78
CRACKED ACTORS
by Rome N. Meal-photos by G. Van Dusen
We arrived the night before shooting, checked are totally reliable." That said, they immediately
into a bungalow at the world-renown Pink Motel and
proceeded to go over material for the next day's
shoot. The folks at the wacky Nickelodeon network
were filming a pilot that would hopefully evolve into
a weekly skate show called "Pure Skate."
This latest skateboard/TV marriage promised to
concern itself with the goings-on of skate culture
past, present and future. It would feature a cast of
the best skaters and show skating from their point
of view, with lifestyle and interview segments and
plenty of action footage. They had certainly chosen
the right players to pull it off. Stacy Peralta and Craig
Stecyk directed, Nathan Pratt and Mark Hunt pro-
duced and Steve Binder, former PeeWee's Playhouse
executive producer, oversaw production details.
Most importantly, skaters included Lance, Cab, Natas,
Eric Nash, Jon Swope, Carabeth, Lori Rigsby, Ray
Hoover and even Joey McSqueeb took time out from
his busy Vegas schedule.
Troy Miller, Nathan Pratt, Mark Hunt, and Paul
Stallone (rumored seventh cousin, twice removed)
had begun to worry whether Danny Way would
show. "Don't stress. No problem. You know skaters
Previous Page: Tators chills while Nash and Salba carve opposite yet parallel paths.
Below (Left to Right): Natas nukes the lip. Large artists Ancell and Jones take a
small break and observe their medium. The finished product-Emmy material?
scheduled Caballero to stand in and added a Lance
segment that Mr. Mountain knew nothing about. It
had been determined that Mathew Lyn (heir to the
Wonder Bread fortune) was slated to take over the
interviews and Skatemaster Tate would handle the
segue segments.
Meanwhile Ancell, C.R. III, Ken Jones and the two
Pauls breathed heavy aerosol fumes in a 48-hour
marathon spray job on the famous bowl. Gale winds
kept paint away from its target, stage backdrops and
tarps blew down, paint ran out, and thus was laid
the groundwork for the biggest buck backed TV
skateploitation in tube history. Herb Scannell, the
yes/no man for Nickelodeon, was on site and
appeared extremely stoked with the set-up.
The following day we woke to roosters crowing
and cranes craning at five a.m. A tatatattat on the
door signaled "showtime" (well, actually Nickel-
odeon). The general feeling was panicked at first,
but everything seemed to jive as the day progressed
and people meshed. As the valley sun dipped low,
the day of shooting was deemed successful. Stacy
Peralta and Troy Miller looked at each other and
called it a wrap as Taters pushed into the bowl and
threw his 4'9" into a carve grind.
SK8