By John Stouffer

February 24, 2000

"We want to stoke people on snowboarding before the season starts and get them amped up," says Chris Bachman, whose snowboard store The Shred Shop will host a big snowboard video premiere party at The House Of Blues in Chicago, Illinois this fall.

The event, scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 17, will feature the Midwest premieres of both Technical Difficulties by Mack Dawg and Whitey’s Revival, as well as a major band. Bachman expects more than 1,300 people to show up for the all-ages event, making it one of the largest snowboard promotions in the nation.

In addition to promoting the snowboard stoke, a portion of the proceeds will go to the House Of Blues Foundation that helps underprivileged artists and musicians.

Last year Bachman held a similar event at the Vic Theater with Mack Dawg’s Decade and K2’s Got Game videos. To further the snowboard cause, he also invites the staff of other area snowboard shops to attend and gives them promotional posters to hang in their stores.

"It’s been a great success, and this year’s going to be the best yet," says Bachman. "I’ve been working on this since before March and I know a lot of people [in the industry] who are going to fly in just to see it."

In addition to a big party, the visitors will probably see just how stoked the Midwesterners are on snowboarding. –John Stouffer