Who do you like to skate Plan B with?
The Pappases, Danny Way when he skates, he's
usually hurt, Cookiehead Jenkins, Weiss, Conklin,
just whoever's there skating
What do you think of the whole Tampa scene?
Great. They've been keeping vert alive for years
now. Even when it was shit, they built a vert ramp
The vert ramp was the main priority of that place
too. Schaefer rips, everyone there rips.like the
place. Scott, Bo, all those dudes, the Conklins
What do you think of all these street skaters
out there skating vert?
You've got to go through some serious years of
doing the aerials to know exactly what you're
doing. It's not like you can just go out like some
kid did some hard shit on street before. It takes
like three years before you can somewhat skate.
How's your love life?
My love life ain't too well. It comes in spurts.
Were you bummed when Jeff Phillips commit
ted suicide?
Fuck yeah. That was a horrible inciden It just
didn't make too much sense. It definitely killed
Dallas Dallas is shit now. The skatepark closed for
a while, now all I see is rollerbladers. It's retarded.
They shouldice closed that place for good.
Should kids today know who Jeff Phillips was?
Fuck yeah, he was the best Kids nowadays
don't know shit.
Does that piss you off?
What, that they don't know who Lester Kasai is
or something? It's just retarded to me because
those were the guys who I fuckin' worshipped.
What about Dallas being rap-town now with all
of those street skaters?
Kalis started that trend there, he's got his whole
posse. Josh is rad, though. He's a
rad skater.
What about the Australians?
They're fuckin' maniacs.
They've lived at your house for
quite some time. Were they
courteous?
Definitely not
Ben just took a shit on a seat in
his team manager's house. How
disgusting is that?
That's fucking disgusting.
What about those guys, do
they ever hook up with girls?
guess you could call them
gs, I don't know,
When someone poses the
question, Who does the
highest allies? The name
Crum should come to mind-
alley-oop (left) at Plan B.
Clean and crisp switch tailslide
(right) in Vancouver. Mike's
rendition (below) of the ol' nol-
lie heelflip Indy to fakie deal.
Lance, you've been pro
for about the same time
as Crum, what do you
think of Dallas' littlest
cowboy?
Lance Conklin: He has one
of the best styles for sure.
Just watch Him skate, who else skates like Mike
Crum? Nobody Mike Crum is Mike Crum. He's
way different, that's what's so rad about him.
Crum, you've really taken the frontside nollie
and ollie to new heights. No one does higher
ollies frontside or nallies than you do. How'd
you get that stuff so wired?2
I guess ve been doing it for quines long time.
It just as natural.
What kind of skating do you like to see?
Smooth skating. I like to watch people fuckin'
going for it. I just love the way Tom Boyle skates
and Peter Hewitt-amazing. Theyre great. And
Pappases, they go of Anyone who goes off,
just doesn't look the sam
What are some of your favorite bands?
I love all Bob Mould shit, Hüsker Dü, Sugar, 1
like a lot of old Minutemen stuff.
Ben, do you think you can take Mike in a fight?
Ben Pappas: No chance.
Where some of your favorite street skaters?
Weiss is my favorite.
Have you dated a lot of pools?
suck pools. I went to skate a pool with Salba
and Rey John Swope and Jason Ellis. I felt like a
street sater that never dropped in before, skat-
ing with those guys. Those guys are amazing
What's the family life like?
My family life was great growing up.
Do you still hang out with them all the time?
When I go home I do.
How were the Extreme Games?
They sucked. It was either rollerblading
else, if you got Interviewed, it was questions
about Tony Hawk, nothing about you. It was rad
because Tony roles, all respect for that guy but
any question any skater got asked it was about
Tony. I like Digo, Digo fuckin rips And Bob. And
the little black Brazilian, I don't know his name,
but everyone called him Bushwick Billy, be rips
What was the best show you've ever seen?
I just saw Mike Watt, that was pretty good.
What's the worst slam you've ever seen?
In Dallas seen dude do a backside air and go
off the ramp but taking he's on the ramp and just
going straight down to the concrete. It was gnarly.
What are some of the best vert ramps around?
I would say Tampa, Plan B and the Münster
ramp in Germany.
Working on any new tricks?
No, just old ones all the old rulers used to do.
I want to start doing frontside gay twist shit. It's
already been done because we're all retards and
those guys are gnarlier, but who knows?
It's weird how all the old stuff now is the new
stuff, like on street Smith grinds and all that
shit, and it's been done so long ago, and it
turned into flipping shit, now it's going back
to all those same roots again.
Yeah, it's the same on vert. People doing mute
grabs in-between the legs like snowboard shit. I
don't know why people are starting to do those.
Do you like country music?
I like old country music when they sing about
getting drunk and gambling.
Have you ever gotten your ass kicked?
Yeah, in downtown Dallas, 1
got jumped by the
biggest fuckin' goose
ever, I think they went
to SMU, full college
AB