JIM GRECO
HEADS COJIM
G
RECO.
What's up? Is this Jake?
Yeah. What are you doing?
Just chillin'. I'm going out with Luke at
4:30 to go try to shoot this lipslide across
the street.
A frontside lipslide? Can't you do back-
side lipslides?
Yeah, but the bump isn't backside-
there's a fence in the way. It's ribcage
high, too.
You're not going to do the
frontside flip?
I'm going to try that tomorrow.
You have to get your priorities straight.
I stayed sober last night. I feel good, so if I
go out and get the lipslide, I'll rock down to
Lincoln. If not, I'll go to Lincoln tomorrow.
I'm trying to take it easy.
IS ON A STRICTLY SIDE-PIPE ROCKING BASIS
When are you coming out with your
own shoe?
I don't know, but it's coming. It's going to
come with punk rock bracelets-or some-
thing that forces the kids to buy it.
Ever been into piercing?
I like to eat.
How old are you?
Twenty-two, bro.
New Haven, Connecticut? What's up
with that?
It's the vortex of skateboarding. The best
skateboarders in the world and the most
important people in skateboarding come
from New Haven.
Are you Albanian? What are you?
Italian.
You guys identify with Rambo, right?
I identify with Rocky.
got arrested for armed robbery; he tried to
rob a bank without a mask on. So, because he
was incarcerated and my friends stepped for-
ward for me, I just got two years' suspended
sentence and one year of probation.
So you're a tough guy?
No. I'm not into fighting anymore. That was
back in the day.
You're a little guy, so you probably have
a Napoleon complex.
I don't care about being small. Hey, you
asked me a question about broads, and here's
my answer: I like to keep it on a strictly side-
pipe rocking basis. Fuck a relationship. If
you're not rockin' Jim's side-pipe, what are
you rocking? Nothing at all.
Who was your first sponsor? You rode
for Birdhouse and got kicked off, right?
That was so funny.
Left to right: Keep it real;
represent what? My nuts.
Faded frontside slider.
Tough guy. Switch ollie the
big set at Lincoln.
You're a rich kid from New Haven. I
know your story.
Suck my dick.
You're trying to be hardcore, and
you ain't got it. You're Mob
wiseguy shit.
Fuck you.
I talked to your team manager monkey,
and he thinks you're working for me. I
told him you're not, so what are you
working for?
What are you talking about? I'm going out
to shoot photos with Luke today. Isn't that
enough? I'm going to give it my best fucking
shot. That's all I can do. I was wrecked for
the last two days because I boozed myself
out, and now I've been sober for 24 hours
and I feel good.
What were you drinking?
That peppermint schnapps shit. I'm
addicted to that now.
Have you ever skated a fullpipe?
Baldy.
When was the last time you went home?
At Christmas.
Did you get goomba'ed?
I chilled with my homies.
Tell me about the hate crime.
That totally got blown out of proportion. I
was just chillin' on a stoop with this girl, talk-
ing about blow jobs, and this guy came by
and started saying some shit about how he
was from this gnarly gang up in New Haven.
And he was in my part of town, the Italian
part. Back then, I was only 18 and stupid,
and I was really into hanging out with my
Italian homies. It started to escalate; we got
into a fight, and I grabbed a broomstick and
beat him in the head with it while my friend
kicked him. I ran back home, and the cops
came and arrested me for assault and a hate
and bigotry crime. During my trial, the kid
Who called you, Jeremy Klein?
I got in a fight with Strickland, actually.
Fist fight?
No, just yelling. I wanted my incentive
money, and I thought I was getting ripped off
because I felt like I was doing more for the
team than all the other amateurs. But Jeremy
Klein's fucking funny. When I was on Birdhouse
and all that hate crime stuff was happening, he
wanted to put it in my ads. He tortured me for
so long. I was like, "No, dude. Do you know I'm
fighting a case right now?" They'd hold the
mag up in court or something as evidence.
What are your favorite bands?
Angry Samoans and Johnny Thunders.
How about Venom?
They're all right.
Would you fight Sean Sheffey?
I'm not going to fight anyone who drinks
Johnnie Walker straight out of a bottle all
night long. Jake Phelps