Words: Sai Schandorf of Snowboardermag.com
A cold and rainy Saturday night in Minneapolis made the Suburban
Theater’s double doors look like the pearly gates, sans a scrutinizing
St Peter, to shreds in desperate need of a snow fix. Despite the large,
illuminated sign above the entrance that promised a big screen viewing
of Monday Night Football and made no mention of snowboarding, a solid
200 of the faithful entered the temporary oasis of boardslides and
beer. All were here for a double screening of Bald E-Gal productions’ Tiller and Forum’s Forever.
Beer, along with liberally poured cocktails, became a key part of the
night. Depending on who you asked, the planned start time was somewhere
in the neighborhood of 6:30 or 7:30. Thanks to an overworked bar staff,
no one seemed to care that the screen didn’t light up until 8.
Both videos were killer, but Tiller, which was shown first,
got an extra dose of love from the crowd every time one of its many
Twin Cities locations popped up. The local boys from Bald E-Gal
productions had to be pleased. Anywhere else in the country, Forum’s Forever would have been the main show, but the audience left no doubt about what they came to see.
In between features, a video of Peter Line explaining Forum’s Chilly
Dog camber was shown. For some, the image of Peter munching on a chili
dog fresh off the floor combined with him saying “Chilly Daaaaaawg” in
the same greasy voice used by 50’s porn stars when addressing (or
undressing) young talent, might have ruined the chance of eating Sonic
the Hedge Hogs favorite food ever again. If not, the chili dog eating
contest did. Four eager contestants raced to the bottom of three chili
dogs to earn a Forum snowboard with the aforementioned technology. The
shred stick went to a slender young lady who crushed the competition,
claimed her prize, and then calmly found a bathroom to puke.
By the time Forever took center stage, the theater was
filled with a restless, intoxicated mass. Almost two and a half hours
had gone by since the doors and brown bottles first opened. Midway
through the film, “after party” became the phrase of choice. The area
around the Suburban World Theatre was made for after parties. A bar can
be found one block in any direction from the venue’s front steps and
the rooftop bar at Stella’s Fish Cafe soon became swarmed with beanies
and baggy clothes. However, not long after arriving, an airborne piece
of poultry sent Forum’s Kevin Keller and half the Forum crew searching
for a new bar. Who threw the chicken wing off the roof at Stella’s? The
world may never know, but Keller definitely took most of the heat for
it and in classy show of professionalism tipped the servers big, had a
few choice words with a bouncer and moved on to friendlier terrain.
A few important lessons were learned from the Minneapolis premiere of Forever and Tiller:
1) Snowboarders have a sense of time akin to a 12 step program (i.e. better late than never).
2) Chewing with your mouth closed is for losers.
3) NEVER throw food off a roof top bar in Minneapolis.
Despite a late start and power happy security at the after party, it
was a damn good night. The bottom line is, if you’re into a thing
called snowboarding and like to ride rails, park, or powder, these two
videos will satisfy your craving, with or without a plateful of chili
dogs.
