HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

ANTICI...PATION

Earlier post about taking the plunge sums this up.

Age is not an issue.

BULLDOG SKATE GENE

Why do all bulldogs like to skate? I think we need to find and research that genome.

Pools held the primordial ooze

This is a great photo. And I don't know the back story....he'll fill us in via comments.

 Blair's always been one of the funnest people to skate with, and always a step ahead of me.

Grind over the light, no coping, more like ledge on vert.

Skate & Destroy vs. Disrespect

Board in question from previous post, being molested and abused as described, circa '95. Posed lay-back grind on one of my favorite all-time spots, Safeway Red Curb in Silverdale, R.I.P. (Photo by John Daley on a late, very bored night, right before we stole a television and photo-staged it sliding down a playground slide.)

Q.

Power = ambition + talent

I think I only skated with Junior Wudruff (sp?) once. But it was inspirational. He and Ben Hooker and others were of the generation before us who we looked up to. I skated with him and Ben at the newly built Fred Meyer on Wheaton Way in East Bremerton. I remember Ben slappy 50-50ing the ledge, Danny Seargent style. Amazing. Junior, I just remember being goddamn good. No specifics.

Anyway, I don't remember who posted this photo I stole on Facefuck, but credit due, because it's epic.  Rough ground, no nose, huge hydrant, and he's easily going to clear it. Nick White had similar power and finesse. I skated with him more often, so he was the dude I idolized the most. I geeked it completely and actually asked the proverbial (of old) grommet question, "what's the highest thing you ever ollied?" He humored me and after laughing, said, a tennis net. It floored me. What a little grom I was. Fuel for the fire. Ollieiing was the goal at the time.

What really pains me is I used to have that exact Natas board. And later, I treated it like shit, just skating it and not caring about the damage done. I left it in an L.A. garage to be thrown away by an unknowing mother. I just spoke with someone about that the other day. He said it sounded insignificant, like a vintage car that doesn't get seen or driven. I told him it was about the significance of actually having owned it when it came out, and it meant a lot to me as history. It's not about the commercial value, but the nostalgia value. Red Slimeballs, my first pro wheels. I had a mini Natas (w/ the kitten) for about one day before breaking it by dropping my launch ramp on it while trying to move it. My new board was focussed by a fucking launch ramp. Or rather, gravity and a lack of physics planning. (Wedge vs. fulcrum vs. counter-weight.)

So I kick myself about those old boards I vandalized. More on that note later when I shaw/talk about an old Greg Martin board I have that looks like drift wood. Not many people would understand what it means that I want to frame it professionally. To me, it is the symbol of passion and endurance in the face of a lack of means.

Q.

ROLLING IS KEY.

Regardless of who or what, makes getting this blog going easier. I think early era with no affinities should to the trick*. I'll have a better photo of this day later down the line, but have to go into the Old Man's slide vault to do so. For now, just know that these 2 dudes (first 2 frames) rode bikes (yes, bicycles) from somewhere in Southern California up the coast on HW101, and that day stopped at Cannon Beach OR to do some radical shit. This was the first built-to-skate thing I ever touched down on. It was the Chin Ramp as far as I was concerned. And yes, I brought a freestyle board too, to make up for the fact that I could barely skate the bowl thingy. I think dropping in and kickturning was my whole my bag.

*I'll give a prize to whomever can name the "trick" in frame 2. 

Take the plunge

Just like dropping in for the first time, you gotta be stupid and just take the plunge. (My first drop in story will come later...think early grab Christ airs on a 4 foot in the woods. No, I didn't do the airs...)

There's no perfect way to start this BLOG. But that brings up a good question: How/why did you start (skateboarding)?

I saw the videos "Possessed to Skate" by Suicidal Tendencies, "Devil Inside" by INXS, "End of the World as we Know It" by REM, and saw a dude do a handstand all the way down a hilled parking lot of of Wheaton Way in Bremerton. Then I stood on a banana board, and rolled down a hill. Then someone showed me Animal Chin. That was it. From there on out, standing on a skateboard and rolling was like mainlining. From what I hear...