Updates…

Wow, it’s been a while since my last update. I’ve been busy:

• I spent the summer and fall following the Dew Tour around and writing content for the Dew Tour website: Baltimore, Cleveland, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Orlando. All of my Skate and FMX coverage from the 2007 and 2008 Dew Tour has moved over to a new site, www.allisports.com
• Ruby Media and Vans.com hired me to do a bunch of work for the Vans Featured Rider Series. Check out my profiles on Bucky Lasek, Ashley Fiolek, Ryan Villopoto, and Nathan Fletcher
• In other action hero news, I’ve been blogging about family, parenting, and my superhero kids at Open Salon: Check out Action Academy
• I’m still going strong at BNQT.com, and have an awesome business card that says Skate Correspondent to show for it: Bookmark my Skate blog for daily news, video, and skate scene ramblings from the perspective of a guy who’s been at it since he was 7 years old
• On top of all the skateboarding and action sports stuff, I’ve continued with my aviation reporting, most recently in Aviation Business Journal
• A few magazine projects are underway and I’ll have some more big action sports news to share with you in my next update, but also this: I’m for hire! Give a shout if you need freelance writing, editorial work, online content, copywriting, anything: banefreelance at gmail dot com

I love it when a plan comes together…

After a mellow season of snowboarding and laying low in Colorado, everything is starting to whip up into a nice Spring/Summer frenzy. Here’s a look at some of what I’ll be up to in the coming months…

• The AST Dew Tour starts up June 19 in Baltimore, just in time for me to spend International Go Skateboarding Day (June 21) with my friends and favorite pro skaters. I’ll be on all five stops writing the skate and FMX content for the Dew Tour website this year, and will also be following the action on the Free Flow Tour, the AST amateur skate/BMX contest series
• My daily skateboarding blog at http://colinbane.BNQT.com is going gonzo: More than 15,000 visits in the month of April! Check out this recent post on all the cool women’s skateboarding stuff happening this summer and this report on X Games Brazil for a taste of what the blog is about.
• My action sports blog on the FUEL.tv website is also going strong: I recently interviewed pro skater Annie Sullivan and Skatepark of Tampa masterminds Brian Schafer and Ryan Clements. Also, check out my look at documentary-in-the-making God Went Surfing With the Devil and this update on the recovery process for fallen BMX hero Stephen Murray.
• To help celebrate my homecoming as a Colorado local after many years on the East Coast, I picked up a new gig this month as a book critic for The Rocky Mountain News. This is actually a homecoming in more ways than one: The Rocky Mountain News was the first major publication to feature my work, with a report on the Denver music scene written when I was a Senior in high school! I will post links to my book reviews as soon as they are available.
• I’m also now working on all kinds of projects in partnership with The Ruby Media Group and SOS Communications. I can’t divulge a lot right now but… let’s just say I’m working with a few of the biggest names in action sports.

10,000+

I hit a cool milestone this month on my BNQT skate blog, more than passing my target of 10,000 hits in March. Thanks to everybody for checking it out, and thanks in advance for adding me to your blog rolls and daily bookmarks as a source for skate news, gossip, links, etc. To get to the most current post at any given time, visit http://colinbane.bnqt.com

BNQT.com recently partnered with USA Today, of all things, and has some cool new features up. I’m biased after 13 years of living and skating in my beloved Washington, DC, but the coolest new thing on the site is Danzed in DC, an ongoing video series on the DC skate scene by Allen Danze. Episode 3 has a sweet Fugazi soundtrack and swings by the Malcom X fountains and other DC spots.

Freelance foot soldier

I recently joined the ranks of the SOS Freelance Army over at SOS Communications, blogging and providing web content for Fuel.TV and generally helping out wherever I can. Click over to check out the new SOS site and a list of current clients, and to find out how to get SOS Communications and fine freelance guns-for-hire like myself on the job for your next project.

Parkour feature in Washington Post Magazine

My feature article on Mark Toorock, American Parkour, and The Tribe ran in The Washington Post Magazine yesterday. Click here for the online version, which includes an exclusive video the Post produced to accompany the story: Jump First, Ask Questions Later: Imported from France, a growing sport known as parkour is driving people up walls. The print version, in the magazine that came with yesterday’s Sunday paper, has awesome photos by my friend David Holloway.

Just over 13 years ago I traveled to Washington, DC for journalism school, thinking I’d end up working for The Washington Post. It took me a little while to get around to it, but… I couldn’t be happier to finally be in these pages with such a cool story. If you’re in DC, please rescue a few copies from the recycling bin and send them my way!

For more on parkour and the people featured in my story, or to try it for yourself, please check out these links:
http://www.americanparkour.com/
http://primal-fitness.com/
http://tribalmovement.com/

Fuel.TV Blog in Full Effect

I’m blogging like crazy over at the slick new Fuel.TV website as a contributor to the Fuel.TV group blog (the stories that cycle on the front page), and all my stuff is now in one place at www.fuel.tv/colinbane – so far I’m most stoked on my interviews from two recent Boarding for Breast Cancer benefit events: Leanne Pelosi Loves Men in Drag and Cara-Beth Burnside & Mimi Knoop Represent.

Whew! In the last 5 months I made it to Baltimore, Cleveland, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Orlando, following the 2007 AST Dew Tour and keeping tabs on the likes of Shaun White and Ryan Sheckler. The full package of events coverage I did for the Skate Vert and Skate Park contests is all in one place on the Dew Tour’s skate homepage.

Event coverage from LG Action Sports Championships

I joined up with Jared Souney and his Action Sports Press team last weekend to cover the LG Action Sports Championships in Dallas, TX. The full event coverage our team provided for ASA Entertainment is here, but I’m particularly happy with the Taylor Family Takeover feature I did on Adam, Dylan, and Leah Taylor, three young skaters making big statements in pro and amateur skateboarding. Check it out. To get this same team of writers/photographer/web designer for your project or another event, check out ActionSportsPress.com

Fuel.TV: The Action Sports Life+Style

In addition to my daily skate blog at Banquet, the skate content I’ve been writing on the AST Dew Tour website, and everything else, I am now a regular writer/photographer contributing to the new group blog at Fuel.TV, The Action Sports Life+Style. I recently posted from The Meeting in Aspen, a 4-day spectacle of ski/snowboard films, winter fashion shows, madcap parties, and crazed go-kart racing. Stay tuned!

Some of the skate content I’m doing at astdewtour.com is being recycled over at fuel.tv – just thought I’d point that out.