A Brief Interview With the Gang
I have a feeling I am going to be taking a bit more of a journalistic approach with these Thurs-Daves, but who knows. Certainly not me. All interviews were conducted on Wednesday night via telephone, with the exception of Jason Sherman and myself, which were taken today in person. I hope this gives you a good idea of some (but not all) of the nut-cases I hang out with everyday. And if anyone involved in these interviews is reading them, don't take any of this too seriously. Enjoy.
What are you doing right now?
Esteban Jefferson: Watching Recess on youtube. You know, the old show on Disney? Mad good. I'm listening to the Talking Heads and I'm about to go to my friends house because I'm mad bored.
Nabi Salomon: I'm in bed, on my laptop talking to you.
Jon Ngan: I'm a little tense right now, I think I just lost my wallet. I just gotta outta class...(pauses) Oh, I found it! Thank God!
Evan Borja: I'm eating a sandwich, two bagels with ham and cheese while watching the Disney Channel.
Dom Susca: I'm, well, I just did it with my girlfriend and now I'm eating a pretzel.
Max Piras: Riding in the car with Mike and Brian going home to Long Beach. We were just skating Glendale.
Jason Sherman: I'm skating LES and talking to you.
Dave Feldman: I'm typing out Thurs-Daves.
What was the last song you listened to on your iTunes or your iPod?
Esteban Jefferson: My iPod's broken, but "Girlfriend Is Better" by the Talking Heads is playing right now on iTunes. I bet you Nabi is either listening to the Cure or Sonic Youth.
Nabi Salomon: "Accuracy" by the Cure.
Jon Ngan: I got no iPod, but I just listened to "In Transit" by Albert Hammond Jr. with Max a little while ago.
Evan Borja: "Beauty and the Beast" by Celine Dion. No joke.
Dom Susca: "Storm of an Artist" by Daniel Johnston.
Max Piras: "Nice and Gentle" by the Black Keys.
Jason Sherman: "Wake Up Freestyle" by the Notorious B.I.G.
Dave Feldman: "Waterfall" by the Stone Roses.
What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
EJ: I didn't eat breakfast.
NS: Some vanilla crunchy type cereal things. (Shouting) Mom? What's my cereal called? I guess it's just vanilla cereal.
JN: Special K with fruit and yogurt. It's a good one. I wouldn't mind a bowl right now.
EB: Hot Pockets, Toaster Strudels, and a cup of fruit.
DS: I didn't have breakfast. I skipped from Thera-flu tea to a hamburger.
MP: A salad. I woke up at 12.
JS: I didn't eat breakfast this morning, but I had for lunch I had french toast.
DF: Vanilla tea from Starbucks. I had a coupon so it was free.
Gran Torino: Backin' it or slackin' it?
EJ: Dude! Backin' it so hard! Way better than The Wrestler which sucked ass.
NS: Backin' it, dude. For sure.
JN: I'm slacking on watching it, but I'm psyched on Clint Eastwood so I'm backing it.
EB: I don't even know what the fuck that is?
DS: Backin' it, come on! The dude drinks 80,000 Pabst Blue Ribbons and kills people. He's a B.A.M.F.
MP: Backin' it! For sure. Douh (Spider) deserves an Oscar.
JS: (Pauses) Backin' it. Sorry I didn't realize what you were asking at first.
DF: Backin' it. Eastwood saves.
Whose part are you looking forward to most in Mind Field?
EJ: Probably Jake Johnson. Maybe Arto. Arto's killing it.
NS:Jason Dill.
JN: Kirchart and Jake Johnson.
EB: What the fuck is that?
The new Alien Workshop video
EB: Who's in that?
Jake Johnson, Heath Kirchart, Jason Dill, Rob Dyrdek, Steve Berra, Kalis...
EB: Geoff Rowley.
DS: Awww man! I know Este said Jake Johnson so I'm going with Grant Taylor.
MP: Jake. Definitely Jake.
JS: That's a really good question. Fuck! I guess Jake Johnson because he's gonna be skating New York and that's what I like to see. Also Heath because his parts are always gnarly.
DF: Heath Kirchart.
Same question, but regarding Be Pretty Whose part are you looking forward to watching?
EJ: Ummm... they're all good. Everyone's but yours.
NS: Jason Sherman, he's like the wild card. You can take him to a spot and then he'll do some crazy trick that you wouldn't think he would do and it's like, 'what!?'
JN: Everybody's
EB: Probably Nabi Saloman.
DS:I want to see a full Marcello part with limited crooked grinds and limited nosegrind variations. I want to see a full Este part!
MP: Esteban's. I heard he 5050's a two stair ledge? Crazy! I heard he 5050s the banks 10, also.
JS: Dom's. Just kidding. Nah, for real though, Nabi Saloman's.
DF: Anyone of those asians. Nabi, Jon, and Max are going to kill it.
Who is the most underrated skateboarder right now? Who's blowing up?
EJ: Mike Barker. Dumb good. Coming up: Jake Johnson or Kyle Isles.
NS: Randy Ploesser and Nate Lacoste for both. They're underrated and coming up.
JN: Evan Borja is the most underrated. On the come up: Caleb!
EB: Jason Sherman is underrated. Jon Ngan or Marcellos are both up-and-coming.
DS: Seblabbe is underrated. Mad good. Grant Taylor and Tyler Bledsoe are up-and-coming.
MP: I dunno, that's hard. Just say Esteban Jefferson. No, Dan Zvereff is underrated. Kevin Romar is up-and-coming.
JS: Most underrated? My man, Ivan, if he stuck with it. Ryan Santiago is coming up without a doubt. He's going places.
DF: Rodney Torres, Max Taylor, and Dermot Reddan are so underrated. Big E, A.K.A. Owen Miller is blowing up. And I can't forget Gary Rzezutko.
What's your least favorite trends both in skateboarding and in New York City?
EJ: I really don't like the freshness and hype-beast people. I don't like the corny dudes in New York City who don't know how to walk down the street.
NS: Switch front shoves. And I really don't like a certain someone who constantly beams with a white hot stare.
JN: Independent trucks. Cellar doors in New York are retarded! I hate cellar doors.
EB: Low shove one foot catch. Condom beanies in New York City. That shit is gay.
DS: The Tompkins cool-guy asshole trend. New York City: it's a toss-up between the hipster fresh kids and the hipster-gay kids. I can't decide which I hate more.
MP: I guess bandanas in the back pocket. For New York City, people who wear high socks and tuck their pants...into their socks...and tuck their shirts...into their pants...and wear their hats...sideways.
JS: My least favorite trend in skateboarding are sunglasses. I'm a hypocrite though, because I like to wear them. I don't like UGG boots on girls.
DF:Why are so many skateboarders getting face tattoos? You guys know that shit doesn't wash off, right? I hate places in New York that charge too much money for food and for drinks. I hate stuck-up chicks that think they know better.
East coast or west coast and why?
EJ: East coast because I live there and you don't have to drive around. Maybe west coast in the winter because it sucks right now.
NS: Dude! East coast because I feel like I've been here my whole life. I can't rep west coast.
JN: Apples and oranges. They're both good. East Coast is way better in the summer.
EB: East coast because we live here and it's awesome.
DS: East coast all day because we're raw and we don't need skateparks to have fun, Jon Ngan.
MP: East coast but if I can have my cake and eat it too I'll take both.
JS: Why would anyone say "west coast"?
DF: East coast, but I fully back San Francisco and I would love to check that place out.
What are your goals for '09?
EJ: Film a line with me in front of the camera for the first time.
NS: Catch up on all the albums I have to listen to. Shit, I'm slacking.
JN: Get a job.
EB: Nollie inward heel bayside 10 and make an animation site with Nabi Saloman.
DS: Let's finish this video. Let's everyone have good parts. Let's get Jon to stop skating parks. I also want to move out of my parents house and get nollie flips good.
MP: Make money so I can live and buy a computer. Then I can use that computer to watch online skateboard videos and get hot chicks.
JS: Nollie something better than bayside. Finish high school and start college. It will happen I'm just looking foward to it. Be happy.
DF: Kick smoking and my terrible anxiety/depression. I dunno how easy that's going to be. I have to get a job. I want to find a nice girl who's cute. Get Duff-man on my radio show. Finish filming for this video and have somebody I don't know say "good job" and mean it.
Final shout-outs?
EJ: Everyone I skate with. They know who they are. All the homies.
NS: Shout-out to to Jon Ngan, wherever he is. Max Piras. Elijah Arnold, Eddie Blargas, Coolsteban Jefferson, Dave Feldman for making it possible, Evan Purple Borja, Nate Rojas, for sure, Quinn Cardona, and Ashton, and Paul.
JN: Shout-out to the Bor-Jons. Be Pretty, everyone should be psyched for that, all the homies at home, I miss you but the weather sucks!
EB: Shout out to Dave Feldman for calling me up and talking to me.
DS: Everyone at hahafuntime, Templeteon Elliot and those French dudes who put us up on their French site. All the cool kids at SVA, Dave Feldman for doing this interview. All the Tompkins haters, Official NY bloggers, and Lurker Lou for telling me I can't eat a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich at 3 in the afternoon.
MP: BP, hahafuntime, Emerson, Bob Dylan (my best friend), Mike Lao, Obama, Hillary Duff, Bojanski. That's it.
JS: My brother, Eric. Mom, Dad, Corey, the homies in Massachusetts, especially Walter James Riley, Hahafuntime, and the O.G. Moldy heads just for kicks. You get all that?
DF: Kurt and Mike. Jersey City homies. Lucky 7s. Wyldlife! Sam Allen for letting me come to Purchase all the time. Doug, Brian and everyone at 2nd Nature shop. The Shermans. Hahafuntime and Moldy heads, we never die. Anyone who reads what I have to write, all of this is for you.
Dangerous Dave