my tribute to bammy (mr. skateboard)
you have entered my shrine to the most handsome, bangable, adorable, boy ever to skate mongo-footed in a gold button down shirt to a track of himself covering a haggard semi-def leopard tune. these next few lines are going to be a tell-all about how i came to love bam with all of my heart. when mtv started running their newest smash, controversial series, Jackass i was immediately enamoured by the show. i thought it was so hysterical, and appreciated the skits of the west chester gang more than those of the big brother crew, however i did not immediately realize how great bam is. kate noticed his margera family chin hair and pennsy accent and was swept of her feet from the moment she caught a glimpse of his baby blues. i took more convincing... it was not until we accentally stumbled upon a few people in our living room watching a bootleg copy of CKY2K that i knew the true power of bam. lines like "wanna play a tape? how about a cd? no, it's just an AM/FM radio" and "it's a 96!!" threw me head over heals for the youngest margera brother. for some time CKY2K and Jackass were the only exhibits of bam's work that i was able to see, but on christmas day landspeed was sitting amoungst my piles of goodies. i disregarded all of the other presents that had been lovingly purchased and wrapped with care and took the tape upstairs to my room. there i closed the door and laughed almost non-stop for 45 minutes. even better than the sequel, landspeed is raw, at times unclear because of obvious inside jokes, offensive, and the most magnificent thing i had ever seen. bam still in his teens, showcasing his wonderful talent at skateboarding and comedy simultaeously, hair unkempt and resembling a 'do of eddie vedder made my heart skip a beat. never before had i seen someone act like a retard and be so *damn* cute at the same time. bam is truly a paradox. it wasn't until landspeed that i enjoyed the comedic genius of brandon, bam's partner in hilarity and stupidity. prank calls, funny faces, haggard clothes, weird noises and freestylin are just some of the things that brandon does best.
so my history of bam is a little ass backwards because i wasn't on the train from the moment it left the station, i had to jump on in the middle. so now we come to the bam of the present day. still working on Jackass, reaping all of the benefits of becoming a super star to many people, skating hard for element in his own shoe by adio and still finding time to be as obsessed with someone as we all are with him and his work... bam seems to be a die-hard HIM fan. check out his website and all will be explained... his pelvic region has been decorated with a heartagram tatoo resembling that of the lead singer, ville valo's. also trying to emulate his hero with a replica of the full arm tatoo on the opening page of his site. though i'm not sure how i feel about his turn away from teeshirts and stovepipe pants for skating, it does make me feel better about me obsession with him to see bam be such a big fan of someone who he admires.
it would be unfair of me to give all of these props to bam without recognizing the coolness of the other people who surround bam and who definately stand all on their own. first the band whose name the video series takes, cKy. drummer, jess margera (kate's choice), shines in landspeed with his wonderfully adorable emmissions of gas in the family's kitchen, participation in skits such a backyard bowling, and of course his drumming. deron miller is the extremely talented guitarist/sometimes bassist/lead singer of cKy. chad ginsburg plays guitar and brings an element of freakiness to each and every show they play by wearing his infamous mask... although it scares me i hope to someday see it live! cKy goes through different bassists but right now vern (??) is with them.
another integral part of this whole team is ryan gee, who makes his career as a skate photographer and filmer and has been hanging around with bam & co for years. his talents at filming and photography has captured countless moments that are truly priceless (and i've only been able to see a *small* fraction of them). nicknamed shitgoose, the gill, and the gay vulture... the origin is cloudy and alledgedly just 'bam-speak', gee jumps blazers and has fun with the guys all over the world, from pa to iceland whilst working for transworld magazine and keepin together a family... go gee! you have it all together!!
rake yohn seems to have most of the brains in the group, being a master chemist, though that doesn't prevent him from blowing up rental cars because he thought it would be a great idea to light the am radio on fire. rake runs a really awesome website (i have it linked up on the first page) and he is in the chatroom sometimes and posts on the boards all of the time. it was amazing to me at first that i was actually talking to a member of the crew, but now i just think rake is super cool and i don't get *as* scared.
so the only person i think i left out was ryan dunn. i'll admit that i don't really know what to say about mr. dunn. making only a few appearances in landspeed, always with his large white beeper on his side, dunn seems to have started out as a smaller part of the team but now that they are on Jackass, dunn is definately in the limelight. his ego seems to be growing two times as much as his popularity, but thats fine because who knows how *i* would react in the same situation. he is definately a funny guy with lots of balls- enough to jump off of a roof, into shit, ski into trees (k2 trees), piss on brandon, and drive a stick shift in iceland without looking at the road.
bam gets serious with some head shots :)
nice nosegrind!
malgafrado says chill...
coming straight out of west chester, pa- the 'powerhouse of the east' bam has been skateboarding with other pros from the area for years. two of these pals are mike maldonado with his ever changing hairstyles (though it varies pretty much between corn rows and the big-ol-fro!) and kerry getz from lehighton, pa with his hockey temper, baby face, and textbook skating style. these guys started out on toy machine together way back in the day (before landspeed and swanking and all kinds of mess). they did the cutest interview ever, with questions by toy machine biggy ed templeton. go see it at http://www.strengthmag.com/issue11/05_98/bamkmi/mike.html (sorry i don't know how to make active links on this style page, but it won't kill you to copy and paste.. and i think it's worth it... CAN I HIT?) these days bam seems to be pretty damn busy so who knows if maldonado, getz, and bam hang out as much... i think they are all doing their own things. kerry has been going around the world doing demos and compeitions and impressing people where ever his board hits the ground. he has his very own shop in philly called Nocturnal Skateshop and i plan on going someday soon. i can only hope to catch a glimpse of him!! maldonado started skating for the newly formed baker board company, is in the new baker2g, and has an extensive interview in this month's skateboarder magazine, though i didn't get a chance to buy it. getz skates for habitat and i'm sure they both have tons of other sponsors that i just don't know about. speaking of sponsors makes me think of a personal favorite in the west chester skating crew who is *not* pro, chris aspite'. because he is just an amateur, he tends to come last in my line of explanation but my love for him is unparelleled. he is *very* good looking, stylin (even bam sweats his gear), seems to be very smart [read his profile on the friends section of bam's page] and a great skater. he has a myriad of nicknames from the knife, to hoofbite', to spazbite'... i sure would love to come across him someday in the parking lot of 15 north!! (hehehe)
