Right when I moved to NYC I met old school NYC skate legend Andy Kessler. He talked shit on surfers yet surfed. So we had that in common. There can be an intimidating crew of locals and/or visiting pros at the Autumn Bowl in Brooklyn, and when I first got my key and started showing up Andy gladly made it known to all that I was one of his boys. So instead of getting the who the fuck is this guy skating with a stank surfer style vibe, I was given the benefit of the doubt. Every now and then I'll get a call from Andy and the conversation starts with a "Hey you homo have you gotten in the water lately?" and always closes with a "Well we should go and skate soon."
Back in the Spring of 2005 Andy busted his hip skating the former Blinde bowl in SoHo. Like many Andy didn't have health insurance so in that fall all of his creative friends got together and applied some artwork to his model blanks. An auction/party was held to raise money to chip away at Andy's surgery bills. Wouldn't socialized medicine be nice? My friend Dewey and I built a website for Andy pro bono to sell the remaining pieces. My favorite was this Ric Charnowski piece that had Jesus is Answer stuck to it. Ric Charnowski and Buddy Nichols made the skate films Northwest, Fruit of the Vine, and Tent City. These titles feature the most credible pool/bowl skaters and the infamous Anti Hero team. Andy knew I had been eye balling it and 2 years later he has given it to me as a sign of thanks. So on this Thanksgiving thursday I wanted to give thanks to Andy "you little fairy" for saying thanks to me.
