Best idea ever. Some gently used decks were repurposed into flyers for the band Hot Lunch. Eric Shea explained how it all went down.
My pal Bart unloaded a grip of decks that he didn’t want any more for me give to the neighborhood kids at Potrero Del Sol skatepark here in SF – the ones who needed boards. And I did give away like four of them but out of the four only one kid said “thanks” (and that was because his sister made him say it). The other kids just yelled at me and demanded that I give them more free things. So I thought maybe it would be better to do something different with the remaining decks. I cut a stencil for my band’s next show and spray painted our name and the gig info on the griptape. Then I went around the Mission at night with a drill and some wood screws, putting them up around various wooden telephone poles ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) After each deck was up for a day and a night, I’d post a pic on various forums telling people to go find ’em and take them! One of the decks had a perfect shape for my needs, so I set it up and made it the “hardest deck to find” It was such a fun way to give away decks to people who wanted them enough to unscrew them. And we got folks out to our show – lots of heads turned out! So far I’ve seen four random people skating around on these decks.
Check out Hot Lunch on MySpace.I beleive these guys cover an obscure soundtrack song from Skateboard Madness. “Hardest board to find” was spotted at a nice looking pool. Video after the jump.
27 comments
Talentlessquitter
Shit,I was looking at the pic before I read the story and that SMA was also my nr. one choice!Creative idea and good deeds,man.
kc
I believe the children are our future.
Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Then “Piss on them.”
kilwag
I still think he did right by everyone.
And I’ll close this conversation with a quote from the Briefs:
“Piss on the youth.”
Sheabones
Damn…well I guess maybe Phelper had the better idea:
http://www.thrashermagazine.com/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=90&video_id=133
nightrider
Damn, tough crowd. Next time I give stuff away, I’m going to make the kid show me his ID and proof that his combined family income is less than $20,000/yr. And he’s going to have to show me heart, man! And to further analyze this, screwing the boards to a pole still gives older, rich dudes the advantage b/c they can afford power tools! Is there no justice?!
Sk8 D
good point.
jakeandannoy
……as opposed to the good ones?
Sk8 D
JAkeandannoy, your comments read like bad Sarah Palin quotes……
consider me a kook
sorry, i also woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
consider me a kook
i have been to potrero. i have seen people give local kids free old decks. i have seen kids be stoked and amazed someone would give them something for free. and i have no doubt there are spoiled kids there, expecting free shit. i may have even met shea.
but i’ll bet $100 that those kids don’t know what the fuck skull and bones website is. or any skate forum for old men. it is a cool idea, i’ll give you that. but if it comes at the expense of local kids, hell yeah, i’ll bag on it all day long.
jakeandannoy
NWEYESK8, I know huh?! We all wear the asshat sometimes.
Im guilty too, like the time in Mexico when I was giving the hooker a ride back to her corner…I could’a stopped or slowed down. But, y’know, things to do…
Mike V.
Ay yo, reminds me uh da time some guy tried ta give my litta goil a hockey stick. Den some uda guy triesa take it from huh. I busted dat guy’s lip. Dem little kids is like dat guy wit da lip I busted. Always “me, me, me!”
mb
This was a great idea. Free eye catching publicity for your band and the decks go to good homes where they are appreciated.
nweyesk8
honestly, I had a crappy headache and didn’t finish reading the article before ranting earlier….I can admit i’m an asshole who makes mistakes 🙂
jakeandannoy
Seems ol’ Shea could have kept the decks and not given shit to anybody. But he didn’t do that.
Oh, I know-there are more noble things he could have done, like talk shit on the web to random strangers for their charity.
Sheabones
Thanks for the kind words, dudes!! Honestly, I didn’t expect anything back from anyone…not even a “thanks” really – because I’m totally aware of the awkwardness that sometimes comes with giving somebody something like a deck (especially if the kid’s dad is present) and I always downplay handing out stuff. But if you’ve never skated at PDS in SF than you may not realize how grabby and demanding some of the local kids are (which may actually be a result of the free Rockstar drinks and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos they consume), so I kind of understand the negative comments here. But I can assure you that there was no “stealing” involved! Look up the thread “Free Riders” on S&B and you’ll see that Bart (the bro who hooked me up with the decks) was stoked on the idea. Cheers you guys, and Slappy Holidays!
fester combs
would be so stoked to get ahold of a board this way! one of my best memories as a kid was a simple scavenger hunt my older sister’s friend put on fer us little shits. those shapes look sick! specially with the stencils.
freakbeatfuzz
Shea Bones rules and if you’re bagging on him consider yourself a kook. I skate with him often and he’s a king among men. I’ve given decks and wheels to kids at Potrero
and most of them act bummed that you didn’t give them a complete with Bones Swiss.
Sk8 D
are you guys having trouble comprehending what you read, there was no “stealing” involved, he gave away boards that had been given to him by a friend….gave them to kids that said thank you….got sick of the other kids who felt they deserved more and created a more interesting means of giving away the boards. these are nice looking boards so the scavenger method would make it more of a challenge as opposed to handing them over to some undeserving little skate brats. this is still charity but cutting out the annoying interaction you have to have with todays kids.
i had something similar happen once while giving away food to the homeless. i had 20 box lunches that were about to become trash from a seminar i attended, i decided to be mr. nice guy and give them away in downtown dallas, i pulled up to a grip of homeless and this one lady see’s what i have and starts grabbing multiple boxes….then as somebody else walks up she trys to start selling them for 50 cents to other bums……charity lasted about 10 seconds before it was turned to MD 20/20 money.
kilwag
I don’t get the negativity. He still gave away the boards, and to mr it doesn’t sound like he wanted praise, just a little grattitude from some bratty kids who obviously were in no real need. I know how he feels. I gett kiss complaining that I won’t send them free stickers unless they pay for the stamp.
Slippery
For those that object to Eric’s methodology you must have failed to read the rest of the story… he still gave the boards away and it was to people that were hungry enough for them theat they hunted them down… Eric is one of the raddest dudes around and for those that don’t know the potrero park, it’s just like every other park with little grommets being wankers instead of thankers… get you some
Sandor
Remember, it’s only a good idea to give away things for “free” if you get something in return…
brk
based on that story, that is the last band i would go see.
Mandreas
Eric Shea and Tony Farmer, two epic dudes with good hair.
seedy
Whelp. I’m moving to Oakland in 3 weeks and I now know the first band I’m going to go out and see. Awesome music and such a rad idea to use decks as flyers. Looking forward to seeing Hot lunch some time soon. my wife will hate them 🙂
nightrider
This is just my interpretation but from this sentence – “The other kids just yelled at me and demanded that I give them more free things.” – I think he was less concerned about receiving praise and more tired of giving things to kids that felt entitled to more.
nweyesk8
so you stole the boards that your friend gave you to dole out to less fortunate kids? was it more important that kids praise you for a free board or that those four kids might be somewhere having fun skateboarding at this moment?again selfishness wins out over charity to others….