Meet The Mega Ramp – Empire Of Dirt

Kye and Leo talk you through the Mega Ramp at the Empire of Dirt course.

Empire Of Dirt Build Up

Empire Of Dirt is quickly approaching, if you were quick enough to get tickets then be excited – this event is going to epic. I’m not exaggerating! If you follow Kye or Leo Forte on twitter or facebook then you’ll know what been going on, if not check out these photos that Ride UK have put together. Click on the photo for more info.

KRISTJANA S WILLIAMS (BEST ARTIST EVER!?)

I just thought I would share with you the most beautiful stunning artwork i’ve ever seen in my whole entire life….
I first fell in love with Kristjana S Williams when I saw The Wilderness Festival artwork last year.
I’ve literally been obsessed ever since.

Here’s why…

BESTIVAL 2012 TASTER

Here is a little taste of who’s performing at this years Bestival…
Hot Chip, The XX, De La Soul, Warpaint and JUSTICE!!

BOOM!

KYE TALKS ABOUT EMPIRE

With Empire of Dirt fast approaching Kye takes time out from a hectic build project to talk about the concept.

More BMX Videos

SILAS X SLAM CITY X VANS

What a collab, these 3 great companies have come up with these sweet look shoes in the form of the Vans Era. Camo canvas in the middle and sandwiched between black suede with some red and white detailing. They should be hitting shops some time in July.

10 SONGS THAT MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAF!

RIP MIKE “TAG” TAGLIAVENTO, 1974 – 2012 VIA ESPN

I just read this touching article on ESPN and had to share it…

Steve Crandall
Mike ‘Tag’ Tagliavento, resting at home in Ithaca, N.Y. after starting chemotherapy one year ago.

Mike “Tag” Tagliavento, lifelong member of the FBM BMX team, co-creator of seminal BMX videos such as “1201,” co-owner of S-Luck Clothing and all-around amazing bike rider on street, dirt and skateparks, died earlier tonight. He was 37.

For the past year, Tag, as he had been known by friends, family and the BMX community for the past two decades, had been battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Following intense chemotherapy and an outpouring of support from the BMX world over the past year that included fundraisers ranging from signature Tag hats to jams at Ninth Street in Austin, Tag ultimately succumbed to the disease in Ithaca, N.Y.

Mike Tag played an integral part in elevating the status of dirt riding, street riding and video production throughout the early ’90s and into the ’00s. Mike was one of the first riders to really focus on the art of searching for spots, and for years, Mike traveled the world with his FBM and a video camera in search of elusive rails. Mike Tag’s riding and filming has been featured in over a decade of FBM videos, as well as countless issues of Props, Road Fools and etnies “Forward.” And Mike was the first rider to receive a signature frame from FBM, the Night Train.

Pushing objective editorial in the name of friendship aside, I first met Mike Tag at one of the first Toronto BMX Jams in the late ’90s. Then referred to as the “Battle of Elsinore,” Tag entered the indoor pro dirt comp against Nate Wessel and Jay Miron in a pair of Dickies pants, an FBM t-shirt and no helmet. He rode amazingly well, until some sort of no-footed half barspin thing came up short, catapulting Tag over the bars as his bike miami-hopper’d into the landing. He shrugged his shoulders and disappeared from the spotlight.

His riding in Toronto was finished, but his hijinks continued. Later on in the day, I vividly remember speaking with Steve Crandall as the sound of broken glass continued to emit from behind a partitioned barrier near the contest area. A few minutes later, Tag and friend Andrew Forgash emerged, half-smirking, after breaking an unopened box of those long, cylindrical fluorescent light bulbs behind a curtain. He wasn’t breaking the light bulbs to create a scene, he was doing it for his own entertainment.

A murky cloud of fluorescent destruction remained behind Tag as he was shuttled away by security, out of the building, still with his trademark half-smirk proudly worn on his face. Over the next decade and a half, I would come to see that meeting as a metaphor for Mike Tag’s way of life, one that carried over into calculated pool playing, burly street riding and anything that lay in Mike Tag’s path. He came, he saw, and his path of destruction was never forgotten. All for the sake of a half-smirk.

Rest in peace old friend.
By Brian Tunney @ ESPN

BLAST FROM THE PAST – FINGER OF FUDGE!

Chico ‘avin it’ back in the 80s.

He’ll do anything for a finger of fudge!

(He’s gonna kill me for this)

TOM DUGAN ETNIES EDIT

Another jaw dropping edit from Tom Dugan and Etnies, enjoy the crazyness…

IPHONE EDIT BIRMINGHAM BMX TRACK

I made this quick edit from a few clips I took from a session we had at Birmingham BMX track recently. It was all filmed and edited on my iPhone.

EYE OF A FISH

I recently received this amazing gadget from my even more amazing girlfriend, the Olloclip lense for the iPhone 4 and 4s. I am partial to a cool gadget and this is definetly one of them. It clips over the lens on you phone to give either a fish eye, macro or wide angle view. The only downside being that it covers the flash so you can’t use it with the lens but other than that its real good. Its great fun and adds a whole new look to your on the go photos.