Happy Birthday Ballins, aka Phi Ballins aka Filthy Phil aka The Wise-cracker aka Phil Chadbourn the III.
I’ve known Phil for a long time now.A photo I took of him doing a nosegrind at Freedom High School was one of my final submissions in photo class so yeah- I was still in high school when I met him. He picked me up and the backseat of his red Pathfinder was filled with cases of soda that he took from a Lehigh frathouse. Phil was still in college at the time and being that neither of us had any “real” responsibilities we skated a lot. We’d drive to New York City on Wednesday nights blasting some Cannibal Ox and skate all over midtown. The crew that came and the footage that came out of these trips found it’s way into the early pre-Homebase videos I made like City Without Spots and Kill the Filmer.
Phil always skated but not always in front of the camera. Phil was also always way more tech than the rest of the PA skaters. He claims it’s because he’s from Virginia and he’s “not all into being hesh” like everyone from the Northeast- which is obvious when he’s all up in the camera spitting hot lines like “The only time you screwing shorties is when you changing trucks.” Don’t try and steal that kids. It’s copywritten.
He may never have had a “full part” but some of the tricks and lines he laid down over all these years we’ve been rolling together make up some of the best times of my life.
So cheers to you Phil. Happy Birthday and may we share many more as friends.
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