Traveling Circus Chatter and Episode 9 Drop
Highlights from a conversation with the guys behind the popular freeski series "Traveling Circus", plus this year's Finale Drops

By Rom Marcucci via Newschoolers.com
Photos courtesy of Will Wesson, Josh Malczk & C.Nelson James (www.meatheadfilms.com)

Nine episodes later and the Traveling Circus wraps up for the season. Newschoolers called up the main players this past week to discuss the conception, realities and future of the online video series. Line Ski's founder and head honcho Jason Levinthal, team manager Josh Malzcyk, silent Will Wesson and hippy killer andy Parry chatted with us for over an hour. Our chat covered all aspects of the Circus, from its inception to its future- Ron Marcucci

(Ed Note: For the full interview visit newschoolers.com by clicking HERE.)





The vibe of the whole intro is just goofy and fun and weird. Was that the type of skiing and atmosphere you wanted to showcase in the series right from day one?

Andy: I think our style of skiing and our true selves are just weird, wacky, and goofy. From Erik Olson, to me, Will, Ahmet and Giray, we' (TM)re all pretty weird. I think we wanted Traveling Circus to convey our personalities and strange quirks. It' (TM)s just taking the reality of it and putting it into an intro.

Let' (TM)s slide into what went down. What did you guys go through to find all the unique ski stuff that' (TM)s in the videos?

Andy: The rail into the pond was pretty unique and cool. Everything else was pretty much just going around and filming features that people have already hit like the rail gardens but our advantage is we can do something completely new and different on the same old thing. We' (TM)re just adding our own flavor to it.

Some skiing webisodes are very polished, like Nimbus, while some are as raw as it gets, like Cosco' (TM)s Chug Life series. You guys fall somewhere in the middle. Where do you find the balance of skiing versus non-skiing and reality versus picture perfect tricks?

Will: I like watching perfectly filmed tricks and epic stuff but there are other times you want to see what really goes on. I just wanted to bring more of a feel that people could relate to. I' (TM)m not going up in helicopters and skiing somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I' (TM)m just driving down the road and hitting a rail or going to the local resort and hitting the park. I felt like having more of a raw feel would be appropriate. I' (TM)m not a film major and trained in filming or editing in any way, I' (TM)m just doing it for fun.

I want to talk about highlights of this season. I' (TM)ve got a couple topics. What was your favorite skiing?

Andy: Skiing in California was one of my highlights. There were two days at Squaw. A powder day where we skied all mountain, and a park day that I learned some new tricks I was really stoked on. California has it going on. I love California.

What was your favorite shot, episode, or moment that happened while skiing?

Will: My favorite episode was either episode 1 (Hood) or 3 (Road Trip). They were both big adventures. We had a lot of fun with them and they weren' (TM)t too stressful. It was kind of just go out and have fun and film it.

Andy: My favorite is either episode 1, the Hood episode, or episode 7, which was filmed in California. In 7, Will did a really good job editing. Some of the shots from the GoPro really added to what we were doing. Hopefully we' (TM)ll be most stoked on episode 9. Will and I did some tricks that we learned and then got on film. That' (TM)s really exciting to go out, do a new trick, then you see it in the episode and you' (TM)re like ' Oh, snap. That wasn' (TM)t as good as I thought it was but it' (TM)s still sick.





There' (TM)s Line Traveling Circus Week at Windells. Give us all the info.

Josh: I guess it was an excuse for me to get out of the office for a week. I needed some sacrificial lambs so I had Andy and Will design up some custom features. We' (TM)ll have a lot of Line guys at Windells for session 5, July 16th - 23rd. There are still spots available. We' (TM)re trying to bring the whole Line entity together.

Jason: Traveling Circus is Line and Line is Traveling Circus. We are one big circus, one big family. Expect the unexpected. That is what Line has always been about. Whether it is product, marketing, graphics and that' (TM)s what these guys' (TM) riding and lifestyle is all about. Everyone from the office is going to be there: R&D, sales, graphics. It' (TM)s just a big rally.

Who else will be there as far as Line athletes go?

Josh: Pollard is going to be there. LJ is tentative, he' (TM)s got a camping trip planned in Vermont we' (TM)re trying to get him to change, but he' (TM)ll be there all summer. Ian Compton said, ' This would be like missing a concert with Biggie and Tupac featuring Elton John.' (laughs)

You' (TM)ll be filming Season Two Episode One there?

Will: Yup, that' (TM)s the plan.

So that' (TM)s a wrap. Even after such an entertaining run this season, Traveling Circus will be better than ever next season, starting with Windells in just over a month. It is the feel good story of the season. Will and Andy have gone from rags to riches, zeros to heroes, or maybe, more realistically, two meals of ramen daily to just one, with plenty more entertainment to come.



Without further ado... Here is the drop for the first season finale of "The Traveling Circus":