me a different outlook on what life is and what
other kids deal with and what they skate and what
they feel. And it's rad to skate on different terrain
than what you've been skating for so long in the
town you live in.
Have you ever done any inorganic drugs?
Yeah, I've probably tried the same not-so-
hardcore drugs that every kid has tried nowa-
days. But the only thing that I enjoy now from
time to time is a good beer.
What kind?
I've got to represent the Samuel Adams lager,
Boston lager.
What else do you enjoy besides skating?
I like to hang out with my friends, just socialize a
little bit. I like to read books. There's so much
knowledge in books, and most people never
really unlock that knowledge, so they're kind
of in the dark about shit.
Who's your favorite author?
It
t jumps around a lot. I've been reading a
lot of Hermann Hesse stuff, which is about
Eastern philosophy and religion. I go on little
sprees. I'm on the Hesse spree right now,
but before that I was on a Steinbeck spree,
just the thing about the California country-
sides and rolling hills, nice weather, bright
sunshine, but never too bright. It's attractive,
and I've always felt that I belong out there
almost. And his writing is really good, too.
Are you going to stay in Boston for long?
Yeah, I like Boston a lot. It's really chill,
and I have family and friends here. I just
hope I don't have to move out to the West
Coast to further my skateboarding career. I
don't feel like I should have to, but a lot of
people do, and a lot of people do well
because of that. I might just try and spend
a lot of the winters out there, because the
winters here are harsh.
are very
Do you believe in an almighty being?
I don't believe that there's someone or
something, but I do believe in nature-without
being a hippy. I believe in energy and
molecules and elements and the course that
life takes to renew itself. I believe that there is
a force out there that is perpetuating our
life, perpetuating how we exist, and if that
force is called nature, then that's about the
closest thing that I believe in.
Do you think we're alone in this universe?
No, because if you look at the facts about
the way life exists on our planet, there's a
bunch of elements and gases that came
together to form this planet around a star,
which is the sun, and if you look at how many
stars there are out there and you figure on
how many gases and elements there are, and
the gravitational pull that pulls them together
to make a planet, there's got to be other
planets out there and therefore other life.
More Earths?
There's probably a million Earths, and
we just don't know it 'cause the universe is
too vast, and we just can't travel to meet
each other.
Do you think there's anything else out
there that can give you the feelings you
receive from riding a skateboard?
You can
probably get that feeling from any
sport. It's a little different in skateboarding
because it's technical, but it's not technical,
like grinds, and doing a frontside grind is
probably about the best feeling in the world.
But you can get that type of feeling from
doing a slash in surfing, like a frontside carve
on a wave. It's just an adrenaline kick going to
your head, giving you that surge in your body.
it's electrical impulses going through your
body, making you feel a certain way. There
are plenty of things that can give that to you,
but skateboarding is definitely one of the
nest ways to get that feeling.
funnest
What other
other types of skating satisfy you?
I like to skate everything. I try and be fair-
ly well-rounded, but I really enjoy handrails
and gaps, and just strange little things you
don't think you can skate on, or your eye
doesn't catch it the first time you see it, just
this odd little thing to skate, 'cause when you
pull something off of it, you just can't believe
that you can maneuver your skateboard to
do what it just did. And I like to skate mini-
ramps, just going real high. You get kind of
scared, though, 'cause you're up so high, and
you've got to land in this little transition. And
vert, as well. I want to get really into vert,
just going as high as I can. Sergie Ventura
style. Stuff that you can get hurt on, which is
usually what happens to me. I like to skate
things that pose a definite danger of getting
hurt besides just twisting your ankle.
Do you feel that you're injury prone?
Yeah. I used to not get injured that much.
I used to feel like I was invincible. But
about four years ago, I started getting hurt.
real bad a lot and just taken out for a while,
and now I've got problem areas: hips,
elbows, wrists, occasional ankles, just the
things that every skater dreads. It's the
way I skate. I'd just skate until I break.
myself, then I've got to rest for a little bit,
then I can skate again and break myself and
rest again. It's a vicious cycle.
Where do you want to go in skateboard-
ing? Do you have any future plans?
I'd love to travel to a lot of different
countries, keep representing the compa-
nies I ride for and representing myself, and
just keep skating as much as I can.
What about after skating?
I want to maybe attend a University, fin-
ish my schooling, and just gain more
knowledge and get a job that's suitable to
my feeling of what life should be. I don't
want to stick myself in some office and
waste away under the fluorescent lights.
That's not life to me. I like kids a lot, so
I'll probably have a few kids and build a
house in the country.
Who would you like to thank?
Everybody at Sheep, mainly Manzoori,
Steve and Don Brown, everybody at Este,
Joel and Scotty for hooking me up, the fellas
at Powell, namely George and Michael and
the rest of the crew there for helping me out,
Sean Cronan for shooting photos for this
interview, Jake Phelps, Ezra Brown and the
rest of my friends here in Boston as well as
California, Mike V, and Cab.
Top left: Big guns at City Hospital. Bottom: If we didn't already have a Somethin' Else concept
for this month, this sequence would have made that file, 50/50 to sculptural re-evaluation.