Todd took off to become the Ultimate Boarder, leaving us high and dry for our Friday funnies. However, we ran into superstar Danny Kass and decided waiting on Todd sounded stupid. So here it is folks, High Fives with Danny Kass. 

Are you going to win the US Open this year, why or why not? 

I was planning a driving trip to Alaska with (Dustin) Craven, so could be hard if I’m not there. 

In what direction do you see yourself headed in both business and snowboard superstardom? 

Seems to be busier and busier. Just want to have fun with this awesome opportunity and keep on rocking, making rad gear and doing wilder stuff on my snowboard(toys).

What would you do on your TV show with an endless budget? 

I would go to Antartica and shred, get to the the moon or close, and make a most extreme elimination to every episode. And also I would get some new tires for the RV. 

How famous are you really? Have you had any “Holy Shit I’m famous” moments, and what’s it like? 

I don’t think I am that famous, but I have meet a ton of cool people that love snowboarding or our crazy antics. It makes for some good stories and meeting people you never thought possible. Somehow I met Stevie Wonder, that was crazy. I think it is sweet for kids to geek out on riders. I did heavily growing up on skaters and earlier shredders, still do. 

Are you planning to go back to New Zealand this summer? Will they let you back in? 

I have been back since. There is talk about doing a Grenade Games in the Southern Hemisphere, so it is up to NZ or Australia. I don’t think I will be spending nearly as much time as I did last summer though. 

The Snowqualmie crew threw us another edit. This time with shaky hand and super long intro filters.

One of Yobeat’s original Hump Day vixens, Desiree Melancon, is officially bald, and will be sporting a dyed red head for the Ashbury Demo and Ms. Superpark events coming up soon. Desiree had this to say, “Whatever, it grows back.” The once cute, yet androgynous, Desiree is now sporting the toughest look on the Ashbury team. So while she might have trouble finding a date, she’ll get to enjoy putting all the motorcycle riding, tight jean and leather jacket wearing Ashbury dudes to shame.

For more info on this important and late breaking story, visit ashburyeyewear.com

By 2010 the Ride Shakedown had outgrown its Canadian roots and became a multi-stop action sports circus. The American debut was held at Summit at Snoqualmie, a hill known for park, night riding and being close to downtown Seattle. My job was simple enough; drive to Snoqualmie and cover two days of snowboard action. 

A day late and with no where to stay I parked illegally and asked for the media center. And what a media center. A bag of chap-stick, bandanas and drink tickets awaited me. I also received a billboard to hang around my neck and a flyer allowing my car to remain where it was. With the monstrous media pass weighing me down I headed over to a contest already being live streamed and Tweeted. So much for Yobeat breaking the news.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

After running into some of my favorite people I found a fully stocked bar in an office, a VIP Budweiser tent and a few flask wielding friends. After a drink or two I took off around the mountain with Ashbury’s Lance Hakker, only letting up to grab a beer and gawk at the Finals. 

Objective journalism demands the truth, and the truth is the jump sucked, the weather was spotty and the riders weren’t feeling it. Some Chilean dude hucked double flips, Megan Whiteside, Megan Ginter and Hana Beaman landed stuff and Yale Cousino threw a backside 1260 over a sketchy and slow jump—but whatever, you already know that. 

 A drive back to Seattle that included smooth talking my way out of a 90 mph speeding ticket ended in Capital Hill. Seattle’s favorite local for the gay community. Once there I ate Dick’s with Lance Hakker and Northwest super Rep Ryan Garvie. As we choked down Seattle’s best burger we were subject to a blitzkrieg by The Brides of March. Hundreds of obese and hairy men and woman, styled as brides, showed up to Dick’s burgers alongside maybe one or two cute cougars. After enjoying our Dick’s we headed to the Queen City Yacht Club to park our cars and head to the after party. 

Seattle’s new Hard Rock Cafe is the worst bar in town. The lights are too bright. The bartenders are piss stained metaphors of 80’s Glam Rock gone sour; slow, retarded and ugly. People got a bit tipsy, but the barkeepers took too long to get anyone hammered. I even heard, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” at closing, how truly lame. Pissed off but ready for more I headed to an all night dance club with filmer Gary McCloud. We danced the night away in a suspect style, and as we left the bartender acted confused, apparently alcohol could legally be served in thirty more minutes. 

I woke up to Pat Bridges blaring an acoustic rendition of one of Lady GaGa’s chart toppers somewhere in a high-rise hotel room. At this point the story had obviously taken off in a new direction. The contest had become worthless, but a behind the scenes look into Seattle’s first Shakedown had become interesting, at least to me. 

Breakfast with Jonah Owen, Forest Bailey, Gary and Tawnya Schultz was amazing. The following skate session/boardwalk boogie was a blast. Those are good people, willing to laugh when park rangers cuff you, or pigeons shit in your food. 

Around noon my phone exploded. Apparently some bar was the place to be. An hour later, and after a tour of east Seattle we found the yacht club again. I dropped the team off at their hotel and spent the next hour searching for this West Seattle hotspot. At this point I just wanted to stop in, say hi, and head home. Seattle had different plans. 

This secret location was dangerous. Apparently Capita owner Blue Montgomery had been coming here for ten years, and the rest of Seattle’s industry folk had followed suit. Between my peers, the longshoremen and the bar tenders the place was practically packed. The drinks came at light speed and a mash up of hip-hop and hard rock blared for hours. Ten minutes into this adventure I felt the shots and cocktails K2’s Sean Tedore had shoveled into my gut pumping into my brain and I gave up any hope of seeing home that day. The dancing and drinking would last for hours. 

Seattle had kidnapped Portland. Mike LeBlanc, Chris Prosser and I had been tricked into coming to this watering hole on a Sunday morning. We left very drunk, hours later. After passing out on Tedore’s floor and surviving a dog attack or two Tedore had us back in the bars of Seattle’s hip Capital Hill district. There we met up with Kevin Winkle, K2 Team Manger, and his darling girlfriend. Kevin was mad that we had used his credit card to purchase $40 worth of pizza a few hours before, but hopefully he sees the humor in it now. 

Sometime after last call we ended up at IHOP. Too much food was ordered, too many friends had been lost to airplanes or much needed sleep. But not us, we were still up, still playing with our food, and finally, tricking Prosser into paying for all of it. Sometime around 4 AM Sean tucked us in. We all agreed the Shakedown had been a good time. 

That morning I found my car parked next to a bus stop. I had apparently left my windows down. My snowboard gear, backpack and ipod were undisturbed, as was the garbage that I collect in my mom’s old Toyota wagon. Seattle had been good to me, and all other visitors. Can’t wait for next year.

It’s official, Chris Grenier has finally been tricked by the Ashbury boys to ride for them. We know it’s true cause they sent us this video.
More Here.

Earthquakes, poverty, internet haters and all sorts of stuff is currently ravaging this great planet.  What does Todd Richards think of this downward decline? Can he save us? Well, obviously not because he’s just an aging father of two, but he sure can make us laugh about it. 

Two earthquakes in 2010, is this a sign of the end of days? 

I have recently started living my life like Dec 21, 2012 is the end of time. For instance just today I sat on a public toilet seat without using that tissue paper stuff.

If “the big one” hit southern California which So-Cal based snowboard company would you hope it destroyed first?

Oh man, Bitch Boards for sure. Quit your bitchin’ and get back in the kitchen. These views do not represent my real views just my online personal views. Yes this is so I don’t get a black eye from my wife

Would you rather die as a wrinkly old man, or see the end of the world?

Oh I think that seeing the end of days would be the major water-coolor conversation on the other side. So yes, I would take seeing the end of days. “So Dan did you see Lost the other night?”  ”Yeah Pete, it was almost as good as when we saw the end of days that one time.” Where this conversation would be taking place and if Lost is still something that we would talk about is still up for debate.

What combination of natural disasters do you think would look the coolest?  

A volcanic mudslide with a scorching hot wind. Kind of like my butt after bad Mexican food but like magnified. Like picture an ant on the receiving end of bad Mexican food.

Please pick a snowboarder to nickname natural disaster, and a trick. Why did you pick those two things? 

Oh natural disaster is Nate bozung for sure. The trick I would choose is the half backflip to darkside back lip. I just confused myself.

The Family Tree boys recently met Canada’s coolest Dad. They even have video proof. For more on this crew check out their site HERE and get a glimpse at a bunch of free snowboard junk. Oh yeah, and to the crew, how about next time you name Yobeat instead of whatever that other site you mentioned was, Eh?

Episode 6: Scruffy Style!

Episode 7: Icelandic Style!

Check out more from Knife Show here

Yes ladies, Mr. Sell is single and searching for love.             p. Robbie Sell of Robbie Sell

With guns o’ plenty, a mean mustache and an apartment in Reno, Robbie Sell is nothing short of an American badass. After the tragic death of a once prominent snowboard career Robbie has recently shifted rolls from in front of, to behind, the lens. Robbie is the first pick photog’ for riders like Johnny Lazz, the inspiration behind a young Eric Messier’s mac-game and the owner of what Sean Tedore describes as the, “Best old school straight air.” With a blog to run, covers to capture, mountains to ride, sponsors to please and shit to shoot, Robbie Sell is as relevant as ever.

You’re the proud owner of some serious firepower, what’s in your arsenal these days?

I’m actually going to sell a couple. The novelty of the AK-47 has worn off, and I want to get a regular rifle, one with a scope to be accurate with. You know, really concentrate and try to hit the target; it’s very gratifying. And the big semi-auto pistol is gonna get changed to a little revolver. I’m keeping the shotgun though, it’s so much fun to shoot skeet.

How did you obtain an AK-47?

I randomly bought it in Oregon when a group of HCSC coaches were driving to the ocean for the weekend. There was a convenience store that sells firearms along the way; we stopped, the homeys got drinks, and I bought a Romanian assault riffle. It threw them off guard a little bit, maybe they didn’t know my redneck roots. They called me a hickster.

With ideas like this it’s amazing Nick Dirks isn’t crippled every year.     p. Robbie Sell

Favorite thing to shoot at?

Skeet.

Have you ever checked out Jarad Hadi’s Hump Day?       p. Robbie Sell

Where do hicksters come from?

I was raised in a split family, so Summers were in Redding, California and the rest was in Sacramento, ‘till I went to high school in Truckee. While in Sac’, Moms was dating a rocker guy in Reno. She wanted to be closer to him without leaving California, because of our welfare support. So, Truckee was the closet town. Yeah, we had food stamps growing up.

Your childhood wasn’t filled with orange slices between pipe runs and DVD’s in mom’s mini-van?

Nope, I used to work in the ski rental shop at Boreal so I could ride. I would hitchhike everyday after school to go night riding. I also worked at a lumber mill in the Summers to get enough cash for a Squaw Valley mid-week pass.

Grab a skittle colored Euro, add nature as a backdrop and BAM! Great photo.         p. Robbie Sell

How did you guys meet Scotty Wittlake? What were your initial impressions?

He went to school at Squaw, and we rode there. He used to make his own baggy pants, and sell them to the kids at his school. He has never tried to impress anybody, and I appreciated that from him. He really kept me humble when ever I got a weird ego or something. Initial impression? Dirtbag. There ain’t nuthin’ wrong with it either.

Look at how Nick Visconti’s nail polish pops in that sepia tone.           p. Robbie Sell

You used to be very vocal, why were you so quick to burn bridges?

Some people just need to be called out, and the public should know what’s up.

Great timing, great placement and a great grab by Eric Messier.         p. Robbie Sell

How did your path to snowboard stardom unfold?

I tried to get sponsors, because I couldn’t afford new gear all the time. I used to do the USASA contests with my friends, which was a good time. I never really had a sponsor-me tape, but talked to people and tricked them to give me some stuff. I got hooked up by the Santa Cruz Nor-Cal rep for a few years, then got on the AM team. I started shooting for videos like 411, Technine, a couple other video magazines (pre YouTube) with Pierre (Minhondo), and also started getting published in the mags. Then after like six years of being AM, Quiksilver sponsored me. Probably because I was all edgy for the time, wearing jeans and hoodies. Quik took a chance and turned me pro, and then all my other sponsors decided to jump in and put me on their pro teams. (Thanks and Congrats Brian and Jess Craighill on their new baby) My answers are dumb.

Your best video part?

I thought they all sucked. Blacklight was kinda cool though.

“Robbie is my first pick, my second pick, he’s my only pick.” -Johnny Lazz p. Robbie Sell

Why were you so keen on wooden handrails?

The Lake Tahoe area doesn’t have spots like SLC does.We have a bunch of vacation rental homes with shitty wood handrails. So naturally, that’s what we went to jib on. There’s like five metal handrails in all of Tahoe And Scotty (Wittlake) wanted to be badass, and ride something more difficult than it needed to be, so we hit the shittiest stuff.

How were the living conditions in the NeoProto flophouse?

Well, nine of us in one house. One of the guys lived in the pantry. Dudes shared beds. (Shaun) McKay lived in the hallway. Gretchen Bleiler’s now husband used to share a bed with a blonde Finnish guy. Ahh, the good ole’ days. We also had a different house, were (Aaron) Keene lived in the closet, Pierre had a sex swing hanging from his ceiling, and Filippo (Kratter) lived in the dining room.

Neoproto met its maker and shortly after so did your spotlight, why?

Politics.

Riders like Chris Grenier take eating shit to a whole new level.          p. Robbie Sell

Why did all of your sponsors drop you at the same time?

My video part came out in People, and I had a lot of magazine coverage, but I wasn’t the flavor of the week anymore. I wasn’t doing big airs like my managers wanted from me. It was ironic, because I got twice to three times the exposure then some of my teammates were getting, but budgets were shrinking. My binding sponsor at the time, that situation still confuses me; among many others, even other employees at the brand. That’s all I’m going to say about that one.

Tight pants weren’t cool anymore, or did the look mutate to include tattoos and Harleys without you?

A lot of people who hated me/Corey (Smith) for our fashion trend, now look like us. Whatever though. I’m over it. My favorite quote used to be, “The haters are just jealous.”

You’re always selling your possessions on Craigslist, could you survive without your digital income?

I used to donate to thrift stores. Now that I don’t have a big income, Craigslist is invaluable. I’ve got a couple extra cameras, some retro furniture, and a bike if you’re interested.

California cowboy Johnny Miller tuckin’ up and flyin’ by.               p. Robbie Sell

After a snowboard career how is your body holding up?

All those harsh landings are showing. I sometimes have ankle issues, a rib in my has been dislocating for eight years, back pains once in a while, but my neck has been a problem everyday. It doesn’t help that I lug around all the heavy camera gear and still ride a bunch. It’s just a part of daily life now. You deal with it, and get on.

Years ago your meniscus was down to 15% of its original size, how is it holding up now?

Yeah, I got over-pronation on my right knee. I don’t know if it’s just how my knee is, or if it was from riding that worsened it. My back/neck pain overpower that though, so it doesn’t bother me.

What’s up with this neck pain?

I went to a sports therapist for a couple years during the last bit of my filming days. My body was/is so tweaked. My spine is slightly rotated to the left, from being a regular footer. My neck has 3rd degree disk degeneration, or something like that. Just too many brutal landings, and the top three or four vertebrae began fusing together from it.

Drink of choice?

Bourbon, or Coors Light, or both.

Travis Kennedy is going to make Forum feel stupid once his T9 part drops.           p. Robbie Sell

How did you transition into a life behind the lens?

I was always more concerned with magazine coverage than video parts, which makes sense about my current career. When I was making tens of thousands as a pro snowboarder, I bought camera equipment when I could. I was still filming for People, and after I would get my shot, I would hang with other awesome riders, and take pictures of them. It was the best interning you could get, because I was right there with guys like Andy Wright, Rob Mathis, Mark Welsh, Mark Kohlman, and others, who were the best inspiration ever. They never leaked their secrets, but I would pay attention a little.

When did photography become a serious gig?

When I got dropped by my sponsors. It was what I wanted to do, and a natural transition from my past. I already knew how film/photoshoots were run, I had a huge network of athletes who were already comfortable with me and trusted me, and the magazine editors already knew my name. It was just too perfect to do anything else. All I had to do, was learn how to take a professional picture. Reading books, experimenting, trial/error, workshops, and advice from mentors has gotten me to where I am today.

Have you taken any cover shots?

I’ve got a couple. Austin Smith on the last Future Snowboard Mag, and Robbie Walker on Snowboarder AUS.

Where is Eric Messier coming from and where the hell does he think he’s going?       p. Robbie Sell

What camera do you shoot with?

Mainly, a vintage Canon digital. Vintage by 2010 standards. I shoot a little film still after I know I’ve gotten a keeper.

Is there a style to your photography? Is there something you want your photos to be known for or a theme to link them?

Yeah, awesome, pysche! Kevin Zacher has told me to find a certain style, and run with it so they are recognizable without the tag on it. But I don’t go out with a certain feel, except to make a scene/rider look the best they can, or mad artsy if the spot isn’t dangerous. I just remember seeing photos of myself, that I risked my life for, and the shots completely not showing how gnarly it was or what I went through, and I don’t want others to feel that same way. I’m a snowboarder more so than an artist.

If Bigfoot was a snowboarder this would be his wet dream.         p. Robbie Sell

Do you see more meth or hookers now that you live in Reno?

I don’t meth around, but for entertainment we’ll drive down 4th street and play “spot the hooker”. It’s like slug-bug.

Eric Fernandez getting nasty on this concrete behemoth.

Do you think your snowboarding background helped to make you a better photographer?

No.

Do you think there are worse photographers than you?

Yes.

Watering hole of choice in Reno?

There’s too many to say just one. Lincoln Lounge, St James, Chapel, Imperial, Tonic, Broken Spoke, and that’s all in a couple block radius. Pie Face will be my choice in the future.

Aren’t you still sponsored?

I don’t know why, but a few brands have my back right now. It’s not like I was of legendary status or anything, but big thanks to Compatriot Snowboards, Comune Clothing, Sabre, Thirtytwo, Active. Oh, and of course Coal Headwear.

Enjoy more Robert Harold Sell at Robbiesell.com