Skatepunk

Now Playing, you ask?

Wow, I can't accurately express the joy I felt last night as Sten Guns practiced my first song. I still can't sing all that well, but we played a song called "Every Day" that I wrote and sang, and while I've written and played tons of songs musically on guitar and piano, I've never really written the lyrics and melodies as well, and it felt amazing. Lance and Hagop were really patient and kind-- a perfect environment for a singer/songwriter without a lot of confidence... it felt like the times I learned my personal best tricks on vert--frontside rocks, lien to tails, lipslides...

Below I wrote about how I recently realized that skateboarding has become two-tiered for me: I work in skateboarding's industry, but I'm also a skateboarder, and have even defined myself as such, through dress, style, attitude, music, and more over the last 23 years of my life (with a short reluctant break for a marriage). But lately the two levels are incongruent, and I'm struggling with it in some senses. On the other hand, I'm also glad it's developed this way.

I wrote below about how I always seem to go into a rut this time of year. Last Saturday would've been six years since my ex-wife and I got married. Man, it's been a long strange trip. We were different people then, and I can't imagine where that would've gone. It's not to say that I'm happy it didn't work out, but given where we were, we had to go our separate ways, and I'm happy we were able to do it like we did. And I can't imagine being with her anymore, after again knowing a complete life full of the things that I love.

Ryan Sheckler's streak ended this weekend when Carlos De Andrade ripped his way to first place in Oceanside. Sheckler ripped, though. I like that kid! As usual, it was good to hang with friends--Senn, Swift, Scott Taylor, and Dan Sturt, even!

Thanks to Chris Ortiz, who gave me a photo from 1991 of me ollieing over the hip at Skate Zone in Tucker, Georgia. I have two photos of myself sort of hidden somewhere on this site, and now there may be three, soon. After checking out my friend Rob Mertz' website once again, I don't feel so bad about having the three--he's got hundreds of himself!

September 9: Just got back from another ASR show in San Diego, where I was able to spend a shot amount of time with the neighborhood kids riding the Concourse. Still one of my favorite downhill spots ever, it's fourteen floors of good speed, constant right-hand turning, and a nice elevator ride up. Used to be the security guards went home at 11pm, but after a couple of rides we got politely escorted out of the place...

Speaking of movies--anyone want to write a review of the Gator movie?

Timothy Nickloff and I spent a couple hours last week down in the dirt at the new etnies skatepark of Lake Forest, going over some final changes with Wally and Joe of California Skateparks. There will be six main sections of the park: the Plaza, the Ledge Alley, the Park Course, the Flow Course, the Bowl, and the Skull Pool.

I finally saw the Bootleg 3000 video. Pretty good skating, pretty good video. Pete Eldridge surprised me with some of his stuff, and Elissa is always nice to watch. The surprise for me, though, was Scott Kane... the kid really is amazing. It's a big time shame, though, that whoever edited his part made it completely boring to watch. There was absolutely no drama, no emotion, no edginess, no anything, to make it interesting and draw in the viewer.

The ramp in my backyard has been seeing good regular sessions again, and thanks to Dr. G, I've been able to skate again. I've had hip, leg, and back pain for most of the last three years, and have been to three doctors who did everything they could shy of telling me to get over it, or that it wasn't anything. Well, I'd heard about this mysterious Dr. G. for a long time, as old friends like Neil Hendrix, Mike Frazier, Bob Burnquist, Lincoln Ueda, and more have always talked about him and his effectiveness at managing their ailments.

If you haven't seen "Yeah Right" yet, what are you waiting for? Amazing parts from Marc Johnson, Brian Anderson, and Mike Carroll, as well great stuff from new Chocolate/eS am Justin Eldridge, Paul Rodriguez, and Eric Koston. The extra parts are amazing, too. Even freaky Nate Sherwood's got a trick--talk about cred building. And what's up with that guy? Making a porn sponsor-me video is a wacky as it gets. But I digress. Get "Yeah Right" if you can find a copy and enjoy a future classic today.

I've been to a few places over the last few years--I've been lucky to be able to travel a lot. There are a few places that are always a lot of fun, and then there are places that are amazing. I always have fun in Tampa, Dallas, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, London, Paris, Amsterdam, etcetera. But there are a couple of places that are different. I've always loved Vancouver.

2/25/03: Got back last night from a pretty hectic, amazing trip. Started out in Los Angeles with the Emerica "This Is Skateboarding" premiere at the El Rey Theatre on the first of February. The 3rd we were in Phoenix, the 6th, Vancouver, the 8th, New York. Then it was a fast three days in Europe: Feb 8th in London, 9th in Paris, 10th in Berlin. The 15th was in Tokyo, the 18th in Sydney, and the 20th in Honolulu. Now, I realize that it's pretty boring to hear someone complain about traveling. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing luckier than being able to travel and see the world for work.

I saw the new Firm Video "Can't Stop" last night--amazing skateboarding, great video. Bob Burnquist, Rodrigo, Matt Beach, and a couple of the Upstarts are killing it. The premiere was at the Art Theatre in Long Beach and was packed, fun, and understated. You'll want to check it. And just wait until you see the cover of the new Transworld! Omigosh!

I just got an email from Justin Gold and he let me know that the Berkeley park is going to be jackhammered. Seems the land the park was built on was contaminated. I heard that it was built on top of an old paint factory, adn when we were there a few weeks ago (see below) we hopped the fence, even though there were signs that said contaminated water. We stayed out of the water for the most part, though! (But I was wondering why I'm glowing...)