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Mike: oi Mike: Hit me IW Juan: Cool so how are thigs going Mike: not bad, I just moved out of my apartment, so I'm couch surfing for a while IW Juan: ahh yes we the couching surfing...iam looking for a place myslef..down in LA Mike: oh yeah for school IW Juan: yup Mike: fun fun Mike: check craigslist. Mike: there usually pretty helpful IW Juan: will do iam using ezrentlist..so far its all bad, i though i found a house but iwont be available until dec
IW Juan: how is your knee Mike: not bad, getting better. Mike: still hurts IW Juan: how long before you can skate Mike: i've skated a couple times, but just on a bike path. Mike: I'd say about another month before can really skate IW Juan: nice building up strength Mike: yeah Mike: its just a long process or rehabing. IW Juan: I was re-reading the life you wrote in DB for Arlo...I found vary intersting how things started IW Juan: Line* IW Juan: What was the eraly days of skating like Mike: when I first moved to LA or before that? IW Juan: before Mike: It was awesome. Not a care in the world. When I first started skating my friends and I were just having fun. We didn't do it to get sponsored or to be cool. We did it cause we loved to skate. I miss those days a lot IW Juan: were there alot of skaters back then and what kind of spots and tricks were going down IW Juan: What about skates, what was a set up of yours during this time Mike: No there weren't many skaters. There was six of us at the college I went to (Wright State University). The tricks were whatever we thought of. At first we didn't have mags to look at. And when we did it was INLINE magazine and that sucked. So we just jumped off stairs and tryed to do 180's and 360's. We would jump over a lot of things too. IW Juan: if i dont respond iam talking to a customer or something IW Juan: damn canadians and there heelys
IW Juan: Rad my first skates were Zetra 303 too, mine were black with torqoise Mike: nice Mike: at least they weren't Heelys! IW Juan: back to grinding...how did you guys figure that out?what was your first grind IW Juan: this true. down with heelys Mike: my first grind I think was on a mini ramp. I use to skate for a shop called Ohio Surf and Skate in Dayton Ohio. They had a little mini ramp in the back and we would skate that. Just frontside and backside grinds. it wasn't until after I met everyone in Airborne that i started to do hand rails.
IW Juan: did he just call me a piece of underwear? Mike: LOL IW Juan: that movie was great IW Juan: jack black seth green chris edwards Mike: hahahahaha IW Juan: who else- rollerbladers were in that movie Mike: Chris Mitchell, Mark Shays, Pat Parnell, Jess Dyrenforth, Alan Vano, Ben Kelly, Roger Saki. There were some other guys on Team Rollerblade that I forget and a few other locals aswell. IW Juan: were you there? or di you meet them after IW Juan: did Mike: Yeah, I went on two audiditons and got a part in the movie. IW Juan: shit!!i did not know that IW Juan: RA IW Juan: D Mike: they hired local skates so they could pay us less. IW Juan: what happend after the movie wrapped Mike: yeah I was one of the guys who slid under the moving semi. IW Juan: hahaha that sucks IW Juan: sweet Mike: yeah the moving semi scene was awesome IW Juan: has that come out on DVD IW Juan: I need that and Brink
Mike: Brink and Airborne as far as I know are not on DVD, but I do have them on VHS. IW Juan: Wow...that's awesome how things came together...I never would have thought that through Airborne things in Rollerblading went down IW Juan: Is then when you moved to venice Mike: brb Mike: yeah after I went to camp rollerblade, I met more skaters. about a month or so later Mitchell called me again and was like "hey move to LA, you'll have a vert ramp in the back yard and plenty of skaters to live with" I was like Ok and a month later I moved to Los Angeles and into Spohn Ranch. IW Juan: My friends and I always wanted to skate there... That must have be the best having a ramp in the back yard and a bunch of skaters-Baking cookies and what not IW Juan: How did Senate become more than Arlo making t-shirts and giving them away IW Juan: I still have my first senate shirt Mike: well to make a long story short, Bravo the company that made Hyper wheels. At first it was Arlo, Brooke and Mark Heineken but they really didnt' have finacial backing. Then came Aaron Spohn and Brian Konoske and they helped out a bit with that but to get really serious they needed a lot of money and Bravo had it.
Mike: it was awesome. I think my wheel was the first cause it was the first one done out of mine Arlo's and Scott Bently Mike: But just to have a wheel named after you was and should still be a big deal. IW Juan: Fersur...what was the idustry like at this point. Were traveling going on tours... Mike: well back then we didn't really do to many tours. We did the Hoax 2 which was well amazing. But other then that we just did some competitions and our skate sponsors would have distributors fly us to their countrys to do demos. Mike: I didn't suck at all. But its not like it is today with all the grass roots tours. IW Juan: I dont think there has been a tour to take over the hoax2. any word on the DVD box set?? Mike: were having loads of problems. I'm not sure if were even gonna get the Hoax and Mad Beef like we originally planned. There are a ton of music rights issues. Music rights basically take up a lot of money that we just dont have. Mike: So it might just be a Hoax 2 dvd, if anything. But its better then nothing. IW Juan: This is true, iam sorry to hear that, i hope it works out IW Juan: so what are your curent projects Mike: me too. I think everyone needs to see it. IW Juan: i agree Mike: Well I working with Empire Distribution which sells Able Frames, Monx Clothing, Heat Wheels and Empire Media Group
IW Juan: Thai team? a skate team? Mike: yeah its crazy IW Juan: shit how rad would that be IW Juan: Leran some kick boxing while your out there Mike: There is a big event in Nov. in Korea called "the Asian Indoor Games" and the Thai gov. is hiring coaches Mike: yeah i'll try Mike: hahaha IW Juan: where do i apply hahaha Mike: well they said I have the job but its taking so long to work shit out. Mike: I I go i'll be gone in the next month IW Juan: if you go when would that be Mike: they say second week of june but I doubt that will happen. IW Juan: what is an average day for you at empire Mike: well there is no average day. I also bartend so I'm not there everyday. But when I am, its usually work with our bookkeeper and see what bills need to be paid do reports for the companies we sell, stuff like that. IW Juan: this question pops up every where but, what are your feelings on our industry...it seems that everyone is always complaing on how it "sucks" what do you think our problem is?
IW Juan: vary true...i think that the fact the we are not "cool" really hurts us... IW Juan: we dont get the other kids buying our products like skatboarding or moto x Mike: yeah but its a trend and things that are cool will someday not be cool and vise versa IW Juan: the vicouse cycle that goes round and round Mike: exactly Mike: hey i've got to run, can we continue this later? I'm totally down to aswere more questions. IW Juan: fer sur man...no worries Mike: Monday will be a really good day IW Juan: perfect Mike: I should be online most of the day Mike: sick. Mike: i'll talk to you later. IW Juan: thanks for the time and iam sure we'll speak soon Mike: definitly Mike: later. |
IW Juan: hello
IW Juan: anyways
Mike: Our skates were horrible. I first had some rollerblade zetra 303. They came with bright orange wheels and laces. But I broke those pretty quick (there actually at the Eisenbergs skatepark) then I use to skate Bauers. They were some rec. skates. They had no ankle support. At first it was 4 big wheels down. No one ever saw anyone grinding so we didn't do it. Then we saw dare to air and tryed to figure a way to grind. We use to take out our 3'd wheel and we replaced it with a grid block. My one friend cut up a skateboard rail and but it on a piece of wood. Then this one kid came up with a plastic piece that we would use instead.
Mike: Airborne the movie that is.
Mike: after the movie wrapped Chris Mitchell who I became really good friends with and I kept in touch. He told me he was starting a magazine (Box) and I should write for it if I want. The movie wrapped in May and he called me one day in july and asked to see if I wanted to go to Camp Rollerblade. Thats where I met Arlo and Brooke for the first time.
IW Juan: I remeber when bribes and c-notes came out...And you were amoung the first to recieve a Pro wheel in rollerblading...How was that?!
Mike: I also might move to Bangkok for 5 months to "coach" the Thai team for an internation competition in November.
Mike: well its not the best its been obviously. But it will get better. It actually a great time for smaller companies to get there shit straight and learn how to run a business. Cause when rollerblading pops again the companies that cant hang are gonna miss the boat. If there is a problem I would think its just that rollerblading has a bad rap right now and its preceved as not cool. But really were building a very strong core base that will be in the sport forever and that will go a long way in the future.
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