HEADS TEXAS DAN
D
AN SHARP. THAT'S A PRETTY
unusual name. How many times
have you had your photo in Thrasher
with your name misspelled?
Twice. Once was Dave Shapp and one was
Dan Sliard.
What about the time your quilt made it in?
Yeah. That didn't even say my name, it
said my grandma's name. It said Berniece
Sharp. I had all these old T-shirts, and I
gave them to my grandma. She wasted
some of the really good ones and put in
some stupid ones, but she put them all
together and made a quilt out of them. I
won't even take it with me because I'm
afraid I'll mess it up. I'm afraid I'll pee on it
or something.
I know you've never read a book, but
what was that one pamphlet you
TEXAS DAN HAS NEVER READ A BOOK
rally I picked up Texas Dan so they could tell
us all apart.
Have you ever actually lived in Texas?
Yes. It was like 1991. I lived around there
for a whole year. I lived on the east end of
Dallas in this ghetto. I would drive by the
rodeo every day to work.
Wichita, Kansas, your hometown, had a
pretty heavy vert scene, right? I heard
people were fighting for runs.
No. Just me. There was no fighting at all. I
had to force people to skate with me. I had to
trick them into going to the vert ramp with
me, and they would get bummed that I would
take them there. I'd stash extra pads in my
car. I'd be like, "Let's go to this skate spot,"
and I would start driving out to the vert ramp
and they'd be all, "Where are we going?" And
I'd say, "Let's just stop by the vert ramp real
goons. And it was that one guy, the guy.
in that band AFI or GFI or something..
My friend Mikey got a flier and it had
directions to the Nude Bowl, so any
idiot could find it and go up there. We
called all the sponsors and told them it
was a bad idea to advertise a party up
there, but I guess at the next party,
some people got stabbed and someone
died, so they filled it up. It had nothing
to do with skaters.
What is the most important lesson
Randy Colvin has taught you?
Don't punch your nuts against a wall.
What were some of the benefits of
working in the Kryptonics factory?
Learning Spanish, and getting C70s when-
wanted.
ever
I saw your arm in a cast recently. How
Left to right: Nothing
about Texas Dan is above
board. Here kitty, kitty. You
know guys, it just doesn't
get any better than this.
Carve grind over the steps
in the shallow end.
BUILT
read that time?
My friend Incredible Mark gave me this
pamphlet on Ninja death holds. There were
six moves on how you could kill someone
with your bare hands, and I read the whole
thing cover to cover. I only remember one of
the moves, though. It involved neck-breaking.
Texas, you grew up in Kansas, right?
No.
Yes you did.
Yes.
Why are you known as Texas Dan, then?
When I moved to Colorado, everyone I met
was bummed on Kansas. Everyone who's had
to drive through Kansas is like, "What a piece
of crap." I didn't want to be the guy from
Kansas. I didn't want to be the piece of crap.
So I was out in Colorado and I was like,
"Yeah, I'm from Texas." There were so many
Dans in Colorado-there was Tattoo Dan,
Surfer Dan, Shaggy Dan, Ozzy Dan-so natu-
quick," and they'd be all, "No, no!" and try to
grab the steering wheel. I'd have to force
people to skate it with me, but usually I'd just
skate it by myself.
When did you first learn frontside inverts?
Skating with my friend, I can't remember
his name right now, but he used to wear a
dress, and he loved filming. So it was after
the Soccer West skatepark had shut down
and there were a bunch of soccer games
going on and I was skating by myself and
had just learned them. My friend filmed the
whole thing, but other than that, I was skat-
ing alone, learning frontside inverts.
Why did the skaters ruin the great party
scene out at the Nude Bowl?
First off, that place has always been
taken care of and maintained by
skaters. Then you have these rave
goons or whatever who wanted to turn.
it into some party spot. It was the rave
did you break it?
Um, yeah. I hope nobody from National
City Motors reads this but, what happened
was, I didn't break it, but at the same time, I
couldn't get any time off of work. I was
doing motorcyle mechanic work and it was
getting really old. It was really dull, slow, and
stressful, but they wouldn't let me have any
time off. My old girlfriend was a nurse, so she
sent me some cast material and I put in on
my arm and faked a broken arm so I could
get some time off of work.
How long did you keep it on?
First off, Andre put it on and it was the
worst cast you've ever seen. But I kept it
on for like two weeks because I kept think-
ing they were going to make me come in
and do more work. Then when I took it
off, I couldn't move my hand. It was terri-
ble. It was smelly and my hand didn't work
for a whole day.
-Michael Burnett