Men at work: etnies down under.

IT'S D-DAY--the night before the deadline--and I have to get this story in. Writing these things is just like doing homework; I always left my homework until the last minute and got out of doing it if there was any chance possible. But I don't think those big scary people at Thrasher would believe me if I said the dog ate my story. And I'd hate to have Bastien angry at me because his photos didn't come out, reason being the photographer never got the story in on time. Why is it me who has to write this story anyways?

I shot the photos, why can't Sheckler do it? He could hand it in as schoolwork and get extra grades or something. I am sure he would do a better job. He sat by me on the plane and I saw him writing away in his notebook just for fun. He got enjoyment out of it! I put my headphones on and drifted off to sleep. When I woke up he was pages and pages deep in stories that he had written. If only I had thought of this before--and it wasn't the night before deadline. I blew it. You could have been reading a story by Sheckler and I would be out right now doing something I really like doing--NOT writing this story.

Wait, what about Bastien? He is amazing at telling stories. If I ever get to go on tour with Bastien again I must remember to take some type of recording device. That's the story done right there. Bastien could keep the stories of Africa and his family going on all night, easily filling up a whole mag. Plus, you can't read that stuff anywhere. You don't get to hear those in an interview in a mag. All you kids would love to hear his stories; I was intrigued for hours. How about Arto? Maybe not. I know he could write a damn fine article, but you wouldn't understand his lingo. It's all odd and coded words that make up the bigger picture. See, you probably don't know what I'm talking about right now. I get it, because I roomed with the guy for the length of the trip.

Mark, the team manager, would have to decode everything for you. Mark speaks Arto's lingo--a mixture of life, living, traveling the world, having ups and downs, and just being all-around trippy. Wait. Mark, you should be doing it--you had your laptop the whole time. And he's the team manager, too. A damn good one at that. The guys love him and he had to suffer through it all. If something went wrong, Mark would fix it. Hold on. That's right! Mark, it was you who put this onto me! Shit, all I wanted was another pair of shoes to skate in and this is what I got? Well I did get the shoes, but now they're skated out, and I guess as the old saying goes: "If the shoe fits ..." So here I am stuck in front of this computer with a worn-out pair of free shoes and a brain that's going around in circles trying to tell the story of the Yanks in Oz. What have I gotten myself into? I suck at this.

Here goes.

MARK HOLDER

Holder's a SKATE fiend--he skates more than most TMs that I have met. You can tell; his shoes are always flipped out. You know, the flip marks on the toes? Anyone who has access to that many shoes that are scuffed up that fast skates a lot. Holder roomed with Sheckler. Those two would be doing flip tricks in their room, challenging each other. Mark packs a mean tre flip. I could never get ahold of those two in the room. Their door would always be left open but nobody was home. The pay-per-view movie would be on, but nobody would be watching it. They were either off playing SKATE together, out getting candy, or shopping for prank items that they could get the crew with the next day. Basically, Mark revisited his childhood thanks to little Mr Sheckler, and he enjoyed it. Hell. those two were the only two to get up on the mic when it came to karaoke night. And they sucked at it, but continued going back for more. Mark was living the moment and pouring all his emotions out on stage--great entertainment for the rest of us. Sheckler wouldn't do it unless Mark would do it. How could Sheckler be scared of karaoke when he blazes in every competition with thousands and thousands of people watching? Hats off to Mark; he made a great big brother.

RYAN SHECKLER 

Sheckler's an all-the-mums-love-him kind of guy, but this was his first Oz trip away from home without her chaperoning. So with no mum in sight, Sheckler thought for sure he was going to hook up this trip with some Australian cuties. I will give it to him, he really doesn't have to do a thing--girls love him. Every demo he got it: tons and tons of girls surrounding little Sheckles after he had done his many crowd-pleasing maneuvers. The little tacker doesn't even break into a sweat! Did he hook up? Only Australia will know.

Sheckler made a new good friend on the trip, Jake Duncombe, aka Nugget, a little Australian ripper. Oh, those two together got down to some mischief with the help of Mr Trent Bonham, an Australian adult of all types. Now, we all like to get into a little bit of trouble-making on these tours, but Trent, when he's not skating, he's off pulling pranks. These three were a hotel's worst nightmare. Pranking us older guys with every old-school trick in the book--tipping chairs, oblivious fright scenarios, and a very heavy dosage of water bombs--big, big water bombs from very high up. Lucky for me their throwing skills are no match for their skating skills. Unlucky for the hotel staff their trickster knowledge made them untraceable, putting them in the clear with nothing but wet hands and the innocent rooms taking the blame and making the service put back a little. They never got caught. Sheckler and the rest of them sometimes looked forward to the pranks more than skating.

RUNE GLIFBERG 

Rune surprised me. The vert ramps in Australia are very crappy, but Rune was right at home when it came to getting photos. Off the bat he got three photos on the first day, and then on and on day after day after day. His set-ups where huge and he could hold his own, which is a big call when it comes to demos with Sheckler and Bastien. Those two are like the demo gods. My local skatepark, Prahran in Melbourne, has a shitty vert ramp. It's steel, maybe even tin--good trannies, kind of small, very, very slippery, and rarely skated. Anyway, the Prahran demo was going down with the place packed. Melbourne has tons of skaters and many skate fans (some being girls from earlier). The park is so fun that it makes it easy to hold a good demo there, 'cause you are just hyped to skate the place. Bastien Cab-flipped everything. Arto flipped in, flipped out, and manualed with ease. Sheckies front feebled and back Smithed all over the place, while Stefan switch mastered it up.

I pulled Rune aside to try and shoot some stuff on the vert ramp. I didn't think much was going to happen; he had no vert board for the trip and he had no vert pads, but he was down anyway. So we head on over to the ramp, which is tucked away from the street course, and Rune starts skating. I could see that something was going to go down so I began setting up my flashes. His padless airs got higher and higher. The crowd caught a glimpse of this and left the street demo to watch single-guy Rune skate the vert. I was shocked; the crowd was loving it. We shot a switch flip to fakie, well out over the coping, padless. I have the crowd to thank for that shot; their hype pushed it higher and higher, malting Rune's efforts look, well, effortless. When it came to street, games of SKATE were not a problem. He flipped that boat of his around with the ease of a master. Since the trip I've watched the Flip Sorry video, and his part explained everything. I guess you have to learn switch tres on flat before you can do them on a 20-foot vert ramp? You probably don't know much about Rune. He's a super mellow, cool guy, and very easy to get along with, which makes shooting photos with him a breeze.

BASTIEN SALABANZI

Bastien is a demo machine. You can't beat this guy; he's one sweaty demonic beast. The people of Australia really got their money's worth. He was incredible, doing every trick he's ever learned, feeding off the crowd's praise. Bastien's skating reminds me of an old Nintendo game I used to play called "NBA Jam." You would hit a level during the game in which the player was invincible. The game would scream "He's on fire!" and in that time you could take a shot from anywhere on the court and make it. Well, when I see Bastien out there doing the demo, he reaches that stage. No matter what he tries, no matter how far away, he lands the trick. He's on fire!

JAKE DUNCOMBE

Australia's own "Little Jakey" is a red ball of fire (or "strawberry blonde" as he puts it), going anywhere and everywhere, as fast as he can. The little man is small on the outside but big on the inside--I can surely say he reminds me of a young Spawny, Hanging with the older cats, no school, killing the street and the parks; if there's avert ramp around, he'll get up on that too. Just like Spawn, if you're bigger than him and you lower your guard, the sucker punch will come right on in. Forfeiting school to skate and do other things that grown-ups do, this is Jake's life, and he runs it just how Jake likes.

ARTO SAARI

Damn, son. The guy is a champ, complete ruler on and off the board. But lay off the cigs. They're killing ya! I know, I roomed with the guy. Once I got used to the second-hand smoke, Arto made the trip that much more enjoyable. I didn't complain about his snoring, and he didn't complain about mine. We had the times of our lives, tons of male bonding and lots of mini-ramp sessions. Arto just recovered from his knee surgery, found a new love for transitional skateboard riding, and I just the same. We took any chance we could get to sneak off to the local ramp to mix it up. Arto is a media man. You should see this guy. He has just about everything you've ever wanted and more: computer, cameras, all kinds of bits and pieces. So rooming with him wasn't such a bad idea--I got to play with all his toys. The guy is nuts, though. Don't gamble with him unless you know what you're doing. He has a lucky streak that pushes the bad luck onto you. Betting against him was a sure loss, but on occasion when you might have come up, he wouldn't let you out of the game until he won his money back. And then some. I even took a pool cue to the head at one stage for winning too much. The old TM was close by so I couldn't retaliate, as we could not risk injury to the star of the show. However, on the last night of the trip the ban was lifted and the gloves were on. Arto and I had the battle of the tour, for all to see. Arto may have been very intoxicated at the time and I was completely sober, as always. I took full advantage of this by reliving the days of WWF wrestling. Maybe Arto didn't get that on the TV back in Finland when he was growing up, but we sure got it here in Oz and I had three brothers around to hone my skills. Arto and I are both well over six-foot, wrestling in the halls of a plush hotel. It got super messy and he kept coming back for more. I threw him around like a rag doll, and the only way it stopped was by the hotel security. Mike captured it all on film, so no doubt it'll probably turn up on some DVD bonus footage. It's my claim to fame: I whooped Arto Saari! No, Arto is top bloke and one of the best guys to step on a skateboard, making it all look so easy. Must be those shoes.

STEFAN JANOSKI

Poor Stefan. His trip was ruined by early injury. A firecracker down some stairs went wrong and pitched Stefan into the side of something that was built of stone. He corked his leg so badly that by the next day his whole upper thigh was black and blue. It's enough to drive you to drink. We all felt super bad, skating loads of fun spots while he got to sit around and watch. The Aussies couldn't understand why he wasn't skating; it was a tease for them to see him at the demos but not riding the board. Instead he made it up to the kids by signing their tour posters with bonus, custom, one-of-a-kind artwork. I wouldn't be surprised if you check on eBay right now and find a poster or two for sale. Mark, Arto and myself were in charge of making sure Stefan had a good time after the skating was done for the day. I feel pretty confident he had a few happy, interesting nights, making Australia and New Zealand not suck for him all together.

SKUNK 

Skunk's been an Australian hero for many years now and could almost be on par with Bastien. Those two together skated like machines in every demo, giving the crowds, the team managers, and the bosses just what they wanted: demo annihilation.

MIKE MANZOORI

Mike was on a different level than all of us, making the most out of his time in Australia. He finished off the Satori video while on tour, filmed all the demos--each one, waited for the skating to stop and the signings to start, then got out there in the park and ripped it up while the kids fanned out over "the pros."

Mike was always the first to bed and the first to rise, venturing out and finding the best vegetarian restaurants in town. At first I thought it was strange when Mike wasn't around for the dinners. By the time we were nearing the end of the tour, I had started tagging along with him. He had worked it out, the food he wanted to eat and when he wanted to eat it. Mike's solo missions weren't such a bad idea, but it only worked twice for me. I made the mistake of boasting about it to someone else, then word got out, and the cover was blown. Sorry Mike. No, very sorry. Have you ever tried to organize a massive posse for a meal? Everyone from different places. Everyone with different tastes, it's tough, very tough.

On the last night, Mike put all the footage together from the trip, which we all watched together. Very sick. Lots and lots of fun times, great skateboarding, and special experiences were documented. Then the tape was over and so was the trip. It was a shame it all had to end; I just hope we all get to do it again.

Oh, shit. See? Mark, I can write! Send me on the next trip, and I will have this shit licked by then.