I was a teenage skateboarder… I skateboarded a lot for quite awhile, on into my early twenties. It got to be too hard on me knees when I tried to pick it back up again a few years ago, but I’ll still occassionally ride one, without doing a lot of the jumping tricks.
Often I have dreams where my mode of transportation is by skateboard. In these there is always a feeling of fun and excitement (perhaps because I feel comfortable on one).
A few of my own skater associations: it’s a renegade sport. While snowboarding has made it into the olympics, skateboarding has yet too. There is a certain anti-authoritarian streak in skateboarders because we often get kicked out of places where we like to skate. It is a Do-It-Yourself activity, and fiercely independent. The exhiliration of skateboarding comes from mastering the manuveurs yourself. While there may be competitiveness among skaters, to me it was always about the thrill of riding over pavement and concrete on a board, and being able to manipulate that board at high speeds to make it do what you want, popping ollies and grinding curbs, flipping the board while you float through the air and landing back on it to keep riding.
When I fall, I get up, shake myself off, and keep going. Most of the skaters I know have sustained massive injuries -broken legs & arms, painful bruises, gouges as gravel digs into the skin, and yet when they heal they get back out and do it again. I still think like a skater and dream like one too.
justin, I feel the same way about moshing/skanking/slam dancing when I go to metal/punk shows, I did it for years at the Jockey Club and in San Francisco….but now that I will be 45 in November I feel like I have passed the torch to the 18-25 crowd. I also don’t want to get hurt and miss work and lose pay. I enjoy watching younger people get into the music and I still feel the aggression, and that’s a good thing. I too still think like a punker/metalhead and dream like one too….
Chuck,
I hear ya. We’ll be bringing out the punk spirit on the air later this week at the station and at the comet on saturday. Who knows maybe SS-20 will rile up a mosh.
Justin