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How Do You Sk8!
The Golden Rollers and the Birth of Roller Dance Movement
Step into the rich heritage of roller skating with Richard Humphrey, a true skating legend with over 65 years of wheels beneath his feet. From his first pair of metal skates in 1957 to pioneering the roller dance movement and creating the first lace-free signature skate, Richard's journey offers a rare glimpse into how roller skating culture has evolved across the decades.
Richard takes us back to a time when roller rinks prohibited skating in the center floor and when his dance crew, the Golden Rollers, created their own distinctive style without the influence of social media or cross-country skating exchanges. He explains how they forged what would become known as "roller dance" through disciplined choreography and a determination to always stand out from the crowd.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Richard's insights into the technical aspects of skating that often go unnoticed. He breaks down the origin and proper execution of classic dance steps, shares knowledge about skate construction gained from years working in a skate shop, and explains the critical differences between seemingly similar styles. His creation of RollerDance.com in 1996 and subsequent instructional videos established a foundation for preserving authentic roller dance techniques.
Beyond the technical knowledge, Richard shares a philosophy about skating that transcends the activity itself. His emphasis on finding your unique style, putting in the necessary time to master fundamentals, and creating something original rather than simply copying others serves as powerful advice for skaters at any level. As he puts it, "If everybody's just doing that one little step, you don't know one from the other... Set yourself apart."
Whether you're a seasoned skater curious about the roots of roller dance or a newcomer wanting to understand skating's rich cultural heritage, this conversation with the self-described "Roller Dance Man" offers both historical perspective and timeless wisdom from someone who has truly dedicated his life to the art of skating.
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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:Welcome to how Do you Skate. I'm your host, sean Egan, and my guest today is Richard Humphrey, who's got quite the long history of skating. So welcome to the show, thank you. So when did it all start for you, how old were you and what were your humble beginnings in the world of skating?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, back in the early 50s there wasn't a whole lot to do. So around 1957, I remember getting my first pair of skates and we had the old metal skates and we had the skate key which, believe it or not, that's what we skated on back then. And you know we did that for a few years because that was pretty much one of the few things to do was roller skate. It wasn't a whole lot of other things going on.
Speaker 2:Now, back then did they have roller rinks? Because I'm not quite sure the history of when roller rinks started.
Speaker 3:You know if they did. I never saw any roller rinks but they did have a rink that was located in San Francisco at Ocean Beach, but I think that was more like in the 60s. Ok, but as a kid never went to a roller rink.
Speaker 2:So now, how did it progress? Like, when did you get your first pair of non-metal skates? I mean, you're one of my few guests that have a long history, and if you said 57, that's 60-something years, isn't it? Yeah?
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, I'm telling my age, right.
Speaker 2:You don't look a day over 39.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:So, but I mean, mean, how was the transition? Was it just skating and then you became, had more of a love for it as you got older? When, like when, was that transition to it becoming a serious thing for you?
Speaker 3:well, um, probably in my early teens, one of my friends that I used to bowl with, which is an older gentleman, he got into skating. He was definitely skating in the 60s. I remember so well because it was the first time he actually took, the first time that I actually went to a roller rink and of course, you know skating with, you know rink skates and stuff like that. And that was at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, ok, and. And that was at ocean beach in san francisco, okay, um, and all I remember was we skated around and I do remember the hokey pokey.
Speaker 2:Sad part is okay, I don't know if it's sad, but for the general sessions with the kids they still do it yeah, I know they've tried they've tried many times to get me to jump in and and I'm like no, I used to be addicted to the hokey pokey, but I turned myself around, so I'm good now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we went a few times and then believe it or not right next to the bowling alley because bowling is another one of my huge sports anyway, since I was a kid and one of the supermarkets closed down and made it a roller rake, okay, so I would go in and skate there every now and then and stuff like that. I was like in the 60s, uh, late 60s, um, early 70s, and then, um, in the early 70s, like like 73, 74, people were just the buzz, was like roller skating for some reason, and I was like, oh man, I hadn't done that in a little while. And so went to this roller rink in South San Francisco and it's called Grand Arena and I never looked back Nice and then so you're pretty much a.
Speaker 2:Would you consider jam or artistic, or what would you consider yourself?
Speaker 3:I consider myself not a jam skater, not an artistic skater, more of an RV type of skater. Okay, because the distinction is so different? Because when I got into it we pretty much just went around the rink a lot. You know, that was like the thing, and for those that don't know, it took a while before the middle really opened up to the way it is now. Yeah, roller rinks didn't allow people skating in the middle. Even when I started working at the rink, nobody went in the middle. That just was not the thing to do. I always had to keep people stuck, because I started working there too, and the whole time during the sessions we were just keeping people out of the middle. So we just skated around in circles all night. So that's what we did. You know, there was no middle game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the Golden Skate in San Ramon was my home rink. Ok, so back when the thing and it's funny because now they call it artistic and jam skating, but I remember when we called it rexing.
Speaker 3:So Well, for some reason it's just an FYI for me. I never liked that name, it just never applied for some reason. Rexing, it just didn't compute. And jam skating never heard that until pretty much after the pandemic or prior to, when a lot of kids start battling and doing that you know type of skating. Nobody really called it jam skating. Um, because in the early 80s, late 70s, we looked at more like roller dance. Yeah, because that's what, that's what we really got into and nobody really even used that phrase roller dance. It was not a, it was not a word that anybody used, but for some reason it applied to what we did, so much that I got locked on it. So roller dance has been my thing since the late 70s and to the present, and that's you know. And of course, the internet 1996, I started wwwrollerdancecom and I've had it ever since.
Speaker 2:And now is that? I already looked it up, but I want to hear it from you. So now is that like instructional videos on learning how to roller dance, and I know you've got your own skates and wheels, so you, you've expanded it since you've started it, but tell people more about what it's about well, you know, for us, um, since we didn't have social media and nothing like that, back then, all we pretty much did was focused on our own creativity.
Speaker 3:We had nothing else to look at and we just totally we were so in tune to what we did. You know, the guys that I hooked up with, they were already skaters, dancers. The guys that I hooked up with, they were already skaters, dancers. I was more of the skater, even though I loved to dance, but once we put it together, we just worked hard, like any other group, dance group or whatever, and all we tried to do was set ourselves apart from what everybody else was doing, had to do was set ourselves apart from what everybody else was doing, because back then, late 70s, we didn't know what they were doing in new york, what they were doing in venice beach or anywhere.
Speaker 3:We didn't see none of that yeah so all we could do was just focus on what we did, and we didn't have video cameras and all that stuff. All we had was a camera where we got shots. And, um, 1982 was pretty much our breakout year as far as seeing ourselves on video, because we had a tv show called evening magazine. And when we did that, man, it was like, wow, you know, people knew us all over the place, you know, because they saw us on TV. So our thing was, like I said, just creating us. You know what I mean. Like the temptations we always call ourselves the temptations on wheels. Yeah, you know, because we we were just doing things nobody else did. You know, there was nothing trendy to look at that we followed, like they do today.
Speaker 3:All people that do now just pull up a video and go like, oh yeah, I want to learn how to do that. And before you know it, you act. They act like they're the ones that created it all. So, um, the beautiful thing is is that I do have some old video that I that I keep in my vault, that I break out every now and then to just let people know that, hey, this is where it began, regardless of whether people want to admit it or not, and that's a hard thing for skaters today is just admitting that. Oh wow, you know I'm 72 years old.
Speaker 3:And probably in 1979, a lot of the skaters like today, a lot of them weren't even born. So this is the only way that I have tried to keep what I do, what our group did, alive and passing it down now to the new generation. So the beautiful thing is that the two guys that skated with me no longer skate. I love all the video stuff. I've learned how to play with Instagram and make videos and make them cool and fun, and that's just my way of saying to the now generation of skaters there was a before. Yeah, you know, whether people want to admit it or not, you know because it's very interesting, because a lot of times people keep saying, oh, there's nothing new under the sun. That's not true. People are creating and inventing and doing different things every day.
Speaker 3:I felt like back then we created something that nobody else had and it was unique and the interesting thing for those who are listening, we never shared what we do. Yeah, because if we did, everybody else would have got whiff of it and you know who knows where it would have went, you know. So that's kind of my message to the skaters. Today is like, yes, there was a before. Today is like, yes, there was a before and another interesting thing about, like skating back in the day when I mentioned about no middle game. You don't see any videos of people in the middle in the 70s, 60s or whatever, because a lot of the rinks did not allow it yeah that's real important for people to know.
Speaker 3:They didn't allow it. So if it wasn't allowed to do in the rinks, where were people doing it? Nowhere, yeah, you know. So, not until the late 70s or 70s, when venice beach and they started skating there and people started seeing things is when it kind of really opened up. So we always looked at it like 79 was the breakout year because of the wheel. The wheel changed the game and so because of that, more people started going outside that used to skate inside, and that's how this whole skating thing has blown up since then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I mean I remember skating in Golden Gate Park and that that was late eighties, early nineties and just to see the transition. So like Terrell Ferguson's, one of the OGs for the Venice beach scene, you're basically a Bay area legend. Then you and your crew, from where you guys started and I know still have a lot of friends in the bay area and the bay area used to be have a lot of good roller rinks and now it's kind of died down and I'm in denver, colorado, now and I've got seven rinks within driving distance well, what's what's very interesting about the skating rinks in san francisco?
Speaker 3:because a lot of people don't know a lot of the history. When Ocean Beach Rink closed down, the last official roller rink that was in San Francisco opened up in 1980 and it closed in 1981. It was called Le Parc because I worked there. I worked there from the day it opened to the day it closed in 1981. It was called la park because I worked there. I worked there from the day it opened to the day it closed. So officially that is what we've always called the last official roller rink in san francisco. Yeah, so you know, from ocean beach to uh, la, that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean because, like I said earlier, golden Skate was my home rink but back when I was younger, livermore had one called Roller Odyssey on First Street. Hayward used to have the wooden floor on Mission, and then they even used to turn the Hall of Commerce at the Alamedanta county fairgrounds into a roller rink there for a while too. So we've had roller rinks, but it just seems like golden skate and I guess there's one in san jose. Um, that seemed to be kind of like the longest reigning roller rinks. As I skated it at golden skate 30 years ago and I thought it was closing, and to find out it's still open. I mean that's part of my skating history right there. So it's kind of exciting to see that it's still going on and just the fact that you come on and you've been skating since the 50s, so that's that's. That is awesome, so, and it's cool to get the different stories and you learn history of skating from the numerous guests that I have on. So I mean, you're kind of our skating historian now, aren't you?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I've saved all my VHS tapes, my eight millimeter tapes. I recently had a eight millimeter reel tape that I actually had for 40, let's see, 42 years and just so happens, I kept looking at it, I kept looking at us. Well, let me just take it to Walgreens. Yeah, I took it to Walgreens and they did it, and once they did their little magic to it, it was like two minutes, three minutes, but it was magical for me because that was some of the only footage of the golden rollers where we actually were skating and you know, back in the early days, where we can actually like, oh, wow, I remember that, you know, like yesterday, so, and that's why it's kind of cool. So, yes, I kind of consider myself a skating historian, and only in a lot of ways, not only just because I've skated. I've traveled, yeah, I've traveled a lot of different places in the world. I've been to Brazil, I've been to Germany. I've been to Brazil, I've been to Germany, I've been to London, I've been to Spain. I've really gone to some really, really cool places other than, you know, going to New York, skating at the world famous Empire, stuff like that. I've been there. I have footage of all the places that I've been. Yeah, I've been there. I have footage of all the places that I've been. Yeah, and it's kind of nice to look back on that, because if I, as a skate historian, don't have it to show people, they don't have anything, you know, they just have like, oh yeah, I think he used to, you know, but the cool part is I actually have it. I got pictures when I was in germany or you know places like that where we done some really cool things with roller skating, you know so. And the crazy part is, like, once the video cameras came out because the vhs, yeah, um, camera that I used, but I used to like sneak it, you know, out and use it, and I pretty much try to videotape everything I can.
Speaker 3:So every time I started going to skate parties what we call skate parties, like traveling to different states one of the first big parties was atlanta, what we call skate-a-thon. So that was 2005. So prior to that, 2005 was kind of a breakout because there was no such thing as skate parties. It was one here, one there, but now you're bringing skaters from everywhere so everybody can kind of see all the different styles of skating and stuff like that. That was cool, that was very nice. So 2005 was kind of a breakout year for a lot of traveling skating. For a lot of skaters that don't know or because a lot of skaters to this day have never traveled they just go to their home rink and that's it. So they don't know what's going on other than what they see on Instagram and YouTube.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. What is one of your favorite countries that you've skated in? I know Spain's got a really big scene, london and I've even had a guest on from Colombia and just learning about the different skating cultures around the world has been amazing. But what is one of your favorite places that you've skated?
Speaker 3:I have to say Spain has been pretty much one of the most fun over the last few years because they have this event called Skate Love Barcelona. Yes, and a young lady, michelle, put it together and it literally brought skaters from all over the world into one spot, not like a national skate party where you just go from state to state.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this was people from all over the world, and one of the coolest compliments that I think I got is, like young lady said to me we love you in the Cayman Islands. And I'm going like the Cayman Islands and I'm thinking that little spot out there in the ocean, you know. And so it just goes to show you that people are looking all over the world.
Speaker 3:Because a lot of places don't have a skating scene. So Instagram and YouTube and TikTok is that scene, because they have something to look at. But the cool thing about Spain is that we're all there those that people follow and stuff like that and to them we're like skating stars. Yeah, you know what I mean. I was just looking at myself as just being me and just sharing what I love to do, but Spain, I think, has been the highlight for the last few years of traveling.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah, eventually I had a previous guest on and that was her first trip was to Barcelona and she actually accomplished doing a spin on the beach. That was her goal, so she got to do it in Spain. So I mean you don't get better than that, Right. But now, what led you to create roller dancecom? I mean you've had that since, like the beginning of the internet.
Speaker 3:Well, only because I I felt like, like I said earlier, the style of dancing on skates, it just all made sense. Back then everybody was roller, disco, disco, skating, this, and that I'm going like, well, for some reason, I always said, I said we're dancing on skates, so we're on roller skates and we're dancing Roller dance. And it's interesting because now so many people use the phrase roller dance. Now, yeah, and I'm going like, wow, I said how do you differentiate one from the other? You know, and we always looked at it because of the dance choreography and cause that's what we were known for, our dance choreography. So we always call ourselves roller dancers and and that hasn't changed. You know, I always just felt like I was a dancer on skates.
Speaker 3:What sets us apart? We're roller dancing and that's how my first video came about roller dancing or workout on skates. What sets us apart? We're roller dancing and that's how my first video came about roller dancing or workout on skates and because of that, it was the first instructional roller dance video on the World Wide Web, whether people know that or not, and even to this day, people are like oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3:People go like oh, I didn't know that, because people have taken a lot of the moves and recreated and guess what, you never get credit for anything, yeah, you know. So I fight to this day. I literally fight because I feel like if you create something, whatever it may be, it's sort of like a respect thing. Give some props, even if you change some things. That's okay. But the one thing that I've always fought for, especially in the video and I actually say it in my video and a lot of people never bought the video it says that people will change some of the names of the steps. I said that, but what I always keep the original form, that don't change.
Speaker 3:It's just like today you got a lot of artistic skaters or you have a lot of people that have come from different forms of skating into that circle of dance jam skaters. I just saw something recently where they call the jam skaters roller dancers. I'm going like no, that's not what they do. We never looked at it as the same. Yeah, uh, and I'm going like so and so now everybody is this roller dance, that roller dance, blah, blah, blah. And I'm going like, wow, that's so. Now everybody is this roller dance, that roller dance, blah, blah, blah. And I'm going like, wow, that's kind of messed up. It's sort of like, not a, not a real disrespect, but it's. It's like, come up with something else. That's all I want to say. You know, the only thing is the word roller dance is one of those. It's a generic word. The only thing is the word roller dance is one of those. It's a generic word. That was the only reason why I did not trademark it. It's just like saying skating you can't trademark the word skating. So that's just something that I have to live with, but I will continue to fight it. Just so people know, my video has 13 steps. The first video and those steps, like are forever. And now I see all these skaters worldwide doing variations of the step, but nobody has really learned the original dance.
Speaker 3:It was always an original dance. It didn't focus on a particular step or name and, for those that are listening, it has never been called the downtown Never ever. I don't have a step called the downtown Never ever. That came from somebody somewhere else, who.
Speaker 3:And what I try to explain is that, okay, downtown is one name, but if I got 13 steps, then what does that move? What does that move? How do you distinguish one from the other? So I always figure like the easiest way to distinguish is something by name. Your name is, my name is Richard, your name is Charles, your name is. So when I call a step regular, long, short, triple it makes sense If I gave it a number and everybody go like well, in this dance we call it number one, we call it number this and everything is a number.
Speaker 3:It's kind of confusing. So it was always easy to call everything by a name. So every time I created something new I literally write it down yeah, I call it this, I call it that, so that it has a distinguished name. And I've always taught that in my classes since the late 80s to now and everybody knows what those names are. They know it, you know. And everybody knows what those names are. They know it, you know.
Speaker 3:But, like today on the Internet, I saw a young lady go well, this is, this is a different variation of the downtown, but when you look at the step, as soon as I see it, it's a, it's a half turn. That's what we always call it Same move. Yeah, people look at it and it just changes. So that's always just been my thing, you know. I mean for me, you know, and for those that don't know, I mean I have a long list of all these names of stuff and they're going like oh, wow, so now, crab Legs, crab Walk to us was always a shuffle.
Speaker 3:You know stuff like that, you know what. And then I, and then what I like to do every night is just pull up a video, 1982, we're doing that same move that you guys call a slow walk, but we just call it a shuffle because that's what it was. So we always tried to distinguish or name something by based on what we did or what we do. So and as a group coming up, everybody used to be, you know, those who love to dance, all these fancy the twist or whatever the dance was, we incorporated the latest dances into our moves, into our routines, and that's how we kind of it built off of you know, yeah and that's how we kind of it built off of you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was gonna say that's awesome, because I don't think a lot of people actually understand where especially now with the modern day with the internet and being able to follow people, I don't think people know the origin of a lot of these moves. So they see somebody do it and sometimes they give credit to that person because I've talked to people and they're like oh, I saw this guy do this move and so I'm trying to learn how to do that and I don't know all the technical names, just like I do hvac for a living, and I don't know all the technical scientific names for stuff. But I can fix it. So.
Speaker 2:But it's the nice thing about what you do unlike what I do, like speed skating or hockey or stuff that we actually have the rules where we have a thing to follow. You guys get to create stuff, like your crew created all these moves. And even with freestyle skating we get people out there that are just creating new moves. I mean, I was at the X Games when Tony Hawk did the 900 for the first time out in San Francisco. So it's the nice thing about skating is you have that freedom and you've come up with a lot of moves that people can, that people can add to and create their own style, but still use your moves. So, create their own style, but still use your moves.
Speaker 3:So that's and that's all really what I've always said. I mean, it's like it's okay to say that you learned it from so-and-so, you learned that from so-and-so, that's okay, but for some reason, a lot of people don't want to say that, you know what.
Speaker 3:I mean Because this is what I tell everybody Everybody wasn't always a good skater. Everybody had some kind of beginning and because of that things take time. So, as a spinner, for example, people hold spinning classes. Right, I'm going to teach you how to spin. Spinning don't work for everybody. That's not just that move that, because that person does it very well.
Speaker 3:And you say I'm going to do a workshop and teach people how to spin. So you think you're going to walk in there today and walk out spinning? No, I don't teach spinning. I've never taught spinning at all because it just wasn't something that I got into. But there are some skaters who over time have developed into really good spinners and if you ask that person who did you kind of emulate that from, they could probably tell you. I would probably say and I could probably say this for a fact that almost any skater, or a lot of skaters today that they've watched somebody, somebody caught their attention. Just like people watch Steph Curry shoot a three or LeBron or whoever it is, somebody's watching and they're learning how to do those crossover moves or whatever. Something caught their attention. It's OK for people to say, hey, I learned that just watching.
Speaker 3:I kind of got an idea watching him or her whoever it is that was doing something cool, kind of got an idea watching him or her, whoever it is, that was doing something cool. So, just like we were saying about names, my only thing was is that I can figure. I've used figure for a perfect example because I follow all that stuff. I love ice dance, I love watching ice dance and certain things and figures that I and figure skating. They've had names that are forever locked in. I got books. I got some books that tell you about all these moves and the names the sow cow and this and that and people were like, what's a sow cow? You don't know that. It's actually somebody's name that they actually got that move from. That's why it's called and it's actuallyow. If you look at the way it's pronounced or spelled, it's not Sao Chow, sao Chow. So I got books and I read them and I'm going like back in the day, the 12 or the 23 or whatever they called it they got these diagrams. You don't know what they're doing. That's what they called it. So my thing was always been like when I first did the instructional video. The reason why I did it was so that if I ever traveled somewhere. We got together. It's like do you know regular, long and short and triple? Yeah, man, I love that kind of stuff and that was really my goal from day one, day one. That video is sort of just put other things in place. For me that was just a main video, but a lot of skaters worldwide are doing it and not knowing the history and why that name is this.
Speaker 3:Like I tell people, for example, like well, how did you come up with that? Okay, if you listen to what I'm getting ready to say, it's going to make sense to you. Regular was just a basic step. How do you take regular and make it something else? So, okay, added this step, added that step, then it becomes long because it is the longest move. I'm doing a longer move and then I shorten the move, so now it's the shortest move. So I call it short, regular, long and short. Triple became left, right, left, that's three. So if you add it up, it just became a formula.
Speaker 3:So that really became my formula of how I create dead steps, and so the whole idea was that I can go anywhere. So you know long or you know short. They go like oh yeah, I know that you know. But now they go like oh, you know the downtown I'm going like no, because there's so many variations of it that you don't even know what the actual name of step is. Yeah, so it's that kind of stuff that I just try to get people to see in a different light. That's all you know. If you're doing a shuffle, a shuffle versus a walk, we have a different variation. A walk, if you look at the definition of a walk, you lift your heel when you walk. Yeah, you shuffle your feet, never come up. See, people never look at it together.
Speaker 2:Just the technical stuff.
Speaker 3:Just the technical, but they make a big. If you're doing a triple sow cow, that's different from doing a triple toe loop. Right, you get marked down for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of people focus on the move but not like the technical aspects of the move. So I know a lot of people I know I'm not gonna say a lot of people, I know a few people that you know we get the technical stuff down and I have a friend that was on the show and he just, he just skates and his feet move all over the place, but he doesn't, he just does it. It's like he doesn't have names for it or anything, he just does it. No names.
Speaker 3:He just do what he feels. Yeah, and that's the difference between freestyle versus choreography. Yeah, and if you notice, in the skate world, the roller skate world, that is that's why you don't see a lot of competitions and contests of somebody just doing dance choreography Hardly at all. Even when they just had Roller Jam on, I watched it. I was just waiting to see what was going to happen.
Speaker 3:So many different variations of skating, it's hard to pinpoint one over the other. Like there's artistic, you got figures, you got jam, then you have dance, so you got four different styles. So when people say, well, they're the best on a roll, I've been watching on a roll since they started, before that whole, when it all started, yeah, because I always said everything it all looked the same to me. It's just that they just did different variations of staying on the floor and stuff like that. And there's some things that if somebody's standing on their head and spinning, that's not roller skating to me, you know. So I'm just keeping it real.
Speaker 3:You know it looks great and everything, but if your feet not on that floor doing something, because you can do that as a gymnast or something to that effect and incorporate the two, cause a lot of them do that, um. So there's a lot, a lot of arguments about it. But to say this style is best over, that style is, is very difficult to do. You're either going to put all jam skaters together and let them battle and stand on their head and flip and jump and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, and then you've got this group over here that are actually doing dance moves and choreography. That just kind of has a different flow. Even jam skating has variations of it, but there's a distinction between the two. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:So that's just kind of. I mean I literally for those that don't know I really watch and study roller skating. I see all aspects of it. When somebody say a name, I could pretty much tell you about that person what I've seen, style wise is he original? Is, is he an offshoot of somebody else's style, or a state style, where a lot of skate styles now are kind of similar, because that's kind of what everybody in that state does versus out here.
Speaker 3:So people say, for example oh, you're from Cali, I go. Yeah, I'm from Cali, but styles are totally different. Yeah, not the same. We might do some variations of, but we're not quite on that same page. And so, like I said, my thing was how do we get on the same page, you know, instead of fighting with each other? You know, the thing now with roller skating is that people have opportunity to make money. Yeah, whereas before, you know, when I started doing workshops, there was no such thing as a roller dance workshop. All of a sudden, where I look, now everybody's doing a roller dance workshop and I'm going like you're doing the basics, you're doing, you know, and there are a lot of basics, there's no one over the other. So when people say oh yeah, I'm a roller dance teacher now. Oh, I just got certified as a roller dance instructor. I'm going like how long you been skating? A year, two years. Maybe you watch the videos, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You don't just become something because you watched a video or because you took a little test, you know. We just look at the longevity of what you're doing, style wise, you know. It's not for everybody, you know, and it is not to discredit people that are trying to learn, that want to be teachers or whatever, but there are things that take time, you know. And so my thing is that, because you have a lot of people now that want to do it, how do you set yourself apart from somebody else? Because if you're doing with 50 other different groups of states are all doing the same thing, then you're not separating what you do compared to everybody else. So, with that being said, I've always just liked to be different. I like to if everybody's doing this.
Speaker 3:I'm definitely going to be doing that, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I teach my students Find your niche.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I use that word a lot you find your niche and I've told somebody that, like a whole bunch of times, I found my niche a long time ago, and how can I pass that down and create along the way? That's different from what everybody else is doing. So I keep telling people find your own niche. It's okay. You know what I mean. There's nothing wrong with that. That's just how it works.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I know it's like with bodybuilding you learn the basics, but if you're going to want to compete, you're not going to go to your local gym and work with the trainer there. You're going to go to Hanny Rambod or you're going to go to Charles class, you're going to go to the people that have trained champions and spend that extra money. It's like you make that sacrifice. So if I wanted to learn how to roller dance, I would definitely come to you. So, and since my mom's in Livermore, I just when I come out to visit, I would just call you up and say, hey, but I don't have quads yet.
Speaker 3:So well, you know what I, what I've, what I've told a lot of people is that, like I, I've, I've had a lot of students come in and out of my classes over the years and you always get one or two who sticks with it thick and thin because it's like going to Juilliard Maybe you just put it that way, if I had to make a comparison. You just can't walk into Juilliard and just become this super well-known dancer overnight. Yeah, you got to go through the processes, you got to go through this, you got to go through that. It's like you have to prove to me that you are worthy of being person of Juilliard. So my students I've had students four, five, six years, I mean religiously. They've learned the game, they've learned the terminology. I put them through the. I just put them through the ropes only because they want to learn it. I teach them my lingo, I teach them hand language or certain things on how I do it, so that it carries on to the next group or generation of skaters, so that the roller dance Academy, for example, it has a name built around a foundation of longevity, of doing a lot of things. And so when I choose one of my students to, let's say, take the lead. That's just a way for me to just test them to see where they are now. Can you call it? Can you do these dances? Can you do them the exact this way every single time? Can you teach the next person exactly the way I'm teaching? So you have that's how great figure skaters and teachers. Tiger Woods he's teaching his son, right, I mean, he looks like Tiger. Yeah, you know, and that's how I kind of do my program.
Speaker 3:So what I do, instead of certifying people, I give them my blessings. Okay, I say I give them my blessings. Okay, I say I give you my blessing, you're going to. I have a friend now that lives in oh man, he's overseas somewhere, sweden. Okay, he said I'm going to Sweden. Mark Sowers was at my classes every week, did miss a beat, he learned so fast forward. He said, richard, I'm moving to Sweden. I said, hey, man, you got my blessings to do your thing when you go to Sweden, and so I loved it when I saw him doing a class or teaching people how to do the steps, and I'm going like, wow, that's what I'm talking about. Right, he didn't have to have a piece of paper at all you know. I mean he could take that with him wherever he goes, because he's kind of specialized in that. So my students are specialists without having a piece of paper. So my students are specialists without having a piece of paper.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they can go anywhere and say, hey, you know what? If you know anything about richard humphrey, the good part is now you can go online and you can watch it and see it. It's like, oh, I didn't know that. I've been looking at those videos for years, or something that I have never known you know. So when people go like, yeah, I learned that from him. Well, that's, you know, I like that. I mean, it's just it's nice that people give you that homage, yeah, and that's what I do. I just I just give people my blessings to to carry on the journey.
Speaker 3:So I have people that, like I said, they're coming to me for years. They can't come like they used to, but they can skate on Tuesday night or Wednesday night in their area and people go like, hey, are you teaching or can you teach us? I say, hey, I can't be over there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, do your thing. Yeah, and because I know it's in good hands, they're going to keep it going. Those are the ones that are really serious about it. You know, and it's just that's how I do it. You know what I mean? It's just because it tells me that people are serious about the craft. They're serious about the art of the dance, because I always called it an art form. Oh, absolutely, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:And so when you watch a, a group, and everybody looked like one, that didn't just happen overnight. That's critiquing, that's messing up, that's not getting it right, that's forgetting, that's, um, putting in the time. You putting in the time when everybody else is doing something else. You in your living room, when you're in the time. You're putting in the time when everybody else is doing something else. You in your living room, when you're in the kitchen. It's like I got to get that move. I got to. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Those are the ones that I'm serious about, you know I see a lot of that now.
Speaker 3:But that's just what my program and what I've always just been about is just keeping the art form of what I created alive and for other people to see it. And that's why, like I said, that's what RollerDancecom was all about. It was just simple, it wasn't a lot. But I and you know, and it was really interesting because when I said, when I came up with RollerDancecom, I said to myself I hope it's a name that people will always remember. And so now everybody says RollerDance. So I guess it's working.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they type in RollerDance. You probably should be right at the top right.
Speaker 3:Well, it's the first one that usually pop up. Nice, that's the one thing I learned about the web.
Speaker 2:It was like, oh wow, that type in roller dances of richard humphrey. I was like, oh wow, how cool is that? There you go. I saw a thing a while back on the internet. It was, uh, I guess they call it a meme, but it wasn't like a funny meme. But it said, um, it was about piano, learning how to play the piano. And someone said, oh, I wish I could play the piano like that and the. No, you don't because you're not going to make the sacrifice to do it. So it's, it's.
Speaker 2:People don't realize how much work and we're in an age where everybody wants a quick fix. People go to the gym once and if they haven't lost 10 pounds, they're done. It's. Everybody's looking for that shortcut, and especially with skating there is no shortcut. And the guy that first taught me how to skate with skate, when I got my first pair of inlines, he spent the first three days just knocking me over, just so I got used to falling. So once you get past that fear of falling, then everything else came easy. I wasn't afraid to try stuff. I'm 52. I actually turn 53 tomorrow and I still fall.
Speaker 2:I've got a scar on my shin from speed skating practice. So it's one of those things that if you really want to get good at your craft whether it be speed skating or dance skating you got to put in the time, you got to practice. You got to show up when nobody else is showing up. So I think that's the most important part.
Speaker 3:And that's it. You know, like now skaters somewhat have some opportunities to do some things. You know people that are skating with Usher. Now that was an opportunity for people who just went to the rink and you know they do what they do, you know, and it's like Usher's going on tour. I need some skaters. You look for the best skaters at the rink to feel what you're looking for and it kind of flows from there. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, you got to put in the time, because I remember in my early years, especially in the early 70s, when I would go to the roller rink when there's a kid session, I said, no, I'm learning how to skate, I don't care nothing about these kids. And so I always just put the time in and then I would practice like all the time. I mean, I was always just trying to create different things for roller skating. So in the late 70s I had a pair. In one of my pictures that I have, I'm in all white tuxedo with white patent leather boots and I always said to myself it would be cool one day to have my own boots. I just and I was in 1978. So when you ask that story really about like how did that come about? Well, 30 years later, I just happened to um talking with one of my friends at the road at the um at the skate shop. His name was legal. Oh, they had a skate shop called skates on hate. That was forever in San Francisco.
Speaker 2:I remember that, yeah, and so I said to Lee one day I said, francisco, I remember that, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I said to Lee one day I said, lee, I got this great idea. I said a boot with no laces. What do you think he said really? I said I got this concept, you know, and I got this idea. And he said, well, let's talk to Rydell. So talked to Rydell and just great, meeting and everything. And you know, they said that we have never made a boot with no laces in our 60-year history. So I literally became the first person with a skate with no laces. And that's how I came up with the Richard Humphrey no Strings Attached. I had to give it a cool name. It all kind of fit in Absolutely. That's how that boot came about the Richard Humphrey. So it felt really good to know or to have a product, because a lot of these skate companies do not have names associated, like Jordans with their boots and stuff.
Speaker 3:They have names like the 17ordan's. Yeah, their boots and stuff. You know they have names like 172 or 120, but man, it sounds really good when somebody said, well, you got you some richard humphries.
Speaker 2:Huh, you know that's kind of nice, you know it has a nice ring to it and you would think they would do that because in the skateboarding side of skating, um, tony hawk has his boards, bam margera had boards. A lot of the skaters had their own boards that people would buy to be like them. So to see that, and uh, one of my, my actual first guests was chris edwards, freestyle inline skater x games competitor. I call him a movie star, but it was minor roles but he was still in the movies, but he has his own freestyle inline skates too. So it's cool to see that people are getting their names and, um, I'm most likely going to end up buying a pair of your skates eventually here skating as long as you wear by chains 13s no, I have something up there in the shop.
Speaker 3:Um, I know I got some 12 and a half, so I know I have a 14. I got some 11 and a halves. I had to look at that 13 though, but yeah, you know it's. It's. The whole skate world is interesting that a lot of people just don't know a lot about the, the vaccines of a lot of this stuff. You know, the same thing happened with my wheels, the Richard Humphrey roller bones. You know it was like hey, richard Humphrey got some boots. How about? What do you think about a wheel?
Speaker 3:And I was like oh man, that would be like off the hook to have wheels and a boot. So I do so. Thank you, roller bones, for making it happen over the years. So I have the Richard Humphrey golden roller bones, the golden rollers.
Speaker 2:Cause you can actually buy this boot by itself on there on your site and the wheels. Or you can buy a whole skate set up.
Speaker 3:You can get the whole skate set up. Yeah, and it, uh. And since we're on the subject of like, well, let's just put it this way of creativity 2006, working at Skates on Hate, we created a skate called the Quad Line. Have you ever heard of it? Uh-uh, never. No, the Quad line. It's on YouTube. It's on. If you type it in, it'll pop up.
Speaker 2:Is that the one that can switch to inline, to quads? Okay, I have heard of it, I have seen it too.
Speaker 3:So the only thing is is that the axle needs to be a quarter of an inch longer than your standard axle, otherwise it doesn't fit because of the way the wheels are set up. So we came up with matter of fact, it was the first skating infomercial, one of the first oh wow. And the quad line took off. It was our number one selling skate, number one. Quadline took off. It was our number one selling skate, number one.
Speaker 3:So for a lot of skaters that don't know, if you ever take your regular quad skates and put on an inline wheel, the outdoor rolls is amazing. Ok, people just don't know because they figure you know what is that? If you see mine, I have a I of 100-millimeter wheels underneath my boots and that's only because I custom build skates. So it's called the Streamline Only because it looks. Everything just looks like a quad and the quad, the quad line, is actually wider, so it has a wider base, has like a seven and five eighths wide base on it so that you can navigate a little differently on certain types of terrain, if you just want to do that. That was pretty hot and so backtracking, uh, back to 2006, germany we actually introduced a skate. Um that it. It almost reminded us of old school metal skates, except we did it with. It was like plastic, you know yeah but it was called the scorpion.
Speaker 3:Look that one up, the scorpion. Okay, that became hot, oh it. You know, just working at the store every day, I was like a kid in the candy store. So I got a chance literally to look at everything, measure everything and the concept like, wow, it's amazing when you are working with stuff like that every day. Yeah, I measured every boot, I measured every insole. I could tell somebody, oh, yeah, this is what you would wear. So, for those that are listening, if you're ever looking to buy a skate, especially if you're doing it online, the first thing you do is measure your foot in inches. I don't care what your foot is, those inches are going to tell you everything you need to know.
Speaker 2:Okay. Yeah, it's since you've worked at the skate shop. Other than that, what else should people know when they're looking to buy a skate Buy?
Speaker 3:a skate that's going to last you for a while. You know, there's a lot of skates out there that look pretty. I'm not going to even mention names. There are a lot of them. They look pretty, oh yeah, but when you start wearing them they start coming apart. Stuff start falling off. You can't find replacement parts. I can tell you for a fact. Shoe grip has everything. Shoe grip parts are like a 302 engine. When you go into the shop and you say, have a 302 at the auto shop, oh yeah, we got that With roller skates.
Speaker 3:You can't do that. You only can do it on certain skates. You know, because if something breaks on certain type of models, you got to buy a whole new plate or a whole new skate or something to that effect. But get a boot, especially a leather boot, leather boots. You can't go wrong. Not pleather they got a lot of pleather but get some leather.
Speaker 3:And the way I look at it is like one good time, because if you buy a really good pair of skates and you love them, you can have them for 20 years or 25 years. Yeah, and just go to show you how some people love their skates. I mean, I've seen skates out of Chicago, chicago skates, and so people like them so much. Just because they like them, they duct tape them. I like them so much, just because they like them, they duct tape them Even when they come apart. That's how much people love their skates. Sometimes they don't care how they look or how scuffy they are or whatever. But if you're going to invest, spend a couple hundred dollars, because, if you think about it, if you spend $200 and they last you for 20 years, man, that's minimal. Yeah, one good time, you know. Buy a good pair, get some good wheels, get some good bearings. Bearings Skaters really don't understand that bearings are the heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You can put any kind of wheel on a skate if you put a really good pair of bearings, some bones, reds, bones, swiss, just something high I call it high octane. Yeah, you feel the difference. As soon as you change, it changes everything about skating. Spend a few dollars and get you some decent bearings. You know, I know people have, you know, a lot of different wheels and stuff light up and stuff like that, but people don't realize you're working so hard because they roll and stop because of centrifugal force, the way that they're made. Yeah, I went through that experience one time just to see how the next day I was like why am I hurting so bad? Because you're working so hard? Yeah, with skating you shouldn't have to work out. You know, think of something that you don't have to work so hard. With skating you shouldn't have to work out. Think of something that you don't have to work so hard in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got junk ceramic bearings. I love junk wheels and junk bearings and so I completely understand on that and I agree with you. A lot of people don't understand that bearings are important and a lot of people are like, oh, I just use whatever. And I actually had somebody I think it was last week at the rink they got new bearings. I think they got bones and they were flying around the turns.
Speaker 2:They're like I'm going way faster than I'm used to and I'm like that's good so yeah, true, so for, like me, for me to go down a straightaway, I do like three strokes and I'm like right on top of the people that are doing 200 strokes to go fast. It's just because of my style of skating. I do the speed skating so you learn how to control more. But definitely it's one of those things that I've been thinking about too. It's kind of like I wanted to do an episode, at least for someone to figure out how to buy skates and stuff. So I kind of want to expand that side of things and start me, you know, getting different manufacturers on and different people that are on the the production side of things to kind of bring their products and talk about their products too and what they have also just to kind of expand away from just the interview side of things too.
Speaker 3:The difference is like with some skates, for example, you have skates that are full sizes. That just means that seven, eight, nine, you'll be close. Yeah, when you start getting more higher end skates, like with Rydell Sells and stuff like that, when you get seven, seven and a half half make all the difference in the world. I will not lie to you that half an inch I. What I always tell people is I go by the half an inch rule. You're within a half an inch, you're good. Anything after that you're working. If your foot is moving up and down and stuff like that, you're working a little hard. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:But, um, insoles change a lot of that too, and you know, and there's certain models, models of skates. Some are more wide, wide widths, stuff like that. Some skates, that man I've tried on some skates I feel like I'm in high heel shoes, you know. So you have to just kind of do a little bit of research, you know, to see what a lot of skaters are wearing. You know you can ask questions, you know, and most skaters will probably live and die by what they have on, you know, I mean whether it's a jam boot. So for those that don't know the difference between a jam boot versus a dance boot. It's the heel, because the jam boots are flat.
Speaker 3:So you tend to sit back on your skates, which feels really, really uncomfortable for me, don't work, whereas that heel lift, that tilt, changes everything about your stance and how you move and navigate around the floor and doing moves the same thing thing. You know, some people have never tried anything else. So sometimes, you know, I have this thing that I always say to people you got to try it, yeah, something different, just try it, because you don't know if you wheels make a big difference. You got the big wide wheels, you got the little bitty wheels and some people got these little fiberglass wheels that's just bigger than a bearing right, the sliders, the sliders and stuff like that. So you have to find what works for you in your style. You know, yeah, just because somebody else uses it and they're good at it, don't mean that you're going to be good at it. I've built skates with for sliders. They come back the next day and say please put these back on because they're not for everybody. So every boot isn't for everybody. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:I don't like the high, high boots. You know what I mean? Yeah, it just over the years, my feet, my foot, has gotten used to a certain feel. It hits you on the back of your foot a certain way. It's like you know what I mean. So and then you have to look at textures of boots, for example, like you get Rydell boots and the numbers people don't realize. The numbers indicate the hardnesses of the leather. So when you go from a 120 to a 220, the leather thickness change. You go to a 375, people are using this 3200 boot. That's like rocks. You know that's super solid because style skating wise, it works for what they do, whether it's spins or being on the floor or whatever jumps and things like that. You've got to have something solid, so people need to also understand that that's how it works. So when they see numbers on a boot, certain numbers ask and read what those numbers indicate, because that's usually what it means it's the leather hardnesses of a lot of the boots. Okay, that's how it works.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that works. Now, was there ever a time, like in your storied career of skating, that like you just wanted to take a break or you got tired of it for a while? Or To be real honest, no, nice. So, and now, how do you think? Because the one thing that I saw was To be real honest no, nice. And now, how do you think? Because the one thing that I saw was, with the pandemic, there was a huge resurgence of skating so because we weren't allowed to go to the gyms and stuff, so people were looking for something to do. Has the pandemic helped?
Speaker 3:your business. Let me just put it like this my classes have been steady since 1990.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:My classes were still going on doing COVID before COVID and it's just been a progression, been a progression progressive of years. That has not stopped. Um, it's just, you know, I mean I always kind of feel like I was bringing something kind of cool to the table. Yeah, it kept people's interest, you know what I mean. So people come and go, but I've always had a steady group of people who've who've always just been there thick and thin.
Speaker 3:You know, the good part is like, over the years always treated myself to studios, regardless if it was me or 20. That was my treat to myself, because I always felt like the coolest thing in the world was just having a studio where I can go in and just create and just come up with things, and my camera was always with me. If you look at my YouTube videos, you'll see a lot of videos of just me standing there. I have a lot of them and that's how I create. I just always had this thing like try it, just try this, try that, I mean just see how it goes. And then, the more you do it and you kind of create a flow and then, before you know it, I started creating dances and that's that's how it works. So having the studio has always been like my biggest treat, because when I bought my first house, the first thing I did was put a wood floor in the studio has always been like my biggest treat, because when I bought my first house, the first thing I did was put a wood floor in the garage. Okay, I used to have my classes in the studio, I mean in my house, and I had every week. I had people until I eventually had some extra money to to get a studio. But the thing that took a while was people allowing me to come into the studio with roller skates. Yeah, that was a huge thing.
Speaker 3:People don't realize that you, you see people now in the studios and in the gyms and all that kind of stuff. I look back the first time and every time I call I say, oh yeah, you know what do you do? I said I teach roller dance. They go, oh no, no, skating on my floor. I got that so much until one day one studio said, hey, why not, you know? And everything just happened from there and I've had studios since 1990. Okay, into this, you know, I don't now because I'm outdoors. Yeah, and the space that I have I rent. Actually, I rent the outdoor space so that I can actually have a place that we can have the skate, uh, without having to go through all the craziness of people saying oh you out there skating on tennis courts and stuff and people don't realize that a tennis court, whatever you want to call it, the material is almost made out of the same things as your wheels are made out of.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I fight thick and thin. I've told people say, look, you know what. You can argue with me all you want, because that's you don't know. I says I'm telling you what I know, not guessing. I says I've been there, done that, you know. I used to tell people all the time I says, oh no, skating on your floor. I say, well, look, let me just give you a little background about me. My background is facility management, been there, done that, taking care of wood, this, and that I'm a specialist at it. You can't tell me what I don't know. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So I've always fought through thick and thin. So now it's beautiful to see people in the studios now and they're opening up the door because they finally got it. You know what I mean, because basically what you're doing is. You're turning away business, you're turning away money. You're going like, hey, here's an opportunity. I got 100 people to be coming in and fill this place up and you're going to be making money every week, you know.
Speaker 3:It's a mindset, because people have been told that for so long that we're tearing up stuff have been told that for so long that you're tearing up stuff, a skateboard will tear up the surface before a roller skate wheel will, based on what you do. Yeah, it's just how it works, you know. I mean that's just keeping it real, because I'm going like, well, why can? Why do they skate and we can't? You know? So they build a skateboard park before they build a roller anything. You know why is that? You know?
Speaker 3:So we have fought and it's been going on a long time. For those that don't know, it's been going on a long time. So now that you've got your foot in the door, I think some of the people who worked hard to get past that. So now you can just come and say, hey, I teach a skating class now and I'd love to be able to use your space and they're gonna, let sure, come on in yeah so, um, but yeah, my classes have been going non-stop and, like I said, during the pandemic, um, it opened up the door big time.
Speaker 3:Right after they kind of opened it up a little bit, you know, um, but I've always had to. You know the spaces and stuff like that. We were constantly just moving around, jumping around from part to part and then the minute that, covid, they shut, it opened everything back up. They started putting all the nets back up and all the basketball players. Then we started having issues. Then it'd be like, oh, we're out there skating Basketball players show up and they're like, oh, wow, we want to play basketball, we're already here. You know that kind of stuff. Yeah, so it opened up some big doors and people jumped on the bandwagon.
Speaker 3:A lot of skaters have, but as of now, a lot of skaters have quieted down. Now it is quieted down, I'll be the first to admit. You know, people are like, yeah, that was fun and that was. You know, they're just doing other things and that's great, but it did open up the door. But, as we always tell everybody, skating never went away. Yeah, you know, they say skating is back. I say, well, maybe for some, but for me it never, it hasn't stopped at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it just kind of the pandemic kind of helped people realize that, hey, there's more than just the gym out there, Exactly so. But now, since you, being the legend you are, who was I mean mean, because it's hard to say, because you started, you were like in the 50s skating who was some of your biggest influences for skating?
Speaker 3:oh man that's why, it makes it a hard question and and only because I didn't really emulate anybody- you know, what I mean.
Speaker 3:This is what I like to tell people. I've always been athletic, very athletic Track, football, racket sports. I'm a racket junkie, I'm a sports person and I've always pushed myself to limits. So with roller skating it just helped me, push me doing other things. You see a lot of my videos. I'm always doing the splits. Well, that was from running hurdles, yeah. So to do the splits. It all worked and then it tied into roller skating and then it became like showing off moves. You know what I mean. I could stretch, I can go all the way down, I could do a limbo under 20 inches or something like that. You know, it was just cool, cool moves and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:What I will say is that in the 70s we had some skaters because we never saw anybody else. You know, we never traveled nowhere, so there was nobody to really watch. But you got a chance to see skaters who were really, really good at what they did. And I skate with a couple people to this day who still skate Like they're close to 70. I'm 72. But when you watch them skate they don't look it at all. They look like they've been skating effortlessly for many, many moons. So I've watched, I've been inspired by other skaters, but not anyone in particular, and only because, when I say that because people always say I'm not a skater I said I'm a skater first. It's just that you never see me skate. Yeah, I said I can skate, I can do that stuff, but I'm 72 now I'm not going to do the things that I used to do going around the rink, kicking my leg up, flying all the way down the floor, not looking, jumping into a split and jumping back up. Those days are gone. We did all that stuff.
Speaker 3:You know, when people talk about JB style of skating and stuff like that, people have to also understand is that, yeah, jb style is a style of skating that people relate to. Now, what I tell people is that I grew up on James Brown. I went to James Brown concerts. Everybody did James Brown. So, whether it was at the rink, whether it was at the club or whatever, everything related to the camel walk to. You know, james Brown just doing his thing Right. A lot of that is, to this day, still incorporated in roller skating. People don't realize that, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, but yes, I've had some really, really cool people that I love to watch. There's a few people in the skate world that I literally watch, I'll be like I like that. He's got his own style, he's doing something unique. He may not be doing what I'm doing, but he just do unique things. And people need to understand is that you can watch people all day long. You're not going to ever get there. You can watch all day. You'd be like man, I'd love to be able, but of course you got to put it into time exactly. You want to even just partially get there. But there are some skaters out there that I really do watch because, like my thing, I've always looked at myself or style wise, it's just being smooth, not hard, just making it look easy. So when I watch people who skate or who dance, I'm going like, wow, I love the flow, I could watch that all day long. So those are the kind of inspirations that I have.
Speaker 2:Okay, cool. And now, what is the advice to this new generation of skaters?
Speaker 3:You know, my advice is simply this Keep doing what you're doing, but try to create you, that's all. Just try to be you. You don't have to try to be like some of the top notch skaters that are out there right now. That's great. Like I said, you're inspired by you, watch them, and stuff like that. But what can you bring to the table? What are you going to bring to the table 10 years from now, 20 years from now? That's going to set you apart from what everybody else is doing, because if everybody's just doing that one little step, you don't know one from the other. It's like yeah, everybody does that. Set yourself apart, put the time in to reach goals that you want to reach and stop worried about what everybody else is doing. So what if you don't get a chance to be on a commercial or any of that kind of stuff? Because the one thing that skaters especially a lot of the OG skaters when I just hear the chitter, chatter, you know Internet, stuff like that we skated because we just love to skate. We're not skating to try to please other people or try to show off for other people. We do it because we just love doing what we do. That's it. We always look to skating as just a great exercise, way to go out and exercise. And, along the way, if you want to get good at it, you got to try some things. You can say, okay, yeah, I think I can try that. Okay way, if you want to get good at it, you got to try some things. You know, you say, ok, yeah, I think I can try that. You know, ok, well, once you fall and break your head a couple of times, you go like, no, that's not for me. So somebody used this term recently stay in your lane. Stay in your lane. You don't have to always venture out. You know what I mean. So, yeah, that's what I would say to the younger skaters today just kind of create you. You know. Kind of like, just think about if you do something unique or something like that, focus on your uniqueness and let that flow, because you know like I.
Speaker 3:I like to tell the story because I remember I used to say to my godfather that I was good at stuff. I'm good at that. He said, boy, don't brag on yourself. Let other people say it for you, let other people talk about you, let other people say that you're good. You don't have to do it, because if you're good in anything, people will recognize it without you even saying a word. You go to the rink, you go to the park or whatever. You just out there just doing your little float. Trust me, people are watching, they're looking and they'd be like, hmm, because I've said that's like I was over there standing on the sideline going like I like that, and my mind says I like it. But I'm going to change it a little bit. You know, that's my thinking, you know.
Speaker 3:So that's what I say to skaters. You know, just try to be yourself, try to create you, and then that's it. You know, because it should be all about the fun first. You know, because some of these folks now are just taking it way, way too too serious and they don't have to get to that point. You know, because when they get to that point, that means you know really you're not loving what you do. It's like when I go bowl. I love to bowl and if I have a bad day bowling, well, I just look forward to the next time I'll get ready to go back and bowl. I look at it the same way with skating, trying to do moves or trying to tune or trying to create new dances or whatever it's like. Ok, that ain't working today. I'm going to go back tomorrow and grind it out and see what happens, because I love it that much, you know, and hopefully that's what the next generation of skaters will do and carry them on into the future.
Speaker 2:Nice. And now, how can my listeners follow you on the internet?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm Placid on Instagram and my name is richard humphrey. On instagram I don't want no hidden names, you know. I want people to know my name. Say my name, like beyonce will say say my name there you go on ins on youtube I'm the roller dance man.
Speaker 3:Okay, I always liked that name, it just fitted me. I gave myself that name. You know, people give names. I said Roller Dance man is me, so I'm the Roller Dance man on YouTube, and so those are the two platforms. Like with YouTube, youtube started it all for me, so everything I used to post went to YouTube.
Speaker 3:So to this day, I tell people, go to my YouTube page and you'll see 150 plus videos of me doing 150 different things, whereas Instagram they give us a minute 30 seconds to do whatever we do.
Speaker 3:You know, they give us a minute 30 seconds to do whatever we do, and that's it which I like. That was OK, because I only like that, because then that way, people just not totally just stealing your content, you know, instagram allow, allows me to tease people, you know, people, you know. But most importantly, what they can get from me is, uh, cause I've kind of upgraded technology wise on my Instagram page, not Instagram, but even with my uh uh, roller dance Academy and roller dancecom. They tie it together, they just link with each other. So I have all my videos there, um, and I also offer MP4s. So the MP4 is really cool because MP4, you can just plug it, plug and go. You can go wherever you go, plug it and and learn something and watch it. And I break it down. All my instructional videos are are MP4s and they can get them through roller dancecom and roller dance academycom.
Speaker 2:Nice. Well, I appreciate you coming on the show today and can't wait for my people to hear you. Oh, anytime, man.
Speaker 3:Anytime, it'd be nice. I enjoy talking. I enjoy talking RollerScape. Thank you, thank you.