Some of you may be wondering what skating has to do with psychedelics, other than the fact that skaters are usually ADHD compulsive danger freaks who like drugs among their many other vices. However, there is one skater who has taken the psychedelic vibe to a whole new level, Richie Jackson from Australia. Here is a clip from a recent interview from Transword Skateboarding:
I believe in psychedelicism. Not just psychedelic music, but everything. A psychedelic experience is characterized as the unveiling of perceptions previously unknown -- the brain unfettered from its usual constraints. To me, it's all there is, and certainly all that's worth doing. I find no worth in that which doesn't surprise. Anomalies, irregularities, deviation from the common rule -- that is all I will ever care for.
How does this come through in his skating? In a world of young turks hurling kickflips and 360 flips down stairs like robots, Richie Jackson comes up with some new and unique tricks. Varial kickflip hippie jump? Double foot-plant down a stair well? Kickflip foot-plant to finger-flip? For those of you who don't know, that's just insane.
hola dejame desir que eres mi idolo y que deberias venir a ecuador ya que mi pais es muy lindo y te va agustar full pana debe venir a ecuador es lo maximo bye
4 da last year since i 1st got introduced to richie jackson's unique style ive gone on a self discovering skating binch in order to learn some of da wicked shit ive seen in richie jackson's videos. im not guna say ive mastered it ...far from it but it has defenatly opend a whole new door to the way i look at tricks and the actual meaning of being a creative skater.
I just saw the part in "And Now" and was delighted. I was watching it with a non-skater buddy who was drubbed into delirium by the rapid succession of kickflips and tre-flips down stairs and ledge-out... And then comes Richie fucking Jackson hippie-flipping and chain grinding and banana-sliding down escalators and air-planting on trees and you just say FUCK! Why doesn't everyone skate like this. Damn. Even non-skaters notice the artistry.
Richie has great style and originality. Video part in And Now is killer. Shame the yanks can't take some of what he has onviously said with a pinch of salt. He is the Jerry Garcia of skating. Living Legend.
Michelle, I said skaters are "usually" ADHD etc. Sometimes they are Type A jesus freaks; sometimes they are arty poser types; sometimes they are longboarders (heh). You are right, there are all types of skater. No disrespect to the "normal" skaters out there, but most (see, I said *most*, not all) I have met are willing to risk life and limb to nail a dumb skate trick, and drugs and alcohol often play into the role of the skate life. I have a theory that kids with low dopamine uptake like skateboards because they provide that rush and they are endlessly complex, you can never get bored of trying new tricks because there are a zillion of them and most are damn near impossible (like the impossible). Doing the impossible provides a hell of a dopamine kick, and skateboarding is one of those activities where if you lose your focus you are wrecked, so it forces kids with wandering attentions to focus intensely on something that then gives them a dopamine kick. Total addiction package waiting to happen.
However, not all skaters are like that. Richie Jackson is not the best skater in the world, but he rips like no one else. For all the haters out there, let me see your footy and then we'll see who's super lame. Yes?
Whoever wrote this article has absolutely on idea about skateboarding. How can you categorize such a large subculture as "ADHD compulsive danger freaks who like drugs"? Sure, some people are like that, but to target a whole group? Moron.
This guy is a fuckin kook, read the transworld article, he's a fuckin fraud. All he does is contradict himself. Faggot warm pastry eatin cunt. Fuck. He tries to hard.
and wallriders! those guys skated vertically along walls.
I always thought it sucked cause just about every other skater you met would be the same person/borg: "how high can you ollie" "what tricks can you do"; it was supposed to be fun.
20 years later the council (I presume, it's a public park) here got a mini skate park - it's so badly designed the ramps and flyoffs aren't anywhere near flush with the ground. they know nothing about lines.
Bring back railslides and spark grinds too - I looked at trucks on sale in sk8 shops recently and they can't be ground with! the grommets stick out further that the trucks. nobody rates wheels on their hardness anymore either. pre-DVD videos of people with plastic rails on their boards sliding for 100s of yards along stairs and other surfaces.
The Richie Jackson interview is in the September 2008 Transworld Skateboarding, which should be on the stands soon (got mine last week). Jackson also has a full-length part in the new "And Now" DVD from Transworld, featuring the best and most creative Ams around today.
I wish more skateable things were built into the city so it can be a part of the skater. Skaters are very possesive of their places to ride and they should be. In Amsterdam they have a great bike path (BE WARNED!! THEY WILL RUN YOU OVER IF YOU WALK IN THE BIKE PATH!! SERIOUSLY!!) We should have bike and skate trails and give tax credits to people who use them as transport.
this is the true spirit of skating and a joy to watch. He flows and rolls with individual flair and creates. Reminds me of Gonz'a attitude and style. Wonderful.
lance, hawk and peralta? dude, that's three generations different. and those guys weren't on drugs. well, maybe stacey smoked grass. boooooring. this guy is steppin' it up - hippie new school.
I grew up in the age of socal sk8r culture with the likes of lance mountain, tony hawk, peralta, etc... Back then it was about freestyle and creativity...this guy brings that culture back and some. Love it!
This guy has a great individual style to his riding while still pulling some amazing things off while staying technically difficult.... but still smooth. Awesome.
I always thought it sucked cause just about every other skater you met would be the same person/borg: "how high can you ollie" "what tricks can you do"; it was supposed to be fun. 20 years later the council (I presume, it's a public park) here got a mini skate park - it's so badly designed the ramps and flyoffs aren't anywhere near flush with the ground. they know nothing about lines.