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tommy
(From page 50) time ago. He was riding a Sure
Grip board, one Variflex truck and one Sure
Grip truck, right? It was at a freestyle contest
in Venice. He was doing backside ollies up
to something about a foot high or so and he'd
come back in. That was sick, to axle. Alley
oop kinda to axle, and he was just a kid. I
knew he had something there.
Did you ever forget?
No, I've never forgotten. He even told me,
"Someday I'm going to beat you." I go, "You
probably will."
Has he?
Yeah, he has a few times. And, you know,
competition doesn't really mean that much.
You can't really tell who's better or worse.
Are you disappointed if someone like
Gonzales doesn't skate against you at a
contest? Do you like to compete?
Kinda. Like the Oregon contest. A lot of
people didn't show up. I had a good line, I
liked the way it was set up. I felt like I skated
with good power and stuff, and none of those
guys were there. But Natas, Vallely and
Dressen were all there and they're top guys
always.
I was going to ask you about some of the
guys, like Vallely, who are barnstorming.
They're raging so hard, there's no
stopping them.
Totally, Vallely, Natas, Dressen, he's taking
charge right now, you know. Ripping hell,
smooth, rad skater, and he's really cool too.
What about vertical riding?
Jason Jesse, he's destroying. Lee Ralph,
he's going to be a top guy. He got eighth his
first pro contest and that's like insane to do.
Tony Hawk, of course, he's always number
one. His tricks are so hard they are ridiculous.
Chris Miller, he's always on fire. Stevie, he's
always there. Lance, McGill, always.
Are you talking about wherever, just
sessioning?
Wherever, anytime, everytime. Everyone,
when they session, rips twice as hard as they
do in contests because they're just trying to
stay on. I think it would be better to have a
jam kind of thing...but I guess competitions
are the American way. So they say.
Do you ever talk about that amongst your
peers. Do you ever really hit up Tony and
team members?
I ended up practically living with Tony the last
three months doing that movie. He's like the
coolest guy you'll ever meet. You've seen
him at contests, that's one thing, but when
you session with him...Oh, that gay twist
he did at the contest, y'know, four
feet?...Well, he just did it six, Japaned it to
fakie revert. It's like right, phwew! You joke
with him, "Oh, Elguerial-neon-to-fakie-in."
Okay, and he does it. "I was joking." How
many beers are left?
What about Duane, Howard Hood and
those guys showing up and skating? Did
that stoke you?
I was stoked, man. Howard Hood, Dave
Andrecht, Bert Lamar, Loni Hiramoto, Duane
Peters and (Mike) Folmer-oh, my God. I was
like, right. I used to look at you guys in the
magazines, doing sick things. These guys
are the greatest. All of a sudden they're
entering contests again. Howard Hood doing
nosepicks and fast plant neons and stuff. It's
so rad to see that they're back into skating.
Eddie Elguera, he's ripping too. I hope
they're doing it because they want to do it.
Give me your top five favorite S.F. skate
spots.
Fort Miley, that place is so killer, because the
kids don't go there. They can't relate to the
harsh transitions and stuff. That place is like
so much fun on a nice day. I go with Jeff
Whitehead and Mickey and those guys, and
we just destroy it. Chinatown banks are so
rad and people can't handle those either. Oh,
blood banks. Those are killer and no one
knows about them. A rocky-type bank with
a channel, right in the ghetto. And the Dish,
people can't even handle the Dish. Like
Thiebaud. Thiebaud's funny, he cannot
handle the Dish or Miley because his trucks
are kind of tight, so he doesn't turn too well.
You know how at the Dish you've gotta turn?
And he's all, "No, the Dish? No. They blew
it up. It's gone. It's been gone for a long time.
Miley? That's not there either." It's so funny.
He believes that the place doesn't exist. 33rd
is just so rad. And 9th Avenue run is in there.
17th Avenue.
What kind of reactions do you get?
Once in awhile you see someone who will
watch you and kind of dig it, but 95% of the
time it's, "Get off here! What are you doing?
Aren't you too old for that thing?
Angngngngn! You're destroying this, you're
doing that. Go get a job. Cut your hair. Get
a life. Go back to school." Everything you can
think of in one second. It's like, "I'm sorry
for having fun. Maybe I should go home and
sit and watch soap operas or something."
What about your relationship with your
brother Tony?
It's cool now, because I moved out. We lived
together for 19 years or something in an
insane room, always. He used to beat me up
all the time. Big brothers beat up on little
brothers. But then I'd chase him with a knife
or something and he'd lock the door to the
bathroom. We used to be crazy. We slept in
our living room for a long time because our
bedroom was so piled with clothes we didn't
want to clean it. My mom was always, "Clean
your room. Clean your room." We'd just
shine.
What about skating rivalry?
Tony was better than me at first. I don't even
know what happened, but later on, if I'd try
and help him out with a trick he'd get mad.
Bryce: Tony was always really good at
freestyle and street, but when we started
going to parks, he kind of fell behind. He didn't
really go as much. Me and Tommy and
Michael Brown and Camden, we'd pick up
tricks at every session.
Tommy: Yeah. I don't know what it was. I don't
think he was into vert as much as we were.
But freestyle and stuff like that, he was so
smooth. And he still rips. He goes out to the
park and all these kids go, "Ollie this, do this,
do that, finger flip," whatever. And he just
goes and does the longest nose-wheelie and
turns into 360's like you've never seen. You'd
rather see that, almost, or do it. I can't do
nose wheelies. But he's a rock star now,
guitarist in a band called Touch Me Hooker.
He's sick.
What about your involvement with music,
bands like Free Beer?
Revenge, Jerry's Kids. I heard now there's
a band called Free Beer up in Sacramento
or something. Everyone thinks it's great, and
no one knows about our Free Beer. It's
ridiculous. We were Jerry's Kids a hell of a
long time ago. And then another Jerry's Kids
came along after us?
What are you playing now?
I'm playing bass, playing with Jawhn.
Dettman. He plays guitar and we have a
drum machine. We're doing some really cool
stuff, and hopefully we'll get a drummer and
start playing music. Now that it's raining
there's a really good chance of that. I want
to draw. I love to draw, but I can't even draw
stick figures. Airplane art, dude, it's the best.
The throw up bags, you have nothing else
to do so you draw on the throw up bags. It's
hot. We got some good stuff going on the
way to Vancouver. I could have had a V8, you
know what I'm saying?
You could have had another career. What
would you do if you didn't skate?
Be a vagrant. Stay at home with my mom and
hang out. I'd probably play music. If I didn't
skate I probably would have gone to school
and done that whole trip. I could have been
a football player because I'm so tough and
all and I'm really into it. And baseball, I can
knock that ball out of the park. I've never
played it, but I could. Sports to me are, I don't
know, none of them even look like fun.
You say it like you don't equate skate-
boarding with being a sport.
No. 1, don't. It is a sport, but it's just so
much...look, we have teams, right? Do we
all wear the same fucking uniform? No. Do
we have a number on the back? No. It's kind
of ridiculous. I mean, teams are just so, "Oh,
c'mon, we gotta get that team spirit." And
guys on teams don't even like each other half
the time, you know what I mean? There are
guys on teams who just hate each other. It's
ridiculous. It's all, "The team spirit. Sports.
Yeah." Apple pie and hot dogs and
Budweiser. Chevrolet. And a career.
Are you a card carrying actor?
Yep, SAG buddy. I'm lagging and sagging.
Screen Actors Guild.
What does that mean, and how will you
use it against your fellow man?
I will choke him with it. It's to get parts and
stuff for movies and you become part of a
union. You get benefits of all sorts and all
kinds of crazy stuff. You kind of need an
agent too.
Who's your agent?
I don't have one right now.
Did Stacy kinda boot you into this whole
thing?
Yes, Stacy got me this whole power puller.
It was really cool. It's a new experience
definitely, which is always cool. ►
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