Rodney - The Ollie [LTDM #001]

Sup gang, homies, home girls, the others and the in-betweens... When I came up with the idea for this column "Lost They Damn Mind" I just wanted somewhere to be able to go off, and touch back to the part of myself that just really loves this shit. As an enjoyer, fan, and cool uncle. This segment is here to celebrate a moment in a creative's body of work when they quantum leaped, blacked out and went into the fabled artistic 9th dimension somehow.

My mind cycled with lots of options - Prince's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" practically writes itself, or maybe something a little esoteric from some kind of outsider artist to prove this wasn't Your Average Review.

But it didn't feel right. I needed something that felt more paradigm shifting as entry number one. Something that philosophically connected to what Dream Soss Media is.

As I was Mullen it over something inside me snapped popped and slid into position - The piece of art I was looking for was The Ollie. Skateboarding's original magic trick and arguably Rodney Mullen's biggest gift to skate culture and the world at large.

So, as we keep building out the website for a place for creatives to get inspired, gather round for the first edition of "Lost They Damn Mind".

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Skateboarding has always had this sense of "kinetic sculpture" to me - a dance mixed with blood sweat and concrete where the wheel is your needle and the whole world is a record to scratch.

THE OLLIE: One small pop for man, one giant hop for mankind.

Now give me a second to bring this one around because the story is a fakie flip into your dreams.

First, let me re-introduce exactly what an "Ollie" is in skateboarding. It's a maneuver that captures imaginations - from the cool kid on the block who got a board for Christmas to a career ripper perfectly boning one out over a trash can - It's something I am hard pressed to find a parallel in any other sport.

To the spectator, it looks like the skater is jumping with the board attached to their feet, yet immediately after they can be seen easily freeing their foot from the grip tape and pumping with no restriction.

BMXs don't have the affect - the handle bars are obvious.

Sinking a 3-pointer doesn't dazzle the same - everybody can make a lucky shot.

But the ollie? Groms quickly ask "Is there glue on your feet?!" before booking it onto your board to quickly "hop" with no success in attaining skateboarding flight.

The Ollie opened up a new kind of verticality in the streets. Natas performs his trademark "Natas Spin" on a fire hydrant with the help of an Ollie.

So how does it stick?

Well, as someone who can perform the trick in most (favorable) conditions, I still don't even really get it.

From mechanical perspective the "pop" of the back foot turns the back truck into a fulcrum. At the same time, that pop of smacking the tail down is also used for the skater to jump which alleviates downward force on the board and it is free to raise into the air at a sharp nose-up angle. The skater slides her foot forward leveling the board and there it is - your own personal form of flight.

But, this trick didn't start in the streets. Rodney actually saw Alan "Ollie" Gelfand smacking his tail down at the edges of pool copings which helped him fly out of the pool. It was a natural enough maneuver to do with velocity already working to make the skater and board weightless. They called it the "Ollie Pop".

Alan "Ollie" Gelfand loved him some of Lum's famous Ollieburger, giving him the now famous moniker.

A young and dedicated Rodney Mullen couldn't get this soaring vision out of his head. He was sick of being a flightless bird. Up until now skating on the ground resembled something more like Yo-Yo or Breakdancing - staying in one relatively small spot while cycling through the different tricks you could do.

But The Paradigm Shift was hurling through the cosmos and about to fire an abec-5 bearing of thought straight into Mullen's dome piece.

Why couldn't he modulate this move from the Y to the X axis?

6 Years after Gelfand's Ollie Pop, Rodney earns the Thrasher cover by modifying the trick for the streets. It is without a doubt the most pivotal technique in skateboarding and helped turn the hobby into a worldwide passion gracing the Olympic stage.

Being a high level competitor at that time, Rodney already had great control of his board as a skater, so all it took was some mental calculations, recalibrations and hundreds of pops until verily, good reader, Skaterkind truly achieved unassisted flight. I think it's worth noting that this invention was based on an observation he had made, and an idea in his mind. That was the flame and fuel for the creative spark to ignite. Now, here's the pivot point.

The real flat spot of this cultural moment

that is about to happen.

This new verticality basically unlocked the whole map (gamers get me). The terrain was open. The camera angle switched from always looking down at your feet to the obstacles in front of you.

In that moment, the longevity of skateboarding was cemented. The wooden toy became a method of conveyance that didn't require significant adaptation to its' hardware because a skilled rider had no limits.

While the trajectory of skateboarding continues into a direction that eventually lands it in the Olympics, Mullen's own trajectory was to soon hit a pebble on the path. Although Mullen ushered in the new technique, it was others who used it to create the world of street skateboarding. He was a freestyle skater which meant the only obstacle he was used to encountering was... a roped off flat square of smooth concrete in which to perform and be cheered on. His star began to fade.

The new generation of skaters grinded ahead pioneering the timeless counterculture of Human vs Opressor - Man vs Capitalist Machine and Skater Vs Security.

Never forget. Mike V vs. Four Random Ocks.

Rodney had to redesign his method. His culture took off with his invention yet at present he was being alienated by that same very thing. He was an alien to street skating, a distant observer in a foreign environment. What had he left? From being on top to being seen as "old school" [pejorative], he forced himself to adapt. Adapt. He didn't completely reinvent himself, but he took care to be a student of this new style. He'd take his findings and blend it with his Old World expertise.

He went on to pioneer dozens of never before scene tricks including the m#$%^king Kickflip and the Darkslide.

The infamous Darkslide. That shi!t is upside down my dood.

The story keeps going, because much like creatives, skaters never really retire. Rodney Mullen went on to showcase his unique blended style across several full film parts, all of which are generally accepted as classic lore. It can take years before you have fluency in your chosen craft, and years again before you learn how to flip fresh slang into the language. Maybe it never happens, but if you pay attention and maintain a passion for your work, maybe it will.

So take ten minutes and go to whatever streaming site they hamster feed us now and watch some Mullen clips.

You, me, none of us may understand it, but it's easy to see that:

RODNEY MULLEN LOST HIS DAMN MIND