36
HOW TO HAVE FUN
SKATING IN
MISSOURI EVEN
WHEN IT'S RAINING
WHICH IS USUALLY
ONLY WHEN YOU
WANT TO SKATE
This is an account of my 3 days
in Kansas City, MO at the end of
March, during my spring break
from school, my last chance to
visit and skate with my friend
Steve Bacon before he went into
the Air (a.k.a. Death) Force. Read
it or don't.
After deliberately skipping my
last class on Friday despite a
direct order from the powers that
be, not to do so, I ride for 15 hours
from Eau Claire, Wisc., to KC on a
good old Greyhound bus, meeting
the usual fascinating people and
astounding them with various B.S.
skate stories ("See that skate-
board there? Well, I'm Steve
Hirsch. I designed it.").
I arrive in KC at 4:45 A.M. to find
Steve waiting and of all things,
snow blowing everywhere. Great,
I think. I love snow, really I do;
BUT NOT AT THE END OF
MARCH WHEN I WANT TO
SKATE!
After crashing out at 5:30 we're
up at 9:00, ready to skate, and the
snow is gone, but of course now
it's raining! So we scrap our plans
to skate the ramp and decide to hit
a few malls with our freestyle
boards, giving impromptu demos
and doing the usual footplant
drop-offs inside and out. Under
the roof overhang at one mall is
some good freestyle concrete and
a nice wall with 1-foot square tiles.
So it's wall sweeper time, with the
tiles making good height indi-
cators; Steve and I both top out at
1% feet plus. Naturally, some
silver-haired "lady about 1,000
Steve Bacon, canyon jumping at the Metro
F
Mall wall sweeper, Steve Bacon
years old decides that it's her duty
to burn our lives. Quote: "You're
acting just like little kids." Our
reply: "I might be an adult, I'm a
minor at heart." "And look at that;
you're making footprints on the
wall!" "You mean like this?" says
Steve as he casually footplants off
the wall only a few inches away.
After accidentally (?) dropping a
few pennies on the heads of
unsuspecting passersby from the
Ramp in No. Kansas City, Mo
upper level of the mall, and other
sophomoric stuff, Steve takes me
to all the good ditches which we
would have been skating if it were
dry (including one close to ½ mile
long). Next is a visit to Rock
Therapy, where Steve picks up
the new (at the time) Die Kreuzen
EP, Cows and Beer. After futile
efforts to find a gym to skate in, we
drift around, stop at the bike/skate
shop and meet a new skater. The
evening is a blur of the usual
harmless video diversions and
pizza.
Out late, up early, and it's
raining again! Tim Davis and Tim
Severson join us for more mall
skating. We go to the same ones
as the day before, plus the in-
famous Oak Park Mall, home of
the 2-4 foot high brick banks and
the as yet unidentified Huey,
Dewey and Louie. Steve uses my
Street Skate for a couple quick
runs, practically decapitating an
unsuspecting gent on one rather
squirrely bert on one of the larger
banks (the gent was seated on the
other side of the bank). Then just
as we're getting ready to leave he
has to take just one more run, and
(I still can't believe this) somehow
manages to plop my brand new
Santa Cruz Street Skate over the
edge of the bank and completely
into the water on the other side.
They're only bearings, right?
Tim & Tim have to leave, so it's
only me and Steve again. We give
our best "Queen Elizabeth" slow
wave and wide smile to everyone
we pass in the car, and decide to
go to Steve's old favorite freestyle
spot, Venture, while it's still light
outside. What starts out as a mild
session turns into a full-on add-a-
trick contest, during which we
each invent a new trick. We skate
for an hour and a half, despite the
20+ m.p.h. wind and near-freez-
ing temps. Then it's back to
Steve's house to pack, that night
being my intended departure.
We decide to spend the last few
hours before my bus leaves doing
some parking garage downhill in
downtown KC. As it turns out, the
garage we pick is wet enough to
discourage downhill runs, so we
just freestyle again for more than
3 hours, again inventing a couple
of tricks each and perfecting
others.
Steve Bacon
Jon Harms thrusts off of the fourth row at the mall, Pic. Steve Bacon
Down to the bus depot, and a
couple frantic collect calls later,
I've managed to weasel my way
out of my first scheduled day of
work (the next day) at home in
St. Louis so I can stay and skate
the Metro ramp the next day.
Tim Severson and Tim Davis drop while Steve Bacon gestures. Pic. Jon Harms
Finally (Monday) things are dry
and we go to the Metro, a rippable
16-foot-wide ramp which had just
been replyed. We pound a few
nails to smooth the bumps caused
by the earlier rain, and, in the
time-honored words of Kiwi's
"Who's Hot," "commence going
for it." I assume the role of photog-
rapher and shoot two rolls of film
in the course of a few hours,
figuring that I can indulge a bit.
Anyway, you see the results of the
session; Steve's smooth style and
occasional unpredictability (such
as frontside footplant re-entries,
grinding down the edge of the
roll-in channel) make him a good
photographic subject.
At last it's the ride to the bus
depot and the long trip home.
(And I still didn't get to see the
"invisible" Damen Black!) Good
luck in the Death Force, Steve,
and don't die.
-Jon Harms
Products By Skaters For Skaters
Ask for Schmitt Stix Products
at your local shop.
KinderGrinder
Rails
Truck Guard
Concave Deck.
NEW KINDER GANDERSH
Suggested Retail
$ 3.00
$6.00
$42.00
Schmitt Stix, Rails, Kinder Grinders and Truck
Guards are made of a dense pliable plastic that
will not break, crack or wear out like many
hard plastics do. Available in six colors: Red,
Blue, Purple, White, Black and Yellow.
Schmitt Stix, Inc.
5250 Tennis Court Circle
Tampa, FL 33617
(813) 985-5907