Blader Union is proud to present the ninth full video from Ryan Benner. Street Meat was filmed in Ohio and features some of the most creative bladers the midwestern state has to offer.
Featuring skating by: Stefan Brandow, Reed Huston, Eric Comeras, Tim Sloan, Layne Brady, Sam Hehman, Nick Swartz, Kyle Jordan, Vinnie Fox, Brandon Ballog and Jeff Deraw.
Last Saturday the Ohio shredders got together to premiere their video and Eric Comeras was nice enough to share the details with us below.
‘Street Meat’ video Premiere; photo, Eric Comeras
Street Meat Video Premiere
Article by Eric Comeras
Ohio’s weather is infamously fickle, and bladers who hail from the heart-shaped state, whether intentionally or not, tend to acclimate their personalities and styles to the whimsical weather patterns.
The state’s blading history is storied and diverse in terms of trick vocab: Mike Opalek, Omar Wysong, Ben Schwab, Aaron Entsminger aka Pinkie (RIP), James Short (RIP), Tri Tri-Rudolf, and James St. Ours, among other legends, have all called Ohio home.
Dayton, Ohio’s Ryan Benner is no exception to this generalization. On Saturday, 3/7, he premiered his latest video, Street Meat, which is chock full of whimsical styles and tricks.
To celebrate the video’s release, Benner held a session at his local park, Kettering Skate Plaza, a public street-style skatepark with stairs, banks, flat rails, and ledges. The dedicated crew that showed up are close friends from the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton areas who feed off each other’s creativity. And surprisingly, the weather held steady at 45°F and sunny.
What makes sessions like this special are the unexplored areas of blading, the terra incognita of not only the wheeled boots themselves but of obstacles. The aim is to find and utilize the most of each spot’s subtle nuances.
While this particular session featured a few firsts for some of the skaters, the photos (and my writing for that matter) don’t quite capture the crew’s antics and camaraderie (watch the video itself and Insta edit to feel these).
The video premiere was held at Ryan’s house down the road from the park. Stoked about the video and hypnotized by its instrumental music, we continued the session at two classic Dayton street spots: a bank-to-ledge and low rails (see photos). Our ritual to end each session is a visit to a fine dining establishment where we gorge ourselves and add a few inches to our growing waistlines. This time we went to La Michoacana, a local chain of Mexican grocery stores with authentic restaurants inside where the burritos and tacos are delicious and filling.
To fully appreciate the crew’s creativity, check out Benner’s Savor the Flavor videos, which have documented the evolution of southern Ohio’s rollerblading style, an unapologetic approach to inline skating that embraces its patrimony—the misbegotten offspring of a threesome between ice skating, rollerskating, and skateboarding.
Bladingly yours,
Eric ‘The Teach’ Comeras
Brandon Ballog - Top soul; Photo by Tim Sloan
Vinnie Fox - Back Royale; Photo by Ryan Benner
Eric Comeras - Fishbrain; Photo by Tim Sloan
