Global Premiere of Arc'teryx's Every Island Has A Name
Apollo Theater - 6:00 pm
253 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
Yeah, we may have taken the train 50 blocks too far north of the Apollo theater in Harlem. Good thing we left early. Ian, Caleb, and I jumped off the train and started heading back the way we came.
Eventually we arrived at Apollo Theater in Harlem. As we walked up to the venue, only slightly late, Jared greeted us in typical Jared fashion, “Who decided to send you nerds (can’t remember the exact diss he used) to this?” Thanks Jared, good to see you too brotha. He led us in the back door and into the green room where I felt wildly out of place. I thought to myself, “Why the hell am I in the green room at the Apollo?” This is a common occurrence anytime I’m somewhere like this. I am starting to realize I’m just a vessel to get information across for the people who are actually supposed to be there. In the green room, we met Brian Paupaw and Omar Diaz, co-founders of Hoods to Woods, who hosted the event. Hoods to Woods is one of the coolest things in snowboarding. They help bring people on the East Coast together and give inner city youth an opportunity to experience snowboarding who otherwise wouldn't have access to the mountains, boards, and various resources. These guys truly love it, and it shows. Much respect to them and their efforts.
We went up the stairs and laid eyes on the insanely historic venue, built in 1913 as a burlesque venue only available to white audiences. Only in 1934 was it available to black performers. An important detail of the venue is the fact that the walls are lined with photos of prolific artists, and it became a huge piece of black culture in New York City. Harlem became an entertainment staple, with 125th Street hosting a number of musical, burlesque, and vaudeville theaters. From the balconies, to the wall of performers, to the details found in the neoclassical design of the theater, the Apollo is iconic. I mean, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and even Prince stood exactly where I stood with my goofy tote bag and stupid Yankees hat on. Again, I ask myself, “Why are snowboarders getting to have an event at the Apollo?”
The answer: Arc'teryx. Arc'teryx is a global powerhouse that just so happens to sponsor a few of our favorite snowboarders, Jared Elston, Severin van der Meer, and Elena Hight. Their new video Every Island has a Name is premiering alongside some skiing and mountaineering flicks, and we got the privilege to be there.
Familiar faces from the snowboard world started to trickle in including Dan Liedahl, Jacob Krugmire, and Mason Lemery. We all shot the shit for a moment before the ushers came and told us it’s time to be seated. They do not play games at the Apollo, you and your buddies are not about to stand around jawing while the feature is on. I followed Ian up to the top balcony which was closed off, except for Jared, Sevi, Ian and myself. Top floor balcony watching the film was epic.
The video started playing and through some narration and epic camera work we got to the meat: Jared and Sevi riding lines in Alaska. I know a lot of videos have Alaska footage but this seemed different. From the custom score to the progressive narration it became clear that they set out to break the mold of a typical snowboard film with this video. The cameras were so close and the audio was so crisp that you felt it when the avalanche broke off and chased Jared down the mountain. Sevi had a close call with an avalanche as well. I asked him how scared he was as we watched the clip together and he said, “for real, I thought I was going to die.” These guys really put it on the line in a display that showed backcountry snowboarding in a way that hits harder than watching an ant ride an unintelligible landscape from thousands of feet away. The video followed them around through precarious backcountry situations and epic triumphs. It felt exhilarating. I believed that I was sharing the experiences with the crew and I’ve never even been to Alaska.
We wrapped that up and did what people do when in NYC following a movie premiere, got pizza and beer and headed to the afterparty. The rest of the night felt like an avalanche chasing us as we rode subways and taxis and citibikes in circles around Manhattan, doing our best to escape time. This evening had a really profound feel to it, between Brian and Omar MC-ing the event, and the amount of people that showed up, there was a real passionate vibe in the air and it was all for snowboarding. This was something I had yet to experience at a snowboarding event in this way.
One story that stood out was Ivan Avilez telling us how his Sims Halfpipe board was stolen out of his car in 1987. 20 years later he found his exact board with the same core shot and stickers in a shop in Vermont and finally got it back, and shared how much it meant to him. It truly was different. Typically you show up to a premiere and there are a couple hundred people that look like carbon copies of one another. It was really cool to see so many people from different walks of life show up to share one common interest: snowboarding.
Thank you Arc'teryx for putting on this event, and especially for including us; we had a hell of a time.
A Closer Look Into The Night Through the Lens of Ian Boll
