Category Archives: ClassFive Snowboards

K’naan: Canadian-Somalian Hiphop Artist Sits Down With ThisCityRocks

Posted by on July 2, 2007 1 comment


It took me a day to really get over the effect of K’naan; the energy and peace that spilled all over me from a mere 20 minute conversation with this man – he is a special human and his essence reeks of a positive peace that I have not experienced too often in my short life.

ThisCityRocks features K’naan in Episode 11 from the Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler. Sol Guy from Direct Current Media was kind enough to grant us some time for an interview. And Warwick and I melted from K’naan’s inspiring live show in the village. I took a few snaps of the show as well.

Thank-you to Art Maughan from BoxTop Studios for stepping in to edit this episode. A lot of fun stuff produced in this one. And to Class5 Snowboards for sponsoring the episode.

Enjoy.

Class 5ive Snowboards Have Me Sold

Posted by on April 23, 2007 2 comments

Class5ive Snowboards, Made In CanadaLet me just say that this snowboard rocked my world in Whistler.

ThisCityRocks was pretty stoked when Class 5ive Snowboards jumped on board to be an official sponsor for an episode this season. We were fortunate enough to interview K’Naan at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival that just wrapped in Whistler, and Class 5ive Snowboards sponsored the show.

And lucky me – I have this sweet, amazing, like butta board to ride! I swear I was in a snowboarding video with every carve, and that had zero to do with the skills on the board – the board was all the magic and made me feel like a super star. (Enter Morcheeba tunes)

Class 5ive is a relatively new company in Saskatchewan, started, owned and operated by James Friedrich (yes, people from Saskatchewan go to the mountains and go down a hill or 2!). James is an engineer by trade, designing snowboards by night, and makes each snowboard by hand. Being an engineer lends itself pretty well to the science behind the creation of his boards. And local SK designers have their hands in creating the graphic look and feel of the boards – each one is different. And if they are all as good as the one I have, you can’t go wrong.

They will be available to purchase for next ski season 2007-8 and can be found online here.

Live (sort of) at The Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler!

Posted by on April 16, 2007 3 comments

K'Naan at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler 2007
K’Naan at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival 2007 in Whistler

Hello Canada… and hockey fans from the United States… and Newfoundland….

I am in Whistler!

ThisCityRocks is up in Whistler this week at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival 2007, minglin’ with the crowds, snappin’ some pics and shooting some HOT bands! If you live near by, you should head up here! And yes, it’s still snowing!

And just who has TCR interviewed in this (still snowing) winter wonderland, you ask? Well for one, Somali-Canadian hip-hop global success: K’Naan. His concert this past week-end was nothing short of inspiring and his music contagious, and he was simply lovely to sit down with and talk to. (Interview to be posted next month).

Yahoo! Canada is also live on location as one of the Festival’s new sponsors this year. You can’t miss the big purple tent at the bottom of the Gondola. They have set up a live blogspot and anyone can pop by and upload their pictures and videos from the action of the week. Check out what’s been uploaded from the first few days of the festival.

I will most certainly be trying to bring you more action from the festival via the blog and my flickr, so you can feeeeeel the music and smell the snow via the internets, alas, there’s a fresh cover of white butter and a stellar new snowboard calling my name!!