A Revolutionary Re-Emerges
One of the most influential skateboarders of all time is “re-emering,” claims the NYTimes. Serving the final months of a four year jail sentence in a half-way house, Jay Adams is hoping to attend the upcoming X Games in Los Angeles, California.
Adams was a member of the Z-Boys, the skateboarding rebels sponsored by Zephyr Skateboards in the mid-1970s. You’ve probably heard of him from the movie, Lords of Dogtown, or the documentary by his pal, Stacy Peralta, Dogtown and Z-Boys. He has been called “the original seed,” “the soul” of the Dogtown movement — he was spontaneous, creative, and ruthless. Adams said, in an interview via mail while he was in prison, “I believed we paved the road people are going down right now. Somebody’s always gotta be the first ones. We just got a li’l bit radical and rowdy before anybody else.”
He was originally arrested in 2005, after being caught in a Hawaii-California drug deal. Adams is now 47 years old and still struggling with the aftereffects of a nearly life-long drug addiction. Since his release, he has been the facilities manager at an indoor skate-park in Southern California. He literally cannot escape his passion for the sport: “I love skateboarding, always have and always will…I get the same feeling now as I did when I was a seven-year-old boy.”
Scenes from Dogtown and Z-Boys show Adams as a punk-kid, always pushing the boundaries and questioning authority. He was, and remains today, a revolutionary.
4 responses so far
thanks for the update on this! very interesting. I love the documentary.
wonderland girl — i’m glad that you commented on this one. i was wondering if i was boring readers with newsy-type articles. but don’t worry…more personal writing will come soon.
Revolutionaries (whether history labels them “good” or “bad”) always have an effect on people. That’s the cool thing.
Angela…couldn’t have said it better myself!