sessions. A lot of times all we talked about was
bad stuff about kids that used drugs and about
kids who didn't obey their parents, the stuff that's
already common knowledge.
Do you think that was kind of misleading?
I think a lot of times people are afraid to say what
they really feel, especially in big groups.
Because I wanted to ask them, "Man, is this all
you guys do here is talk about bad things." I just
never told them I didn't want to. I enjoy reading
the Bible, but I don't enjoy hearing a bunch of
talk about bad stuff.
How old are you?
When were you born?
6-1-68.
Where?
Huntington Park, California.
What was your first experience with a
skateboard?
My very first experience...? My grandpa used to
make my uncle custom boards with his name
on them. I used to like those a lot. He used to
make wooden ones, I didn't really skate them,
I used to just check out the boards. I used to ride
a little. My uncle used to cut surfing pictures out
of surf magazines, and put them on the boards
and I guess laquer them so they'd stay. Those
were cool.
How old were you then?
I don't remember, that was a long time ago. After
that my brother and I got matching skateboards
one Christmas. I guess that was my first
skateboard.
Do you remember what kind of board it was?
Just a yellow one with red wheels. I remember
it was from Sears, though.
What did you do on that?
We just skated up and down by my grandma's
house, by this hill. It was this little hill. It was fun.
My dad used to take us to Paramount to watch
those guys skate. Then we finally got member-
ships and started skating at Paramount.
On the same little board?
No, I had a new board.
What was the first trick that you can
remember learning?
Probably backside airs. I learned them at Skate
54
City. After Paramount-I used to ride there a lot.
Well, I didn't ride there a lot, I just used to go
there whenever I had money. Then I moved
away from my mom's house, which was by Para-
mount. I moved to my dad's house and I didn't
even skate. I rode bikes. When my friend told
me that there was this rad place to ride bikes,
I went there with him to check it out and there
were guys skating. I was so stoked. It was a
ditch, it wasn't good for bikes at all, it was bet-
ter for skating. So I used to go up there every
now and then and borrow kids skateboards,
because I didn't have one..
Do you remember about what time this was?
Well I was still in junior high, my second year
in junior high.
What year was that?
I don't know.
What grade are you in now?
I would have graduated this year.
What happened?
I quit going to school.
Why?
Because it was lame. I didn't like it. I wasn't
learning anything. School was weird for me
because it was like everyone was out to impress
one another. I didn't like it. I didn't like the way
it was at school.
A lot of "sameness type' of thing.
Yeah, just a lot of talk, you know, everyone goes
through phases. Like wanting to have a good
car, who's got a certain girlfriend, stuff like that.
I didn't like school that much. A lot of times when
I do hang out at certain places, like pick-up
places, where a lot of girls go, I kind of feel stupid
about it. I feel like. "Man, look at me." Or when
I start to talk to a girl sometimes I just feel weird
about it.
Like it's all an act?
Yeah.
And somehow you ended up not getting a
script.
Yeah, I feel like I'm acting when I talk to girls.
I feel lame because I know what I want. I want
to pick up on them. I want to kiss them. When
I start to talk to them I feel like they know it and
that's what everyone's here for in this little hang-
out and it's just kind of weird.
When did you stop going to school?
About a year ago, eleventh grade. It was
because I'd only have a few classes that I liked,
right? Like P.E. and art and certain classes. I'd
only go to those classes and I'd ditch the rest
of the day. If there was a girl that I liked in a cer
tain class, I'd ditch the rest and only go to that
one class that she was in.
When you were going to school and you left
classes what did you do during the day.
I went skating. I moved back from my dad's
house to my mom's house. My friend Paul and
my brother Mike were skating a lot. I used to call
up my brother all the time and we'd talk about
skating and stuff. When I moved back home,
they were building a ramp at my mom's house
and it was pretty rad. It wasn't a good ramp but
it was a ramp. We used to ride that a lot and then
we moved it to different houses because we
couldn't have it at our house. Then I started
riding for Alva. I used to take the bus over to Alva
and go to my friend Brandon Murdock's house
sometimes. I used to take the bus a lot when I
was little. I used to ditch school, take the bus
to Hollywood and skate around in Hollywood and
L.A..
When did you start doing tricks?
I don't know, my friend, Paul Nichol, and I used
to do ollies a long time ago. We went to a Skate
City contest and saw Rodney Mullen do an ollie.
We were really stoked, because he did them
really high, it was just a standing-still ollie. We
used to do them like to axle and stuff, on curbs.
Did you develope a lot of stuff on your own
with no one else as an influence?
Yeah, when I skated by myself was when I
started skating the most and doing the newest
stuff. I remember the first time my friend Paul
and I were going to Spidey's ramp. I used to
skate there a lot too. We were waiting for the
bus-it took about three hours to Spidey's house
on the bus-and it was taking all day. We kept
trying to make ollies up onto this bus bench. It
didn't have the back panel on it so it was easier
but they were the highest ollies we'd ever tried.
Paul made it first. I was so bummed out. Then
he told me what to do. He said to pop straight
and turn it at the last point. Now, a bus bench
is nothing to me. It's not hard to do, but, I don't
know, back then it was rad. That was so high
for us.
What is your technique for doing ollies?
I don't know, it's from a long, long time of
practice.
Just try and describe yourself going up and
doing an ollie; where you put your feet, the
way you pop it, how you put your feet through
the air, shift your weight...
I don't really think about my feet that much
anymore. The first part's already down and now
it's just looking at what I'm going to do and do-
ing it.
So it just happens automatically?
Oh yeah. I look at what I want to ollie up to, or
ollie from-to a boardslide or to 50/50 or
whatever-look at what I have to land on, and
how. I look at how slippery it is-if I'm going to
fall back, or whether I have to lean forward or
lean back.
Did you do things other than skate that were
physical when you were younger?
Well my brother and I used to play around a lot.
We used to play football without any pads.
But nothing that would really attribute to
balance...
We used to jump over park benches and play
around on the swings because we lived right
across the street from a park. We were into do-
ing athletic type of things.
How old's your brother?
He's nineteen now.
How close are you two?
Well, we used to hang out a lot. We get along
really well. We've gotten into fights, though, real
fights. It's kind of funny, we used to put on box-
ing gloves, start boxing and then get mad and
take off the gloves and really start fighting.
But that's just what happens, with brothers.
Yeah, it's not like now I hate him for back then,
or he hates me. I remember one time when we
were real little there used to be this treehouse
in our yard. We were playing like we usually did
and my brother started raking up a big pile of
leaves. I said, "What are you doing?" and he
raked up leaves into a big pile, climbed up into
the treehouse, jumped from the treehouse into
the pile of leaves and cut himself. I'll always
remember that one. We always used to get hurt,
used to crack our heads open and stuff. We us-
ed to swing on the bars by our house on the
porch, and I'd try to do like those girls who put
their legs around it and swing up and down and
go around in circles fast, and when I swung to
the bottom my head hit the cement and it crack-
ed open. We used to crack our heads open all
the time. We used to get stiches in the head.
Was Alva your first team?
Yeah.
What happened from there?
Well, before Alva I used to have my little
business going. I used to take the bus down to
Variflex and they would sell me seconds. It was
rad. I used to buy seconds, a complete board,
for like thirty bucks and I'd sell them for sixty
or eighty. That was pretty fun. I'd always have
new boards. Before that it was hard to get
boards.
How did you get on Alva? What made them
want you on their team?
I really don't know. In Venice Beach there was
this contest and I was skating there and...well
at first because I had this friend Jordan and I
skated with him a few times then I was going
to get on Santa Monica Airlines and then Alva
approached me and...I wanted to just ride Alva
wheels and S.M.A. boards but John Falahee
from Alva said no, if I wanted to ride for him, I
had to ride their boards too. So I just went for
Alva instead. But it was really good riding for
Alva sometimes. I'd never been anywhere you
know, I stayed in Southgate and L.A. all my life,
taking the buses around. When I got sponsored
I went to a contest in San Diego and then
Capitola
Capitola was your first big contest?
Yeah. I didn't do well at all.
But you got the cover of THRASHER.
Yeah. I was so happy that day when I saw the
cover.
How long were you on Alva?
I don't know, about four months I think. Then
it started getting weird. I used to want to get ex-
tra boards, like seconds, to sell, because I still
used to make money off Varillex. Once I started
riding for Alva, I wasn't supposed to go to Vari-
flex. You know, it's kind of bad if you ride for
Alva to go to Variflex. But I didn't have any
money at all, so I'd sell my Alva equipment. I
used to ask them if I could have extra equipment
and they didn't like to give it to me, so I'd just
take it. Finally they got mad at me...I was going
to get a model too, from Alva. A few other com-
panies asked me to ride for them. I chose Vision.
So you went on Vision and since then you've
been on Vision. Are you happy there?
I wish I didn't have to deal with companies. I
would rather not have a sponsor now. I'd rather
just ride for a company like Santa Monica Air-
lines and have Skip make me boards every now
and then when I need them. But I need the
money. You need money to live.
You have a graphic flare for things visual. Do
you use that to communicate a lot of your
feelings?
I don't know, it seems like everyone is an artist
nowadays. I like drawing a lot. I used to draw
cars and stuff, hot rods. It's fun to draw, you
know. After you're done with a drawing you look
at it, you put it away and then when you see it.
later you go, "Man, I drew this? I like it." When
I look at my drawings about a year after I've done
them I go, "Man, that's rad." My brother and
I both draw. I like looking at his drawings. We
copy from each other. Everyone copies from
each other. He draws noses a certain way and
I copy his noses sometimes and we switch.
Do you feel that you express your personal
feelings a lot through your drawing?
Yeah. But I hate when people go, "Oh, I know
what this means, I can understand what you're
trying to say through this drawing." When I do
drawings and they do have meaning, if they do,
I don't do it for other people, I do it for myself
so I can just go, "Yeah, cool." But I hate when
people look at it and then explain it to you. It's
C