RAD!

Ahhhh, the 80's. Ronald Reagan, feathered hair, Pac-Man, tight jeans w/high tops, MTV (when they played videos) and of course cheezy ass films. In the 80's you can make a movie (or song) of just about anything you can imagine. Breakdancing (Beat Street/Breakin'), surfing (North Shore), hockey (Slap Shot), skateboarding (Gleaming The Cube), bike mesengers (Quicksilver) and even teens turning into wolves (Teen Wolf). But the best one out there has to be the 1986 BMX film 'Rad'. Even more so now after seeing the debut of BMX Racing in the Beijing 2008 Olympics (about time!). I remember seeing this movie in a small, low-budget, dirty theater on Miami Beach called Surf Theater (now a gym). Over the years it's become a cult classic and there's even an ongoing online petition to have it released to DVD. Believe it or not but as of December 2007, more than 400,000 fans had signed the petition. Also, they created a website recently in an effort to gain support for the release of the film by tracking down the rights and contacting the holders. But I guess due to it's cornyness it probably won't make it onto the digital format anytime soon. I mean all of these films are indeed extremely corny but hey, it was the 80's.

The film is basically about a young man named Cru Jones that lives in a small town and is faced with a tough decision: the qualifying races for Helltrack are the same day as his SAT's (wow, SAT's...remember that shit!?), which he must take in order to attend college. However, winning Helltrack means a lucrative sponsorship deal and fame. Cru chooses the latter option, ignoring his mother's wishes. Helltrack is a huge event that comes to this small town and is sponsored by Mongoose Bicycles. But the event co-ordinator keeps adjusting the rules in order to keep Cru out of the race as he know's what a good rider he is and to ensure BMX star Bart Taylor has an easy road to victory, thus providing a financial windfall for Mongoose Racing, Bart's sponsor.

Of ourse in the end, Cru qualifies/enters the race and wins and get's the girl (promoter/rider for Mongoose as well) just like any and every 80's flick. But seriously, I would like anyone that reads this blog to sign that petition so I can sit on my couch, smoke a bowl, and reminisce about my days as a BMX wannabe whilst watching my favorite corny movie, RAD! Now, somebody get me my red checker-board Vans slip-ons!


This is the opening intro to the film. Gotta love the music!


This has to be one of my favorite parts! This is during the High School dance (of course, isn't there ALWAYS a high school dance in every 80's flick) and Cru and his new found counterpart get on their bikes and rip shit up on the dance floor to the 80's nu-wave classic "Send Me An Angel". How gay & appropriate! Enjoy!

The Young And The Banging

Been hearing about the making of this book for quite sometime now. Glad it's finally dropping! It's basically a book featuring NYC's finest, and I don't mean the po-po's. Everyone from photographers to skaters to fashion designers to graffiti artists. It's a sure-fire riot of a book! Read below for more info.

Once you start living downtown, it can begin to feel like a big kids high school. It's like never never land, a place where one can stay young forever. The taxis begin to feel like the school buses. The restaurants are like our cafeterias. The bars and clubs are like our school dances and the streets are like our high school hallways!

But if downtown NYC were really a high school, what would it look like and who would the school body be?

Inspired by both the traditional American high school yearbook and Ezra Petronio's book "Bold and Beautiful" of Self Service, THE YOUNG AND THE BANGING is a downtown NYC yearbook that provides a look at almost 200 new faces of todays creative youth through polaroid photography.

A first of its kind, co-created by 15 girls or as PURPLE magazine calls them, "A fascinating NEW GENERATION born into the realms of fashion, art and success." The contributors include local favorites Tracy Antonopoulos, Sage Grazer, Rachel Smith, Philippa Price, Nicole Saldana, Louise Erhard, Laura Gerster, Katia Hakko, Kate Brien, Kathy Lo, Julia Tepper, Dana Veraldi, Carly Mark, Anna Skladmann and Amanda Merten.

We invited them to partner as co-creators to make the book through artistic collaboration. They were asked to highlight the young and creative people around them through Polaroid photography to act as their class photo and given spreads in the book to design in a way that best represented the lifestyle and creativity of those people.

-Heron Preston

Order it here