JASON JESSEE
ID TITUS TAKE YOU ON THE AUTOBAHN?
Titus is so LA. He didn't have time to.
You know how they budget their time. And who's
hot and who's not. Plus, Titus seems gay as hell.
Which trick has taken out the most vert skaters,
lien to tail or bodyjar?
My cash would be on the bodyjar. That bodyjar
jarred things loose.
Ever make the 540°?
Ever make the 540°. Look at me-way too big
boned and fat. I saw Mark do one at Skilly's
and an Andrecht to fakie over the channel. I
swear it was '85.
Is Steve Keenan still selling packaged meat? Is
Jim Goodrich involved?
Steve Keenan? Who's that? Oh yeah, Steve's
selling out and Jim got caught with the meat in
his mouth.
Aside from earrings, what other "gayness" did
you participate in?
It was just plain skateboarding with little gay-
ness. You know, the gayness was not as obvious as
now. You kind of had to suss it out. Now you open
your door, go anywhere, turn on anything, look at
anything, anybody, you, me. And especially the
TV babies always staying neutral and dying for the
cameramen (oh my death).
What's the best-feeling trick?
You all know. Do it anywhere, up or down, eyes
opened, eyes shut, backward, forward, nose or tail.
Look Mom, no hands. The forever ollie.
What's your favorite vert hairdo?
Christian Hosoi's hair extensions. No hairdo has
come close since then. They're all hair don'ts.
Do real men do it fakie?
That used to be the case. Invert revert started
it, in my eyes. I never learned or even could
I have tried invert revert. But the fakie thing-I
was just assuming a role. I needed to fill a void.
Del Mar was just a bunch of pussies and robots.
and little clones and no Duane. Owen Neider,
Dan Sturt, Reese Simpson, Paul Vataua. That
was about it.
What asshole told you to skate street, on
video even?
Ha ha. I don't like them.
Ever drive by skaters on the street and
heckle them?
Some get the "Buy some rollerblades." Or,
"Wrong foot push, fuckface." Keep them mad and
punk rock. What happened to spit-in-the-face
then open-handed slap? You got to regulate
Jesse Martinez rules.
Why is Christian Hosoi the greatest of all time?
He was and is the one to have completed skate-
boarding. And that means everything that goes
with it. Everyone falls short in one way or
another, but not him. He owns you. He owned
everyone he came in contact with..
from Vans. God knows I've tried to milk this
popularity contest, but shoes are like gold to me.
Steve Van Doren is golden. Without him, Vans
does not matter whatsoever.
Thoughts on Barrett Christy?
No thoughts on my brain of anything or any-
body because I can't thinks.
What was the first sign the pro career was over?
In 1990, when I was 20, Bob Denike asked me
if I thought about getting a job for winter. He
opened my eyes to the meaning of the words
'retard' and 'disposable. I was making more
money. a month than any job could offer-it
didn't make sense.
So what's important in your life?
That's a yery important question. I hate air-
ports. It's important for the person at the
ticket counter to let me know they need to
check my carry-on as part of a routine ran-
dom baggage check. And the mail I get from
some friends always comes to my house in
bags that say, "Sorry, your letter was damaged
while en route," so the US Post Office is con-
cerned with the importance of my letters'
safety and what's inside. Love and care way
beyond limits and laws.
What do you want to start seeing more of?
Less police on the road because they're at the
hospital and funerals of fellow officers who
never skateboarded on the ones they stole. And
"ROCK 'N' ROLL AND AMERICA
HAS ELVIS. WE HAVE HOSor❞
And no one who witnessed it can
deny it. He's our king. The queens
had Liberace, rock 'n' roll and
America has Elvis. We have Hosoi.
Don't you think the problems of
credit card abuse and teenage
delinquency pale in comparison
to the predicament of two men
forcibly holding you down and
one of them is naked?
Hey man, that was a long time
ago, and, well, the naked man
smelled like coffee stains and was
very chunky. And what a violent
yet torky time. And no, I don't
compete and compare when prob-
lems, credit cards, or delinquency
are at stake.
Why doesn't Peter Hewitt ride
for Consolidated?
Want in one hand, slap my face
with the other.
Does Vans still cut you a check
each month?
I've never once received a check
paying back all the tickets they have handed to
skateboarders who have no cash to give them for
their fellow officers' violent deaths. The system
needs change.
Why don't you skate the Milpitas Vans park on
the day everyone older skates the pool?
Setting schedules for a mood and having to
assume your role at a certain time is like cross-
dressing in very small clothes that look stupid and
having unbreakable confidence. Or reading and
looking at a Rollins interview on the net.com.
Really, really cruel and unusual.
Do you see skateboarding as an art form?
There's so much grace and sacredness in all
skateboarding. And of course there are the Andy
Macdonalds of this life. That looks like a foreign
copy of Sports Illustrated or a violent childhood.
Oh, the burden of self-esteem. The only form is
Mike McGill jotting down every trick on paper
and then putting it together before the 45-second,
"And that's time for Tony Hawk and his program
on how to dress children.com." Please don't mis-
understand. I am grateful for these people as an
example of how not to be.
-Jake Phelps
Forever ollie.