ON BOARD
COMING EVENTS.......
1982 CASL SCHEDULE Scottish Skateboard Association
CALIFORNIA AMATEUR SKATEBOARD LEAGUE
1ST HALF
May 8
June 12
2ND HALF
July 10
Aug. 14
Sept. 18
Oct. 9
Oct. 30
Pipeline, Upland
(714) 981-6014
Paramount
(213) 633-1224
Skatecity
Paramount
Del Mar Skateranch
Upland Pipeline
Pamona Pipe & Pool
June 26 Scottish Open
Bowlriding Championships
Rock 'n' Roll Skatepark, Livingston, Scotland
Entry Forms Available on May 10th
August 28 Halfpipe Challenge
Livingston, Rock 'n' Roll Skatepark
Individual, doubles and roller events
Entry Forms Available on August 2nd
November 7 Scottish Open
Freestyle & Jumping Champs
Indoors at Grangemouth Sports Complex
Freestyle, high jump & long jump
Entry Forms Available on September 27th
ENTRIES:
Info about the SSA comps, travel tips or skating in
the UK, write to: Scottish Skateboard Association,
16 Scone Gardens. Edinburgh EH8 7DQ, Scotland.
1982 CANADIAN & INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR
SKATEBOARD CHAMPIONSHIPS
This year the contest is going to happen in the East, in Calgary, Alberta. August
18th thru the 22nd are the slated dates. The first day's events will include Freestyle,
most 360's and High Jump. Day Two is the Slalom, Downhill and Luge comps.; Day
Three, half-pipe and most air; and Day Four is the barrel jump competition. On the
23rd, the fifth day, there will be an awards banquet.
For more info., send a S.A.S.E. to: CANADIAN PRO/AM SKATEBOARD ASSOCI
ATION, P.O. Box 2039, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6B 3S1.
COMIC OF THE MONTH
GABON
A DAY IN HIS LIFE
BY
NEIL BLENDER
QUOTABLE
QUOTES...
"You guys don't plan on bringing those
things into this pool?"-Blackhart, to
a group of BMXers at PUNK POOL
"Say hello to Mr. Wilson for me."
-Duane Peters, to all those who will
step on a skateboard for the first time.
"I can stand on stage and have bottles
thrown at me, I can have Hells Angels
chase me down the road, I've been
chased by Policemen, I pissed on the
Berlin Wall as well, but I wouldn't get
on a bloody skateboard again, it's too
dangerous."-Captain Sensible,
guitarist for THE DAMNED.
TEXAS BACKYARD RAMP
SERIES 1982 SCHEDULE
#6-April 10 Corpus Christi
Cecil (512) 937-5287
#7-April 17 Pasadena
Joe Nichols (713) 443-7217
#8-May 1- Dallas
Jeff at Zorlac (214) 352-4372)
Neil Blender, Anaheim, CA
CLANKS
EDINGS
DING
BAP
DAMN, I
HATE
SCHOOL!
DAT
STREET
PERFORMING
Recently some prominent skaters have
taken it upon themselves to show the
public what skateboarding is really about.
Although the particular skaters I will
highlight have had some T.V. exposure,
they have had nothing for what they
rightly deserve when you consider their
phenomenal talent. Many top athletes in
other sports are awarded, honored,
guests on T.V. shows, and made into
heroes because of their amazing abilities
and their contribution to their own particular
sport. It's obvious that skateboarding is
neither accepted enough, well enough
understood, and popular enough to have
the top pros on T.V. spots such as the
Tonight Show or one of Bob Hope's
sports specials which highlight some of
the top athletes in the nation. It is really a
frustrating spot to be in for the top skaters,
they are just as talented in their own right
as a Joe Namath, Jimmy Connors, or
Reggie Jackson, but since they are in a
sport that is so new and absolutely com-
pletely different than the normal academic
sport they must pay the consequences
when dealing with national exposure. If
you are a great skater, you must believe
strongly in what you are doing because
you will not get a tremendous amount of
support from the general public, unless of
course they can somehow see you
perform firsthand. It's one thing to tell
someone that you are a good skateboarder
and it's completely another to tell someone
that you are good and then show them
your talents right on the spot.
Steve Rocco, Rodney Mullen, and
Primo Desiderio are just a few of the new
breed of skaters who are taking it upon
themselves to show the public what's
really going on with skateboarding in the
eighties.
For years now Steve Rocco has been
known notoriously for attracting hundreds
of people while skating at many of the
populated southern California beach
cities. Steve has been witnessed on
weekends to create crowds so big that the
beach patrol has had to intervene to
control the beach pathways. Besides
being one of skateboarding's biggest
innovators, Rocco is a super-accurate
skater and does not make many mistakes,
consequently he can hold a crowd for
long periods of time without falling.
ROCCO: "You cannot fall while you're
doing demos, one fall and the people start
to leave." There have been many days
and places where Steve has blown away
people with his superb skating talent.
ROCCO: "I've done a lot of my practice
on the beach, and it usually ends up
getting pretty crowded."
Rodney Mullen on the other hand
skates alone in his garage on the week-
days. But when the weekends and holidays
come, he can be seen in the public eye
showing more than they had bargained
for. Rodney has been out to California
four times now and each time he skates
better and holds more attention. One
night while he was here we decided to try
an experiment. There is a place in Los
Angeles called Westwood Village where
people of all ages go at night to watch
movies, eat, hang out, and most of all
have fun. Every night on the sidewalks
you can see a host of free entertainers.
There are jugglers on unicycles,
mimes, fire-eaters, comedians, etc. The
millions of people who pass through the
place are fortunate enough to get an
abundance of good free entertainment. If
the people like what they see, they will
usually drop a few coins or even a few
bills on the performer's parcel. Some of
the performers are even pompous enough
to almost demand money from the volun-
tary audiences, but fortunately most do
not. I must say the people who frequent
Westwood really get into the performers
there and they show their gratitude gener-
ously.
Well, we took Rodney to Westwood one
Saturday night during Christmas vacation
not knowing what to expect, whether
people would dig him or not. We got there
about 8:30 p.m., snagged a much earned
parking place, abandoned the car and
searched out a good piece of sidewalk for
Rodney to perform on. Rodney got right
on his board and within fifteen minutes of
skating he had a huge crowd of mes-
merized people surrounding him. These
people were amazed beyond belief,
hearing their comments was truly enter-
taining in itself.
After another ten minutes of this
four-wheeled action, one of the jugglers
on the sidewalk broke into Rodney's
crowd and told Rodney that he was
stealing all of his crowd away from him.
Then he asked rather pissed-off-ly if
Rodney would stop skating because "this
is my part of the sidewalk and you are
taking everyone from me, plus I've been
here longer than you!!!" Rodney was
shocked. He got on his board and told the
guy he was sorry. The guy then left the
crowd, went over, grabbed his bottles and
started juggling. Just then when Rodney
was about to pick up and leave, the crowd
started yelling at him to skate more, there
were so many people yelling, "Skate
more, kid, that guy doesn't own the
sidewalk," "C'mon, skate more, kid!!!" It
was unanimous and the little ripper got
back on his board and continued to set
fire to the sidewalk. After about five
ON BOARD
minutes of excellent skating, people in the
crowd began handing him dollar bills. The
great thing about this was that he was in
no way asking for anything from them, he
was just doing what he does best. He
actually had to stop skating because there
so many people around him handing him
money. This was totally outrageous to
see, these people were so turned on by
his skating that they not only wouldn't let
him stop but they also wanted to pay their
respect by giving him the only thing they
could besides their generous applause.
It was great for the audience, it was
great for Rodney, and it was great for me
because I've known all along that if
people were just given the chance to see
skating at its best, they would be mes-
merized and blown away by its positive
dimensions. Another interesting bit of info
is that Rodney turned out to be the main
attraction that night and the nights that
followed. So you could say skateboarding
was dominating.
Primo Desiderio is another no quitter
who will go to any length to put on a one-
man show and show the public what's
happening. He has been known to skate
at any big event happening in the city that
he can find out about. From parades to
celebrations he tries to hit as many places
as possible. Recently though, after con-
structing a compact stereo into a movable.
box, he has been frequenting Westwood
on the weekend nights. His girlfriend and
himself usually find a nice piece of
sidewalk, set up the music box with some
good taped music and get skating to it.
Without fail he always gets a big crowd
built up. He will usually perform for about
three hours a night showing all the people
what skating is about. He is a real good
showman too. He gets the people involved
in what he's doing. He also has some of
the world's fastest footwork. He requires a
little more room than Rocco and Rodney,
but he moves around and skates in time
with the music covering every part of the
crowd. I've seen him there the last few
weekends and was stoked both times,
he's out there and doing it skating good
and really putting on a show. The last
time we talked he mentioned that he had
made a hundred and thirty dollars on one
night. That's pretty amazing when you
consider that he is just doing what he digs
doing.
These guys aren't waiting around for
the movie cameras and television net-
works. They are going straight to the real
thing, live entertainment. And what's even
better than that is the people who are
watching them are getting so charged. It
may take more time, but skateboarding
will earn its reputation as being a new
sport for a new age.
Stacy Peralta