Someone made the mistake of giving me VIP credentials for the Skatepark of Tampa's 2008 Pro Party Saturday, but I'm not one to complain. Other than bucket-loads of free Redbull and Vodka, and the absence of a bathroom, the VIP section was just a smaller version of the Cuban Club's courtyard: an alternative crowd buzzing around the bar and huddled under umbrellas against the rain. The only way I could tell it was VIP was because our cameraman Joey kept pointing to guys in hoodies and whispering vaguely familiar names. I recognized a few names, like Eric Koston and Reese Forbes, from the copies of Thrasher I used to cut up and tape to my walls during my era of skating, but their identities were always masked behind the tricks they were turning. Paul Rodriguez explained how the majority of pro skaters were rarely recognized outside of skateparks or contests. This was a bit surreal coming from a guy who had his own signature brand of Nike shoes (which Joey happened to be wearing). Most of them just looked like the skater kids in every high school, except their diamonds were real and their skate brand clothes were free. I was surprised how eager many were to be interviewed. Of course, they may have mistaken me for an obscure TV personality who hosted a show in some place like Australia.
"We're astronauts" a scruffy man named Casey said grabbing his buddy in a matching plaid blazer who he called The Captain. The previous day I caught the pair skating in the VIP street tournament in blue jumps suits that looked suspiciously like janitors outfits ornamented with iron-on NASA patches. It turned out they host a program on Fuel TV called The Captain and Casey Show that's a cross between Wayne's World and a skate video. Of course, being the thorough, and relatively snockered, interviewer that I was, I just assumed I was talking with two lunatics who seriously thought they were astronauts. Regardless of who they were, the interview covered several pressing issues regarding space travel: the ethics of sex with aliens, the secret to training for zero-gravity (beer) and the pairs’ involvement in a revolutionary scientific study regarding condoms in space.
Kimya Dawson serenaded the packed courtyard with her sit-down antifolk songs popularized by the movie Juno. Listening to her sweet voice and pleasing guitar work, one may have wondered why she was slated to play for a crowd of skaters — until you heard her acerbic lyrics, which carry the twisted humor featured a few years back in her band The Moldy Peaches and their song, "Who's Got the Crack?"
Band of Horses finished off the night with shoe-gazing melodies and reverb-drenched vocals that were catchy enough to keep first-time listeners interested but rogue enough to warrant an underground following.
The Tampa Pro street finals the next day were sold out a week in advance despite the tournament being on Easter. Atomic Tattoo set up at the park early to ink people with free skateboard brand logos. I've always lived by the rule that a free tattoo is a bad tattoo, but that day I realized I’m in the minority. I was also under the impression that being branded with a corporate logo didn't embody the rebel spirit of skateboarding, but then I saw what Stephen Durvis got across his back: "Antihero: Fuckthegovernment.""I take it you have no ambition to get a government job."
"I already have one," he said. "I work for the Navy."
While the pros warmed up, Zach and I took turns falling off our dusty skateboards on a scaled-down street course. It wouldn't have been so embarrassing had Ryan Sheckler from MTV’s Life of Ryan not materialized, followed by a legion of autograph hungry teens. I guess I must have been doing something right though, because a mom asked for my autograph. Obviously she was impressed by my 360 face-plant on the mini-ramp.
Between skate sessions in the semifinals, Ryan Clemens, event announcer and organizer, entertained the crowd by reading the police report of a fellow skater arrested in Ybor
City the night before for possession of cannabis and cocaine. The skater received a "full Taser attack," and a 7K bail. Say what you want about the wily skateboarding crowd, but at least they stick together when times get rough. The skaters promptly started raising funds to bail out their fallen comrade.Between semifinal heats I joked with Bam Margera about some of the ridiculous lawsuits that have followed with his notoriety and which required him to employee three lawyers fulltime. One jackass who appeared in the background of a CKY video was suing Bam because he claimed the video made it impossible for him to go out without being recognized. I suppose there are drawbacks to being an actual VIP (I heard more than a few snide comments made about Ryan Sheckler just because he's on a hit reality show). Of course, with this fame there also seems to be an awful lot of groupies following wherever you go, and money.
The finals featured three runs by the best of the best, skating in ways that were never meant to be put into words (Adam Dyet took home 3K for performing a nollie cab heelflip to switch front boardslide down an A-frame rail). In the end Greg Lutzka won first for the 20K prize, John Rattray second, and Mike Peterson took third. Then most all of the contestants returned to their anonymous lives. For the most part, a few lucky skaters were making millions, but most were just cutting a modest living that would only last so long as they stayed healthy and were able to stay afloat in the transitory lifestyle of pro skating. None of the skaters were under the delusion that they would get rich and famous from their sport, that police would ever ask them for autographs instead of writing them tickets or that they'd ever be viewed by the majority of the population as anything more than a band of dirty, sweaty, tattooed roughnecks. But then again, most seemed to embrace this outsider status and would probably be skating even if they weren't getting paid.
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This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2008.