What about second through fourth grade?
In second grade I first started getting ac-
customed to women. I would feel chills on
my spine when the teacher tried.
to help me individually in front of
the class. That's when I started to
have a better understanding of
what girls and boys were cracked
up to be.
They told me I lacked effort in
the second grade. I didn't do too
well. Third grade I had this real fat
teacher, Mrs. Anderson, a wonder-
ful lady who taught me loads of
knowledge. She taught me about
the reasons why you should do
certain things, about etiquette. She
was the first teacher I had a crush
on; a big fat red-headed lady. I
thought she was sexy. She had a
beautiful face and lovely red hair.
I don't know, she was alive, man.
She did a lot for me.
What about fourth grade?
the first time I had to change in front of guys.
That can be a trip. It's not really changing
in front of guys, it's the guys who make fun
of other guys: 'I got hair, you don't,
or 'Ha ha, carrot dick. That whole.
macho bullshit. Forget that, it's
nowhere. That type of thing nearly
ruined my life. But anyway, I used
to jam at swimming and I dove like
an anarchist!
I was
negative
in school
because
everything
was geared
toward girls
and getting
high so you
could get
the girls.
Fourth grade I changed schools.
My parents didn't think it was worth
the money so they sent me to Harding
Educational Center in Pasadena. This was
a great change in my life. In swimming class
I used to hold my breath and look at girls
crotches underwater. The lifeguard would
blow the whistle and tell us to come up from
underneath the water. The fourth grade was
Slaloming into his unforseen destiny, Jeff at Virginia
In the fourth grade I got kissed
behind the ball box. I got to play
doctor for the first time. The girl's
name was Bernie, she was a year
older than me. We used to climb
into the bushes after school and
play cootie games and get kisses
and pecks. I was running from this
fat girl one time and I ran into a
pole and got my first concussion.
When I woke up the fat girl was
kissing me, which meant I was it.
Back to the family history: My
mom met Michael, my stepdad, a
wonderful man. We moved in with
a girlfriend of hers in Las Vegas
who had two older daughters. My mom let
me have a dog and bought me a motorcycle
for my birthday. It was her way of easing me
into moving to Las Vegas, because I was
totally against it.
I was introduced to drinkers, pot smokers
and dirtbag hippie kids for the first time in
Beach. Photo by Bill Thomas.
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ASPO champ at Colton skatepark, circa 1980.
Las Vegas. One time I remember getting
pulled over by some older guys. They took
away my motorcycle in the Vegas desert and
forced me to smoke pot with them in order
to get my motorcycle back. That was the first
time I was stoned. I was in the fourth grade.
It was against your will?
Totally. It set up bad feelings toward par-
tiers and the party attitude. I was negative
in school because everything was geared
toward girls and getting high so you could
get the girls because everyone's so in-
competent they can't even sit in a room sober
with women and converse. It's a big letdown.
This type of activity caused much upheaval
in my life.
Didn't you start skating in Vegas?
Yes, that's also when Michael chased
down my mom while she was collecting her
thoughts. He said, come live with me and my
son and bring your son and we'll see where
it goes. Six months later they asked us, the
sons, if they could get married. It was cool
to ask their sons what they thought. We were
totally for it, because they're rad together.
We moved into Arcadia and that's when
I met Eric Nash. The first day of school, Nash
was wearing a Sims Snakes shirt and he had
a broken wrist. I asked how he broke his wrist
and he said skating. I said, yeah, I did that
too. Everyone thought I was a square and
a loser; everyone hated me..
Did you truly believe that?
Yeah, well, it was known. I've always been
notorious for liking the most desirable girl at
school and being the farthest one from get-
ting her, next to the child retard.
Okay, you're in Arcadia, 5th grade?
My grandmother dies of cancer. To make
a long story short, she went through a hell
of a lot of pain. She was a very courageous
woman. I don't accept death too well. I don't
know how to go about it. I don't do anything
about it, I just go, yeah, someone died today.
Basically, I took my frustration out on
skateboarding. I just concentrated and con-
sumed myself with skateboarding. I was a
grommet, a little kid. This is when John
Lucero would call me blockhead and make
fun of me and make me cry. I was an obnox-
ious, loudmouthed little kid. That was pretty
much the extent of my skateboarding life. I
didn't have the smooth ride. I always had to
go through barbed wire, so to speak. I've
always been a step behind. It seemed as if
everyone was first except me.
So when did your attitude begin to fester?
This whole time, through junior high and
high school. All the teachers would say, 'You
have an attitude, you never put effort into it,
you only do what you want to do. They'd send
notes home, Jeff will not cooperate, because
we're instructing him to do a paper maché
bird and he wants to draw a burning sun. I'd
rather draw a burning sun over an ocean
or draw a guy with his tongue hanging out,
stoned in love, and this witch is telling me
to paper maché a pencil. 'Oh, you get an F
notice and you won't pass because you're
not doing it my way. Nobody should have to
do it anybody's way. People should be able
to go about it their own way and maybe
somebody will come along and go, your way
is a good way or your way is my way so we'll
hang out together.
First contest, jealousy, Improvements, full
scale sponsorship, Lucero, Blender, Nash,
Mountain, Spidey, Keenan....
Skating is so insignificant at times. I
skateboard because I need something to
channel my energy into, because of all the
other things that affect my life. You rebel
against gravity, you go fast, you can get hurt.
You're going against gravity and you've got
to pay the dues, that's the bottom line.
Okay, jealousy. I've know Nash since fifth
grade. We're competitors, we fight, we teach
each other how to skate, we try to gain the
same friendships and the same heroes.
All those people, we grew up together. Neil
Blender is a gifted person, but everyone can
stop sucking him off. Just appreciate him for
what he is. People make such a big deal
about the guy that they ruin it for themselves.
Lucero's the same way. Everyone says so
much trash about him that it's overkill. It
comes to a point where it affects the actual
people that those who talk trash look up to.
It's affecting Mountain, it's affecting Blender,
Lucero, it's affected me, it's affecting all of us.
We're doing our thing not wanting credit
and other people take credit for things we
already did. We're just saying, hey, this is rad
and we're out there doing it. Do all the street
skaters nowadays remember the days when
Eric Grisham was considered not to have
style for doing stale frontside airs and Tony
Hawk was considered not so great because
FA
up. We all get suppressed. People tell me,
"You're forming kids' lives."
Sporting his controversial graphics and roast beefin' it in Houston.
he ollie popped into his airs? Now it's cool
to ollie on banks into stale frontside airs. Well,
it was stale for Tony Hawk in '81 and it's stale
for the boys in '89. I'm sorry.
What was it like riding for Powell, Jeff?
It was like being a little kid. They let me
know. They said, 'You're a little kid, we'll tell
you what to do.' Stacy Peralta's a great per-
son with a lot of good ideas, but he lets things
get in his way just like any other person. It's
like me. I'm capable of many good things and
I still step in my own poop. Stacy and George
do the same and so does Brad and so does
everyone in the industry. Everyone screws
Cause and effect?
I am a product of cause and effect. And
I do affect kids to a certain extent, but here
it is everybody: DON'T LET ME AFFECT
YOUR LIVES. I listen to Skynyrd, I drink beer,
I do other things I won't mention, okay? I'm
not bragging.
What about Keenan and Company, Castro,
Spidey, or Lance or how your moral values
changed without any purpose?
The stories of Whittier skatepark are
endless. That's where I learned how to skate.
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