Interview by Larry Davis.
Jake Johnson, tailslide
Who did you show around Miami today, and how did you become the unofficial tour guide to South Florida?
Oh man, no one yet, today was mellow. I’d say it was when I found something awesome and I wanted other people to be down here to skate with, and to be able to show them how to do it right.
How long have you been shooting photos?
Back in the day whenever we’d go on sessions I’d grab somebody’s camera, so probably since ’96. I started shooting digital because I didn’t want film hanging around and having to carry it around through life. Which sucks in one way, but it’s easier to manage.
Paul Gar, bs lip
Did you ever do any filming back in the day?
No, too ADD for filming. Photos were a way to capture the city, or just see things the way that I would see them. It was easier to shoot it than film it, because I was still moving so fast and living so fast. Filming something, you have to slow down and then I feel like you’re not a part of whatever is going on. Anything I was doing I would just always shoot with the fisheye because I didn’t even want to take time to focus on anything. If anyone knows me, I don’t sit still long enough, I just kinda want to go and get it.
Have you ever made a book or zines or anything like that with your photos?
I haven’t done any zines or anything. I’ve done a couple of different photo shows, and it’s so hard for me to pick because I shoot all of these photos and I don’t like going back and looking at them. But I’ll save every single photo on a card before I clear it because I can go back and find something like a slam and the way that somebody is in the air. I think it’s almost more romantic, the slams man, you can’t fake those ones.
Brian Delatorre, fs noseslide
What are you shooting on right now?
I’m shooting with a busted up old A7S where I have to look through the viewfinder and the shutter’s stuck so I have to rig it to make it work every time. So it’s just as fun when I get home and get the photo onto the computer just to see what I got.
Do you go around fixing up spots on your own time still?
I mean, yeah, we’ll do that. We’ll find certain spots, do what we need to do, get what we want out of them, and then as footage comes out, we’ll open it up to the rest of the people. You gotta hold your own stuff down for a little while, and then you open it up.
Elijah Odom, crook
You used to be a promoter for clubs or what were you doing exactly?
You could say promoter, but I did more than that. I would develop and create events for companies and brands and help market that within those cities. Then I would work with different stores and shops and find out how we could create an event that would help them, and help the community. If you want to be a simpleton and say promoter, than yeah, but I mean I was an event producer, a fixer, curator, and architect. Just being there to make it all happen. In the beginning it was how to continue the party, then after awhile it became more skate related and it kind of just took off from there.
Is that how Bum Rush the Spot came about?
That came about because there was nothing going on in Miami during the time. There was no skatepark or anything, and I was like “How can we do something for the kids and the community?” At first I thought of it like contests, then as it grew I realized that contests are lame and we can just do it as a jam. That way everybody can be a part of it and have fun. It was originally three spots in Miami. It was the jungle, which is a double set in Brickwell, the triangle, then it was ghetto banks. When I first pitched the idea, everybody was so shook to go to ghetto banks, everybody said no one’s going to show up for this thing.
BA and Stefan, no comply tailslides
Were you giving out cash prizes to kids?
No man it was never about cash. It was about working with the companies and brands that supported me and working with the skate shops that supported me. Figuring out how I could give back to both of those companies simultaneously, by not making the skate shop pay for anything and giving marketing opportunities to these brands. We would just give away product. The money thing is a new thing. Just skate and have a jam and you know, get a board, some shoes, socks, bearings, whatever.
Was it always on the East Coast?
It was always on the East Coast. I never took it to LA or San Fransisco. I did some different shit, like a drunken high ollie contest and drunken power slide, stuff like that out there. But that kind of went with this party I used to throw called Chocolate Sundays.
Rezza Honavar, bs tail
I remember that drunken high ollie contest. I was just walking down Mission Street having beers and stumbled upon it.
You were there!? Yeah it was at this place called Beauty Bar in SF. I did ones in Austin, Chicago, all over. For every board that you ollie you either had to take a beer bong or a shot of liquor. You ollie five boards and five shots, you know you’re going to get hit. So we always started with one board. I had one where a dude ollied nine boards. Somebody did a switch ollie over like seven boards, doing shots of Jameson every time. It was fun, you know what I mean? The whole existence of all of that is just to create a good vibe.
What’s going on in New Mexico, you have an art gallery there, Parse Seco?
We’ve had the gallery for about four years and we give a lot of up and coming artists their first opportunities to put a show together, so they know what it feels like. You tell me a few things about who you are as an artist and what you’d like and we sit in a room in the gallery space, and figure out how to bring those ideas to light. It’s a great opportunity for anyone who ever does a residency there, it’s fun for me to do too. I still have it, but I needed the chaos of the city.
Joel, fs lip p- Mike Rosa
What about Wisconsin? You go back there much?
Nah, I don’t go back to Milwaukee that much. It’s beautiful and awesome, but I’m at a different pace in life. When I was young, growing up skating, all I ever wanted to do is get out to the East Coast. The minute I had an opportunity, I left and never went back.
Why didn’t you want to go to the West Coast like everybody else?
SF was cool but it was something about the idea of New York, but I ended up in Miami and I was like, “This place is fucking insane.” You have all these amazing skate spots, but then you have all the nightlife. That type of shit was kind of going on in New York at the time, but Miami had this really unique essence.
Brian Anderson, tree ride
What’s next? You got any community organizing in the pipeline?
I mean, I’m always working on building community. Especially with Post Modern and Andrew at this point right now. Trying to build community for when people perceive what Miami is, and for the kids and people here. Both of those skateshops are building the skate community together. And then finding young artists within that and giving them the confidence to be whoever the fuck they want to be. Because as a young skater, I had to fight for everything, always having to battle people telling me I wasn’t good enough. I never really had anybody in my corner being like, “Yo, you got this.” So wherever I am or whoever I’m with, I always try to help.
It’s all about building that community. Alright, last question. If you had to choose who was the coolest skateboarder ever, why would it be Jahmal Williams?
Why? Because I was hanging out with him one day and a butterfly just landed on his head and was straight chilling. And if a butterfly can land on you and have a good time, you’re cool anywhere you go.
