HEADS 0000
W
be a lumberjack?
AARON SUSKI
HERE IN THE HECK DID
you find a skateboard in
Port Jervis? Where is
that place? Shouldn't you
Even though Port Jervis was a small town, skate-
boarders did exist up there over yonder. It was
actually a big scene for a while, until the law put
its foot down on our fun. It died down a lot. It's
terrible having some redneck cops pulling crazy
power trips on 15-year-old kids for smoking. No
matter, we still found places to skate. Spots came
and went often. Port is about 180 miles northwest
of New York City, out in the cuts where perhaps I
should have been a lumberjack.
Tell me about the good ol' upstate New York days.
Ah, upstate. Go skating anytime with anybody,
ing, having fun. It all just fell in place by letting it
happen. Sometimes it's the best way to go.
Moving to Cali didn't really interest me at the
time because my friends and family were here
and that's all that really mattered.
How does it feel to have everything rolling now?
It must make things a lot easier to have such
supportive sponsors.
Things have always been rollin', if you know
what I mean. It just seems like things are rolling
more smoothly and in a forward direction. I'm so
stoked on everybody I'm involved with; Rem Dog
at Volcom, Justin over in the Emerica footwear
department, Greg and Justin keeping it on the
wheels, Steve and Starr in Arizona, and of course,
Steve R, creator and destroyer from 5Boro skate-
boards. My respects to all of y'all.
HUNTS BUFFALO
you think back on your skateboarding days?
The whole wide spectrum of things, from pick-
ing up my first skateboard to all the people and
experiences it brought... love and respect to JCP.
You went to Europe with 5Boro. How was
that extravaganza?
Extravagant I tell you. Pitts, Gnardels, Pensyl,
Emmitt, and I flew into Gatwik, London. We met
up with Smith and Cronan and proceeded on a
two-week tour around England with Carl from
Alexander Group Distribution. We went down to
Brighton, then headed up north, hitting numer-
ous parks along the way. Picked up Jon Dolton,
an English mate riding for 5Boro. The highlight
was probably Livingston, Scotland. Three-day
festival-food, music, camping, huge concrete
skatepark. The Half was gnarly. Concrete edge, no
Left to right: Goin' off the wall with a
mad cow 180. Jake loves the beard fungus.
Takin' out the trash with a frontside board-
slide under the Brooklyn Bridge.
VOLCOM
somewhere didn't matter if it was 100 degrees or
zero, just had to get out and skate. I remember rid-
ing five miles in zero-degree weather to skate a
small slab of dry pavement. Noseblunt slides on ice
patches, boardsliding snow banks-dedication.
Newburg was always fun. It was about 40 miles
away. Really good skatepark. They would have
"lock-on skate jams." We'd skate from 10 PM to 8
AM, all-night madness. Everybody from the sur-
rounding areas used to congregate there, even cats
from NYC. Besides skateboarding, I did do a lot of
galvitating in the forests of Cuddebackville, which
is where I'm from-you know, hiking, camping
hunting buffalo, and some random rituals. I feel
pretty fortunate to have been raised there.
You have been way underground for a long
time; I personally think you could have blown
up ages ago. Why not move to California like
everyone else?
I don't know; it never fazed me. I was just skat-
Describe what it's like to come up to a spot with
Rodriguez and the very polite 5Boro family.
Fun, productive, high energized, positive, destruction.
You sort of have the grandparent lifestyle, living
in New York for the summer and Arizona for the
winter. Where do you feel more at home? Are
there a lot of senior rippers in AZ?
Both places actually provide me with a lot of
comforting qualities. In New York I have my
roots of course, and that's pretty damn com-
forting. Arizona is amazing. It's something I
always wanted. My friends are out there,
house, ramp, my girlfriend Kristi, a bunch of
wild and crazy dogs running around doing
frontside and backside transfers over the
spine. Good place to be.
Do you own a magic blanket?
A magic Mexican blanket.
When you're 90 years old, can't walk, and are fill-
ing up a bed pan, what will make you smile when
coping, so you would have to powerhouse
through 5-0s. After England, the crew minus a
couple heads flew into Hamburg, Germany,
where we met up with Karl Knoop from X-File
Distribution as well as David Conrad (German
5Boro destroyer). Peter from Morphium skate-
boards and some other cool German cats, once
again, hit a lot of parks. Everyone was stoked on
the turnouts at the demos. German engineering.
Thanks homies.
I heard you have a board coming out. How's
that for you and 5Boro?
I do believe it's a good thing. It's taking me to
that next level, as well as 5Boro, being that I'm the
first pro on the team. It's going to push me a lit-
tle more and I'll have to do weird interviews like
this, but thank you all for listening. If you have a
chance, check 5Boro's website at
www.5Boro.com. Go skate.
-Ben Wall