How Do You Sk8!
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How Do You Sk8!
Roller Revival: Hooligan Errien West's Journey in Building a Vibrant Skating Community
Ever wondered how a passion for roller skating can shape a vibrant community? Meet Hooligan Ron Arian, who shares the story of reigniting his love for skating after a long hiatus due to military service and family commitments. From Riverside, California to Bellingham, Washington, Ron’s journey illuminates the challenges and joys of nurturing a skate culture where none existed. We dive into the essence of skate mastery, discussing the influences of iconic figures like Dylan Morton and Fat Smoke, and uncover a “sock secret” that promises to boost your skating comfort.
Join us as we explore the entrepreneurial spirit within the skating world, from launching skate-focused businesses to balancing personal finances and family expectations. Experience the ups and downs of building a brand, capturing unforgettable skating moments, and dreaming of a dedicated adult skate rink. We delve into personal anecdotes of overcoming injuries, gaining insights from fellow skaters, and the meticulous planning behind skate party travels, offering both practical tips and a touch of humor along the way.
Finally, the episode shines a spotlight on the inspiring contributions of skaters who defy age and push boundaries across the community. Hear stories of resilience, personal growth, and the joy of connecting with likeminded individuals through shared experiences on wheels. Whether you're a seasoned skater or new to the rink, this episode promises inspiration and a glimpse into the unique world of roller skating culture.
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Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate. I am your host, Sean Egan, and my guest today is hooligan Ron Arian. So how are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 3:I'm doing fantastic. Anytime your eyelids get to open, it's a great day.
Speaker 2:You don't have to tell me twice. So when did you actually start skating? How old were you when your whole skating, as we like to call it career started?
Speaker 3:It started when I was young, I would probably say seven years old, eight years old. My growing up, born and raised in Riverside California, my two rinks growing up was Roller City, 2001. And I want to say Cowskate, and they're essentially like right across from the street from each other. And then when those shut down, Cowskate Grand Terrace became essentially my home rink and then that went on.
Speaker 3:But growing up I didn't see the stylistic skating that you see now, so fluid the JBs, the Jersey circles, the trains, the trios, as growing up that was really a safe environment for me, or I would just skate outdoors and became more of a boardwalk kind of freestyle skater, I would say. And then I joined the service out of high school, literally right out of high school. Right out of high school would rollerblade around different ports because you didn't have access to rinks really, and so I did that for a little bit. And then I started a family and I'm kind of a firm believer that you can show your kids your passion but it shouldn't become their passion. So unfortunately my children did not gravitate to the skate world, so they got shelved. And unfortunately life happens right. 20 years later, 23 years later, I'm bored and I got extra time on my hands and kind of want to fill it
Speaker 3:up and kind of got stuff going on at work and things like that. And it's like you know, I remember skating used to really center me. Skating is just a thing where you can just put your headphones in and you can kind of just lock in and just go get miles, you know, and then turn around and skate back. Or go to a park and just hug half a baseball, a football, a basketball cart and uh, have your own moment, you know, and just work on yourself. So I slapped them back on.
Speaker 3:I went to the only roller skating shop to go get skate shops in hand in person. Unfortunately he is an hour and a half away and he's really the only one here on the western side of the state of Washington. It's called Get your Bearing Skate Shop. So I went there and just grabbed me some quick pair of skates. You know, I didn't know I don't think I spent more than 250 and just got me a quick pair of skates. And then uh got back home and my home rink is called linden skateway. Um went back there and uh started getting some laughs in and next thing, you know, so bam, fire reignited doesn't take much no, it doesn't.
Speaker 3:It doesn't, especially when you have other outside sources, kind of like you know. They say you know, if you just listen, you know god does talk to you. Or if you just listen, life talks to you in just little mysterious ways. And so at the time, I'm listening to people like gary v on on you know podcasts, I'm listening to cody robbins, I'm listening to all these different speakers and the one thing at the time that kept saying is if, if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:I went to my first state party here in Seattle full weekend, friday, saturday and Sunday and the bug and the fire really got lit there. Just the community, just the music, because me, coming from SoCal, that's really my music and so just being reintroduced and re-embraced in that environment really gave me a new purpose. And so that's when and I've always thought about it here you know why doesn't bellingham have their own skate rink? Yeah, not just one for adults, but just in general, because we can drive 30 minutes and hit linden, or we drive 35, 40 minutes and we go hit skagit.
Speaker 3:Nothing against these two rinks. I I love them, I visit them frequently, but they're more towards the birthday parties and that type of environment. Skagit only has an adult skate once a month, that's it. Linden has it once a month, but it's not even with the DJ. It's people that don't even really have that state mentality or culture mentality, so they're putting music that just shouldn't be. Yeah, unfortunately you're, you're headphoning it right. And so for me, I see a niche here in bellingham because there's a big crew up in canada right across the border, and they don't have a wood floor rink up in canada anywhere, so they literally will drive past three rings to go all the way down towards linwood or seattle, because that's where that culture that's where that community is right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's that's kind of disheartening because you're bypassing three rings that could really use some love yeah, but you don't curate what they're looking for.
Speaker 3:So, and for us adults, you know I still have a a regular job and so sometimes it's hard for me to go do an adult session at 10 o'clock, nine o'clock at night and not get home, because if I do it down south I still gotta drive home two hours. Yeah, I'm not getting home till one in the morning, but I gotta get up at four in the morning to hit the road back down south. So, although I love supporting other skate rinks and other events, I really see a niche and a need for here in Bellingham, and one really for adults. And like roller sizing and just trying to stay healthy, whether you're working on your physique or your mental health or just want to be around like-minded people that you know all we think about is skating, whether it's indoor, outdoor that's on our mind the styles, the ballroom, the music, all of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I didn't win the lotto, unfortunately, this week. So how do I go about making it happen without trying to bring a bunch of people on board, because at some point it could not be mine, they could be like you know what? We just don't like this. Only you know middle school and adult kind of focus. We, we don't need you anymore. It's been thank you for getting us here, but you're good, I, I don't want that. You know, I'm, I'm. I want to leave my nine to five so this can become my nine to five. So, yeah, eric picked up the camera and eric started videographing and taking photography and figured you know what?
Speaker 3:I'll go travel skate and I'll go meet people and I'll go build the pivot skate brand and and and. While I'm doing this, I'm gonna learn all the styles. Yeah, you know the borderline last year.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you've been to that um skate party yet, and it's just starting so I believe this is going to be the third year, okay, um, and it's in tawanda, new york, um, just outside buffalo, new york, um, at rainbow roller rink, and it's a phenomenal skate party. But I went there, and my first time, even really traveling long distance, so I'm going all by myself, not knowing what, but I went there and you know you have people from Toronto come down like Shem Shem Just some great people, some great talent, and it just really showed me like, ok, this could be a thing. Yeah, this, this, this is thing. Yeah, this is something. And you know what? I know it's been said a hundred times over and over through all the different podcasts and all the different skate influencers right now, but we all got to be honest and real about it Skating never really went away or died. It's like records, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, records kind of went away and got quiet for a little bit because people wanted the new right, the, the cd, the, the quick access. But then, when it all can be, if you want real sound, you want raw sound.
Speaker 2:You got to go to a record, you got to do the vinyl right same thing with skating.
Speaker 3:it's like, look, this is where we're at, so big props to usher and and bringing it to the millions and millions, because I think what it did was reignite a bunch of old people to go man, I remember that. Oh man, I missed that. God, I'd love to, but I'm too old, I'm too, whatever Right, and so I want to give a spot to where you know what? It's all good. Come on out.
Speaker 3:We'll have a spot just for you. We're going to create a, a, a moment called turtle power hour, to where is no zoomy zoomy skating. You're going to. You know, you want to be in a Walkerer, move a mile a minute, whatever. That's cool, you do you, and so it's. It's for those people that are afraid that a person's gonna come knock them and make them fall right. So oh so, I think usher did a real solid, even though it was just a blip of a flash yeah at that halftime show right it wasn't like half the show was all skating.
Speaker 3:It literally was a blip. But that blip, I feel, rekindled and reignited a lot of people. I mean, cali is opening up another skate rink, I believe in Long Beach, called Sunshine Skate. Okay, you know. So there's. Although some rinks have closed, there are others opening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw during like the pandemic, though there was a huge resurgence of skating because the whole social distancing and not really being able to go anywhere can't go to the gym. That's actually when I got my skates again and started skating again briefly, and it really picked up when I moved out to Colorado and you were talking about the adult skate. You can find an adult skate every night of the week here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so if I go down south, if I move to Seattle, I could have an adult night every night of the week. Between Linwood Bowling Skate and El skate and l central skate rink they literally have an adult night essentially every night. Yeah, and we're spoiled because we actually have a one of, I believe, a really solid up and starting to become a big hit at a lot of the skate parties. But I have dj prototype in my backyard. Okay, so he really, when he, when he does a session, he really gives you a mix of a little bit of everything. Yeah, so when you're you're a house head, you're a jb head, you want your little trio, you want your little linky skate, you want to get a little saucy, a little backpack sesh, going on, he gives you just a little bit of everything.
Speaker 3:So at the end of the night, no one should leave one of his parties disappointed yeah you know, I mean, like I said, at Skate Rock City, I really want to say the opening night, which was him and Shmurda, and then the last night, which was DJ Tech Tricks and DJ Wildchild. Those, I feel too, were like really, where you felt the energy the whole night amongst the people and everything. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Those two nights were really bumping. And I got to say man, the rink could use some love, let's be honest the rink could use some love. Let's be honest, the rink could use some love, but the environment of skate rock city and everything else, that was a great time you know, the meeting great, was a great time, you know. And again, this is their first year of kind of really getting back at it to, I believe, the core of what the skate party should be. So I only expect it to get better and better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got uh in April coming up. We have mile high rollers out here, which is the giant, so it'll be the second one and luckily for me, they've actually got a spot where I can set up and do the podcast and stream from it, so that's fantastic.
Speaker 3:Definitely looking forward to that. Oh no, that's going to be fantastic. I can't wait to watch that. Well, I'm looking forward because I don't know if you know him, it's my Jim Bob. He hit me up and asked me if I can come out June 21st to Colorado for your guys' skate competition you're hosting out there.
Speaker 2:Okay. Do you know where it's being held at?
Speaker 3:I have to look at my phone real quick, but it's in Colorado.
Speaker 2:We have so many rinks here, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3:No doubt, no doubt. We have so many rinks here. It's ridiculous, no doubt. Trying to find it right now. Okay, it's my jam ball, cause he's posting about it. Skate story. I'll find it, I'll hit you up, I'll get it to you via instagram though, but yeah, it's uh, I guess, two different competitions and then the.
Speaker 3:The final competition is going to be in colorado june 21st. Okay, so I'm gonna actually be out there for that, um, and then, like I said, may, I'm gonna be doing borderline again. That's a fun one. I'm trying to make Houston in three weeks, but I don't know, man, flights are expensive right now. Yeah, especially on short notice. That's the hard part of making some of these skate parties is the flights Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so have you watched the show roller jam?
Speaker 3:I did show roller jam I did and you know, for a lot of us, honor roll, I think, gave us what we were hoping roller jam was gonna be. Yeah, I love everything that roller jam brought right because, you don't know, you're just, you're shooting from the hip the hip and I hope they have another season and then refine it a little bit more to where it's like that honor, where it's like the battles and the crew and you can still do shuffle battles you can still do. But I felt like they kind of their little, their attitude, their whole thing, where they would face the other crew and kind of, you know, have a little jam off or whatever. I really feel like they definitely deserve to win it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually had them on a couple of weeks ago. So, they were on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, so it was a fun session with them.
Speaker 3:So now I've taken a class from dylan morton. He was out at borderline, so you know, that's one thing like. Uh, I've taken a class from um the real, mr real, jb, uh, reggie, premier, okay, um, and then I've taken classes with dylan morton, rocks world. I'm trying to with jediah, I'm trying to with Jediah, I'm trying to actually sign up for his program to hopefully become one of his helper, you know, and help teach and help spread the skate love and the skate community and just get it to where it needs to be. So those people are most influential right now, especially you know they have their thumb.
Speaker 3:And right now and you know, I just took a class with bat smoke here at vegas. You know, if anybody can take a class with that cat, that's man, that guy. And here's the funny thing he broke it down in such a to the foundation. You know, it's like when you take a normal class. People just go okay, you take your left ankle, turn it out, do this. They just show you the moves.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, fat smoke broke it down to the, to almost the whole chemical analysis of a skate move per se. Right, like, you know, you have cement and what would make cement? We know we got sand, we got rock, we got lime and you add all that together. Now you got your cement and you add a little bit of water and over time it hardens. Now you got a solid foundation. That's kind of how he teaches. I mean, if anybody can take a class from josh mr bat smoke, I absolutely highly recommend it, especially if you're just getting into skating. Yeah, he is such a great beginner instructional skater. Because that's what you need, right, you need a good foundation, a good base, because everything comes off of that foundation. And if you don't have a good foundation and a good base, that's. You know you're always going to be falling, your feet are always going to be hurting yeah like I ain't gonna lie this guy.
Speaker 3:I took his class sat morning. He gave us a skate secret. I won't say exactly what the secret is, I'll just say the word that's within the secret Socks. He gave us this little thing about what he does and how he does his socks and the boot and all that. I was like, okay, interesting. Now my dogs kind of bark at the end because you know your toes are gripping and I'm trying to catch skaters and I got to zoom by other people and crouch down and kind of slide in and all that. And he gave us this little sock secret that he does and man.
Speaker 3:I did that that night, Saturday night, at rock city. My feet were like on pillows the whole night. Just a simple little sock secret that he has. It changed no different than when I so like I mentioned before I went down to Get your Bearing I bought my first pair of their Jackson skates. They're now my outdoor skates, so I don't got to keep changing my wheels.
Speaker 3:Yeah uh skates, they're now my outdoor skates so I don't gotta keep changing my wheels. Yeah, um, so you know I uh, so, yeah, so they're my outdoor skates. And then, um, when I went to borderline, reggie showed me and I tried on a pair of his signature chicago skates. Okay, so then I went and ordered those. That was just a little bit under 500 bucks. You know, they say a skate doesn't make a skater, the skater makes the skate.
Speaker 2:But I'll tell you what a skate sure can't help absolutely, and everybody's got their own style and their own preference and so exactly.
Speaker 3:And so when I put these skates on, man I was, I like, right out of the package. I was able to, all of a sudden, just without even thinking about it, just everything, my balance happened, everything just lined up. I kicked out a three rotation heel spin and I haven't been able to do a heel spin in three years because every time I went and tried it, just on the other skates, it just something wouldn't click. I literally slapped those babies on and I don't know if it's just all right, man, now I got me some jb skates, now I got me some. You know, I don't know if it was that whole, that I just got comfortable or what. But bam now, oh man, now I, I just every time, man, and that's what I keep telling people, it's all about time yeah, exactly you can't expect to become even intermediate skater if you don't put the time in.
Speaker 3:if you only put your skates on once every four weeks, it's gonna probably take a year or two before you're not doing the bobble anymore, or you're you're, you know, kind of oh I'm gonna, you know, when you're doing all this shaky, bakey kind of stuff, you know, because you're just not putting the time in. So I really encourage the people, even if five minutes at home in your kitchen, if you can put in 10 minutes a day of just balance and climb, man, that's everything and then it helps your mind unlock whatever the hindrance is a little bit quicker. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it takes a little time to get back, especially with culture. Nowadays Everybody's looking for that quick fix like, hey, I went to the the gym once. Why aren't I skinny or buffed or anything like that? So people where's?
Speaker 3:my eight pack. Yeah, what do you mean? I did 50 sit-ups yesterday. That's not what exactly I gotta do 50 a day for 10 years.
Speaker 2:Oh well, I don't know if I want to commit like that and do strength training and eat right, and it's everybody just takes bits and pieces. It's like nobody actually takes it. And the funny thing is is in a lot of the skate groups on Facebook they're like how do I get better at skating? I'm like, keep skating. It's like A hundred percent right.
Speaker 3:Like I, literally in my work van, I made a spot and I bring my three pairs of skates everywhere I go, because I don't know if I'm going to get either an outdoor moment or I'm going to get an indoor moment. And I have two pairs of skates for indoor. I got my custom made Adidas shell top sliders and I got my JB Chicago skates. Yeah, you know, so I can do my two different styles, and then I always carry my outdoor skates with me, like I said. So, no matter what, I'm going to be good, because with my job I might have a two hour dead or you know what Weather is going to be kind of bad.
Speaker 3:I should probably leave a little bit early. Oh, hey, it ended up not being bad. Now I'm at the job site two hours early. Let's go find a park. Exactly, that's it, man. It's all about. You know, when people say, well, I didn't have time, I don't know about that, you know, because it's just you had time, it's just not where you wanted to put time in that day you had exactly not the time you wanted to shove over.
Speaker 3:You know you. You chose to go watch that youtube video for an extra 20 minutes. Well, at 20 minutes you could actually still been watching the youtube video. Put it on the counter, put put prop phone up, still watch, but have your skates on for 15 minutes. Just stand in there, just get in your balance, lift a leg up. Walk up to the other leg. Something as simple as that.
Speaker 2:And that's the nice thing about the iPhone is they'll give you a weekly report of how much time you spend on your phone. And this week was a little odd for me because I was laid up for a few days and my average was eight hours a day on the phone. If. I was able to actually get up and do something. That's eight hours I could have spent skating, so yeah, no, I, you.
Speaker 3:So that's, that's my whole thing. So now the big fire for me is whatever I can do to help grow the pivot skate brand, to help fully one day have an actual building here in bellingham that people can actually physically come to. I almost had a building but unfortunately, like everywhere else you know, they'd rather build apartments and get $2,300 for a studio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then complain that there's too many people Right complain there's too many people.
Speaker 3:They'll complain that there's nothing for the kids to do, there's nowhere for us to have a community gathering, and just all these other things. But now I'm trying to bring something and I'm trying to, you know. So what can we do? So yeah, after I got the go-ahead with the city to move to the next step, I got a phone call four days later saying nah, next year we're going to go ahead and level it and put up a six-story apartment building. And it's like all right, back to the drawing board.
Speaker 3:So, that's what I'm doing right now. I'm actively looking for either a piece of land or, hopefully, a turnkey building to where we can just go in and just get skates down, in and just get skates down and even if it starts off on cement, you know, and we can, we can put back into it and once the community buys in, or we do fundraisers to where we could either a purchase, a floor that's for sale here, that's available right now, but I don't have 75 grand right now.
Speaker 3:So, maybe we do some community things or I started this as a LLC, but not not knowing the whole ins and outs of nonprofit and things like that. But maybe we switch it up and I go towards that nonprofit side so I can get easier grants and things like that. I'm in the process of trying to figure that out right now and talking to somebody and seeing which one's more viable. But you know when you got money always going out whether it be for flights, quick books, life plan to help me with my business plan.
Speaker 3:You know all that it's like okay, man, like the wife's cool with it a little bit, but at some point, man, she's gonna, so I gotta. So I filed the the business. So then that way I can at least claim some things on taxes and and not take such a harsh hit, even though the first year or two it's always going to be in the red right because you're building right you're always going to have something going out, but this is where we're hoping to the videography and the photography side.
Speaker 3:You know, partner up with my local skate rink and offer, you know, something for birthday packages or corporate gatherings at the skate rink, you know. So that way, when I start travel skating, I'm gonna start bringing towels and some some my own branding stuff with me to help do it that way and then hopefully, you know, through YouTube, um, we're, I'm, I'm creating a pivot skate productions where I capture a lot on a weekend. Yeah, anybody that that that sees me and and and knows me knows Skate Hooligan don't play when he got that camera in his hand and he's on that rink. Man, if you're going to create or you're going to give that, just in that moment, I'm going to capture it. Whether you realize it or not, I'm going to capture a moment and I had a great moment this weekend.
Speaker 3:Let me I want to correct the people that really deserve it Young Rich, 23, and Sideway Skate Club created such a great moment for me to capture this weekend where Sideways came in sliding and Young Rick came sliding right in between his legs. Okay, such a great moment to capture, yeah, you know, and to get it out there. And I mean right now I think I'm at 4,500 views. It's not 10,000, but for someone like me it's a lot and that's huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you got to start somewhere, right.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, so it's things like that, catching people that don't normally get to skate with each other, but you can tell that when they do skate with each other, there's some connectivity, there's a mesh to them, right that you're just like I got to get this. This is something special happening here, yeah, I like getting all of that, you know. So on Saturday alone at Skate Rock City, I took over 1,500 pics and videos total.
Speaker 2:That's quite a bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so what I do is I just upload it to a Dropbox so people can have these moments for them. Right now we don't want, I don't watermark my stuff and I help capture for northwest rink skaters up here in washington.
Speaker 3:they cover a lot of the pacific, northwest skaters and the skate scene, um, and so we'll cover under that and then also under me, and so we really try to get people you know the footage, because not only do people want to see them in the moment, a lot of people like to look back at this footage and learn from it. Yeah, you know, some of the times when you do the choreo right, it's like, oh man, what was that move? Okay, I know they went the choreo right. It's like, oh man, what was that move? Okay, I know they went left four times right, but then was that the right foot wiggle. So it's great sometimes to go back and watch, especially when you've got someone like the Roller Dance Academy they were there or when you got, you know the true OG, stateline Rick. When he's there, you know, anytime you can sponge off of him, man, that guy, especially after watching him snap his thigh bone.
Speaker 3:I was there for that man and I tell you what, to see that cat still coming back out and doing his thing and keeping the choreo and in that whole vibe alive. I mean that that gives me inspiration, man, because it's like, okay, you came back from your leg, literally almost wrapped around your body yeah I give you props.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I give you props, you, you true well, now you were telling me before we started about your injuries when you came back. You care to share it again for the people?
Speaker 3:oh yeah, no, I don't mind. It's kind of a bummer, though, because my wife was there for my for my first injury now, mind you, I am I turned 50 in december.
Speaker 3:So I'll say I've been skating since eight years old. So from this whole time, I have never in my life broken a bone, I've never had to go to the ER for any major contusion or anything like that. So, with that being said, I definitely had long had long, long, long overdue wood tax. So my first injury and I literally have only had my skates on, maybe not even a year, and we were skating and it was an open public session and I had my custom skates on and they don't have toe stops on them, and I didn't want to drag my toe because I didn't want to ruin the stitching or, you know, ruin the shoe, um, and so I started to kind of, you know, a hockey stop, um, and then try to go towards the left. But people were coming off the rink at the time, um, so then it's like, oh okay, well, let me go right. And someone was coming on. So then I was like, well, I'll just lean over them and embrace my fall.
Speaker 3:Well, as that happens, they decided to get up and and threw my arms backwards and I ended up sitting on my left wrist and, uh, lightning bolted it. So I saw that it was lightning bolted. My wife does not do good with that stuff, so I straightened it right there and and just straightened it held, held it to my tummy, got off the rink, looked at my wife, did the. Yeah, we got to go and literally went right to the ER and put my hand in a kind of like a makeshift kind of thing because they couldn't set it, it wouldn't set right. And it's still not perfect to this day. It's kind of still crooked because they couldn't set it, it wouldn't set right, um, and it's still not perfect to this day. Um, it's kind of still crooked because it couldn't set it a hundred percent. But I now have a plate in my wrist, um, because I literally crushed, literally crushed, uh, those bones and so uh so that's my first injury ever.
Speaker 3:And then, literally a year to the date, I was down, like I stated out, at El Centro in Federal Way, washington, at one of their adult nights, and I was actually there to meet somebody from Canada to talk about roller skating and creating something here in Bellingham, to talk about roller skating and creating something here in Bellingham, and she was meeting people, so I didn't want to interrupt that right away. So then I just go out onto the rink, start doing my own thing, and I got inspired by the talent that was down there and all the stuff that was going on, and I was, like, you know, I remember I used to be able to do that. Maybe I can do it again now. Mind you, I didn't warm up, I haven't practiced any of these spins, I just was like in my head it's like riding a bike. Right, you should be able to, you'd be okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, lesson um aaron tried to do a spin on the apex of the turn. Oh, so my momentum, you know, is already pulling you. Now I'm going to add spins to it. And so, I mind you, I have size 14 feet, so they're not exactly dainty feet. So my front toes clipped. And when, when those clipped my knees clipped literally right behind, one behind the other, and then I literally went down like a chopped tree. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And at first I thought maybe I just dislocated my shoulder. And then I went over to the table and I laid my chest and my arm out and I tried putting it back in, and then when I sat back up it dropped and then I was like huh. So then I tried it like three times and then I felt my other side of the collarbone. It was like okay, that feels like that. And then I felt the other one. It was like it doesn't feel like that. Yeah, luckily the the emergency room is only a block away. So it was good.
Speaker 3:What was not good is I now had to make a phone call to my wife stating that I heard again a bone again now, mind you, I am the breadwinner of my family yeah, you know so when, when that goes down, that's not good yeah exactly luckily it was the collarbone and I could still go to work.
Speaker 3:I now, mind you, I was going to work like a t-rex. I couldn't move my elbows away from my my side, so I literally was like a t-rex, but I still went to work, I still climbed up ladders, I still did what I had to do. But now the wifey, she's really anxious when she gets her skates on and she gets on the ring because she just flashes back to the snapping of the wrist.
Speaker 2:You know what though Injuries happen in skating? If you're not falling, you're not skating. What though injuries happen in skating? If you're not falling, you're not skating right.
Speaker 3:You don't learn if you're not falling right exactly. Fortunately for her, and because she didn't grow up like that, she doesn't have that internal skate fire right. So yeah, she don't have that real.
Speaker 3:So, unfortunately, and she, she is the absolute best skate mom any group can have. So if you do see my wife at you know one of these skate events, you know because she does come to some of them with me. She can't come to all of them, yeah, but she can come to some of them. But if you do see her, don't be afraid to go say hi to her or set your stuff down by her. She is a great skate mom. She'll make sure you stay hydrated. She'll make sure you got fresh towel for all the sweat we're dripping, because some of these places don't want to turn their fan on or open a door five minutes after the session begins. Yet you're swampy everywhere, um, but she'll make sure you're good and and that's the the side that she's great for you know. So, although, yes, I would love for her to be my linky, my, my ballroom partner, it doesn't seem I'm going to get that and that's okay, but she always brings the Twinkies and Capri suns, absolutely.
Speaker 3:She is the absolute best skate mom. I'll tell you what. You know, some people oh, go ahead, what were you gonna?
Speaker 2:say I was gonna say, um, so what exactly is pivot skating?
Speaker 3:because I don't think we've really gotten into the business side and explain the business of what you got going on so pivot skate is a company I've created, um, pivot skate llc is a company I've created and right now it's just out of my home where you know you want some lessons, basic instruction. You know you want some basic. Hey, I'm about to go to the rink for the first time. I ain't been in a while. What's some things I should know? Well, sides for fast people and sides for the slower people.
Speaker 3:When you're going to exit the floor, please put your arm up like a turn signal. Let people know, hey, I'm about to exit the floor this way. So then that way they can kind of maneuver around you and not hinder you or make you feel like I'm about to run right into you. Things like that, right. Things like that right. Um. So the hopes is to have a building a skate rink that focuses more on the adult side of things, where we don't have to go to skate parties or adult skate nights at one in the morning. You know, as we get older, our bodies can't stay up. We were, we're tired, especially if you worked all day and you got a demanding job of work, but you still want to go do some, some work on yourself, and that is vol skating. Well, you know especially like for me, if I want adult skate I gotta drive two hours for it right so that's real.
Speaker 3:Luckily for me, my job has me going up and down the i-5 corridor, so a lot of my work is down there. So that just means I just gotta kill time until the skate session begins and then or do a double session, a public session and then the adult session, but then not get home till midnight. One in the morning. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But then I got to get up at four in the morning to start my day all over. Now you know it's tough to do that on a consistent basis. So why not have something where it's more adult-focused? Right, the music's more adult-focused? We can enter the junior high and the high school age group into the more stylistic styles of skating, whether it be shuffle skating, jam skating, the ballroom side of it, the trains, the treetops, those all the different styles. Yeah, you know, just like like the jb style. Right, there's not just jb. I learned this, I didn't know this. I thought jb was jb. Nope, there's chicago, north chicago, jb, south chicago, jb I didn't know.
Speaker 3:That's one of the things that that I just learned. Yeah, but this isn't here. You know where I'm at, between Linden and Skateway, like you don't see these. So I would like to bring that here to Bellingham, because Bellingham's got a lot of transplants. We got a lot of cali folk, we got a lot of colorado folk, we got a lot of my barber from georgia, you know. We got a lot of people that want it, that have it, but it's not curated, so they don't know, and so, because they don't know, it just goes to the wayside. Yeah, I want to, I want to change that, but unfortunately land ain't cheap, buildings aren't cheap, you know, and trying to find the right building to where you can just almost essentially turnkey it, open the door and just have wheels going, that's tough and far and few between you know yeah, um but it's not a lost cause.
Speaker 3:But until I can make that official dream a reality, how do I build the name right? How do I build the brand? So that's where my travel skating and me hopping on to the recording side of things and the capturing side of things, okay, so then, as I put it on to youtube and on my instagram, the, and share it with the people around here, they go oh okay, so this really is a thing, okay, and then, as I do my like, come springtime I go do outdoor gatherings, you know rollouts yeah
Speaker 3:you know, and then that's where I'll start introducing, you know, the choreo lessons that I'm learning and you know, one of the great groups to learn choreo from is the united skate squad, and, and they're a huge skate group, but they're literally I I can probably say in your ring, you, you're going to have one member of the United Skate Squad there, okay, and their goal is to teach and to share and to spread the knowledge of skating. So if you ever see someone wearing a United Skate Squad shirt, don't hesitate to go talk to them, you know, or ask questions, because that's what they want. They want you to inquire, they want you to have the earn for the knowledge and for the passion and the growth of your skating knowledge. You know, dee Hawk is a great and his lovely wife are great instructors. Um, oh, hey, is Jai out of Las Vegas. She's a great instructor.
Speaker 3:Quadette for Seattle, code for Seattle. These, these, these are members of there's chickpea and Oregon. Um, these are people that there's chickpea in oregon. Um, these are people that you know strive to help keep that fire or reignite that fire. You know, and some people, they don't want to go around in circles for three hours, some are just content, staying in the middle and and slow walking or doing that choreo stuff. That's what I'm trying to get my wife into. It's like look, look, look, look, see, you don't have to get hurt. You don't have to go in a circle and try to do fancy stuff. You can just be right here like I don't know if you've seen uh, have you ever seen popping poppin?
Speaker 3:auntie, they're out of buffalo no that skate group out of buffalo, new york. Oh, they're great. And I mean, she's got, I mean she's got her flag, her fan just popping and the whistle, just I mean, but just, but she ain't moving 100 miles an hour now she can. I've seen her ride, hug that rail, yeah, but for most of the time she was just a hip shaking and a tweaking and a pop popping and a pop popping and just a a wonderful skate vibe just spewing all over the floor. It's like makes you want to go run and go buy a fan yourself and just pop, pop. It was that. It was literally that infectious. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But it's seeing stuff like that and capturing stuff like that that you know people think skating is just going around in a circle and skate mates coming right at you. And you know people think skating is just going around in a circle and skate mates coming right at you. And you know that's not it at all. You know skating is so much more, especially if you take it into the self-work side of it, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah exactly.
Speaker 3:Therapy is expensive and you don't know if your first go around is the right person for you. Right, you might go through three, seven, eight therapists so you do know me I thought you meant wives, you know, but what's the guaranteed therapist that that that never fails you yeah, yeah, you and your stakes.
Speaker 3:Exactly Because no one, you can't lie to yourself. Yeah, you look in the mirror. You can't lie. You can't say you know I'm seven foot when you're really four foot. It's right there in front of you. You can see it. You can't lie to yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we all, though, try to fool ourselves. If you get honest and you're true with yourself, you put your headphones in, you lace them up whether it's quads or inline and you just work, and you just work through your day. Maybe it's you got just got to work through your day. Maybe you had a hard day? All right, let's just put our headphones on, let's put our wheels on and let's just think about it. Let's just work it through. What went wrong today? Why did I get upset today? Okay, I see you. All right, you know what? I'll make sure I don't let that get to me tomorrow.
Speaker 2:I'll make sure I be a little bit better than yesterday.
Speaker 3:That I'm not, I'm not, none of us are earth creators, right? Yeah, so there's no way we're going to achieve that, that level of perfection, that level of you know worldliness. Right, but we can do just a little bit to make sure that we don't have so many hiccups. Right, we can do. You know, I'm always up late, I'm always, I'm always rushing out why, why, why. Well, maybe don't stay up till three in the morning, yeah, you know, maybe maybe go to bed a little bit sooner, or maybe do that. You're right, and and it might not work right away, it might take a minute, but you at least got to make the conscious effort of trying instead of just always making excuses, right?
Speaker 3:Exactly Don't use those excuses as crutches in life. Use them as building blocks. Help build that foundation to where you want to build and put your castle, so then you're protected. And that's what skating ultimately really does, I feel. You know some people. It just gives them that sense of all right, it's okay, you know I might go home and I might not have that person that that I want, but that's okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got exactly you know, and so that's where I feel the skating, and so that's really, ultimately, what I want pivot skate to become, you know, is a place where people can come work on their health right, because if you do it right, you know a few moves, man, I don't know about you, but I drip sweat man. I literally like I go through two towels, if not three towels, a night. Yeah, you know, if you, if you're moving, if you're working, you know even going around in circles, if you're moving, you're going to sweat.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I'm on the speed skating side of things, so I'm not the artistic and jam skater, but I appreciate all forms.
Speaker 3:But even the speed skating side of it, right yeah, even if you're doing solid speed skating, or if you're doing long distance speed skating or just the lap speed skating, either way you're gonna work a sweat absolutely, and I do every time I go to the rink.
Speaker 2:Lately they've been right on the heaters, do I so exactly?
Speaker 3:right, so it's inevitable. And then if your health starts to feel good, then mentally you'll start to feel good. Yep, you know, so it's, it's. It's that you know, especially when I live in such a doom and gloom state.
Speaker 3:Right where it's, it's wet and gray eight months out of the year yeah so for me washington's notorious for that right for me those days when it ain't man, I'll tell you what the sunsets, the sunrises, yeah, the greenery everywhere, it's just, it's something else, man, you know, and I, like I said you know, my wife's born and raised grass valley. We moved from um weaverville trinity county area.
Speaker 3:you know I'm born and raised riverside so I'm used to the Santa Ana winds, the fires. You know that's one of the big reasons why we left Northern Cali. We kept getting smoked out and wondering if this was the year our hill was going to be on fire. So we're just finally like, yeah, you know what we're good. Well, you know what I know about this place. You want to go see it? Yeah, let's go see it. All right, so we took a train and I brought him up to Bellingham and we've been here ever since Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I only came out to Colorado a couple of years ago and I have no desire to move back to California.
Speaker 3:You know what Like, don't get me wrong, it's home, right, it's what made me who I am. My street smarts, everything that I am came from the Inland Empire. No doubt about it, and I miss it and I love it. I'll wear it on my sleeve for life, man, but the reality of it is it's not livable anymore. Yeah, realistic, livable, right, you know, unless you've got that niche where you're Hollywood or Silicon Valley, average American, average Joe, the mall worker, the custodial, even some construction workers. It's just not conducive there anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So now, when it comes to your skates, you've explained what brands you use. Now is everything stock on them, or have you changed them to your taste?
Speaker 3:No. So my first thing is oh, what is it? Oh wait, you got a lot of low IP.
Speaker 2:So here's, my sliders, okay so.
Speaker 3:The plate and the Cushions just got redone and the wheels got done by Skate Fanatics Okay, by Kenny, and Pre Definitely recommend these guys definitely got their thumb on the spider and skate community just in general. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, they were just at Rock City and people's stuff broke, but they were able to get it fixed in and repaired right away nice someone lost a pair of skates not to their own doing, but you know, some unfortunate stuff happened in vegas and they were able to get him right as best as they could very cool, so you know they're always great. But yeah, so this got done for me at last year's uh cali slides event okay, that's enough you faded out on me if you haven't been to that event yet.
Speaker 3:Cali slides, that is another fantastic skate party, okay, um, they this year, especially this year, they had a vip gathering before the event kicked off. Yeah, and it literally was like this the who of who of skaters. Okay, that showed up and it was just just such a beautiful moment to be able to capture and see and the floor was like slicker than elephant snot, but everybody adjusted to it. It was such a beautiful poetic kind of chaotic thing going on. Nobody fell, nobody, whatever, but it just really was a great event that they did for the VIP. And then DJ Lady P was the DJ and she, just from the moment you walked off the elevator or up the stairs you were just bumping, walking in, just because the vibe, the ear candy that she was laying down, was just, it was good to go. So that's definitely one I would recommend if you haven't been to yet. You know, and it's different, right, it's all about the slides, right? Yeah.
Speaker 3:There's other skate styles there. Right, there's other. You know people got your regular boot skates, artistic skates or whatever, but you really get a sense of like this is cali, this is west coast yeah so and then. So that's about as customers that I have gotten. Okay, and then, like I said, I bought the signature Chicago skate from Reggie Premier. Okay, and that is just his standard setup. Okay.
Speaker 3:He didn't give me any specifics on like plates or wheels, but if you go to the chicago website or hit up reggie uh premiere on instagram um, it's his signature skate and I'll tell you what man I, I am actually really happy with them. Um, I'm able to, and growing up, I never took the time to learn what a skate setup should feel like. Yeah, now I know, as you refine your style, you're going to tweak things a little bit more to kind of fit you right. But what's that foundation like? Right, where do you begin? Yeah, so I asked him to set my skates up with what you would feel would be the, the foundation of a setup. So he did that for me. So now I know what a starting of a foundation should feel and look like. Um, so that's, and essentially I haven't touched it since.
Speaker 3:And I got last year okay, june and I haven't touched it since and I got last year, june, and I haven't tweaked them, I haven't messed with the trucks at all or nothing. And man it, I ain't gonna lie, it was, it was a, it was a game changer. I can definitely tell the difference between when I put my Jackson's on and when I put my Chicago's on and when I put my sliders on. You can definitely kind of feel the difference. And I'm still doing the same moves. I'm still doing the same, but you can just tell when, like on the JB, I feel it might be a little shorter base and the wheels might be a little bit closer, bit closer. Yeah. So you know, I'm the fluidity. Of certain moves happen a lot easier and a lot more fluid, and that could also be, like you know, my outdoor has got, you know, uh, stickier wheels.
Speaker 3:Right, I'm going with a 76 for outdoor because where I'm at the roads are just atrocious to skate on yeah so if you don't want to feel like your feet are going through a needle gun, you know just kind of just getting just beat up under your feet, and then when you take them off, your feet are all tingling right and you're like, oh my god, my feet hurt. Um, I didn't get that with these, so I kind of, I kind of like that. Now the downfall is they're strictly indoor. Yeah, you know so. Yeah, so now I gotta carry skates with me right now when I fly. I definitely gotta. I can't go spirit airlines because I can't bring all that on just to all my carry-on. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 3:I now have a suitcase with just two pairs of skates and it carries all my sweat towels in it Nice. And then I got a, which a lot of people don't know.
Speaker 3:this but, Zuka makes a skate bag. But Zuka makes a skate bag for traveling. Here's the thing, though the one that they make for skating, for roller skates, that wheel is kicked out of the frame okay, so TSA won't allow it. That wheel is stuck out of the frame Okay, okay, so TSA won't allow it, oh wow. But Zuka makes a pickleball bag where they put the wheel like this, and that's allowed, where it doesn't stick out, and so for some reason, this is allowed, tsa yeah. So I recommend to people.
Speaker 3:Now, you know it's a great travel bag. Um, it handles all kinds of things. It holds a lot sometimes I'll actually just fly with this and two pairs of skates. It'll hold my jacksons, my outdoor skates, and it'll hold my sliders okay, so I can fit two pairs of skates in here. And then the pockets, you know, can hold some your like my whistle, your some bandanas, your water or whatever else, but it and it goes up in the carry-on, just fine okay most people don't know that because they're looking for pickleball bag to carry their skates, right, yeah?
Speaker 3:so I've been telling people that. So if you wanted a good travel skate bag, zuka makes a travel skate bag. That's TSA approved, but you gotta look under pickleball okay you gotta type like pickleball travel bag and then it'll pop up yeah, so so it's silly yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:It's weird how we get discriminated against for being skaters right, it's so unbelievable.
Speaker 3:it's so, it's just unbelievable, Sounds so simple. It's like oh well, why don't we do that? So then, well, you don't think skaters travel yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it's kind of mind blowing, so yeah. So then you know I'll take that case. So now I got that, I got my, my carry on suitcase, and then you got your, your, your, your big suitcase. That's got all your clothes. Because, well, I don't know about you, but I usually go through two shirts a night, three towels, you know, depending on how the night is, I might even go through a pair of pants.
Speaker 2:Yeah there you go.
Speaker 3:And if I go to a skate night, you know three, four nights well, that's a lot of clothes and I don't really want to do laundry when I'm out of town.
Speaker 2:Exactly so now, who was one of your biggest influences in skating when you first started as a kid? Like what made you go that direction?
Speaker 3:Well, man, you know, I wouldn't know one specific name, more of just what I saw. You know, like me, being a socal kid, I grew up with venice beats and I would spend a lot of time at venice and just seeing the different, different talents. You know, I didn't know their names. I growing up in socal. It's kind of funny. We don't get starstruck, yeah, like I don't get starstruck because everybody around you is a star, yeah right like everybody around you some form or other has been on tv or this or that.
Speaker 3:So it's like, oh, okay, oh, I'm up.
Speaker 3:Okay, so it was. For other people it's no big deal, right, we don't? I don't know, for me, I don't tend to kind of get all googly eye and wooey eye over somebody that I've seen on Instagram or whatever. Right, like here at the skate party, you saw a lot, and I mean a lot, of skate. Like here at the skate party, you saw a lot, and I mean a lot, of skate influencers. Here at the skate party, okay, you had mr hollywood who, well, you literally saw half of roller jam past skate rock city, nice. You know dylan morton wasn't there, but half his honor roll crew was. You know you had some people from trendsetters there. You had, um, like I said, mr Hollywood and his other partner was there. Um, but yeah, so it's like, but you're not running up to him going.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, can I have your picture? Can I have your autograph? You know you're like, nah, they're here to do the exact same thing I'm here to do, yeah, be amongst like-minded people and relieve stress and whatever. You know if I happen to get a photo or if I happen to remember at some point during the weekend. Hey, man, you mind if I get a picture with you. Man, you know, I really look up to you. I really. You know, I love following you. I love watching your stuff on Instagram and this, and that I loved you on Roller Jam, you know, great, but it's not what I'm striving, it's not my end-all, be-all goal, right? Oh man, I got to go to the skate party so I can go meet this person because, oh, now my life's complete. Yeah, you know, I'm good, don't get me wrong, I'm wild by you. I love watching you. You know, I'm probably going to take a little bit and sprinkle it on my own, just because I liked how you did that or whatever, or try to figure out how I can incorporate your kind of. You know, one of the things I love doing is striding, right. Yeah, everybody's got a different little stride, how they kind of, you know, dip a little bit lower or this or that, right? So it's like oh man, I kind of like how you kind of stride like that. You kind of got a little extra swag to it. I might be a little bit heavy like that. You know things like that, but now I can tell you who my inspirations and influencers are now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, um Malik. You know, uh, mr JB, uh, uh, skater out of Chicago seeing him taking a class from him at borderline. You know, he's a big influence to me, reggie, like I've stated. Um, local people, uh, dj prototype. You know, he's a big influence to me, reggie, like I've stated, local people, dj Prototype. You know, not only is he a DJ, that fool can skate his butt off, that guy doing cypher and middle work or the jersey circles I mean, he, the cat can skate man and a phenomenal DJ. So he's a good inspiration for me right now to to always keep my, my craft going.
Speaker 3:Um, I got some people that aren't Insta famous but they do influence me just because of their dedication and the work that they have to the skate culture and community.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there's people like that, there's people that, at age 70 and still out there skating amongst the adults, you know they're inspirational to me because I'm 50. You know you're 52, right? Yeah, so you know this is the time where we're not supposed to be getting dumb and not supposed to be putting our ourselves into precarious positions where we could be laid up for a little bit longer than we really want to. Be right, yeah, there's some work because we we really shouldn't be missing work. Right, because we just took vacation. So now we don't got vacation or we have something else happens to where we can't use the family medical leave plan acting right now. So now it's like, well, if I, if I miss out, man, I'm missing out like we're gonna, we're gonna feel this one, yeah, you know. So it's seeing people like that, that it's like, wow, okay, you know, we were at Rose City, portland had their first skate party this year, and there was somebody there 82 years old.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:He had elbow pads on, he had knee pads on, he had a helmet on, but he was out there, yeah. And then, once it got busy, he wasn't out there, but he was out there, yeah. And then, once it got busy, he wasn't out there, but he was out there, you know, he didn't leave, he kind of still took it in, you know. So it's seeing stuff like that, that's just it's inspiring to me.
Speaker 3:And then people starting to recognize me, yeah, you know, and when I walk into a rink now and people starting to say some things, you know, or when you leave the floor, you know, like I said, I've only put my skates on here, you know really, and I'm like I'm active on them, you know, but really three years ago, for when I get off the rink and people go man, that was cool to see you, man, you're a good skater it's like all right, thank you yeah you're just you're, you're, you're reassuring that the work that I'm putting in, the time that I'm putting in there there's, there's validity to the sacrifice that I'm, that I'm doing right now.
Speaker 3:Right because, whether it's financial sacrifice, leap sacrifice, time away from the wife sacrifice. Right because if you're skating, you know you're not with her right so exactly and once I hit the floor, you know it might be a minute before I go back by her and go hey, hey, you doing good, you, okay, all right, give her a smooth, smooth, get a hit of water, and then I'm right back out on the floor. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know. So it's it's. It's those that are right now that are that are absolutely, really inspirational to me right now. Um, you know the the difference. Anyone who does a style and does it well is inspirational to me, cause that just tells me you put in the time, yeah, and that's inspiring to me because you know you have a sense and you had a belief in something and you crafted it to a point where people want to learn from you Exactly, and you've got knowledge that people hold value to.
Speaker 3:You know, there's some people that when you go to the rink, they never get a minute to themselves because people want the moment with them. Right, yeah, they always got someone in, you know, whether their partner, or skating around the ring, doing a train or a trio, but they always got somebody new with them, because the people that's how many people want to gain some type of, even if it's just a simple hey man, can you show me this hand placement so when I go back home I can do it correctly? You know, can you show me or you know when they're doing or if anybody's doing? One of the good things is a lot of people, you know, trying to learn spins. Right, yeah, learning spins is scary, scary. But there's people out there that do it super good and they have little tricks that they have learned over time to help make it be more easier or more fluidity to whatever they're doing and to gain that slight bit of knowledge. You go a long way versus you just going out there just trying to wing it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know. So if you can learn simple little gatekeep secrets, those are everything. So anytime I'm at the rink and I'm seeing somebody do something that I myself am trying to work on, but like, okay, right now I can't unlock the front toe spins, it's just not. It's just not unlocking for me right now. I don't know if it's my lead in or what, but I can do heel spins left, right easy, but get up on my front toes. My mind wants to shut down and go.
Speaker 3:No, this isn't for you right now yeah anytime I go see someone that just gets up on them, it's like, hey, what, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing a certain something to lead in? Or like, are you lifting your body up? Like what, what, what do you do? Right, and then I'll listen to what they say and I'm like, all right, and then I'll go try to apply it and then it'd be like all right.
Speaker 3:Well, you know what? I see that I did a little bit better by adding this, but not so much this, and maybe that might be because they're shorter, so for their body stature that whatever're doing works. Where I'm a little bit taller, when I stand straight up, I'm about six, two, six, three, yeah, you know. So you know, when you got a tall winky and now you're trying to, and now you got this big old dome on top of your head, you're winging that around right, a little counterbalance, just kind of going every which way. Well, you kind of got to learn these little things right. And so those, all those little tips of you know, okay, poor right bender needs a little bit more this. That you know, all these little things kind of help. And the next day, you know, I'll be doing front spins, front sit spins, you know. You know no lookies, you know, but it'll just be a matter of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now, what is some advice you have for people that want to do your style or get into skating? Just in general.
Speaker 3:The advice I can have is the biggest NACI slogan ever right, just do it. Yeah, you're're gonna doubt yourself, you're gonna sit there and go. Man, I'm too old or I'm too fat? Nah, uh, don't let weight to hinder you, because I I got some clips of of folks that you wouldn't think would be brave enough to get on skates, but they're out there and they're working it. You know, I mean even on little fibers. They're out there on little fibers and you're like, man, that's going to be a hard fall if you fall, you know, but I'm glad you're out here, but, man, that's going to probably be a nasty fall if you fall. But they never fell once. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know. So it's like, if you, honestly, are thinking about it, go do it and don't, don't, don't, don't. Go to the rink and go get the brownies, go get you some skates, because the skates, honestly, should be an extension of you. Yep, you know, we didn't come out of the womb with wheels on our feet Right.
Speaker 2:So once you speak for yourself, right you?
Speaker 3:know, once you came out, it's like what do we do? It's like it's unnatural.
Speaker 3:Your mind is not why you didn't come out with wheels. So, with that being said, you, when you do put them on, you want them to essentially be an extension of your feet, like you don't even have them on. So I I always recommend to people go, and you don't have to start off big right, you don't got to go get the custom skate with the custom fabric, with the custom plate, with the custom wheels, to where? Now, son, you're looking at $1,200. You can go get a good boot, a good hybrid boot, whether you want to do artistic or jam or just a little bit of in-between. You know it makes it easy to swap in between indoor and outdoor wheels. You know I don't personally recommend taking your outdoor wheels indoors. You know I'm a firm believer of swapping or just buying two pairs of skates. You, um, that helps with breathing too, you know, especially if you got I found out, uh, with with the leather boot, uh, yeah, uh, you want to let that bitch breathe uh yeah, I learned that kind of the hard way.
Speaker 3:I had to do some uh cleaning and some repair and I hope I didn't lose the leather. But um, I I lesson learned. Um, yeah, you definitely want to take your cause. I usually take my other skates out, but I had them in the, the, the Reggie skates, the Chicago skates. I had them in a cloth bag so I just figured that would always keep it. But yeah, no. So now I come home and I stick my skates on a on a boot dryer.
Speaker 3:So now I come home and I stick my skates on a on a boot dryer, so they dry because, uh, leather boots, um, you know, it's leather, right, it's real skin it's. It's still breathing, right? So, um, if you get your sweat up in there and then you just put it in and close it up, you're going to start to build some funk. So, uh, yeah, if you don't want funky feet, make sure you uh air and dry your feet out after a good, especially if you're a hardcore skater and you and you uh sweat a lot. You definitely want to make sure you you air them and don't leave them in the car overnight. Um, you know, because you got moisture in the night and that'll cause things to rust, especially like if you got metal screws on the inside of your boot, those will start to rust.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, just go, spend even 10-15 minutes in your dining room, your living room, maybe. Don't pull into the garage that night, Use your little garage space for some time and just get comfortable on them. Then, once you're comfortable on them, then go to the rink and then that's where it's all going to unlock, you know, and then put the time in. That's the absolute biggest thing. We've said it over and over right Time. Time is absolutely everything in order for you to get any type of growth in skating. You know time on and off skates.
Speaker 3:You know you don't have to just always be on skates to to do anything off skates. You know working on balance off skates, working on certain moves off skates just to keep your body. You know I coached sports as youth sports. You know my kids and stuff like that. One of the biggest things I would always show the kids is that even in professional athletes they're making millions but if you watch them they still do the same basic fundamental drills that they learn at age seven yep the pop-ups, the grounders, the free throws right, the, the layups.
Speaker 3:I mean these guys play professionally, yet for practice, when they're not at home, when they're not practicing with the team, they're at the gym or whatever and they're doing the same thing.
Speaker 3:You think by now, after 20 years, you still have muscle. Your muscle memory should be locked in right? Yep, oh, you still have to practice all the time, whether it's five minutes, 10 minutes, but you always want to just keep that sharpness of the basics. So work on that and so long as you have a solid basic and a solid foundation, the house that you choose to build, the skate house you choose to build, will be a solid skate house because you had a, you started with a solid skate house foundation. You know, and that's taking classes, whether it be in person or a lot of them are doing virtual classes now. So there's ultimately really other than you not being honest with yourself with where you want skating to be out of your life. You know the opportunities are there for all types of growth, you know, and and learning to to get where you want to get at any level.
Speaker 3:You know what? What? If you never want to do fancy moves, that's fine. You don't have to do fancy moves. You don't have to be the rhythm skater or the quick one foot pivot quick back, quick back, quick back, quick. Find what is you? Maybe hip-hop music doesn't get you going right. Maybe it's just not your thing, that's fine. When I'm outdoors, I might hit my playlist, but honestly I'm listening to reggae when I skate outdoors.
Speaker 3:I'm listening to Revolution. I'm listening to Stick Figure. I'm listening to Revolution. I'm listening to Stick Figure. I'm listening to Bombargo. You know, a great Saskatchewan band I just got turned on to after I went to the Michael Ferranti concert, you know, but these are all happy uppity. You know, just love one another type of music. You know, Put that on, See how you go with that. You know, skating actually started with rock and roll, right? Yep.
Speaker 3:So maybe it's that Maybe go put on some some Led Zeppelin. Maybe go put on some uh uh Rolling Stone. Maybe go put on some old school Aretha. Maybe it's that Maybe go put on some old school Aretha. Maybe it's that Something is going to help unlock or reignite or help fuel your skate journey. You just got to be willing to plug and play and not get discouraged when, a you get your first bad fall, b you see somebody else fall or you feel something's taking longer than maybe it should.
Speaker 3:You know because, honestly, you can't have no timetable on anything. Things are going to unlock and happen in the time it needs to unlock and happen in the time it needs to unlock and happen.
Speaker 3:You know, one of the biggest things is it wasn't until three years ago I was able to start backwards skating, for some weird reason. Every time as a kid I would try, even on ice skates, would try to backwards skate. My big feet would be like, yeah, no, we're not doing this, turn back around, thank you, have a nice day. And I'd always skate forward. Yeah, I asked my nephew's girlfriend. This is funny. This is he actually is the one who made my original custom skates for me. I was at Vegas Rise, we was at Cali Rise in Long Beach Okay skates, right. They were kind of catering to a specific style of skating or specific um side of skating right, more towards the derby side of skating of things.
Speaker 3:Right, and it's like that's not really what I'm kind of looking for. So I asked him if he could make me a skate real quick. So he drove from riverside all the way to Long Beach, grabbed my shoes I had just bought I bought two pairs of shoes because I didn't know which ones would work and then he drove back about six, seven hours later, after my concert was done, and at about 11 o'clock at night he brought me my custom Adidas shell top skates Nice. And so then I was getting all those and those kind of became my everything for a little bit, and then I got tired of swapping my wheels out, because once you get your setup right and you like it and things are good, you don't really want to mess with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:Well, every time I'll swap in between outdoor wheels, indoor wheels, and the hardiness of wheels like I um skate, with some shaved down harmonies sometimes which you know are ceramic, but those are like, um, sticks of butter on your feet, right, you just really fluid around the ring. And then I tried to describe to people the slider side, the smaller wheels. That's like jugs of oil on your feet, super fast, super slick, um. And then if you don't want that, if you want a little bit more grip, then you go. You know your 80s and your 70s, right, but anything above I say a 90, you start getting hard, you're going to be cooking, right, yeah? So I really try to suggest to that. So that's ultimately what I would give advice for people.
Speaker 3:One get your own skate Now. Don't get me wrong. If you don't have the funds right now, you know you need to put five bucks away a week until you have the funds. There's nothing wrong with doing rent-a-skates. There's nothing wrong with being with the brownie foot for a while. If that's all you got, that's fine. But I definitely would recommend get your own pair of skates because it really should be an extension of you. Yep, so yeah, no, really should be an extension of you. Yep, so yeah, no, I got man, you know, I just, I just wish I didn't, I didn't hesitate. You know, sometimes we need some things in life to give us that little push, that little motivation to help you not doubt or have the belief in yourself that you should have yep just wish I would have done this a little bit sooner, you know, not at age 50, because I tell you what?
Speaker 3:trying to learn instagram, trying to learn clickbooks, trying to learn videography, photography, lighthouse, movie making stuff I'm literally learning a bunch of stuff all at once and a lot Yep.
Speaker 2:So now how can my listeners follow you?
Speaker 3:So you guys can actually follow me on Instagram at skate hooligan 75. I'm in the process right now. I was literally doing that before your podcast but I'm in the process right now creating a youtube page where I will be making movies and reels of the skate parties that I have been fortunate enough and in being fortunate enough to capture. Um, if you would like me, um to come to a skating event or just a function to photographer or videographer um, you can hit me up at pivot videographer um, you can hit me up at pivot, wwwpivotskatecom or aaron at pivotskatecom and let's talk. I would love to come help capture and and time capsule. Uh, your, your wonderful skate weekend or birthday party.
Speaker 3:I'll come film a birthday party that'm not against that, but that's essentially how you can kind of see us. Or also at Northwest Rink. Skaters is another Instagram page that I'm a proud member and happy to be welcomed into. They help share a lot of my footage that I am able to capture um amongst the skate community and they're just like me. We're just here to help people hold on and share the great memories that they build and get. So you know we don't charge for our services. You know we come out, we, we do what we do and then we just share a Dropbox folder and then you get to go through and you know, oh, wow, that's my homie, that's my friend.
Speaker 3:Oh, I didn't know, they got that too. That's cool, you know, and so they're able to get that.
Speaker 3:And all we ask is for a simple tag or collaboration when they share whatever we captured. And you know, that just helps them grow, because we got a pretty big audience and it'll help us grow. You know, because ultimately, the goal is to grow the community and to keep the culture alive, yep, so you know, it is alive. It's alive and booming and you know, I'm happy to to be on the wave now, um, I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm excited to see, you know, so much young skaters out there now, you know that that are coming up. You know, um, I'm definitely would love to see the skate mates go away.
Speaker 3:I feel the skate mates are a real hindrance to to some skate development. In my personal opinion, you know, I feel it develops bad posture. You know, because if you watch anybody on a skate meet, what are they doing? They're leaning over. Yeah, right, and is that the posture we should have when we're skating? Nope, you know. Do they learn to bend their knees? No, why? Well, because they're stiff-legged and they're trying to walk, but it's not called walk of skating, is it? Nope, no, it's called roller skating. So you know. So I think you know, that's one thing like, one thing I won't have at my rink, I won't do skate mates because, again, like I say, I feel it's a hindrance, not a helper. It gives a false sense of security. So that's just like I said, just that's my personal belief. But I know there's folks out there that just love them and can't live without them, even adults you know, they're like oh I don't know.
Speaker 3:I need a skate mate. And it's like well, you know you're gonna be at the same spot, you're gonna be come next year if you don't get rid of the skate mate. You know, well, why can't I get my balance figured out? Well, because your body's three quarters of the way leaned over.
Speaker 3:Well there's no way you're gonna get balance if half your body's hunched over, yep so. But you know, ultimately, you know that that's the goal. But in the meantime, you know, catch me at one of your local skate parties. Um, on my list, like I said, I'm trying to make Houston Roundup rollout here in three weeks. Don't know if I'm going to be able to make that. The next one I'm trying to make is the Atlanta one in April. But if I can't make those two work, just because flights right, yeah, the one I'm definitely, definitely, definitely going to and flights already gotten for is borderline two in new york. Um, that's in may and it's usually at the end of may or beginning of may. Uh, it's like the first weekend in may usually. Oh, that's why I call one of my speakers. I got it right here. Borderline 3, may 7th and 11th 2025. Dj Dream, dj Tech Tricks, dj Tone Capoe, dj Prototype, dj Wildchild, dj New Era, dj Swizzy and DJ Koolin and DJ Money Mike are going to be your ear candy givers and, like I said, wednesday May 7th through Sunday May 11th in Tawanda, new York, is where I'll be capturing all the fun and then in June and I'll get this information to you via Instagram I'll be in Colorado June 21st for a skate competition that's going down. And then in July, the weekend of July 25th, skate City Radio DJ ENT is hosting their first annual skate party. So I will be going and an official videographer for that event. So that's the last weekend in July. Then I will be in Atlanta at the end of August for their big skate party in August, memorial Weekend Also.
Speaker 3:That weekend, if you cannot get to Atlanta, showdown in Seatown here in Seattle is another great skate party to get to. That happens Labor Day weekend as well. A lot of great people fly in for that. And then that's our big seafarer weekend. So the day party is at a cool community center and from there you get to watch the hydroplane races and the Blue Angels do their show. Literally they fly right over the community center a couple times. So you get to see some phenomenal fighter jet maneuverability. Literally you can almost like touch them with your hands to get that close. So that's another great weekend. And then there's one in September Rose City in Portland. I'll be at that skate party and then in November I'll be at Cali Slides.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So that's my skate parties for this year, and then I always hope to add a new one year, and then I always hope to add a new one.
Speaker 3:So if there's a party that you think would be fun or think I would actually really enjoy, don't be afraid to hit me up and let me know, because if I can make it work, I'm gonna I just told the wife I might think about just going into an rv and then just drive to all these skate parties, you know, chase them down one after the other and and just do a mobile uh videography podcast on the road and just try to maybe make it work that way. Yep, you know cause? Uh, yeah, I just looked up flies for Houston man and uh, yeah, even just a basic class man, they're trying to get 700 bucks yeah, you can't trust the airlines no, you know, then I got introduced to skip lagging, but it's like you can't have a checked bag.
Speaker 3:Yeah I was like well that's not gonna work, okay. So what's my next option? Oh well, you can do this, okay. Well, I tried, I tried. Looking at that, I'm like yeah, no, that's like two layovers. No, I'm done with layovers. I just had a bad layover experience with American Airlines. I'm not doing that, no more. We're direct flighting it now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I appreciate you coming on today and taking time out of your day. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:It's kind of the end of my day. Thank you, thank you.