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Dirt Head had to miss this trip, he was pretty occupied with his newborn baby. Raze was absent also, he attended a graffiti convention in Phoenix or something. Like Scotty, he's got some creative juice for painting. The only one smart enough to conceal his identity from his tag in an article on graffiti artists in the local paper, he was quoted emphasizing the importance of personal style. He's got it. My last night in Tucson, Raze showed me a pool block on which he'd painted the entrance to Mt. Baldy that matched up alongside Scotty's "frontside thruster" painting.
These guys are what "skateboarding travel culture" is all about. In fact, the concept of their title was conceived on the road. "Dream Destroyers were started on a little trip to Phoenix, Arizona ... Evil Albert. He's a nice guy. He's a hippie. He was going with us, God knows why, and his girlfriend, she sucks ... He wanted to start this company called Together. It's like hug, smoke out, go skate, and kiss and shit, I don't know. So Scott said, 'I want to start a company called Dream Destroyers. Destroying mothers' dreams.' Albert got a little offended and said, 'Nah, I theenk I like Together better. Eet's got a better message, eet's poseetive.' And Scott said 'Yeah I think I want Dream Destroyers.' And it was all said and done. I wrote it on my shoe." Darren's got a funny way of explaining things, he's a character. He gave up drinking and getting high before I met him but I could sense the cheerfulness and motivation this has given him, as well as the occasional uptight outburst. His energy never gave out; one night, he sanded one of the classic bicycles down to a silver finish, while the rest of us drank beers around a fire in the backyard. |
 "Frontside thruster" acrylic on pool coping by Scott Hughes |