It was the second time around for the ESPN Action Sports and Music Awards, and when you start a show like this with the X-Ecutioners featuring Xzibit and Static X you know that it is going to be a good one.
All of the usual suspects were there and it all began with the Green Carpet treatment outside of the Universal Amphitheater in LA. The Green Carpet is all about showing your personal style and getting into the full on bro-down. As the athletes and acts streamed through the area, everyone from Carey Hart and girlfriend Pink to the Chili Peppers to good old Sal Masekela were struttin’ down the way. The carpet was taken over briefly when the ENTIRE Metal Mulisha came on the scene, clad in matching gear.
This year was a bit more casual than last year, most of the suits were thrown out and everyone was flaunting their personal style. Koston was rocking a pair of hand done gold spray-painted shoes, and Shaun White was decked in a full Volcom pseudo-tuxedo.
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| Olympic snow shred superstars. |
When it came down to handing out the hardware, there were many surprises. Eric Koston and Kevin Jones repeated their wins from last year as the top skateboarder and male snowboarder. Some of the surprise winners were Van Homan for BMX rider of the year and Ricky Carmichael on the Moto side of things, Carmichael was were not atttendence so their award was accepted by Verne Troyer, a.k.a. Mini Me from Austin Powers. Natasza Zurek left with the female snowboarder of the year award, anchored by her string of wins at the end of 2001 in the halfpipe.
The Action Sports Feat of the Year featured some great tricks and even though Burnquist proved that he is the master of switch by hitting the Tampa Loop, if you are doing backflips on a 700 pound machine, that’s the end of the story. Jim Rippey, snow sled rider in his spare time, pulled off one of the gnarliest performances ever when he released the footage of landing the backflip on his snow rocket. What most people didn’t see, except for those at the show, were the first few attempts that were not landed…ouch.
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| The Bones Brigade reunite after over a decade. |
One of the memorable parts of the night was Koston receiving his skate award from Steve Berra. Steve was wearing a shirt with "Keenan Milton” written on the front, a tribute to the Chocolate skate team member who died last year. Koston gave a brief comment on Keenan, saying: “Keenan was one of the nicest human beings ever.” Koston downplayed his win and devoted his time to remembering a friend.
Other notable moments included Mat Hoffman receiving a lifetime achievement award, The Chili Peppers winning the artist contribution award. The crowd also saw the reunification of the original Bones Brigade for the first time in over a decade.
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| Chili Peppers rock the set. |
THE highlight of the night though were the Chili Peppers. Not just that they played a couple of songs, but when they came out opening up with "Parallel Universe" they were clad in “Free Hosoi” t-shirts. A nice send up to the man who should get out soon, but during the entire song, old school clips of Hosoi ran on the screens behind the band as they slammed out the tune.
All in all…it was an awards show. What can you say about it. It’s LA, there’s glitz and glamour meeting punk style and everyone was down to have a few and have some fun with their crew. Stay tuned for the television broadcast and plenty of interviews, photos and quotes to come. Now…it’s off to the afterparty.
