THE SKATER'S EDGE
ideal si ate party spot, no longer. Steve Caballero assaults the indoor ramps in Steve Heck's loft in
SKATE PARTY
It's Friday night and you're out with the
crew looking for a party. There's one
across town so you decide to check it out.
You pull up in front of the house and notice
that the festivities are pouring out into the
street, obvious signs of a good party. Ap-
proaching the door, you notice it's two
bucks to get in which includes all the beer
you can drink and music from a band called
"Paradise. You take a chance, pay your
two and venture inside. The band is playing
weak Top 40 covers and everyone is talk-
ing about "The Big Game" last weekend. In
a desperate attempt to get your "two bucks
worth you stand in line for a beer. An hour
later you're still in line, the band starts to
break into "Stairway to Heaven," and you
decide to leave. Driving home, you figure
you're fed up with all this crap and it's time
to get serious. Yes you guessed it right, it's
time for a "Skate Party."
Location-Keep in mind the number of
people that may attend and the damage
that will occur. Big vacant dirt lots are
roomy but have no function al appeal. Rent
Oakland during the last session' party.
a hall? Too much money. How about mom
and dad's lovely home while they're in
Vegas or Hawail? Now you're talking. Link
this location up with an early afternoon
skate session at a local spot and you have
the general makings for a blow out. Start
the party around 10:00 pm, people just
don't show up before this hour.
Food/Drink-I'd shy away from providing
any foods like toothpicked creamcheese
and salami rolls or finger sandwiches,
they're too easy to throw. Lay out a couple
bowls of chips or popcorn and then stand
back. They'll last about 5 minutes. The
main thing that will get things off to a good
start is an aluminum "beehive" or two. Ask
for minor donations (Don't have a party if
you want to make money) and keep an eye
on your empty kegs and tappers as they
tend to sprout legs and walk away. Also
watch the food you have stored in the fridge
or cupboards. Around 2:00 am, the herb
smoking population will begin to scope out
munchies and eat anything in site. I've
even seen one party goer eat a half cube of
margerine in an eating frenzy.
Entertainment-A true "Skate Party" will
have videos, movies, slides, photos,mags
and any other skate media available for
consumption. A band is nice and will attract
hoards of people, no matter what they play,
and is the only thing loud enough to over-
come the white noise of a party. Records
and tapes are cool too if you have high wat-
tage to overcome the general screaming.
Various games can also be created to calm
the masses. These include quarters,
chinese football, beer bongs, etc. The best
entertainment is skate terrain, a ramp is
nice, a pool even better, but even a little
kickturn ramp will suffice. If the beer is gone
and there is nothing to do, the party will
crumble.
Publicity-Warn neighbors before hand,
not midway through the party. Word of
mouth invitations will usually attract your
close friends only, but if you want a lot of
people you've never seen before to show
up, make a flyer. These will be recopied, is-
sued and scattered across your respective
hemisphere. One flyer will usually attract 3-
5 people.
Problems-Problems can be simply dealt
with by consuming more beverages. The
main complaint is damage. If it can be bro-
ken then don't give it the chance. Hide it
away behind a locked door. Bathrooms will
be put to their capacity limits, so supply
plenty of needed toiletries. If you don't want
any of the rooms in your house to turn into
drug dens or smokehouses, then lock the
doors or post appropriate signs. Party
crashers will usually realize they don't fit in
and leave under their own power, but have
a couple of "thick necks" around to help you
with removals. Just remember to think of
the worst before it happens and prevent it
from happening.
Ending the Party-OK, you've had
enough fun for this year and it's time to
wind things down. I've tried numerous ap-
proaches but the only one that works is to
simply yell "party's over." Better yet, ask
people to start cleaning up and the place
will empty in no time at all. Again, large
dudes or dudettes can help you bring the
brawl to a quiet close.
Clean up-You finallly woke up and you
have the biggest hangover in history. So
after you swear to never do this again, start
the clean up. Open the windows and doors
for a refresher and hose down the inside of
the house. There will probably be trash sur-
rounding the house for a good square mile
or two so deal with that also. Usually during
cleanup, you'll un cover a couple of pass-
outs that never made it home so have them
pitch in and help. It's a dirty job, but some-
one has to do it. Most of all, remember how
much fun you had, it will make the cleanup
easier to handle.
So there you have it, the bare bones
structure of an important part of
skateboarding, the "Skate Party." It's a
great way to meet new skaters, get twisted,
find out about new skate spots and above
all, have a blast. Have one soon and send
me an invitation. Take care and skate safe.
Bob Denike
VENTURE
EVE
TRNEKS
Vonture Trucks
P.O. Box 883942
San Francisco, CA
14188-3942