I wanna live

During a recent drive through a traffic-infested north shore, Fred Hein selected an excellent track by The Ramones from my ipod. He would have had no way of knowing this, but the track comes from a compilation which was the first CD I ever purchased. I think that The Ramones are really more of a pop band than a punk band in the sense that they present essentially upbeat, heavily melodic and simple riffs. Sure, they were among the first to pioneer the musical structure that would be adopted and further developed by bands through the coming decades, but The Ramones were never really that confrontational, and many of their songs are complete nonsense. I grew out of listening to these guys, or I thought I did anyways, several years ago; in favor of later heavier, faster, more emotional, and more directly political bands. Still, there is something incredible about the simplicity of statements such as "I wanna live" being the core of a song. How much simpler can you possibly get? These are guys who wanted nothing more out of life than to be left in peace to live their lives as they chose. Have you ever heard that the simplest solution is usually the correct one? I find that to be the case more and more every day, and The Ramones couldn't have been any simpler.

Still with me? Skipped to this sentence already? Still skipping; looking for skate photos?

In the spirit of simplicity, lets remember why we all started skating in the first place. We liked the adventure of finding new parts of the city, the continuous personal challenge to progress, and the camaraderie of people who, like ourselves, just never really seemed to fit in with the rest of them. All of these things can be summed up very simply as having fun. Today, as we go out on missions to get footage and continually punish our bodies in the effort of putting together a video part or getting photos, lets remember: if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. 

You may or may not remember this geezer from the previous post. I had overlooked this fantastic example of fun though, and thought it crucial to share before the file be relegated to the Kiln's Vault. 

The minutes preceding this moment were not fun. Mike Tenney destroyed his board by means of smashing and crashing it against the rocks of the SBLI gap after failing to land a trick. Nobody likes falling over and over and over and failing to get a clip, but next time, maybe instead of smashing your board, calmly walk away form the spot, dismantle it at the shop, and leave it in said shop with a "Free" sign for some kid who comes in with only 27 dollars and can't afford the fanciest new decks. That kid would go on to have a lot of fun. 

Again, yes, not landing tricks is very not fun, as Matt Lane knows full well here. Still, there is something that drives us to do it over and over and over again. The payoff of getting a trick that you have put so much effort into, while not exactly "fun" in the purest sense, does feel well worth it in most cases. Honestly, what would you rather be doing?

Matt Lane continues to draw fun from tricks, that personally, I would be frightened of. Also, skating concrete parks with your friends is fun. FS Nosegrind.

Jason Ross knows all about fun because he invented it with the SBS'ers. FS Feeble 180 out.

Speaking of Jason, He just had this sequence in Focus' Sequence Saturdays promoting skateshops with fun names

The amount of fun that Fred has doing nose manuals is simple immeasurable

These wooden benches are a very fun spot. Matt Lane, BS tailslide in a line that made great use of the obstacles available. 

The following post will include photos from the beginning of my trip across the USA. Right now, I must go to bed, because not getting enough sleep is never fun.