ENDLESS
GRIM
2355
The final chapters of the J.F.A.
tour saga. Last issue, we left the
skate-rockers out on the east
coast, a little over halfway
through their national tour...
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.
As soon as we hit town, we
parked in front of the club, and in the
process, hit two cars. Like I said:
"we hit town." Mr. Wonderful was
backing into a space on a narrow,
one-way street and front-ended
some lady's car behind us. She
pulled off the road in front of us, and
we backed into yet another car that
was parked. Just after we
sledgehammered our bus off the
parked car's bumper, a (walking the
beat) cop shows up. He looked at
the bus, listened to what she said,
listened to what we said, lit up a
Merit cigarette and blew the whole
thing off. Whew.
We skated the streets-I cruised
down by some river and did some
berts under a freeway bridge. We
also skated a glass smooth parking
garage right across the street. Brian
got waxed on some "Night Train"
cheap wine, fell all over the drum set
(that's what he does) and scored
some girl. We played two sets that
nite and wearily hit some girl's
house for showers, food and
pachinko (chinese pinball). We hit
the turnpike (where you pay tolls
every X amount of miles for the
worst roads) toward Conn. To our
list of "things we shoulda done but
didn't have a ride" goes Tom
Groholski's halfpipe in North
Brunswick.
STAMFORD, CT.
Except for streetskating to a
McDonald's, and the post office, we
didn't do much except hang out and
play at a cool club called the "An-
18
thrax. This place is a "thru the
hatch" downstairs dead ringer for
the "Tool & Die" in S.F. It rained too,
hard! As we pulled out we saw the
grand daddy of all parking garages.
We saw some big ones in Dallas,
but this one was definitely "downhill-
board-test." From the top under a
big neon sign, you cruise down 4
normal right hard turn parking
garage type things, and then, can
either drop to the street, or continue
down the standard garage. The
drop to the street is a good 5 story
cement ramp. We're calling it 40
mph+ (timing the street life at the
bottom).
EAST HAMPTON, MA.
When I woke up we were in a
typical "nice-homes-and-trees"
neighborhood. Less than a block
away was an 8' wide, 10 high, 4' of
vert on one side halfpipe with a
canyon (8 is too skinny for a can-
yon). Me, Brian and a few locals
immediately assaulted the massive
vertical side and the narrow
"tombstones" the canyon formed. I
took a nice slam and got a leg full of
splinters and a cherry on my
stomach (it was a good beef).
Afterwards we hit the club, and
instead of doing a soundcheck, or
posing as musicians, we hit the road
for a bank called "The Foxhole"
which is a blacktop wave. We
skated it constantly for over an hour.
The only local was a kid with a
wooden go-cart. The Foxhole is
smoother than it looks, no bust,
grindable at the top, with lots of cool
"suck outs" and transitions to air. We
Th
played one of our best sets that nite
to about 15 people (mostly the
opening bands), and had fun.
PHILLY, PA.
For a little background, last year
we played Philly at the last "Love
Hall" show before it burned down.
T.A. and Mondo showed and we
had a raging good time. Now, when
I woke up today, we were in the
process of getting two tickets
outside of Philly. When I woke up
again we were parked on some
street in front of a college. The gig
was to be at a frat house (Alpha Ki
Roe). No preppy-frat-boys really,
just loads of cool people and skaters
in an Animal House setting. Me and
Bam went skating with Chuck
Treece (of McRad) and ate at
McDonald's. Yeah, we live danger-
ously. Shadowing our set, was
McRad's last performance. Two of
them are moving back to Holland.
They played a great impromptu set
on our equipment to a stoked
crowd. The skate rock world mourns
the loss of the one of the great "true"
(they skate) skaterock bands.
BOSTON, MA.
Why did it have to rain in Boston?
Last year (JFA '83 "Out of School"
tour) it rained too, but not before we
skated some cool brick/halfpipe/
volcano things with about 50 Bos-
tonians all packed into a micro small
Datsun pickup with no shell. Plenty
of semi-wet skateboards were
checked at the door tonite. We got
plenty of invites to the Hospital
banks and a local ramp, but when
the rain lets up we'll be in Albany.
N.Y. Right now, the bus is quiet.
Everybody'd inside fighting for
showers. Me and Brain Creature
(Brian/Singer) slammed the inside
line and are presently enjoying the
space, the rain, and some hot
chocolate.
ALBANY, N.Y.
If you're from the West (like me),
this place is hard to picture. Most of
the buildings were erected in the
17-or 1800's and the streets that
haven't been repaved (and a very
good "glassy" job I might add) are
old gnarly cobblestones.
Later we found a guy's house to
hang out in, we hit a greasy spoon
for some burgers and cokes. We
cruised to a rundown indoor
skatepark called the "Sonic Wave."
What we found blew our minds-an
indoor skatepark with a way rideable
11' deep teardrop (keyhole with
pinched shallow end) and a fast 4
wall reservoir. The cops showed
instantly and as soon as they left,
we were grinding again. When they
came back, they weren't so nice.
Afterwards, we hit the local mortuary
for some cool blacktop banks. Right
as I am writing this, we're cleaning
the bus before tonite's show. We're
going to Canada tomorrow (we
hope) and need to clean up and
unload most of the stuff. We can't
take our equipment 'cuz we have to
put up a deposit. Bam had no I.D.
either. I really don't understand all of
it, so here's hoping we pull it off. Oh
yeah, after the gig we're supposed
to hit a banked loading dock type
thing (like San Jose/Thrasher).
IN LIVING HEMORY
DE
ALLISON KRUSE
JEFFREY MILLER
SANDRA SCHEUER
WILLIAM SCHROEDER
MAY 4 1976
Kent State massacre Memorial to Allison
Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Schever,
and William Schroeder who were mur-
dered by the National Guard on May 4,
1970 during a Kent State demonstration
MONTREAL, CANADA
When I first woke up I thought we
were at the border, but it turns out
we were in upstate New York
surrounded by cops. Apparently we
parked at a self storage space
before it opened and the owner
thought we were camping out. After
we came clean on the computer, we
unloaded all the extras (extra)
guitars, records, etc.). Since the
Canadian dollar is weaker than the
U.S. dollar, sometimes you have to
pay a deposit on stuff you take over
so you won't sell it. The border went
O.K. All our work papers were there
in advance and we got through O.K
Our first Canadian stop was
Montreal. If you ever go to Canada
exchange your money for the
Canadian first. I lost a good four
Brian, backside air at Endless Summer.
bucks on a hamburger just because
McDonald's doesn't give a fair rate
on U.S. money. I guess it was worth
it, there was a cool French speaking
girl in there (everybody speaks
French). The money looks like
Monopoly money, a different color
for every denomination, and the
change feels lightweight and fake.
There were skaters at the club, so
after we unloaded we street skated
(glass streets again!) to "the bricks."
During the show the coolest thing
happened, we broke a bass string
and inadvertently left our spares in
storage (stupid). Anyway one skater
left, and brought back a bass string.
Instead of being bummed, the
crowd got into an impromptu free-
style session. On to Toronto. The
only thing I know about Toronto is
Rush lives there (maybe we can
borrow some cymbals).
TORONTO, CANADA
We pulled in under the shadow of
a big World's Fair Sky Needle type
thing. After a quick phone call we
were at Boris' house (a local), then
to the Turning Point (the club). Me
and Brian immediately located
some locals and hit an 8 story paved
parking garage with tennis courts
on top. On the way back we skated
past the Parliament building, and
the building they used for Rush's
"Moving Pictures." One curb grind
later, Brian fell and threw my flash-
unit 18 feet. I blinded him real good
to make sure it still worked.
After the show, the real adventure
started. I gathered Brian, Bam, two
guys from "Negative Gain" (opening
band) and headed for some banks
in a station wagon and a compact
car. Two stops later the wagon was
out of commission (way overheat-
ing) and it was 4 a.m. All of us piled
into the compact and drove to Adam
Beck (a Canadian school). During
the 78 boom, somebody built a
banked asphalt halfpipe ditch thing.
It was lit, and fun. The locals told me
the BMXers outnumber the skaters
so not too many skaters go in the
daytime. If the skaters don't take the
spot back, we'll do it for them.
Nobody pulls that shit on us. We
went for the wagon, about dawn,
and went to Jill's house before we
turned to dust (daylight you know). I
woke up about 5 p.m., kicked Bam
and Brian, then Jill drove us to a
cool purple and turquois halfpipe
with JFA flyers for tiles. Grinds and
driving later we are sitting in front of
the club for our second Toronto
show. Cool thing we have a day off
tomorrow (33 shows so far).
We spent our day off at Niagara
Falls. After that, we crossed back
into New York. We bought fixings for
spaghetti, got a hotel room and
kicked back. Tomorrow we have to
get to the storage place, load up our
stuff that we left in the states and
drive to Kent, Ohio for two shows.
So much for our day off.
KENT, OH.
We played two shows and did
some blacktop bank skating. The
first bank was a tennis court on the
grounds of Kent State University.
Overlooking our skate session was
a grassy knoll where some college
students were shot by the National
Guard, back in 1970. After an
interview with a local skatezine, we
stood on the fatal spot. No comment
here-just silence. Between shows
the locals treated us to another
bank nearby with a hole to ollie. We
fixed the spot up with a parking
block and all had fun.
CLEVELAND, OH.
We played on the banks of Lake
Eerie. Bam, Brian and and I carved
down this hill, over some bridges
and hung out by the banks of the
lake for a while. We found a nice
rum bottle and put a message in it
so someone would know we were
there. Brian and I then broke away
and looked for food or a coke
machine or somethin'. We couldn't
find anything except for a
McDonald's in an underground
mall. Weird place-nothing on the
street-it's all underground like
"Planet of the Apes. I hung out the
rest of the nite and Brian skated
some banks by the police station.
Charlie from the Sun City Girls
(band touring with us) spaced his
drums over a groupie, and they got
locked in the club. So we kicked
down the door and drove to
Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH, PA.
It's real early Monday morning
right now-we played a show to a
packed house at the "Electric
Banana" last nite in Pittsburgh. Me
and Brian hit an 8 story righthand
twister (no flats) of a parking garage.
When we shot out to the street a guy
who apparently had a speech
problem gave me a nod acknow-
ledging our speed. Even though he
looked like he never skated in his
life, he just understood. When we
arrived at the club there were
skaters hangin', so we shot a hill we
knew from the previous year.
Downhillers are a breed apart:
speed is being there. We blazed the
dimly-lit downhill and felt the glass
smooth streets that were the inspira-
tion for "The Day Walt Disney Died"
(our song): "The thing's speed but
it's gotta be quiet: Like a glide....
DETROIT, MI.
In between Pittsburgh and Detroit
we had a day off and the only thing
that stands out in my mind about the
whole day was the fact that some
black dude tried to jump Tony (our
manager) for $100.00 in broad
daylight, outside a Pittsburgh post
office. Tony, who has some martial
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