Archive for the Wakeboarding Category

Autumn on the Cape Fear

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , on December 28, 2011 by telepromptedanthems

A few years ago, I went to see Metallica in Charlotte with Bob and DJSK from Red Bull. It’s the most money I’ve ever spent to see a band but it was awesome. Like really awesome. Way more awesome than I was expecting from those old farts. Anyway, Richmond, VA’s Lamb of God opened up for them, and I wasn’t getting down to their set at all, but right at the end they gave a shout out to Wrightsville Beach and played the theme from the movie Cape Fear. Being the proud North Carolinian that I am, I was pumped on it and kept thinking how bad ass it would be to use that song in something.

Fast forward two years later: Nick and Clay have been gathering clips over the past few months and wanted to do a quick 2011 wrap up. As we were logging the footage, I remembered that Fantomas had recorded a version of the Cape Fear theme, so I threw together a completely unnecessary opener which totally rips off the title sequence from the movie. Add that to a bunch of riding, shooting guns, and the song Wires (my and Clay’s top song of 2011), you got yourself a f__kin’ party.

Things have been kinda slow around here, and I’m not sure when that’s actually going to change since we’re officially into the winter months. But for now, sit back, watch the boys kill it,  and enjoy the last few days of 2011.

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“End of Year” Playlist

  1. Fantomas – The Directors’ Cut
  2. Red Fang – Murder the Mountains
  3. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
  4. Tombs – Path of Totality
  5. Sleep – Jerusalem

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A Quickie with Jeff House & Ben Greenwood

Posted in Wakeboarding with tags , on October 11, 2011 by telepromptedanthems

Okay, so it may have taken a bit longer than I initially promised, but let’s be honest: when have I ever been good at meeting deadlines? This is just a short little sequence, but we’ve been sitting on this footage for a while now and figured we might as well do something with it. All this went down when Mark and Nick were in Orlando for Memorial Day weekend and got a chance to ride with Jeff House and Ben Greenwood.

Jeff’s a good friend of ours and I was really pumped on this footage because it was good to see him riding again after a bad knee injury last summer. Well, after I finished editing, I sent a link to Jeff so he could check it out and he informed me that he had just blown his other ACL and was out of the game for a little while longer. It’s a huge bummer, so pour one out for Jeff. Hope you have a speedy recovery, buddy.

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While we’re on the subject of pouring one out for shitty knees, you might as well pour out a little bit more for our very own Mark Rugala and Geoffrey Barnes. Both of them have had surgery recently to fix a busted knee, so they’re out of commission for a little while as well. From what I hear, Mark is already giving the stationary bike hell and Geoffrey has his own personal nurse keeping him company via Skype, so I’m sure they’ll make physical therapy their bitch and be back in action before too long.

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In other news, I’ve still got some leftover footage to go through, although I know better than to provide a timeline to expect some kind of finished product. Just stay tuned…

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“Get Well Soon, Everyone” Playlist

  1. Future Islands – On the Water
  2. Witch – S/T
  3. Mastodon – The Hunter
  4. High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
  5. Kids and Explosions – Shit Computer

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One For the Birthday Boy

Posted in Wakeboarding with tags , on October 6, 2011 by telepromptedanthems

Our buddies at Aussie Island are in the process of updating their website, so I went digging through the archives trying to find some footy of the team to put on the new site. I just found  Clay Martin’s remix section from the No Name Losers DVD bonus features, which is fitting because tomorrow is Clay’s birthday. So in the spirit of celebration, here it is. Between you and me, I’m pretty sure his better than his official section in the movie.

Happy birthday, dood…

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“Clay’s Birthday” Playlist

  1. Metallica – Master of Puppets
  2. Misfits – Collection I and II
  3. Snapcase – Progression Through Unlearning
  4. Young Jeezy – The Inspiration
  5. Chris Brown – I Can Transform Ya

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A Weekend with Humanoid

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags on August 19, 2011 by telepromptedanthems

Okay, so I’ve got good news and bad news. You know how every summer, there’s about a month-long period where nothing gets posted and there’s no activity on the site whatsoever? Well the bad news is that this year, that month turned into about three months. The good news is that it’s finally over!

A while back, Nick and Mark went down to Orlando for a weekend and met up with Mark’s Humanoid teammate Bob Sichel. As soon as they got down there, they got right to work and banged out a few quick sessions before heading back up to NC.

We’ve been sitting on the footage for a while now, and that video up there is what came of it all. We’re hanging on to a few more clips from some other dudes, so stay tuned to see what else went down. I mean, it’s not like we could release it all at once. It’s been three months since the last post, so we kind of have to pace ourselves here, you know?

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Speaking of Humanoid, after you watch the video, be sure to head over to their site and check out the goods. They have some snazzy new boards for 2011 and they’re putting together an impressive team of riders. Plus, Mark just got back from a big team trip out west and he says that the stuff they have up their sleeves for 2012 is looking sick.

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Rest easy, people. Regular posting has returned. I know you missed us.

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“Return to Blogging” Playlist

  1. Sleep – “Jerusalem”
  2. Jay-Z and Kanye West – “Watch The Throne”
  3. Death From Above 1979 – “You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine”
  4. Snapcase – “Steps” EP

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A Recap of Nick’s Spring Break

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , on April 10, 2011 by telepromptedanthems

Last month, Nick went down to spend a his Spring Break at Adam Fields’ house in sunny Orlando, Florida. He convinced Sam Baker to tag along for the trip and I’m here to tell you that the boys got some serious work done.

Always a gracious host, Adam was up every morning cooking breakfast and making sure everyone got out on the water at a decent hour. He even went the extra mile and set up a few sessions with several other riders, so Nick got to shoot every day they were there. Hyperlite’s Danny Thollander and CWB’s Nick Jones rode one day, Adam’s Liquid Force teammate Scott Stewart came by for a while, and one of Slingshot’s new kids on the block, Oli Derome, took a set one morning (and by the way, according to Alliance’s Twitter page, Oli landed a wake to wake 1080 today. Dude is no joke.).

And then there was Adam. Nick shot at least seven or eight sets of Adam throughout the weekend and I was flipping out this week as I was going through the footage. I seriously can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer brings. Check out the video and get excited for 2011.

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“Almost Summertime” Playlist

  1. Sleigh Bells – Treats
  2. Big Business – Here Come the Waterworks
  3. High on Fire - The Art of Self Defense
  4. Wiz Kahlifa – Black and Yellow on repeat. (Nick’s official On-the-Boat jam of 2011)

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A Lovely Weekend in Wilmington

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , on October 6, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

If you know anything about me, you know that I love me some Wilmington, NC. It’s got everything you’d ever need: the ocean, good people, awesome food, and a female population that will make the rest of the world look pretty fugly by comparison. It’s also home to one of the strongest wakeboard scenes around, so when I moved back to Wilmington last Spring, all I could think about was how much I’d be able to ride. Clay’s boat is ready to go on the intracoastal and my boat is only an hour away at my beloved hometown of White Lake. Yeah, it was going to be awesome.

I think I can count on my hands how many times I’ve ridden this summer.

It seems like everyone has been riding less around here. Between jobs, classes, girlfriends, boat problems, injuries, or lousy conditions, life just gets in the way. I mean, with the exception of Sam Baker, none of us are exactly spring chickens anymore. It’s not like we can spend all day on the boat and just ride until we’ve had enough, and I feel like that painful fact was more evident this summer than it ever has been.

That being said, the boys recently decided to go all out and try to cram as much riding as they could into one weekend and film the whole thing. A little winching, a little wake riding, a little misdemeanor theft of a picnic table…it looked like a pretty fun time. The footage should probably be sent out to tourists and prospective UNCW students because this is how life in the Port City should be. And although weekends like this may begin to be fewer and further between, it’s good to know that they haven’t disappeared completely.

And since that last line sounded like a sappy PSA, I’m going to stop typing now. Just watch the video.

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Revisiting Randall

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding on July 19, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

About a year ago when we were shooting No Name Losers, we had talked about going to winch this gap here in Wilmington, about a mile from UNCW. We talked about it and talked about it and never actually went out there, for one reason or another. Then, about three days before we were set to premiere the video, Nick rounded up a crew and went out there to get some last minute clips. He got a few good ones, sent them to me in Charlotte, and the rest is history. Aside from those clips for the movie, a lot of good photos came out of that day (courtesy of Jason Husdon, of course), and we decided that we needed to go back and spend some more time there.

Fast forward to this Spring: the good people at Ridiculous Winches send Nick his brand new Ben Horan Pro Model winch and we naturally decide to spend a few days shooting at Randall. Much like anything we’ve ever done as a collective group, it took way longer than expected and those three or so days happened over the course of three or so months, but the point of the story is that we finally have something to show for it.

So anyway, this is a collection of the footage we got at Randall over those few sessions. If you look real close in a few shots, you can catch a glimpse of the brand spanking new Slingshot boots for 2011 which are kind of like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster: often discussed, but rarely seen. Trust us, they’re totally R.A.D.

And I’d also like to point out that we’ve gotten two videos up in just about a week. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’m pretty sure we’re hitting our stride for the summer.

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Featured Rider – Adam Fields

Posted in Wakeboarding with tags , , on July 13, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

Oh, hey there…remember us? It’s been too long, how the hell have you been?? You look fantastic! Have you lost weight? Promise me we’ll never go so long without speaking ever again!

To make up for our absence, we’ve got some new jams to drop today. It’s been said many times that Adam Fields is the nicest guy in wakeboarding, and I’ll literally fight anyone who says otherwise. He’s been quietly killing it for years and he’s never gotten quite what I would consider enough attention for a rider of his caliber. In fact, he just returned from Brostock 2010 with an oversized check and a second place finish after taking out everyone but Danny Harf in the double up contest (and to be honest, if you’re second only to Danny Harf, you might as well just get over it because that dude’s a freak).

A few weeks ago, Adam came down to the Port City for some riding on the Cape Fear River. Nick and the rest of the boys went out to shoot and Adam proceeded to straight up put on a clinic. I haven’t seen him freeriding in a while, and when I saw the footage, I was pretty much blown away. Those guys must have had to constantly watch their toes because Adam was dropping hammers left and right. He dropped more hammers than a carpenter with butterfingers. Plus, he does this switch stalefish grab that’s so big, even Keith Lyman would say “Wow, that’s a big stalefish.” Also, be sure to notice the Adam Fields Signature Trunks, courtesy of Dunkelvolk. They’re bad ass; go buy a pair or three.

Anyways, enjoy the video. God willing, there’s going to be more new stuff more often, but I’m not making any promises because every time I say that and don’t deliver, I can tell it breaks your heart. Just bear with me and we’re going to be okay.

PS – The band in this video is Sleigh Bells and they’re awesome, so check them out. I’m making it my life mission to meet, charm, and marry the singer (not necessarily in that order). I’ll keep you guys posted on how that goes.

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Featured Rider – Tony Carroll

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , , on May 10, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s shooting from the boat. If there are two things I hate, they’re shooting from the boat with lousy light. Of course, if Nick and I have learned one thing over the past few years, we’ve learned that sometimes there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. Every now and then, life is going to hand you lemons and you’ve just got to suck it up, grab a few more ingredients and make a whiskey sour.

A while back, Nick went down to Orlando with the Barnes brothers and they ended up riding with Tony Carroll. They only had a little bit of time, there wasn’t a chase boat, and the light wasn’t too great. Despite all that though, Tony was totally down to ride and make the best of it. I wasn’t down there, but by all accounts it sounds like Tony was super cool, so thanks for being a rad guy, Tony. As you can see, the video is short and sweet, but he definitely made good use of the time and threw down some pretty impressive stuff.

You can tell we’ve been sitting on the footage for a while (it hasn’t been fullsuit weather in O-Town for a few moths), which I take the full blame for. Hopefully this signifies the return of some more frequent videos around here so get ready for a good summer.

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No Name Update

Posted in Wakeboarding with tags , , , , on April 6, 2010 by cheahfest

Brad is extremely busy porting himself and his belongings to a certain sea-side city that I know of.  I will give you two hints: it’s the dopest place ever and starts with W.  That’s right Brad “Hot Sauce” Holland is moving to the big DUB.  I hate it when people call it that.  Anways, this is good for everyone here, as Brad is very handy with the video editing and an all around cool dude, but is bad for all five people that consistently check this website.  It pretty much means that you are going to have to make due with my incredibly not clever posts, as well as my plain editing style. So to start off the Brad absentee weeks to come, here is a video of some riding we did on the Cape Fear River this past Saturday.  Its was a good time.

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Featured Video – Henshaw Rail Unveiling

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding on March 19, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

Before we get to the official post, I want it to be known that Nick Joseph is the pushiest person alive. If you’re supposed to do something for him, he will hassle the living hell out of you to the point that you just break down and do what he wants just to get him off you back. Matt Schrier (which is pronounced “shry-er” by the way) isn’t much better. He doesn’t hassle you as much, but he’s not above sending you angry text messages ordering you around. Just saying.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move on to the post. Last weekend, East Coast Wake Park kicked of the 2010 season with a big event unveiling the brand new rail at the park, which was designed by Liquid Force rider Kevin Henshaw. Perhaps you’ve heard about it. Being the cutting edge, hard hitting wake journalists that we are, Nick and I were on hand to shoot the event and bro down with everyone.

Everyone there had the chance to brave the chilly water and hit up the park on the brand new 2010 Liquid Force product. Quite a few people came out and rode, many of whom had never hit rails before, which was really cool to see. All in all, it was pretty good day; you could really tell how pumped everyone was for the upcoming season. Henshaw even got out there and ripped the entire park apart, including the rail that he helped design. Big thanks to Chris Hopf and the whole crew at ECWP, as well as the fine folks at Liquid Force and Monster for making it all happen.

Check out the video for a recap of the day’s events, and stay tuned: we’ve got a lot of new stuff up our sleeves.

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Teleprompted Anthems Goes to Florida

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , , on March 9, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

Since we’re on a serious East Coast Wake Park kick right now, we figured it was as good a time as any to drop this little gem. A few weeks ago, Nick went to the Sunshine State with the ECWP crew. The weather wasn’t great, but they hit up the cable park at McCormick’s then used some big name industry connections to sneak into The Projects, which is officially closed to people who are less cool than they are.

If you saw the teaser we did for ECWP’s big rail unveiling, you’ve already seen some footage from this trip. The guys met up with Kevin Henshaw and got a few clips of him at both spots, but they all did their fair share of riding themselves. Nick even rode the cable a little bit on this trip, which is kind of like an Albino American Alligator; you know it exists but very few people have ever actually seen it.

The guys kept the camera rolling for most of the trip and Nick put together a little summary of their trip. And if I can be honest with you guys, it all kind of pisses me off. Every winter they do this: they go on a trip and it looks fun and then I have to see the video which is pretty much just a collection of awesome times those assholes had without me.

Oh hey, and guess where they are right now? Yep, that’s right. Florida. Which means that we’ll soon have more memories of their good times to suffer through. Geez guys, why don’t you rub it in a little more?

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No Name Leftovers – Justin Sellers

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding on February 26, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

I like to think of Justin Sellers as the youngest of the old school guys around here. I grew up with his older brother Joe, and so when we would go ride, Justin would sometimes tag along. He was always an athletic kid and you could tell he was really talented, but I’m pretty sure no one really knew how good he was going to get. Then one day it was almost like he just said to himself “You know what? I’m going to go learn every mobe in the book.” And so that’s what he did. Then he learned them switch.

When it was all said and done, Justin really didn’t ride much at all while we were shooting No Name Losers. His part was probably made up of fewer than a dozen sets, most of which took place during the final two weeks leading up to the premiere at Riverfest. With that in mind, it’s pretty impressive how his part turned out; he’s got a few bangers in there along with some of the best overall shots in the movie. One of the coolest things about his part was the fact that he had a few good lines in there that showed how well he rode switch. I mean, it’s not every day that you see a guy do a KGB – Switch KGB or a Dum Dum – Switch Dum Dum back to back.

So in the spirit of No Name Leftovers, we’ve pulled together the following clips of Justin. It’s another pretty short video, but keep in mind that he’s goofy footed and you don’t see a single goofy-footed trick in the bunch. Now let that sink in for a minute; me personally, I would be pumped if I could do some of this stuff regular, let alone switch. So without further ado, I give you the last of the White Lake Rough Riders, Justin Clark Sellers.

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No Name Leftovers – Jason Green

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , on February 12, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

When we first started working on No Name Losers and Nick and I were going back and forth talking about ideas for the movie, one of the things Nick was pushing really hard for was a crash section. I wasn’t completely sold on the idea; I always thought crash sections were kind of lame and I worried that it would seem like we were just trying to take up more screen time. Well luckily, he talked me into it because of all the sections in the movie, the crash section seems to be the one that people are the most pumped on. I mean let’s face it: it’s funny to watch other people get hurt. I watched America’s Funniest Home Videos every week when I was a kid, but do you think it was for Bob Saget’s witty banter? Hell no, I was waiting for a guy to get kicked in the nuts by a mule or fall off the roof of his house.

We all got pretty banged up at one point or another over the course of shooting, but one guy stood head and shoulders above the rest in the crash department: Jason Green. Jason really didn’t get much time in front of the camera due to some nagging injuries, but when he did get a chance to shoot, he went full throttle and ended up taking some pretty awesome falls in the process.

Now don’t the wrong idea; it’s not like Jason’s a bad rider. In fact, that couldn’t be further from the truth. But for some reason, the guy takes some of the hardest falls I’ve ever seen. Sometimes he would just hit the wake and all hell would break loose; it’s pretty easy to understand why he always seems to be injured. Dude definitely deserves a Purple Heart for his performance last year.

So in honor of Jason sacrificing his body for the sake a wakeboard movie, I give you No Name Leftovers Volume Two. Consider it the sequel to NNL’s Crash Section.

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No Name Leftovers – Volume One

Posted in News, Wakeboarding with tags , , , , on February 4, 2010 by telepromptedanthems

Okay, so before I get into the new stuff, I want to be sure to send a big thank you to everyone who has ordered a copy of the No Name Losers DVD. It really means a lot that you guys would be willing to plunk down some hard earned cash on something that we made, so thank you very very much; we really appreciate it. For those of you that haven’t ordered it yet, we still like you okay, but we’d like you a lot more if you went to the online store and got a copy of your own.

You may have noticed by now that we haven’t posted any new videos in a while. That’s partially because we’ve been busy tying up all the loose ends for No Name Losers and it’s partially because it’s the dead of winter and most of us would rather hump a campfire than wakeboard in the cold.

Well, during the course of making No Name Losers, a lot of footage was left on the cutting room floor and for one reason or another didn’t make it into the movie. Even though they didn’t make the final cut, some of those clips are still pretty cool, so we’ve decided to go through the trash here at TA HQ, dig out some of the rejects and post them as part of a new series called NO NAME LEFTOVERS. They’ll be pretty short clips here and there, but it’s like I always say: a quickie is always better than nothing (Am I right??? wink wink HEY-YO! ).

Our first volume in the No Name Leftovers saga is one that caused quite a bit of tension between Nick and myself during the final days of editing. During their last minute filming excursion to the Randall Gap, Nick got this really awesome shot of Fabian Ashley narrowly avoiding death on an ollie gone wrong. It would appear that Fabian ollied just a bit too late and the gap jumped up and bit him, sending him head over heels straight toward the ten foot concrete slab right below the waterfall. Now anyone who knows Fabian knows that he’s a big boy and as you can imagine, he came down like a ton of bricks, almost taking out photographer Jason Hudson in the process. Luckily, he made it past the concrete and came up laughing nervously about what might have happened.

So then we were faced with the dilemma of whether or not it should go in the movie. We had literally no other clips of Fabian and the premiere was two days after this was shot. Nick was really pushing hard to include it in the crash section, and rightfully so; it’s a pretty awesome crash. However, my argument was that it might come off as kind of a dick move to just show one clip of Fabian almost dying and not show any of his good riding. I didn’t want to offend the guy, plus, we didn’t really have friends in the crash section anyway, so we just left it out completely.

Well, now you get a chance to see it in all its glory, complete with a brilliant introduction by Clay Martin. Although I have to admit, I do feel pretty ridiculous for typing that much in order to explain a minute long video. Oh well, stay tuned for more leftovers and enjoy Fabian Ashley’s brush with death at the Randall Gap.

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NO NAME LOSERS – FULL VIDEO

Posted in Features, News, Wakeboarding with tags on November 20, 2009 by telepromptedanthems

Well, guys, here it is…the moment that at least a handful of you have been waiting for.

A little over a year in the making, we’re very proud to present our very first full-length project, “NO NAME LOSERS.” For those of you who who don’t know what we’re talking about, No Name Losers is the first team video for Aussie Island Surf Shop in Wilmington, NC. They’ve been in the wakeboarding game for over a decade and have amassed a pretty good team of riders in that time; the movie pretty much just documents the team and what they’ve done over the past 13 months.

It was definitely an interesting experience over the past year. I had more than my fair share of freakouts (especially the week leading up to the premiere), and Nick had more than his fair share of frustrations along the way. Even the riders had to deal with things like seemingly endless traveling, early morning shoots in 45 degree weather, broken boards, broken ribs, a demanding shooter and an even more demanding editor. It’s a twisted tale of money, lies, sex, and power, but that’s all I can say because we’re in talks with E! about developing “No Name Losers – The True Hollywood Story”

Anyway, a whole lot of work from a whole lot of people went into this thing and there honestly isn’t enough space in the credits to thank everyone, so if you helped us in any way over the past year or made it out to the premiere or any of the screenings on the Collegiate Wake Series, thanks so much; we really appreciate it. A very big thanks also goes out to the sponsors who helped make the movie possible, including Slingshot Wakeboards, Smith Optics, Wake Riders Connection, and East Coast Wake Park.

Starting today, the movie is streaming in its entirety here and on our Vimeo page. If you want to save the movie or take it on-the-go, you can download the entire thing for free right here. It’s optimized for your iPhone or iPod and will play directly from your iTunes library.

A lot of you have been asking about the DVD and when it will be ready. Well, now that the movie is finally finished, it’s ready to be replicated and DVD’s should be shipping right after Thanksgiving. The DVD’s will be a 2-disc set that includes the movie and all the trailers we did for it, plus a bonus disc with alternate edits, web videos, and commentary from Nick and myself. Keep checking back over the next week or so for more info about how to score a copy of the DVD. We’ll be selling it online and Aussie Island will have copies available; we’re also working out some details trying to get the DVD’s in some other shops around the region, so we’ll keep you posted on that once everything is ironed out.

I know it’s been a long time coming, so thanks for all the patience and support; I think I can speak for Nick and the rest of the guys when I say we’re pretty happy with the way the movie came out and we’re really excited for everyone else to see it. Check it out and let us know what you think.

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Teaser #2 (Uncensored)

Posted in News, Wakeboarding on July 31, 2009 by telepromptedanthems

If you’re under 18 or lack a sense of humor, click here.

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Old Skool – Brad Holland

Posted in Old School, Wakeboarding on May 10, 2009 by telepromptedanthems

I’ve been getting the feeling that people don’t believe that I ever actually wakeboard and instead spend my time in front of a computer criticizing people who do. Since I rarely ever get the chance to ride in front of a camera (and never ride well when I do get the chance), I figured I would post this.

I found this at my Mom’s house recently, along with a bunch of old photos and newspaper clippings. It’s my sponsor-me tape from 1998, and it’s a nice little walk down memory lane. Please note the tiny wake and the lack of a tower or extended pylon in most of the shots. Of course, it’s also kind of embarrassing; I spend a lot of time doing stuff like throwing shakas, air rolls, and doing tricks over my buddy Rob while we’re both wearing leisure suits. I also claim the shit out of a trick I filmed myself doing on the trampoline. I was a pretty big dork, but I bet you were too/will be also when you’re 16, so get off my back. You can also see the early developmental stages of my somewhat fiery temper: there are a few times where I either get really pissed at myself or flip off a jet skier.

If you really want to get technical, this is one of the first TA videos ever made. It was edited one night using the old “hook two VCR’s together” method where you just edit in real time using the pause and record buttons. This is probably a third or fourth generation copy, so that’s why it looks so bad. I must have taped over a tape from the school my Mom taught at, because you can definitely see a classroom full of children right before the thing starts.

It’s like a time capsule from the late nineties, so sit back and enjoy some old school wakeboarding set to the soothing sounds of Unwritten Law and Sublime. And don’t be surprised if you get the urge to do a couple air rolls, bleach your hair blond, and wear clothes that are two sizes too big.

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Winter ’09 – Part Three

Posted in Wakeboarding on March 2, 2009 by telepromptedanthems

Hey, remember us? Remember that trilogy of wakeboard videos we promised you this winter? Well here’s the final installment.

After the Ft. Myers leg of their trip, Nick and Clay met up with the UNCW wakeboard club at Adam Fields’ house on Lake Brantley. Judging from the footy, Adam’s been ripping this winter and has been doing a fair amount of arts and crafts with his board. Also ripping is Adam’s new roommate Derek Cook, who made the move from Cali to the superior American coastline last Fall.

Plus, there’s some footy of the UNCW wakeboard team enjoying their winter break in the Sunshine State, as well as a few shots of our good buddy Travis Propst. Because, in all honesty, if we ever made a video that didn’t have Travis in it, I’m not sure we would know how to act. We’d probably all hate it and call it something like “Not Without My Travis.” It would really be pretty weird.

So anyway, here’s the video. Keep an eye out for Clay falling on a heelside air and a whole lot of blatant sponsor shots and product placement. Because, as Nick would say “Shit yeah, you gots to get paid.”

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Winter ’09: Part Two

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding on February 9, 2009 by telepromptedanthems

I realize that this has been a long time coming, but give us a break…it’s winter and we’ve only got so much footy that we have to last us until Spring. Speaking of which, how about this weather? I hope somebody out there on the world wide web got to ride this weekend, because I sure didn’t.

I did make my way over to the boat show here in Charlotte and I must say that need to scrounge up about $92,000 because that Byerly Edition boat that Correct Craft released last year is looking on point.

Anyway, here’s the second part of our epic Winter ’09 mini-series. This episode finds our heroes at the new cable park in Ft. Myers, FL. They try their hand at constructing a seaworthy vessel out of cardboard, then go and tear the rooftop rail to shreds.  Check it out and stay tuned; I’m making a trip down to Wilmington next weekend to edit part three.

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Winter ’09: Part One

Posted in Shoots, Wakeboarding on January 12, 2009 by telepromptedanthems

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything due to a much-deserved break over the holiday season. Seriously. I work really hard and sometimes you just gotta take a break, so I spent the majority of the holiday season eating, drinking, and not taking part in much physical activity. I popped into some internet chat rooms and checked on my Shred Till Death homeboys, but for the most part I’m pretty out of loop and haven’t thought a whole lot about wakin.’

Nick, on the other hand, has been busy as a bee. He and Clay had their little love jaunt to Orlando right before Christmas and now he’s packing his bags to head back this weekend to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday. Add that to the Christmas and New Years schedule, and it might seem like he has a full plate, but he somehow managed to find the time to put together a summary of his trip last month. Check it out below and be sure to stay tuned for the next installments in the series, as well as updates from the road this weekend.

Should old acquaintance be forgot, it’s 2009 bitches. Happy New Year…

PS – If you want to see the video in HD, go check out the TA page on Vimeo. That’s right: HIGH DEFINITION. We’ve hit the big time, son. Expect big things…

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Nice Scarecrow, Nick

Posted in News, Wakeboarding with tags , , , , , , on December 19, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

Scarecrow

Nick and Clay have been reporting in with updates from their excursion to Florida and everything is going well. They’ve been hanging out with T Propst and Adam Fields and thanks to our friend Jessica, they’ve gotten some shots to prove it.

Method son

Adam was so psyched on his new board that he went out and did some methods that could have poked somebody’s eye out.

Stalefish

While they were in Orlando, some mark ass trick stepped on Clay Martin’s sneakers, then poured Morton salt all over him. When asked about the exchange, Clay did this stalefish and said “Let’s roll on them fools at their own barbeque.”

Nick at Work

It wasn’t all fun and games, though…Looks like Nick was doing work while he was down there.

Stay tuned for some of the footy. Thanks for the shots, Jessica!

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Cheah

Posted in Wakeboarding on November 26, 2008 by cheahfest

Dope son.

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Get some

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Featured Rider – Clay Martin

Posted in Wakeboarding, Features with tags , , , on October 20, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

Wilmington is a pretty cool place to be.

There’s all kinds of fun stuff to do, lots of cool people to bro down with, and a wakeboard scene that’s steadily growing year after year. Anyone who has made the trip to the Northeast Cape Fear River can vouch for the endless amounts of awesome that the place has to offer, and we’re starting to see a new batch of riders that have apparently been taking advantage of it all.

One of those riders is Clay Martin. When you see him in public, Clay just looks like a wakeboarder; he’s tall and skinny and he loves wearing jerseys. I don’t think he shaves very often and he’s one of the funniest dudes I’ve hung out with in a while.

But here’s the thing that I really admire about Clay: he painted his board. As someone who has done his fair share of board-painting, I have to say I’m impressed with Clay’s dilligence and attention to detail. Whereas, in my younger days, I would simply take a can of spray paint and give my board a whole new paint job, Clay actually integrated the original design into the new color scheme on his Watson 142. I have to say that it’s a stunning interpretation which is both original and thought provoking. It makes you say to yourself “Hey, I thought that board was red and white…”

He’s pretty good at actually riding that board too. He was seen on top of the podium several times in the intermediate division of the CWS this past summer, including the series final at Riverfest. Word is he’s working on that whirly 5 and will be moving up to open next year, so keep your eyes peeled, cause Clay Martin is coming at you all so real right now.

To celebrate the purchase of his brand new computer, Nick made this video of Clay and his bros over the weekend. Enjoy…

See you all in Greenville this weekend for CWS Halloween…

5 Comments »

Speaking of…

Posted in Wakeboarding with tags , , on August 13, 2008 by cheahfest

So i was cleaning out my computer today and i found some wakeboarding pictures i would like to share.  This is the only time i have ever taken wake pics, but hey, shit was fun.

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Featured Riders – Travis Propst and Jeff House

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags on August 6, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

Slingshot is so hot right now.

I don’t really know what else to say; dudes are on a roll. Their boards are sick, their team is sick, the videos on their website are sick; they pretty much just reek of sickness. They’ve made a bunch of noise this season and it seems like somebody’s taking the plunge and buying one of their decks every time you turn around.

So when Nick said that Travis Propst, who rides for Slingshot, was coming up to Wilmington with teammate Jeff House and photographer Jason Lee, I was pretty psyched, if not a little jealous that I was up here hating my life while they were down there going off and having a blast. Oh, but don’t worry: Nick sent me the tapes so I could see all the fun times and laughing and playing and singing that I missed out on.

Here’s a little video I threw together featuring all the sunshine and smiles and happiness that I couldn’t make it down for. Thanks guys; maybe I’ll catch you next time.

Actually, I probably won’t because I’m on my way down the slippery slope that is life. It starts with a job, then maybe you get a new car. Boy, you have it made! Things are going great! Then all of a sudden you have a house and a mortgage and an overwhelming amount of credit card debt. Then, at work you have bunch of deadlines you’ll never meet and pressure from your co-workers who can’t even handle their own damn jobs and then you feel like you can’t take it anymore and so you wander over to the nearest bar and search through an entire bottle of single malt scotch for the affection and comfort that is so painfully absent in your life. Then, later that night, through a sequence of events you can’t even recall, you knock up the slutty hostess with the missing front tooth, only to later find out that you despise her even more than you despise yourself and she’s having your illegitimate “love” child and there’s nothing you can do about it, so you wind up marrying this horrible person and spending your nights walking the streets aimlessly after your trip to the store to buy baby formula, doing whatever it takes to keep you out of the house and coming any closer to climbing into the crawlspace with the gun that belonged to your father (who never actually loved you) and putting a loud, messy end to this pitiful excuse for a life that you have so haphazardly made for yourself.

Anyway, it sure looks like those guys had fun! Jeff’s even wearing a pirate hat in one shot! Enjoy the video!!!

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Rejected CWS Teaser

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , , on July 9, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

A while back, Rob Mendieta asked me to put together a teaser for the 2008 CWS tour, and so I did. The thing is, he wasn’t very psyched on the original version.

In my defense, Rob’s description went like this: “Yeah, you know. Something EPIC. Something that grabs your attention. Something with a lot of SLOW MO. Really hard tricks, yeah, that’s the ticket! Oh, and be sure to make it really HEAVY HITTING with lots of fast cuts and a fast pace, you know? Really QUICK CUTS, okay? Oh, you know what I mean. It needs to be really good, okay? Seriously. Really good, got it?”

Now I ask you, dear reader: would you have any idea just what the hell he was talking about? Of course not, me neither. Anyway, I think he likes the final version, and it should be posted on the CWS site soon, so keep your eyes peeled for it.

Also, I’m fully aware that the videos look like total ass, and I’m trying to figure out why. Once I figure it out, I’ll re-post them with better quality. Sorry they look so rough. If anyone wants to send me a bunch of money so I can get them hosted properlike on a steaming server, feel free to send it my way. If we all do a little, we can do a lot.

PS – Two posts in one day! I’m on fire!

3 Comments »

Featured Rider – Justin Sellers

Posted in Wakeboarding with tags , , on May 21, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

I’m going to keep this short because it’s 1:00 AM and I have to get up and go to work tomorrow.

Here’s a little background on Justin Sellers: the kid can’t do regular heelside frontside spins. He used to be able to, but somewhere along the line, he developed this brain fart that would physically prevent him from doing them. Well imagine my surprise when Nick called me last week to inform me that Justin not only re-learned a frontside 3, but a frontside 5 as well. I was pretty amused with this alone, but then a few days later Justin himself called to tell me he landed a wake to wake heelside frontside 720 and that he got it on film. Pretty awesome.

Anyway, Justin asked me to put together a short video that he could show some people who might be interested in hooking him up, so I put this little bad boy together last night. It’s really short, and it’s not the best quality, but you can get a pretty good idea of how versatile the dude really is.

As a side note, I don’t think Justin can jump the wake heelside. If he were to come in and try to just do a straight heelside air, he would just inadvertently do a back roll. I’m 100% serious.

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Mashups – Summer 2007

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , on April 6, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

A long time ago, I diagnosed myself with Seasonal Affective Disorder. While it’s not officially accepted as a distinct psychological disorder, those who suffer from S.A.D. experience patterns of depressive or manic episodes that occur with the onset of the winter months. Cold weather always puts me in a lousy mood, and when you add clouds and rain to the equation, I’m downright miserable.

Having said that, those of you who live in western North Carolina can imagine how my past week or so has been. It’s April for God’s sake; it’s supposed to be nice and warm, but no, every day I leave the house in a jacket because it’s 40 degrees outside and it won’t get past 60 all day. Oh yeah, it’s also been drizzling steadily for several days now.

The only upside to the crappy weather is that it has practically forced me to sit down and get some editing done. Nick and I have been talking about doing a Mashup of footage from last summer for a while now, and the past few days have been just the excuse I needed to make it happen. I know things have been scarce around here lately, but hopefully this will be the turning point and things will start happening around here a little more often.

So anyway, here’s the video…check it out. In the meantime, I’m going to be looking for a warmer place to live.

UPDATE: I would also like to add that if you don’t think Biggie Smalls was and is the greatest rapper of all time, just go ahead and punch yourself in the head. Then, go to your mama’s house and punch her in the head for raising such a fool.

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Featured Rider – Jason Green

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding on February 8, 2008 by telepromptedanthems

Look, people…it’s winter. It’s cold outside, there’s a crazy drought going on, and not much is happening in the wakeboarding world. Sorry there’s not a ton of stuff to look at right now, but don’t you worry; that will be changing in a few months.

To tide everyone over, here’s a short little clip from a guy named Jason Green. Jason’s been riding for a while now, but this past summer, he stepped it up big time and ended up winning the advanced division at Riverfest back in October. As he was accepting his trophy, I heard a few people in the crowd asking who this guy was and where he came from. Well people, the answer is Wilmington, NC and if last summer is any indication, you ought to keep an eye on him in ’08.

Jason called me up the other day and asked if I could put him together a sponsor-me video. Since I’m such a nice guy, I said yes, but when I started digging through the clips I had of him, I realized there wasn’t a whole lot to pick from. So consider this a disclaimer of sorts: what you are about to see isn’t the best representation of Jason’s riding and it’s kind of short, but like I said before; there’s much more to come.

See you guys this weekend at the Charlotte boat show…

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Mashups – Florida Trip

Posted in Shoots, Wakeboarding with tags , , , on December 19, 2007 by telepromptedanthems

Earlier this month, we made a trip to O-Town to get some shooting done before it gets too cold down there. We met up with Kara Austin, Alex Hamrick, Adam Greer, Robby McFarland, and Adam Fields and filmed for a few days. I won’t bore you guys with the details since I went through them in depth a few weeks ago, but here is a little teaser of the footage we got in the angriest city in America.

Speaking of Florida, Nick’s down there right now staying with Alex and Gibb Gibbons and he’s getting tons of footy. The other day, he reported that he and the boys went out to the Projects and shot rails all day. Meanwhile, I’m in Greensboro freezing my ass off scraping my windshield so I can drive to the office and work. Awesome.

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Old Skool – Justin Sellers

Posted in Old School, Wakeboarding on December 11, 2007 by telepromptedanthems

Justin Sellers and I go way back. I grew up with his brother Joe, and back then Justin was the annoying little brother that was always hanging around. We would always have to take him out in the boat when we would go wakeboarding on White Lake in the summers. He’d put on his barefoot suit and ride his little Hyperlite kids board and basically annoy the shit out of us.

Somewhere along the line, though, he became less annoying and I began hanging out with him more and more. It got to the point where he was pretty much my best friend and to this day, there isn’t anyone I enjoy wakeboarding with more. Good times kind of follow the kid around; I have trouble thinking of a time when I was hanging out with him and had a legitimately bad time. He’s the kind of guy who could get drunk and piss on your computer, and you wouldn’t even get mad at him, it would just somehow be really funny.

As you may already know, the annoying little brother turned out to be way better at wakeboarding than all of us, and although he’s settled down a bit now, he’ll still go out and kill it when he wants to. This video was for the same school project as the clip of Brandon Graham I posted a few weeks ago. Hopefully, Justin will come out and get some shots for the movie this spring and summer.

Speaking of the movie, I’ve been capturing a ton of footage from our trip to Florida, and I can safely say that we got some pretty good stuff. Keep your eyes peeled for a little sample in a week or so.

Also, if you guys haven’t seen it, go watch the new Sidewayz movie “Transgression.” Randy Harris’ part alone is worth the cost of admission. Ronn Sidenglanz is a total bad-ass, and Randy’s section pretty much confirms that he’s the master of putting together epic video parts.

But anyway, here’s Justin…

5 Comments »

Benny Boy

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , on November 22, 2007 by cheahfest

I used to absolutely hate wakeboarding. During my time in middle school, all I did was hang out and watch my two buddies, Benedict Sass and Brian Hicks, wakeboard behind a little Boston Whaler all day long. I was pretty adamant about not trying it until, one day, Benedict forced me. It took me about thirty or so tries to get up, and I still hated it. I had to learn to jump the wake to even begin enjoying myself (which wasn’t for another year or so).

Well, the bottom line is that Benedict is solely responsible for teaching me, and probably about thirty other kids in the Wilmington area, how to ride a wakeboard. Thanks a lot for getting me addicted to the most expensive sport in the world, you asshole.

Here is some footy of Benedict. There are a few shots from 2003, 2005, and 2007. Just random stuff I had of Robby McFarland’s clone on my computer. Eat it up son.

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Flock of Seahawks

Posted in Features, Wakeboarding with tags , , , on November 15, 2007 by telepromptedanthems

Back in September, the UNCW Wakeboard Club went to Pennsylvania to compete in a regional qualifier for the Collegiate Nationals. The contest went down the same time as the Wake the Lake contest, so I couldn’t make it, but Nick was on point and filmed pretty much the entire weekend.

Although I wasn’t there, I can pretty much make several assumptions about the trip. They are:

1. Pennsylvania smells bad

2. Pennsylvania has questionable plumbing

3. Tim is scared of the camera

4. According to Corey, girls don’t poop

5. UNCW has a stacked wake team that loves using excessive amounts of profanity

In the end, the Seahawks placed 2nd overall and easily qualified for Nationals in San Diego. They also had some pretty impressive individual results; club president Jon Bryant took 1st Place in the Beginners division, vice-president Tim Boyer placed 2nd in Wakeskate, Nick won the Outlaw division, while Fabian and Justin Sellers took 1st and 2nd in the Pro division, respectively.

What you see below is pretty much a play-by-play of how the weekend went down. If there are little kids around, you might want to tell them to put on the earmuffs.

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A Blast from the Past

Posted in Old School, Wakeboarding with tags , , on November 12, 2007 by telepromptedanthems

On Friday, Brandon Graham came up to hang out and go to the Bright Eyes show in Winston Salem (As a side note, Bright Eyes totally sucks live; don’t even bother). If you’re unfamiliar with the name Brandon Graham, he was quite the wakeboarder for many years, and he still would be had he not spent the past few years recovering from his second blown knee. We talked shop for a while and he mentioned that he would like to start riding a bit more next year. Naturally, I then told him he was expected to come out and get some shots for the movie.

Our conversation prompted me to break out this clip, which was part of a school project I did my senior year. It was shot mostly in the summer of 2004, a year before Brandon’s second knee injury. I realize how ironic it is that we’re classifying a three year old video “old school,” but whatever. Just watch it. BG’s a ripper and if you happen to see him on the street, tell him to get his act in gear and start wakeboarding more in 2008.

In more current movie news, Nick and I have been kicking around some possible names for the video and capturing footage like crazy. We’ve got several trips planned for the next few months, and we’ll keep you guys posted as things come together.

Go Wolfpack!

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The First Shoot…kind of…

Posted in Shoots, Wakeboarding with tags , , on November 4, 2007 by telepromptedanthems

Last week, Adam Fields was in town for the CWS Halloween contest in Greenville (which was a great time by the way; check it out HERE), so we decided to get some shots. Unfortunately, the worst drought in recent memory came to a screeching halt last week, and it rained for four days straight.

Lucky for us, Fabian Ashley decided to grab his board, throw on a t-shirt, and make the best of a bad situation. The lighting’s not great and the footage is all from the boat, but Fabian had a pretty nice little run, which he capped off by breaking a board over his head. What a guy!

Also, for those of you that don’t know, Fabian is an excellent wakeboard instructor, so if any of you are in need of some lessons, check out his website, GLOBALWAKEBOARDING.COM.

More to come, people…

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