"Booyaka" A Syracuse Video and "Sunsets" Interview

Andrew Grabowski: Switch Backside 5-0 | Photo: Trevor Culley

Andrew “Drew” Grabowski was incredibly talented on a skateboard and immensely dedicated to the upstate skateboarding community and his hometown of Syracuse, NY. It’s been nearly two years since his passing, and the Upstate skateboarding scene still feels the momentous loss. Thanks to his father and the local skateboard community, Drew’s legacy lives on through the Skate 4 Drew foundation, his donations to “The Spot” (labor and monetary donations), and countless video parts. 

Last summer, the Upstate skateboard community was blessed with two new video offerings highlighting Drew’s dedication and immense talent. The first was “Booyaka,” a full-length video by PJ Lang of Welfare Skateboards that includes a brand-new part from Drew. The second was “Sunsets,” by Cris Moore, an extensive retrospect of Andrew’s footage throughout the years. It is our honor to bring both projects to you now. In addition to hosting the videos, we sat down with PJ, Cris, friends, and family to give additional insight into the projects and offer a celebration of life for Drew.

Interview by Jovi Bathemess

Patrick Lang Interview:

What’s up, PJ? How’s everything going and where exactly are you right now?

Hey Jovi, I've been well man, currently at my office in Utica, NY.

Tell me a little bit about your new Welfare Skateboards video and where the title name “Booyaka” came from?

'Booyaka' is a project filmed over the course of the pandemic mainly and is an ode to the late Andrew Grabowski. It features parts from two guys I've always worked closely with; Dave Tobiasz and Jordan McGriff, as well as some features from a few other heads and caps off with the final part I worked on with Andrew before his passing. The title comes from one of the many phrases we'd yell out after snagging a clip and adds a personal touch to those who knew and skated with Drew. Drew always was dropping dope tags and keeping the hype up!

Andrew Grabowski & Jordan McGriff | Photo: Patrick Lang

How long have you been working on this video?

We filmed the majority of the footage between 2020 and 2023.

Favorite clip or memory from working on this project?

It's hard to pinpoint a true favorite clip or memory – one that truly stands out is Drew's nollie flip over the rails at the Empire State Plaza – he was on fire that day and was skating solo for the majority of it. First got fs 180 to switch bigflip down on the monument steps in Washington Park then hit a banked ledge spot and put down switch fs tail 270 and switch backtail (landed about 6 until he got the one he wanted). Afterwards, we hit the plaza. Drew switch flipped a bench into the drained fountain then went over and stomped the nollie flip in less than 10 tries. Days like this weren't uncommon for Drew, man was a true machine.

The “Sunsets” video is a beautiful retrospect of Andrew Grabowski’s legacy. Any favorite memories come to mind when pulling footage for that edit?

The 'Sunsets' project was really dope to collaborate with Cris Moore on and the sheer amount of footage collected was astounding. A true trip down memory lane going through troves of footage on my hard drives. Standout memories would be Drew's clips at the Albany bowl on his birthday weekend in 2014.

What’s next? Another Welfare production in the works?

Definitely more in the works. We've got some trips planned for Spring and this upcoming year and will definitely have some new stuff coming out this year!

Jordan McGriff: Clinton Square, Nollie BS Nosegrind 180 | Photo: Patrick Lang

Can you tell me about “Skate 4 Drew”?

Skate4Drew is a not-for-profit foundation that's aim is to carry on the passion and vision of Drew, we provide access to safe and inclusive skate parks for youth, as well as raise funds for skatepark construction and maintenance, and offer mentorship and educational opportunities for young skaters.

Andrew Grabowski: Noseblunt | Photo: Fred Zang

Any last words?

Just want to thank you and TOA for getting up with us on this and striving to keep Drew's legacy going! Cheers brother!

Cris Moore and Friends Interview:

Tell me a little bit about Andrew’s ‘Sunsets’ project.

Sunset SYR was the non-profit Drew wanted to start for skateboarders in Syracuse. I don’t believe it was ever registered or anything but he was getting it going. He held an event that Homegrown and Seasons hooked him up with product for.  Drew was using that money to build new shit at the DIY park here. He also had a few graphics started that Michael Fagan did-So the name and graphics for this project were all actually Drew’s ideas-he had a different intention for them, but I’m glad we could repurpose the name and shit into something he would have been hopefully proud of.

Andrew Grabowski: Rochester, NY , Wallride | Photo: Fred Zang

Where did all of Andrew’s pre-part footage come from? It’s amazing to see his talent as a kid!

The really early footage of Drew as a child was all from before I met him. I had seen a lot of his footage on YouTube and a skate video site called Gnartifact that Nick Wnorowskii owned-he filmed Drew a lot. To me at the time- Drew was one of those kids who was a local skate celebrity along with a few others so I knew about him before I met him- I met Drew when I was about 15/16, so he would have been 17/18. That Jadakiss and Gangstarr song was reused from Drew’s first proper video part that’s still on YouTube. It seemed fitting to have his childhood footage put to that song.

Wait! What was up with Andrew and Lockdown Skateboards?

We filmed a lot of that footage for a lockdown skateboards contest that he actually “won”. I have to put “won” in parenthesis because I remember he got the box from the contest, and it was mainly lime green/hot pink griptape, and clothes that weren’t in his size. I don’t think it was anything that he even used or wore. There wasn’t even a lockdown board in the box. That Lockdown contest footage was old-but I remember just being to name my favorite tricks at that time (collie cab, ss back heel) and he could just do them on command at the spots it was crazy to see.

Andrew Grabowski: Undisclosed location, Backside Smith | Photo: Fred Zang

Who else held it down for Andrew? I know he spent a lot of time in Fort Myers and got a ton of footage there.

A lot of the other footage was from when Drew didn’t live in Syracuse- you can see a lot of Florida footage in here - Alex Neuhasuer filmed that stuff. It’s not really my story, but Drew told me when he first moved down to Florida-he slipped out on a stair set harder than I’ve ever seen anyone ever slip out…it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen footage of. For a while after I guess his balance/equilibrium was really really off and he was trying to get cool with the skate shop down there, but I guess they thought he was like really bad at skating cause his balance was so wacky for a few months after he got out of the hospital. They realized after he’s obviously amazing-but at the time I guess they thought he was one of those “I used to skate,” people.

Any other Andrew stories you would like to share?

Switch Tre into the Everson fountain, That fountain is only drained for 1 day a year, 2 if you’re really lucky. its always gross and muddy in there, so I remember him calling me saying he’s down there with towels cleaning it out. Which is a huge ass effort, cause its going to be full of water the very next day. I want to say he broke 4 boards in 20-30 minutes to land that-so he did that on someone else’s board. He probably spent 2-3 hours cleaning it up, to skate it for 30 minutes. You can tell its still gross as hell in the clip. This was also the last clip that I personally filmed of him, there were a lot of homies there-this ones special.

To pay tribute to Andrew we asked a few people close to him to share their stories as well. If you have an Andrew story you would like to share please feel free to add it to the comments section! Big love always, Drew da Dude:

Jeff Grabowski: 

“They're all my favorites now, but I guess his smile, if he was smiling you knew he was really happy! Or winning in Rochester to go-to San Diego for ES Game of Skate. 180 people showed up that day! And his smile don't know how to explain It's not that you knew he was happy he was genuinely happy if he was smiling.”

Jordan McGriff:

My favorite memory would probably be one of my last ones with him. His board company sponsor (Dead On Arrival) sent me his first pro model boards to surprise him. It was right before we went to go skate and I walked in his house and threw him a marker and asked him to sign my board lol. He was confused 😂 Once he processed it was his board he started laughing/crying. Probably one of the happiest I’ve seen Drew. I currently have the board he signed which will stay with me for life.

John Edinger:

“Favorite memory has gotta be watching him switch backside flip up the block at the Everson like it was light work. He was rocking some jordan 3s too. Then doing it like 4 more times until he was “warmed up.” I remember telling him how wild that shit was and he was totally unphased hahah. Always humble like that.”

Alex Neuhauser:

“I remember him being the most productive dude. He would come visit fort myers during the winters. He lived here a couple times in and off. Fort myers doesn’t really have that many good spots. But we would go out and get 3 - 5 clips everytime we went out to skate. It was funny I don’t really like smoking weed and skating but we would smoke blunts and if my car and then get to the spots and he would just start trying the craziest shit. And he said usually got it pretty quick. My favorite memories with him is me and the homie Alex Heiss went up to New Orleans. It’s rained the first day and we just found so many spots then the next day we went out and he got like 5 or 6 clips in a day. We spent the next few days skating there and filming. We went down to Tallahassee after and filmed more stuff. And drove back to fm I went to upload the 7 or so tapes we filmed and most of them were blank. I noticed when I was filming with the VX that the time code kept resetting but I didn’t think it was a problem but really I wasn’t filming anything aha. I was super bummed for a few weeks. We ended up trying to go back but never got the chance. but the trip was still one of the greatest experiences of my life. I always enjoyed spending time and stacking clips with him. He’s dearly missed by all of his friends and family in fort myers. We love you drew! I also just was getting back to New York when I heard the news and 3 days later I went to his memorial in Syracuse. It was amazing to meet his New York family and friends and his memory lives forever coast to coast.”

Ryan Mills:

 One of the best memories I can recall with Andrew is when we all went to Pulaski, NY. It was Renz, Pat and I.  It was during the summer to go swimming at Sandy Pond Beach.  We first went to this local park that was all metal with some alright flow.  I never wear shorts but today was the day. Renz wore pants on this hot day, but was still shredding!! Nollie crook down the hubba, swerved around, tre flipped the table top gap and then back disaster on the quarter pipe.  After we cruised the park a bit more and got sweaty, we were ready to go cool off.  Along the way, Renz peeped this five stair with a tall short handrail.  I remember him telling Pat to pull over.  He did and we all hopped out. Renz was already warmed up from skating the park, not even sure if he tried ollie-ing it, probably not. There were two random locals there with BMX bikes, they were hyped watching him skate.  Renz was trying to switch 180 to front 5-0 the rail, so I started to film him.  I have one bail on my phone and then the make, landed it so clean and got it quick too!  Now it’s really time to cool off, so we head to the beach.  We arrived and Pat parked the whip and noticed a frisbee in his trunk while unpacking.  The three of us head to the beach and start swimming. Playing catch with a frisbee in the water was extremely difficult but was worth the laughter. Until we skate again Renz!!

Brett Reif:

My favorite memories are of meeting up at the spot Monday mornings he'd always have a cup of Dunkin and a blunt we would just talk about everything and nothing then try new tricks he would tell me to give him a trick then if he thought it was possible go for it. Like switch flip back lip on Manny ledge then thank me earnestly after like I was the one who did it.  I would always run into him skating early and in the cold without hitting him up he was always super happy and so was I. Miss him every day.