenny Shoulders • Andrew Lettieri • Eeshond Kirk • Tenzin • Baboon • Chris Aceto • Arty Barrera • Steve Jones • Mikey Almodovar • Dave Raffa • Brett Tocco • Tenna • Colin Varanyak • Marnold • Eddie Muscle • Fateem Williams
Mix Section Four (Philly):
Joe Niranonta • John Yoh • Steve Tassone • Joby Suender • Mike Swift • Kevin Vannauker • Breyon Woods • Nick Barrett • Cody Neiswender • Chris Carter • Ryan Niranonta • Herman McCracken • Twinn
Andrew White Closing Section
The world premiere for Tom Nguyen’s new video “Sorry For Partying!” will be taking place this Friday, June 23rd in Philadelphia. The premiere will be hosted at PhilaMOCA located at 531 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA between 8-11pm. There is no entry fee for the event which will also feature art galleries by Freako Rico, D’ana/Itscovl and music by Astro 8000.
“Sorry For Partying!” was filmed by Tom Nguyen over the last two years and features riding from Adem Gunaydin, Andrew Lettieri, Andrew White, Arty Barrera, Baboon, Brandon Bunting, Brett Tocco, Breyon Woods, Chase Dehart,Chris Aceto, Chris Carter, Chris Schaeffer, Chris Griouard, Colin Varanyak, Court Freeman, Dave Raffa, Drew Quinlan, Eddie Muscle, Eeshond Kirk, Eric Tkacz, Fateem Williams, Jake Grelli, Jared Manganelli, JD Whitehead, Joby Suender, Joe Camp, Joe Niranonta, John Yoh, Josh Vodopija, Kevin Vannauker, Luke Gajtkowski, Marnold, Matt Mazzone, Mcthuggin, Menardo Simon, Mikey Almodovar, Mike Swift, Mike Ware, Mike Verdecchio, Nick Barrett, Nick Maltese, Old Man Dirt, Pat Cregan, Pat Schlitzer, Ryan Niranonta, Sean Guest, Steve Jones, Steve Tassone, Tenna, Tenzin Nyandak, and Vick Behm.
You can check out the trailer for “Sorry For Partying!” after the jump.
Read More ““Sorry For Partying!” Premiere”
Every year, Pennsylvania is home to a number of jams, video premieres and other events. Closing out our series of year end features is our 2016 Calendar Review. The third and final installment in the series highlights some of the more notable events that took place over the last year. This years list is composed of a dozen events that helped shape 2016 and made the year one to remember. We hope you’ve enjoyed our trip down memory lane and don’t forget to stay tuned, we’ve got plenty in store for 2017.
Read More “2016 Calendar Review”
As we approach the end of the year, it’s time once again to kick off our series of year end posts. Every year, we publish a long list of videos on this site. In the fast paced environment that is the internet they are here one minute and archived the next. But before we close the door on 2016, it’s time to take a look back at some of the videos that we felt made the strongest impression on our viewers and the scene as a whole. The list is in no particular order and is not based off of any web statistics or analytics. With that in mind, we invite you to sit back, re-watch and enjoy.
Read More “Top 12 Videos Of 2016”On Saturday, June 25th, The Chocolate Truck crew hosted their first jam in the City of Philadelphia. The spot by spot style jam started at 3pm at the 9th and Poplar DIY spot which was followed by a product toss before moving on to the streets. A few videos from the jam have surfaced online over the past two weeks including an installment in the DIG series “In The Cut”. The “In The Cut” Video was filmed and edited by Rob Dolecki and features 14+ minutes of raw footage from the jam. The second video which can be viewed below was filmed and edited by Evan Yoh with additional filming by Joe Niranonta, Tom Nguyen and Rocky Ventura.
Every year, we post a long list of videos on this site. They are here one minute and archived the next. But before we close the doors on 2015, we wanted to take a look back and highlight the videos that we felt are the most notable from this past year. The list is in no particular order and is not based off of any web statistics. With that in mind, we invite you to sit back, re-watch and enjoy.
Read More “Top 12 Videos Of 2015”Last Friday (the 13th), Fiend held a round of jams in cities around the US including one at the Paines Plaza in Philadelphia. The event was hosted by Fiend / Chocolate Truck riders Ryan Niranonta and Kevin Vannauker. Tom Nguyen was on hand to film the event and put together this edit from the jam. Fiend also gave away a free GoPro for best trick of the night which was won by our good friend Will Barr.
