THE UGLY AMERIKANS
Story & Photos by Michael Burnett
"Where can I get a gun?"
Jean Marc gave Shiloh a sideways glance. He kept an even smile
on his face and returned his attention to the busy Paris street.
"No, really, man, I need a gun," he said again.
Shiloh was fucking with him. After a twelve-hour plane ride,
approximately two thousand complimentary airline cocktails,
and six minutes of sleep, the disorientation we were all feel-
ing was getting voiced by the crazy man from Los Angeles.
"I can't have you killing my customers," Jean Marc said plainly.
"Help! I'm being kidnapped!"
Shiloh had the window down and was screaming. "Get me
out of here! I'm being kidnapped! Help!"
A startled Frenchman in a nearby Renault hurriedly rolled up
his window.
The Ugly Americans had arrived.
Smashed into the small mini-van (though enormous by
French standards), was the street-style end of the World
Industries team: Marcus McBride, Daewon Song, Enrique
Lorenzo, JB Gillet and Shiloh Greathouse. Their mission: to
spread the good word of technical skating across the better
200
CEP
Tech Dogs in the Old World
part of France, Belgium and the Netherlands in a two-week
spree that would leave no block untouched, no hip unhopped
and no beverage unsampled. It was going to be difficult, but
the team was prepared.
Shiloh Greathouse is what you might call hard to handle.
A vocal man with some heartfelt opinions, he's not the type
of person you want to get in an argument with if you plan
to get home before supper. Shiloh can be quite intimidat-
ing at first, but he's a funny guy once you get to know him.
He was our mouthpiece for much of the trip, whether we
wanted it or not.
"Cheeloh!" Morgan Gourmand called. "Cheeloh!"
The French have an interesting pronunciation of Shiloh's
name that spurred some curiosity in our French guide.
"Nah, man, It's Shi-loh," Shiloh firmly corrected.
"Hey, they call you Cheeloh because you are all the time
chilling?"
He pronounced it "cheeling."
"Shi-loh. it's pronounced Shi-loh."
"OK, Cheeloh."
Marcus McBride is the soft-spoken older brother of another
pro skater. Soft-spoken is perhaps too weak a word-he said
about ten sentences the whole trip. When Marcus would get
tired, he'd simply hang his head down and close his eyes, even
if it was while we were waiting for food at a restaurant. He also
80 THRASHER
had a habit of warming up at each demo by doing huge flip tricks down big gaps.
If that wasn't enough to get people's attention, Marcus also has gold fronts.
Daewon Song doesn't really need an introduction, but let it be known that he
shall be known, from this day forth, as The Official Goodwill Ambassador of
Technical Skating. A one-man demo machine, Dae never failed to give each kid
at every demo the ol' stoke-out. Not shrouded in video mystery, he landed hard-
ass tricks and then stuck around to give autographs and pose for photos. Even
Clockwise from left: Traveling in style. Marcus McBride launches to
an awaiting bank in the midst of a Bordeaux, France "demo canyon."
Many years before our nation was founded, deranged Euros were
busy creating works of art such as this fine pair of cherubs in Marseilles.