Rome Snowboards' World Premiere for Bedlam
BCA Studios, Burlington, Vermont
Photography by: Keenan Cawley and Max Lyons
I have not been sleeping well. There’s bedlam in my head. I’ve been counting sheep to help me fall asleep. This is the scene: One section of a split-rail fence is spotlit by the moon. One by one the sheep take turns walking into frame. They bound over the fence and disappear into the dark pasture. The silhouette of a barn, blackberry-purple, details the background. The sheep keep filing in, clearing the fence, and sauntering off. It must be that one of these sheep is younger than the rest; one of these sheep is but a lamb. This thought halts the flock. My brain moves to the lamb and then stupidly turns the animal into a word. Next it removes the “b” and makes it “lam” and what we have left is me trying to go to bed thinking about bed-lam. Or: Bethlehem, as Joan Didion would’ve called it. Coincidentally Joan Didion is sitting on my lap in Economy. We’re making our way to Burlington. We’re at odds because she’s attempting to show me how to be a decent journalist and I’m over here counting imaginary sheep.
I land and am reminded that Vermont has the propensity to calm bedlam, especially this time of year. Maybe I say that because I grew up here. I hike to Sterling Pond in a hoodie and shorts and see the last of the leaves change from the Notch, see also remnants of snow from the first test-blow of the season at Smuggs. It won’t be long before we’re all riding. That’s an exciting thought. I think I’ve been chasing Fall this year. I slip on a muddy clump of leaves and am reminded that if I chase it any further it’ll seem like I’m just running from Winter. Embracing change brings bedlam to rest.
I finish my hike and drive to Burlington to crash Rome’s global sales meeting. I attended a few of these growing up (referred to then as global sales parties) and I’ll say that despite the lack of boobs and no LNP, MFR, nor Tony Alva sightings, the premise of the gathering is still the same. For someone in my position — that is: ex-retail, perma-flow rider, quasi-editorialyte — it’s intriguing to pop in on. So intriguing, in fact, that I will transcribe the notes I took:
Riveting stuff. After the technical breakdown the meeting shifts into sales tactics and I drift out of the building. Church St leads me to College which takes me down to Battery Park to look at spots my friends and I used to hit when we were in high school. Battery leads me lakeside ambling along a bike path at the behest of a compass I haven’t used in over a decade. I come up on the DIY and see Joey Leon skating around. Joey and I met at the meeting three hours ago and had to stifle our queries for one another given the environment. (We were actually hushed twice, and he left shortly thereafter.) Seeing him again is a warm reminder that I’m not in Burlington to take a walk down memory lane, that I’m actually here to make new memories.
We skate awhile. I learn that he lent a helping hand in building most of the stuff we were skating on. I learn that he was listed only as a filmer for Swarm because he’d torn his ACL and couldn’t ride. I learn that his knee must’ve healed up great given how confidently he’s skating. I get excited when I remember that I’m not actually here to “make new memories” but that the real reason I’m at the waterfront DIY with Joey at the moment is to watch the new video he and his friends put together. The sun’s setting over Champlain; the light is gold and blinding. We see the rest of the Bedlam roster skating A_Dog, rejoice, and make way for the premiere.
Bedlam could not have been a better title for this film. It’s what the crowd erupts into the moment the lights dim. It is rambunctious. Exactly what you want from Swarm’s follow-up. They don’t use the steam garnered from last year’s effort to match the pulse of the “industry standard.” Nor do they merely duplicate their hit. What they’ve done — what Micah and Noah and Drake and Maggie and Joey and Casey and Derek have done — is keep their foot on the gas, and Devin Bernard is keeping their vehicle in the same lane they came in on.
The lane that Rome’s amateurs ride in is legendary. It’s seen the likes of Max Legend, Yan Dofin, Eiki Helgason, Lazz, Riley, Mark, Ozzy, et cetera et cetera. Rome has historically prioritized and platformed the up-and-comers and this crew is proof of why doing that is still important. From Micah’s opener to Derek’s ending line, Bedlam is a testament to the attitude that has shaped not just Rome’s heritage but East Coast snowboarding’s long lineage of characters at large. It’s a treat to watch. Was for me at least. I wonder if that’s just because I grew up around it though.
It’s with the same introspection that I have to mention one more reason why the title is so perfect. “Bedlam” being a featurette of Rome’s amateur team; “amateur”, in our community always being shortened to “am”; a-m being the last two letters in the word (in the same vein of yesteryear’s Am-ageddon and dare I say 32’s AMMO). With further (and pointless) dissection I find a natural progression in the fact that the last AM in this video actually turns PRO at the end of it. I’m of course talking about Derek Lemke.
I ask him how it feels and he says his mind is blown. I think that’s appropriate; the young man who’s been blowing our minds with his footage for the last four years deserves to have his mind blown. His part in Bedlam is no exception and the board is his reward. He earned it, and from my understanding, we won’t be waiting long before seeing even more proof.
Almost too apt of an ending comes in the form of an ambulance and a firetruck. That could’ve been symbolic bedlam for the premiere but instead it’s what actually happens. It’s nearly midnight anyway so I hit the road.
That 40 minute drive back to Moscow used to be my favorite part of the night. My brothers would bring me to parties in Burlington to meet people and dance and get fucked up and no matter how epic the occasion was I always looked forward to the drive home the most. Tonight I get to do it all by myself.
I’m thinking about what Ms. Didion told me the other day. She was talking about Georgia O’Keeffe when she said “style is character.” Seems somewhat applicable. And not just to the riders but to the little pocket of our community I jumped into tonight. What you make is entirely contingent on who you are, and who you are will dictate how you make it. This scene is welcoming and respectful. Curious and insightful. Caring and quirky. Signs of a solid constitution, of concrete character.
I get home and discover I’m still having trouble falling asleep. It’s not sheep I see in the midnight pasture of my mind. No. Now there’s a group of goats and it’s not just the split-rail fence they’re jumping. Bedlam has been replaced with Bedlam.
Photos from Derek Lemke's Surprise Pro Party
