I Am Snowboarding in Portland

jeffy

I Am Snowboarding, the collaborative art project to honor Jeff Anderson, arrived in Portland on January 8, 2010. The art lined the usual hallway of Nemo HQ, the beer on tap was free, and Trevor Graves was running around taking shots with his G10. At first glance it could have been any of the monthly art openings held at Nemo, but for the snowboard nerds this was truly something special.

Each of the art pieces on display brought together a different photographer and artist. The photos, of course, were of Jeff Anderson through out his life, but the artist interpretations were as different as could be. Colin Whyte was kind enough to explain a few pieces to me. “This one is like that cause he smokes a lot of weed,” he said of one piece. “And this one, is because he doesn’t eat meat.”

zimmerman

Tim Zimmerman took this picture, but I bet even he couldn’t explain the interpretation, so I didn’t bother asking Colin

After art appreciation got old, there was another level of awesome going on at Nemo. It was a veritable who’s who of retired and/or washed up snowboarders. I’m not just talking the normal Portland snowboard retirement community, but really old people, the ones who pioneered the sport and now just ride powder. And as this was the only NW stop of I Am Snowboarding, pretty much everyone was there. Terry Kidwell, Dave Seoane, Jamie Lynn, the list goes on. Even Cobra Dog’s Cory Grove was enjoying reminiscing about the olden days when no one did double corks (on purpose) with the people he looked up to.

“It’s not often that I get to talk to people who’ve been snowboarding longer than me,” he said. “There really aren’t very many left.”

jamie-dirksen-and-colin

I took this picture of Jamie Lynn, Josh Dirksen and Colin Langlois. I think what best sums up the night was people asking, “who’s the lurker” in regards to the Panther. But I always thought he was cool.

It really wasn’t your typical snowboard party — the under-21 crashers were noticeably missing. In fact the only people not old enough to drink were under 5. Accordingly, the beer ran out early, and the crowd was forced to switch to the much classier wine option. It was worth sticking around though.  A performance by Jamie Lynn’s band Kandi Coded capped off the evening. Even though the room was filled with old people, they rocked loud and hard, and you know what? They’re actually pretty good!

kandy-koated4

Getting the shot of someone getting the shot of Kandi Koded. Boo yeah.

If Jeff was still around, I’d like to think he would have enjoyed the evening. Even though snowboarding hasn’t gotten any less awesome, sometimes it’s nice to hang out with people who remember when.  And Jeff would be one of them.

The next stop of the I Am Snowboarding show is in Colorado and SIA and Winter X. For all the info, go here. Check out lots more pictures, click any thumbnail to enlarge and scroll through.

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  1. When does this come to the east coast?

  2. beatniksucio

    I’d be throwing away trash as much as possible

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