Rat Tail to invade Bakersfield this weekend.

Jeff Stockwell, Ben Schwab, Connor O’Brien, Jon Elliott, Jan Welch and Wes Driver are going up to Bakersfield this weekend to start filming for various Rat Tail media projects. They will be visiting Matt Mickey and Intuition Skateshop while they are there. The whole weekend will be covered by Wes for a future issue of One Magazine.

Shima in San Francisco filming for 4×4 video…

Brian Shima is in San Francisco for a while to film with Pat Lennen for the upcoming 4×4 video now in the works…

New Deals at the Rat Hole

We have added some new great deals to the Rat Hole, Rat Tail’s online store. Also we have updated all the photos so check it out and get yourself some new gear today.

new layout, forums and online store

As you may have noticed the layout of this page has changed a bit. The website has been upgraded with several new features and is much friendlier to the eyse.

I have deleted our last online store, it was hard to find and a bit too complicated. A new online store that works with the wordpress interface has been implimented. This new store is very easy to use and features Current DVDs and both limited edition and closeout apparel.

The old messageboard is also now gone and a new one has been integrated into the site.

Click here to visit the Rat Hole online store.

The Meantime DVD Promo Edit – 9 minutes

We have decided to put the promotional edit of The Meantime online for your viewing enjoyment. This edit was originally screened to Jon Elliott and myself by Brandon Negrete, in an attempt to have The Meantime distributed by Rat Tail. What we saw was amazing, it made rollerblading look fun and stylish and we went skating right after viewing it. We knew The Meantime would be good, and it definitely exceeded our expectations by presenting the best skating from Alex Broskow, Brandon Campbell, Mike Lilly, Michael Collins, Chris Farmer and many others. We highly recommend that you buy and watch The Meantime and make it part of your collection. After watching this edit you will feel the same way. Enjoy!

This video is available from all your favorite retailers. If it isn’t please buy from one of your favorite online stores. For your convenience we have made direct links below.

Intuition Skate Shop
Revolution Skate
Aggressive Mall
Rollerwarehouse
Skatepile
eRolling
Grindhouse
Ignition Skateshop
Hedonskate
The Rat Hole
While you are at it, don’t forgot to pick up a copy of Label Me (teaser a few posts down!)

The server this podcast was hosted on has exceeded bandwidth so you will have to watch this as a youtube video intill the end of this month.

Ground Control now has a Myspace Page!

Ground Control has a myspace page now at myspace.com/theframecompany come join us and be our friend.

Chris Farmer, NEW 4×4 Pro Rider

We would like to welcome Chris Farmer to the 4×4 family. Chris’s first 4×4 wheel in progress…

New Label Me Teaser, DVD OUT NOW!

Label Me is the latest DVD by Christian Koll and the Drung Brothers, the guys who did the Matthias Ogger profile on Clip2 and 2 montages on Clip3. This DVD features some of the finest inline skating Europe has to offer. Rat Tail is proud to announce that after many problems in the production of this DVD it is now available for sale. We only produced a 1000 copies of Label Me and they should now be available in most stores. This video features Michi Hieber, Thomas Thellmann (4×4, Vicious), Chris Farmer, Dave Benski, Max Visser, Jochen Smuda and many more… This is one of our favorite videos and that it is why we have brought it to the USA. Check out the new teaser for Label Me below!

You can purchase label me from the following online shops (direct links):
Rollerwarehouse
Aggressivemall
erolling
Skatepile
Revolution doesn’t have them on their website but you can call 1.877.917.2044 to see if they have them in stock

Check out Be Mag’s review of Label me!

NEW Vicious Bearings MYSPACE page!

Vicious now has its very own myspace page at www.myspace.com/viciousbearings. Visit the link and add us as your friend.

Germany and Amsterdam

After leaving Bad Reichenhall and the Ingition Valley I headed accross Germany to visit my family near Schwabish Hall. I spent two days there and had a wonderful time. My next destination was Stuttgart to meet up with Andreas “Gagi” Wagenblast and Thoms Thelmann. We ended up meeting up with several other Stuttgart skaters and they were all super cool and great guys to hang out with, skate with and drink beer with. Moritz Drung let me stay the night at this house. The next day I went to Dusseldorf, where Chris Knoll and Dominic Waganer picked me up from the train station and directly took me to an amazing spot where they both layed down hammers. We sessioned some fun ledge spots after that and then commenced an intense night of drinking and dancing at their local rock n roll watering whole. The next day it rained, so we went to the record store and just hung out at Dominic’s house until it was dark and time to go dancing again. The next morning I went to Amsterdam and froze my ass off outside the train station until my friend Remy showed up to rescue me and take me to the santuary of the infamous Dutch Flowers Coffee Shop. After a few beers and a bit of hash, Gijs showed up and took us to a bowling alley where we met up with so many people I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was a great time even though I totally suck at bowling, but did get one strike. I spent two more days cycling around the rainy streets of amsterdam going to stores, the red light district and out to bars at night. Today I missed my train to frankfurt and had to wait 4 hours for the next one. But now I am here at my friend Benny Harmanus’s house and fly back to America tomorrow. I already miss Europe, but will be back this summer.