Rodney Mullen

A friend gave me this postcard of Rodney from an old skate buddy. A stand-still ollie impossible (still can't do it) with a smile-laden Hosoi-style eye-contact. Somewhere I've got a photo of him by Grant doing an impossible over the camera....The card is from Forbundet Gastrikegatan. (Stockholm....duh.) It says he was trainer at the 1984 Summer Camp, and, "The best freestyler in the world." Like, "fyi." But it was true. One of those statements that would, under normal circumstances (e.g., the best engineer in the plant), seem either plainly obvious, or, in this case, profoundly the case. No single person has created more, dynamically, in skateboarding than the Mutt.

I got a freestyle board for the same reason I used to do rock-n-rolls on a one foot jumpramp, riding a mini boneite Tony Hawk, imagining being on the Chin ramp: pure inspiration, however grossly protracted. And yet, I was mainly looking up to, and trying to emulate, the street skaters: Natas, Gonz, Guerrero, Thibeau, Stranger. I'm glad I was into any and all forms of skateboarding. And I will forever be in awe and gratitude to Mullen, and his type of creative drive.

Well, maybe, also, I got a freestyle board because I grew up in Washington, in a rain shadow, and my skate area consisted of a 20' x 25' partially covered slab of concrete. And Rodney Mullen blew my fucking mind. The power of drive, combined with naive imagination, does wonders for the soul...

Segway to the restoration project

So far, can't match the red.

To be continued....