Check out BrooksReynolds.com for some great photography

www.brooksreynolds.com

via: bmxboard

Defgrip had first dibs on the Empire promo, but then we STB for a week. Anyhow, here it is anyway in case you haven’t seen it.

Chill Bro:

A video about people who need to chill. Fucking characters. All of em. Featuring sections from Aaron Ross, Danny Hickerson, Kevin Porter, Chase Hawk, Joel Moody, Joe Simon, Morgan Wade, Neil Harrington, Bob Scerbo, Tony Cardona, and Dylan Smith. More than a couple of bangers in this one. I am surprised Aaron Ross can walk after this video part, and Chase… You would think he would just float away with those wings, nope, he’s still in Austin. KP almost had a heart attack with how much caffeine he drank on the road and at his work, and Danny can swing any way he wants too.

-Joel Moody

Check out the trailer for CHILL BRO

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New version of THECOMEUP is up.

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Since the government is in the business of keeping us scared, the aqua teen hunger force are now terrorists.

First off, I want to apologize to everyone about the site being down. I’ve been through a week of hell and I still feel like I’m no closer to figuring the problem out. So… what went down, was the domain was registered with some company a few years back. That company was called Mesopia. Mesopia was dope, great customer feedback, no problems what so ever, but Mesopia was started by some high school kid and when it was time for him to go to College he sold it to a company called Netbunch. Still, everything is all good. Not to long after that, Netbunch was bought by a company called Webhostplus and that is were the problem comes in…

The domain expired on January 21st. I never received any sort of notice that the domain was about to expire. They had all my current contact info and everything. That’s not so bad, the domain expired, the site is down for a day and technically, all I needed to do was give them a call, pay em $10 and we are all good… But nooooo….. Webhostplus is a joke. They don’t answer their phones, don’t return emails… I’ve had numerous people at their parent companies email and call them… and nothing. They are a horrible company and are the center of the problems. If you remember a little while ago Lotek had to change the URL from Lotekkicks.com to Lotekbrand.com… same problem, same company. It’s not like they are holding our domain hostage to get a bunch of money or anything, they just don’t know how to run a company. I think they are so backed up that they are just not answering any new problems. I’ve been dealing with a lady at one of the parent companies, who is great and really trying to get everything sorted out. So, for now the site will be up at Defgrip.net, but I’m still working my ass off to get Defgrip.com back. I really want to say thanks for all the support, emails and messageboard posts. It’s rad to see everyone is psyched on Defgrip… and again, sorry about the down time.

As some of you have heard, we have a new site in the works. I’ve been working on it a bunch and was trying to have it ready to launch when we got the site back up, but new sites never launch on time, so check for it in a few days.

Just because the site’s been down, doesn’t mean we have stopped doing what we do. We have a ton of great content ready to go… A new Photogallery from Cal from the QPB road trip, and interview with Will Smyth about the current state of magazines and a great Autophoto with Seattle photographer, Mike Leask.

We’ll kick everyhing off with the QBP photogallerie from Cal. The QBP crew went on a road trip to Texas and Cal Burgstahler was along to take some photos. Thatnks to Todd and Cal for putting this one together. Check it out here.

I got a few positive emails from dudes who were psyched to see some of the old stuff from my “diggin in the crates” post, so I figured I would throw this out there.

Since most of you have probably never been to Odyssey, then there is no way of knowing about the mag collection (until now). Considering bike companies get magazines sent to them, you can times that by 20 years or so, and you have our mag wall. I believe there are 4 solid shelves of BMX history.

Titles such as Freestylin, GO, Tread, BMX PLUS, DIG, Ride UK, Ride US, and Snap are all here (plus more recent issues in the office), some dating back to the early 80’s.

Needless to say, whenever new riders slide through, they spend a few minutes looking through all the crazy old mags.

*click pic for bigger*

I was at this fundraiser for the Sustainable Business Council with my girlfriend’s company recently, and this dude Steve Glen came up to the booth and introduced himself. He’s the CEO of Living Homes, a leading prefab home developer with focus on two things: modern design and sustainability. They recycle their own water, are built from recycled materials, have agriculture growing on the roofs, and of course have solar panels. I like how every detail is taken into consideration from the start, so that every possible feature of the house has a green element without sacrificing comfort.

Check out their brand new site HERE. There’s a lot of good content, but if you’re pressed for time at least check out the gallery HERE, which features 31 photos of the model Living Home in Venice, CA.

Mathew Y Beic hit me up on my Myspace with this video of a dude calmly drawing a perfect circle freehand. After you watch it, check out this uptight dude doing the same thing but with the added stiffness of a chip on his shoulder.

One of the perks of working at a magazine is the free shit. The “perks” in this case came in the shape of a Mini Cooper. Ride UK worked out a deal with Mini to take one of their cars on a trip from England to Estonia for the Simpel Sessions contest. The Trip consisted of Robin Fenlon, Phill Aller, and Steve Bancroft and there will be a full article in the upcoming issue of Ride UK. Check out the video above to get a little sneak peak into what when down on the trip. Pill Aller put it together and I stole it from the Ride UK site. You’ll find some dope footage from Simpel Session towards the end… and all I can say is I cant wait to see more from this contest. The rams looked incredible, the riding was nuts, and you had Catfish on the M.I.C… Oh… I heard a roomer that Catfish might be making a return to the internet… You’ll find out soon!!

Mike, Juse, and Jim Bauer hit the LA Auto Show a little while back and snapped some photos for the site. Check out some of their findings in the newest Photogallery.

Click here to see the L.A. Auto Show photos

In the “one product done right” vein, Steve Buddendeck and Cory Muth are bringing us Duo grips. These things are looking nice! For now the Chris Doyle and Scotty Cranmer grips are available, with the Van Homan and Corey Bohan grips on the way. I’m feeling the colors, but my favorite thing about these is the packaging. So proper.

Steve was nice enough to send me 6 pairs of these, so after I throw some on my bike and give some away to my friends, I’m gonna send a pair to the first Defgrip reader who can answer this trivia question: What was the name of Steve Buddendeck’s first company? Email me at Mike@Lavarbrand.com with the answer.

Check Duo (full site soon) right here, and if you’re a dealer looking to carry Duo, click here.

EDIT: This post has been up for minutes and I’m already getting bombarded with emails, so game over and thanks for playing! Steve’s first company was 2B Homecooked Garments. Grips are going out to John Dooley of Los Angeles and since I’m a nice guy (and he was the second person to get it right), I’m sending another pair to Vince aka Charlie Brown.

Everyone needs a bag to stay organized. I figure you can be the action sports geek with your mult-compartment super tech backpack in your Subaru, the pansy with the Vuitton bag in the Lexus, or the refined dude with the blue-collar twist that drives his vintage Porsche out of his warehouse loft with this in his passenger seat.