With great anticipation Minneapolis welcomed Burton’s free Standing Sideways video premiere at The Southern Theater. Despite the horrific rush hour traffic and torrential downpour the doors opened at 6:00PM with a gang of local riders, industry peeps, and parents.
Burton Snowboards’ Jeremy Jones, Keegan Valakia, Zak Hale, Ethan Deiss, Mikey Rencz, and Charles Reid signed autographs for their frantic fans until everyone had wide smiles. The beats of DJ Booka B thumped while attendees texted Burton Snowboards for a chance to win a signed Monkey Wrench deck. The Midwest Represent Burton Snowboards posse, Matt Hoffman, Jayson Hederson, and Keith Lipski pulled all the riders together for an exclusive House Boardshop giveaway (Autographed Burton TWC Division Snowboard Jacket) that Will Betts of Chanhassen, MN won.
Bursting out from the cave of hibernation, the spirit of snowboarding awoke in everyone watching Standing Sideways. All eyes where glued to the screen with long clap sessions and whooping hoots for the riders hitting massive features. The urban gaps, gnarly rails, steep faces, perfectly cut pipes, ridiculously large step-downs, and deep backcountry booters were shot from so many angles half the crowd was having uncontrollable seizures like spasms. Burton Snowboards revealed that their riders have raised the bar of snowboarding, again.
Kazu Kokubo opened Standing Sideways with an unreal amount of talent showcasing all around skills and the most beautiful Method since God knows when. Gliding through steeps Terje Haakonsen made the crowd sit in silent awe until the end of his part. The tough Midwest jib crowd chose not to clap if rail tricks could have been pretzel out of, but Wisconsin’s Ethan Deiss put that trend to rest. Closing Standing Sideways was Jussi Oksanen showing the world he’s still on top of his game.
Wrapping up the Standing Sideways premiere Burton tossed out heaps of product and threw a great afterparty. This video definitely will give The Art Of Flight a run for its money. Despite the fantastic riding, we were left wondering where the female rider’s parts were. The snowboarding itch has finally surfaced and Standing Sideways gave relief letting everyone know the season has begun.
