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.
4 Comments »
[...] evolution of skating in New York. A clip can be seen below. The Deathbowl to Downtown blog has a wonderful remembrance of Kessler: He was salty and hard boiled like a true New Yorker should be but he was also the first guy to [...]
Pingback by All-Day Energy Spray Blog » Blog Archive » Andy Kessler, Pioneer Skater, RIP at 49 — August 11, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
[...] Andy Kessler Deathbowl to Downtown [...]
Pingback by 349:Andy Kessler: GRANDMASTER of 108, Leave your thoughts and comments below. « The House of Steam — August 12, 2009 @ 4:20 am
Thanks for posting this and for making the movie. Andy was only giving you a hard time because the crew in general, and Andy in particular, had been burned enough times by the media in the past to make him leary.
He was simply preserving the true story and not just your perception of the truth as can so often happen with well-meaning documentaries.
Though skateboarding has come a long way since I skateboarded in the mid 70’s, as you’ll show in your film when its released, there are still barriers to breakthrough (for young women in particular) and social stigmas for all skaters to overcome in this town.
I was teaching my young son to skateboard this weekend, something Andy was supposed to do for my son before he passed. My knees are shot from all my own skateboarding injuries through the years. Even though my son and I were in an empty secluded area, passersby were still giving us nasty looks and exhasperated sighs!
Interestingly enough, skateboarding helped build my confidence to the point where I dont give a crap of what people think or say about me. So, its a good age for my son to learn skateboarding, so he’ll be able to thrive in despite the oppressive educational system he must submit to, that is so devoid of imaginative and creative thinking.
Its no wonder graffiti and skating were so interrelated in its infancy. They were ways of artistically expressing ourselves outside the societal constraints imposed upon us by the institutions we were forced to submit to on a daily basis.
My son? Well, he was having the time of his life, so the pain was well worth it to me. Besides, I could have sworn I heard Andy’s voice cheering us on.
Again, thank you!
Comment by Michele_from_NYC — August 16, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
Thank you for this great work, it brings back so many memories of growing up in NY with all the little skate rats around my house, coming and going. I am Bruno Musso’s sister and I grew up all around those little skate rats. I remember what New York used to be and this is such a nice reminder. I just wanted to mention that Cal shown in your video has also passed away very recently it was just last year in the summer of 2008. (I am very sorry to hear about Andy, I remember him fondly).
Just wanted to mention Cal’s Status. I rarely saw him without a skate board until later on in life.
Comment by Fiona Musso — August 19, 2009 @ 8:10 pm
Leave a comment
RSS feed for comments on this post. / TrackBack URI