According to Mark Eaton’s MySpace blog, Dorkin In York turned 20 years old yesterday. For those of you not in the know, Dorkin In York was one of the first rider-produced videos in BMX freestyle. Featuring riding from Kevin Jones, Eaton and their crew of friends from the York, Pennsylvania area (known as the Plywood Hoods), Dorkin In York redefined flatland and helped to usher in an era of do-it-yourself mentality in BMX.
Eaton knew nothing about making videos, dubbing each copy of Dorkin In York from VCR to VCR and hand-labeling each cover, but the video was an instant success, and the series eventually went on to produce 10 sequels.
The Dorkin series also pushed Eaton into a career as a filmmaker/director, and he’s since go on to produce the full-length feature Joe Kid on a Stingray: The History of BMX. I might even be so bold as to point my finger to Mark Eaton, alongside Eddie Roman, as the forefathers of modern-day BMX videos. Without these BMXers turned videographers, who knows where BMX videos would be now...
You can still order the Dorkin In York DVD box set here: http://www.plywoodhoods.com/main.html
And you can learn all about the Plywood Hoods and the Dorkin series here: http://www.23mag.com/videos/dorkin/dorkin.htm
Sorry for the abrupt history lesson...
Mark Eaton
