Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.172 | feat. Mike Giannattasio

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

Fundraising Skate Art Show and DIY Skate Space Plans with Activist-Artist Mike Giannattasio Host Noah Chrysler interviews Syracuse community activist and sculptor Mike Giannattasio about fundraising and placemaking through skateboarding, including plans to develop a DIY skate space designed with the city, community, and skaters and built collaboratively. Giannattasio promotes a year-four skateboard deck gallery show and silent auction at Stay Fresh Gallery in the Delavan Art Center on May 30 (6–10 PM), featuring 30+ artist-designed old-school decks plus raffles from local business donors; artists can contact him on Instagram (@supermisterg) for remaining decks. He discusses Syracuse-area skate parks (Eastwoods, Onondaga Lake Park, and a DIY spot near Ormond Spencer/Harvey’s Garden), what makes balanced parks, and community outreach models in Rome and Rochester. He also describes his public art fabrication background, including Syracuse bike racks and his role as SU School of Architecture fabrication manager. The episode ends with a May 20 skate trivia fundraiser at Salt City Market (6–9:30 PM) for the Kirk Park DIY Skate Park Initiative and a sponsor plug for Click Stream Studios. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:15 Mike Introduces Himself 01:03 DIY Skate Space Vision 01:51 Deck Art Fundraiser Details 03:07 How the Silent Auction Works 04:28 Are These Boards Rideable 06:07 Syracuse Skate Parks Today 09:56 What Makes a Great Park 14:37 Pivot to Public Art Career 16:52 Bike Rack Projects Around Town 19:51 Fabrication Skills at SU 20:31 Process Driven Creativity 21:08 Running the Fab Labs 21:54 Helping Students Build Ideas 23:20 Balancing Teaching and Self 24:32 Airport Birdcage Fabrication 27:45 Why Make Things 30:43 Skateboarding as Creativity 33:19 Skate Culture and Community 34:47 Aging and Injury Risk 37:13 Health and Mentorship Benefits 38:56 Skate Trivia Fundraiser 40:19 Thanks and Sponsor Outro

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Oh, that was cool. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Good News York. My name is Noah Chrysler. today I am sitting with Mike Mike hi hey man how you doing doing great can you introduce yourself so I'm Mike Jinnatatacio I am a I would call myself a local community activist with a focus on skateboarding and that sort of community I'm also a sculptor artist and done a number of different pieces around the city and just generally love the community and want to see cool things happening absolutely yes

So Mike reached out to me. You reached out to me a few days ago, and you told me about a skate event coming up. But also, we met a few weeks ago at a stay fresh event, and you were telling me about your work. You were telling me that you work at SU and you design all these sculptures around the city. And I was like, I've got to talk to Mike on camera. Let's bug Mike and just see what he has to say and see what he's going on with him. So tell us about the event and tell us more about your work and stuff. Yeah.

So what I'm putting together is on a grander scale is general fundraising. and community activism through skateboarding. So place making. And one of the things that we're working on doing is actually developing a DIY space. So do it yourself, skate space, where we actively work with the city, the community, and the skateboarding community to develop and design

what they would like to have built in a skateboarding space. And then work with the local community to actually physically build these things. So design, business, it build and beyond. And part of that is we got to raise money to buy concrete and materials. And, you know, that takes some time. Yeah.

So one of the things that we're doing is a skateboarding gallery show where we have skateboard decks that are old school style. So that's the big wide ones. 30 plus of those have been distributed out to local artists. those folks are doing their best work on those boards, and we don't know what they're going to be making. So we've had everything from cut into to things built onto it. Oh, cool.

You know, you name it. People were going off. So you never know what you're going to see, and they're always unique. Cool. Where and when is that show? So that'll be at Stay Fresh Gallery, right inside of the Delavan Art Center.

It is, oh, I want to say, 108, Wyoming Street. That's okay. Stay fresh. It's the location. But what day is it? May 30th. Cool. May 30th, what time?

That'll be from 6 o'clock to about 10 o'clock. May 30th, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Stay fresh. Beautiful. You can come. And at this event, you're basically, you can buy skateboarding decks that have been designed by local artists. Yeah. So what, what this is, it's going to be a silent auction.

So it's all set up. You literally, you come in, you get a number. We get your information. You go out there. You sign up whatever increment of money you want to spend on it. And that challenge goes up and up and up. So throughout the night, people will bid each other out on the different unique board. And at a certain point, we shut it down.

Winner take all. We come for you and you can buy the board. You take it that night. We may tweak and keep it for a little bit longer, but we'll see how that goes depending on how many people are coming from out of town. This is year four of this event taking place. Oh, cool. So it's really fun that this is culminating to this point.

And each year we've done it for a different type of fundraising event. In a conjunction with that, we also have a number of different sponsored donors from local businesses who've donated their goods for us to do for a silent, or not for a silent auction, but for a raffle. So we'll just have a raffle ticket coming by an arm length and put it where you want to win. Cool.

And we hang out, have a good time. And yeah, there's typically skateboarding involved as well, depending on the weather. Nice. So, yeah, this is a good time. When people buy these skateboards, are they riding them? Are they buying them to ride? Or are they buying them to hang on a wall in a room somewhere?

Oh, these are fine pieces of art. Got it. Okay, sorry. I wouldn't know. No, no. No, no. That's a common question. Yeah.

No, these, and you'll find, and if you ever pop down to Syracuse down to Flower Skate Shop, there is a whole array of boards that are not for sale. Oh, yeah. These are just the display art boards. Cool. And these are boards that have been mass produced and sent out, as well as some unique ones. But these boards here, these boards here, these. These are where they, like, really get unique and really amazing. And especially because you never know what you're going to get.

And, like, people always have it as, like, an opportunity to one-up themselves and, like, see what else they can do. And it's really, the reveal is my favorite part. Yeah, no, that sounds super cool. That sounds awesome. Yeah, especially with so many. I mean, 30 boards, 30 artists, or how many artists? 30, so we've got 30 right now.

There's 30 boards that are out there. Wow. I actually ordered extra, so I have like five more. So I'm actually going to be putting a call out to see if anybody wants to try to pick that up. Cool. And how can they do that? So basically on Instagram. So if they were to find me on Instagram, I'm Super Mr. G.

Super Mr. G spelled out. Beautiful. And yeah. Cool. If you want to skateboarding, you can be in this gallery show for a fundraiser for a good cause. Okay, cool, I got more questions. So we're raising money for a skate park in Syracuse.

Does Syracuse not have a skate park? Well, they do. So we have Eastwood's skate park, which is a wonderful space. That's a proper concrete park. I can't exactly recall what street it is on.

That's okay. But I know how to get there. It's right behind one of the schools over there in Eastwood. Oh, that's cool. And, And they're actually going to be doing an expansion on it. So I'm very excited about that. I've seen the designs. Super hyped. But it's small.

It's well designed, but it's tight. You get a few people going in there. You add a sprinkle little razor scooter kid in there. Maybe some of one or two B-MX dudes. You know, you're getting, you're getting to like a danger zone. Sure. So, you know, it's wonderful. but it's small.

There's also a park at OLP, which is an awesome... What do we call it? Liverpool. I think we call it OLP, but it's Onondaga Lake Park. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, that is the skate park there.

Wonderful skate park. Good size. Built and designed at a challenging point in skateboarding. So I think there were some battling designs happening with what they were after and what they got. So, well, it's a well-designed and intended park. It doesn't really hit on the notes that we need in Syracuse. Sure.

And then, of course, there's our DIY skate park, which is in the Ormond Spencer, right across the street from the Harvey's Garden. Cool little DIY space slash art creative zone. really neat things happen in there. And it's sort of a different space. So what I'm sort of interested in is how do we create a space that's more of a adapted relationship with the city and the community and create a pipeline to be able to say, this is how we're going to go ahead and create what people would actually like.

Right. And run it through the performance. Right. And set up who's working with the city. Right. And our capital where that's coming from and who's doing the design work and who's doing the fabrication and, you know, create that, you know. And but the larger idea would be that this could be a good opportunity for the city, the state, other fundraisers, people in the community to look at this and say, hey, these people are pulling up their boots. and finding the money and putting the work in to do something like this because they really love what they're doing and creating that space,

there's an opportunity to step this up and put some real money in, find those funds, apply for those grants, work with us and say, hey, let's bring it in and let's create something and let's add to maybe one of the other skate parks or let's find another location and let's build a destination skate park. Because we've got skate parks popping up all over central New York that are just shaming Syracuse. We deserve something real good

just like the rest of these cities around us are getting right now. Yeah. So like it's our time. But right now we're going to do what we can do and make it happen on our own level. Sure. What makes a good skate park? know, I mean, and can I give you my background a little bit?

I learned, I got like one of those, like, I don't even know what you call. I think it's a bamboo board, right? And it's like higher, right? It's got the big wheels. And then I, I, you know, it goes quick, right? It's not for like, you know, kick flips and shit. It's for like, you know, go, it's kind of like a long board, but it's not really a long board.

I think it's called a hybrid. I don't know. Sure, sure. But, so I got really into that in Atlanta. And then I got an actual skateboard. But I think I got one that's too big. And so, like, I tried to learn to like, you know, Ali and stuff. and it just didn't happen for me.

But then I did, I was, there's a big skate park in Atlanta on the belt line. I was living on the belt line. And so I went there a few times and I busted my ass a few times. But that was basically it. And then I watched some of these kids drop in. And it was like, oh, my God. Like, that's a superpower that I do not possess. But I don't know.

Those are my experiences. But I don't know. Getting back to a good skate park, you're saying that you're critical of some of the skate parks in Syracuse. What constitutes like a really good skate park and what are some of the ways that the Syracuse skate park is lacking? That's a great question. So that's where that's a that's the challenges. And really for for people and and how they skate and what their interests are, it could be a wide spectrum. So like transition versus skate or street style. So stairs, rails, ledges versus bowls, half pipes, quarter pipes, hips,

you know, where it's more flowing versus where it's more choppy. Finding that balance in a single skate park can be very difficult. I am, you know, the finding the balance between it is it's really a challenge. And I think that's really trying to have that discussion with the community. Yeah. What do you want?

Yeah. Like, what does this, what does this community like? Um, because honestly, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the DIY skate park, uh, the Ormond Spencer one is kind of rough. And it has that grit to it. And people like that grit. They like that roughness. You know, they don't want that smooth, buttery skate spot.

They want it a little, little, little more notic, what you expected. Um, you know, that's what they are into. You know, some other spaces you're like this skate park like they just built this one in rome that's essentially a series of series of stairs just steps just eight inch tall flat eight inch tall i think total of like nine stairs from top to bottom but it elongated in different patterns to create different opportunities for grinding all the corners are metal so you can you can grind on every corner.

Cool. Different combinations at the ends, capped with quarter pipes and some transition, which basically just pushes you back in. And next to it, a really nice pump track. Now, what they're doing, which is amazing and something that will happen.

And I think once we get the momentum going here in Syracuse, having that outreach to the community, because what they're doing down in Rome, and they just did it a couple of weeks, or I think last week, they added community outreach. And they said, hey, guys, what would you like to see with the next phase of this skate park? Because they're going to continue to expand it.

And it's like, you can see how this worked. You can see who is utilizing it. Then you can talk to them. And you can see who's not and get their opinion and bring them in. And they're doing a similar thing in Rochester where they're adding a second phase to their beautiful skate park with a third phase on its way, I believe. Cool. So, like, it's, they're building up and going, going for it. And like, we're missing it.

Sure, yeah. Yeah. No, but hey, you know what? I think that it's, golden age. I think that it's great that you are not only critical, but you're taking action to, like, change that, right? You're raising money. You're raising awareness, right?

You are coordinating people and dollars and effort and time and artists to affect change. And I think that that's really cool. as we've done more of this show I've talked to a lot of like local community leaders and I think that that's like super cool I think that that's how you affect changes and that's how you get those programs to happen so I think that it's great that you're doing that

Mike we're gonna pivot a little bit tell me about some of the work that you do some of the art that you do with so you said you do you've done some of the sculptures around the city but then you also work at SU and do some stuff there too can you tell me more about that work? Yeah so I

I'm originally from California, so I grew up in the Bay Area. I got my undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture in Chico, California. Did my first actual public art piece there, which is a bench depicting John Muir in all-cast concrete. Beautiful piece. Cool. Worked out so well. But that's back in California. Got it. Came out here for grad school.

I got my master's at Syracuse University. finished that in 2012 and then basically sort of was looking around and exploring and expanding in the community. And I was teaching after grad school and also doing Public Arts Task Force. So this is a part of 40 Below, which is now Adapt CNY. Great organization when I was a part of it. I dropped off after a while, but a lot of the community and the artists and the people who've really taken up the reins in Syracuse were a part of this organization when I was a part of it. So it was really a great opportunity to connect with these people. We had a couple different initiatives to do bike racks in the city.

And we lined up with the downtown T&T. And at the time, they were part of the city funding format. And they they were able we were able to work with them to access funding to design and build and work with the city to install custom made bike racks around the city. So we would work with a community and say, what do you guys want? And we would talk to each other and we'd put a, oh, excuse me, an open call out and we'd have our community would come together. And we'd talk to them about what they were interested in seeing and we'd refine it and design it. And then hand it off to the city and they.

boop-b-b-b-b-zip it in place and there you go. Cool. So what fixtures around the city might people know that is like your work? Yeah. So the specifically outside of the sound garden, there was like the like hammer, like vertical pipes. Yeah, cool. That one's mine. Sick.

The, as you come down Jefferson, the corner of Jefferson and Warren, there's the bike rack outside of where I think it's co-works. I'm not sure if they, I can't remember exactly if they still have the same name. But there's that bike rack right there, which it looks like an Allen wrench going into a series of gears. Cool. And then keeping going down, Jefferson,

and if you were to go left in front of the OHA, there's a series of yellow bike racks. So that one, my wife and I, so these are collaborative designs. I would refine and then fabricate them. So I gave the final tweak and finish to it. Somebody's giving you kind of an inspiration. Exactly.

So we're and it's kind of a translation of that. I think everybody was for the most part satisfied with the translation. Cool. Wonderful. That's good. I bet that's got to be a pain in the ass. Like it's got to be really tough to manage that relationship by you bet or like, you know, like working with people.

Honestly, no, when everybody was on the same page. Yeah. And thinking about what they want. and sort of like group what do we think group good good we've got to get this thing done okay right what are we going to do yeah this we're going to do all right let me tweak it back and all right everybody responses yeah good bad okay tweak good bad okay good good go and it's limited it's a limited budget so it's like you know i basically was donating the time right but it was like great opportunity to make something fun so outside the oHA was a sex tuplet so it's the

It's the yellow fellow, which was the first six-person bicycle that was made by EC Stearns. And they had a race against the train and they won with the bicycle. Cool. So this bike rack, if you look at a particular angle, looks like a six-person bicycle. Oh, cool. It's all painted yellow. If you go down to Park Presbyterian on, I think that's Townsend and Fayette, There's a couple there that are reminiscent of the windows up above that are all in red, right by the side door there.

And then the bike racks in front of the Park Central, not Parks and Perfessering, outside of the Palace Theater, the big Penny Farlington Farmington and the unicycle. That's awesome. Yeah. I've definitely seen those. That's really cool, man. Right. Yeah. That's so cool.

Wow. So if I'm driving around the city and I see a bike rack, there's a good chance that you worked on it. That's sick. That's very cool. Cool. Tell me more about, so you also do other forms of art and things as well. You said you got a degree in sculpture.

And then you also teach it as you, right? Do you teach this at SU? Right. So I am a general fabricator. So you name it. Wood, migd, tig, oxycelain, you know, cabinetry, bronze, casting, aluminum, you know, glass blowing. Cool.

Glass casting, got into digital fabrication doing stuff with laser cutting, 3D printing, C&C milling, and sort of how to cross-integrate all of that into basically sculpture. I really like to explore processes, seeing how I can understand how this thing was made and then how I can generate my ideas using these same types of techniques. So it's been really fun. It takes me all kinds of different places. That's very, very cool.

Yeah. We could use your skills in this building. There's so little time with everything. Sure, yeah. You're like, I'm busy, dude. You've got to talk to my dean of the college and see what he says. So I also work. for the School of Architecture as the fabrication manager.

Cool. For all of the labs and shops. So I essentially oversee, I think at this point, 27 undergraduate students and a staff of three others. Really awesome team, graduates, undergraduates, my staff, solid. And like we're up to our eyeballs right up to, I think about three o'clock today. Really? Yeah. So they just crossed over it. finals time. So there's a little bit of that leftover stuff working its way through, but

sure, but we, we just went through it with everybody. Yeah. What is, what is most of that work? What are you, what are the major projects that you're working on? If you can talk about that. Yeah, I mean, they're, they're doing everything. Um, the, the, the design work that these students do is, um, yeah, beyond my, beyond my understanding half the time. Because a lot of it is, is, is, is very conceptually and intellectually developed. So they're not just making models for just models' sake. They're making models of concepts that they've developed and designed under tutelage of really talented faculty.

And what I help to do is when they hit that wall and they can't quite figure out how to wrap it and how to figure out what the next step is, I can help to step in and see, okay, let's see what we can do and how you can generate this because you can't figure it out. at that point. So I try to act in that capacity.

And then just general, when you have, I think we're at 800 something students in the building, we've got two wood shops. I think I've got around 25 or 28 3D printers, two C&Cs, you know, two, three wood shop technicians and two digital fabrication technicians, along with all those other students, plus faculty. It's like a lot of,

manage. Yeah, no, for sure. And when you're when you're juggling all these things, it's like, okay, that's about all I've got for today. No, I believe it. No, you're super busy. I get that. That makes sense. No, I can imagine. But I, but I love it and it's, uh, it's nice to be on this side because I did really enjoy the teaching. Um, it is one of my passions, but just the ability to save a little bit of that for myself. Yeah. Because I think I would give it to the, I think I would give it to my students. I would just, you know, pass that passion right along to them and not keep any for myself.

And I think where I am right now, I get a bit of, a bit of both. Yeah. Cool. Tell me about that. Tell me about a project that you worked on recently that you feel passionate about that you're like, this project was super cool. And this is when I felt, I felt that passion. I felt like myself.

Only I could have made this or something like that. What do you got? Got a story for me? If not, that's also okay. Boy, oh, man. Or just like a project that maybe you're known for, that like this one was awesome. This was like the big one.

Okay, okay, okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got this one. So this one, this one I thought was really, really interesting. So, and it's installed currently. So now, in my undergrad, I had the, I had the pleasure of working with some really amazing professors. So Michael Bishop was one of my mentors. He was like the head of the sculpture program. Love working with him. Did a bunch of fabrication work for him at his shop.

Learned how he liked to have thing fabricated. And it was just like, well, fabricated like this for everything. Because it just makes perfect sense. So I gained a lot of design etiquette and features from working with him. But his wife was also a public artist and they both did public work. And I was essentially their fabricator. So when I went away, a grad school.

They go, we need some help. Can you, you think you can help us figure out how to fabricate this particular thing? And I was like, what do you got? And they sent me photos. And what it was, was this 1950s

transparent green bird cage. So it was like this cast-injected plastic bird cage. And the way this thing worked, it was one plastic frame that kind of looked like ribs, and it was split right down the middle, and the two sides would mirrored and would come in and you'd glue the two together.

And then it had basically an opening on the one side that you would slide a tray in, and you'd have a bird that would be in there. It was also a little door. Cool. So they wanted, I think she said something like 30 of these things. Oh my gosh. That's a ton. So I figured out with a little bit of help,

but basically did the design work, created the mold of this thing and was using a pressure chamber to actually cast this plastic down into this structure, pulling it out, setting it onto a subsequent frame because it's a little bit wobbly, and then putting in a kiln and letting it heat to cure, And then doing that over and over.

Yeah, 30 times, my goodness. Yeah, and that's twice per side. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So that ended up working out really nicely, and that's actually installed in the Sacramento. I believe it's in the international wing at their airport. Cool.

Wow. Yeah. So it's a component of it and actually hangs up above everybody you're walking in. Oh, very cool. Yeah. That's awesome. So, like, your art is in the Sacramento airport. That's very cool.

My fabrication. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Her art, her design. I get to have pride that this beautiful piece I could help somebody materialize their idea. Yeah. Yeah. You know. No, that's really cool, though.

I think that that is a very powerful thing because you have to learn how to collaborate with people, right? You have to learn to understand what somebody is envisioning and maybe why they are envisioning that way and their inspiration for that. Their influences as to what they want that to look like. and then you have to help them execute that. So that kind of changes you in a lot of ways as you learn to do that process. Why should people get into fabrication? Why should people get into making things?

Why should people get into art and your industry? Boy, I mean, do anything. Anything that doesn't include your phone. Put it down. Yeah. Think about what? you want to make. Think, see, this is the thing.

Think about what it is that you're trying to create. Because sometimes, sometimes it's also not necessary for you to make anything. Because, like, that's one of the, my only things. Sometimes we have to think about what it is that we're creating and why we're creating it. I worked a lot with plastics and mold making plastic fabrication. And I can cast and I can reproduce and I can make you a whole bunch of the same thing out of plastic and

maybe you just throw that away and that just gets thrown away with something else so really it's like why why do we want to make that

what would be worth you making it what can you can get out of that you know and having those I think some of the stuff is fun is like guided some of the guided art stuff

is pretty fun but But yeah, I mean, making things in general, I think it's when it's, when it's worthwhile, it's really fun. Really having the time to spend and enjoy creating and designing it. And understanding that it's, it takes time. Yeah. It's not that easy. And it takes time to get something good out of it.

And once you do, and if you put that time in, then you truly do understand and appreciate it. And all of a sudden it's at a different level. You know, I mean, that's where the kind of like coming and seeing art and experiencing that and experiencing the community that comes around it, all of that is so a part of what created the art. And it's a part of that community, that culture. And to have that experience really, I feel like,

puts more life into it and puts that connection right back to the viewer and it helps elevate that person's experience and their understanding of art. Cool. Now, that makes a lot of sense. And I think you're totally right, you know? I mean, as someone who does primarily new media stuff, I am glued to my phone from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep is this or it's listening to things or it's, you know, and I completely understand that.

And the idea of, you know, creating something, right, envisioning something. designing something, right? I think that that, I probably could spend more time doing that, and I would probably be a happier person. So this is the beautiful connection that I make with skateboarding and creativity. So, A, it takes time and practice to get there. But with creativity and the same with skateboarding, you truly can't be anywhere else but right there.

Yep. Because if you're anywhere else, you're on. the ground right yeah you're gonna bleed so so you know like and I feel like for myself it takes me I would say a couple hours to fully get into the proper headspace the the proper mind space with just the general life and then you know all of the distractions everything to try to shed that away and finally get to a point we were like okay now I'm actually being creative you have to give that up that's that's giving it up or that's taking it and demanding that's yours.

And that's where I find with skateboarding is it's like, you're getting a dual opportunity to be creative. Because we'll go out and we'll skate. And we're all doing similar tricks. But we do them differently. And we appreciate when somebody who we know their skill level has never done that trick before. Right. Yeah.

They're successful with that. Yeah. You know, and that's like that creativity. And like for myself, That's a lot of where my work, I think now has shifted more towards the design side and trying to create individual skate spaces or experiences so that you could have this unit just dropped off in a park. And hours and hours and hours of fun for a skateboarder could happen. Yeah. You know, and there's nothing to it.

you know, simple, you know, utilitarian to a certain extent, but something that people would have a good time with, and you can also utilize it as, you know, seating spaces and things like that. So it starts to become sculpture. It kind of blends between design, but it all ultimately seems to gravitate around skateboarding and keeps dragging it back in there. I think that's really cool. I mean, when you frame it in that way, right, it's like you're designing a physical environment, to facilitate a group of people having an experience, right, where they are all pushing themselves, trying new tricks, trying to do certain things, right? And cheering for each other, right? There's like, there's like natural stories that develop, right? Hey, this person's not very good

at this. He tried to do this, the big thing, you know? And he, yeah, and I bet that that transforms when that is done well and that is implemented well. I bet that that that transforms communities, you know? Oh, it does. Yeah. No, it's great. That's one of the, that's one of the best things about it. Because it is, it's, I'll say, it's not a sport to me. Because this isn't something that I go out and we go, we're going to go out to practice. I'll see you out there. It's like, no, like, I'm going to go and do it by myself. And we can go together, but we're still basically skating by ourselves.

And we're pushing each other to do this. But no one's out there like, you, you are terrible today. We're so disappointed and now that estate experience with you today. Yeah. You know, yeah, way to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely won today. Like, everybody's generally happy when they walk away and it's a positive and supportive

community. And it's like if it isn't, because it's like, we're doing something that's hard. Like, like, you just, you watch people fall. Like, I watch people fall and I go, good to see you trying. Like, that's good. Like, you get back up and do it again. And like, that's what they do. And that's what I do.

Like, when I, I, we'll try to do tricks and it's over and over and over. And you're like, that trick took, you know, 20-something tries. And I finally got it. Yeah. You know, but it was like, that was 20-something tries at doing that thing. Yeah. I think that that's incredible. I, I turned 30 this year.

And that hurt a little bit. But I, like, I guess part of, in the back of my head, I'm like, I think it would be really difficult to get me onto a skateboard right now because I do not want to injure myself, you know? Is that something that you hear from older people who are like, I think that it might not be worth it for me to potentially get injured? I get that. I get it.

Like, that's how I feel. I get it. I think the culture is super cool. I've heard that it's so rewarding, right? You know, without any risk, there's no reward, right? And I get that. But still, I think to myself, I don't want to be hurt. So I don't know.

No, the, it's always it's always there but i've see i'll now see i've been skateboarding for about 35 years at this point wow wow um so like i've got a lot of time in on a skateboard and and part of it especially for myself at this point is understanding the limitations of myself and what i can do and where i'm at in my energy, in my, you know, thought process, you know, if I'm present enough to be trying to do that particular type of trick. And I think that is the most critical component of understanding yourself and your limitations, especially when it comes to a skateboard and nice hard concrete. So, I mean, it's unforgiving. But if you know what you're doing, you know where you're going and you know how to walk away.

because majority of the majority of the skateboarding is falling. So I've done a lot of falling. Yeah. And, you know, knock on wood, you know, I don't know if this thing is even... No, it is. It's actually, okay, cool.

The thing is actually wood. I have been okay. You know, and now I'm 42, I think I'm going to be 43, or I'm 43 going to be 44. I'm not doing the math. but it's been one of the best thing. I literally have started,

when I started skateboarding, or got back in this game, and I always did, but it was always like, you know, maybe once every couple months and I'd go and skate and I could hold it down.

And, you know, I always had my board ready to go and always had my skate shoes, but it wasn't like as involved as it is in my life as it is now. But I literally lost something like 35, pounds. Wow. Just from picking back up skateboarding.

Wow. So it's like I'm working out. I'm having a good time. I'm getting, you know, time outside. I'm getting experience talking and socializing with people. And then also cross-generating cross-generational exposure. So you're able to be like, you know, A, man, you know, if they're being buttheads, A, knock it off.

And B, when they're when they're doing stuff that's right, you be like that is great you know it's awesome so you you know doing that and you can be a positive influence and like have that there because a lot of times the parents will just drop the kids off you know or if you have a skateboard like i did that's where i was getting around right yeah you know that's where i was going and you know if i had a bike i could really go because i could throw my skateboard on my back and i could really get far exactly you know and then when you get a car then you can really go. Right, right. Cool. No, yeah, I think that that's great. I, for me, that was like the comedy scene in Rochester specifically, right? I was in like college and like, but like, you know, I would,

I would perform at the focus theater and I would get involved there and, and that's where I met people who were significantly older than me and like they were, it was that vibe, right? Where it was like, hey, cool, like that was the first time I had really had a friend that was multiple, multiple years older than me and generations older than me. And, uh, and it was great. And they changed my perspective on a lot of things and they got me up to speed. You know, it's like, hey, learn the city, learn about all of these things. And that was helpful to me. So I think that that serves an important function in cities.

And I think that that's great. Cool. Mike, did we not touch anything that you want to talk about? Oh, trivia. Yeah. So we're going to be doing trivia, skate trivia. If you are, if anybody out there is interested in or feels like they've got the, I think we're looking at the mid-90s, early 2000s, like right around mid-90s to 2010 zone of skate trivia.

So a golden-ish era, depending on your generation. But the idea is that we're going to do a fundraiser for the Kirk Park Initiative, DIY, Skate Park Initiative, at Salt City Market, right in the bar space. So that'll be from basically 6 o'clock to 9.30 approximately. Now, this is at 9 o'clock, it turns to a 21 and over space. Got it. So it more than likely would be more of a 21 and older sort of crowd sort of scenario there. But we are going to have some sponsors. We're going to have some free gifts.

Cool. Got some cool prizes. And it'll just be a good opportunity to bring the whole skate community together and see who really knows what's up with skateboarding. Yeah. And knows their history. the posers. Yeah.

Cool. No, that's awesome. What day is that? That's May 20th. May 20th. Very cool. Yep. Very cool.

Well, hey, thank you so much for coming on. I think what you're doing is awesome. And I think that, I don't know, it's just so cool to drive around and be like, hey, Mike made that. That's sick. So I don't know. Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it.

Yeah. Absolutely. Ladies gentlemen, this show is put on by ClickStream Studios here in our new studio in the old Spaghetti Warehouse location. Clickstream Studios is a full service content marketing agency. If you are thinking about potentially doing social media content for your business, you can book some time with me if you go to call. Clickstream Studios.com. I will sit down with you for about 45 minutes.

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