about the traffic in Los Angeles, it says something that local officials warned motorists about a temporary roadwork closure on the 405 last year by calling it Carmageddon. Angelenos took the hint, and this weekend, they're expected to steer clear of the latest 405 closure, named, of course, Carmageddon 2. That's how it is in L.A., a snarl of overstuffed freeways and commuters who keep their cool, except when they don't. KPCC's Stephen Cuevas has this profile of a punk rocker whose music expresses the insanity of L.A. traffic while extolling the virtues of public transit. Couple of things you need to know about Eddie Solis. He lives in L.A., loves the band Kiss, and does not own a car. Being someone who's from L.A., born and raised, and, you know, having a few cars in my past, I saw the city much differently, through a different perspective, through the eyes of a bus rider. One just all the way to the back. Line 18. Just steps from the front door of his home, across the street from a tortilla factory in L.A.'s Boyle Heights neighborhood, Solis catches a bus that connects him with the city's subway, and the commuter train he catches to his day job at an indie record label in Hollywood. It just opened me up to, like, little neighborhoods, galleries, clubs, bars, just everything. Just seeing what's out there, little pockets of the city. Solis's journeys aboard L.A. bus, buses, and subway cars, informs a lot of the material on The New Los Angeles Part 1, Through the Eyes of a Bus Rider, the latest release by the singer-guitarist band It's Casual. In Solis's vision of a new Los Angeles, people abandon their cars, climb aboard public transit, and rediscover their communities. One song, extols the virtues of the L.A. County Metropolitan Transit Agency's E-ZPass, and the urban underbelly it introduces to the rider. And that's, like, a nod and homage to, you know, the people who know what you can even go cheaper, and really beat the system, and really steer away from spending money on gas and oil profits and all that. $50 is all it takes for me to get to work. $50 is all it takes for me to witness racial tension, for me to witness illegal aliens, for me to witness the off the bus and back on the street, we make our way past a jazz saxophonist playing for pocket change, and down a long escalator to catch a train. So, where are we now? We're at the Red Line Station, the Pershing Square Station in downtown L.A. And what's our destination? We're going to go downstairs another tier, and in about five minutes we're going to get on the Red Line going northbound. Okay, let's go. The Metro Red Line snakes from North Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles. It's the train that inspired its casuals signature tune, and spawned a viral internet video. It was partly filmed late at night, on a moving train as it hurtles from station to station. Solis thrashes away on his guitar and barks the lyrics, which celebrate the Red Line, and call out the congested freeways that coil around Los Angeles. This is a train from the Metro Red Line to North Hollywood. The 210, 605, the freeways are not so nice. The I-5, the 210, the freeways are not so nice. The thread that comes out of the record, that ties everyone together, is just like, be alive, don't be a victim of having a car. The 210, the 605, the freeways are not so nice. The I-5, the I-10, the freeways are not so nice. The Red Line. The Red Line. An MTA spokesman said he couldn't comment on Eddie Solis' furious pro-Metro message, but the Red Line video was a hit at the offices of Move LA. Eddie's done a good job. Thank you, Eddie. It's the public transportation advocacy, headed by former Santa Monica Mayor Denny Zane. He liked the juxtaposition of Solis blissfully riding LA public transit in one scene, with scenes of the band raging against those notorious freeway jams. Eddie is all frantic when he talks about highways, and so mellow when he's like grooving on a skateboard and on the bus and on the Red Line. There's a metaphor for the transformation, you know, from the, oh my God, I just got to get out of the traffic, to, hey, this is cool. I can mellow out. Or you can blast the tune like too many people, as you claw your way across Los Angeles by car, bus, or skateboard. Los Angeles. There's too many people. I want them to go away. Even though they think they're so free. Too many people could also be a motto for its casual. Over the years, the band whittled itself down to a power duo of Solis and a rotating cast of drummers. So you may think the burly, bearded punk rocker just can't get along with freeways, with people, or his native LA. Not true. I love it. I love everything about it. I've traveled throughout the US many times, and I could never look forward enough to coming back. The weather, the different cultures, the landscape. I was just like, you know what? Now I know why everyone moves to LA. Solis will bring the love and the volume during a Redline mini tour next month. Its casual will play a different venue within walking distance of several Redline Metro stops from Union Station to West Hollywood. For the California Report, I'm Stephen Cuevas. I was my driver last night. I was my driver last night. And that's the California Report, a production of KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. Our director this week is Nina Thorson. Sil Muller is our technical producer. We had additional engineering from Danny Bringer and Howard Gelman. Thanks to Hank Hadley at KCBX. Our online team includes Lisa Pickoff-White, David Marks, and Don Clyde. Our interns are Katherine Borgeson and Rachel Johnson. Tykee Hendricks is our elections editor, with production help from Tina Lauer, We had editing support from Paul Rogers. Victoria Malione is our associate senior producer. Ingrid Becker is our senior producer. The news director is Bruce Kuhn. I'm Rachel Miro. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. This is the California Report. Funds for the California Report are provided by the James Irvine Foundation, expanding opportunity for the California people. and the California people. The people of California and supporting the California Report since its premiere in 1995. And the California Endowment. Health happens in schools at Calendow.org. And Chevron, investing in renewables, strengthening communities, and creating jobs. More information at Chevron.com. The 210-605. The freeways are not so nice. The I-5. The 210. The freeways are not so nice. The 101. The 405. The freeways are not so nice. The I-5. The I-10. The freeways are not so nice. The 210. The 605. The freeways are not so nice. I-5. The I-10. The freeways are not so nice. nombreux nombreux nombreux nombreux nombreux nombreux nombreux nombreux The red light. The red light. The red light. The red light. The red light. The red light. The 210, the 605, the three ways are not so nice. The I-5, the I-10, the three ways are not so nice. The 101, the 405, the three ways are not so nice. The 605, the 101, the 101, the 101. The I-10, the 210, the 605, the 101, the 405. The I-10, the three ways are not so nice. The red light. The red light. The red light. The red light. The red light. The red light! The red light! The red light! Good afternoon and welcome to the 120th episode of Los Angeles Nista. I am the show creator, producer, and host, Eddie Solis. Today is a Southern California episode. We're not going to pigeonhole this episode to one geographic area because my in-studio guest has a lot of roots in Orange County as well as downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, etc. And my in-studio guest is Skate Master Tate. Real name, Jerry Hurtado. How are you, sir? I am just awesome, brother. Thank you very much. Oh, you are very welcome. You know, not only are you Skate Master Tate, the DJ who's graced the stage of Lollapalooza throughout the entire tour for the first Lollapalooza, and you did the... second Lollapalooza, California, West Coast. You know, you were also someone who had a record deal with Island and produced tracks early on. I'm talking late 80s. Yeah. Always DJ'd at a certain level with, you know, where you were doing celebrity parties, etc. And you had this close connection to the sport of skateboarding. You were always the innovator when it came to longboards. And you were... nombreux... nombreux... compilations and having your imagery projected around all the professionals. But what really connected me to you was the Nickelodeon show, Skate TV. And you got to really see where I'm coming from because, you know, in the early 90s, there was no internet and I would come home from high school, freshman, sophomore, and I would run to the TV and watch Skate TV because I think it was like at 3.30 or 4. Something like that. Something like that. On Saturdays. Yeah. And that was Nickelodeon. And, you know, here we are. I mean, we didn't have to pop a VHS cassette into the VCR to watch this. So it was, oh, this kid's channel Nickelodeon has a TV show called Skate TV. And that was when I developed a connection to you, Jerry, Skate Master Tate. You know, you were in my living room daily, Monday through Friday. And I had a half pipe in my backyard. I had a mini ramp, an awesome mini ramp. Right. Like 16 feet wide, three feet high. Nice. Super mellow tranny, you know, transition. Trick ramp. Yeah. Yeah. You know, take all the curb tricks to the lip. And so I would come home from school. I would sit down, watch Skate TV, and then grab my board and just go in the back. Be so inspired by your interviews and by your guest. And then seeing you skate, what was that? Four and a half foot long board? Four nine. Four nine. Four foot nine board in the pink motel pool. Wow. Yeah. So, I mean, let's. Let's start from the beginning. I'm going to call you Jerry. Okay. That's fine. That's my God-given name. We all know you're Skate Master Tate. And, you know, I think, I think, you know, yeah, God-given name is the best way to go. Yeah. So, where were you born? I was born in East L.A. in 1959. Wow. 1959. What hospital? White Memorial. Yeah. And we went by there last week with my girl, Krista. And we ate some great tacos, man. I haven't been down there in a while. Did you enjoy it? Oh, yeah. I loved it. You know, it's. It's. It's. It's. It's. You know, you got to go back to your roots, man. I'm telling you. History is beautiful. I love it. It is. But we went back there and I was born in 59, White Memorial Hospital. And my parents, you know, they struggled. We weren't well off. You know, my father came from Cuba. My mother from El Salvador. They didn't have much, but they had enough love and kindness and generosity, you know, to others, too, because, you know, they gave to the community to help. And then, you know, things happened. And my father got a job and he transferred to Orange County, but he wanted a better life for us. Right. So he took us to Orange County. But I mean, just right over the LA County line, you know, Buena Park. Yeah. You know, so if you go a little bit north here, you know, La Mirada right there, Santa Fe Springs. So it's LA. But it was just it was weird because my cousins who stayed in LA got into gangs and got into violence. And so you have a lot of extended family in LA. Not anymore. You did. You did. They went to Miami. Hi, Leah. Right. So your cousins that stood in Los Angeles got into the gang culture. Yeah. Which has always been here, it seems like. Since the 30s and 40s. And, you know, the part of the LA aesthetic is, you know, some of the gang culture of fashion. Yeah. Graffiti, et cetera. So that's a component to all Angelenos nowadays. There's nothing bad about it, you know. Depending on where they put it. Where they put it. Well, when I'm talking fashion. Oh, no, no, no. That's fine. You know, but yeah. So you grew up Orange County, huh? Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. And what city in Orange County, more or less? Winnipark. Winnipark. Now, when did you pick up the skateboard? Probably the, we just moved into another house. So we rented out this house. Well, actually, my brother stayed there living with his wife. And we moved about two miles south towards the beach. And the park opened up called Skatoka. And I had been skating ditches for like about two or three years. What year did you start skating? About 73, 74. Ditches. Well, let me back up a little bit. Okay. When did you put your foot on the board and commit to like trying to just do more than roll down a sidewalk? 73, 74. 73, 74. And some of the first ditches that you skated were where? Fullerton, Garden Grove, Brea, Upland, Pomona. Right. We went all over. I had a 63 Rambler and we drove everywhere. Now, I- All the pipeline. Very cool. Now, the Euclid V. Yeah, yeah. That's it. That was a Fullerton ditch I skated in the early 90s. Yeah, that was the one, man. We went there when it was beautiful. Really? But it's a Euclid U, okay? Euclid U. You can't skate a V. It's a U. Okay. So it's the U. It's a U. It's not the V. No, no. Okay, I'm licking. Some people called it a V, but it's a U, like a half pipe. But it's a, you know, no vertical half pipe. It's a ditch. It's not a V, man. It's a ditch. There's a couple of us that just- Did people call it the V, though? No, a handful. A handful. I wanted a handful. Okay, well, you know why? Because you didn't live around the corner. Yeah. You know, probably. I wasn't a local. I was in Whittier while this was happening. Right, right. I don't know why they called it the V, but if you looked at it, you can't skate a V. You skate a U. A half pipe's a U. And that particular ditch, the Euclid U, had a really nice extension. It had a drop in. It had a drop in, man. You could roll in and drop in and go down and then come back, kick turn up. Pretty cool. Yeah. Pretty cool. It was awesome. So, back then, I mean, skateboarding was a crime. Yeah. Especially at the Euclid U. Yeah. So, I mean, it wasn't just easy to go and skate all day. I mean, you'd get popped and then you'd leave. You know, your session would end, right? Oh, no. They'd take you. They'd take you. They'd take you. Oh, yeah. We ran. They'd take a couple because we ran. And we knew that early in the days that if you ran up the ditch and went to the tube, it's- You got on rose crayons. So, you were cool. Hop on your board and go down that hill and if they want to follow you, they're going to get you. But they want the people that are there that they got. Right. Get a ticket, whatever. Wow. Wow. Now, when did you start committing to a longboard? Pretty early because there was this place by our- not by our house, by my sister's house now called the Brea Spillway. Okay. And there's not too many people who knew it about skating about it. Put it this way. The guys who ruled it- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. documentary on it that I'm working on now with a friend of mine who ruled the place. It's awesome. I can't even talk about it. I can't even talk about it. But once it's done, we'll come here first. We'll take a break. Off the record. But anyways, at Brea, one day I went there and I had a water ski, a wooden water ski. It was about four or nine, I guess, you know, three, between four and five feet. Okay. And, and I had it the other way. I didn't care about the kicktail because I just wanted to ride, you know, with, with comfort at this thing was fastest place. Okay. And I'm on Stokers and, um, sure grip trucks and, um, Cadillac wheels. Okay. Yeah. And we went there, we've been there before, but the day we went there, they were closing it down. The bulldozers were dropping dirt and stuff. Wow. And, um, I talked to the guy in Spanish and I go, listen, man, can you go over there for a while and let us skate? And he goes, okay. See, he said, you know what I'm saying? I gave him a couple of bucks, some dollars. That wasn't rich, you know? So, um, we had to drop in from the peak, then do a backside bottom, turn back up the same wall, and then you could go across to the bowl. Okay. Took me three or four times before I got that. And I whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, shaved my skin, my hair on my shoulder, my elbow, right? The elbow pad went up, you know, cause we didn't have the plastic things then. And I finally got it and I just go, yeah. You know, the first time I made it and then we did it about 10 times and then we got out of there. Kid died there. Wow. Kid died there in the seventies. But anyways, it was called the Brace Bill way. And, um, once you put your foot on the board, there's no stopping. Okay. So then the pros from San Diego came up one day, Mike weed and these guys, the top pros, the top pros. Yeah. They hit about 20 walls. Boom, boom, boom. My boys and me, three walls, four walls. Boom, boom, boom. Right. To the bowl and back up. It was, it was, oh my God. You'll see. Now, now, you know, I had Salba on. Yeah, yeah. Steve Alba. Yeah. And he brought to my attention during our discussion that, you know, I mean, obviously I know the Venice, Santa Monica area was called Dogtown. Yeah. You know, and that's the nickname, but the area he was from, Pomona, Montclair. Badlands. Badlands. Badlands. Badlands. Now, where you were rooted in, like Buena Park, you know, the La Mirada area, Whittier, was there a name for that? Well, Neil Blender and Lester Kasai and those kids called this place Sadlands. But I don't know. That was a park, right? That was Moon Park on Brookhurst and Crescent. We used to go skate there years ago, right? Right. But they would, you know, these are the kids, like we'd cruise it on our boards, but they were hitting the planner. And we saw them, we're going, wow, these kids are gnarly. Super tight. Like transition. Yeah. Like short. Like short break. You know, boom, boom. And see, that's, I mean, unless you progress to that next level of like street skating or vert skating, even then, you know, it's something that they enjoyed and they took advantage of. And that's great, man. They gave it a name. They loved it. Sadlands. It was theirs. It was theirs. They owned it. Yeah, they owned it. In a skateboard way. Yeah, well, no, they owned it. Literally, just about. But anyways, I was never for that. I like big places. I need big space. Because I'm a... Okay? And I ride a long board. So I can't do that stuff. Even in the pink motel pool on my 549, when I hit the coping on that, I was ecstatic. But it took me about five or six times before I hit it, you know, because it's such... And I had to come down right before the death box. So, you know, so I like big places and I'm happy now because I can just cruise wherever I want. So Sadlands, yeah. Sadlands. Now, you, sorry to interrupt, you had a lot of history working at skate parks. Yeah, yeah. Now, these were the skate parks in the 70s and 80s. The first ones. The ones that weren't really... They weren't made to skate. They were made to skate, but they weren't like they are now. Not by pros. Not designed by pros. Right. They were a vision of some contractor who did it. Some of them worked, some of them didn't. Right. Yeah. The first one I got was in 77 at... I just graduated from high school. Actually, before high school, I graduated. And it was Skatopia. I'm not... I don't know. I'm Orange Slope. Wow. And the building is still there, but the runs are buried, I guess. And that had a great half pipe. And that's where I met Tony and Jay and Stacy Peralta and a few other people. Craig Feynman, may he rest in peace. Photographer. And so I started off there sweeping the dirt out of the runs, right? Because I was the token Mexican, I guess. They thought. They didn't know I was Cuban Salvadoran. If I would have told them that, they would have been, what? So, you know what I mean? I mean, you know, and that's fine. That's fine, you know. So I started sweeping off the runs. Sweeping off the runs. And then I elevated my status to cooking, like making sandwiches. So what I did was... The snack part? Yeah, yeah. But, you know, the hot dogs and that. But then I brought in my own avocados and seven grain whole wheat bread and sprouts. And I made these cool sandwiches. And I had pockets of money because I brought them in, right? Because that's what I was eating at the time. That's awesome. I was eating at the... So you make hot dog sandwiches on seven grain whole wheat bread? No, no, no, no. If they wanted hot dogs, they needed hot dogs. But I had the thing of my own. If you want an avocado sprout lettuce tomato sandwich, that's like two bucks or something. Three bucks. That's the Skate Master Tate special right there. Well, it was Jerry Hurtado's. Yeah. Because there was no Skate Master Tate then. Back then. But, so then after that, the same people that hired... No, then I got some... I was the manager there. So I started managing Skatopia. And the people that hired me there, one day came up and goes, you want to go to another park? And I go, yeah, sure. Because, you know, you stay at one skate spot for a while and you want to... You can find a new one, right? Mm-hmm. And I had cracked my head open in the half pipe being a stupid skater. So I was kind of chilling for a bit. I was in intensive care for 25 hours with a five centimeter crack in my skull. Really? Yeah. How old were you when that happened? 16. 17. 17. So did that change your way of... Your perspective of skateboarding? I stopped skating for about six months, three months. Did that hold you back from trying to progress? Not at all. I mean, you know, I knew that I couldn't be a top pro or even a good pool skater. All I could do was carve. And that's what I loved doing. I liked going fast. You know? Right. Hitting the coping when I could, you know? Depending on the pool, you know? If it had too much for it, hey, I'd watch. When I went to the dog bowl, I saw some of the most intense skating in my life. I didn't drop in that thing. I had Tony Alva. I had Biniak. You know, the best skaters in the world right in front of me. Why would I want to step in there and waste their time? Right? Right. What we did is we held the wood up there so they could go for the coping. Oh, for the extension. Right. Stories. But anyways... Pop-up extension. Yeah. So... But not secure. We held it. You held it. Biniak came up and he weighs, you know, 150. And me and Fuzzhead are there and we go back. And he does a turn like a backside ollie. Not knowing it's an ollie because they weren't existing then. They didn't exist back then. And he's turning and I'm just going... And then he goes like this. He goes, whoosh, lands like a bird. Goes and lifts up the coping on the other side. Over the nipple. Front side grind. It was intense. That's great. But anyways, so I got a manager job at Big O. And I wasn't skating. I was working, right? And then we had a meeting outside in the freestyle area. And I saw some kid that had a board that, you know, a little longer than usual. I said, let me see your board. He gives it to me and I drop it in the freestyle area. And I started carving around the little boulder. And I go, nah, I ain't quitting. I ain't quitting. I ain't quitting. So I put my board back together and I came back and I started skating. And... And... And it was a lot of fun because the Holiday Bowl, there was a place where you learned tricks. Dwayne learned a lot of tricks there. A lot of people, they'd take their tricks there and then take them to the pool. The keyhole. And then to the capsule. But I liked it there because that was about the most I was going to get out of front side grinds. After that, I'll tell you, I hooked up on a front side at Skatopia. And being a fool, I didn't have my helmet strapped. And I came back. Boom, boom, boom. Triple... Triple... Heesh! And I was out. I was out. My buddy, Iso. Had to pick me up, scrape me up off this concrete. And took me in and I go, no, I'm okay, man. I'm okay. We just smoked too much pot. And then I walked out the door and I threw up. And he goes, dude, you got a concussion. Oh, my God. Took me home. Took me to the hospital. And I came to with pastors over me, you know, trying to raise me. I don't know. And I still didn't... Pastors? Yeah, my brother brought his pastor down to try to, you know... I thought I wasn't even going to die, Eddie. Wow. Wow. It was heavy. It is heavy. So, so, when did you start... Planting some seeds in Los Angeles? Like, I mean, because my vision of you when I first learned about you as Skate Master Tate, you were, you know... Hollywood. Yeah. I saw you, you know, pictures with Christian Assoy, that whole crew. Yeah. And then, obviously, you know, skating around L.A. And then having a TV show. So, when did you actually start planting your seeds in Hollywood? What happened was Marina Del Rey opened in 79, 80, 79. Yeah. And a few things happened at Big O that I wasn't happy about. Personal things with the owner. May he rest in peace. And I just had to get out of there. It was too far the other way. I always wanted to come back, you know, because I liked L.A. I lived in Santa Monica for a couple years. And that's where we did the first record, A Way of Life. I was living on 4th and California, north of Montana. Yeah. And what happened was is... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.. In Venice? Yeah, the quarter pipe to the other side. Like a transfer? Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, kind of, exactly. Spine. Spine. But they had the quarter pipe on the lower end, and then the, no, the half pipe on the lower end, and then the quarter pipe. Well, they're both quarter pipes, but the small one and the large one. Yeah. To get over the thing. And I'd go over that on my longboard, and I had fun just cruising, you know, hanging with the boys. Christian and Oscar would always, like, hop on my longboard and do rock and roll slides to the end of the... On the longboard? Yeah, yeah. And... On the wall? Yeah, yeah. On the little part, though. Yeah. Right? Not from the big end, but from the little part on top, like where the boardwalk is. Not down where the sand is. Right. So I stayed there for a while, and then after the first record, we were staying in Lauren Green's house from Bonanza, right? Paul, whatever he's called. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How did that happen? I met a friend of mine, Sean Greaves, who played guitar on the first album, had a friend of his named Hector, who, it was like a five-bedroom house, old, old, you know? And I went over there one day, and I looked in this room, and it was where the... This is funny. Where the washroom and dryer would go, right? It was like the washroom. And I go, wow, this is big enough. And I go, how's it going to feel rented out, Sean? He goes, yeah, he wants $150 a month. I'll take it. $150 a month, I'm living four blocks from the beach, loving life. I had my guitar, my records. No turntables, though. I left those behind. And my skateboards, and that's all I needed. I had a... Cadillac, I had a park in the back, my 72 Eldorado. And I thought it was loving life, you know? It was for a while, you know? And then I had to get out of there, too, because I had to get into the meat of it, right? You know, Hollywood, I guess. That's the epicenter. Yeah. You know? So, how did you earn the name Skate Master Tate? Tell us the story of it. There's a guy that we're looking for, Brian Ware, wherever he is. He used to run Deluxe Records, B-Ware Records, but Deluxe Distribution. And he was responsible for getting the acts for the compilations. From one to four, or three. What compilations? I was helping him. The Thrasher Skate Rock Compilation. Oh, so he was put in charge of that? Him and MoFo, basically. MoFo came up with the title, Skate Rock, and Brian would kind of like, you know, just manage the whole gathering of the groups, putting it together, sequencing of the music, payments. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then one day, I got some bands on. They're some friends of mine's. I think, I mean, they would have done it anyways. They would have gotten in touch with them. I just kind of made it a little quicker for them. TSOL, I think I helped out with that. Screamin' Sirens, definitely. Tupelo Chain Sex. And then, so anyways, one day, I go, so you guys need any other bands? And he goes, hey, why don't you do something? And I go, what? Are you kidding me? I go, okay, cool, cool. So I went home, and I wrote a song, and pretty funny song. And I wrote it in under an hour, I think, 58 minutes, I think. And I got a couple of buddies of mine from the Water Buffaloes, this lodge we used to have in Hollywood. It was all artists and musicians, like Fishbone was in it, Tex and the Horseheads, artist Van Arno, who did my artwork, Mad Mark Rude, who passed away, may he rest in peace. And we used to see every other Wednesday, we'd get together and smoke cigars and drink beers and talk BS, right? And so I had to record it. So I go, man. Can you do this? Can anybody help me? So Durf Scratch from Fear, who was in the Water Buffaloes, and another buddy of ours, he played guitar, Durf, did the Fostex four tracks. Remember those Fostex, right? And we did it. And, you know, I mean, it's the first song I ever did, so I guess that's my justification for how bad it was, the recording quality and all that. Because I'd never released nothing like that again. Right, right. But lyrically, it was all right. If I would have done it a little bit better. If I would have spit it a little better. Now, so you're on Thrash or Skate Rock? Four and five and eight. Four, five, eight. Four, five and seven or four. No, wait, wait, wait. You have all those on vinyl? Yeah, yeah. I got the, whatever they put out on vinyl, I have. Wow. I have my whole discography on vinyl, but only one of each. Wow. But as far as, I got one cassette that I didn't even know I was on. I think that's Writers of the Wild Boards, the green cassette. And, yeah. Yeah, I'm not too familiar with that because, you know, I don't know what they did. You know, once I left that arena, I guess, or that area, we separated ways, parted ways. There was a little tension there between me and Fausto, the owner. Fausto, may he rest in peace. And they're all dead, too. I don't know what's up. Oh, you mean Fausto Vitello? Yeah, yeah. Right. So we parted ways on kind of a bad term, and I never went back. So I don't know what they did after that. I can only tell you after where I was. After that, it's not my knowledge. I don't know. It's not in my memory bank. Now, when did you start, like, really DJing? Oh. And getting really into it and getting so good? Well, I started DJing in 72. 72? But I was playing hard rock at my junior high school. We went downtown to the federal building to get our FCC license. You got to get an FCC license to DJ? But back then, I guess you did, because I found the book that I studied from. I found my certificate. And this is stuff. Because I'm cleaning house now, right? To be a DJ. On air back then, I guess. I don't know. And check this out. We rocked so hard in the summer that school year, we had to do educational. Cards. Boom. Cards, cards, cards. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not falling again. Back in the day, they had two turntables and a microphone. Right. Right, right, right. Okay. So what the deal was is that you'd have programs sometimes on cards, like commercials. Oh, get me the Ford commercial. Boom. Pop it in. Like an 8-track. Like an 8-track. Oh, okay. Boom. You know, it's all time-coded. You know, you put it on the outside. Like, you know, this is 30 seconds. Okay, you got your watch or whatever they used back then. And that's what we had. We had a radio station in my junior high school. It sounds called Buena Park Junior High School, but it used to be called Calder. And so that's where you learned how to. That's the first time. Okay. So then from that point to college, right, I messed around a little bit, but not much. But then I was a DJ on my campus in Cypress College where I'd do a swap meet every weekend. And that was in 83, 84. And Olsen was getting his GJ. And I was DJing. And it was just weird. It was funny. But DJing in public and stuff like that in L.A., that started about 81, 82, 82, 83. Did the Lollapalooza tour happen before Skate TV? I don't remember. Jeez Louise. Like the same time. After. After. That was after. Now, how did you get involved? Lollapalooza. Well, let's talk about Skate TV because that's the timeline first. That was first. Yeah. You know, through my eyes. And ears. Going back to 1993, 92. That's when it was. 91. 91, yeah. 91, 92. Yeah, 91, 92. I was 15. What was the back story to you being installed in, you know, the show and becoming the host and having Nickelodeon involved and there being a show called Skate TV? Now, did Stacey Peralta create that? Stacey Peralta. Craig. Stacek. Nathan Pratt. So, it's them three. Nathan Pratt's an old Z-Boy too. So, there was three creators. I can't tell you that. I don't know the gist of that, but those are the three guys that made it what it was. You know, those three right there. Maybe more emphasis on Craig Stacek III and Stacey. Of course, Stacey. Yeah. With the quick edits, you know, of the time that only MTV was doing, you know, for their segues, you know. So, anyways. They were asking people. They were asking people to come audition. So, I went and auditioned in Hollywood somewhere. You know, over on FOMOSA, I think it was, in Santa Monica. And I went, and I thought I blew it. I go, man, Stacey, I'm sorry, man. But you know what? Why don't you try Ray Flores? Why don't you try? I gave some other names. How many people auditioned? I have no idea. For the host? 40, 50. Yeah, yeah. Something like that. I have no idea. You know, I wasn't aware of how many. But I know a lot of people went, right? Because, you know, it's money. It's a gig. TV, right? TV and money? Come on. Right? Okay. And Stacey, Stacey's just such an awesome dude, man. He's just so, such a kind individual. He goes, no, no, no, Tate. You're all right. You're all right, man. We'll call you. You know, we'll let you know. So, you know, I'm DJing, doing whatever, living in Garden, you know, Martel in Willoughby, right? And I get a call, and he goes, yay, we want you to come down for a second interview or something, right? And he goes, I don't even know if it was a second interview. I think he just said, I think we're going to let you have the job, Tate. I go, what? I was shocked, Andy. I'll tell you, man. I was blown away. So then what happened was. I went down there, okay? So, you know, they're putting it all together, and I don't know, you know, I'm just looking, you know, seeing what's going on. It's going to be at the Pink Motel. Oh, yeah. Van Nuys, Van Nuys. Yeah, so I'm going to have to skateboard, right? That was the set, right? Right. Pink Motel. So they're setting everything up, and then all of a sudden they get a call from Nickelodeon. And Stacey goes, Tate, you know, you can't, you know, you could really read an honest man. An honest man, when you look him in the eyes, you can see what he's, you know, the truth, or, you know, well. Yeah. What I'm saying is he. And that's human intuition. Yeah. Your meter, you could, you have a good bullshit radar. Right, right. And everybody has one. Yeah. Everybody has a whole meter. Right. And I could tell he had bad news for me, because he just doesn't like giving bad news. He's a nice guy. And I kind of sensed what it was, because I had this all my life at the time. You know, not all my life, but, you know, being Latino in a white community, you know, we were called many names. In Hollywood. No, I'm talking about going back to. Orange County. Yeah. Right. I mean, we were called. We were called names. And when we left, we were one of three Latino families on that 100 house block, you know. So anyways, I go, I go, Stacy, don't worry about it. Tell me. We got to get a white guy, huh? They want, they want like an Americana dude, like from the Midwest or something. Right. You know. He goes, yeah. How do you know? And I go, come on. It's Nickelodeon. They're not going to be Latino. No. Come on. Half Salvadorian, half Cuban in the early 90s. You know. With a Kangolan, right? Right. Even, even now. Even now. It's not that easy, but it's a lot more acceptable. It's acceptable. And there's a. There's a market and there's a platform for it, but it still takes so much work. And it's a whole nother platform. Yeah. Absolutely. But anyway. So what do you tell you? So, so, you know, so anyways, I go, well, cool, man. Cool. So we started auditioning people. And he's, then I helped out with that, you know. So I'm looking at these, you know, these good looking guys and, you know. So all I cared about is the skateboard. Like the headshots. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Headshots, you know, with their name and stuff. So I'm looking at, all I cared about was sports. I wanted to see what sports they do. This guy don't skate. This guy don't skate. This guy don't skate. Right. And he looks wholesome. I think he's good with Nickelodeon. I mean, I'm not stupid. I know what they want. Right. They want Opie. Right. They want Opie. So I look and I go, yeah, this guy looks good. And he skates too. Okay, cool. What do you think, Stacey? You know, I just, you know. So you were helping. You were a part of it. Just the, you know. Because you like Stacey. Yeah, of course. But I was like, you know, that, you know, it was a fragment of that whole, you know, thing. And they did it all. I was just the host. So then he skated. That's all I cared about. So wait, wait. So this is looking for the co-host. Yeah. No, well, the other host. The other host. The co-host. Yeah, co-host. We were both co-hosts. No one was one host. Right. I mean, I could say, oh, yeah, it was me. But it wasn't. You know, he only interviewed not as I did. And I wish I would have, you know. I know not as he did. Well, it's so funny because, now, not to interrupt you, let me just say, choose my words carefully. I know. That's what I'm trying to do. Hold on. I'm so passionate about life that these come out sometimes. Yeah. And you know, it's because you want to be diplomatic and be kind and say the right thing within reason. Within reason. Without being false, you know. Without being false, but without being harmful and hurting. Being who I was in 1991, Mexican-American child in a Latino neighborhood in Whittier, immersed in skateboarding, punk rock, heavy metal, rock and roll, underground rap, I connected to you. I even forgot there was another host, to be completely honest. Really? You didn't see Scooby-Doo or SLC Pumpkin? Well, I did. Yeah. Scream and whatever. Yeah, that guy's a big star. But, you know, I didn't, I mean, I think you did a great job, of course. But, I mean, whenever I think of Skate TV, it's like Skate Master Tate was a host. Well, thank you very much. So, I mean, you're, what you did on the screen, no matter how good your ability was to skateboard, like you were saying, you know. You're like, I carve, right? And that's that. No matter what your ability you chose, I could tell you were super immersed in skate culture and it resonated through the screen. The state glass TV screen, that's passion. That's passion, yeah. That's passion and fire. And I'll tell you, like rock and roll music, like anything, that art, especially art. When someone's passionate, ability is great and you need it to create your model and your framework. Right. But anything, I believe passion overcomes and has more value than your technical ability. Well, like they say, love never fails and passion is part of love, man. When you're showing your passion, it's love for the sport, man. That's what love is. And I'll tell you, like I said before, man, I was a fan before I was anything. I was a fan of the sport, surfing, skating. I never surfed, man, but I love watching those guys drop into those big old waves, man. And getting barreled and stuff like that. Into it, right? Yeah, I used to shoot pictures. My friends did. We did it. Went to El Salvador. I shot pictures. I didn't go out in the water surfing. I went in the water, but I didn't surf. Right? But what I'm saying is that I was a fan before anything. So to be a part of it, like to write for the magazine, to put out a song, to get on TV, it was just like, man, it was beautiful. Okay? And to make money, it was like to earn a living, you know, aside from DJing. Through a television career. Right, right. Now, let's get back with the whole skate TV thing. So you chose this guy. Yeah, yeah. Well, I brought them to Stacy. They made the decision. But he skates, Stacy. Let's try him. Okay, I couldn't skate. I couldn't skate. He couldn't. We did an interview for some magazine in Beverly Hills or something. I hop on my board, right? Walk to the nose, whatever, right? He drops his down. He, boom, slams. You know? That's when I just go, you know what? Oh, so he was faking it. If you're going to go out for it, if you're an actor, I guess you got to act, right? Right. So you might as well act like a skater for the skate show, right? Right. Well, there it is. So tell me about the prep for the first episode. What episode do you ever shot? Were you nervous? Oh, hey. Hey, hey, yeah. I was nervous. Yeah, you know, but Stacy is so awesome, man. And Craig and everybody there made you feel at home. The whole crew, even, I remember the makeup leader, the hair lady, one of them, her husband had every number one, Billboard number one record from 50, from the beginning of Billboard. Was it Rock and Roll? Was it Rock and Roll? Yes. And I'm just going, she showed me a picture of it and he's got them all in the front. And I go, I'm just dying. I go, can you sell them, right? Yeah. You know, no, no, no. He's still collecting. And, you know, they just made you feel so comfortable. But after the first or second, you know, shot, you know, you know, you know, scene or whatever you want to call them. Scenes, right? That's what they're called, right? Yeah. I got comfortable, you know, because I don't know, man. I'm a ham, kind of. You know, I'm a character. I'm a funny guy. I'm happy. I don't have no hangups. And it got easier. I'll tell you. It got easier because they made it easier, you know? Right, right. Right. Now, did you guys? Like, was there like a complete formula before the first episode was shot? Or did they kind of learn as they went? I have no idea. You had no idea? I have no idea if. Can I share something? Tell me. Tell me. My girl's 3,000 miles away. She goes, you are a ham. I'm going to put that over there. And I just turned the volume down. Tell me about. Hi, Krista. But, you know, they hit that. Of course, they had a formula. Because if not, you're going to be spinning wheels and spending money. Because you're paying everybody out there a crew day rate, right? Yeah. I'm sure they had a formula. And it's union. It's a real thing. But I didn't know that stuff. All I cared about was getting there, skating, doing the scenes, whatever, you know, going back to the hotel, smoking a joint, because that's what I was doing at the time. And, you know, and I'm glad that at least people liked it in that condition that I was in. Because I wasn't, I wasn't, you know, anyways, we'll talk about that later. What? Tell me this. Being a fan. Yeah. And someone who was skateboarding as well. What were some of your favorite and memorable episodes that we just had a good time with the guest and you actually enjoyed the interview and enjoyed watching him skate? Christian. Gator. Man. Wow. Gator. You know, even the one that he interviewed, Nautas, I love that one. There's, there's, those, those, those are, those are, there's, there's several. I mean, I've seen a lot of interviews that I liked, but as far as Lance, I love doing the thing with Lance, you know, the, the grip tape thing, you know. Oh, no, no, no. The, the, the, the duct tape over the shoe, right? But it was a whole episode. It was called like, yeah, I haven't seen these in years, man. But, but it was like, we give tips. Tips to kids. Like ski tips. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so if, you know, if your shoes mess up, grip tape it, you know. If your wheels, cone, put in the back or whatever. Take it off, whatever. You have an all-in-one, you put a patch. Right. You get like the tongue of an old shoe. Right. Right. So, so you, you work with what you got, you know. And it was just one of those things. Lance, Lance, Lance is awesome too, man. I mean, I remember Lance from 70, you had him here, huh? He was in. He's, he's incredible. I was. And his son. Yeah, yeah. You know what? I know you can appreciate this, you know, being a fan of skateboarding and doing it myself. Right. I had Steve Alba and Lance in, in the same week. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. I keep up with you, man. You don't have to hide nothing from me. I know that. No, no, no. That's a lie. No, I'm just saying. I was truly inspired. Inspired and excited. You're a fan too, man. Yeah, yeah. Salva, I'll tell you Salva, man. Salva's an awesome kid. I've seen him, a kid. He's younger than me, but I still, you know what I mean? I don't know. He's still a kid to you, huh? No, no, because I'll tell you, somebody brought this up. Jim Gray. Jim Gray is just an awesome guy too. He's only a couple years younger than me. Okay? But the deal is that I was the manager of the park, so they looked at me like a authority figure. But I've never, you know, come on. I was never authority to the kids, you know? If they're going to do something stupid, I'll say, like, we don't want to talk about Dwayne They looked up to me because I was the manager of the park, and I respected that. And, you know, do what you want. Go skate, whatever. Eat a hot dog, whatever. But Jim Gray brought that up, and he goes, you know, you're not that much older than me, but I looked up to you because you were the manager of the park. And I go, man, I'm just glad that I'm alive and that you're here when we're talking, you know? Because Jim Gray's a real man. He's a real man and a genuine soul, okay? And I love him. I love him so much. Jim Gray. Jim Gray. Yeah, and so Salva's the same way, man. Salva's never changed since the day I met him. Lance, same thing. Stevie Cavalero, same. Same thing. None of these people have ever changed. I just, you know, it's one of those things that there's some people that always stick in your mind, and those are the ones, you know? Dwayne, me and Dwayne didn't start off good, okay? Because he was coming from long-haired surfer dudes to punk rock, and he had all these people following him. And, hey, that puffs you up a bit, right? When you got a platform and people are following what you do, it's, you know, chest out, right? Right. And I'll tell you that now, it's been a long time. Since. Since that happened. And it's been a long time since, you know, we've, you know, made our, made our. Men's? Men's, yeah. You know, I mean, he's, I just feel, you know, really connected to him because we went through a lot together. You know, ups and downs and ins and outs and whatever, punk rock and this and that. And he stuck with it, and I got out of it. And, you know, he made money out of it. He's famous, and that's great, man, you know? And I just, I have more love for him than I ever did. And back then, I hated the guy. I had to get. I got paid. I got paid by Fausel, rest in peace, to bring him his trucks, to deal with him, to drive him, drive him where I had to. And that's probably why me and Fausel parted ways. Because he would, he would just tell me to have to do this. You have to do that. You have to do this. You have to do that. Fausel owned Thrasher, right? Fausel owned Independent. Independent. Thrasher. Venture. Thunder. Juxtapose. You know. All that. Yeah. It was a Spitfire. Slap Magazine. There, you know, things that, that are there now that weren't. They're still here. You know, I don't know the list of them, but up until I left, Thunder, Venture, Indie. I think you did Stroker. Yeah. I don't know. You know. Very interesting. How many seasons did Skate TV last? One season. We did 14 episodes and a pilot. And, but it played many years. Yeah. Four years, right? Three or four? I think even more. Might have been more. Because in Japan, they were doing it forever. I want the Skate TV. Box set. So do I. I asked somebody about that, if they're going to do that. And I don't know. Maybe if enough people ask for it, maybe they'll do it. But I would love them to, man. Do you know who actually owns the masters of that? The rights? Is it Stacey? Or is it? It's probably Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon. But I'm sure Stacey has a copy of everything. And he'd just have to ask and get permission. But, you know, because you don't want to do that without Nickelodeon's permission. Well, of course. But, I mean, the fact of the matter is, I mean, it would be nice to bring all that, like, maybe on Netflix or something. On demand. On demand. I mean, you can YouTube some of the things. Yeah. But not all of it, right? Yeah. A lot of it's on YouTube. Now, was every episode filmed at the Pink Motel in Van Nuys? No, no, no, no. Well, yeah. That was a home base. Yeah, yeah. That was a home base. But then we went out and shot a little segment. Yeah, of course. Like you on the sidewalk and doing stuff. And you guys would do, yeah, you guys would go out and talk. Sunset Boulevard, yeah. Yeah, you guys would bring skaters out and then do stuff on location as well. And then we even featured a video clip from out. And some guy told me today, I mentioned his name on TV. I love this internet, I'll tell you. Like I said, man, this is all new to me, but I love it. I've started to warm up to it a bit. Because, you know, I met some people that I haven't talked to in a long time. And that's the best part. Well, you can reconnect. That's what it is. And especially if you have, you know, a lot of light and love in your life at the present time. There's a lot of ways to move forward with old friends, whether it was good or bad. Yeah. You know, if it's bad, I want to mend it. And if it's good, I want to improve it, you know. Of course. I have no hatred for nobody in my life, in my past or present, and hopefully for my future, you know. I just want to love, love, love is what I want to do, man. Because I'll tell you, you know how you get, man. Especially when, like, I got into punk pretty early, you know. I wasn't the first punk. I wasn't the last punk. But I was pretty early. I've seen some great shows, I can tell you. I saw X and the Germs play at Tony Alva's birthday party, okay? Wow. I saw the Germs return at the Starwood. I saw some great shows, okay? All those Black Flag Flyers that I post, I saw all those shows. You were there. Basie's, I was there at all these shows. Let's ace this phone, man. Where are you, Chris? Let's back up really quick. Okay. Your DJ knowledge and music knowledge, it goes all the way back, all the way back to, like, old blues and, you know, Delta. Delta. Blues. One second. Go ahead. We didn't finish this part about the name because I really want to get this out there because, you know what? Some people think I'm a skate master. Yeah. No, I'm not. So, anyways, they got me to do the song. They recorded it. And the deal was on my turntable at the time I had Grandmaster Flash, right? Oh, you did? Yeah. So, I go, hmm, what would be good, right? Hmm. So, I bought this. And I ended up eating them later in life. But I'm saying, I go, how about Skate Master Tate? Because they called me Potato Head in the punk rock days. There's two Potato Heads. Potato Head? Why were you Potato Head? Because Tony Alva at Skatopia had like a natural, right? I didn't want to show you the picture. An afro? Natural. My hair. Natural curly hair. And I don't know what it was, but he goes, hey, it looks like you have little potatoes in your head or something. Hey, Potato Head. So, then he leaves, goes back to the top town or wherever he lives, right? Venice or Santa Monica. And everybody at the park, hey, Potato Head. Hey, Potato Head. Hey, Potato Head. Zalvo's calling you that. Yeah, of course. Because, you know, when he showed up, everybody watched him skate, right? Right. And him and Jay and everybody. Shogo. It was a great day that day, man. I got some shots that you wouldn't believe of those guys. But anyways, so that's where that started. And that's where it went from. From Punk Rock to Potato Head. No, from Potato Head to Punk Rock to getting the Thrasher people gigs to get me one out of the blue and then coming up with a name so I can't vote Skate Master Tate. From Potato Head to Skate Master Tate. And in between that was Grandmaster Flash on my turntables. Wow. So, that's that. Okay, so now. That's great. Delta Blues? Delta Blues. Well, you know what? Let's do this. Take a music break. Okay. Let's listen to some music. Okay. This isn't It's Casual. How's that? Yeah, there's some music loaded in and we're going to listen to It's Casual. All right. And Mike V, his band, Good For You with Gray Gin of Black Flag. What's the name of that band? Good For You. So, right now what we're going to listen to is It's Casual and Good For You. Yeah, awesome. And we'll be right back. All right, great, great, great. Hi, this is Eddie Solis. You're listening to Los Angeles Nista on Skid Row Studios. This episode of Los Angeles Nista is brought to you by La Mascota Bakery. A family owned bakery. Business serving the community since 1952. Tamales and sweet bread. Made the old fashioned way daily. Life is too short to not hold a grudge. No concessions. I will not budge. I won't forgive. There'll be no compromise. Meet you halfway. I'd rather die. I'll never atone or make amends. No surrender. We'll never be friends. There'll be no peace. There'll be no love. Life's too short to not hold a grudge. You fucks. Me over. You hung me out to dry. You swept me under. You said goodbye. Never blood tone or make amends. No surrender. We'll never be friends. There'll be no peace. There'll be no love. Life's too short to not hold a grudge. You fucked me over. You hung me out to dry. You swept me under, you said goodbye I feel no guilt, I feel no shame I killed you and now we would be the same You kept in my heart until I died I hold my grudge until the end of time I'll never atone or make amends No surrender, we'll never be friends There'll be no peace, there'll be no love Life's too short to not hold a grudge You must be over You hung me out to dry You swept me under You said goodbye Never atone or make amends No surrender, we'll never be friends Be no peace, there'll be no love Life's too short to not hold a grudge You fucked me over You hung me out to dry You swept me under You said goodbye Life's too short to not hold a grudge No concessions, I will not budge I won't forgive, there'll be no compromise Meet you halfway I'd rather die Meet you halfway I'd rather die Meet you halfway I'd rather die Meet you halfway I'd rather die Meet you halfway I'd rather die I jumped off of a cruise ship Into water Last time I saw you Hey man, what'd you do that for? Time collapses like a hit and run Bullets fired from your tongue When wild horse sustains, the spirit is dead Death is their domain, get that in your head When wild horse sustains, the spirit is dead Death is their domain, get that in your head I never had a plan B, the only person I could trust was me Hugged it by what the critics say Fuck them, who cares anyway? Time collapses like a hit and run Bullets fired from your thumbs When wild horse sustains, the spirit is dead Death is their domain, get that in your head When wild horse sustains, the spirit is dead Death is their domain, get that in your head I took off, I took shit, I took shit, I took shit My life per server was a straight jacket I never had a plan B Hey man, what do you want from me? Time collapses like a hit and run Bullets fired from your tongue When wild horse sustains, the spirit is dead Death is their domain, get that in your head When wild horse sustains, the spirit is dead Death is their domain, get that in your head Get that in your head So, uh, what do you have to say for yourself? We'll be right back. Let my legs On my knees Let my legs On my knees Let my legs On my knees Let my legs On my knees Let my legs Let my legs Try to bankrupt me, you're a fool I don't need your blessing for anything Security compromises everything Here I am, as free as the wind I'll never bow down, you will never win Here I am, as free as the wind Here I am, take your best shot Here I am, take your best shot Round after round, saying I'm not gonna stop I'm a threat, you're a fool Try to discredit me, it discredits you Your enemy, you'll never know It's not me, it's your own shadow Here I am Here I am, as free as the wind I'll never bow down, you will never win Here I am Here I am Here I am Here I am Here I am Alas, that's you All of your hatred What does it do? I'm a threat How ridiculous Try to bankrupt me, you're a fool I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything I don't need your blessing for anything for anything security compromises everything here I am I'm as free as the wind I'll never bow down you will never win you will never win you will never win you will never win you will never win here I am here I am I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. Keep the children occupied After school Got a man to deploy them To do When they come home Nobody's around Keep them occupied After school Keep the children occupied Occupied Keep the children occupied After school Gotta find something for them To do When they come home Nobody's around We gotta keep them occupied After school Keep Them Occupied I got used to making mistakes I got used to making mistakes I tolerated phonies and fakes I opened myself up and let myself down I gave them the rope and now I'm hanging on I'm hanging around I'm hanging around Like a fucking pinata Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. burn another one down man when will I learn when will I give up when will I quit opening my life up to other people's shit a hand takes me nothing and a man's word is just lie I can't believe I went along for the ride knife in the face when I was down and out knife in the face it left no doubt knife in the face this is reality knife in the face that's what you think of me that's what you think of me knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face knife in the face skateboarding, your love as a fan, how you worked at all these skate parks in the 70s and early 80s, and, you know, where you went from there as far as being a part of the skate culture with your television career, you know? Skate TV, Nickelodeon, all that great stuff. And that was a big part of a lot of our lives. And, you know, you're so just rooted in music as a fan and just someone who has a lot of knowledge as well. A music enthusiast, you're a vinyl collector, a DJ, and a great go-to guy with a lot of information. Now, you actually DJed the first Lollapalooza, the entire tour, in between bands. And who was on that tour? It opened up with Henry Rollins at 12. Then the B-Hole Surfers came on. Then it was Ice-T. Then it was Lil' Lilliput. Then it was Living Color. Then it was Nine Inch Nails, Suzy, then James. I think that's it, right? That's it. Yeah. And these were all huge venues. Right now they're huge, man, aren't they? Suzy's always been huge. James was, they got bigger, I guess, but they were huge. Come on. How did it feel on the stage DJing in between bands? Like, gigantic venues and, you know? 25,000 people in Chicago. Oh, it was awesome. Orlando had about 20,000. It was awesome, man. I mean, come on. It was the first time for me. Come on. The most I ever had was like 1,500 at the Palace or 2,000 at the Palladium or something like that. So 25,000, come on, man. I was, the first couple of gigs, I'll tell you, I wasn't like center stage. I was off to the side, but it didn't matter. No, you're still a part of it though. They had to hear it. And I didn't want to skip or scratch or anything. I mean, you're still, it was, I mean, all eyes were on you still. I mean, even though it was intermission, I mean, there was a lot of people, you know, hearing the music and watching. Yeah. And I'll tell you that, that after the first week people start budding up the band, you know, Ice and Perry doing their duets, Perry and Ice and Henry, Bud Holes playing, excuse me, playing with Henry. And then, I mean, there's some jams went on. I'll tell you, man. There's some memorable, memorable shows. I'll tell you. And that's when, you know, when the big alternative crossover started happening and, you know, you know, Rollins was on at noon and the Rollins band was just crushing, I'm sure. Oh gosh, Henry, Henry, and an awesome gentleman too. He's just a gentleman. You know, he's so approachable. You look at him and you think, oh, oh, right. Such a nice guy. Such a nice guy. Humble, humble man. And I learned some things from him on that tour, believe it or not, you know. Now, that was the first time you went out on a national tour. No, 88 was. 88? Yeah, GFA and we went out on a national tour. Who did? Me and GFA. I opened for GFA. What? Yeah. Why don't we talk about that? Okay, let's back up. Let's back up. Okay. Really quick. So, as Skate Master Tate, you were a skater. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, and Concrete Crew. And Concrete Crew, yeah. So, what was the live setup? It was you and a DJ? And a live guitar player. That's amazing. You want to bring that back? Yeah, sure. Oh, what do you mean bring it back? No, no, no. I want to do more production stuff actually. I got ideas I want to perform. I don't want to perform. I'm too, I don't know. I'll do a song or two, but I don't want to. No, no, no, no, no, no. So, tell me. Maybe worship music. On that, on that, on that tour. She's going, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You must have learned. You must have learned. I have learned a lot about how the music industry works in a live production situation though, at that level. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, all the crew. Oh, yeah. How being prompt and professional and timely, timely and following a schedule. Oh, yes, yes. Especially in places like that where, you know, if you go over time, you know, for the last band, there's a fine. Yeah, exactly. The deal was there is that I was an extra, okay? I was a good guy. I was a good guy. I was a full extra. Perry was kind enough to let me have the opportunity to play. And I'm glad he picked me because I don't think nobody could have done the job I did. And I'm being humble as I can, but I did a pretty good job. I played everything from the Sex Pistols to Sinatra, Vivaldi to Verve, you know what I mean? Whatever. And at the end of the night, right before they went on, it was all dark and I'd play some, you know, some really cool like Wagner or something, you know? That's awesome. You know, some mood music, you know? Like classical or? Yeah, depending on the atmosphere, the people, the vibe. But up until that point, you know, because that's the main event, Perry, you know, the Jane's Addiction, right? It was their last tour at that time, I think, or something. And they were the headliners. Yeah, of course. For the festival. But as you go along, you meet the people and Henry wanted Public Enemy, James Brown. Before he went on? Before he went on. So in between the set up. No, from noon I went on. He went on at 1, maybe I started at noon before he went on, okay? And he told me what he wanted. Welcome to the Pteradome was the last song. He'd look like, he'd be doing his pushups, you know, getting pumped, right? Loosened up. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. And you go like that and I fade out. You go on stage, you know? You know what I mean, right? Yeah. I'll show you some pictures, man. I got them. And it was awesome, okay? So then Ice, you know, Ice wanted punk rock before Buddy Count. Play LA punk, no problem. He DJed for me even. Check that out. You know, he'd come in and DJ. I got a picture of Ice hitting on my turntables right now. That's cool. Okay, so then we go to the Buttholes. They wanted punk, whatever. They didn't care. They were so easy and cool guys, you know? Okay, so then, you know, some people don't want it because they're too cool for school, right? So I'm just playing what I want, right? So I'm playing Hendrix because I love Hendrix, okay? I've seen him when I was 10 years old with my mom and my brother and my sister, right? The only one who- All of you went? Yeah, but my mom, my father didn't go. My father stayed home because he had to work in the morning. But I'm holding my mom's hand because she didn't want to drive from LA to Orange County for my brother and sister. So anyways, I'm playing Hendrix and the manager from Living Color comes up and goes, Do you mind not playing any Hendrix because his guitar work is so much like Jimmy's? And my jaw dropped. What? My jaw dropped. Wait, wait, wait, wait. The tour manager for Living Color came up to you and said what again? Please do not play any Jimmy Hendrix before Living Color because Vernon's guitar work is so much like Jimmy's that we don't want to, you know- Yeah. Show that he's copying him basically. I never considered him that great to tell you the truth. I think you're better. Than Vernon? Yeah. High five. I'll take that. But you know what I'm saying though? Right. Oh. Thanks. But you know, that's where the ego comes in, okay? This guy was just- Isn't that kind of ridiculous? Dude, please do not play Jimmy Hendrix before my band because Vernon sounds like Jimmy or is pretty much- That's basically what he was telling me, okay? Yeah. I'm gonna play it because of this, okay? People are gonna realize, wow, he's copying him. All right. So then the next band, Nine Inch, they were fine. They're the nicest guys on earth. They wanted me to come on their bus because I had to get from city to city, okay? That was like your own- That was my own job. So, you know, I did it, right? It was no problem. I jumped on one bus, another bus, another bus, another bus. And Trent was so nice, man. And I guess he knew me from Skate TV or from something. I don't know what. But he recognized you? Yeah. And so did the guitar player, James, I think his name was. They were just so nice, you know? Nice guys. And every show they had two people come up and play guitar. And the night before I went up and played with them was Africa, Islam, and Ice-T. Wow. Playing guitar. And you know, they just turned them down because they couldn't play. But I could play. It was just two chords, E minor and A, I think, or something, right? I can't remember the song. But so I'm playing, right? And I think they gave me a little bit of volume, right? But I had long hair and I'm, you know, playing it up, right? Right. And Ice and Africa are on the side. Throwing water at me, right? So they had all these cups on the drum stand, the little eight ounce styrofoam ones. And Trent would just throw these bombs out in the audience, right? Cool them off, I guess, whatever. So then, you know, I've seen these guys throw them underneath. So in between like chords, I'd get one and I'd throw it. And then I realized that, geez, they're right by the side monitors. Thank God I didn't hit one. Wow. So anyway, I stopped that. And then, so anyways, at the end of the show, at the end of the song, one guy gets to break the guitar, right? And I was playing with this. Right. Cute little girl, friend of the band, because I think it was in Cleveland that I played. And, you know, she could barely lift it after a break. And I'm just dying inside because I would have loved to just grab it and go boom. That's hilarious. But I couldn't, you know? So show us some of the pictures from that first Lollapalooza. Now hold them up to the video camera. Okay. This is, well, you know, let's find a good one first. But okay, here we go. There's Eric Avery. Put it up real close. There's Eric Avery. Eric Avery? He was a nice guy too, see? Wow. And I shot all these. And I'm not a photographer, but, you know, when you get that close, anything looks good, huh? Yeah, it looks great. Look good? And... Who else do you have? Let's show all of it. Okay. Well, you know what I do have that I'd really like to show you is... Oh, here we go. Here's a good one. Fishbone played on a couple of dates, right? And I wanted to do this book called Me and My Friends, right? So I did all these... I shot these still with one handout, right? That's me and Norwood. That's an original selfie with Norwood. These are selfies from way back. Right? And then this is Chris. Chris Fish. Fisher, his brother. Norwood Fisher. Chris Fisher. See, these are all my buddies from LA. So when they were on the tour, when they came up... It was all good. Oh, it was all good, man. And this is Dirty Walt. Dirty Walt. And, you know, it was just so much fun when you see your friends on the road, you know what I mean? And it was just an awesome time. And... Let's take a look at some of the skating photos you have too. You really want to? Yeah. Who's this guy? Anybody know who this guy is? That's you. No, that ain't me. Who are the music? That's Gons. Is that Mark Gonzalez? Yeah. No. Okay, here's a good one for you. Here's a good one for you. This is the interview that I wanted to do that I couldn't do. Who's that? Nautis and Matt Lin. Wow. Now Lillard. Can I see that Gons photo? Yeah, sure. This is at a pro contest, I think, in Arizona. I just like documenting life, you know what I mean? Well, when it's that timeline of skateboarding and music and you have it documented, it's a great... This is Ice. Just looking over the crowd. See, because I was right behind the artist, so he'd always come, you know, to the side. Too cool, man. Um... Here we go. Here we go. This is... . This is Fish going on stage with Norwood his pants down. Oh, man. Oh, gosh. He's so funny, man. Me and him have had some good times in our life. This is Perry. Passed out on... Not passed out, but falling down. Well, I guess you should go like that, right? Like that? Yeah, hold it straight up. Yeah, like that. See, he just got so exhausted that he had to fall back. I was there to catch it. This is the girl who... Wasn't she in 10,000 Maniacs, the violin player? The violin player that played that tour? I think her name was Megan or... You know what? I'm not sure. I don't know too much about her. She was a nice lady. Nice lady. This is the stunt... The little... The guy who did the, you know, the theatrical dancing and stuff that Perry set up. And he was on stilts, too, that guy. Here's Perry. . Yeah, keep them coming. Yeah. And then Perry again. There's a couple that I really want to show you that are really cool. This Mark Gonzalez photo, what year was that? Oh, that's 80s, late 80s. Oh, here's a good one. You know these guys. You know Tony Alva, right? This is from the Zero Club. Used to be open... David Lee Roth had it in the late 80s. Easy. Yeah, exactly. You know, you get free beer. Five ducks, you get in, free beer. But you had to know where it was and you get in, right? And Schaefer was a beer, of course. Here's an old friend of mine that I haven't seen for a long time, but nah, that's a bad shot. Here we go. Here's Grosso. And he does not suck, contrary to popular belief. That's the last week of Uplands K-Park. That's Pipeline? Yeah. Wow. Check this out. This is Gary Gazoo Atchison. Me and him and Miles Strickland, rest in peace, were the Three Stooges. We'd go everywhere together. This is at the Anaheim Concrete Wave before Skatopia was built. This is 75 right here. 76. That's where I was born. Wow. Really? 75. Wow. You're youngin'. No, I'm kidding. Here's Christian at a backyard pool and this is a nice shot, man. I like it. It's so close, but he's just doing like a tail tap, you know, coming back in. I like getting weird stuff. I like it. I like getting weird stuff when I can, you know? Awesome. Here's Mondo. He's from New York. Well, he's from back east, but he was on Team Alba for a while and he's a great artist and he's doing frontside shallowing cars. Hackett lived at this house and it was at 1 Santa Monica Canyon Boulevard, road or whatever, and it was an empty pool and they shot an ad there for Jimmy's and Christian was skating and it rained a bit. Christian was out there skating. Here's Ice Cube with Booyah Tribe. Second or third Lollapalooza? Ice Cube? Yeah. Maybe the second or third. I think it was second. Second or third. The one I know the whole lineup is the first because that's the one I was there the most. Okay, this is the first Lollapalooza, but this is when Ministry came and played one show. Some people came and played a couple gigs and this is Gibby helping him offstage because he fell offstage. Alan Jorgensen from Ministry. That's nice. Yeah, I don't know if he broke anything, but... Yeah, I don't know if he broke anything, but... And what else do we got here? There's a couple that I really want to show you that... Keep them coming. This is all great archives. Oh, this is us in Japan. Oh, here we go. Oh, here we go. Here we go. This is a great one. I shot this picture not knowing that somebody would ever say this, that Martin Luther King would have been proud of this. Flea and Ice Cube, you know? Yeah. Arm in arm, funk and rap and whatever you want to call it. Exactly. But I really like the shot because Ice Cube has Clay Smith cams, mad woodpecker on it, you know, with a cigar. And here's... See, this is me and Perry, part of my book that I wanted to do that I never did because, you know, things get interrupted in your life. What was the name of the book again? Me and My Friends. And I was going to put a little, you know, like a... Me and my friends. Yeah. You know, that's just all... Yeah. This is a Jimmy Z demo that we did with Tommy Guerrero. And if you see Ray Bones in the background signing autographs. Oh, Ray Bones Rodriguez? Yeah, yeah. I'll show you another picture that we have. Where was that? Tommy Z. This is at Macy's, San Francisco. So you wrote for Jimmy Z's as well? What's that? So you were sponsored by Jimmy Z's back in the day? Oh, yeah, yeah. You want to hear how I got that gig? How? There's the first big... This is Bryce Canice, original BK, photographer, parker, skater... Before British Knights. Yeah, oh yeah. But he was an awesome photographer and awesome skater. He had a model out and everything. He wrote for Schmitt's Dicks. Yeah, yeah, Schmitt's Dicks. He's a pointy nose. Right, right. So this is him waiting for us to shoot... He's waiting to shoot pictures at Macy's, right? And that's an old picture. And here's one of Christian. Christian was always a good ambassador for skating because he loved the kids too, you know, and he was just so accessible. Yeah. Oh, he's an awesome guy. And he has, you know, he had this... He has this confidence, conviction. Yeah. You know, it's great. Yeah, yeah. No, he's a gentleman's gentleman. But I'll tell you another thing too is that we've traveled a lot together. I took him to Japan with me when I had the opportunity to play out there. Yeah. And I felt really good about that because, you know, he paid for everybody's trip everywhere all the time, team or not, friend, you know, whatever. He was always very... Always generous, huh? So generous. And he paid for one trip for me and I felt bad about it. So I'm like, you know, I'm not gonna do that. Yeah. I felt bad about it. So I... I stuck close to him because... You know, he... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... nombreux... I brought him with me and I even gave him, you know, paid him too. So you feel good about that? Oh, yeah. Yeah, because I felt like I earned my way. Here's Cab at the Pink Motel. So you get to see the pool there painted by Kevin Ansell and his buddy. You want it? Here, you'd have it. The archives. I want to say hi to somebody out there. I got a buddy of mine out there called Mastin. My little spud boy out there on the East Coast. Wait, you're giving me this picture? Yeah, that's yours. Whoa. Yeah. Check this out. That's Stacy. What? That's Stacy. Let me see. Is that Stacy? Yeah, shooting him. Yeah. Whoa. No, see, Stacy, man. Stacy was awesome, I'll tell you. But not as awesome as De Niro or De Laurentiis, but he's a skateboarder, De Laurentiis. Can I post that Mark Gonzalez picture? You can do what you want, man. But I want the picture back, but you can do what you want. Right. This is Shogo Kubo on an old Z-Flex 1977 Skatopia. Shogo. Shot by me. Tail tapping on a white Z-Flex. Okay. Okay, this is another skate TV shot, but it's black and white. And this is me and the other, Stacy Peralta, and this is us, Craig Stasek III, and I'm sure you'd probably hate me for doing this. Sorry, Craig. It's okay. Okay, now we got to check this out. This is Money Mark's brother. Really? And me, and check this out. This is before Lollapalooza. This is the release party for Ritual de la Habitual Halloween party, at the Colonel's house, and that's how I dress. Oh, wow. And I DJ'd that night. Wow. I DJ'd in a dress. This is Grasso doing a rock and roll slide last week of Upland and the Combi. How did the Grasso stigma, Grasso sucks start? I have no idea. All I know is that me and him had a, I just remember that me and him had our times, our fun times and our good times. Here's your host. No, your host, but your guest. The other day, last week, two weeks. Salva? Oh, wow. Fakie Rock in the corner of the gnarly pool, the Combi. He owned that place. How high was the Combi? 12? I have no idea. Too big for me. You want this one too? Sure. There you go, brother. Thank you. Okay, now let's see Christian here in a backyard pool with square coping. That is a gnarly shot right there. And I think I got those shoes at home, Burgundy Chucks. Wow, let me see that. I almost wore them. Here, take it. You want it? Absolutely. You're a skater, that's right. I forgot. Yeah. I didn't forget. Thank you so much. These are, I mean, you know what's amazing is that Ski Master Tate is giving me physical photos that he took in the early 80s. I didn't take this one because this is me skating, okay? This is Bronson Canyon though, Hollywood. The Bat Caves. They shot Batman up here. That's Bronson Canyon. That's the Bronson Ditch. That was in fashion also. Wait, how's that go? I'm like that. That guy's like. I'm like that, huh? Didn't it look better like that? Like that, it looks like vertical, right? Wait, wait. It's kind of like that. That's cool. That's cool. Okay, now. I want a Ski Master Tate picture autographed. I don't know if I could do that. My hands are broken. No, I'm kidding. This is me on that JFA tour, right? Oh, the JFA tour. Yeah, look at all Jimmy Z'd out with my longboard on a ramp. That's awesome. And all I did was fakie and then I'd walk on the flat bottom. I'd walk to the nose and go back and then, you know, because that's all I could do. But this is a ramp and there was a kid out there. Yeah. Yeah. That I wish I knew who he was because he was doing the gnarliest andrics, the gnarliest inverts, the biggest boneless air. This kid was nuts. Just killing it. Nobody knows who he is. I posted pictures. Like, who is this kid? Who is this kid? Nobody knows. Is that the beauty of skateboarding? Like, people get so good that, like, maybe they'll never politically insert themselves in a circle where there's, like, they're getting sponsored or in the limelight. But it's such an individuality sport. That's the beauty of it. Right. You don't know. It's whatever you want. It's not a team sport. It became a team sport because we had, I managed several teams. Did you too? Yes. The Big O Skate team. We were first place. I managed the Indy, NHS, Santa Cruz amateur team, right? We did good. And, no, no, it turned out to be a very cool thing. Oh, here's a good one. Here's a good one. This is Lonnie Toff, the originator of the eight-wheeler. Eight-wheeler. This kid, awesome individual too. Very humble. Very humble, man. Yeah. I never got to know him that well, but the time that I met him here. I like that Pepsi Cola sticker on his board. Here you go, another one. That's history, brother. Right there. I know. Lonnie Toff, T-O-F-T? T-O-F-T. The eight-wheeler? The eight-wheeler. My God. That's history, man. You got to really know about that. You got to do your homework on that one. Right. Because I don't know all of it. Now, you know, the treat to me is that these are all photos I'm holding physically that were taken at that time by you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. By you. Yeah. Photos by Skate Master Tate. Right, right. Wow, man. I shot that Lonnie Toff. Can you tell? Can you tell? Can you tell? Can you tell? Can you tell? Can you tell? Can you tell? I had a 110 or maybe a 125 camera, and you see the strap hanging? Right? I'm glad I got them all in the picture, but you see that little thing hanging? Yeah. That's the camera. Wow. Check this one out, though. This is my favorite park ever, and this is Tony skating for warming up for the Dog Bowl Pro. Now, that's Del Mar? Del Mar. No, no, no, no. Marina Del Rey. Marina Del Rey. That's where he's from. Okay, now check this out. Check this out. I got another photo. I got another photo for you here to show you that these two gentlemen right here are considered the originators of the Frontside Air, the Frontside Aerial, the first aerial that skateboarding knew of, okay? And, I mean, we can't, we can't, I can't deny it because I'll tell you that the first time I saw it was Tony. The first thing you ever saw on Frontside Air was Tony Alba. Was Tony and George Orton, and the deal is is that George Orton was skating down in Orange County. Tony Alba was up in L.A. when I went to see him at the Dog Bowl. Dog Bowl and stuff. So, I can't tell you who did it first, but I can tell you that those guys were doing it before anybody else, you know? Right. But, you know, some people, you know, what they want to do is they want to say that they did this and that and the other, and all I can say is that who I saw and what I know, but that's for other people to determine who came up with what when because, you know, I burned a lot of cells in my life, and I'm not exactly the one to ask about things like that. I mean, I can tell you who was doing what, but not exactly who did it. Tony Alba was the first. Gotcha. Check this out. I can't find that one photo right now, but you saw the Tony Alba one. This is Waldo Autry, may he rest in peace, with Laney Oaks in the bottom. Hobie Team Rider and... Oh, Hobie. Hobie. The guy watching Waldo get the wheeler there. Waldo was a supreme pipe skater. Many photos in Skateboarder Magazine in the 70s, ripping pipes. Ripping pipes. He was one of the first pipe rippers along with the other historian, you know, the other rippers. Here's a good one. Here's Brad Bowman. Me and him had a session at Marina Del Rey one day. Nobody was there, so me and him were skating the back keyhole. That's awesome. And I just shot a bunch of photos of him. And, you know, this is what I love to do. Okay, here we go. This is the Fruit Bowl. The Fruit Bowl was a skate pool and a sanitarium. Fruitcakes, right? Fruitcake. Fruitcake. Right? So they called it the Fruit Bowl. That's not how I feel about it, but that's what the name of the pool was. It was at a broken down sanitarium. So they called it the Fruit Bowl. Fruit Bowl. Okay. This is a guy, Tom, it's a reverse negative. It's the only photo I have of the Fruit Bowl that I'm responsible for. Okay? I had a photography class in high school. I never mastered it, as you can see. But that's a Fruit Bowl. It had a spit gutter. Okay? Wow. Then they put extensions. You see photos of Jay and all the classic skaters there. And this is me at the pipeline. Can I promote myself? Absolutely. Mount Baldy Pipeline. I got to get it real close so you can see. That's you at Mount Baldy? Mount Baldy. The pipe that's in the Baldy. The spill, not the park. And I asked Sal about this too. I was very intrigued with Pipeline and the Baldy Pipe. And, you know, obviously you know this, but I didn't because that was before my time. Baldy Pipe was before Pipeline. Oh, of course. And I had no idea. That's why they put a pipe in that one. It was... It was... It was... To replicate that, right? Not to replicate it. Well, it was to... You couldn't replicate it because it was like a quarter mile long or a hundred yards long. That's insane. Smooth as glass. Perfect pipe. Built by, you know, Army Corps of Engineers to put water out of it. And they're saying... I heard they're skating it now. I've seen it on Instagram that people are skating it now. And they're ripping it. There's one kid that I saw there, Zach Abrams, that's tearing it pretty good. But there's this other kid. I don't know the name of the guy. He just... From the back, too, because that's what I remember. Walking up to the pipe, you see the little gap, the little light at the head. And that's the dam open. So when the water comes, then they open it more, right? But it has to have a steady flow or else it'll back up the reservoir. Okay? So you see the light. So then you go to the back. And then you look out and then you see the daylight at the end, right? And we got to skate the whole thing for years. Okay? Smooth as glass. Very little graffiti. Okay? Muckus. Muckus 69, I think, was the oldest graffiti I ever saw. But then as you walk up on the left, there was Stan Smith. Stan Smith is sterile. Just weird stuff. Wow. Weird stuff. But those are the two I remember. Muckus 69 and Stan Smith is sterile. Then eventually it just got... Stan Smith is sterile. I don't know about that one. Hey, so this is Mark Gonzalez photo from the late 80s. You took that? Yeah, yeah. Wow. Check this one. I don't want to do this one, too, because... Well, you know what? This is a ditch that we skated in Santa Ana. Me and Ron Emery. Crazy Dave. Psycho Dave. And that's me carving. Right there. But this is just to show you that there's places like this everywhere. Okay? Because, you know, we need runoffs for water so we don't flood houses. But if you find them and you do it, just respect it, man, because you want to skate it forever. Don't put graffiti because then you know you're there. You know? Just skate it. Get out of there and go home. And then skate it early morning, you know? Don't draw attention to yourself. And just do it. Have fun. Like we used to do. Yeah. We never put graffiti on one place. I never did. I can speak for myself. But... This is the front side air in the 70s, 79. That's Brad Bowman. Very stylish. Very cool. Wow. And it was invented probably about two or three years before this. And this is Gazoo. This is the guy I hang out with. And this is at a backyard pool. And look at the date on there. This is the original photo. June 78. Wow. Wow. Two or three years old? Yeah. These cars... I mean, these archives. I mean, you know, you're like a curator for skateboarding. Well, not... Not just skateboarding because... Well, look at this, man. This is me. I was in New York, Cuban for a while, man. With my Santa Monica Airlines board. That's the board that I rode at the skate TV pool, the shoreboard. Long board I only rode a couple of times because it didn't fit in there good. Right. Let's see what we got here. Here's a good one. Here's a good one. This is a duet that they used to do, right? And that's them dancing after. That's Perry and Ice-T. That's good. And look at Ice so happy, right? You never see Ice with that look on his face. No, he's so happy. Um... Yeah. Let's check this one out. This one's a good one right here, too, because, um... Oh, I don't know why. Okay, you know how we were talking about, um... That, like, you know, my skating ability, right? You know, the Skate Master Tate. I just wasn't a pool skater. I wasn't a master of anything. What's that? Jack of all trades, master of none, right? Right? Yeah. But I did do one thing good. I archived a lot of stuff. No, but this is me competing in a series called the Aspo Series at Marina del Rey. And that's on my longboard. That's a great photo. That's on my longboard. I eventually got a slalom, bank slalom board. And I used to win here a lot at bank slalom only at Marina del Rey. So that was my claim to fame. Aspo Series, 79, 80, 81. Wow. I got third one year and first the next year. Wow. The whole series. Yeah. So that was my glory in skateboarding right there. That's awesome. But I love skateboarding, and this is some of the most fun times right here. And you can see Eric Dreschen in the background. They're looking at me. And that's Jimmy Z. He's got a T-shirt right there. That photo right there was on a T-shirt. It was Jimmy Z's photo session. And I just love carving on my longboard rail, grabbing it, yelling out. Yeah. Yeah. Just charging it. And then this is me at Big O in 78. I used to grind a little bit. Well, you're hitting it. Yeah. You know, that's a keyhole. It's not the capsule. You know. Killer. And, you know, I just, I love skateboarding so much that it didn't matter if it was, you know, like this. Look at this. This is a small bank, but, you know, we hit the curb that was up there. This is in Pflugerville. This is in Austin, Texas. Oh, wow. And the other guy that I skated there with was Tim Kerr from the Big Boys. Oh, yeah. The band. The Big Boys. Bad Mother Goose. Yeah. Nation of the 90s. And now he's a big artist, man. He's doing very well. Okay, great. Yeah. I mean, I've seen his art, and I love it. And look at, this is the disc that we skated. Well, here's another Bronson one. That's me doing a one and a half. See, so I didn't do much, but I had fun, man. I just loved it. Always wearing my jimmies. Skate to create. Yeah. You know? That's what it is. Oh, here's a beautiful one. I love this shot, man. I just love it. Look at Salva. Look at that style in the pipe. Oh, my God. And he just, he tore it. Let me see that. You'd have it. There you go. Oh, my God. This is intense. You'd have it, man. Cheers. You took this? Yeah, I took that. I took all these, man. I love that. I wish I was a better photographer, but this is what you get, okay? Salva. Dude, he is the heaviest guy at Pipeline. Nah, he's the heaviest guy everywhere, man. I love Salva. I'll never forget him. You know, my dying days, I want to make sure I say hi to him, bye to him. He's a good guy. I love him. I honestly do. He's a gentleman's gentleman, and his brother Mickey's awesome. Okay, check this out. This is a place in Albuquerque, and there's a ton of these. I don't know what they do. They got some sort of machine that makes them, because there's one every other block or something, but only so much, some of them are smooth, because you got to go over them a few times, skate them, right? This is Indian school. Look at how long that is. And how beautiful and how smooth. Wow, that's a nice stitch. And see how far down I am, right? I mean, you have time to set up for tricks if you're doing tricks or just get speed. I don't do tricks on stuff like this. I just go fast and carve and not grind, but rail grab, arch, whatever. Like this right there, look at that. I'm just going, yeah, oh, extending after getting to the top and then getting ready to go down. I just love it, man. I love it. I get this feeling. And that's the feeling I get right there, man. That's the feeling I get after skating. Man, just feel good. That's amazing. But here's one of Christian and Matt Hyde. You know Matt Hyde, right? Yeah. There's Matt Hyde. You should get him on here. That's on the plane to Japan. Very cool. Yeah. Very cool. Let's do this. Let's talk about your board really quick. You have your own model coming up. I want to get this in before the episode's done. Yeah, yeah, no problem. So hold the board up to the camera. Flood Control, made in the USA. They're going to be putting out the SkateMaster Tate deck. 40 inches long. 40 inches long. 22-inch wheelbase. 9 3 quarters wide. 9 3 quarters wide. 9.75 wide. And it's got a little nose, a little tail, but it's nothing like, you know, I could ride it backwards if I wanted to, but why? I like going forward. I'm not a trick guy, I tell you. So I made this to cruise. It's a cruiser, and the cruiser boards are popular. That's what I hear, man. I hear that it's a big market out there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about your life path that you're on. You've been, oh. Those are rare now, I heard. Somebody told me. Oh. SkateMaster Tate and his concrete crew. You know what? I can't believe you just sticker tossed me one of these stickers. That's amazing. That's the first one, too, and that artist is really good right now, Van Arno. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have found a new path in your life. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to make sure that I say hi to one person, and that's Christian Assoy and Jay Hazelip, Pastor Jay at the sanctuary in Westminster, because Jay, for many years, he was doing youth ministries all over the world. He never, ever gave up on me. Every time he was in the area, he'd call me up, take me out to lunch, whatever. I'd be smacked out of my brain, whatever. He never gave up on me, okay? In 2004 or 5, we did a thing in Alabama. Gadsden, Alabama, his hometown. Christian, me, him, A-Rab was there, and they had a mini ramp on stage, and I emceed and DJed on a CD turntable thing. I didn't feel good about that, but anyways. That was the planting of the seed, because my brother was a Christian for years, but hearing from your big brother who got high with you younger, it just didn't stick, okay? He didn't actually ... Anyways. But I never gave up. I never gave up. I never gave up. I never gave up. But by never giving up, and then the passion that he took towards Christian and helping Christian out just was so phenomenal that it blew me away, and that I started my walk with God, man. I'll tell you. Here's another one for you. Thank you. Salvat Upland. It was just one of those things that ... Hey, I'll be honest with you. I don't get high no more. I haven't gotten high for many years, but the deal is that I try not to do anything wrong, and I still do. Nobody's perfect, man. That's the hardest thing, is just trying to walk a walk where you're always happy and joyous, no matter if you're attacked by negative elements. I just want to be happy, and I want to spread joy, man. I want to spread love, and then if I could plant a seed, that's awesome. There's a girl out there named Ainsley that ... I got to do this first. Ainsley and Mastin are these two kids that believe in God so much that it just brightens my life. You know what I mean? Their mother is just an awesome mother. What I want to do is I really want to just see kids brought up in an element that isn't so ... Toxic? Toxic, but yet public, too, because with the internet now, it's so sad. You could keep them away from it, but some kid will tell them how to get on it and look at whatever. I don't even want to say nothing, but you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Negative elements, whether it be a game or a site where there's things that they shouldn't see. What are you looking at? Kids should remain kids. I grew up too quick, man. By the time I was 12, I lost my virginity. By the time I was 14, I was getting high almost every day, 15 every day. By the time I was 17, I was dealing drugs. By the time I was out of high school, I had enough money to do what I wanted almost. By the time I was 18, I was rolling. I lost my childhood from 13, and I still wanted to play baseball. That was my sport, was baseball. I was a catcher, first baseman. I just wanted to play baseball. I just wanted to play baseball. I could hit pretty good, but I wasn't an all-star. I was a junior all-star. My brother was a stud in all sports, but I still liked it. I enjoyed it, and I wish I would have stuck with it a little bit longer. But the thing is that skateboarding saved me, and at the same time, it was kind of like a catalyst for negativity too, because that punk rock element comes in, and that's fine. That's fine. You got to be an individual. You got to rebel against things that you don't stand for. There's a certain way to do it, I feel. You're punk, you're this, you're that. You know what? There's other ways. You don't want to create, you don't want to burn bridges, you don't want to create enemies. I'm sure I've done it in the past, because there's some friends that were in my life for 30 years, 25 years, that they won't give me the time of day now, because they think that, I guess maybe they think I'm lying now. It's just one of those things that I'm fine. I forgive everybody. There's something right here I'd like to show you. There's a group that I helped out years ago. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. And because of my heroin abuse at the time, they separated from me. Okay, well, that's fine. Separate from me, okay? But you know what? I still gave you five years of my life. What's that worth to a million dollar conglomeration or to a brand or to something like that? And then that burned inside of me for a long time. My father died the same time. Some other things happened that I really don't want to talk about, marriage and stuff like that. My parents got married and stuff. And my father died. And then friends that I thought were my friends, just because of my fall into the darkness, separated from me instead of coming to help me. Right. You know? And I learned a lot from that. You know, I carried a big grudge and hatred for that. You know, I bet it's amazing when, I mean, amazing to see when you have people around you that say they're really good friends. Yeah. Yeah. And then more than anything, they abandon you. Well, you know what should have been the first sign was that when one of the brothers of this band got on the pipe, they go, they come to me first and go, listen, don't help him out. Don't give him nothing. Don't give him nothing. He's your brother. You know, what can I do for him? If he wants some weed, I'll give him some weed. No, no, don't give him nothing. And I go, wow. Okay. And he never came by anyway, but just to hear this, you know? And my brother, man, my brother asked for anything. I heard my brother when I was rolling, I heard my brother had to ride his bike to work. I gave him a car, you know, a used car. A used car. But you still gave him that because it was the right thing to do and you can. And no, because I didn't have it. I didn't need it anymore. You know, and he gave me my first guitar. I gave him a guitar. I had a bunch of, I had 50 guitars at one time. I gave him a guitar, you know, big deal. But the thing is- It's a thing. Things come and go. Things, you can't take them with you, man. I got too many things. That's why, you know what? I got more pictures here. Right. You know, here, here's one of Ice-T. Here's one of Henry Rollins. How's that? I don't care anymore because you know why? It's vanity, man. This is all just, it's going to be gone. If I die tomorrow, I'd be bummed that I didn't give them all to you, you know? Right. And the thing is, is that some, too many people put- Things are meant to be shared. Yeah, exactly. Especially memories like this. This is Ice-T, man. Nicest guy on earth. No matter how tough you think he is, body count, F the police, whatever. This guy's a real man. I was skating down Mallorca. I went after Lollapalooza on my longboard. I hear this whistle, yo, T, wow, it's ice, so I go across the street, proud father, yo, man, look it, my baby, what's his name, he goes, ice, just ice, not ice, T, ice, you know? That's cool. And, you know, proud father, he's a man, he's a gentleman, he's, he's a, a real person, because, you know, what, this guy could've, on the, the whole tour, he could've, um, just said, you know, what, eh, you know, play my music, whatever, do this, do that, and, he this congenial gentleman, he found out I didn't have a place to get to the next city. He flew and gave me his spot on the bus. How's that? Wow. And he goes, you could have all that stuff in there too. Body count hat, syndicate hat, sweatshirt, you know what I mean? He said, you could go on the bus and have everything in there. No, in his little space because it was his that he wore, you know? Take it, man. I don't care. Take it, man. You're the man. You see, and the thing is, he has that mentality even back then. It's like, share it. I used to see him at the Radiotron, the radio, the hip-hop club in L.A. in the late, early 80s, late 70s, early 80s. It had to be, it had to be early 80s, I guess, because KK from the Screamers was DJing at a hip-hop club. So he was in the, so early 80s, 81, 82. And, and I could be wrong, okay? Like I said, okay? I'm far from perfect. But, he was a nice guy back then too. He signed, I have a record of his on Saturn Records. And, you know, he, he put on it to the OG tape. Come on, man. He's the OG, not me. But he's such a kind gentleman. And that's what I'm saying. If you can get a guy like that who could be, I mean, he's an actor now, okay? And he's still a nice guy. And, and if you can get, be like that, what are you being a punk with this attitude towards other people? So negative, man. Come on. There's people that can do that that don't. Why do you want to do that? Exactly. You know? Exactly. Anything you want to say before we wrap this up? Man, just, just, whatever it takes, man, just, just enjoy life, but enjoy it in a way that it doesn't hurt anybody, especially yourself and your soul, man, because there's, there's a, there's a power shot that's stronger. The creator of our earth, man, and if you got any questions, man, get in touch with me because I didn't believe it either, okay? But, but we're not here by mistake, okay? And there's somebody watching over us, okay? Just remember this. The country of Israel is never going to fall, okay? They're, they're surrounded by Islams, okay? And they're, they're ready to attack on this country, but you're going to see that this amazing things, if, if not in our lifetime, another lifetime, but, but that's, that's the Holy Land right there. That's God's little, little jewel and nothing's going to happen to that and, and that's, man, just, just find the path and follow up that's righteous, man, and don't hurt nobody, man, just love everybody and it sounds like a hippie thing, man, but you know what? It's a love thing and if you can't love yourself, you won't be able to love nobody else, okay? So first love yourself, your life, your kids, your family, and then try to extend I believe so. It all starts from within and then you go outwards from there. And Skate Master Tate, Jerry Hurtado, it's my, it's an honor to call you a friend. Thank you very much, man. And I'm so happy you came on to, you know, share your experience and your archives and your, your great life. Thank you. And I'm happy to see where you're at right now. Thank you, man. And I sense genuine happiness and love coming from you and I want to thank everyone out there for listening to the 120th episode of Los Angeles Nista. 120, man. You know, if we would have made 120 Skate TV episodes, I don't know what would happen. I probably would have been, I don't know. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, man. Thank you.! nombreux nombreux No stop trying to tell Going through a licking eye On the way to Island Park I'm on a gold line Somewhere in the Critic of these eyes I go for gold I'm on a gold line I'm on a gold line