Pauly On The Pod
Pauly On The Pod
From Miami Streets To Kona Concrete: Aaron Mullen
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
One sidewalk ollie can start a whole life. Aaron Mullins joins us to rewind the tape from South Florida to Jacksonville, where skateboarding goes from a kid’s obsession to a full-on compass. We talk first boards, the Back to the Future spark, and what it felt like walking into Kona Skatepark for the first time with the “wrong” setup and the right amount of hunger. If you care about Jacksonville skateboarding history, Florida skate culture, or how a scene shapes a person, this one hits home.
We get into the crew years: learning from skate videos, chasing progression in the streets, and linking up with skaters who are simply on another level. Aaron breaks down how Lindsay Robertson’s skating lit a fire, how contests and early sponsorships actually worked, and why being around the right people can keep you from fading out. We also talk about the unglamorous parts: building your own obstacles, getting hurt, and the weird mental space where you land something big and barely remember doing it.
Then we deliver what people keep asking for: the real origin story of “Dr. Jones,” straight from the days of Lighthouse Park and the chaos that follows a good session. We close with gratitude for Kona, the legends who came through, and the stoke that stays even when life, work, and injuries get loud. If you’ve ever had skateboarding pull you out of a rough season, you’ll recognize the feeling.
Subscribe for more long-form skate stories, share this with a friend who grew up at the park, and leave a review if you want us to keep bringing the Jacksonville lineage to the mic. What was the first moment that made you say, “I need a skateboard”?
Welcome Aaron Mullins
SPEAKER_06What up? You listened to Polly on the five of Polly Wallace and Dr. Jones and I came out.
SPEAKER_07Hey everybody, it's your boy Paulie. And the doctor. And we are super stoked to bring you this week's episode with the one and only Aaron Mullen. Uh one of the one of Doc's homie from back in the day. So uh I know you were super stoked about this one.
SPEAKER_03Oh man, dude. He's one of my favorite people in the world, dude.
SPEAKER_07Hell yeah, hell yeah. So we uh we talk about a whole bunch of shit. Aaron uh super rad dude, rad skater, Florida guy through and through. Uh has had a pretty rad skate journey in life thus far and and told us stories from shit, him living with Tim Johnson to uh I mean just all over the place. We we found out the origin story of how uh Dr. Jones got his uh his his nickname and uh and much more man. I gotta say uh I didn't know who he was coming over. The name sounded hella familiar, but after seeing him, like I I definitely know that we met back in the day. We were saying was like, yeah, there's no way because we same circle of people, you know what I mean? But uh it was a pleasure um to sit down and chat with him, man. I and I look forward to having him on again.
SPEAKER_03Oh, dude, I'm super excited to have him on again, man. Because like we really like me, we like we just scratched the surface. The dude's got stories for days.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, we did just scratch the surface. We uh were coming up on 45 minutes, and I was like, oh well, let's uh take five real quick and we'll come back with it. And we were all like, damn, I can't believe it's been 45 minutes. So uh enjoy this uh hour and a half of us shooting the shit with uh super rad dude, the one, the only Aaron Mullins. Let's fucking get it. Let's fucking get it.
SPEAKER_00This should be played at high volume. Fucking item people.
SPEAKER_05Okay, you throwing up eating crazy got the donkey get the fuck out of here.
SPEAKER_04He got the donkey night. You are listening to Pauly on the fuck up.
SPEAKER_07Yo, what is good, my people? It's your boy Pauly. I'm in the mix with the doctor. Hey, and we got the man Aaron Mullins, longtime local jack skater, and uh one of the few that knows the origin of how the doctor got his PhD in madness.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the show, Aaron.
SPEAKER_06Oh, dude, thank you so much for having me, man.
SPEAKER_03Dude, one of my favorite people in the world, and I'm so stoked for this episode.
SPEAKER_06Super hyped to be here. I've been looking forward to this too,
First Boards And 80s Spark
SPEAKER_06man.
SPEAKER_07Hell yeah, man. Definitely. Well, fucking stoked to have you here. Let's uh go ahead and start off. Uh tell the people a little bit about yourself, where uh where you're from, you know what I'm saying, what side of town you grew up on, uh when do you when do you get your first skateboard? That kind of shit. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_06Hell yeah. I was uh born in 1982 in uh Hollywood, Florida. Right on. And I grew up in Miami, like uh the Hyalea area. Okay.
SPEAKER_07And that's like when I We got we got a few actual uh subscribers down there, so shout out to our people down on the Hialeah.
SPEAKER_06To hot ass Miami, I can only imagine how it is down there right now.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06But yeah, um that's when I first like became infatuated with skateboarding. I was young, uh man, 82. I was born, so shit, dude. I had to be like eight or nine when I first saw someone like ride a skateboard down the street. I was I was out in my front yard playing with transformers like back when they were fucking made out of metal, like real transformers. You know, not the little shitty plastic ones they make now. Yeah, shit from the 80s, like real shit. Probably uh giving us cancer and shit. You know what I mean? Lead the paint. Peace prime could knock someone the fuck out. Oh yeah. Made out of full lead of paint, dude. Not made in China, definitely right on. But uh I remember I was playing outside and then I heard the sound of one just going down the sidewalk, like hitting the cracks, like oh yeah, that unmistakable sound. And I looked and I seen the dude, and he seen me like looking, and he just snapped like a little Ollie. And I once I seen that you could fly in the air with those fucking things, it was on. Like I was just I wanted one so bad. I had had a bike. And uh growing up in Miami there, we lived on a lake, and uh my dad was into like barefoot water skiing and shit. So we had like those little ropes that that would get pulled behind the boat. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so like that was our thing as kids. Like, if you if I didn't even have a skateboard at the time yet, I was still begging for one, but like one of the one homie in the neighborhood had one. And all we would do is just like get behind the bicycle and hold on to the fucking strap. Fucking skitching down the road. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All we did was just go fast, you know, like no tricks or anything. And then uh I saw back to the future. Yes, and uh homie fly. When he kicks the fucking scooter in half and turns it into a skateboard, uh it it like a light bulb went off in my light bulb. I had like one of those kind of scooters, you know, like not like a razor scooter, they weren't even fucking.
SPEAKER_07It was like the the the old Veriflex in the Nash, they had that like little handle in the middle.
SPEAKER_06Maybe they'd attach to the trucks. Attacked to the trucks, yeah. So I had the same fucking thing when I was a kid. Yeah, so I unbolted the the fucking handle, and then I had like my first kind of like a fucking skateboard, you know. It wasn't like a real skateboard. I think it had a zebra on top of it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that was the same, that was the same with mine. Like I think that was I remember having one of those when I was really, really young, not really fucking with it too much. I remember holding on to it and sitting down more than I don't really think if in previous conversations if I've ever considered that my first skateboard. No, you've never talked about it before. Yeah, but I I definitely had it what because I'm I'm grew up in Pittsburgh. Oh hell yeah. I wasn't born there. I was born in Atlanta, actually, then lived in South Florida. My dad actually was born in Hollywood. Oh wow beach area, yeah. And uh small world. Yeah, yeah. So his side of the family grew up in South Florida. We lived there for a couple years. That's where my brother was born, and then he was born. I'm uh about four years older than him, and then we moved to Pittsburgh. So I had one of those when I lived there, like super, super young. It was flat. I remember it had like the plastic nose cap and everything, and I just never even stood on it. I just sat on it. Yeah. I remember holding the handle, like I remember standing on it on the carpet, but I was you know, like toddler. And my dad didn't skate, so nobody showed me, like, you know what I mean? It was just like one of those things at the time. It's the 80s fucking they were selling them everywhere.
SPEAKER_03So when Razors first came out, like that, like that Christmas, me and my older brother both got razor scooters. And ironically, it's the same time that we found well, I found out that Santa Claus wasn't real. Oh no, you're kidding me. I swear to god, dude. Because I I went because uh we're we were like we're my older brother's like, yo, dude, come check this shit out. And then uh we we go look at the back of like my grandmother and my grandpa's van, and we see these scooters, and we're like, fuck yeah, we're getting scooters, Nana Papa got a scooters, and then like for Christmas it said from Santa. Oh yeah, fucking busted. Yeah, but that like I had a scooter before I ride a skateboard. So, you know, I learned how to like bunny hop on scooters and I can still tail whip, dude. Guarantee. Bum legging. Fucking tail whips with this fucking hip, yeah, right. Yeah, dude, with the hip right now, I guarantee, dude. I'd still tail whip.
SPEAKER_07You can tail whip, man. You need to have surgery from your from your tailbone to your hip. Get the fuck out of here with your tail whip.
SPEAKER_03No, it's from my knee to my hip. Yo, yeah, your neck, your back, your pussy, and your crabs. Every one of them, dude. Every inch, every crevice.
SPEAKER_07So uh, so Mullins, what was your uh your your first real legit scooter?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so after my little fucking scooter thing, I think I left it out in the fucking rain one night. We all did fully glammed because it wasn't, you know, it wasn't real fun.
SPEAKER_03I had a huffy I did that with too.
SPEAKER_06But um then uh, you know, I begged and begged. I think it was like for at least two Christmases and two birthdays, I wanted one, but never got one. And my mom finally broke down and got me one, and it was a it was like a Veriflex with like a melting clock on it. Cool. With uh the rails, the nose guard, the tail guard, all that jazz. I got it, ripped all that plastic shit right off of it. Probably should have left the rails
Miami To Jacksonville After Andrew
SPEAKER_06on. But and that was like my first first skateboard, and uh had that thing for a while, and that's when we moved from Miami up here to Jacksonville. That was like right when Hurricane Andrew came through and fucking demolished that place. So we our family moved up here because this is where my mom's family's from. And uh so I had my Veriflex, I didn't know like what skateboard videos were or like real skate parks, or I didn't know anything outside except for like my cousins doing like 360 kick turns in the driveway with us, which I was like heavily inspired by. Right. You know, like I'd come from Miami and like all my cousins had skateboards, and at that time it wasn't like, oh, how high can you wally? It's like how many fucking 360 kick turns can you do?
SPEAKER_07You know, like freestyle shit. Yeah, that freestyle shit. Yeah. I mean, oh I mean, that shit's impressive. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, you know, like I st I've always been into all aspects of skating, especially since like like my last name's Mullen, and once I found out who Rodney Mullen was, I was just like enamored, you know, like well that's weird.
SPEAKER_03He invented kickflips and you do heel flips. Hey, you think you invented heel flips too, dude? What the fuck? So he did invent heel flips too, and I do heel flips. I'm a full flipper too. Yeah, go for a gang, get the fuck out of here. I do him switch, dude. Don't let me know.
SPEAKER_06We'll have to get to Lindsay Robertson with the with the whole heel flip shit. We'll get there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But um, and so I was like really wanted to skate. I and I knew what Kona, I heard of Kona. My cousins were like, dude, you gotta go to Kona. And I was like, all right, well shit, my mom took me there, you know. She my mom was kind of like a little bit of an overbearing mom, like very protective. So she'd take me to Kona and she'd sit in the parking lot and wait the whole time I was fucking there. And so I'd be in there skating. I remember walking in with my Veriflex, and everyone in the parks got double kicktail boards. You know?
SPEAKER_07So completely you're dated and overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone's ripping. Yeah. I'm completely fucking blown away.
SPEAKER_07I'm barely was this was this uh street course on top of the snake run era? Yes. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_06No, the whole bottom area. Yeah, none of that was down there too.
SPEAKER_07Did they have the six-foot mini ramp? They had the spine ramp and they had big blue.
SPEAKER_06Yep. I think back then it was big orange. It was the sheet metal was a different color or something.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it was. But um before it was blue. I remember that. That was the first time I went to Kona. And uh Yeah, so go ahead.
SPEAKER_06And so and I remember seeing uh these two dudes with pink helmets, and it was uh it was Travis Ochab. Fuck yeah.
SPEAKER_07Shout out to Travis, who loved that guy.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and uh his buddy uh little Will, but I don't remember Will's last name. But those dudes were the like the fucking.
SPEAKER_07Yo, we gotta get Travis on next. I'll get Travis by his number. Yeah, he's fucking raped.
SPEAKER_06I remember all those dudes when they were writing for uh legacy skateboards with like Tim Johnson, uh Paul Toothless. Paul Toothless, yeah. Paul Vaughn, fucking other hypothesis. Paul Vaughn, he's on the short list too. So many dudes. So many dudes. So many dudes so little time. But uh yeah, we'll squeeze it all in. And then, you know, so then like once I realized the Veriflex was fucking lame, I needed a real skateboard. My first like legit real skateboard I ordered from CCS was uh alien workshop, Bo Turner. Oh word, Bo Turner, dude. Hell yeah, and I didn't even know he was a Florida dude when I was a kid. So word were your parents pretty supportive? No, I mean like you know, my my I was real my dad was like a very like kind of structured dude. Everything is he was military raised, he was into sports, he played like semi-pro football, you know. So he wanted me like baseball, soccer, you know, the whole the whole nine yards. Yeah, that's which but he was like supportive though of those things. Yes, and he you know, he was gnarly, like you go play catch with dad, like your fucking hand was stinging. Yeah, you know, like he wasn't a little bitch about doing the shit. He wasn't he wasn't baby lobbing too. Then my mom was kind of more like, oh, you know, you need to be more conservative. Like you're gonna go to college, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do that. Like, why not?
SPEAKER_04Whatever you want to be.
SPEAKER_06But they they were down with skating, like my mom would take me to the park, you know, but then we'd have to catch a lot of rides from like other homies' moms, too, you know, because fucking driving from Palm Valley to Kona is fucking far.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it's that's fucking, you know.
SPEAKER_06And we were out there like in the middle of Palm Valley.
SPEAKER_07And this is this is before all of the the convenient highways that we have now to connect to Palm Valley.
SPEAKER_06You'd have to go from like Phillips Highway to Southside.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, you had to fucking go all the way around. You get caught in the traffic, yeah. No, for sure.
SPEAKER_06But um, you know, it was there, there was they would they were down. My mom was always down. Like if I needed some shit, like I wasn't always getting fucking like full completes and stuff, like I'd have to go get a Powell Blank or a Beer City, you know, like the lower end stuff, which is fine. That shit's great.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's the way it's always been though, like for most kids, like growing up that way.
SPEAKER_07I mean, I always fucked up my graphic. Like, like I I would always either sticker the shit out of it, or I ended up painting shit over it anyway. So like I did not give a shit about really. I mean I agree, dude. When I was younger, it was like a pal blank. I was like, fuck it, dude. I'll just get a pal blank because it's what I can afford, a couple of them. I'll spray paint them real clean, a base color, and I'm gonna sticker the shit out of them. Oh no, dude, I was all about my graphics. I was all about my graphics.
SPEAKER_03You had the hookups graphics, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no. My my first skateboard was uh uh the zero send the skirt. My first uh skateboard was a zero uh all-star board with like the stars down. Yeah, no, I know you told me I'm just fucking. Yeah, then my second board was actually an almost like Rodney Mullen board. Like I got it on my uh 12th birthday, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, and like that board was like uh Rodney Mullen with the shins, the shin guards and shit. Yep. But like Rodney Mullen was like my favorite at that time because like I just almost round three just came out right then and shit, and I was like fucking pumped on it. So stoked. Oh yeah, but anyways, it's not about me.
Kona First Impressions And Getting Better
SPEAKER_03Anyways, continue.
SPEAKER_06So the board, the Boat Turner board, I got that with like venture trucks, spitfire wheels, and I was like, oh venture trucks, the feather light. This is gonna make my I can do more flip tricks, you know. Yeah, yeah. And it wasn't until I was in like sixth third sixth grade or something, I brought my board to school to go, you know, spend the night at one of my buddies' house, and my art teacher was Bob Kirk, which is Case Case and Kirk's dad. But um Bob Bob checked out my board and he's like, Ventures? Why aren't you riding indies? Yep. And I was like, Oh, aren't those heavier? And he's like, they fucking turn, bro. Like, what are you worried about? And so then I didn't really I didn't even get it then, you know, like it wasn't until many years later when I was uh living with Tim Johnson and he secured that indies in my brain. I've been riding them like ever since.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_06But we'll get there too. But uh so in middle school, I like had a couple of I finally had like you know, like a plan B secondhand smoke, you know, like Eastern exposure. I was starting to see like more videos, more like what skateboarding actually was, and I started really working on like learning tricks. Right. So from probably like sixth grade through eighth grade, I went from like just learning how to like barely kickflip in sixth grade, but like eighth grade and doing fucking 360 flips and shit. Oh yeah you know, like I was like really trying my best to fucking get good at this shit.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, making trick lists at school and shit like that. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06You know, and like my parents weren't getting along all the time, so I had a lot of times where it's be like, I just want to fucking get out of here. I I want to just go skate and just get all this shit out. And skating is great for that. It's a therapeutic in a sense. Yeah, no problem.
SPEAKER_07Sorry about that. Technical difficulties like we said when you get falling on the fucking thousand smooth rolling. That was my work phone. It's uh that's my daily alarm that if I'm not wrapped up and on my way home by 5 30, that's like, bro, wrap the fuck up and get in your truck. It's time to go.
SPEAKER_06What are you doing, man? Yeah, it's like 5 30. You need those reminders when you're a busy fucking dude.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. This guy, unfortunately or fortunately, you know, he's he's he's got a lot of time on his hands. Idle hands can be the devil's playground, Chris. Dude, I masturbate a lot. Yeah, I bet you're I'm just kidding because the way that you blow up my phone sometimes, like when I know that you're like awake and you're not like passed out from like, you know, pain pill, pain management, you know.
SPEAKER_03I don't sleep though, man. Like, I really don't sleep because like when I sleep, like my fucking leg pops out, like my hip pops out of place in the middle of my sleep and it wakes me up and like I'm just in like agonizing pain. And then I have to pop back into place and then like like that switch is like on in my head to where I'm like uh and I just get on my phone and start like looking up shit or like trying to find something to like like I send to you for like something to talk about on the podcast or whatever. Ah dude, it's fucking life, man. I'd rather it be me than my daughters, man. I I yeah truthfully, like I really I I really can't complain. Like it is what it is. Like it it could be worse. It could be totally worse. Could be worse, could be worse, could be totally fucking worse. Paralysis could be worse, dude.
SPEAKER_07I mean, like when we were um your dick still works, right? No, you just said you're masturbating a lot, so you gotta be shooting something.
SPEAKER_03No, that's just a joke, man. That's just a joke. Because uh what people don't tell you when you stop, like the blood stops flowing through your hips and shit, there's another place it stops flowing. Oh, good God. Yeah, dude. Like dude, this is my hip really sad combone, dude. Dude, unfortunately, my hip game wasn't even strong to begin with beforehand. I understand why babe mama turned lesbian, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so like a blue pill Chris.
SPEAKER_03Never tried one, but I probably should fucking hop on it. Yeah, there you go. Grab you some blue chew. Hey, blue chew, come sponsor us like you do gas digital. We need the money.
SPEAKER_07Uh I need the dick, dude. Uh all right. So anyway, weird turn left. Now let's get back on track. When when when about did y'all meet? Ooh, geez. So you're because you're 82, so you're you're three years older than me, yeah. Yeah. I I was born in 92, so I'm 30. Correct. I know how old you are. So you can't have it.
SPEAKER_06I met Chris, dude. Had to be. It was Monument. Monument Skate Park after the park got like just got built.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, yeah, it was it was right when the park got built. Goons, goons?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, definitely, dude. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was right when that happened. And um, because you would come up like in the work truck and just come skate like on break. Yeah, and you would come up there all the time, and like I was uh getting out of high school and shit, and like I'd get out of high school at like 10 o'clock in the morning, and I would just get dropped off a monument, and I would skate from 10 o'clock in the morning till fucking till the sun went down.
SPEAKER_04The good old days, yeah, dude. The good old days, yeah, before life, you know, kind of kicked you in the balls.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, dude, for goddamn God. God, don't ask God, ask Nixon. Why, Nixon?
SPEAKER_06But when uh but around middle school time, I had a couple buddies that I'd met through school that skated, like like Stoney, the Stoner. Oh, dude, the stoner's best man of my wedding. He's a fucking great dude.
SPEAKER_03I should have been invited.
SPEAKER_06I've been homies with him ever since.
SPEAKER_03Dude, I would have had the fucking greatest best man speech.
SPEAKER_06Dude, we it it made me cry. It was it was amazing.
SPEAKER_03I know, I would you would have, dude. I would have killed it.
SPEAKER_06Dude, I remember meeting Dustin. It was me and my buddy Ken Rawson, because me and Ken rode the school bus together and Ken skated, who was another fucking heel flipper for some reason. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03And uh gang y'all motherfuckers. That's right, dude.
SPEAKER_06I don't know what it is, something about it. And so we're we went to we went to the school, Nice, high school, where we all eventually graduated from, and we were cruising up through like the parking lot, and we see like you know, like a hundred yards away, there's this dude, and you can see he was smoking a cigarette on school grounds and fucking hauling ass and doing 50-50s on the red painted curbs. And we were like, this dude's fucking punk rock. There's a no-smoking sign right there, a fucking no skateboarding sign, and he's fucking doing both.
SPEAKER_03He was like, I want to be him. You know, like this is pretty rad. Yeah, you know what, dude? Uh that dude's my that's that's my friend now.
SPEAKER_06And Dustin was he was he was like he was always really good and even got to like be like kind of ahead of his time. Like he was doing 540 flips and double 360 flips and like 98 when like no one else was you didn't see people doing that kind of crap. You know, it was like circus tricks, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, like dude, I remember he was the first person I seen do tray flip like body like body like yeah, front side three like front side three sixty flips, it like go up a bank, do it.
SPEAKER_06360 flip turn front side. Yeah, like you ever see Grant Taylor do those on quarter pipes? Yeah. It's fucking magical. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But the stoner was the first one I've seen do that in real life.
SPEAKER_06And so through Ken Rawson and those dudes, and we had another buddy, Nathan and Tollik, that had moved to Jack's Beach. He was in Palm Valley with us, but he moved to Jack's Beach and started going to Fletcher. And then he met like Kirby, McClure, all these like John Owens, all these really amazing young skaters at the time. And then that's how I met Lindsay, Lindsay Robinson. And I'd heard of Lindsay. They're like, oh dude, there's this kid Lindsey. He can fucking heel flip over recycling bins. Dude, fucking da-da-da-da. You know, like we're like 14, 15 years old, and you see like a fucking recycling bin, you're like, dude, the this kid fucking heel flips over those? Dude, and Lindsay.
SPEAKER_07Lindsay Robertson's uh the heel flips are fucking amazing. Like the heel flip indies are sick as fuck, too.
SPEAKER_06Dude, yeah. So he taught me how to heel flip indie, and I took that shit as far as I fucking could.
SPEAKER_03Dude, he he backed Wallenberg.
SPEAKER_06If you if you young cats don't know, but the I remember the first day I skated with Lindsay was at the Seawalk Pavilion back before they tore it all down. Oh yeah, the old pavilion. Yeah, the seven stair, the three stair, the four, the three, and I met Kevin Graver there, Chris Kendall. Shout out to Kevin Graver, shout out to Chris Kindle, like Brian Corey, Joey Corey, Josh Lauterman, all back those when it was like Hulk before beast, you know, like those those times, like skate asylum days. And I met Lindsay there, and we're skating the seventh stair, and like I heel flip the seventh stair, and Lindsay comes up to me, and he's like, You're a heel flipper? And he's like, Check this out. Go runs up the stairs, fucking heel flip some first try. He's like, I'm a heel flipper too. And like we were like immediately bros, like right after that. And so I'd like just turned 16. I got my license. My mom was letting me use her car. So I'd drive, we'd pick Lindsay, or I'd just me and Lindsay. I'd go pick Lindsay up, we'd go to skate asylum. Sometimes we'd go downtown. We were skating together all the time, like became like inseparable to where like it was just me and Lindsay, and I was kind of like shunning all my other skate friends that I had because like I'd seen this fucking on fire, right? And I'm like, I want to be next to that.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_06Because I feel like as all of us as skaters, we're all like hot little coals. Yeah. And if you're like off by yourself, embering out, you're gonna fucking fizzle out and burn out. But if you're with all the other homies in the bonfire, you're fucking invincible. It's on. You could fucking do whatever you want. Shout out to the bonfire, crackle, crackle. You're inspired, you know. Like sure. Yeah. And I think it was like one of the early warp tour contests or something, or a skate asylum contest is when uh Chuck from Panama City, the owner of the original owner of Crown Skateboards. Yep, he got Lindsey sponsored Lindsay, and then like shortly after that, I like begged and begged, like Lindsay, please let me go with you guys on one of these fucking trips. You know, like I want to be in the van with the dudes. Like I wanted to be have more out of skateboarding, you know. Hungry as fuck for it. Sure enough, I get in the van one day after like begging my mom. And this is where my dad came through. My mom's like, I don't know, I don't know any of these dudes. Who's Chuck? I don't know these guys, you can't go with them. My dad's like, get in the van, son. I'm like, fuck yes. Hell yeah. Shout out to no. They took me up to Dothan, Alabama, where Jamie Thomas is from. Yep. And it was uh this park is called the Sanctuary, I
Early Crews Lindsay And Local Legends
SPEAKER_06think. I can't remember. What it's called. It's not around anymore, but uh this is an indoor warehouse skate park. I skated, ended up getting like 12th place or something out of like 30 fucking dudes. Did a heel flip into you over the pyramid and a Smith grind down the handrail. I think that's like all the only tricks I landed in my life. Lindsay fucking killed it. I think Lindsay either won or top top three for sure. Word. But like my skating was enough for Chuck to start sending me boards. Nice. You know, so that was like my first sponsor, it was a fucking board sponsor. Hell yeah. You know, I was really excited. Oh yeah. And then once I got that first package of boards sent to my house, that's when my parents were like were like, wow. Like someone like sees something in you, you know, and then they became like a lot more supportive. You know, they don't gotta pay for shit anymore, they're stoked. They see I'm really stoked, I'm motivated, doing physical activities. Yeah, some mother buddies are getting trouble for fucking getting caught with acid or drugs or something, and I'm in the fucking driveway trying to do fucking Casper stalls on the bank or whatever. Like I'm trying to learn anything I fucking can.
SPEAKER_03Fuck yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_06But uh I always living out in Palm Valley, I had to build all my own skate obstacles too.
SPEAKER_05Fucking nothing out there.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah. But that did get me into doing woodworking and shit like that, which later on in life I would do like trim carpentry and shit. So I'm always I've always been into that. Always been into working hard. That's what my some my dad was a hard worker, it was instilled it upon me.
SPEAKER_03I think that's I think that's like Florida bread shit.
SPEAKER_06He'd wake me up with a weed eater like outside the window, like hitting the button, next ending.
SPEAKER_03Get up, you pussy! There's man shooting. You lazy ass.
SPEAKER_06And my dad always used to bust my ass about not being able to skatevert. You know, because like I grew up in the days of the street, you know, like especially like watching Eastern Exposure, seeing like Ricky Oyola push down the street to fucking slayer. Like, dude, he doesn't get any better than that, you know. Like fuck yeah. One of the best things Eastern Exposure is still to this day one of the greatest one of the greatest skateboard videos I think ever made. Those dudes like Matt Reason and fucking Fred Gall, they're all young as shit, just killing it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, Fred's actually doing really good right now, killing it. Like, I mean, he got sober and he's fucking turned his shit all the way around. Yeah, I've seen his stuff on Gen Kim Mag and stuff on.
SPEAKER_06And there's some crazy DIY shit and stuff too, which is really, really cool.
SPEAKER_03Really cool. Fink told me uh a story about uh Fred Gall um a long time ago. I I won't reiterate it because I'll probably get it wrong, but uh it it was like one of the wildest stories that I've ever heard of like a pro skateboarder like dealing with some like real shit in life, and then like to go like to get up and overcome that shit and like to get back in it, it's like fuck yeah, man.
SPEAKER_06Like anytime just like Guy Mariano, dude, you know, like the greats man, they come back hard. Oh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah. Yeah, I say it all the time. When I get these fucking hips replaced and I can actually skateboard again, dude, I got I got unfinished business, dude. When I get these bionic tips, man, dude. These bionic hips a little Latin in there. Hell yeah. Yeah, when Bionic Jones comes back, dude.
SPEAKER_00And so then he's eating up!
SPEAKER_06Jones just gonna Sunder! And so then back to like back to Crown. They were based out of Panama City, and so like I was still going to school, you know. Like I got sponsored, like really sponsored by Crown when I was in like ninth grade, so like 1996. I was like getting free boards, free clothes from them. That was four years old. I wasn't even in Jacksonville yet. They had a sh they had a skate shop and a skate park in Panama City. It was called Mad Chucks, and so I would go to school all year, and then I would go to Panama City and I'd I'd stay there all summer long for like three, three, however long summer was back then. I'd be there, we'd go to the park, we'd either teach skate lessons, work on the park, go we'd and then the summertime was always like the the warp tour and all that stuff too back then. And Chuck was very very like Chuck wasn't a skateboarder, he was his son was a skateboarder, and that's why he loved skateboarding was for his kids. Fuck yeah. And he saw he saw like a business, he saw like a business opportunity in it, and he took he took it, you know, made the shop, made the park, and it was really, really good. And um so he was very serious about like this whole contest thing, like the demos, like we're gonna show up, we're the team, you know. Like we'd be driving through town to stopping at every stop sign, throwing stickers on the stop signs. Did anywhere we went, he was like very adamant about like we're this team, we gotta do this, you know, was very like kind of business minded. And as a young kid, I just ate it up. I didn't know. I'm like, I was so happy to see the team. Like it was like Rob Aaron, Fred Reeves, uh fucking um not uh Pete Kelly. Oh word BC. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, man. BC is a great dude. All these dudes are great dudes, you know. Like, and I think that's another thing that Chuck needs credit for. He had an eye for like uh like skaters. Yeah, like he could see if someone like wanted it or not, you know, and it was just a thing. And I'm glad that he saw that in me because that made me feel like more confident in my own skateboarding, you know, because sometimes when you don't know where it's going or or anything, yeah, and especially when you're like a teenager, dude, you're already like a lot of people are telling you skateboarding. Especially in those times, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like I mean, I I think that's like uh the same like you know, Paul asked like how we like met and everything and how we came apart. It was kind of the same like point where me were like I I was just like focused and like I didn't give a fuck.
SPEAKER_06And I was just like when we met Chris, you were coming up hot. And I if we're talking like anime form, like I was already in my final form, you know, like I was my I was blue hair fucking Vegeta or fucking whatever. You were you were just coming up. No, I was I was I haven't even turned Super Saiyan yet.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I didn't even turn Super Saiyan.
SPEAKER_07Oh yeah, I remember I remember skinny little, you know, kind of like buck tooth fucking Chris.
SPEAKER_03I would have bucked to you, dude. I had I had uh had chip teeth, dude.
SPEAKER_07Chip teeth, that's you know, the crooked, mangled, fucking whatever. What do you have? You had you had you had a gnarly smile, bro. But honestly, dude, you I had the greatest Chris in the game. I want best smile in eighth grade.
SPEAKER_06Chris's fucking grandma fixed his teeth for him one time, and you had him for like what two weeks? Uh three months. Oh, three months? Felt like two weeks to me. Time flies. But dude, you uh your fucking board popped up, knocked all them bitches right the fuck back out, dude.
SPEAKER_03If y'all want to look that video up, it's called Chris Jones teeth.
SPEAKER_06But I think that's like a sign of the universe, dude. Like, fuck those teeth, dude. You didn't need them.
SPEAKER_03Dude, like after dude, after like because after that, like I, you know, if you want to look the video up, it's called Chris Jones stick to the face on YouTube. It's it's there. Uh but after that, I got on I got like new teeth again, and then I no I I I got off work, I was doing construction work with Tim Johnson, and I got off work and it was like a Friday, and I was uh I was completely dehydrated. Like after work, I get home and like I eat dinner and like with my baby mama and my daughter and stuff, and um I I was like like sleeping on the couch and I just woke up and I had to throw up and like I went like I ran to the bathroom and I threw up and I didn't realize like I had my teeth in my mouth, you know what I mean? Because I had like the veneers for I can take them out and put them back in and shit. After I knocked them out after I had them fucking surgically put in, so that was the whole thing. But regardless of that, fucking I I went to the bathroom and threw up and I fucking threw them up in the toilet, and then like it's just the toilet's just filled up with like. And then like I flushed the toilet, and then right afterwards I'm like Blumber. Oh dude, I called the fucking office and then I was like, hey, is there any way we can get to the piping system? Like uh I just fucking threw up my teeth and like I just threw up my teeth and was the toilet. There's no way, but like, dude, the the it was such a violent volume, too. I'm sure when they hit the porcelain, dude, they fucking broke anyways.
SPEAKER_06Fuck, but like still, like, yeah, no, they that so um back to early fucking getting sponsored days, it was still skate asylum times and uh like Joey Corey and Lindsay and those dudes, those were like the the guys, you know, like those were the dudes, and George Evans, too. You can't fucking forget about George George. George is I went to high school with George, it's one of my best homies, dude, and honestly, one of the like most naturally talented people I've ever met. Oh, for sure. Like George could could skateboard, rollerblade, surf, snowboard, fucking dude. Ask the dude to do something, he can fucking do it.
SPEAKER_03This fucking guy right over here.
SPEAKER_06I've always like I could surf and stuff and I can skate, but it's like I that's that's that's where I'm at, you know. I I dabble with it a little everything. That's I think that's really when someone's like omni-talented, it's like a sign. For sure. They're like the the chosen ones. I don't know about all I don't know about. But I mean, but they're naturally talented, you know, it's undeniable. You can see it in their in their skating, you know. Like I remember being at skate asylum, and people would be like poking fun at George, dude. He'd he'd take his fucking rollerblades off, take your board, take your shoes, and fucking skateboard better than you.
SPEAKER_07When I first moved to Jacksonville, it was uh 98-99, and uh rollerblading was all the hype. So I first started going to Conan skating for the first two years, um, basically as an inline skater, and I got really good because I grew up uh I grew up
Crown Sponsorship Contests And Building Obstacles
SPEAKER_07uh playing hockey and snowboard and doing a bunch of other sports and stuff like that, and and I just took to it. But then I also was into skateboarding and I had old heads of kinda, so I was like doing both for a little bit. But by the time the summer of 2000 summer of 2000 hit, I was just like 2001, I was just done with inline skating. I was like only skateboarding. I probably inline skated only for about the first year and a half, two years. But when I now honestly probably on that first year, but within that first year, once I was like doing like 540 fly, because this was old uh street course on top of the snake run times, like doing 540 flyouts over like trash cans out of the bowl, and like you know, skating pretty good up on the old street course. I got I was like, well, let's fucking pick up the skateboard. And then honestly, Lowe, you could if you know how to skate like tranny or the basics of being like your center of gravity over something, turning physics and mechanics might be slightly different. The way that you approach things, yeah, with your shoulders, I promise, dude. You could put on some rollerblades or roller skates and you could you could fucking drop in real easy, you know what I'm saying? Same with like because you understand like the schwoof snowboarding people that surf, if you can just realize, or um even skateboarders that the first time you go snowboarding, like the way you turn is kind of like power sliding. On a snowboard, you're you know, I don't know. Have you ever snowboarded?
SPEAKER_06I've never dude. Yeah, so I just saw snow for the first time in my life, like this winter when I went to Atlanta. I've never I threw a fucking snowball for the first time, and it was a half-ass snowball at that.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, no, uh, that was my first board sport growing up up in Pittsburgh. Yeah, but you kind of like put most of your weight over your front foot and you it's heel and toe, and you kind of it's all in your hips, but you approach it kind of like you know, if you were wanted to go heel side, you kind of approach like you're gonna do a front side power slide. You want to go toe side, you approach like you're gonna do a backside power slide. Hell yeah. And that's essentially the turning mechanic. So once you've strapped in and you got used to kind of standing, you know what I mean, on the board for a little bit, like on the bunny hill, and you got that first turn and that first stop, you'd be like, Oh, I I can do this down the snake run going mock 10 at Kona.
SPEAKER_06That's what Tim always used to tell me. He's like, he's like, you could do it, Mullen. Trust me. He's like, skateboarders are the fucking you got the keys to the Lamborghini already, bro.
SPEAKER_00I love Timmy.
SPEAKER_07Yes, yes, yes. Fucking shout out, big big shout out to Timmy Johnson.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, Tim helped me out a lot with my skating, dude, because uh well, I guess we'll fast we'll fast forward a little bit. Well, I mean, you know, I guess we could stick because skate asom times is when I did first see Tim's skateboard for the first time and Mike Peterson, you know, like this was right before Mike won the Tampa Am. Yeah and uh I remember they would keep the park open late for him and stuff, dude. Like we'd all be having to leave, and you'd see Mike standing at the door with like one or two of his homies, and you're like, oh dude, they're about to go in there and have the whole park to themselves. Yeah, like so fucking off. I wish I could just sit in here and fucking watch. Yeah, which was I did a lot of that in my early years of skateboarding. Yeah. Because like even at Kona, you know, like you're there, you're a little kid, you're intimidated, and like like Buck and those dudes show up, like, dude, you don't fucking get in their way. You sit the fuck down. Dude, yes. You just sit down and watch. Yeah, because that was the only way you were gonna get to see like real skateboarding, besides like popping into VHS. Exactly.
SPEAKER_07No, for sure.
SPEAKER_06Dude, I remember I wish kids were more respectable about it these days, you know, dude. It's like I mean, I'm not saying the kids are bad. Skateboarding's in good hands, but it's just like, dude, it's they don't have no editing, it's it's mayhem.
SPEAKER_07And also it's like it's the social media instead of instead of it.
SPEAKER_06You can just look on your phone and see whatever the fuck you want when there's could be magic happening right in front of you, but you're like, oh Stedji post it.
SPEAKER_03Dude, I see so much shit on Instagram where like people post it, and I'm like, I even like now with like with my hip injury and shit, if I could like still if I could still just do that, I'd be like, I wouldn't post that. Like I like I just out of respect, it's like dude, what you don't like earn your keep, man.
SPEAKER_07Even when I was, you know, like managing Kona, and even like the year after I left, I like I was skating a bunch and skating elsewhere, but I dude, I just don't post my skateboarding. Like even when I do, like I have to force myself. I never want to ask somebody because I'm usually with my homies. You know what I mean? Like Chris, because he can't skate anymore, I'd ask him, but honestly, it I'd feel bad asking him to get in a position to film because of his fucking. I'm like, damn it, no, I can't ask him. And then I don't ever want to ask anybody.
SPEAKER_03Subdict called the National Guard to get his ass up. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_07Because you don't want to ruin their session, and then it usually, if I'm wanting to film it, it uh it might take me a couple of tries. Yeah, because I rarely want to film something that I can do every try. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And how many times, like I get there's different walls you can do them on, but I'm like, dude, I've been doing full throttle, fucking full speed front side lip slides on everything. Like, how many times am I gonna post that?
SPEAKER_06Well, yeah, it still feels fucking great. Yeah, I still I still do it. Yeah, but it's like how many more times does everybody else need to see it?
SPEAKER_07I don't I never feel the reason like I I never feel the need to like film my skating to feel validated because we grew up in the era of before that because we had to make our own magic, bro.
SPEAKER_06I remember even like I've had people come up to me, like I forget what video part it was. I think it was uh one of the crown parts, was it live or ride? Like right before Live Laugh Ride, yeah. And uh one of the homies, it was White Nate. Oh, yeah. He came up to me and he's like, dude, I didn't know you could skate switch like that. I was like, Well, I mean, like, I save it for the homies, you know. Like, if you come skate with me, you'll know that I could do that stuff. But other than that, like I'm not, I was I've never been the one to be like, oh, look at me, I'm the fucking best. Blah blah blah. I'm not I get I'm more empathic with my skating. Like, I see you doing good, I'm fucking fired up. For sure. You know, like if you're stoked on the trick I did, I'm fucking stoked. Yeah, you know, like even though I am satisfied and I'm content with like the moves that I chose and wanted to do, but I was always more hyped for other people's hype.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, and I would prefer honestly. Now, when I was younger, there were times like I could think of like a little you know era. Totally. We all go through that 17, 18, 19, where it was like You're a dick. Yeah, well, I was I was like, I would love when it was packed, I would love when it was a demo or a contest. Like I loved skating when everybody was watching, you know what I mean? Yeah, but I hopped in every one of them, dude. But but honestly, like I I don't know. It's just uh I've been for the majority of my skateboarding life, vast majority, I would take a session like you're describing, Peterson, fucking me and like two, three, four, maybe five of the homies, maybe one of their girlfriends or two if they gotta come, then you gotta film her, right? No, and just a fucking chill sesh like that, like not a busy park, not packed out. Like I'd rather go, like I'll pull up to a park a lot of times, and I mean I see them like there's just too many people, there's just too much. Because I'm also I'm like at 37 years old, there's uh only so often I get to go skate for however long, and your boy is not wasting time waiting for somebody else. Yeah, you know what I mean? Because I'm a very respectful dude, and I I'll be the one at the skate park. It's like, I want to make sure the kids can go because I'm a father, you know what I mean? And I would want someone to do that for my child. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_06It's and they need a lot of time to learn skating's fucking hard.
SPEAKER_07Exactly, exactly. And then it's the same, then you got the hot doggers, you know, which and I was like, man, I was there. I remember that short little span in my life where I was man, I was the shit. Yeah, so I'm just like I really don't I could snake the fuck out of you right now, and I know if I run into you, you're gonna be like, But you got nothing to prove though, yeah, exactly, exactly. And then it's like, man, yeah, that was uh again, me from a different time, and that's where I'm just I'm like, you know what? Then he's gonna roll on to the next one.
SPEAKER_06Speaking of different back to that, how Chuck was like so into us doing the contest and stuff. I remember when uh Jay from uh Clearwater Skate Park was doing those Burning South Summer series contests.
SPEAKER_07Oh, that was that the one with the phone pit?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, it always smelled like piss. But that park was amazing too, though, you know. But I remember it was like me, Joey Corey, and George Evans, and we'd be in Joey's car, and the Burning South Summer series was like a qualifying. You had all these series of qualifying contests to get into the main contest to make it to the finals. We were so hardcore about these contests, dude. Joey's like, dude, we're gonna go to every qualifier, we're gonna qualify in every single contest, we're gonna beat out so many other skaters that when we get to the finals, it's gonna just be us. Like, so we will we would go, and I all of us we would place like top five, top ten every single fucking time. And like the announcers would be like, Oh, son of Here comes Aaron Mullen again. All right, this is gonna be a good run. All right, he's gonna freeze. It's just like Like it's just one of those things, you know. And then I remember we did all that fucking work, and then I don't even fucking go to the finals.
SPEAKER_05You know?
SPEAKER_06It's just typical mulling, right, bro? Where were you? Dude, George and Joey go, you know. Man, you didn't fucking come. What the fuck? Oh man. I remember Joey had broke his arm one summer, and they had come to my house, Ned's house, out in Palm Valley, dude, and they were trying to get me to go to Tampa and I didn't want to go. And Joey's like arm wrestling or like putting me in a headlock, but he's got a fucking cast up to his shoulder. Oh, dude. That shit sucked. He's like rubbing his shit all over my neck.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, dude, I'm not going to Tampa.
SPEAKER_06The last time you drove me to Tampa, you almost fucking killed us in your car. I'm fucking scared shitless of driving with you, bro.
SPEAKER_03Dude, shout out to my buddy Spencer White, because uh he used to drive his uh parents Land Rover. And uh I'm glad we have a camera so this shit will fucking animate.
SPEAKER_06Like Joey did push me a lot to get better, which was another thing. It's like I was saying about like the hot coals and the fire, dude. Like you need those people in your life to like fucking make you go to drop your own expectations and kind of like push fear aside and like accept it and fucking get gnarly.
SPEAKER_03I used to get super upset with me doing late flips. You're like, just do a fucking hard flip, man.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, because you were a little bit ahead of your time too, Chris, with all of your like 360 flip late flips and hard flip 180s and late shove it, big spins, you know, like that stuff's in now. You know, dude, that's it.
SPEAKER_03But you are you're coming in and you missed the buck, dude. I didn't miss the buck. I started.
SPEAKER_07Well, hey, let's uh we've been talking for like 45, almost 45
Break Then Back To Tampa Stories
SPEAKER_07minutes now. So let's let's just go ahead and take a quick break. Um, let's go ahead and smoke that blunt because we do not smoke in my house. And uh and we'll come back with more stories in just a minute. Uh we got on. All right. All right, we're back, everybody. It's your boy Pauly. Got the doctor. Was that an idea? Was that an idea? Now we're uh a little stony, baloney in the zoning, but uh let's get back to it. So you were talking uh about Lindsay.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and I think we were talking about like contests and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so um I remember the day when Lindsay Ollie off the Vert ramp in the beginning of his run in front of, you know, everybody.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_06Tampa, Tampa, Tampa Am. One of the Tampa Ams that we all went to.
SPEAKER_03Very famous on a 401 video. Can't remember which volume.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and then he went up the rolling and he'll flip the pyramid. Then, like after the contest was all said and done, we saw Jamie talking to Lindsay and he was like, hey, come out here and talk to me in the parking lot or whatever. And they they walked out those doors, and like all of us, the rest of the dudes on the team, we were like, Oh, there he goes, There it is. You know, like that's there it is, dude. It's happening. And Lindsay was, I mean, dude, me and him must have watched uh Toy Machine Welcome to Hell and Zero Thrill of It All a fuck a million times. Oh fuck yeah. I mean, dude, uh Lindsay uh had that shit recorded on a cassette and he'd put it in his headphones, dude. He would listen to the skate video. Like he knew the sounds of the grinds and where the song was, and he knew what tricks the people were doing and like in his mind. Oh yeah. You know, like he was on another fucking level. I mean, seriously, dude. And uh what really fucking drove him over the edge was one time he had a girlfriend and uh she said that she was pregnant. And he was like, dude, it's it's over. You know, like my my my girlfriend's pregnant, and he's like, I don't know. He's like before this before this happens, like I'm gonna do like all the gnarliest shit that I that I can do here in Jacksonville. And that's when he started like jumping off all kinds of huge shit and and making it. And then and then long story short, dude, it was all a lie. She was faking it just to keep him because he was trying to break up with her, but then like that anger boosted him into another fucking level. Hell yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? And I think that's like a thing that like not all skateboarders, but like young skateboarders that have like uh like some turmoil in their life, like whether it be like their family life or some danger, some some some shit going on. Some skeletons in the closet. And then they put that into their skating, yeah. You can you can see it in them. They're like fucking possessed. Like they're they're possessed by like skate gods or something. They're they they've they're they're on a war path. And it's it's like it's it's amazing. It's like seeing a wild animal in its national environment or something, dude. You know, like it's fucking breathtaking. Like watching Ned catch a game. And a lot of skaters from Jacksonville have that shit. Yeah. You know, like it's not just him, you know, like you can see it in them, dude. They got the fire, dude.
SPEAKER_03Like I grew up with so many like Grady Smith watched him.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, man. Like Evan Marchel. Oh, dude, that was a different what the fuck, right?
SPEAKER_03That was a different fucking animal.
SPEAKER_06How good was that fucking kid? That kid was really good. His fucking brother, Benji. I've skated, I've skated with that kid's many times, gone on road trips with him several times. I may have heard that dude speak like seven words. Yeah, yeah. He is a silent soldier, man. That dude is a stealth killer. I I wonder what he's up to, dude. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_03Oh, all right. Don't worry, your boys got your boys. All right. Alright, I I keep in touch with the boys, keep in touch with the fellas because I grew up with these cats. I keep it here to the street. No, to the ocean, man. He's got his own boat and doing a charter thing, like out in Ferrand, yeah. Wow, good friend. Shoutouts to Evan. Yeah, last thing I heard, that's what he's doing. He's running his own charter business and doing his own thing. And he like he like he loved skateboarding, but he hated it so much because his dad like forced him really too. Yeah, see, that's uh so like it and he was so naturally gifted and talented. Uh the last time I remember like taking it with Evan, uh, it was go skate day, I think, and it was at Monument Park, and everyone's like, it's like a banger for bucks contest on the bricks. And we were like about to go smoke weed, and and Evan's like, oh fuck, I don't have any money for weed. Hold on, guys, I gotta go get I gotta go do a trick real quick and get some money for it. Dude, he's like, I gotta go get some money for weed real quick, and just runs up to the park and tray flip front rocks on the bricks. Yeah, nigga. First try. No fucking like no hesitation.
SPEAKER_06That whole squad of those dudes from Kona at that time, like you know, Jake, Jake Sykes Wayne's Jamal Cam.
SPEAKER_03Jamal Cam.
SPEAKER_06Come on, bro. All those dudes fucking ripped. Dude, fucking Leo. It's undeniable. Dude, y'all remember Leo? Leo. Dude, Spencer Lyle, dude. Spencer Lyle ribs, yeah, yeah. Marshall. Yeah, Marshall. The skate lab kids. All the Gus Cooper. Yep. Dude, you want to hear the first time I ever met Gus Cooper? Hell yeah, dude. Alright, dude. So my buddy Josh Rowe, that I went to high school and middle school with, and everything, I go over to his house, he had trampoline and shit, and we would skate together sometimes. We were in middle school, and there's this little kid out in the front yard doing front flips off this mound of dirt. Fucking Gus.
SPEAKER_05He's like, that's my cousin Gus. He likes to skate too.
SPEAKER_06That's how I met Gus, dude. He's always the man. That's fucking great. He's a good dude. Super good dude. Alright, so for the very first time I met Paul Hart. That was in uh treaty skate park. Because I knew uh his brother Daniel and his homie Jeremy Shredler. Germ. Germ. Yeah. We all used to skate together and stuff. Germ, another heel flipper.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Bam. And uh supernovae. So I've seen Daniel have skated with those dudes. Daniel always had a mean front side flip. But uh so we're at the park, this little teeny tiny dude. I mean, you know, dude. He was a little squeaker. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And he's like a little guy. He holds up to me. He's like, hey, Aaron. Another heel flipper, Paul Hart.
SPEAKER_05Oh, Paul Hart, another heel flipper. Damn, good call, bro. Good fucking call. He's hitting up. Then um He's hitting up. Hey, Aaron. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you too, Paul. And then he took one little push and did a fucking gnarly off where the bank to the fucking ledges or the little like horseshoe half cord, you know what I'm talking about up top? Nolly into the bank. That was the first move I ever seen him fucking do, dude. Okay. It's just a little squeaker. Am I gonna golly into them? Hell no!
SPEAKER_03Dude, I remember seeing Spencer Lau at a skate lab back in the day. And then um I remember seeing the flat line video, uh, his little line at Friendship Park where he like Ollie Norris into like the little bank, and then this Ollie's a five-star or whatever. Yeah, and it's like he's so small.
SPEAKER_06Dude, I remember when he's so small, dude. Spencer used to do cabillarials over uh like pyramid hips, but they would be like a half-inch pop, like 270 power slides. Oh, yeah. He does have style though. I mean, did you always have really good style? He's from the beach, dude. Style's always been a main part of my skateboarding too, dude. Like I had you know, I did do a bunch of different tricks and shit, but I was always mainly focused on just like how the shit felt, how it looked.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Do you uh you grow up surfing as well, Aaron?
SPEAKER_06I did. I was an adamant surfer before I like I really got into like you know skating and stuff, but then like you know, winter surfing here, you need a wetsuit, you need a whole bunch of gear and shit. Yeah, money. It's a little bit more expensive than a skateboard. You need a skateboard in your driveway.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, plus it'd be like you know, 10 foot and perfect every day as long as it's not raining. You know, you just gotta go to the bowl.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, exactly. And now, you know, I noticed that at a young age, and I was like, dude, skateboarding is just where it's at, bro. You know, I build a fucking box and a quarter pipe in my driveway and something, a rail or some shit. That's enough. Yeah. And you know, I'd skate that all the time.
SPEAKER_02But um, I don't know, I forgot where's the point of this. What is that fucking talking about?
SPEAKER_03I
Living With Tim Johnson Leveling Up
SPEAKER_03was talking about Jamie and uh uh Lindsay fucking hanging out at Tampa when he first got sponsored.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah, we were just talking about meeting new people and shit.
SPEAKER_07But oh yeah, yeah, no, but uh you did say that you lived with uh Tim Johnson for a while.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah, this was uh back to Treaty Park, yeah. So um the park opened, I think, in like 2001, and I like just uh just kind of I was just like, man, I'm done going to college, you know, like this isn't working out for me. Fuck it. And I was like, you know, going back between fourth Panama City, and they were like, we'd be like rebuilding a skate park here or whatever and doing stuff, and you know, so it's like I'd be so focused on skating and shit, it wasn't really like going anywhere with school at that point, yeah. But um, yeah, so we're skating treaty all the time. And then Tim and them were like, Yeah, dude, we're gonna get a house. It's like we're gonna need an ex roommate. Do you want to move in?
SPEAKER_00And I was like, Oh, hell yeah.
SPEAKER_06I'm like, oh man, let's go. And you know, Tim being like an all-around amazing skateboarder, like vert, pools, rail, street, everything. The ninja. You know, he he is a black belt. I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I have met his sensei.
SPEAKER_06Dude, his dad is an EMT and a black belt, so he knows how to fucking take you apart and put you back together. I love him. He does gnarly. Dude, and uh, and Tim and Tim took that and put that into his skating too. You can tell he's a master of all disciplines. Oh, dude. You know, like he's put time into every fucking aspect of it. He can even do freestyle shit. I swear to God. Oh, dude. But um me and him didn't know. So when me and Tim, because I'd always looked up to Tim and always admired Tim, like just as much as like Peterson or Buck or other legends, you know. And uh, so we were living together, and Tim Tim was like, All right, Aaron, you teach me the secret of fucking knowledge kickflips, I'll teach you how to do airs on ramps. And I was like, game on. Remember that, right?
SPEAKER_01No shit. God damn, dude.
SPEAKER_06And so Tim taught me how to skate fucking ramps, and like I did my first airs and pools with Tim, first airs on anything with Vert with Tim. Taught me how to like he taught me like think of ramps when you're going fast like that, think of it more as like it's flat. Because gravity's pushing it to you so fucking hard. All you really gotta know is where you're gonna take off and where you're gonna land. Like the gravity's just gonna it's gonna put you there. Just trust it. And I'm like, as a street skater, I'm used to just doing the down to the bottom the up to the bottom. Yep. You know, like so learning how to do that took a little while. But once I got it, dude, it was on after that, dude. I pairs, grabs, like front side flips, out of your front side flips, like whatever front side flips over hips, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It like all that three years just living with him, like so much stuff clicked for me. It was crazy, dude. It was like I went from like one after being sponsored for so long, too, finally got like actually where I was like pretty good. I kind of was always just always somehow made it in riding coattails, you know. That's how it felt for me, anyways.
SPEAKER_03You know, but uh I felt the same way my whole skateboarding career, too, buddy. To be honest with you, I'm right.
SPEAKER_06I was always more about interested in having just fun skating, you know. Like I knew I was never gonna be like as good as Dane Won Song or fucking, you know what I'm saying? Like that, I just it I just knew it wasn't there for me. But dude, did I do I love skateboarding? Fuck yeah. One million percent. Yep. It's a it's part of me. It's I wouldn't be sitting here with you guys today if I didn't do all that fucking skateboarding. My life would be in a totally different place, and I'm glad I'm here with you guys because this is fucking fun. I love it. Same, man.
SPEAKER_07Same. Fucking y'all having a couple of brews. I'm over here with my double zero.
SPEAKER_06Dude, I was there when Tim blunted the fucking tombstone with no patch. Which we talked about that. Yeah, I was there for that. I've seen Tim do shit that I did. I do see that.
SPEAKER_07I still have that poster, actually, the 8103 poster. Yeah, yep, I've got it. Uh it's in my storage unit in the bin of my, you know, things I'm like saving.
SPEAKER_03But I'm like, yeah, dude, it's actually like they're not going to the will, they're in the casket with you going down.
SPEAKER_07Dude, Tim's elbow has like when we buy a house and I have like a legit studio room, like I'll have all my flare back up. You know what I'm saying?
unknownHell yeah.
SPEAKER_01Watch out.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, man. I'd like going on doing demos with Tim and stuff, dude. I'd see him get dude land so many tricks, but also, you know, you gotta fucking eat shit sometimes too. It's just the name of the game. Oh, dude. And dude, Tim would seriously just like be so hurt, and then just you know, put fucking therapies on his muscles or whatever, dude, and then just get it going. And he didn't have like a half throttle. You know, once you fire him up, dude, it's 100%.
SPEAKER_03Timmy time. Yeah, yeah, dude. Timmy time. Shout out to Wild Man for gifting him with that.
SPEAKER_06Oh, Wild Man, dude. Much love to Wild Man, dude. Yep. Oh yeah, dude. Me and Wild Man used to fucking get hammered and just whoop people's ass at foosball at Pete's, dude. Man, oh, this is another great story, dude. So I had a foosball table for a while, and I fancied myself like decent at foosball. And I was uh down at a contest in Daytona, and Dalton Dern and his other brother was there, and that was the first time I actually saw him skate and do some handrail shit, and I was like, wow, dude, this dude's really fucking good. Dude, you know, you know, but uh but back to the back to the foosball part of it. Dalton Dern's mom was in there playing foosball, and I was like, oh dude, I'm gonna fucking kick this lady's ass. Hell yeah. So she was a very nice lady, you know. Like, I'm not trying to talk shit over there. I love the job and Mrs. Dern. Yeah, she's very awesome. Mama Dern. But she did not want those problems. No, dude. She fucking kicked my ass. Yeah. Oh, beat the living shit out of me. She wanted all the smoke. She knew what was up. I was very humbled. I had to go outside and skate the bowl to get some of my testosterone back. I'm lying. Oh, that's fucking great. Yeah. And it was hot as shit that day, and I think I was wearing a uh Mexican poncho because it was like one of those Vulcan fest contests, and it was like a Mexican theme.
SPEAKER_03Oh, was that uh down at um Stone Edge? Stone Edge. Yeah. Oh, was that the uh it was one of those series?
SPEAKER_06You know how Vulcan was back then, dude? They do this.
SPEAKER_03Mike Barnes was judging that one.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, me too. That's what I was there for. Marty used to make me judge, not make me, he'd ask me, and I did it because I knew it was cool.
SPEAKER_03You rarely judge me unfairly. I don't appreciate that. Fuck you. All you do is hard flips. Fucking shit just starts, and that's my first go-to. No, come on, dude. And Mullen heckle the fuck out of me. He's like, nobody cares. No, dude, I wouldn't say that. Are you serious? Not that much hole, man. No, fuck no, man. I was just goofing. Yeah, that's your number
The Origin Of Dr. Jones
SPEAKER_03one job now.
SPEAKER_06So let's get to the Dr. Jones story, alright? Yes. Let's get to the story. Let me get a beer, dude.
SPEAKER_03Oh fuck.
SPEAKER_06So I don't even remember what we were doing the night before, but I know that morning we woke up, we were just hung over really, really, really bad.
SPEAKER_03The night before, we were at your house and we were playing uh Capcom versus Marvel. Marvel versus Capcom. Get it right, motherfucker.
SPEAKER_06Oh, now you now you remember? Yeah. Well, I know what the game's called, bro.
SPEAKER_03And we sat there and fucking like hammered down a 12 pack and just smoked a shit ton of weed. And then we passed out, and then like we woke up the next morning and we go to walk out the door, and it's just fucking blazing hot. And me and like as soon as we walk out the door, me and him just look at each other and I'm like, no. And then we just go back in and both drink, like we drink like three beers, and we're like, alright, it's game time.
SPEAKER_06What was the well, what was the deal? Why were we why we have to be in St. Augustine that day though? There was something going on at the park by uh surf station. The lighthouse skate park. The little one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was newer back then.
SPEAKER_03It was so uh I think it was because uh John and Shane were like uh Duddy wanted to like see them skate in person or something. Oh yeah, John John Campbell. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06So this is how it all starts. So we get there and we're skating, and John's John John's Asian, you know, so yeah, that must be mentioned. Yeah, and um in these times, yeah, it must be must be mentioned. Yeah, John can be a good one. So John was skating, he John is very I was the first time I seen John skate too, and he had an amazing pop. And he'd do real good backside, he had a good backside flip, you know, like he had a good record.
SPEAKER_03Also a heel flipper. He could do them, yeah, definitely. He had a good one.
SPEAKER_06And uh so he's just you know, every once in a while he would just like do a little Asian voice or be like, oh no, you know, he like joker now, whatever. So then he was like, Oh, Chris Jones, Chris Jones, oh Dr. Jones, and so then our other friend Duddy, Duddy Davidson, who became actually became like the other owner of Crownscape Awards, he turned it into moonshine. Shout out to Duddy, shout out to Duddy, Duddy, another one of my high school homies. Uh button. And so then it started being like, it's he started getting called Dr. Jones. And it it really stuck for a while, like for forever, obviously. But but some people, some of the dunes called him Dr. Jones Tom. Yeah, some of the Dunes guns weren't really they weren't really feeling it at first, though. They were like, man, why does why does Chris get a cool nickname? Like, why is he the doctor now?
SPEAKER_05Hey, dunes.
SPEAKER_00I love y'all boys. But you know what you did, goddammit.
SPEAKER_05So it was just after like one week and two, you know, so it's like I think you kind of got bullied a little bit too.
SPEAKER_06Not like roughly, but you know, people were trying to hating on you shit, yeah, yeah. But they couldn't stop. They couldn't stop you. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I always had your back, Chris.
SPEAKER_06I always had your back.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was uh oh yeah, that was like a I was down for your skateboard antics. But uh that Like, alright, so we're at the lighthouse park. Fucking John and Shane are fucking up the bank to bank at the lighthouse skate park. Then afterwards, we go to Kyle Ferrer's house. Moose. Yeah, we're going to be. We go to Moose. Shout out Kyle Ferrer. Another fucking beautiful man. Goddamn beautiful man, dude. If I could marry another man, I would go. It's not his choice, but whatever. I love you, Moo. Anyways, uh, so we go to Moose's place, and we're sit all sitting in the living room, and it's John, Aaron, Moo, Duddy, Shane, and then like Big Mike. Oh, yeah, Big Mike was there. Big Mike was there. Shout out, Big Mike. Shout out, Big Mike. That's been a long time. Yeah, I missed you, homie. And then I was like sitting on the other chair, and just John just goes on this crazy rant with his fucking Asian voice.
SPEAKER_06It's like he was doing stand-up comedy or something. We were just crying, laughing. But but the banger of the story. This is ridiculous. Why are we talking about this? This is fucking this is a true story, though. And he's like, he's like, I have this buddy who was only born with one testicle. So it had to like overcompensate for missing the other one. And then like they were just stuck going on. It's like, did he show it to people? Everybody's seen it. Everybody couldn't not see it.
SPEAKER_05It's just like dude.
SPEAKER_06They wore tight pants for a reason. They was doing it. These little agent voices and shit. And then that's the story of like how Dr. Jones was like created pretty much. That day, that night. Dr. Jones, Dr. Jones, John Campbell. I hope you're doing well. Yeah, I think it's a good thing. And still fucking killing it.
SPEAKER_07John Campbell.
SPEAKER_06There you go. That's some stupid, more drunk shit, dude. There's a lot of dumb drunk shit.
SPEAKER_03That today was so funny, dude, because he was just like, dude, we're all crying. I gotta load the the Dr. I've got a whole bunch of Dr.
SPEAKER_07Jones hot drops from short round from Indiana Jones. Dude, that's what he was doing. That's what he Yeah, that I need to like load up on his own.
SPEAKER_06Here's another uh cool thing about uh that time I was living with uh Tim Johnson,
Filming Missions Slams And Classic Spots
SPEAKER_06it just popped the light bulb in my head or whatever. But um that's when Kyle Berard was going to college at Flagler College right there. So him and all his Virginia Beach homies got that that uh little house or apartment or whatever, and that was a whole nother thing. And then Peterson would come down and skate with Berard. You know, Bo Crumb would be filming the sew video and stuff, dude. And you know, Bo is an amazing filmer, man. Oh, dude.
SPEAKER_07Big shout out to Bo. Yeah, Bo Crumb, dude. Um another amazing dude. Uh Ward trying to work out a day here real soon. He's out of town, like the next two weekends, and then I'm actually uh out of town in Vegas the his the that following weekend. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_03Uh we I don't think we mentioned it, but can I can I can I say it? No, we're gonna keep that on Lovsky. Oh, okay. All right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I was about to tell another story, but I forgot what it was. Uh it must be the good ass. We were talking about Bo Crumb. Yeah, all right, yeah.
SPEAKER_06So Bo was at Treaty Park one time filming for this uh team pain like demo thing for the parks that they were building in South Florida that time. They were doing they were building like a few of them in a row, and I think Treaty was like the first one, and then they did one in Tallahassee and then somewhere else. But they had this little demo video, and I was lucky enough to just be there that day, and I got like one or two tricks in it. And uh, and then Bo was like, Oh, dude, do something of like the big euro or whatever, you know? Like, you know, the big bank to bank.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And uh I was like, Yeah, all right. And he was like, Yeah, take your helmet off for this one. I'm like, okay, dude, I'm gonna try to fucking backside heel flip it. So I go and I pump down the pocket, I pump down the bank, and I get to where the bank hits the flat, my fucking board goes like and I just bam, smash my head on the ground real fucking bad. Yeah, and but I could tell Bo felt real bad about it, you know, it was just one of those freak fucking accidents. Really rang my bell though, you know. Yeah, but that was like one of the first times I ever got to like film with Bo. I always knew who Bo was, but I was, you know, never got a chance to get like in that circle yet, you know. But then Bo wanted to go like shoot photos one day after that. We had to go to this, we were gonna go to this new high school. It was like a double set, it was like a three-flat three. And uh he picked me up and I was so nervous, you know. Like we're driving there, I'm like smoking cigarettes, and like, we're gonna have to jump this fence, you know, da-da-da-da. It's kind of like some bullshit. Summertime, the school's supposed to be closed, but there might be like janitors there or something. So we drive all the way out there, just me and him, and we get there, fucking immediately get kicked out. You know, it's like don't even get to do one trick. And Bo's like, oh man, I'm never fucking coming back here. God, why the fuck we drive all the way out here, Aaron. God damn it. You know, and I'm like, oh dude, I'm blowing it, I'm fucking blowing it, you know? And then then what do I see in like the flatline video, everything? The spot with Matt Fink killing it, everybody fucking two moves down.
SPEAKER_03I know, right? Fink Ollie's up, and then manuals, and then Trey Flips down. Yeah, the on the bottom part of the three.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, dude. That spot was really good, dude. I wonder if people still skate it.
SPEAKER_03Um uh in the Orange Spark video with David Jordan and Pat Schaefer and shit. I can't remember what it was called. But um, David Jordan uh backbig spend it, and I think Pat Hard flipped it, and I think he did something else down it too. He might have laser flipped it. Yeah, man. It's a very good possibility. Shout out to Pat Schaefer and David Jordan.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, Pat Schaefer and David Jordan, dude. Those dudes are so good. Hell yeah. God, man. There's so many good skateboarders in Jacksonville, dude. The lineage is insane, you know.
SPEAKER_07It really is, man, and that's the one thing I I really love talking about because it's just like just in the time that I've been here, and then I mean you can even go back just over the years, all the way to the streets.
SPEAKER_06Let's try to name, let's try to go through it just within our memory banks. So we got we got Buck Smith. Let's start back at the originals. So you got Buck, Todd, you know, um Donnie Griffin. Donnie Griffin. And um, what was the other homie who wrote for Pepsi? Uh oh man. Oh, uh I'm fucking blowing it right now, dude. Uh sound like such a fucking idiot. Um, Kevin Lambert. Yeah. There's so many of them, dude. The older guy. Yeah, and so then you then you get like to the other generation where it's like you got like Kane Gale, Clyde Singleton, Kangale, Cairo Foster lived here for a little while. Yeah, Trixia Hemming. Neil Mims.
SPEAKER_03Neil Mims. Um close You want me to do this? Dude, you're going, you're going. You know what? Just name him off. Anyone got Mike Peterson, of course. Oh, dude, Paul Hart. Fucking Evan Marchell. I'm not sure. He was in the Osiris video back in the day, subject to change.
SPEAKER_06George Evans, Chris Kendall. Alright, I remember when Ryan Corey won one of the uh warp tour contests here back when he was they were all riding for waves. Do you remember that on the radical side? Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03I don't remember.
SPEAKER_06That's pretty old. Yeah, no. Mitch Kaufman's TV show.
SPEAKER_01Shout out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07I saw those that don't know, Mitch Kaufman was the very first tail drop. Yes, yes. 1979, the tombstone. Cone skate park. So now we bring it up every podcast. I think it had the cough drop, dude.
SPEAKER_03Oh, dude.
SPEAKER_07That's what it was called before they started calling it the elevator because last name was Kaufman. They called it a cough drop. Wow.
SPEAKER_06I did not know that. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07That is epic. And then they called it the elevator drop-in or whatever. That's what they were calling on the West Coast. And then it turned into like the Vader. The
Kona History Marty Stories And Gratitude
SPEAKER_07Vader. Yeah, but no, like the OG is the cough drop trade.
SPEAKER_03Dude, it's always going to be called a cough drop, dude. I'm from now on. Yeah, from now on, it's a cough drop. It's like Backsmith's or the Monty grind.
SPEAKER_07That's one thing. Like, shout out to Martin Ramos. I love when he announces because like the they just had that bull jam for the 45th, and he's like calling all the grinds by like the real OG names. Like some people might call it a Smith grind, but you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Like it's like it's called a Monty here in this side of the Mississippi River. Exactly.
SPEAKER_06Marty's a really good dude, man. When I when I was sponsored by Kona Dude, he always hooked it up real like we'd get to ride around in that RV and shit, man. Go to different contests and shit. It was great. Oh yeah. We were doing the demo one time for uh the county fair, and they had built that ramp downtown, like Joe Hio and Tim and all in Marty. You know, they threw their ramp together and they were doing the demo, and uh it was getting late, and the ramp kind of you know, it'll get like the condensation on the fucking surface.
SPEAKER_02We had this whole like orchestrated run where it'd be like, Tim, you're gonna air from here, Aaron, you're gonna grind right here, Joe, you're gonna do a disaster right here.
SPEAKER_06So like we could all be on the ramp at the same time and do these runs, but not be like in each other's way. Sick. So we do all this shit, and then like my last trick was to like do an alley up poly from like the six foot, like up onto the eight foot. And I did the alley up poly, you know, I had it. I landed it, and then just right when it hit that condensation, it was like smash my fucking face on the ground, blow my chin open, chip my fucking molar back here. Jesus Marty was just like, Do you need my credit card? Do you want to go get this fixed right now? And I was like, Oh Marty, I can't, I can't let you do that, dude. I got my way I have insurance, my family has insurance, I'll be I'll be fine. But just for him to just study offer that right on the spot, I was like, man, this dude is fucking solid. Yeah, he is, you know, and he cares about the dude. This Kona wouldn't be there as long. And it was my first skate park I ever went to in my life. Me too. Everybody, it's legendary.
SPEAKER_07That was the first concrete that I really really ever skated.
SPEAKER_03It's the oldest concrete in the world, dude. Yeah. Like skateboard, like skate park wise. Yeah, it's the oldest skate park in the world. And like, you know, Marty, whenever uh the contest that we just did, where I was at Kona and I was gonna buy a skateboard that we're gonna raff off to the kids, and I was like, yeah, man, we're doing this. Uh, you know, me and Paul, we're gonna do something for the kids and everything. And Marty's like, oh here, let me and just like no questions asked, and just just bless us up. And I was like, man, I was already willing to spend money, so I'm like, fuck, I'll I'll buy wheels. Like, I d I felt bad. Like knowing that it wasn't for me at all or like for like us. But like, no, Marty's a good human and has a good spirit for sure.
SPEAKER_07Oh yeah. I do I remember being fucking shit 14 years old with my f left foot toes facing the opposite direction than they should be because of a spiral tid fib spa uh fracture in the middle of my leg. Oh no. And him carrying me down from the the old street course, because it was the hip on the you know what I mean? Yeah. And uh him carrying me down there and then making a splint out of like truck stop magazines and fucking duct tape and shit like that. Yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_06Wow, dude, that brings me back. Yep. Do you remember those graphics bong ads that when Buck was sponsored by graphics? Oh yeah. Buck Smith, punker than you. Yeah, right he is. I ain't challenging it, dude. Dude, I've seen Buck do airs over hips and pools that you couldn't even fucking roll a tennis ball across. Yeah. There's nothing. You know, like dude fucking maneuvers it's mind-blowing.
SPEAKER_03That uh that pool at uh oh, it's in the backyard of um Temple. Uh uh Johnny Temple's pool. That pool. That massive fucking pool. It is the scariest shit in the world to go into that deep end to hit that waterfall. That 12 foot deep end. Dude, I remember like I was.
SPEAKER_04Have you ever been over there? No, I haven't been out there. I've seen it.
SPEAKER_07I've seen videos of it like this.
SPEAKER_06You know what I mean? It's got like the two down here, the the this, and it's got the head at the end. You're right. It looks like a giant wiener from the sky. But dude, it's gnarly as fuck. That's the first place I ever saw Babe Pedro Barrow skate. Oh wow. And I mean 540s through corners and stuff, dude. Yeah. You ever done an air through a corner? No, I know. I got shit to do tomorrow, dude. I can't do that. Dude, do you remember the old male bowl jam at Skate Lab? Yeah. Every year, you know what day it was on? My fucking birthday. Fuck yeah, dude. It was the best birthday present every single year, dude.
SPEAKER_05It was like, you guys did this for me again.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, Brian was such a fucking good dude. Dude, the very first time I met Brian, he was like, Man, I just saw your part in the listen video, dude. You never have to pay to skate here.
SPEAKER_05And I was like, Jesus Christ, man, thank you so much. I'd never even met you before, bro.
SPEAKER_06You skate free forever. And I was like, holy shit. Score. So I started skating that bowl a lot, especially since Tim wanted to skate the bowl a lot. And that was a badass bowl. It wasn't. And when they got rid of that little shallow end area and built and built the pool block corner, and the cowbell on the vert wall. That's where Tim taught me how to do airs through in that corner from one wall to the other wall. Oh wow. That shit's fun, dude. You never seen me do that?
SPEAKER_03No, I have seen you do that.
SPEAKER_06I've done front side flips from that wall over into the other side of the wall.
SPEAKER_03Oh shit. No, I wouldn't. But uh I've seen I've seen you hit corners doing the ollies and shit over uh neglies. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06It's just a thing, dude. It's like once you it's like once you understand it, it's it's weird. It's like kind of how Mike was talking about like one foot and shit, dude. You get to this place in your head where it's like you don't have to think about it really.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_06It's weird. Yeah. Oh, we were talking about this on the way over here, dude.
The Mind State Adrenaline And Closing
SPEAKER_06So tell me if this has ever happened to you. I'm sure it has. Like one of your best moves that you've been, you know, taking a slam on or trying, putting a lot of effort in, and then when you like finally land it, you you you're like you were like blacked out, like you don't remember like doing the move. And you're just rolling away. And you're just like riding away. Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_07Dude, oh, that's happened so many times in my life.
SPEAKER_06That's a weird experience, right?
SPEAKER_07That's a really weird experience. Because you're like the whole time you're trying to mentally break it down because you're like, why am I breaking it? Yeah, but like it's like, why, why, why, you know, what's the next step to figuring it out? What's the next step to figuring it out? And then all of a sudden, whatever it is you were focusing on that you thought was that next step to unlocking it does. And you're just like Yes.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_07Like it takes that like three-second delay of rolling.
SPEAKER_05The reboot system's like and almost walking to see.
SPEAKER_07Did anybody else see? Did I really do that? Dude, did or did I just dream that? Like I swear to you, that is absolutely trippy shit, man. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_06I was uh I was reading this uh I can't remember the name of the book or whatever, but the whole reason my buddy even let me borrow the book is because Ronnie Mullen wrote like a few chapters in it or whatever. Yeah. And it was about like how the mind works with like skateboarding and stuff, talking about like mental blanketing layers, you know, like stepping on a board, pushing, riding, turning, you know, all the way up to where you're like kickflip backside, tail slide, shove it, you know. So like by the time you're all the way up there, you're not thinking about like pushing, riding this. All that's just subliminal. Yeah, you know, all you're worried about is just getting on and fucking getting off. And your your mind will enter this weird state, like you like the blackout state. Euphoria. It's dude, it's some crazy dopamine shit, dude. It must be transcendence. It's like it's yeah, it's it's a it's or when things will like slow down when you're like car crash mode. Yeah. When like you're you're in like that fight or flight mode when you're about to like eat shit on a handrail or something, and it'll feel real slow. Yeah, that's some crazy natural high shit, dude. Skateboarding is one of the coolest things ever, man.
SPEAKER_03There's nothing like it. There's nothing.
SPEAKER_06Dude, it's like the the way your mind can interact with it, it's on like infinite levels, dude.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I've always been like a sucker for like you know, adrenaline, you know, I'm adrenaline junkie, like and I'm just like really like interested and curious, and I want to experience shit before.
SPEAKER_06Have you ever gone skydiving?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it's fucking amazing in my life. Yeah, fucking amazing. Fellas, I'm gonna say this right now. I tell everybody, like, I preached the good word. Like, yeah, dude, me too, dude.
SPEAKER_03I'm serious. You have to go fucking life-changing experience. I'm not going skydiving unless I'm tripping off the street.
SPEAKER_06Dude, you know what you could probably do, Chris. You should go fucking uh like snorkeling in fucking some uh coral reefs or some shit. Because that shit's amazing, too. I'm a land creature, dude.
SPEAKER_03All right, land lover. Yeah, land creature. I don't even eat seafood.
SPEAKER_06You were earlier talking to me about One Piece now, and you're you were into pirates, or you didn't want to go to the fucking beach.
SPEAKER_03I'm super into pirates, but yeah, dude, I'm not I'm not okay, dude. I don't eat fish. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I swim so much.
SPEAKER_07Well, hey guys, we've been uh talking again for a good little bit, man. And uh you know, I know I know the the missus the missus will be uh will be home soon. Um I gotta say, Aaron, it's been a uh a pleasure, man. You got storage galore, dude. The stoke you have is infectious, bro. Thank you, dude. When you are skating again, let's fucking skate. Oh yeah, man. Definitely love to have you come back on again in the future.
SPEAKER_06Just been working a bunch right now and fucking letting my little weak ass knee heal.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, you got uh you got anything you want to plug on some of your social media or anything?
SPEAKER_06I don't do any social media, man. Fucking rad. No, it doesn't have to be. Goddamn legend. It's a fucking OG for real.
SPEAKER_07Dude, as speaking of the missus, she's calling, so we're gonna go ahead and wrap this up.
SPEAKER_06Uh thank you guys so much for having me, man. It is a very pleasure meeting you, Paul. I can't believe we haven't met before. You all kind of look familiar. I think we're gonna be able to do it. Especially working at Cone and everything, man. I was just sometimes real fucking oblivious.
SPEAKER_07We're focused on fucking trying to do tricks, but never really the best one names.
SPEAKER_03Like I said, with Peterson was like one of those moments for you. Getting Mullen on is one of those moments for me. Nice. Like one of my favorite people on earth, man. One of my favorite.
SPEAKER_06I got much love for everyone here, and everyone in Jacksonville Brook, man. I couldn't have done it without anybody else.
SPEAKER_07Well, we appreciate everybody for tuning in, and uh, once again, peace, love, and skateboarding, like