30 years ago I met this kid name Rodney Mullen...

This clip above is the legendary and innovative skateboarder Rodney Mullen all you skaters know of, the guy who invented most of the elemental tricks street skaters rely on.  But this is the Rodney Mullen my roommate Lew introduced me to in August of 1986 at The Spot in Redondo Beach, California.  The thing about rolling up on some skater or BMXer is that you never know what that kid is going to do in the next 20 or 30 years.

Rodney talked in a kind of a weird, soft voice.  His board was flat and he put lots of wood screws in the ends of his board so it wouldn't delam too quick when doing pogos.  He pulled his socks all the way up to his knees, and tucked them into his knee pads.  Again, that helped on the pogo tricks.  He had already invented the flat ground ollie, the pressure flip style kickflip, the ollie kickflip, the 360 flip, the double kickflip, the ollie impossible (technically a pressure flip) and a bunch of other stuff.  He was the 8 or 9 time world champ of freestyle skateboarding.  He was the undisputed top freestyle skater in the Golden Age of vert skating.

 I started hanging out after I was done riding my bike and watching Rodney skate.  We'd hang out and talk when he was done.  After a while, he started asking me how a new trick looked or if this trick should follow that trick in his next contest routine.  We were both wound pretty tight, and we hit it off.

I was stoked when the crew at FREESTYLIN' said I could do a little interview with him.  At the ripe old age of 19, Rodney was heading back off to college and debating between a future in engineering or medicine.  He was staying nearby in Hermosa Beach at the home of then washed up freestyle skater Steve Rocco.  This was about a year before the whole Santa Monica Airlines/World Industries idea happened. The interview landed on page 56 of the December 1986 issue of FREESTYLIN'  Here it is:

Steve: "First of all, let's get some basic background on you.  Age, how long have you been skating, sponsors, etc."
Rodney: "I'm 19 years old and I've been skating for 9 1/2 years.  I go to school at the University of Florida.  I skate for fun.  Oh, and I'm sponsored by Powell-Peralta, Independent, Sundeck, Swatch, Style Eyes, and... that's it... I think."
Steve: "Speaking of school, what are you majoring in?"
Rodney: I don't know, I've been in engineering.  It's kind of weird... thinking about growing up.  I'm going to check out medical school, 'cause my grades are okay.  Plus my dad says I should try it, 'cause engineers work to hard for their money."
Steve: "I heard you have like a 4.0 average."
Rodney: "Yeah, it's like 3.98 now, I think, 'cause I got a B+ in physics, but it's still okay."
Steve: "Yeah, that's okay (laughter)."
Rodney: "I can't stand humanities, though!  I can get through all the physics and calculus, but..."
Steve: "How long do you plan to keep skating?"
Rodney: "I don't think about it, it's sort of scary.  Just as long as my body will take it.  I'll skate forever, just playing around.  As far as pushing hard goes, I don't know."
Windy (Osborn, the FREESTYLIN' photographer): "How many hours a day do you skate?"
Rodney: "About three."
Windy: "Do you have a special place you skate at?""
Rodney: "At home (in Florida), there's this church where I skate.  It's perfectly lit and it's just heaven."
Windy: "At night, right?"
Rodney: "Yeah."
Steve: "This place (Redondo Pier-The Spot) is pretty good, too."
Rodney: "Yeah, it's nice here."
Steve: "Okay, let's get into some 'Lew type questions.'  What's your favorite smell?"
Rodney: (Laughter) "Uhm... rain.  No, uhm... kittens."
Windy: "You can smell the rain?"
Rodney: "Yeah."
Steve: "Oh, let's see... any other profound thoughts?"
Rodney: "Just try to be an individual when you skate.  Don't look at others, don't think about others... it just brings you down."
Steve: "So do whatever you think?"
Rodney: "It comes out of you... that's how it gets good."
Steve: "Any favorite music, groups, anything like that?"
Rodney: "I'm getting more diverse now, I guess.  Joy Division is my all time favorite.  New Order.  I like Stiff Little Fingers, Marginal Man I like now, and Beethoven and Vivaldi."
Steve: "Pretty wide range."
Rodney: "Yeah, I guess so.  That's about it."
Steve: "My trademark question here:  What is the meaning of life?"
Rodney:  The meaning of life is... kittens playing with yarn."
(Long pause)
( Windy laughs)
Steve: "Okay, thanks. (Click).

This was the first and only interview I did at my short stint at FREESTYLIN'.  I'd done a bunch of interviews for my zine, but never a real magazine.  My interviewing skills left a lot to be desired.  When Rodney said the meaning of life was "kittens playing with yarn," I thought that was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard.  But I never forgot it.  As the years have passed, I've come to think he was right on the mark. 

 Rodney on video:
Rodney in 1980 in San Diego
Rodney and Stacy Peralta in 1980
Rodney skating the banks at Del Mar in 1983
Rodney at Del Mar freestyle contest in 1984
Rodney at Del Mar in 1985 (rare bail)
The Bones Brigade Video Show ( 1984- Powell-Peralta) 8:04, 22:59
Bones Brigade 2: Future Primitive (1985-Powell Peralta) 19:58, 41:05, 41:54
Rodney at Oceanside contest (1986- Unreel Productions) 
Bones 3: The Search for Animal Chin (1987-Powell-Peralta) 41:12, 42:16, 43:57
Bones 4: Public Domain (1988- Powell-Peralta) 21:26- Triple kickflip
Rubbish Heap (1989- World Industries) He's at The Spot in Redondo (BMXers know) at :39, and is dragged kicking and screaming into street skating at the end
Questionable (Plan B- 1992)
Virtual Reality (Plan B- 1993)
Second Hand Smoke (Plan B- 1994) The beginning of this clip was shot at the exact spot where Windy Osborn and I did the photo shoot and interview above for FREESTYLIN'
 Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song (1997- Dwindle Distribution)
Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song Round 2 (1999- Dwindle Distribution) at :37 you can see the photo Rodney got on the issue of  FREESTYLIN' that my interview with him was in.
Opinion (2001-Globe Shoes)
Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song Round 3 (2004- Almost)
The Man Who Souled The World (2007- Big Entertainment/Whyte House Productions)4:43, 13:46, 17:30, 20:14, 23:19, 31:02, 34:58, 38:37, 39:35, 40:32, 41:12, 43:51, 44:06, 1:00:20, 1:01:05, 1:02:17, 1:02:53, 1:04:05, 1:07:14, 1:08:10, 1:09:19, 1:15:43, 1:19:17, 1:20:40
United by Fate (2008- Globe Shoes) 4:01
Rodney Mullen 2008 (raw footage) session
Rodney Mullen on Innovation (2012- The Smithsonian's Lemelson Center)
Rodney Mullen sits down with Tony Hawk (2012- RIDE Channel)
Rodney Mullen- From The Ground Up (2013)
Rodney Mullen and Tony Hawk in conversation (2013- Innoskate/Smithsonian's Lemelson Center)
How Context Shapes Content (2013- TEDx USC)
On Getting Up Again (2013- TEDx Orange Coast)
Rodney's Bones 1 video outtakes, narrated much later by Stacy Peralta
Crazy Rodney stories from Bones Brigade documentary
Rodney Mullen- A Beautiful Mind (2014- The Berrics)
Pop An Ollie And Inovate (2015?- TED Talk)
Rodney  (2016-Vogue)

I'm touring the country this year on The White Bear's Let's Make a Scene Tour, spreading ideas that your city's future depends partly on it's art, music, and action sports scenes.  To learn more, or get me to your shop or city, check out my Go Fund Me campaign at the link above.