1. Do you feel like you fit in with today's generation of skateboarders? If no, why?
2. Top 5 songs to listen to on the way to a session
3. In the last month, what single trick have you done that you're most proud of, and which one has been driving you crazy?
1. I'll turn 38 at the end of the month, most kids I interact with annoy the shit out of me. They all want to play SKATE (berrics rules-haha) seem to be uber concerned with sponsorships, having the cool threads and keeping up with all the trends. I do occasionally run across the random kid at the park or just out rolling around that restores my faith in skateboarding and our little community. I also can usually tell who the lifers are compared to the guys you know are going to quit as soon as they get a girlfriend, car, drug habit, etc. Being a "grown ass man" as many have pointed out makes it hard to have much in common with a 15 year old, other than skating, but that's how it's supposed to be. The young guys coming up shouldn't respect us old farts or where we're coming from. Fuck us, we're adults and shouldn't be trusted! We with our mortgages, jobs, wives and kids. I don't expect or think they should give a damn about our generation, but if they do that's great too. But really I don't care what some 12 year old thinks and don't care if we can relate or not. I don't fit in with my adult peers either though. That's why it's awesome to meet other old fucks who are still skate rats at heart. I do appreciate where skating has gone, kids today are fucking nuts and I get stoked seeing them do things that my generation never even considered possible. Though for the last several years I've been more into watching videos of guys skating for fun, Tim and Eric, the Wiskate guys, stuff like that.
2. Lately I've been listening to Red Fang quite a bit, but I still like all the stuff I grew up skating to-Old DRI, Dead Milkmen, Fugazi, all the punk bands I grew up with, Naked Raygun's Understand album gets a lot of play when I'm on the ramp. DESCENDENTS, 7-seconds, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat. Shit that makes me sound like I'm some punk stuck in the 80's, really I'm not, I like a lot of new stuff but all those guys made some great records to skate to.
3. Haven't done a lot of skating in the last month due to winter weather-snow, ice and cold but on the last warm day we had I ollied this little natural pyramid I've been wanting to clear for a long time. It's not a huge gap, but It's at the corner of this little strip mall down the street from me, had to push like a mofo and clear a parking curb, over the corner of the sidewalk and over another parking curb. That felt really good, I tried to kickflip it but that didn't happen... The one trick that's been killing me is 360 flips. I had them down fairly well with skinnier boards-like 7.75 but lately I've been skating 8.25-8.5 decks and I just can't get them!! I have a skinny board set up and can do them on it, but I guess my old man legs just won't let me flick the bigger decks as easily. It's pissing me off, but it's been something I can try in the garage while I'm waiting for the snow to melt.