This past Thursday night in lovely Salt Lake the VideoGrass crew brought their new movie BonVoyage to town and hosted a premiere party at The Olympus Hills Bowling Alley. Free bowling mixed with good company and beer made for a great night which culminated in the showing of the new flick.

Heres some thoughts based on one distraction filled viewing….

Jed Anderson is better than me…

There is no rail to obstacle combo that this crew is scared of

Mendenhall has a great comeback after last seasons part was short due to a knee injury

Ben Belocq is fast becoming one of my favorite guys to watch

Jed Anderson is way better than me

Somehow despite breaking his back in Colorado LNP produced yet another great part

Grenier is a mad man

Picture the biggest thing youve ever seen someone ollie over… Benne could nollie it first try

Jed Anderson is way way better than me.

Gus Engle rides better unstrapped than most do strapped (were not talking guns)

Johnny Miller is metal.

Ive seen Leblanc do big urban drops to flat .. Ive never seen anything like what he does this year.

You dont know much about Will Tuddenham, Alex Cantin, or Harrison Gordon …. yet

Did I mention Jed Anderson?

After the showing (and a stop at Molca Salsa for our crew) the party moved to the illustrious downtown bar The Twilight Lounge where more drinks and bro hugs ensued. We went in and said some hellos, shook a few hands, and made some introductions to friends of friends and peaced out by midnight. Total amateur style and to make matters worse pretty much never took the camera out of my pocket (super Amateur) but Ill do better for the next premiere I promise. However on the bright side I was able to hook up with the one and only Mikey Leblanc himself, exchange some information, and later get his thoughts on a few things….

1.Youve labeled VG as a rider driven company. What do you mean by that and how do you convey that in your finished films? There is no money being made, we charge sponsors for the riders we want in the film 100%. We sometimes film riders that are unknown or small names for no money because we believe in bringing up and showing the best snowboarding in it’s rawest form.

2.You were able to add quite a few names to the roster this year do you attribute part of that to your philosophy above? Yes. We lost a few and gained a few more. That’s how it goes, next season we’ll get a few creatives back, like Jake OE… he’s one of the most creative in the game.

3.Last years first effort was on many peoples Best of Lists. How did you approach the filming of Bon Voyage with the pressure to meet everyones expectations? We didn’t consider that at all. We just film some of the best and get some of the best. We don’t do the tricks, the riders do them. They have their own drives to progress and plans, we document that as purely as possible.

4. Youve been a mainstay in films for over a decade working with legends like Whitey and Mack Dawg on various projects. What knowledge did you apply from all those years of filming when you started doing your own thing? I’ve been in films for 15 years now. I gained many different things from them. Also when I made loveHATE and Burning Bridges. Whitey was all about the new kid and having a good time our there. So I am sure to make party on trips with kids, keep it fun and not all uptight and serious. From MDP it was about the best of the best only. The best riders and the best tricks and that cutthroat attitude to be harsh and state the truth is something was not “good enough” for the video. These are just tips of the icebergs and I learned and ton from these guys and from Justin and Shane over at Absinthe as well.

5. Of course the other two people behind VG are Nima Jalali and Darrell Mathes. What roles do each of you play in the creative process for VG? We have those two and Mike and Lance Hakker from ASHBURY and Justin Meyer doing the edits and leading up the filming. I do almost zero creative, I handle day to day business, sponsors, distribution, banking, etc.

6. What are you most stoked on about this years effort? I feel like Bon Voyage is a step up from last year in riding, the kids in it and the production.

7. Nothings ever easy, what challenges were there during the season as you filmed Bon Voyage? Injuries to key riders like LNP. And of course employees are sometimes interesting to handle. We will learn and make a tighter team for the VG #3., which is def. Happening

8. No rest for the weary, what goals do you have for filming this upcoming year? Best riders, get some new kids that no ones seen.

Ok now the serious stuff…

8. Fewer showers per days filmed Gus Engle or LNP? Gus

9 Would you let Benne try to nollie you? Sure…

10. Tighter pants LNP or Kooley? LNP

11. Which one of the crew is the most dangerous to themselves after the beers start flowing? Me

12. Now that youre a big time snow movie maker would you classify your income level as tens of millions or hundreds of millions? Tom cruise n shit

13. Best burrito in SLC? No question, molca salsa, carne asada.

My greatest thanks to one of my all time faves Mikey for not only the Bon Voyage premiere and party but also for being nice enough to answer these questions for me.

Heres a link to the Bon Voyage trailer with some extra skate footage afterwards and also peep the link to the VG blog…

The Official VideoGrass webpage.

And finally Pat over at Yobeat not only brought his camera to the premiere he even used it .. check out the pictures over on Yobeat.