So I found a clip that brought back memories and decided to blog it.
The year was 1999 and some of my friends skated, so I decided what the heck I'll try to skate. Well after a shitty sports authority board, laughing out loud right?, I asked my cousin if he'd be able to give me a board that he wasn't using. It was a 8" powell deck with mismatched trucks, I don't even remember the brands, but it beat the shit out of the POS SA board.
I'll never forget the first time skating with two of my elementary friends, Colin and Mackay. I had my mom drop me off at Highlands where we skated for a little bit before heading out to Manana Elementary school where the task of the day was to launch off the two stair, haha! Now this was at a time when I could barely grasp the concept of an Ollie. Well after many unsuccessful tries we headed back to Highlands to meet up with Benny, John, and Jorgie. So back in those days what we did was to use our boards to get water from the sink to the ground and powerslide at the cafeteria. After getting extremely dirty from falling in dirty water, it had started to rain and my mom picked me up on her way home from work and that ended my very first day of "real" skating.
This was almost 10 years ago, I must say that skating, whether it was consistently skating or just skating every few weeks, has been something in my life that I actually committed myself to, besides the obsession with music. I tried other things like Judo and playing basketball, but I feel like skating defined me as an individual because in sports you're always told to be a team player, but skating allowed me to go for self, haha!
Onto the whole music connection. Now when I was purchasing skate videos and dubbing copies from friends, yes yes, the one thing about older skate videos that stuck out was the fact that they had underground music. It wasn't no poppy-weak-ass shit. It was good music by relatively unknown artist, at least to my friends and I. As the years went by and I started skating with different people, my home boys from intermediate and high school, Rhyan and Jon, introduced my to the Catalyst, which coincidentally sparked my interest in being a DJ. That's another thing too, I remember attending this Church thing at the Hyatt where they had a bboy battle after the service. You'd never guess who spun the bboy battle, Kavet and Oliver. It's a moment like that and reflecting upon that moment that just makes me think how different my life would be if I never picked up a skateboard.
Fast forward 9 years and skating is still very important to me, whether I do it once a week or once a month, I still try to keep current with skaters and I watch footy of the locals. At times when I get frustrated with the "scene" BS, I return to my roots and ride my skateboard to feel at ease because there's no other feeling like pushing with the fresh air blowing in your face.
Anyways, heres a clip that evokes a very nostalgic feeling. From 1999, the Blind Team part from the EPIC Rodney Mullen vs Daewon Song: Round 2 Video. Creagers part is so slick.
P.S. I just remembered that through skating I also met Ryan and Todd from In4mation who were working for Define at the time. Crazy right?
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1 comment:
Chad, love the post!!
I remember the days when music was like this, a pure place to return to, with no scene politics...just fun with friends and constant learning. I'm still stubborn and think we can return there if we look hard enough.
I think another aspect of skating and music that is the same, is the idea of being solitary and free, but also connected to a larger group of people who love the same thing.
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