soul, country, jazz and rockabilly. And I like Wes
Montgomery a lot, he's a jazz player And Charlie
Christensen. And John Bahey, he's just one gui
tarist, but it sounds like there's three guitars in
the room, and he's just playing acoustic guitar
and does all these crazy finger picking patterns.
What about current music?
15ke Digable and De La Soul, I like the feeling
you get, it sounds cool, kind of jazzy
How has skating changed?
I like where it's gone. It's gotten so technical.
It's just too bad it doesn't look as consistent as it
used to. But I like how it's gone. It seems like
at one time, it was progressing so fast. In like a
week there'd be however many new tricks. But
now it seems like the tricks have slowed down.
people want to do them higher and bigger and
just take them to different things.
Do you still find time to skate transitions?
We found this pool that Salba came and
drained right by my house, and I've been riding
that, I've been having so much fun on it just carv-
ing. But other than that, I haven't skated transi-
tion unless it was a contest or something.
Have you ever tried a trick so many times
that you've just given up?
Yep. I'll try tricks and then don't get it, like
whatever, try it for a couple days, just don't get
it and then don't even try it for a week or some
thing, then all the sudden just be learning it, like
do it and make it. Like I'll work on it and then it
won't be coming to me and then it'll be a week
later, I just try it and learn it.
What are your worst injuries?
I broke my wrist and hurt my back really bad.
Those are the really only bad injuries where !
couldn't skate at all, so I've been pretty blessed.
Who do you usually skate with?
Carl, Lance, Wes and Josh Beagle.
When was the last time you were harassed
for skateboarding?
I got a seventy-five dollar ticket out in Canada.
The cop drove by and he was watching everyone
skate for a while, and I was too busy skating, so
he caught me in the act of doing it.
Was this downtown?
Yeah, at that one spot like Embarcadero.
It's called The New Spot, with all the ledges.
Yeah, exactly
Who do you respect for their skate ability?
Mark Gonzales, Matt Hensley, Jason Lee,
Lance Mountain, Salman Agah, Henry Sanchez,
and Steve Olson.
Who's underrated for their skating ability?
I think it's too bad you don't see a lot of peo
ple like Dae won, who's so good, but you never
see nothing of him. There's so many people that
you never see nothing, but they're out there
skating so good.
When you skate, do you ever wear shorts?
Nah, I haven't worn shorts in a long time for
skating. I always do to shoot hoops.
Do you think it's a trend not to wear shorts?
I don't know. I just never do. I don't feel like
having the board scrape up against my legs. I
hate when you get little griptape cuts and then
I put
my
faith in
the Lord
you sweat in them. I don't even own any shorts
really, except these little small ones I sleep in.
It's rare to see you without a smile, what
pisses you off?
I don't get pissed, but I get sad about how the
world is. Like to me, I put my faith in the Lord,
and it's just sad to see how much hatred every-
one has for someone who came and died for
their sins. That makes me kind of pissed, how
people have so much hatred for someone who
loved them so much. But that's pretty much it.
4
Previous spread: The smile and the man
(left) reflect. A simple kickflip (right) above
San Dimas Dam is a true thing of beauty.
This spread, clockwise from above left
Head and antlers above the little bank at
Fort Miley, a 360° kickflip waits to be stuck.
A gutter's-eye view of a large vent vault in
Corona, Ray's hometown. Often considered
the father of technical skating, Ray ups the
ante at every session. Nollie hardflip behind
a deserted warehouse complex in Vegas.