Forum’s avant-garde approach to the premiere showing of their first video since True Life (which dropped five years ago in 2001), was a breath of fresh air. A breath of fresh Canadian air. Forum opted out of the traditional Southern California premiere, and instead decided to have a raging house party. But whose house? They held a contest where in participants, applicants really, put pen to paper and wrote to The Program (Forum, Jeenyus, Special Blend, Foursquare) explaining in detail why they should be chosen to host the event. Approximately 500 letters later, finalists were chosen, locations were scouted, and it was decided that the world premiere of THAT was going to be held a stones throw off Canada’s west coast, on Vancouver Island, in the city of Victoria … at Jim’s house.
After the Forum crew warmed up with a box of Kokanee at Big Jim’s—the bar located directly below our hotel, we made tracks to little Jim’s, Jim Madsen’s. Oh, and to top it off, the event also doubled as a joint birthday party of sorts, as it was Jim’s birthday and Peter Line’s birthday the day before. So picture this, about 150 of Jim’s closest friends, and the entire global Forum team consisting of Pete Line, JP Walker, Devun Walsh, Travis Kennedy, Eddie Wall, Pat Moore, Jake Welch, Jake Blauvelt, Lauri Heiskari, Joni Malmi, and Iikka Backstrom—sans Stevie Bell who couldn’t make it due to an untimely knee surgery. The whole crowd was just lounging on acre upon acre of lush Victorian backyard, sipping (hardly sipping) on six kegs of cold Canadian brew, feasting, and being merry. Not to mention the product toss to end all product tosses. The word “toss doesn’t even apply. They broke out a full-on CO2 powered T-shirt cannon and fired round after round of shirts into the crowd. The birthday’s party favors were a nice touch, but everyone was there for one reason—to partake in the inaugural viewing of THAT. And that we did.
The video was all that and a bag of chips … ooh that was pushing it. THAT is what has been missing from the video market since the power of the forum eight dissolved years back, and as lame as it sounds, it’s great to see another video come out with that much charisma and star power. You’re not going to get a full play by play, but take the powerhouse Forum team to Whistler, Stockholm, Tahoe, Montreal, and Helsinki, and throw video mastermind Sean Kearns into the mix—and you’ve got gold, my friend.
The video wrapped, the kegs were tapped, and then there was the cake fight. I’m not sure how this one began but Jake Welch, Pete Line, Eddie Wall, Forum staff photographer/tragically tan dude Cole Barash, and Travis Kennedy all got mixed up in some sort of cake fighting, wedgy’ing, boxer shredding brawl. Watch the Elph video clip to see Kennedy getting served up something awfully uncomfortable. After that mess, everyone got as cleaned up as they could—I think Travis threw up and washed himself off with a hose … then fifteen people were stacked into one Suburban as we sped off into the night and back to downtown Victoria to further the inebriation. And that was THAT.
For those of you who couldn’t make it, the entire evening was caught on tape and will be included in the DVD extras, which hits the streets September 6. To everyone at The Program: Nikki Scoggins, Evan Rose Jenner Richards, Brandon Parrish, and Jared Eberhardt, big up yourselves—the premiere was all-time, respect. Also big up to Sean Kearns and the Forum squadron for making it happen, and lastly big up to Jim. Oh, and Kokanee, big up to Kokanee.
THAT ain’t all folks, the tour busses are rolling through a town near you, for a full tour schedule go to www.forum-snowboards.com.
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To get the videos, you can click the individual link in the right column, or click here to browse our ever-growing collection of movies.
To get tthe photos: you can click the individual link in the right column, or click here to get to our ever-growing collection of photos.
To view the video, you’ll need the latest version of Quicktime, which works for both Mac and PC, is available as a free download at www.apple.com/quicktime/download.
