Cee Lo Sangria Spain Tour
Boom!
In February the AriZona squad arrived at JFK for an 8-day filming mission in Barcelona and Madrid. Bonestalone, JJ Colõn, Leo Heinert, Blair Alley, Rodrigo Cabrejas & myself slammed a few Hard Arnold Palmer’s at terminal 4 before boarding the evening flight slated to arrive the following morning Catalan time.
Our favorite Dominican – Italian Carlo Carezzano lost his passport just days before the trip so he was at home watching Bonestalone on instagram tre flippin’ & doing coffin rides as we approached the gate in style.
Medellin’s finest Juan Pablo Velez bounced from Colombia a few months earlier to enjoy the skate life full time in Barcelona.
Argentina’s Eugenia Ginepro, currently living in Copenhagen, had the easiest itinerary with just a 2-hour flight to Barcy.
Gonzalo Gonzalez De Vega Estrella, better known as Gochiestrella, would be our filmer for the trip.
Richie Loffler, European legend & owner of Trap Skateboards and Mantis Shop in Hamburg, also flew in to rip it up for one day before continuing on to Egypt.
After passing through Covid protocols at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport we were on the metro to our hostel and sessioning the banks of Barceloneta by sunset. It was the perfect jump off spot. Richie nailed a Tom Penny-esque fs flip on the bank, Eugenia got a nice back d, JJ scored a front hurricane & Leo smoked a high speed noseblunt.
By the golden hour Leo backside flipped off the bump over the trash can along the ocean next to the W Hotel. Bonestalone back heeled it with that Fredericksburg steez. The session continued at MACBA and we finished the night with drinks at Nurse Betty’s with Matt Kruz of the gnarmads.
Several games of Cee-Lo took place in the bar as the idea sparked up to rent a powerful moped the next day to skate the natural transitions at Forum (Dylan Reider Front Blunt TWS Cover).
Forum turned out to be the perfect plan & Carezzano was there to join us! It was absolutley gorgeous out and the skate gods were on our side. Leo, Carlo, JP, JJ & Bonestalone all scooped tricks at the famed dark marble launchers with the sky light above (Flip’s Sorry) and than a 3-hour session at what felt like one of the seven skate wonders of the world. Matt Kruz handled the motor bike duties and hit the tranny wall higher and higher until the big slam.
It looked worse than it was and the Matt walked away unscathed. Highlighs from the skating were Bonestalone’s big airs and JP’s soaring tuck knee’s.
After a few more spots we returned to MACBA eating Kabob’s with street beers in hand watching Bonestalone drop in on the statue. We closed the night hanging with Simon from Sour at Nurse Betty’s.
Epic day for sure.
On our 3rd day we took a 30-min trip on the green line to skate the big yellow bank at Canyelles.
The cops arrived within 30 minutes, however Bonestalone, Leo & JP all came away with clips.
We took a break to eat lunch & regroup before hittin’ up a perfect hip in a small plaza where JP nailed a nollie 180 heelflip before gettin’ the boot.
Bonestalone & JP both scooped combo lines on a 6 flat 6 off the red line.
By nighttime we were filiming lines at Fondo & playing’ Cee-Lo.
New Zealand native Richie Jackson naturally hyped up the sesh.
JJ came through with a nifty noseslide, 5-0 shuv out on the bank.
JP, Leo, Carlo and B$ all hit an arsenol of combos before we hopped back on the 1 train to MACBA.
After croisants and coffee the following morning the rain began to fall.
We boarded the 1 train again to the Santa Colomo neighborhood, found a slightly covered spot and scored!
JP tailslide transferred the planter at the famous spot Diego “The Butcher” Buchieri ollied into in back in the day from an old Toy Machine flick.
The whole crew stacked footy on the red brick banks in the park nearby.
We had a nice team dinner before jettin’ back to MACBA.
Carlo Carezzano kicked off our final day in the Catalon with an NBD nollie 180 late flip down the MACBA blocks. Somehow he was able to catch the flip, it was insane!
Next Leo snapped the perfect tre flip into the steep the red banks in Barceloneta just as the police arrived. It was all pure magic.
We skated the dragon sculpture at Sants and cracked a few beers with a few of Leo’s girlfriends before jumping on the high speed bullet train to Madrid.
Just two hours later the squad checked in at the hotel and was bombin’ around Plaza de Santo Domingo, our new hood, looking for spots.
Our first full day in Madrid we sessioned the ledges at Congreso for hours where the well rested squad handled bizz. A 60-minute stroll along Paseo de la Castellana led us to Plaza Colõn where Bonestalone ollied a massive water gap.
The mission continued late into the night with Cee-Lo games, sangria & heavy battles of darts with Gochiestrella & our dear friend and now resident of Madrid, Ben Skrzypek.
Alcorcón, a beautiful city just outside Madrid, was our final mission on the Cee-Lo y Sangria Tour. I remember seeing Mark Gonzales skate this spot in an adidas edit and always wanted to bring the AZ crew here for a session. Skrzypek knew the exact location so we headed to Atocha station early to catch the C5 train directly to Alcorcón. It was important to get the session in before the neighborhood shut down for their precious siesta.
Leo, JP, Carlo & JJ brought the big can energy and crushed it within an hour.
Made it back to Madrid, grabbed empanadas in Puerta Del Sol, took photos outside the Royal Palace of Madrid and than Leo did the unthinkable NBD nose manny into the skinny hubba at Plaza De Santo Domingo.
Next we raced down Calle Gran Via, the most famous avenue in Madrid, to get our Covid tests and than skated over to meet up with Skrzpeck in the Atocha Barrio for a a massive team dinner at Bodegas Rosella, a Mediterranean tapas bar from the 1920’s.
Sangria’s in hand, the crew held up their glasses high for a proper “Salute” to an epic adventure in Spain.
