Weekend with Gilley Part II.

DO YOU REMEMBER that last article I wrote about my weekend with Gilley? If not, let me recap. It was basically an article about Gilley and me getting fucked up all weekend and not skating at all. I barely remember writing it, but when it came out people kept asking if Gilley was bummed at me. Apparently the general consensus was that I painted him in a bad light. Gilley told me some kid even asked him if he was going to kick my ass. I guess I just assumed people would read it and remember how ridiculous all the other shit is that I've written and put it in the same category. Regardless, Gilley and I thought it was pretty funny. But we also thought that it would be cool to do part two of the article, where we actually did go out and ride our skateboards instead of just getting lousy all weekend; you know, to let people know that Ben's professional skateboarding career consists of more than just pounding Sparks and dropping it like it's hot.

So Ben and I were trying to figure out a good weekend for him to come down to Austin, TX, to hang out. But while we were planning the trip, Ben kind of found himself without a skateboard sponsor to help him take care of business. I've personally never had a skateboard sponsor so I didn't really have any good advice for Ben, other than to "Avoid possible cubicle situations." Anyway, it was kind of looking like we might have to postpone the "Weekend With Gilley Part II" indefinitely, when out of nowhere Ben calls me up and tells me that he's skating for Zero. Fuck yeah; we're back in business. And a few short weeks later Ben is knocking on my door looking very much like I remembered him but with a different logo on his T-shirt.

Now, I gotta be honest with you, since Ben was in full professional mode I don't have a whole lot to write about. On Saturday we literally skated all day. I don't think I've skated for an entire day since my mid 20's. I think we hit over t0 different spots including a pink gorilla, a backyard ramp, a skatepark, a gnarly drop in, and Best Hip.

See, this is boring. You guys don't really want to read about Ben and me skateboarding, do you? What's there to say? Do you want to know how high we ollied? Do you want to know what kind of bearings we fide? Colored griptape? I'm sure all of you guys have seen that photo (or the footage) of Ben 50/50'ing that fucking ridiculous kinked rail, right? You know what the dude's capable of. I'll leave it at that.

So what's there to talk about if we're not talking about skateboarding? Do you want to hear about Ben drinking Cokes instead of Sparks? Do you want to hear about Ben falling asleep in the hammock after a day of skating instead of passing out in the hammock after a day of drinking? Do you want to hear about us looking for some sort of concrete animal for Ben to pose on so that the article would have stylistic similarities to the last article that was published? Probably not, right? So where does that leave me? I've heard that riding for Zero can be somewhat "serious." Does this mean that I'll never get to have another weekend with Gilley that consists solely of shit talking and liver damage? Does this mean that every time Ben rolls through Austin that this old man is going to be riding 10 spots a day? Because I don't know if I'm up for it. Truthfully, my lower back starts hurting after about three spots. Maybe I'll have to start another series of articles called "Weekend with Travis Burke." Y'all don't know that dude, but rest assured if that was what the article was called then there wouldn't be a sober minute involved.

But all in all it was a really great weekend. And since Gilley was "working," he volunteered to be the designated driver. Which probably wasn't such a good idea since I used that as an excuse to get balls-to-the-wall-wasted each night (I'm under no obligation to get anything "done" on my skateboard). Man, I just noticed that I've started putting things in "quotes" when I write. What's up with that shit? That's like picking your ass in public. Anyway, I was about to wrap this thing up so I'll close by saying, Ben, I'm really glad that you got hooked up with Zero and that you are getting all serious about your career, because now when you visit I don't have to worry about us standing in the rain at 5:30 in the morning drinking PBR Tall Boys and slapping each other in the face. Is this shit just made up?

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ben's friend's Rambo and Derrick participated in "Weekend With Gilley Part II" as well. And like me, they were under no obligation to perform at any certain level on their skateboards so they were completely free to also see how many beers they could drink during the weekend. So in retrospect, "Weekend With Gilley Part II" was a whole hell of a lot like "Weekend With Gilley Part I." Except for the stuff having to do with the actual Gilley.)