My Culture Resurrection Jam

With nothing but blue skies and warm weather for the whole weekend, this year’s Res Jam saw over a thousand people in attendance, with many opting to make use of the awesome camping facilities at The Hartebeespoort Holiday Resort where the event was held once again. The record attendance definitely proved to be a motivating factor for all those competing; I have never seen so many Ams charge that hard before! Also featured, for the first time, was a series of FMX demos, with the riders showing that they truly know how to work a crowd.

BMX Am

Saturday kicked off with the BMX Ams. These guys are always dedicated and amped to ride, even if it is super early in the morning. All these Ams seemed to do something amazing! Darren Oatley did a super quick Flip, with Schalk Engelbrecht also landing a flip after his third attempt. When it comes to bar spins, Peter Bentley and Daniel Roffey showed that they don’t play games. Peter did a huge 360 over the box as well as one foot down tables, and Daniel threw a huge truck over the box. Sheldon Burden flew over the box and his bars completely came off when he landed – scattering bits all over the park – making for some pretty hardcore entertainment. Hugo Vorster and Felix Murray-Shum also deserve a special mention; both of them rode really well. As Jacques Fourie said, “The Ams are really pushing it this year and buying a bit of property. These guys are stepping it up, so the Pros really need to get on top of their game or move out the way!

BMX Pro

In the BMX Pros, Jacques Fourie rode really well, but it was Paul Sonderland who seemed to stand out the most with lots of technical and big tricks, such as a 180 over the big box from the back end to the front. Stuart Loudon did big footjams, 180 toboggans and 360 tables over the box while Francois Bodenstein was doing 540s from the quarter to the bank, backflips over the rail and big gaps to tail whips. Donavon Shaw did a nice 360 whip and Byron Jones did a double pick uprail to nose manual over the box. It was also rad to see the Durban guys from BMX Direct come and represent.

Best Trick

We saw plenty of flair attempts by Schalk Engelbrecht, while Stuart Loudon tried g-turns on the box. Francois Bodenstein gapped from the quarter over the rail to the flat bottom of the mini. Darren Oatley did a 1 cm high backflip – ja you heard me 1 cm high – and Alex Shapiro did a tuck no-hander to turndown and almost got a 360 table to E.T. Winner of the day, however, was Paul Sonderland with his Bibica on the big quarter pipe.

BMX AM BMX PRO

3rd: Sheldon Burden 3rd: Francois Bodenstein

2nd: Daniel Roffey 2nd: Stuart Loudon

1st: Peter Bentley 1st: Paul Sonderland

Best Trick: Paul Sonderland – Bibica on the big quarter pipe.

Rolling Am

Stand-out roller of the day was Cape Town boy Behki Kunene, skating consistently and rocking the best style. He threw down a back torque on the rail and a 360 to frontside stall on the coping. Dylan Ray had broken his arm three days prior to the comp but still managed to bust some backsides, top souls, and airs. There were also three new Ams skating their first rolling comp, two of which were skateboarders. Let’s hope they see the light. . . kidding!

Rolling Pro

These Pros were really impressive with everyone skating really well. One of the stand-outs of the day was Milky, who was the youngest Pro. His style has improved a lot and he skated really clean. Frank Joubert did some rad hand plants over the spine and a really nice forward 720 over the box. Chris van der Merwe tried to keep it simple with clean lines but still skated really fast. He also landed a 900 over the box and did a couple of transfers. The new park set up made it easy for guys to do transfers to grinds on the quarter pipes. Neil van der Walt 540ed the spine and laced a 270 top soul as well as a kind grind on the rail. Tristan M’Que, who is also a Cape Town skater, did an awesome cross grab 900 over the box.

Best Trick

Here we saw Frank Joubert attempt a 900 corkscrew, which he sadly didn’t manage to land. Neil van der Walt tried to gap 360 soul the quarter pipe while Hugo Vemaark landed a 540 kind grind transfer. It was Chris van der Merwe, however, who took the win with a fakie 540 transfer top soul from quarter to quarter.

Rolling Am Rolling Pro

3rd: Quinton Robertson 3rd: Milky

2nd: Dylan Ray 2nd: Frank Joubert

1st: Bheki Kunene 1st: Chris “strong hand” van der Merwe

Best Trick: Chris van der Merwe – Fakie 540 transfer top soul from quarter to quarter.

Bands

We had some awesome bands play this year, starting off with Laminin who have been playing at Res Jam for the last 3 years. These guys have an awesome chilled rock sound and they get tighter and tighter each time I hear them. Die Zeffer Band gave all the souties a good show and with their quirky Afrikaans lyrics and stage performance I think they could give Die Antwoord a run for their money. Rhythm of Grace are newcomers to Res Jam. They have a hardcore rock sound and represented JC to the max. Finally, the headlining band of the day was We Killed Elvis. This hard rock act really gave a good show and their new vocalist will be taking the band to new heights. Thanks guys for rocking hard and loud.

Skateboarding Am

On Sunday we kicked off with the skateboarding amateurs. Here Sam Vider showed us that he definitely has a bright future ahead of him in the skateboarding industry. With his smooth style he was doing solid 50-50’s and board slides. Charl Priest tried to flip the box to flat, but couldn’t quite land it. Keerin Noah, another Cape Town kid, skated big and fast and definitely has a lot of potential. Angie Schulz represented for the girls once again and did a sweet alley-oop transfer from the quarter to the bank. Shaun Burger also skated well, securing a place in the top three. The Am’s really ate dirt this year and I’m glad to see they are pushing themselves.

Skateboarding Pro

This was a hard section to judge as everyone skated super well. Anthony de Mendoca has a great style, busting some front feeble’s and melon grabs. Old school rider Terry did an extremely big melon transfer on the spine as well as a nose blunt stall on the big quarter. Calvin Bolhuis tried to front flip – which didn’t go too well – leaving half his chin on the ramp. At least he landed a frontside early grab indie 360 on the fun box. Adam Woolf did some nollie krooks on the rail as well as a flip back lip on the rail. Quinton Robertson did a transfer from the big quarter to the mini ramp and Kyfie Kruger did a big benihana transfer from the fun box to the pyramid.

Best Trick

Dean almost landed a back tail backside flip out. Puddy backside flipped over the fun box and did a bigspin flip front board to fakie on that rail which was really sick. Anthony de Mendoca tried a nollie backside front foot flip over the hip, but didn’t manage to get it. Quinton Robertson tried to smith grind across the quarter and transfer into the mini. Adam Woolf nollie flipped over the pyramid but took the win with his nollie laser flip backside board slide on the flat bar. It was a whole lot of amazing skating.

Skateboarding AM Skateboarding Pro

3rd: Shaun Burger 3rd: Quinton Robertson

2nd: Keerin Noah 2nd: Kyfie Kruger

1st: Sam Vider 1st: Adam Woolf

Best Trick: Adam Woolf – Nollie laser flip backside board slide on the flat bar.

Breakdancing

This was a 2-on-2 battle and we had some interesting crews enter this year; all showing off fresh moves, great footwork and keeping it ill. You can see the guys worked really hard at their routines. Freedom Feet consisted of 12 year old Drew-boy and Korean b-boy Jazzie. This crew dropped the most flavour and style. Drew-boy has the confidence and attitude of a pro which I think was quite intimidating for his opponents. B-boy Jazzie brought a lot of technical moves to the floor as well as clean windmills and quick thinking “battle back” moves.

In one of the final rounds we saw Stampede battle Heresy, which ended in a tie, so they had to battle one more round so the judges could decide on a winner. Stampede consisted of b-boy Flamboyant and b-boy Da Reason. This crew had some really good routines worked out which incorporated a lot of linking and looping. Heresy, which consisted of b-boy Labstar and b-boy Novice Sparks, had a lot of power moves as well as up-rock. B-boy Labstar did insane 1990s with his legs crossed, but it was Stampede who won this round as b-boy Flamboyant came out with the most strength and original moves.

As the b-boys got a breather in between the battle we had Mr Schweppes do a little pop-n-lock demo for the crowd. He did a lot of slow-mo moves which showed great control and he loves to shake his hips which make you remember how fun dancing can be. He qualified 8^th at the world championships in Las Vegas, and it was obvious why.

In the final round we saw Stampede battle Freedom Feet. These two crews are actually from the same crew but they all danced hard and gave the crowd a good show. Both crews had great synchronization and were very well prepared. Freedom Feet took the win as they kept it original, with consistency and style. They also did a cool hat routine – running the risk of looking sloppy – but they nailed it however and left the other team stunned.

Breakdancing

3rd: Heresy crew

2nd: Stampede

1st: Freedom Feet

Graffiti

We built a graffiti wall this year at Res Jam and the first piece on the wall was done by Pork, which was one of my favourite pieces. It was a character that had thick out lines with a throw-up fill and chrome on the outside. Kanz who has been painting for 10 years also rocked a sick piece. I loved his drip effect, use of space and shines – and his My Culture tag was really sick. Lu, which is obviously not his real graf name, has been painting for 5 years. He did an interesting industrial 3D piece. I love the way he incorporated strokes of black prime over the white prime – it definitely stood out from the rest. We also had a female writer grace us this year, she goes by the name of Shar – and, yes, those letters do work well together. This was her first time painting and I think she did a really good job. She incorporated an awesome stencil of a character which she used as her base and if she keeps at it I rate she’ll be burning the boys soon.

Drake who has been painting for 2-and-a-half years also painted at Res Jam last year and seeing how much he has improved is amazing. He is starting to create his own unique style and I look forward to seeing what he produces in the years to come. It was awesome to see Jestr again, he has painted at every single Res Jam and never disappoints. Next to him was crew member What who painted an awesome fill, with lots of warm colours contrasting with the cold colours of the 3D and line work that left you staring for minutes.

Muro explains his piece, “I painted Madiba because if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be free to express my culture – none of us would be able to. So I just wanted to give a shout-out to him.” His piece was the most diverse and had many elements in it. He used his colours well and had clean lines. He incorporated a character and lettering and deservingly took the win.

Graffiti

3rd: WHAT

2nd: KANZ

1st: MURO

FMX Demos

This is by far the most dangerous subculture, but also the most spectacular. The Jungle Rush team in association with Dirt Nurse and Axo put on a truly amazing show. This was their first time at Res Jam and they will definitely be back for more. On both days these guys did two amazing demos covering an insane range of tricks. Junior showed us a double-can running man and some turn downs while Wayne laced the cordovas. Dallan did some massive indie seat grabs, one handed seat grabs, can-cans, massive whips, tsunamis, flatliners and a cliff hanger.

Other random stunts that got thrown into the mix were; indie-cans, double can-cans, heel clickers, no footer one handers and awesome supermans. These guys really got the crowd going and people were amazed at what these riders could do, especially when they linked their tricks in a train as this really dangerous because if one rider goes down then the rest of the guys behind him will go down too.

Words from spectators – What the people had to say:

Dino and Geoff – “It’s too fly, too bad, and too serious. It’s really awesome! The support this year is amazing, everything is just really, really cool, from all the sponsors to the free Skater Bibles.”

Christian – “This is my first time at Res Jam and I think it’s awesome. I’ll definitely be back for the next one. Can’t wait to see the FMX guys again.”

Thabiso – “It’s pretty sick! My favourite part has been just hanging out with friends and riding, of course.”

Khumo – “I’ve been to nearly every Res Jam and this year is by far the biggest and I’m having a great time!

Over and Out

I’d like to give a HUGE thank you to all our stalls, judges, commentators, photographers, filmos, bands, supporters, competitors, My Culture crew and all the coastal guys who came up – you guys rock! And lastly to all our sponsors, without you, Res Jam would not be possible:
Skull Candy, Flexfit Head Wear, New Balance, New Day Skate Park, Sterkinekor, Monster Energy, Hedon skate, Remz, Jug Foot Wear, Razors, Groundcontrol , Purple Haze, The Riot, Snafu, Xposure, Grande Industries, Black Flys, Son Skate, Element, Playstation, Venom Clothing, Lizzard, Metal Mulisha, Butan Wear, Eastpak, Hang Ten, Jay Jays, Sports Scene, Stampede, Caps and Cans, Heresey, Jungle Rush FMX, Dirt Nurse, Axo, Locally Whipped Magazine, Handsdown, T.I.A, Timbercity Rustenburg, Woodcity, Ropesmart, Alpha Print, Bibles4Africa, Fastprint & Signs, Innovative Graphics Studios, Mini Build, Good Prognosis, Rolyn Engineering, Philip Motors, Hartbeespoort Holiday Resort, Lofpark Ministries, 3CI, Auto Car, Fresh Media, Solis Odyssey, The GIG rig, Suzuki Montana and 13th Floor.

Until next year’s Res Jam . . . which will be even better . . . if that’s even possible!