"Kev's Quotes" Vol 01 ep.01

"I can rant.. I can go on... but when I boil it down, it all [most] makes sense."


Welcome to "Kev's Quotes".
A Weekly quote from the K himself! This is the first week so you get two for one!



"We cleaned up all the clutter.... now we have only an empty room."

Hi, I'm Kvon.

I joined this cool forum for vintage skaters. I am excited to have a little camaRADerie with people who have responsibilities and yet still nurture their love for the ride! I had to post a little about my self in the Noobe section. I thought It might be fun to post here on the blog as well.

Hi everyone! Its good to be here. Since it is kind of hard to avoid narcissism in this particular post I decided to take it over the top with an interview of myself. I caught up to myself a while back here is how it went down:

Me: "So you are kvon"
Kvon: "That's my username, yeah."


Me: When did I start skating?
Kvon: 1985 (years earlier on a plastic GT)

Me: What was my first issue of Thrasher?
Kvon: November 1985

Me: What originally drew you to skateboarding?
Kvon: My Mom would drag me to the grocery store and I would head strait for the magazine rack. I read everything... At first I was into BMX but sometime in the late 80's I fully converted to Skateboarding. In Jr. High a couple of the rich kids had cool skateboards... boards like, NATAS, Slasher,etc. I loved the colors, the fat white Tracker copers and the jelly bean wheels. I was into the gear at first.

Me: What was your first "legit" deck?
kvon: I am a real wheeler dealer, I bartered the paper boy out of his Grosso Angel bat, then a kid at summer school talked me out of it and left me with a thrashed Roscopp face.

Me: Did you ever get a full new set up?
kvon: Yeah. My Dad took me on vacation to the west coast. On the way we stopped in Vegas and I went to some cool shop in the suburbs. I bought a teal rat bones t-shirt, A boneite Tony Hawk in navy / grey, White tracker ultra-lights and lime green cross bones.. that ride was sick!

Me: How long did it take you to learn how to ollie?
Kvon: People don't ollie, the board does that, ya get a board that can ollie and you are set.

Me: What was your first Vert experience?
kvon: Rewind a few years to '85, My Mom hauled me to Glenwood springs. There was an 11' (or so) vert ramp there with metal surface. Kids were ripping it. I sat in the car with my Nash executioner, scared to try it. I am glad I didn't, I would have looked like an idiot. In '89 I broke my wrist on that same vert ramp with a backside gone wrong. I took a few years off skating and pursued a music career.

Me: What do you skate now?
kvon: I like to go fast on the road and do big power slides. I like to go from point A to B and ollie every thing in my way. but I mostly ride my back yard mini it is 16' wide 6' tall and 4' tall all with a 7' radius. I ride vert whenever I can, mostly on trips to the city.

Me: Who do you skate with?
Kvon: I am the only known old school skater left in western Colorado.
*laughs*
I skate with my little brother, he is 18 yrs younger than me. I skate with my kids. I skate with my wife and I skate alone.

Me: What is skateboarding to you?
Kvon: as cheese as it sounds The search for Animal chin was right on, it goes back to the surfing roots, looking for that perfect ride that carries you off into the sunset... into infamy.

Me: Do you have goals in skateboarding?
Kvon: I couldn't live without goals, progress and growth in my life. I have a basic need to get better at everything I do. There are countless tricks and maneuvers that I want to learn but mostly I just want to stay stoked, healthy and skate with other people who love the ride!


I hope to get the honor to skate with you all soon!
-kvon

I got a gig!

I gotta gig.... I got A gig! I have mentioned before that I do a lot of hired gun work as a musician. I prefer to play in one band, tour and rock original material but due to the flaky nature of musicians, being a working musician seems to be the best bet for the "now". I still write my own original material, practice and perform daily but the gigs as of late have been of the musical mercenary verity. This week I got a call to play rhythm guitar for a local mega church. I asked them if we could play a few Dead Kennedys tunes and they just stared blankly. (I didn't Really say that, but if I did they would have ben like "whaaat".) [-kong fu panda] I am not much for organized religion but these people are good hearted, I like them. :) Mainly I am a drummer. This week is different because I will be playing the six string axe! I am excited. Wish me luck!
Rock it!

Happy 9!!!

Some things just make good sense. Nine years ago today I married the girl of my dreams. My girl captivates me every day. She is a model Mom and a most wonderful companion. S, You are loved by all! We can't get enough of you. I can't get enough of you! I thank God every time I think of you. Lets grow old together! Happy Anniversary!
-k

LEGENDS SIGHTING IN DENVER

Tony Alva. Christian Hosoi. Stevie Caballero. I could end this blog post with those three names and it would be complete. Howerver, In the presence of Legendary skate talent completely lose my cool and babble like a twelve year old! I got to meet Stevie, Christian and Tony! VERT YES! (thats my new explotive, not as hot as "Hell", more down to earth than "Heaven").

We arrived at the mall one hour early and grabbed lunch at Tokyo Joe's, its a little higher price and not as tasty as PEI-WEI ah but I digress. It was 30 min away from legend time when we strolled up to the Vans store and started our Search for Animal Chin aka "the end of the line". By the time the session (autograph sighing session) started the line was devastatingly long. A guy walked in at 3:10pm with a genuine Skull Skates Hosoi Hammer Head. He undoubtedly hoped to get his prize signed by the man himself... anyway the guy took one look at the line, shook his head and left. I was thinking to myself... "Would I have traded my place in line for that authentic Skull Skates Hammerhead? NOT A CHANCE!" I had driven 250 miles, purchased a hotel room and found something to keep the family busy just so I could have a chance to see three people who have devoted their lives to help shape skateboarding into the incredible gift that it is today. I waited in line with my son D for just over two and half hours. When I finely got to to meet Christian, Tony and Stevie I was as nervous, awkward and clumsy like Chevy Chase in a comedy scene. Thankfully The legends were very gracious. They rocked pictures and gave encouraging words. Thanks Stevie, Christian and Tony. The gift of your time made my day! May you skate forever!

Waiting in line with my boys! The whole family was there at the start but they finely had to bail. Understandably so.

P,A, and their friend Andrew swapped places in line with S,B and ?

Check out my Ripper eyes. Court Johnson would be proud!

Hosoi was so nice... He is one way cool person.

I am right next to Christian Hosoi... I will lose my cool in 5...4..3..2..

Legendary warriors.

I shook Cab's hand, maybe some Radness will transfer!

I wanted a pic with Cab so bad that I accidently leaned in and blocked T.A. from the pic.... RATS! My bad! Sorry T.A. I meant no disrespect.

Andrew kept his cool and got a pic with both T.A. and Cab. I think T.A. is smiling in this one. ;)

I grew up studying the moves and the style, I feel like I know these guys. I hope I get the chance to skate with them someday. I may never be as advanced on the board as them but one thing that we do share is a pure love for the ride!

5293 feet of air...

...above sea level anyway. We took a trip to the mile high city last weekend! We wanted to do something fun with the Family to finish up spring break week. I have been craving VERT and the closest REAL "vert- ramp" is at Woodward indoor skatepark in Denver Colorado. I had vacillated about taking the trip but then I heard that Steve Cabalerro, Christian Hosoi and Tony Alva would be making an appearance at the new VANS store. The news was enough to make me jump off the fence! With four gigs of mp3 sound, my wife, my kids, my brother, my sister and I packed into our suburban and hit the road. Our first stop on Saturday was at Woodward Skatepark. We paid $12 each for two hours and it was worth every penny. The guy at the counter said the Vert ramp was 13 feet tall. It was crazy. We skated for two full hours and then headed over to PEI-WEI for a well deserved feast.


We prayed for a sign... we got one!


"VERT-YA"



"13 feet-whatever... wait... he wasn't kidding!"


Discussing the artistic characteristics of the phallic graffiti on the wall


It has been awhile since I skated something
legit... at first it looked oververt... even though I knew it was just vert.

P contemplates the decision to drop.


P drops first!


K drops.


I LOVE VERT!

P bails but I like the pic


"Today we skated, tonight we FEAST!"



Going into it, I really didn't know what to expect. I dreamed of catching big airs and inverts. I dredded a fall. But with focus.. and balls I rode that ramp until I was close friends with the vert! No Mctwist today... but I am SO stoked! Skateboarding is! Vert is!

The Silhouette

In preparation for my .. uh.. movie (every video producer I know is "going to make a movie" someday... it's kind of a joke) I have been experimenting with a few shots. I want to develop a more artistic style of storytelling. Here is a short clip of a sunset shot I did the other day titled "The Silhouette". No story yet... although I have toyed with ideas that would include middle aged skaters, an unknown punk rock band, an aspiring artist, a small time movie producer... hmmm.