Juan: What’s up guys? How’s everything going lately? Hope everything’s just fine...

Chris: Things are going good. I recently moved to San Francisco and have been enjoying that quite a bit...lots of good skate spots, tons of culture and heaps of good eats. Can’t beat the Bay!

Travis: Things are going well. I’ve been busy working on my new book, which is a novel, entitled Welcome to San Franpsycho. I handwrote the entire thing, which is out of the ordinary for me because I prefer typing when I write. I’m pushing hard to have the book available in stores by the summer of 2007. I’ve been working on this book on and off for close to four years now, so it has been a long time coming. I’m happy with the story, and I’m sure my readers will enjoy it too. It’s a really gritty city tale.

Juan: So I got some questions for you...let’s go down to them if you feel like it. Don’t worry, it won’t take long. First one is a bit tricky: No Comply is a finger-pointing book or a discussion-reflexive one?

Chris: Well, it’s actually a bit of both, but I’d say the main focus, at least for me, was to create a forum for discussion. It is through discussion that complex conflicts are most easily and permanently resolved. Of course there is finger pointing as well, because it is always natural for the oppressed or ignored (in this case, skateboarders) to cry out against the ones causing their frustration.

Travis: I’d say a little of both. When Chris and I sent out the call for submissions, we specifically asked that the pieces be objective. However, it was only inevitable that some of the submissions came back completely biased and one-sided. There is definitely a good balance in the book, and I think it needed a little of both. A few contributors even flipped the theme and had the authority be something besides just the police. For example, one contributor wrote a piece about being a skateboarder in the position of authority as an educator. I thought that was brilliant.

Juan: Hmm...Let’s say it another way now: No Comply is a book by skateboarders for skateboarders, or do you wish you reach a more heterogenic audience?

Chris: Both. Skateboarding gets stale and un-creative from time to time and we wanted to provide a product that had never been done. Of course, we wanted to make something that was missing in skateboarding, by skateboarders and for skateboarders, but a book like this can be appreciated by anybody who has ever been in an underdog’s position. No Comply is also a strong statement to society and an opportunity for adults to understand the importance of encouraging the youth and steering their energy in positive directions. The more authority comes down on people, the more they resist, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. So yeah, we did want to reach that heterogenic audience from the beginning, because that audience is composed of the same people that could make skateboarding more easy, safe and accessible to the people who embrace it.

Travis: No Comply is a book by skateboarders that’s intended for everyone, not just fellow skaters. If we were to publish a book as such that’s completely aimed at the skateboard community, I think all we would be doing is preaching to the choir, you know? By choice, we sold this book exclusively at core skate shops for the first three months it was in print. We did this as a way to give back to the skateboard community. We wanted skateboarding to benefit from this book first and foremost. After the first three months were up, Chris and I then started marketing this book to non-skateboarders, and they absolutely loved it. No lie, the literary world has embraced this book almost as much as the skateboarders have.

Juan: I suppose you both picked the second option so... Do you think people are getting it? Even though I suppose it would be pretty hard to really know what kind of people are actually purchasing the book...

Chris: Actually, our most positive and compelling comments have come from non-skateboarders. We get comments and emails from people in their fifties and sixties saying how this book totally applies to their lives growing up. Skaters love the book too, but it’s the big bookstores and distributors that have been placing orders. Anyone who has ever worked in a skate shop knows that books aren’t major sellers. Even with a topic so crucial to the survival of skateboarding, still, only a few shops seem truly interested. Unfortunately, many skaters don’t care about reading, but we’re trying to change that. On the other hand, many skaters, especially from the older schools, are very intellectually inclined and many of us are searching for something more than the standard videos and media.

Travis: Approximately two months after the No Comply book was released, the San Francisco Chronicle, one of the largest and most prestigious daily newspapers in our country, ran a cover story about the book. A couple of days later, one of the managing partners at the law firm I work at came up to me and said, ‘You can’t buy that kind of press.’ Keep in mind, this is an individual that bills his time at $700 an hour and many of the cases he handles are frequently mentioned in the news. I then offered to give this attorney a copy of the book to read, but he insisted on supporting us by going to the skate shop and buying one instead. That’s when I realized a variety of different individuals were interested in reading this book, and not just skateboarders.

Juan: Anyway, you guys put yourselves in such a challenge, I mean, this is the first book in the Skateboarding Speaks series, and you went for a hell of a subject. Authority applied to skateboarding is a truly complex concept if you wanna go deep in its wide shades of grey, don’t you think?

Chris: Absolutely. Being a writer and skater my whole life I just decided to combine my two loves and I think Travis has done the same. I think the whole idea of skateboarding-based literature is entirely unique and I’m looking forward to the rest of the titles in the series. In skateboarding, it’s best to commit and go big on the first try, and that same attitude definitely influenced my decision to make authority the first subject in the series.

Travis: This particular theme, in my opinion, was long overdue. Chris and I both felt that every skateboarder no matter what age, gender, race, or location would have an interesting opinion or story to share on the subject...

Juan: ...and it’s kind of a subject within a subject. Within a big subject I’d say, because, you know, you can say authority is a figure in crisis in the big picture of modern democracy these days. You know, corruption is around the corner every single day.

Travis: In a sense, yes...

Chris: ...and like you just said, certainly there are many shades of grey, and if you get down to it, No Comply is as much about personal liberty and the Constitution as it is about skateboarding. Skateboarding is just the backdrop; that’s why so many people from other arts and practices can relate to No Comply, because it presents a universal question of democracy: when should one persons interpretation of liberty dominate another’s?

Juan: ...and it looks like we’re granting that responsibility to kind of anybody, huh?

Chris: The responsibility of authority is pretty much granted to anybody and that’s a major factor in most problems. Personally I think that in America, too many police officers have the macho attitude like Pac-Man in the movie Colors. You don’t win people over by might; look at Iraq. They don’t want us there because we are imposing ourselves upon them, and the longer we are there the stronger their resistance and hatred grows.

Travis: I grew up with a couple guys that are now police officers. I’m not going to go into details, but knowing that these guys possess that kind of power is a scary f-n thought. That’s why I do my best to avoid police officers by any means necessary, seriously! I’ve been through the legal system firsthand, so I know how ass backwards it can be.

Juan: It’s like the more you think about it, the more you get to that Hobbes’ stuff. Homo homini lupus est (man is a wolf to his fellow man) or whatever. Big cliché, but big truth as well. It’s a bit of a both stupid and strange question but, do we humans deserve to give ourselves the responsibility of authority? Or, if you prefer, are we humans capable of carrying the burden of authority?

Chris: Indeed man is a wolf to his fellow man and to that I retort, in dubio pro libertate (in doubt favor liberty). Humans really aren’t entirely capable of carrying the burden of authority, at least not in this current epoch. And besides, what gives one person authority over another? Authority is based on fear, when it should be based on love. Most rulers wield their authority by might, which is often necessary, but true authority should stem from love for oneself and one’s neighbor. If love is the motive for authority, the potential for corruption disintegrates.

Travis: That’s a tough question to answer. I believe in the law, and I think the law is necessary. However, as far as who deserves to be in the position of authority, I’m not one to make that call. Like I said, I keep my nose clean, do my own thing, and try my absolute best to avoid individuals that possess that kind of power.

Juan: Alright, alright. This is getting wild on philosophy and we were supposed to be talking about skateboarding.

Chris: I’ve been skating off and on since the H-Street days, and I still skate today. I never went pro, but was getting a little love around 2000, doing contests, filming, I did the Tampa Am thing, but skateboarding never panned out for me as a career. About 2001 my writing career really started to take off, I got involved in screenwriting and did some shows for TV and some other stuff. Then I started FunNotFame in 2003 so the past few years haven’t left much time for skating, but I still get out and rock it as much as I can. These days’ it’s more about flow and maintaining board control than about trying to do the sickest gap or rail or whatever.

Juan: So...as seen from a European, you guys there in the States are pretty fucked up...I mean, I didn’t really expect to come across the word "handcuffs" so often in this book...

Travis: Haha. Yeah, I think that’s especially true amongst us older guys. Skateboarding is definitely way more accepted now amongst the masses here in the U.S. than it was back in the 80's and early 90's. Being a skater was tough back then. Everyone hated skaters. I’ve seriously been arrested for skateboarding more times than I can count on both hands. It’s funny now to see how accepted skateboarding is here in the U.S. today amongst the general population. In fact, it’s pretty much considered the cool thing to do amongst today’s youth. I know this makes me sound old, but these kids today have it easy!

Chris: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s what I hear from a lot of Europeans and it’s so unfortunate. The whole entire world is cultivating a deep hatred for America and the sad part about it is that it’s not the American people who deserve the blame. Although I am an American, the America I subscribe to died long ago, so these days I prefer to describe myself as a ‘World Citizen.” And as for skateboarding, from what I hear it is much more lenient in Europe, but Europe has always been a bit ahead of us in terms of progressive cultural ideas. In Europe and even Mexico, people work to live; in America people live to work. I think European and Mexican people have a deeper love for quality of life as opposed to quantity. They get two-hour lunches and siestas; we get a thirty-minute break and then it’s back to the grind.

Juan: Maybe that’s what I missed the most in the book, some guy or girl writing from Europe...

Travis: Chris and I were really hoping to receive more submissions from individuals outside of the U.S. I was expecting Juan or someone at STAF to submit something. Juan, what happened, my friend? Haha!

Chris: I was hoping you’d say that. My focus for FunNotFame is definitely global and not Ameri-centric. I asked a few people from Europe to contribute, great writers, too. Like Niall Neeson. But nobody replied! For the next book, I definitely want to get heads from Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia...global!

Juan: How and where did you ask for stories on the subject?

Chris: Exclusively word of mouth and online. Thanks to all the websites who linked to us and advertised the call for submissions, we were able to compose the entire project from concept to print in 13 weeks. It also helped that I have access to offset printing facilities and was able to print the book myself Ð otherwise it would not have released on time.

Travis: We sent out the call for submission through e-mail, word of mouth, and posted it up on a handful of different message boards. A lot of websites and magazines then graciously helped us get the word out there to even more individuals.

Juan: And how was the reaction? Also, did you let any story out or all of them made them to the book? If not all, which criteria did you use to make the dismissals?

Travis: For the most part everything that was submitted on time made the cut. Some pieces needed no work, some needed a little work here and there, and others needed to be completely gutted and reworked from scratch. However, Chris and I were very careful not to mess with the voice or content of the pieces while editing, and that’s what gives the book that raw, honest feeling. No Comply is a powerful, passionate and solid f-n book. I’m not just saying that ‘cause I co-edited the damn thing either. Seriously, I think that’s the reason why it has been getting a lot of notoriety from the lit snobs and critics.

Chris: Almost all of them made the cut; there were a few that came in too late, and a few that required heavy editing, but we really wanted to include everybody who took the time to respond, and we are still accepting stories and submissions online. A second printing is already being planned.

Juan: Yeah, I said the thing I missed the most was some European story, but I lied. The thing I missed the most was a police officer’s testimony, but I assume that’s an impossible one to get, right?

Travis: We tried hard to get a story from an officer, but it didn’t end up working out. We’re planning on doing a second run of No Comply soon, and that edition will feature more stories, more illustrations, and a couple interviews with individuals in positions of authority.

Chris: Oh man, I tried SO hard to get a police officer’s testimon Scott Bourne has a friend who skates and is a police officer; I contacted him but nothing turned up. I suppose I should have talked to Chuck Wampler or even Mic-E...I actually had an idea to flip the title for the second printing: Go Somewhere Else: Authority Speaks on Skateboarding. That book would be full of stories from police, legislators and security guards exclusively.

Juan: So, as I said above, Skateboarding Speaks on Authority is the first title in the Skateboarding Speaks series. So which one will be next?

Travis: We’re still discussing that. We’ve been tossing a few ideas around...I will say that I’m really excited that Chris lives here in San Francisco now. That will make future collaborations a hell of a lot easier.

Chris: Aside from my solo projects I’m getting ready to drop a call for submissions on two more installments, and there are about a half-dozen being planned. The two I’m feeling right now are Skateboarding Speaks on Public Skateparks, and Skateboarding Speaks on Religion, Spirituality and the Paranormal. We also get many people asking to do Skateboarding Speaks on Politics, but we’ll see. There won’t be any more books until I secure an investor for Fun Not Fame, because for the first three years it was funded personally. With a little financial help from our artist-in-chief Dale Dreiling, Travis and I paid all the expenses of No Comply and its marketing out of our own pockets; it was truly a do-it-yourself deal. Now it’s time to step up a notch. I’ve been talking to a few people in the industry, so it’s just a matter of time until the right people get behind it.

Juan: And when do you think that will happen?

Chris: I’m hoping early next year. I’m finalizing a business plan as we speak and will probably announce it in November...

Travis: ...and both Chris and I are working on putting out our solo titles first.

Juan: Alright. So end this up by answering the impossible question. You dare?

Chris: Yeah, sure.

Juan: Here you go then: Skateboarding Speaks on Authority…Skateboarders vs. Police Officers. Who is to blame?

Chris: The question of blame always depends on a long list of variables, but in general, I’d say Fugazi said it best: We are all...GUILTY!

Travis: Neither. Both parties are to blame. I seriously don’t think there’s any real solution to this particular problem. No matter how many skate parks are constructed, there’s always going to be guys out there like me that prefer real street skating. Private property or not, if the spot looks good then best believe it’s going to get skated. SKATE AND F*&%$N DESTROY!

Juan: Aaaaaaight...sorry bout that last one ;) Thanks a lot for your time and words...take care and mucha suerte!

Travis: Thanks, Juan!