chrome ball interview #163: brian lotti (2023)

Chops and Lotti sit down for Closer Mag.

Originally published in Closer Skateboarding #4

Introduction by Chris Miller

In 1990, I started Planet Earth in partnership with H-Street Skateboards. As such, it was Mike Ternasky and Tony Magnusson who first introduced me to Brian after suggesting we offer to move him from H-Street to Earth as our first pro street skater. I’d already brought Buster Halterman on board, and while I don’t remember my initial meeting with Brian, we all seemed to get along well and shared a common creative outlook for the new brand. 

 

Brian and Buster quickly became the pillars of the new team. Because for me, Planet Earth was about building a team that focused on style instead of contest results, rockstar attitudes and hairstyles. To be the thinking man’s brand. I wanted to recruit talented, low key and intelligent people who appreciated skateboarding as an artform… and Brian embodied all of that. 

 

With the premiere of our video, Now N Later, it was clear that Brian was one of the most innovative and creative pros in skateboarding. And together, Brian and I enjoyed several great collaborations on his graphics. While I was the one who technically did the art, it was Brian’s creative input that resulted in many of my favorite graphics from that era, including the Wild Thing, Animal Kingdom and pop-art interpretations of Mondrian and the Tron Tank. 

 

The early 90's were some lean years for us, and as Brian's talent kept progressing, the industry really took notice. Other companies started to make him sponsorship offers that we just couldn't match. We always saw Planet Earth as a family and Brian was a large part of that, so when he left to go join the crew at Blind, it was tough for us as I’m sure it was for him, too. But once a family, always a family. While bittersweet, I admired his continued progression and evolution. Later, when Brian’s life turned to Buddhism and art, we reconnected with a mutual respect, appreciation and gratitude for those early years. 

 

Now, Brian’s artistic approach and painting style reminds me a lot of his early skating. One can’t help but instantly appreciate all that he does. However, upon second look, there is a deep and subtle beauty in each of his movements. A loose and fluid style, but with powerful focus. As is always the case with Brian, there’s something more than what meets the eye; moving and sensed, but only truly appreciated when you look deep below the surface. —Chris Miller

=O =O =O

photo: Brittain

CBI: Looking over everything, were you always this creative guy and we just didn’t get to see it early on? Were you possibly more focused on skating during that first half of your career?   

Lotti: Yeah, I think that’s precisely what it was. I was totally focused on my skating. I mean, I did have an interest in graphics and ad layouts. I’d typically chime in on that kinda stuff. And I always drew in my spare time, but I don’t think that really came across. 

 

You never tried to do your own graphics? 

 

Not really. My experience with graphics guys, they all had these crazy drawing chops. They were serious illustrators, you know? I don’t think the possibility of doing my own graphics even crossed my mind back then. 

 

Well, you were working with Chris Miller, Marc McKee and Sean Cliver. That’s about as good as it gets. 

 

Yeah, Jeff Tremaine as well. Jeff was always super encouraging of my getting into painting and drawing. Because I was really into photography and had started shooting for Big Brother, I would stay with Tremaine sometimes. He always painted every night after work. That was his end-of-day ritual. I still remember seeing all of his paints in the fridge. He’d pull out the Tupperware and have me check it all out. Giving me little pointers and ideas. I would pick up little things from the other guys, too. But out of everyone, Jeff was the most supportive. 

 

Were you studying art in college? In-between air hockey matches? 

 

(laughs) Yes. Not at first but I eventually ended up in the art department. I’ve always been interested in art history. Art in different cultures.

Going back now, was H-Street your first sponsor? Wasn’t that through Ron Allen? 

 

Yes, absolutely. I’d gone to skate camps for the previous two summers and Ron was an instructor at both of them. That second year, I remember us both learning lipslides on single-sided blocks together, although I’m sure he did his way better than me. He could really get up on stuff. But that’s how I got to know Ron. 

 

At the time, Las Vegas, where I’m from, had this incredible local contest circuit. Both street and vert contests. And one weekend, I went to check out this vert contest they were having at a local high school. A bunch of guys who were about to turn pro had come out for it, like Ben Schroeder and Allen Midgett. John Schultes was there, who was like the first H-Street am back then. Tony Mag’s protégé.

 

And for some reason, Ron Allen was at this vert contest, too. I don’t know why. But he ends up seeing me in the parking lot and we both start skating this tall single-sided curb together. We’re doing lipslides again, just like last summer, when out walks John Schultes, Mike Ternasky and Tony Magnusson. 

 

Ron goes, “Oh, you should come with us to Denny’s. I’m about to sign my contract. These guys are turning me pro for street.” Like, what!?! Totally random. 

 

So, we all pile into the car. It’s all super exciting. And after he signs his contract, Ron and Ternasky turn to me and say, “We like the way you skate. We want to flow you boards.” 

 

I’m stoked. They start sending me a board every month or two, along with the infamous H-Street newsletter… This thing Ternasky would type up with all the latest developments. Who’s doing what tricks and all that. And it just went on from there. A few months later, I’m on the team. 

 

But yeah, I have Ron to thank for welcoming me into the whole H-Street world. I probably wouldn’t have even gotten sponsored otherwise.

 

And shortly after that is “Supersonic Skate Camp”, right? How was that? Who do you remember standing out at the time? 

 

I remember Tom Knox blazing around the course at full speed, skating everything. But Hensley was always the guy. He was already so much more advanced than the rest of us. And it was weird, because outside of that particular area, he was a complete unknown. But the people who knew, knew. 

 

It was just such an innocent era back then. Street skating was starting to unfold as this thing that could stand on equal ground with vert, but it wasn’t quite there yet. Guys like Natas and Gonz were on that equal footing but everyone else was still trying to figure things out. Like, “Woah! You mean that’s even possible? Cool!” 

 

But everyone got along well. I think we were all just excited to be there and do our thing. Because it was like a summer job, too. Teaching skating at this camp. 

 

What were those early days of H-Street like? 

 

You could make an amazing tv series about those early days of the company. I mean, Ternasky and Magnusson living together, trying to run a business out of this one place. People coming into work during the day and each of them having girlfriends who lived there, too. Totally a Three’s Company type of situation. 

 

So many moving parts, but they were still able to able to sell boards somehow. They were clearly riding something that was mounting. Growing. And when the video came out, it set things off. Because suddenly, they were everywhere. 

 

Did you have the shirt with the tails?

 

I might’ve had one of those… Actually, I think I ended up ripping some shirts of my own in order to be part of the club. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that I made a few of my own with small tails. I’d just wear it over another shirt. It was definitely a Magnusson thing. 

 

See, you were already an artist!

 

(laughs) That or I was drinking a little too much of the Kool-Aid. It’s kind of a grey area right there. 

 

(laughs) Talk to me about filming for Shackle Me Not. Because I feel like your part came together in about 20 minutes at that bottom of some steps. 

 

Right? Just this weird little block in Mission Beach somewhere. I’d never even been there before. The problem was that I was still living in Vegas at the time and all of the filming was in San Diego. I was only able to come down for one day. Maybe an afternoon. And that’s what we filmed. I might’ve gotten in on a wallride session later, but yeah, that little block was pretty much it. 

 

How seriously did you take that video? 

 

I was just stoked to be part of it. I didn’t really think that I was all that great of a skateboarder… And it’s not like we thought it was going to have this big impact, either. Not even. 

 

Honestly, I don’t think the skating was all that gnarly in Shackle Me Not as much as it was new and interesting. Because it wasn’t so much about the presentation, like those Powell videos. Shackle Me Not was about trying to be as current as possible. To let kids know that wherever they are, they can get some, too. This was taking the dipstick and showing you exactly where the level is right now. 

photo: Brittain

 

Ben Schroeder wants to fight you guys at the premiere and there’s always an undercurrent of World beef. Honestly, was H-Street a bunch of kooks? 

 

Not “kooks”, I think “nerds” would be more fitting. Absolutely. 

 

A couple of things in all this. Why the Schroeder brothers were at that first H-Street premiere is anybody’s guess because they fucking hated us. They hated all H-Streeters. Maybe they were there for Schultes? Who knows. But I remember one of them broke this huge mirror in the bathroom and then they started heckling us in the middle of our own video premiere. Wanting to fight. It was crazy. 

 

Part of it could’ve been Ternasky, too. He could piss people off. He was really competitive and that tripped people out. Like, I remember Mark Gonzales saying one time, “Why is this guy trying to lead everybody? He should just skate himself. What is he doing? Why does he care what I think about him?”

 

And yeah, Jeremy Klein and Ron Chatman used to love prank calling the H-Street House. Sal and I got that a lot. They would figure out whenever we were there and call us all the time. Making fun of us. It was hilarious, actually. They’d always take us to task. 

 

Maybe some of us H-Street kids took ourselves a little too seriously? We were all so young and everything was happening so fast, we might’ve been a little out of our league at first.  

 

How was your relationship with Ternasky? 

 

For me, it was great. It was amazing to have someone who believed in you. Someone who actually had a plan for you and wanted you to succeed. I didn’t really understand why he was like that, but I appreciated it. He had so much faith and belief in us. To have someone trying to empower you like that? Giving you such an amazing opportunity? It was awesome. 

I feel like Hokus Pokus is where you really started to shine. Looks like you got a little longer to film for that one, too. 

 

(laughs) Yeah, Hokus Pokus was a lot better for me. Ternasky came out to Vegas for a weekend with Colby Carter flying up to meet us. Not only did I have more time to film, we were also filming at all my own spots. Stuff that I skated every day. So yeah, I already had tricks to film at every one of these places. Because again, while I did have more time to film, it was still only a weekend. You wanted to get as much you could. 

 

What about your backside kickflip melon over the can and post-trick celebration? Classic shit. 

 

(laughs) I was always doing that back then… don’t forget my little Arsenio thing in the beginning, either. 

 

Of course! 

 

But with the kickflip melon, I think I was just surprised there. I feel like that one came together much earlier than I was expecting it to, so I was stoked. Like, “Oh shit, it worked out!”

 

You have to remember that there was an element of skating for Ternasky and the camera, too. He was obsessed with getting footage back then and always trying to pump you up. Always yelling, “You got it this time! Let’s do it!”

 

He was like a mega-coach or something. Aways ultra-encouraging. I loved it. 

 

How often would he use his little tactics on you? Like bribes or reverse psychology… 

 

He would do that with other people but not so much with me, because it was always pretty straightforward. I think a lot of that stuff came later on, when filming became more of thing. Like, “Okay, Mike’s gonna work with you. You’re gonna have to film a part. Get ready. He’s gonna take you out for burritos and make a plan.”

(laughs) So I have a few questions in here about “inventing” tricks, which is always a little if-y… 

 

Right? Because who knows, you know? 

 

Exactly, but I do feel like that’s the first frontside bluntslide in a video with Hokus. 

 

Well, everybody was doing bluntslides back then. Backside bluntslides. I’d heard that Jeremy Klein was doing really long ones to fakie, so I learned those. Then I accidentally did some where I came out forward, so I started doing those, too. It’s just one of those things where you eventually try something the opposite way. That’s the logical progression. 

 

I’m sure someone else probably did the same thing, they just didn’t film it. That’s the biggest thing in all of this. Just because I was the first to film something doesn’t mean that I was the first to do it. It’s a hard thing to take any real credit for.

 

Then there’s the big spin, which you famously started doing at a contest and Alfonzo Rawls named it after the California Lottery… 

 

Right, Lotti and lottery. At the time, their big thing they always advertised was “The Big Spin”. 

 

But is the big spin kind of an odd one for you? Because I feel like you brought so many other innovations to the table beyond this one trick that you’re now so synonymous with.  

Yeah, I feel that one might’ve been a little more retroactive. Like, it became more of a thing in later years as people started thinking more about this kinda stuff. Because the big spin was definitely something I did. I did a lot of them during a certain period of time because they always worked. They became one of my go-to tricks. But I never felt like I had proprietary ownership or anything. Nobody claimed things like that back then. 

 

And you’re right in that there are a few other things I did back then… like backside 360s. I always thought those were something pretty important that I did early on. Probably more than big spins, in my mind. But the same thing applies. At the time, it’s not like I had this notion where I was the first person ever to do this trick. All of that “inventing” stuff came later.

 

I remember when people first started talking to me about the big spin, I’d always be thinking to myself, “Well… I guess.” (laughs)

 

What about that Gullwing part? With the one curb and that crazy voiceover?

 

It’s funny, that’s the one part where people see it now and they’re like, “Oh my god. These guys are sliding, like, two inches here.” But whatever, we were just fucking around. 

 

And once again, Ben Schroeder… I love Ben Schroeder, by the way. But at the time, he was also on Gullwing. And this was right after all that had gone done at the first H-Street premiere. Now I’m in his video! We’re on the same team together! I thought he was gonna kill me. (laughs)

 

I do remember when my section aired at the Gullwing premiere, somebody screamed out of the darkness, “What the fuck!?!”… and not in a good way.

 

Oh no. 

 

Yeah, there was definitely a chorus of moans and groans through the entire part. Like, holy shit. People didn’t that like that one at all. (laughs)

 

But your skating is solid in there. A backside 180-fakie 5-0 in 1990 is no joke. 

 

You’re very kind… Yeah, I guess there’s some stuff in there. But again, someone had the camera on. I was actually with Sal a couple weeks ago and we were talking about this era and just how funny it was. Because people rarely skated with a camera at the time. It just so happened that Sal and I skated for a company that put such an emphasis on video, we have way more footage from back then than most everybody else does.

I remember you shooting a kickflip backtail sequence for a Full Power Trip ad, too. 

 

Yes, with Dan Sturt! And he got super pissed because I wasn’t landing it quick enough. I was wasting all of his film. That’s the part you didn’t see. You couldn’t try things forever back then because there was only so much film. It was a different time. 

 

But what are you even talking about in that voiceover? With the “Choppy, Flakey, Breaky…” That’s you, right? 

 

Yeah, that’s me. I should’ve learned from this one to keep my mouth shut in videos. Because that voiceover is crazy and then I went on to do the same thing in Now N Later. They’re both super embarrassing for me. I feel like Schlossbach and Ternasky must’ve seen that Gullwing part and had a little side conversation about me. Like, “Just get him talking. It’ll be hilarious!” That’s my conspiracy theory, anyways.

 

(laughs)

 

That’s my biggest regret with the Planet Earth video, doing those voiceovers. My buddies teased me to no end over that. I could never watch my part without someone having to chime in about the voiceovers. Like, “blah, blah, blah… how many ways can you balance on a skateboard?”

 

“Go away, man! Leave me alone! Why did I do those stupid voiceovers!?!”   

 

I knew I was naïve back then but I don’t think I grasped just how green I sounded until I heard myself in the video. The Gullwing video isn’t as bad because I’m just talking nonsense there. They wanted me to talk about the trucks but it’s just random words. It wasn’t supposed to be taken seriously. 

How did Planet Earth come about?

 

Out of the blue. Early in 1990, Ternasky hit me up to talk about this new company he was starting with Chris Miller and that he wanted to introduce me to Chris. He thought that I might be a good fit for the team. It’s called “Planet Earth” and it’s gonna have this whole ecological thing to it. I remember him saying, “You’re all into Earth and animals and stuff.” (laughs)

 

But he was right, I was sympathetic to the cause. And I’m lucky, too. Because with the H-Street team only getting bigger and bigger, switching to Planet Earth put me in a different place. A much smaller team by comparison. I mean, I think we only had four guys in the beginning. I was lucky as hell with that. 

 

Because H-Street was selling a lot of boards back then. They had such good traction in the marketplace, why not start another couple companies? So they started Life with Ron Allen and Planet Earth with Chris. More companies, more boards to sell. But Planet Earth was great. Chris got me involved with things right away. Asking for graphic ideas and working together on that Animal Kingdom board. It was cool because I was still only an am but Chris was involving me right out the gate. 

 

Was Animal Kingdom your unofficial first pro board? I was never clear on that.

 

No, it was a team board. Chris did the graphics and I focused on the shape, which was more of a Mark Gonzales shape. They wanted me to be involved with the shapes on all the “street boards”… I think I even sent in paper templates on that one. So yeah, it had a lot of my ideas but was technically just a team board.  

Was Where The Wild Things created for you or did Chris already have it? 

 

That’s a good question! We might have to ask Chris about that. Because I thought that he created it for me but he might’ve been wanting to do that one for a while. I was always a fan of the Sendak books when I was kid so it felt natural for me, but I think Chris was the one who originally brought up the idea. Yeah, I really don’t know. 

 

Was Planet Earth always supposed to have this emphasis on “style”? Like a pre-Stereo? 

 

Actually, no. That was a totally unconscious thing, which is pretty crazy to think about. I feel like style wasn’t something that people really thought about back then. Kinda, but not really.

 

I feel like people just wanted to land shit back then. 

 

Yeah, the swagger came later.  

 

The style component was pretty organic for us. Obviously, Chris Miller was always a very stylish skater. And then we got Jovontae on shortly thereafter. He always looked amazing. Like, you know when people hit a pool ball the right way, they give it “English”? That’s how Jovontae would do his flatground tricks. He had English. 

 

How did your Now N Later part come together? 

 

I think that was right around a year’s worth of filming. Maybe a little less. Because at first, we were just filming. It wasn’t for anything in particular. And I remember having a few things already when Ternasky took me out for burritos. Like, “Okay, we’re gonna make a Planet Earth video. I want you to get focused. I really want you to have a good part in this.”

 

He was putting it in my head that I’d really have to dedicate myself to this project for a while, not that I necessarily knew what that meant. I was just a kid at the time. “Yeah, let’s do this!”

 

I feel like yours is an early example of that epic “curtains”-style part.

 

Definitely. And I had no idea that it was going to end up that way. 

 

With videos being so new, were you self-conscious about that at all? 

 

Oh my god, for sure. Because I didn’t necessarily want all of that footage to be in there. And being the last part? After Chris? That was intense. I remember being super nervous before the video came out because I didn’t know if it could hold the weight, you know? Between the length of the part and all the voiceovers? I would’ve never done it that way, but it wasn’t up to me. 

 

Turns out that they were right in their instincts and all that stuff added to the part… even though I still got shit about the voiceovers. I really got gnawed on for those. 

Which voiceover really drives you nuts? 

 

The whole thing, man. All of it. I sound like a kid who just dropped out of the sky. I don’t know anything about anything. 

 

(laughs) Did you pick the music? And what about Tron? 

 

Well, Mike was all about doing little montages before people’s parts so I suggested using Tron for mine. He was always so ambitious with these videos and trying to do new things. He was really excited about all the nature footage in there, which led to the idea of using movie clips, too. I was just really into Tron back then. 

 

And Mike just had those songs. He already had music from different bands that we could use. He just ran it by me to see what I thought. But like I said, I was just a baby back then. I’d just graduated from high school and moved to San Diego. Suddenly, I’m working on this big project. And this was right before videos became the dominant reality for skateboarders. So whenever Ternasky would ask me about things for the video, I was just happy to be there. “Sure! Whatever!” I wasn’t as discriminating as I might’ve been later on, when I was a little older.

 

But it worked. When people think of me, they put on that Planet Earth part. It’s the big thing in my career, although probably two years after that is when I felt most comfortable on my board. That’s when I feel like I was really able to get it to do whatever I wanted to, and there’s hardly any footage of me from that time. Video had become super important by then but a lot of us weren’t so enthusiastic about filming anymore. 

BOBShirt's board

How’d that opening flatground run come about in your part? You go on forever there.

 

Yeah, Dan Sturt filmed that one. I remember we drove out to Vegas and filmed for three or four days together. Filming a flatground run like that was actually his idea. “You know what would be cool? You how you do all that flatground stuff? What if you just went for as long as you can and I follow behind you, filming from either side? 

 

Dan loved playing around with the camera and getting trippy angles. That was typically his direction. And that parking lot was slightly downhill, so you could just go forever. 

 

There’s no way that was planned out, right? Even though it’s filmed really well for something so spontaneous.

 

No, it wasn’t planned or anything. Dan’s just a genius when it comes to that stuff. 

 

Flatground runs were a common thing back then. We would all be doing these mega lines, challenging each other to see who could go the longest. Almost like a different way of playing SKATE. So we all had these stringer lines on flat that we would do, it was just a matter of Dan and I filming a really good one. I want to say that was about an hour or so. 

 

This part is legendary for its lines, like that school with all the benches and garbage cans drug out. What was your process there? 

 

Well, we never really planned any of that, per se. We’d just some set stuff out and see what happened. Because there are a couple jump cuts in there, too. 

 The magic 360 flip. 

 

Exactly. But yeah, that was a school down in San Diego that had these really good benches. We’d always set them up to where you could hit three or four in a row. And everyplace has garbage cans, might as well throw a couple of those out there, too. But that’s about as orchestrated as it got. 

 

I’d typically have an idea for a bench or two and just connect it with some flatground stuff, either before or afterwards. Trying to see whatever else I could get. Just keep going.

 

How much does consistency play into all this? Because while you filmed for almost a year, you’re also getting multiple clips at every session here. Were you exceptional in this regard or was this the norm in that pre-video era? 

 

The answer is B: Normal in the pre-video era. Because everybody had their tricks back then. You did them all the time. And when the camera came out, especially if it was Ternasky or Sturt filming, you knew that you’d better lay some stuff down. If you want to stay in their good graces, you better do as much as you can. I think everyone was on that page. 

 

Were you able to battle tricks back then with these tight filming schedules? 

 

No, not really. There were a couple things that took me a little while to figure out, but this was largely pre-battle era. Because Sturt and Ternasky weren’t gonna camp out at a spot for hours just to get a single trick. Nobody did that. Most of what we filmed back then was the same tricks we did without cameras. It was all stuff you did pretty regularly.

 

What clip do you remember taking a long time? 

 

The 360 ollie over the can at the San Pasqual banks. That was one that I’d never really done before and I couldn’t wrap my head around how to do it. Or if I could do it. So that one took a while… for back then. 

 

I remember it being almost like my first handrail. Such a mindfuck. It doesn’t make sense until you finally try it and then it’s like, “Oh, that was easy.” And then you just have it. 

Were you really a “perfectionist” like Miller said? 

 

I don’t think so. Maybe I didn’t appreciate things the way I should have? I could’ve been a little gripey about stuff but I don’t think I was super perfectionist.

 

Are there any clips in your part that you wish weren’t in there?  

 

Yeah, I would’ve edited a few things out. There’s a section where I’m doing a little three set with some weird little manual things. It’s just kinda whatever. That stuff didn’t necessarily need to be in there but I got overruled. 

 

The only thing that sticks out to me is that fakie 540 ollie down the little set. Everything else is perfect. 

 

Yeah, that one’s a little questionable, for sure. I probably should’ve done that one again. I didn’t quite get the full rotation. But Ternasky often liked to show the possibility of tricks, even if we didn’t necessarily like the footage. He just wanted to put the idea out there, I guess.  

 

The backside 180 where your body goes full 360 over the can? I always heard that was a goof. 

 

Yeah, that wasn’t serious. And it was definitely a one-off. I don’t think that I did another one of those ever again. I was just messing around with them on flatground, just for fun. Because I was already doing big spins, what if I did the opposite of that? Where my body does the full rotation and my board only goes 180? This could be interesting. 

 

We just happened to be filming at the banks, so I did one over the can. 

 

It looks amazing, though. 

 

Yeah, I got lucky. I was pretty happy with how it came out, even if I was just dorking around. I don’t think I could’ve done another one that good ever again. 

photo: Brittain

I feel like a lot of Now N Later is taking your previous stall tricks and putting them into motion, either with a slide or grind. Or am I overthinking this? 

 

No, that sounds about right. Because that’s where street skating was at the time. It started out as stalls and evolved into coming at things with speed and sliding. I mean, a big part of my inspiration here was trying to make lipslides on curbs look like Chris Miller. Trying to go longer and longer, because that’s how he skated. Then trying to figure out how to do that same thing on higher blocks and benches. That was the progression. Exactly. 

 

What about the red curb section in your part? Is that all the same night? 

 

Yeah, that was all the same night. I was skating blue Indys and one of the first Planet Earth boards. 

 

This section gets credit for that super influential nosegrind pop-out…

 

Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard. That was a fun one. I was into those for a little bit, frontside and backside. Playing around with coming out in the middle. Like, what if you got on there with enough speed to where you just gave it a little push and pulled out early? That could be cool. Bluntslides and nosegrinds were both hard on single-sided curbs but if you did it right, you could come out with speed. 

 

That’s also one of the first backtail shuvs in there, too. 

 

Well, I tend to go to fakie on backtails anyway. There’s not much difference. The shuv is largely a continuation of that same motion. But I definitely wasn’t the first to do that one. Maybe on video, but I’m sure Jason Lee, Hensley and Steve Ortega were doing that one already. Again, I just happened to be filming a part.  

 

The black-and-white manual stuff was all one day, too? 

 

Yeah, that was with Sturt in Vegas. We were actually on the UNLV campus to skate these blocks when we happened upon this brand new manual pad in the parking lot. I started fucking around and Sturt goes, “I’m gonna get the camera out. Let’s film some stuff.”

 

I was doing a lot of backside 180 fakie manuals back then. It was just a trick that I was feeling at the time. So I started messing around with it and somehow, that fakie 360 shuv came really quick. I don’t know how because I’d never really done it before. But the fakie 360 shuv was like our trick du jour back then, everyone was into it. So that felt good. And we just kept going from there.

 

Thank god for Sturt’s fisheye. It made everything look so much more interesting. I don’t know if that section would’ve worked otherwise. 

 

Yeah, how did he film that? Because he’s super close, especially for back then. 

 

Sturt’s a special guy. Working with Dan, you always knew that you just had to let him do his thing. The cool thing was that the camera itself was very small. The lens was big but the whole thing wasn’t much bigger than his hand, so he could run around with it. Because he would ride up with me to the pad and then walk across behind me, the fisheye could absorb a lot of that motion. I just had to phase him out.

 

…I’m riding a Jeremy Klein vegetable board there with the graphic taken off. I loved that board.

What were your thoughts on the pressure tech craze that blew up around ’92? Did you get into all that? 

 

I could do the basic ones. I thought they were fun but I never went crazy nuts with them or anything. Just a few of the basics and that was about it. But I remember late shuv-its coming in around that time, too, and I actually enjoyed those. A good backside late shuv was always fun. 

 

I’m asking because you were such an innovator in the early switch and nollie realms, like that proper nollie boost over the hip in Now N Later. 

 

I can’t really take much credit for that. Honestly, it was just another way for me to pop the board. I didn’t really think about it much beyond that. 

 

Did you know Ternasky was about to leave H-Street? And what did that mean for you as a Planet Earth pro? 

 

Yeah, I knew that he was gonna start Plan B. I hadn’t been dealing with Mike as much, but we were still buds and I always appreciated having him around as this older male dude in my life. 

 

Ternasky’s leaving definitely wasn’t good for H-Street. Not at all. And Miller was able to quickly put a plan together with Planet Earth going independent. But I was living up in Venice with Chris Pastras by this time, so I was a little disconnected from it all. I was skating with Dune and Kareem Campbell a bunch back then and honestly, I’d already started thinking about doing something different. 

 

Around this time, Kareem, Chris and I actually went down and took a meeting with Brad Dorfman about possibly doing a company together. I remember going to a Denny’s and he bought us burgers. It’s basically what ended up becoming “Blue”. I think we were even calling it “Blue” back then, but Jason wasn’t involved yet. It was just Chris, Kareem and myself. 

I know Jason originally asked you about Blind much earlier but it didn’t work out. What happened? 

 

Yeah, that was a little earlier. I was hanging out with Jordan Richter a lot and he was trying to get me on Blind. We’d always go up to LA and skate with Jason, Guy and Jed Walters in the valley. We’d always hit the Hewlitt-Packard building because there was a really nice block there. It was cool because we were always trying new stuff and pushing each other. There was a good simpatico. 

 

Everyone in that valley scene who rode for World seemed to want me on the team. Because Shiloh Greathouse was really pushing for me, too. And I do remember Jason telling me one night, “I want you on Blind. Let me go back and talk to everyone, but it should be a done deal.”

 

I don’t know if he never had those conversations or maybe he changed his mind, but it didn’t happen. And that’s why I was exploring stuff with Chris and Kareem… which is funny because Jason’s the one who actually ended up on Blue and I got on Blind. Those guys hooked it up. 

 

I’ve heard that you didn’t like the OG Plan B? Why not?

 

I mean, I love all those guys. I just thought the tone was a little weird. Setting out to be this dominant team in skating? I always found that a little off-putting. And maybe part of me was just miffed because I wasn’t asked to join the crew? It’s a good thing they didn’t, I couldn’t have hung with all that. Those guys went crazy back then. 

 

In hindsight, it just seemed to have this kinda jock mentality, which was so antithetical to why I started skating. I was trying to escape that kind of modality. 

Talk about your backtail sequence at that shitty Hensley transition spot in Carlsbad.

 

(laughs) Yeah, that spot was awful, but Hensley went nuts on that thing. He was the king of just going to town on the most fucked up little transitions. He’d go ape shit on stuff like that. And seeing all the stuff he did on that thing got me inspired to skate it, too. 

 

I was still living in Carlsbad at the time, so we’d skate that spot every now and then. I remember it taking me a few times of going there before I finally figured out something that I could do on it. Because it definitely looks better in photos. When you’re there, it’s like, “Oh my god, this thing is horrible.” (laughs)

 

How would describe Jason and Hensley’s influence on your skating back then?

 

Oh man, everything. It was like I had Matt on one shoulder and Jason on the other. The way Matt could get down and dirty on stuff? I loved that. He could rip the shit out of anything. 

 

With Jason, it was always his bag of tricks. He was always super consistent and could really get in a rhythm. That’s what probably inspired me the most: his facility. He had such a command over his skating. It wasn’t the biggest bag of tricks but he could apply them anywhere and they always looked perfect. The guy was like Rico Sauve on a board. Because not only is he ripping, he’s telling jokes. He’s talking shit. He’s flirting with chicks. All at the same time. All in one fell swoop. Just the smoothest dude out there. 

Looking back on your PETA graphic, Tremaine’s crucified frog and that “Hunt Each Other” board, was this Rocco adding his own twist to common Planet Earth themes? 

 

That was all Rocco, for sure. He always had to give his own little pointed twist to things. The Caring Consumer graphic started out as Cliver’s idea, because I was vegan at the time and everybody gave me shit about it. I was known as the “Sensitive Vegan Kid”. But I actually thought that board was cool… until Rocco decided to include a lucky rabbit’s charm with it. Because everything had to be doubly offensive for him. 

 

It was also around this time that Spike introduced Rocco to Jeff Tremaine, who ended up working on Big Brother. Tremaine had just graduated from school and had all this artwork he’d done. Rocco saw a few of his paintings and decided to use them as graphics for different people. He gave the frog one to me. 

 

As the “Sensitive Vegan Kid”, did this stuff bum you out? 

 

The rabbit foot bummed me out. Because Rocco told me one thing and ended up doing the opposite. He’d been pressuring me about putting the rabbit’s foot in there and I was constantly having to tell him, “No, I don’t want that.” It came up multiple times and I always said no.

 

Finally, I thought that I got him to relent. He goes, “Alright, we won’t do it.” Then the board comes out and there it is. I remember being on tour somewhere and I see it in a skateshop for the first time. I’m just like, “Fuck, man…”

photo: Kosick

How’d the doll-in-the-gutter noseslide come about? Was that just a spur of the moment thing? 

 

No, that was a fully concepted idea. Kosick and Tremaine used to go back-and-forth on stuff like that. Because I remember Kosick asking me about it, like, “Hey Brian, I have this thing I want to try.”

 

I remember being in the car when he found that hole. It was at a Von’s in Redondo that we used to skate at. “Oh, this is perfect. We’ll put the doll in there.”

 

I think they were trying to make fun of how small our wheels had gotten. That’s what it was really about, the size of wheels. Putting the doll in there was just their way of spicing it up a little. Bringing everything into sharp relief. 

photo: Mosberg

Obviously, your TWS cover is a classic… 

 

Yeah, that was this tall single-sided red curb in Encinitas. Super fun spot. Jamie Mosberg and I went and shot it one morning. Easy peasy. 

 

…But I love that shot of you giving the “one more” hand to that lady in the parking lot. Do you remember that day at all? 

 

Oh yeah! That’s an amazing shot. It’s like a real document, you know? That was in Balboa Park. I don’t even think we got any shots of us actually skating the curb that day, just that one. 

 

Grant had gone out with us to shoot in Hillcrest. And there was a crew of us that day, too. Pat Duffy, Ocean, Markus… probably Ted Lee. We all lived in that same area and would typically skate over there from our apartments to meet up. Balboa Park had a little plaza with a circular fountain that we used to skate a lot. I think we’re just warming up there. Grant just happened to grab that shot as we’re getting kicked out. 

photo: Brittain

You started getting plagued by injuries shortly after getting on Blind, right? 

 

Yeah, that was hard. Because here I am, just starting to ride for a new company, I wanted to get out there and film some stuff, you know? Be productive. But unfortunately, I kept getting inured and was never able to film as much on Blind as I wanted to. 

 

I remember trying to learn switch flip frontside tailslides one day. I was getting super close when I slid out and literally sat on my thumb on top of this curb. It was bad. All the tendons at the end of my thumb popped off the bone. I had to get a surgery and reattach everything. That set me back a good minute. 

 

Then, six or seven months later, I go to ollie this little wall and didn’t know there was a parking block on the other side. I end up hanging up on that and my arm came out. Dislocated shoulder. 

 

And before all this, I’d broken my toe while messing around with some friends. Something stupid where they bet that I couldn’t jump up and kick this rafter on the ceiling. I ended up kicking it so hard that I broke my toe. So yeah, it was almost an entire year where I was constantly injured. Just was a really bad year. 

You had a few clips in Pack of Lies and Virtual Reality, but it doesn’t sound like you’re 

sitting on a lost Blind part or anything. 

 

(laughs) I wish. No, I didn’t have a ton of footage from back then. What came out was most of it, to be honest. That and a few odds-and-ends that I was probably gonna go back and try to get better. 

 

Like what? 

 

I got a backside 180 flip to fakie 5-0 grind, coming out fakie. I got that at Scripps but I wanted to go back and do it better. I just kept getting hurt.

 

That was my whole thing for the last year or so. Trying to get over these injuries so I could really start logging clips. I wanted to come back after all that and have a proper part. It just never worked out. 

 

Did Program (Brian’s aborted World brand in ’93) come out of your shooting photos for Big Brother? 

 

Absolutely. Because there was also some weird things going on with Blind back then, too. Some things had happened that I won’t get into, but I was a little upset with a few of the guys. So between that and my shoulder being fucked, I started messing around with my camera and taking photos for Big Brother. 

 

I went out with Gino Iannucci and Jason Dill a few times to shoot. Dill knew Jeremy Wray so he started coming along with us, too. Just this totally fun, totally organic thing. Schlossbach was with us, filming stuff. We basically became this little squad for three weeks or so. Going out almost every day to get stuff and just hanging out… running around like Bonnie and Clyde. 

 

The idea to start a company came out of all that. Schlossbach and I were crashing with Earl Parker in one of the World warehouses that wasn’t being used at the time. We stayed there for a while, actually. And with Dave and I spending so much time together, everything just naturally came together… Almost came together. Because at one point, Rocco was all in. His only requirement was that we had to sign Markovich. That was the lynchpin. No Markovich, no company. 

Jeremy Wray by Brian Lotti

Because he was doing Color at the time.

 

And the thing is that we talked to Markovich about joining our team and he said yes. He agreed to do it, so we thought everything was a go. That it was really going to happen. And we got pretty far along with it, too. Everyone was really excited. I mean, Gino quit Black Label to ride for us… which I was responsible for. But unbeknownst to us, Markovich had also promised to start another company with Mark Oblow. And that’s what he eventually wound up doing. Fuck. 

 

It was definitely a crushing blow. Because everything was coming together so well. We had a great team with a natural simpatico amongst all the riders. And I feel like I could’ve stepped into this role and done really well. Yeah, I was gonna get back to my skating, but I was also really inspired in thinking about ads and graphics for this new project. I thought we were about to make something really cool and have some fun. 

 

One of my all-time favorite “what-if’s”, what else can you tell me about Program? 

 

Well, I don’t think we had a final logo or anything yet. And I think Schlossbach came up with the name. But it was cool, because like I said, we were a real crew. It wasn’t like we were poaching guys from other companies who barely knew each other. There were real relationships here. 

 

Jason Dill was just a baby back then, but he was already so good. We filmed a lot during this period, which Dill and Gino ended up using for their 101 parts. But I still remember Dill doing a backside 180 nosegrind down this really tall 8-stair rail. Super gnarly. 

 

It was an exciting time, for sure. Because everyone involved was different but mega-good in their own way. 

Ben Liversedge by Brian Lotti

Wasn’t there some blow up at the airport with Markovich? 

 

Yeah, it was this whole thing. Because you have to remember that Markovich had been rolling with us the entire time. For weeks. And it wasn’t like a “maybe” or “possibly” from him, he said “yes” to our offer. He was on the team, we were a crew. 

 

All of a sudden, we’re hearing these rumors that Kris is actually gonna start another company with Oblow. This is bad news for us because, like I said, we absolutely needed him on our team for Rocco to do the company.

 

At the time, Kris was on a little trip and due to fly back to San Diego in a couple days. And I’m tripping, because I’m not sure if this project is about to fall through or not. I remember telling the guys at Big Brother about all of this and they’re like, “Dude, what the fuck!?! He’s already told you that he’s on your team! You have to go down there and confront him! You need to tell him that he’s not on Oblow’s team, that he’s on your team! And be forceful about it!”

 

They had this idea where Dave and I would dress up in disguises and jump out at Kris in the middle of the airport. Totally disrupting his whole deal as we confront him about all this shit and get him back on the team… And they also wanted me to bring my camera along so I could document it all for Big Brother. (laughs)

 

I just couldn’t do it. I’m too nice of a guy. Dave and I did go to the airport that day. And yes, we were in disguises. We both had wigs on and even made one of those signs you see, like, “Come with us, Kris Markovich.”

 

We actually got there before Oblow, who ended up completely freaking out on us. I started snapping pictures off and he just loses it. “Give me that film!”

 

It was a disaster. Markovich gets off the plane and there’s all this chaos. And I can’t really confront him the way that I should because I’m just this shy, sensitive kid. I don’t even know what I’m doing. I found myself in this weird scenario with all of this input from other people and I just didn’t know what to do. It was awful. 

Lotti graphic by Jeff Tremaine 

Why was Markovich so crucial for Rocco? 

 

Because he was proven to sell boards. We needed Markovich for it to work because everyone else on the team was still so young. They were all either ams or still a little unproven as pros. 

 

Makes sense. You didn’t try to shop it around anywhere else? 

 

No, we all felt pretty defeated after that, and World and Rocco were family by that point.

 

Do you think you would’ve still walked away from skateboarding had that company worked out? 

 

No, I don’t think so. Because like I said, it could’ve been such a good outlet for me. It just didn’t work out.

 

So instead of Program, we got Prime. 

 

Yeah, I feel like that’s what probably happened. Because Oblow and Markovich did end up bringing their company to Rocco after that.

Big, beautiful photos of frontside ollies in a time of super-tech screengrabs, talk to me about shooting your legendary TWS Flashlight article. Was that always meant to be your swan song? 

 

No, we were actually working on a proper interview but I kept getting hurt. I wasn’t able to get a lot of stuff for it. So, after a while, they just wanted to run it with what they had but I didn’t want to do that. Transworld Spotlights were always so deep and extensive and what we had just didn’t feel up to par. 

 

I remember talking to Ocean and Markus about it. That I needed someone to ask me questions for this thing but it didn’t seem like there was anybody to do it. I didn’t quite know what to do, when Ocean goes, “Maybe you should write something for it yourself?”

 

It wasn’t meant to be a peace out. At least, not consciously. It’s hard to tell because there was so much going on during that summer of ’93. But I basically came up with the “Flashlight” concept as a compromise. Because we don’t really have enough for a Spotlight but maybe we can still do something with this.

Why the yellow jumpsuit? And have you seen Tom K’s recent homage on Instagram?

 

Yes, that was sick. I enjoyed seeing that. 

 

The jumpsuit came from going to thrift stores back in the day. The best ones were always Army-Navy stores and there was a particular one that sold these yellow jumpsuits that fit incredibly. They were perfect. Just something about the color, which was more of a warmer orange than acidic yellow. So I bought it one day, not really knowing what I was gonna do with it. 

 

A few days later, Grant and I were kicking around ideas for stuff to shoot and those little banks in Ocean Beach came up. They’ve been around forever but were always super fun to skate and do ollies on. I just remember Grant saying, “Let’s go skate those banks… and wear the jumpsuit.”

photo: Brittain

I love that shot. And obviously the bank photo with the airplane, too. 

 

Oh yeah, that’s genius. And that was all Grant, too. Because we’d just gone there to skate the spot. It wasn’t until Grant picked up on the planes that would fly overheard sporadically that we started aiming for that. Grant moved around a little bit for framing and then we started consciously trying to time it right. Grant’s a poet, man. He really knows how to put it all together. 

 

I know the spray paint was actually oven cleaner, but where did the doll heads come from? 

 

I was taking a design class and had done this weird sculpture with doll heads and a bag of water. When it came time for Grant to shoot portraits, I just happened to have them in the trunk of my car. “Let’s do something with these.” 

 

So how did you break the retirement news? And how did people react?

 

In general, I think people were a little tripped out by it, but I think that those closest to me could probably see that I was struggling with stuff. That I needed to work some things out. 

 

I remember going to the World offices to tell Steve and it just so happened that Ternasky was there, too. I told Rocco first and I don’t think he really knew how to react. Then I told Ternasky and he just seemed perplexed by it all… at least, at first. Then he was like, “Well, okay. If that’s what you want.”

 

I don’t think they totally grasped what all I was going through at the time. They just got the sense that things weren’t totally working out. 

 

It’s interesting, though, because I was good friends with Ternasky. And not just on that skating level, either. Like, we’d get together and see movies or talk about books. And honestly, he’s the one who would always talk about wanting to leave the skate industry. I even remember him asking me one time, point blank, “Have you ever thought about getting out of skateboarding? Just totally quitting?”

 

Because there’s this Carlos Castaneda book, Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. Mike was like, “I love how the guy will be one place, but then he leaves and becomes this totally different character. Sometimes I want to leave skating and go do something completely different like that.”

 

We had this conversation a few times, and I kinda think it was these talks that actually planted the idea in my mind. That there possibly are other things in life that will give me the same satisfaction and fulfillment as skating. It was that year of being hurt that really opened me up to these possibilities. Because I also had teachers at my school suggesting that I could make it as an artist. I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, there might be other things.”

photos: Brittain

Did Hensley’s and Sal’s retirement play into this at all? 

 

(laughs) That’s so crazy to look back on, you know? That these guys in their early 20s were considered over the hill? It’s terrible how rapacious skateboarding got for a second there. 

 

Maybe that had something to do with it but I think it had more to do with the company not working out. That was devastating for me. Because it was going to unite all of these interests I had. Everything that I’d been doing outside of skating… and it all came crumbling down. Between that and the injuries. Girl problems, too. I just kept running into issues. 

 

I knew I was in a funk and that I had to do something totally radical if I wanted to grow and have a chance at anything else. I had to walk away. 

 

In 2002, On Video made one of their docs on style where it talked glowlingly about your impact in skateboarding. Did you know about that at the time? 

 

The one with Marc Johnson? Yeah, some friends at a local shop told me about it. I think they even played it for me, like “You gotta check this out!”

 

Were you aware of having such a legacy?

 

Not at all! I mean, to this day, I still wonder why John Cardiel is talking about me! He’s an amazing skateboarder! And a good team player, I guess. Apparently he’ll talk about anybody if they ask him to. He’s just nice like that. (laughs)

photo: Brittain

Did you ever regret walking away from a pro career back then?

 

Well, I didn’t think of it as a career. The industry was really struggling back then, you couldn’t see it as this long-term thing. Because I wasn’t making very much money at all. And I knew that I was unhappy and actually struggling in a lot of ways. 

 

Maybe if I had more of the trappings of a career, I would’ve thought twice about it? But you didn’t really expect to have a long career back then, either. Street pros only seemed to be around for three or four years, tops. And even that seemed like a long time.

 

It’s funny, because I was always afraid of sticking around for too long and milking it. So in leaving, there was a comfort in knowing that I wouldn’t be doing that. Because I was already bummed that I hadn’t filmed another part since the Planet Earth video.  

 

It wasn’t burnout, I had to figure out who I was on basic level. How to operate and just be in this world. I was a pretty sheltered kid and my father passed away when I was at a very critical age, so skateboarding became my default family in many ways. My guiding light. So when that started to falter, I knew that I had to figure out some of these things I’d been running from.

 

What led to your returning to the skate industry? 

 

It was just a chance thing. I was living in Northern California but would loop down to visit friends in LA occasionally. I was always skating a little… never really going nuts but just having fun. And yeah, I came down to LA and ended up meeting with Kenny Anderson and Sal at the Elwood offices. Someone had the idea to go skate downtown, that there was all this new shit, so we went down there and cruised around. 

 

It was just such a fun night, rolling around with old friends. And the city made a big impression on me, too. Because I’d been away from urban zones for a little bit, the new LA skyline seemed so stark and surreal. All of this started the conversation about us possibly doing something together. And a few months later, we hatched the plan for 1st and Hope. 

Was there a primary influence on the narrative structure? With the different characters coming in and out?  

 

Well, you kinda had that with Lance in The Bones Brigade Video Show. And Gator in the van for SkateVisions, too. The through line. Maybe we had that floating around in the back of our heads somehow? 

 

Our original idea was more of a reaction to videos at the time. Because everything had become a collection of tricks, you never got to see what all went into the making of these clips. So what if we shot the whole thing in one long line? People can come in and out but you leave the camera running the entire time. That was the original idea: no cuts. We could show bails and people getting fucked up, but we’d keep it rolling. It was gonna be the antithesis of a modern video while also painting a picture of the city. Trying to capture the fun of just cruising around. 

 

What about the logistics of getting all those guys involved? And did they understand what you were trying to achieve?

 

(laughs) Definitely not. 

 

The whole thing kinda snowballed. We only had a handful of guys at the beginning, but then more and more people wanted to be part of it. I wasn’t even going to be in it at first, I was just going to be behind the camera. It was originally supposed to be Kenny and Marc Johnson cruising around. They were gonna be the two skaters but Marc got swept up in filming for Fully Flared. I’d already moved down to Los Angeles for the project, so when Marc couldn’t do it anymore, we had to figure something out fast. Everybody kept saying, “You gotta do it, Brian! You gotta skate!”

 

“Shit… okay.”

Was Free Pegasus harder to make as a tourist? Along with the language barrier? 

 

Well, there was definitely a language barrier. That and 1^st and Hope being shot over a couple of years while Free Pegasus was shot in 30 days on a shoestring budget. One camera. So it was definitely a lot more challenging. But the thing with Free Pegasus, everyone was just so down to work on it. To document the scene and show their appreciation for Barcelona. I feel like that project really picked up on some laden potential, because it was super easy getting people onboard. People were down for it. 

 

Would you ever make a third installment? 

 

Yeah, if it was the right kind of setup and I had enough control over things. I think it would be fun. 

 

photo: Trinh

What was the inspiration behind Telegraph? What were you trying to do there and what ultimately happened?

 

It was pretty simple. We just wanted have some fun, make interesting graphics and try to bring shapes back. Shaped boards that were a little more art-based. I just don’t think that I worked with the right people to make that happen. We wasted a lot of time and the concept was probably still a couple years too early, market-wise. Because when some of our better stuff started coming out, people were responsive, but there wasn’t a lot of traction for shaped boards back then.

 

You’re basically describing what Welcome did a few years later... 

 

Right. And I was such a stickler about the details and dimensions of everything… but one of the guys I was working with, this distributor guy? It was bad. Because we’d get samples made that were great, only to find out later that the boards being shipped out and sold were totally different. They were just your typical shapes, where the game I wanted to play was much more interesting. I just don’t think we were on the same page and then it was too late. 

Talk a little about your painting output. Because I know you were doing a lot of block printing before largely moving on to landscapes in recent years. How does that work? Are you just driving around, looking for spots again… but this time for painting? 

 

Painting is definitely a way of seeing and thinking that is very similar to skateboarding. Through the comings and goings of my daily routine, I start to notice things and develop relationships with places that become ideas and hunches for paintings. Like a certain basketball court at a certain time of day, or a busy walking path that disappears into a tree tunnel. 

 

These days, I’m as interested in painting people as much as I am nature and the landscape.  I might be working on three to five paintings at any given time in the studio while also nursing up to twelve ideas in my head. The ideas and hunches for paintings lead to specific courses of action and more paintings.

How do your board graphics factor into all this?

 

With those, I’ll typically do a big outline painting first. Something bigger. Then I’ll photograph that and scan it in so I can turn it into a graphic. But everything starts with a painterly impulse.

 

I’m actually doing a graphic right now for Chico’s company. If you know the painter Wayne Thiebaud, he did these quirky cityscape paintings of San Francisco. He’d have a dining table with a little meal and a bottle of beer, standing in front of this huge window with the city behind it. That’s my idea for Chico Stix, a still life against the city. That’ll be fun. 

As we wrap this up, after looking back on your last 35 years in skateboarding, what would you say has been your proudest accomplishment in all of this? And your biggest regret?  

I think 1st and Hope is probably my proudest accomplishment because it was so from the heart. It kinda went its own way. People either love it or hate it, but to come at skateboarding with such a passion project like that was very fulfilling. We just wanted to shake the rug a little and open things up a bit. It was fun and I was lucky to be able to do that. It brought together so many different passions of mine. 

I have a few regrets, for sure, but the biggest? That’s where it gets tricky. Honestly, I wish that I would’ve stood up for myself a little better when it came to that Markovich situation. Because I had so much riding on that one interaction and I rolled over way too easily. Because Kris had agreed to skate for us. He was in like Flynn. I just wish that I would’ve said or done something more… even if it was only comical. Like, I should’ve at least kept the film, my photos of the escapade. At the bare minimum, we would’ve gotten a funny little article in Big Brother. I was just too young. You have to learn that kinda stuff with age. 

Big thanks to Brian and Chris for taking the time and to Jaime for the opportunity. 

=O =O =O

...And now that you've finished the interview, 

why not enjoy a nice little snack?

As a man who enjoys both skateboarding and sandwiches very much, I have been haunted by the following question for decades: What the hell is a Lotti Sandwich? And what exactly is this "Top Secret Recipe"? Can anyone tell me? Is there some type of mystery ingredient involved? Maybe an exotic form of preparation that I don’t know about? What could it be? 

I mean, Brian Lotti has always had impeccable taste... and this is his namesake creation! Not even the Big Spin received such an honor, so this must be delicious. And not only that, it’s also Henry Sanchez’s favorite food! More than anything! I can’t even imagine a more hard-earned testimonial to its greatness. After all, this is the man who turned down Girl, for God's sake. I’m willing to bet that Sanch’s legendarily high standards carry over to his culinary tastes as well, right? But what is it? What is this sandwich? Fuck the Colonel, these are the 11 secret herbs and spices that I’ve been obsessing over since 1993! 

Lo and behold, the top secret formula. Straight from Lotti himself. A sweet sigh of relief... and a damn fine sandwich to boot. I can finally rest easy. Enjoy.