Dave: Me and Tyrone used to talk about it.
Aaron: We'd be all, "Ahh, someday, maybe."
Tyrone: 'Cause you'd see all that shit in
the videos, and be like, "Damn." You'd
want to hit it up. Freezing everyday, sit-
ting in the cold all 30° below. You look
"outside, and it's all snow.
"Pete: Four months of winter where you
can't really skate at all wasn't too fun.
Aaron: I knew when Tyrone moved, and
then Dave moved. I knew I had to move, too.
So, Tyrone was the first?
Dave: Yeah, he came out like a year
before the rest of us.
Tyrone: I just bolted one day. I had to leave.
At first I stayed in hotels downtown. I just
skated as much as I could.
Dave: I remember the first night I came
to San Diego, me and my friend Jared
went downtown to skate. I knew Tyrone
was here, but I hadn't seen him, then I
saw him at the top of the street. He was,
like, "Dave!" It was rad. We met in the
middle of the street, just so happy.
So, Pete, tell everyone about the BOF.
Aaron: Ahh, shit!
Pete: Well, it stands for Barrel of Fun,
Land it's this trash can I always take
around with me. You see, you kind of
had to get creative with your skate"
spots in Madison, so BOF has been
with me since high school. Kids out
there with nothing to skate know what
I'm talking about.
You brought it out with you?
Pete: No, no. It wasn't my third carry-
on item or anything. I adopted a new
one. This is BOF II. The old one's at my
parent's house.
How many Wisconsinites are out here
now because of you guys?
Pete: Too many to count.
Tyrone: There's a bunch.
Dave: There must be like twenty.
Have you run into any other crews
from the Midwest?
Dave: There's the Ohio tribe. Chad Knight.
Pete: Chad's a big guy, so he kinda
counts as a bunch of kids.
Aaron: There's a bunch from Chicago, too.
Do you guys still skate together?
Pete: Yeah. This is like our home base.
Dave: It gets hard, because me and Pete
are in school, but this is still the crew.
Aaron: I want to live wherever these guys
live. If they had moved to San
Francisco, that's where I'd be right now.
What was it about Wisconsin that
made you succeed?
Dave: I don't know if it was Wisconsin or
more just our group of friends.
Pete: Madison was a good place to grow up
skating, though.
Do you think you'll ever go back and
live there again?
Tyrone: Yeah, I'm gonna go back to
Wisconsin and get a farm going-cow and
chickens, you know, ice cream.
Dave: I can't say right now. Maybe.
Aaron: I may stay out here.
What advice can you give to the kids in
the Midwest or wherever who want to
do what you've done?
Tyrone: Just keep skating, put your heads
together, and make something happen.
Pete: Just have fun. Don't take it as a job
or some kind of business, because it
should never be like that.
Here: If Blatz is the beer that made
Milwaukee famous, then maybe Tyrone's
nosegrind could do the same for Madison.
Left: Wisconsin Dells is the fudge capital of
the Midwest. Tyrone 50-50's backside in
the land of tofu dogs and frogurt smoothies..
Below: Saying the name of Aaron's trick,
frontside nollie 180' to switch frontside
half-Cab out is a lot harder than saying the
name of Aaron's hometown, Green Bay.
Aaron: We never planned it like this, but it
all just seemed perfect how it worked out.
Tyrone: We could have never done it without
our parents. All those trips to the skateparks
when it was snowing really helped.
Dave: Our parents would take turns driv-
ing. It kept us alive in the winter.
Pete: We just never stopped skating.
So, who is everyone most thankful for?
Pete: My family and especially my friends
out here. They've definitely given me the
most support. Dave, for giving me his old
boards and skating with me.
Tyrone: Friends, family. I'm just stoked
that my life has gone completely well. I've
got to give thanks to the Lord.
Aaron: All these guys, Dave for hook-
ing me up with Maple originally, and
then Chad Muska for hooking me up
with Shorty's. All my friends, my
brothers Brian and Greg.
Dave: My parents for getting me my first
skateboard, my brother for teaching me
how to deal with the skateboard, and all
my friends who've helped me to have fun
with my skateboard. And my first shop
sponsor, California Connection; both the
shops in Madison, Fake-eye and Flying
Fish; Jeff Kendall; everyone at Maple;
Osiris; Shorty's; anyone who's hooked me
up or helped me out; Steve Celentani; Ray
Gauthier; and on and on and on......
At this point, everyone jumps into
thanking their sponsors, all their spon-
sors' employees, their next door neigh-
bors, cousins, and who knows who else.
Rest assured, if you love skateboarding,
the Cheeseheads are thankful for you.
54 THRASHER