Page 65 - THE ENDLESS WAVE | Skateboarding, Death & Spirituality

THE ENDLESS WAVE | PART ONE
industry, along with the biggest stars. There were all types of personality types, from the kind and generous to the narcissistic dick. But this book is not a tell- all about who’s a nice guy and who’s an asshole. I’ll let someone else write about that. It is, however, a book about death and dying. So, I will mention two particular people who were difficult, heavily involved in skateboarding and are both dead. Both people were difficult and ventured into asshole ter- ritory many times. Since neither of these people can defend themselves, I will keep their names private and the descriptions mercifully short.
The first person seemed to relish berating people and was constantly in a state of agitation. For some reason, he took great pleasure in making my life diffi- cult — and he loved trying to embarrass me in front of my peers. His ego was enormous, and he was literally a living troll. Eventually, things caught up with him and his business collapsed.
I got to meet up with him when he lost his business. He was trying to make a comeback. We went for a sushi lunch, and he was much more subdued — dare I say humbled? He seemed more at peace, and we had a rather enjoyable lunch. But in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think that if he hadn’t lost his business, would he be acting like this? I know the answer, but I keep that luncheon as my primary memory of him because less than 12 months later, he was dead.
The second person was someone whom I had known for over 25 years. I had met him in the mid-80s skateboarding outside a music club. I watched as he grew his business from literally a table in the back of a bike shop to a huge re- tail colossus. He had a reputation for being fairly nasty to customers. What made him behave in such a way? I am pretty sure he was bipolar. The stigma of mental illness is still an issue, but twenty or thirty years ago, it was huge, and it was most certainly the elephant in the room.
While I have mostly positive memories of this person, he could be very prickly. At one point, he told me to shove my magazine up my ass. A few years later, he phoned me to apologize. The apology seemed genuine, but I was still extremely puzzled about why he would call. Within a few years of this call,
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