ANDY KESSLER
Found out last night that Kess had passed away and it was too crazy to believe. Kessler always seemed like an old workhorse. One of those New York characters who you see roaming the streets forever. He was salty and hard boiled like a true New Yorker should be but he was also the first guy to help someone out. I don’t mean that as a cliche like when someone dies they were all of a sudden a saint- no- Kess really helped people out. He was a sponsor to people trying to kick drugs or drinking, (he was clean and sober for years and years and then one day he quit drinking coffee and smoking cigs to boot!), he built skateparks, went to community meeting and generally tried to make New York a better place to live.
He was not all sugar and spice though. While we were making the film “Deathbowl to Downtown” he constantly gave us shit and was the biggest pain in the ass imaginable. He demanded to read all the narration that concerned him or his scene and he would rip it to shreds if it didn’t meet his “bullshit test”. We had to fly him out to our studio in LA to watch the cut before we could screen it publicly. Basically he felt responsible for any story about the evolution of skating in New York because if we got the origins wrong (which he was a key part of) then we would get the whole story wrong. It was a pain in the ass at the time but I feel good knowing the final cut of the film was up to his high standards- the old fucker even jerked a
couple tears at the screening
!!!- So it goes without saying that the film is dedicated to Kess and the many New York skaters who have passed away over the years (from Mark “Ali” Edmonds to Harold Hunter and everyone in between).
Thanks to all the people/ skaters who help make New York the greatest city in the world.
