“To this day I still wonder if that frog’s soul was
taken in place of mine. I’ll never know for sure”
20 ThrasherMail Drop c/o THRASHER PO Box 884570^ San Francisco, CA 94188–4570Spirits, ghosts, phantoms who roll. Those skaters who have passed, still reside in your soul.
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Skating was the last thing I was thinking about
until the guy in the cell next to mine slid a
Thrasher under my door and said, “Here’s
something to look at.” He could not have
known what my reaction would be. It put me
right back on my board. I can taste freedom.
I can feel the pain in my right arm I broke.
Every good or bad memory came back to me.
Skating saved my life. I would have been dead
100 times over. I don’t ever regret anything,
but reading about the King of the Road in this
beat up old Thrasher makes me wish I would
have stuck to skating instead of this crazy life
I can’t stay away from. I forgot how free and
at peace I was. This mag took me out of my
cell for a while. I get out November 1st and
the first thing I’m going to do is hug my mom
and then skate. This letter is thanking anyone
and everyone involved in skating. From my
heart to all of yours, thank you for making me
feel free again. Skate the lightning, and sleep
with the angels and the skeletons in your
closet for good measure.
Johnny Powers
Skating can transport you. Body and soul. —T-ed
PIPE DAMAGE
I’m reaching out for help solving a mystery of
my past which involves a magazine, a full-pipe
and a frog. It was August 1998. I was 18 years
get help. Those were mostly the pre-cell
phone ‘pager’ days. Just then, some other
skaters showed up. Luckily, one of them had a
cell phone and called 911. I stayed with you
until paramedics came and helped hoist you
out.” After hearing all of this, needless to say,
I was blown away. I only remember being
there, then waking up in the hospital. Thank
God for good friends, random skaters with a
cell phone, and the life of a frog. To this day I
still wonder if that frog’s soul was taken in place
of mine. I’ll never know for sure. Here is the
part of the mystery that only you can help meold, just another beautiful day in SoCal. A few
friends and I decided to fill an ice chest with
beers and spend the day skating. Just living
the dream. We went to the infamous Baldy
full-pipe. It’s a bad-ass drainage pipe that
opens up into a 2-level aqueduct. So, many
beers and pipe carves later, I took a nasty spill
head-first down into the lower level of the
aqueduct. It was filled with boulders and
broken beer bottles. I nearly broke my neck
and back, went into a coma for 10 days, and
got 8 staples and 42 stitches. Afterwards,
when I met up with one of my buddies, Shay,he told me this account: “When you fell, I saw
you mangled and unconscious. I climbed
down and you were leaking blood. I leaned
you up against the wall and wrapped my shirt
around your head. I started to clean up the
wounds. Just then you became awake,
opened your eyes and said, ‘kill the frog, kill
the frog.’ And then you fell back unconscious
again. I was tripping and thought you were
just mumbling bullshit. But I looked around us
anyway and sure enough, there was a frog
there! So, I killed it. It was a crazy thing to do,
but I felt I had to. Everyone was panicking
about what to do because we had no way toLEFT TO RIGHT: DAPHNE NAVA, NEW BRAUNFELS, TX / MALCOHM O’NEILL, SALEM, ORLEFT TO RIGHT: DAPHNE NAVA, NEW BRAUNFELS, TX / MALCOHM O’NEILL, SALEM, ORwith. Not too long later, I was told by a couple
of friends that I was in Thrasher, or at least
something about my fall was mentioned. The
random skaters that showed up in the nick of
time and called for help must have submitted
something about what happened. I’m guessing
it was Hall of Meat but I’m not sure. I’ve never
seen it, I would like to. I’d love to have a copy
of that issue, if it exists. Maybe I could learn
who these guys were that saved my ass.
Timothy Fessler
Barstow, CA
Glad you survived but that frog was straight-up
murdered. —T-ed