Bleav in Skateboarding with Jim Gray

Episode 068 Scott Pellet S.O.S. Friend, Skater, Hollywood Film/TV editor, TEXAN!

Scott and I met over 10 years ago when he was trying to help put together a film on the history of Texas Skateboarding. We quickly became friends and have stayed in touch since then, sharing meals, skating, stories, hanging with family and mutual friends, etc...

Scott found an interest in filmmaking at an early age. Being a kid who grew up in the Dallas area and riding at the Jeff Phillips Skatepark, the first major media project he put together was on Jeff Phillips. Scott's love of skateboarding, filmmaking and music have filled his life and still do.

He has been working in the Hollywood TV/Film world for quite awhile now. I have been fortunate enough to get to visit him at some of the studios he was working at and see sets for successful TV shows such as The Goldbergs and Chuck. He has worked as an editor on the TV shows "Chuck" (NBC), "The Goldbergs" (ABC), "Mad Dogs" (Amazon), "Sneaky Pete" (Amazon), "L.A.'s Finest" (Spectrum), "Painkiller" (Netflix) and the Lionsgate feature, "The Devil You Know". You can check his IMDB credits by clicking on this IMDB link. You will see all the cool stuff this skater has done. I am stoked I have gotten to see a lot of it up close and personal over the years.

For several years, Scott and fellow Texans Heath Cherryhomes and Jake Kirby would make an annual pilgrimage to all the local skateparks while Heath and Jake stayed with me during the summer. We were all given nicknames and Scott's was S.O.S. "Sex on a Stick". I had Texas-sized stickers of our nicknames printed for our helmets symbolizing our brotherhood....

Things we discuss in this podcast that I think some of you might find interesting are our skating adventures, his work on his first film about Jeff Phillips, his Hollywood gigs and the time he filmed interviews (including Jeff Grosso) at my house. Hope you enjoy meeting another interesting person who has passed through my life and is also a skater and very talented in other realms...

059 S-One Helmets Dan McCashin and Chris Terins started as Insole Makers and became Helmet Icons.

These two started making S-One footwear insoles down the street from my Acme Skateboards factory in Costa Mesa back in the 90's. They share their stories as they morphed from an insole company into one of the most respected Helmet Brands in Skateboarding, BMX, Roller Derby and more.

I've been friends with them for a long time, have printed stickers for them for decades, have worn their helmets for a while, and have always enjoyed working with them on everything, and the great conversations we have everytime I see them, but a podcast gave us a chance to dig a little deeper. Hope you enjoy our conversation, they don't hold back to much so you may hear some surprising things. You may even get a chuckle as I try to remember when I first met them and confused where their first office was with someone else...

I first recorded a Podcast with Chris Terins about 2 years ago, and didn't have the microphone plugged in so nothing was recorded, so this is a long overdue re-do. Thanks for your patience Chris, and glad Dan got to join us this time (he likes to stir the pot more than you--haha)...

You can find them at https://shop.s1helmets.com/ or at almost any great skate shop..

Episode 057 Mike Mapp AKA "Micro" of Ramp Tech, Possibly the longest consistently operating Ramp Builder in the World

Micro is just a straight up skate lifer, who has been building ramps for decades, and runs his skate ramp building company RampTech out of Virginia. They build a variety of products from Quarter Pipes, Half Pipes, Rails, Boxes, Spine Ramps and more. He's built many amazing competition ramps over the years as well for Vans, ESPN and many many more.

Skateboarding flows through his blood and he's seen a lot of changes. He has survived each and every change, and keeps on building great ramps. In the 90's I used to send Mike skateboards when the skate industry had forgotten about much of their roots and Mike and I have always shared a great level of mutual respect.

You will hear stories of his views and the history of the ramp business, crazy scenes he was part of like the historic "Cedar Crest Ramp" and much more. They made a great movie about the history of Cedar Crest called "Blood and Steel", click on the words and it will link you to learn more. It's a good watch. If you know Micro, you'll be stoked to hear some classic stories, if you don't know him, you'd hear some history on the East Coast Skate Scene and about a player who helped us get where we are today whether you knew it or not.

Hope you enjoy our Chat.

Episode 050 Michael Brooke, Skateboarder, Publisher, Funeral Directors Assistant

Michael Brooke AKA: "SkateGeezer" published "The Concrete Wave, the history of Skateboarding" book in 1999, a book full of history of all types of skateboarding at a time in skateboarding history when there was a heavy industry agenda to push only "Street" skateboarding. Michael has a Mantra that I firmly believe in myself that "all skateboards are good skateboards". Michael then went on to launch "International Longboarder Magazine" and eventually "Concrete Wave Magazine"

Along the path, he promoted positivity and fun in skateboarding, on any type, size, shape, or style of skateboarding. I have crazy respect for people in skateboarding who do their own thing, and don't just follow others, so Michael has always had much respect from me. You will hear in this interview how some of his early actions, led to some pretty amazing things that changed how the world saw skateboarding, and the drive to promote and share the love of all types of skateboarding was always the driving force.

Today, Michael is a funeral directors assistant, still a lover of all things skateboarding. He is stirring things up in the business of death as well with some interesting and logical new opportunities. We all die after all, so why not document our own and our relatives lives well..

Michaels latest book, "THE ENDLESS WAVE A Skateboarder’s Perspective on Death, Dying and Spirituality" which he co-wrote with Nathan Ho is definitely a read I would recommend. It definitely will give you an interesting view into death from a skateboarders perspective, and provide a gateway to interesting things to ponder if you have an open and realistic mind. I enjoyed it thoroughly and read it cover to cover as they say one day while sitting home with Covid a couple months back. It's a free download and I recommend you check it out. You can download a free copy here: CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Michaels latest venture "Time for My Story" helps families document their own, or their loves ones life stories to create written and visual memories for generations to come. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Michael. I also hope you learn something, take something away, share something, or otherwise let your preconceived notions about skateboarding, skateboarders, death, or spirituality be altered in a positive way.

Episode 043 Ron Allen Legendary OG Street Skater, Artist, Musician, and Great Friend

Ron and I talk about his early days in Visalia, California and the path to pro skateboarding, company ownership, how and why he became MC Intelligence after a near death experience.

He has had a great life of skateboarding being a main force on H-Street, and eventually into doing his own brands, Fun Skateboards, Life Skateboards, and American Dream Incorporated (Relaunched recently).. check out @americandreamincorportated and help a skater owned brand stay strong. You can also find Ron at @Ronallensk8 on Insta and follow his path. I consider him one of my truest of friends, and we have a great conversation about many things including skateboarding, and our crazy industry, racism, liability, the olympics, and about the changes in skateboarding over the years and how we both value competition and what it did for us as skaters.

I've witnessed Ron rapping on the fly and he's pretty damn good, he puts out a positive message as a human and prefers positivity over negativity, which isn't always easy when in the skateboard business. I have great respect for Ron, and few people can put a smile on my face more than he can. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

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