See, I can only count 4 flannels in this photo – astonishing for a VG premier.

Words & Photos: Taylor Boyd

This past Wednesday night a bunch of Colorado shreds and some general lurkers made their way to Summit Music Hall in Denver for the Colorado premiere of Videograss' Enlighten and The Darkside; well, half of Enlighten, as we're still waiting on the other half. There may not have been quite as many flannel shirt in attendance as there were at the Portland premiere, but there was easily as much beer consumed and good times had.

Before the Videograss movies, The Bangshow premiered the latest documentation of their typical shenanigans, Birds of a Shitfeather. If you don't know what The Bangshow boys do, watch this teaser:

 

 

This season's Videograss installment follows the same format as last year's: Enlighten is the more powder-heavy film with a balance of street and backcountry riding, similar to Retrospect while The Darkside is a rail movie, in the same fashion as Shoot the Moon was.

Enlighten features eclectic riding from Frank April, Matt Belzile, Alex Cantin, Dustin Craven, Bryan Fox, Will Jackways, Phil Jacques, Jake Kuzyk, Danny Larsen, Bode Merrill, Eero Niemela, Benji Ritchie.

Not surprisingly, Bode's part is a standout, and if you enjoyed his Real Snow part you'll love his Enlighten part. Also, look out for Jake Kuzyk to make really hard tricks look easy, over and over. Frank April's part is also quite notable as he brings his 270s back around as well, or better, than anyone in the game.

The Darkside features riding from Ben Bilocq, Chris Grenier, Danimals, Darrell Mathes, Gus Engle, Harrison Gordon, Jake O.E., Joe Sexton, Johnny Miller, Jon Kooley, Jonas Michilot, Jordan Mendenhall, Laurent-Nicolas Paquin, Nick Dirks.

Jake OE has the opener and not only rides to a hilarious song, but also puts on quite a display of textbook Midwest rail mastery. Veterans Jon Kooley and Jordan Mendenhall share a solid part, and it's nice to see two dudes who were in Love/Hate still on top. Dan Liedahl, better known as Danimals, redefines lazy style, not that he's trying to. He just makes everything look really easy. A recurring theme of the films are boards broken on disasters to flat rails with Danimals the one to ride away after his board breaks.

Typically boots aren't given away at these things because they're very size-specific. K2 broke the mold.

These guys played between Enlighten and the Dark Side. It was heavy.

One of the guitar players had a great mustache.

A booty-shaking contest was hosted for prizes for the ladies. This girl apparently shook it the best.

Cody Booth just jockin' out.

The Hobo, Collin Walters, with fellow hobos and Bangshow riders, Billy Mackey and Kyle Hay. This face is Bill's equivalent of Zoolander's Blue Steel. Maybe one day he'll come up with something new.

Dylan Alito getting weird with a lady.

Why do girls always ask to take your hat? This girl took mine, then Dylan bit it. Gross.

Bangshow's Mike Goodwin and his brother Shaun.

The nicest guy in snowboarding, Kit Hendrickson, took a break from eating his beef steak nuggets to smile for a photo. I think another bag of beef steak nuggets is flying through the air behind him.

Madison Ellsworth telling Chad Otterstrom how he feels.

Chad Otterstrom and Madison Ellsworth

MC Pump and some ladies making sure the audience doesn't go home empty handed. 

Red Gerard and Matt Guess. Matt had a lot to do with putting this on and was accused by an overzealous security guard of stealing some of his own banners as he left.