I also need to be writing to my physical therapist. 10 months after my left knee sprain, I continue to feel pain when I engage in more than basic knee movements. I do my exercises and continue to see growing strength in my ability to do more for longer, but pain appears during rising and jumping exercises then lingers afterward. I cruise around comfortably enough on board, more painless than walking transit, but haven’t popped a trick in over month. I can recall skate sessions over the past three seasons when I’ve been in less pain than I am at this moment, wonder why this pain persists and what to do differently.
Back when I affiliated with QuarterSnacks, I remember telling Kosta about this dude from Vermont who dressed pretty baggy, did some really technical stuff and bombed the heaviest hills in San Francisco. While Dave Abair’s later professional stylings lean into bareknuckle charges where crusty spots might allow only more basic tricks, the suprisingly technical dependably appear as well, which makes sense considering his boyhood Suciu-esqe early millennial technicality in Brian Brown Vicious Cycle era.
Once when I was driving from New York to Indiana I stayed the night with Jake Johnson in Pittsburgh. He was actually returning to Pittsburgh that night as I arrived in the afternoon, so he told me where to find his house key and weed stash while I chilled until I went to pick him up from the bus stop. He was recovering from a knee surgery and showed me his back patio flatbar setup, Workshop art and collection of hand built models. He took me around town the next day before my afternoon departure. The Panza brothers wouldn’t be skating until later. A 7.5 inch Zoo York deck Andre Page gave me had performed well on Midtown marble, but here I felt like a small boat on a great lake, hardly set to handle choppy Pittsburgh crust. This was the sort of setting in which Dave thrived, and even as he lived his adult life in San Francisco, led to him continuing his history of East Coast board sponsors from 5Boro and Yellow Brand to Scumco, who hosted a premiere of Striking Distance 2 at Union Pool last month, now online:
Striking Distance 2 starts in night vision, outside camping, as Dave Abair’s friend lifts him in the air and body slams him down to break a table with his falling body. One may expect a deliberate distastefulness when one calls one’s company Scumco & Sons, advertised here in their pink Scratch-N-Sniff logo on the back of Dave’s black t-shirt, that this roughhouse cut immediately obliges in portrait mode. Dave appears bald in big cuffed beanie, alien luminescent, drunk, having fun and brushing off painful things as funny. He wonders if he bit through his tongue, then declares himself alright. Between a boyhood broken leg that suffered compartment syndrome, adult ACL reconstruction, and exploding his heel when jumping from a second story to assist in a streetfight, Abair has certainly experienced worse. Knowing what we know now, of Dave’s fentanyl-related death after being declared missing in San Francisco’s Tenderloin two Junes ago, this footage lodges uncomfortably, hardly glamorous, though relatable, on brand and not dissimilar to any number of other hi-jinks clips shown in skate media. Still one senses that Scumco acknowledges how complicated natures may lead to durable underdog appeal and will not sugarcoat or sanitize in their first full length release since Dave’s death. Here he is with first part, riding downhill in a white baseball tee with black sleeves, khakis and a black beanie.
“Dave’s about to eat shit,” someone off camera at the top of the hill proclaims during the beginning of Dave’s bomb. “He’s gonna eat so much shit,” they reaffirm, confident enough I wonder if they know something I don’t to be true, as Dave descends popping ollies over sewer caps and his lookout clears the intersection, naysayer proven wrong. Dulcet strings begin poignant strum as city by the bay towers golden. First line shows a younger Dave with a head of hair skating SF regular stance past buildings to his backside, wearing navy trousers, white shoes and a white 5Boro Cinco Barrios Mother Mary tee. Around the same time in New York I learned switch crooks on a dipped white 5Boro deck with same graphic. Dave looks like Tyler James Mate to me as he quickly manuals a two-stair homefront entrance crest then kickflips a dirt gap filled with rubble where sidewalk should exist. The particular way in which he tweaks his back foot shows how he anticipates the subtle navigations necessary for high speed production as he powerslides to control his roll and facilitate backsideride four wheel driven down the wall ever onward.
“O Flower of Scotland, when will we see your like again? / That fought and died for your wee bit Hill and Glen.” Dress code at Dave’s hometown remembrance in St. Albans welcomed Tartan attire to honor his full-blooded maternal Scottish immigrant lineage; now the Corries’ Highland singing over abundant greenery provides backdrop as Dave front tailslides a front lawn edging cinderblock ledge that begins two cinderblocks high and ends five blocks high as he pops out regs into hill and curbcut onto the street, backside powerslide slalom carving onto the next frontside driveway then he ollies over a railing and drop into the next driveway, quick snap off the curb out of frame to focus on the power lines, “until we meet again.”
Filmer spins past ivy on the mission wall to catch Dave’s half-cab flip and curbside carve around tree box in a grey Thrasher hoodie to hit a tan, waist-heigh dado railing with front nosegrind into sidewalk downhill under a tree, ollie some sidewalk squares then pop into a flatground manual until the sidewalk ends with screen distillation into VX1000 sun saturation. Dave front shoves the double set Danny Renaud varial flipped in Mosaic and one can imagine the joy of getting to the real spot in the real city and getting a real clip, with frontside shove-it being a trick most emblematic of Scumco’s burly ethos while Renaud's varial flip displayed curlicued bayou flair.
Abair switch front 180s up a curb and lets downhill gravity roll, carving from sidewalk onto doorpath past planted birds of paradise as filmer slows to a stop at the edge where Dave ollies over and down a driveway into the next flowersilled bank carved around parked car to street ride past modernist row houses, wind whipping back black hoodie to reveal red beanie underneath. A second angle, long lens backside, shows the gap’s scope and again, how he caresses the suction of the bank upon impact recalls this part’s first kickflip. Dave released fifteen parts in over the past decade, turned pro at Scumco when Obama was president and this footage picks and chooses from previous productions. He top speed ollies a street gap and rides away past white picket fence. The next San Franciscan downhill line begins riding up driveway bank to back nosegrind across the top red painted Philly step popped into manual across concrete front yard.
SF’s famous brick 3-up-3-down that houses a porn studio get half-cab up the three, back wallride on the white marble entrance frame then backside bigspin down three in the same navy and tan Huf shoes that James from Labor flowed me once. A foggy used car lot line begins with chain ollie late model carved to back 5050 on the burgundy-painted headquarters ledge, then Dave whips his pop-out carve to accelerate with no push up the next half block of rising parking lot as parallel sidewalk descends so he can ollie the white cinderblock wall from lot to walk, before more pushless cruising into the grey street through milky sky grey as his once-white shoes nollie flip then taking a push downhill to prepare himself for this line’s fifth trick, a driveway bank ollie hurdled backsideover white wrought iron handrail. He cracks a briefs smile in his thick cuffed forest green beanie as he humps his way out of last impact absorption marathon that hints at the enormity of now completed undertaking.
Dave rides downstream frontside to loft ollie past an adobe barrier and land in lipslide on the periwinkle painted Philly step of the next house down the hill, riding off into some nice black asphalt around an elbow’s corner.
Red beanie black hoodie Abair throws down from a turquoise housefront door and ollies the first five steps plus the lefthand barrier where the stairs turn right and the potted hedge past that. Second angle shows close-up filmer’s fisheye to emphasize the cannonball stunt’s cramped quarters and the mismatched Volvo doors curbside parked into sunshine as first funereal song fades.
Rust belt claptrapping in plain air under white skies, faded VX glosses over boarded doors on abandoned warehouse, faded spray paint monumentalizing neglect, as Dave takes the alley path up a disused, dandelion sprouted loading dock to pop kickflip onto the red tin roof housing a chainlinked shed to stomp his neck high wire ride wearing camouflage cargo pants, white shoes and white tee down into the rewilding alley, continuing down to pop front 180 over flora shooting from the road bed.
Next two quick clips show the perils of attempting manual tricks on trafficked spaces as brassy riffs hit and Dave Abair’s name appears in white letters overlaid onscreen as he right hand accepts congratulations and offers thanks for support following an unseen make in a Scumco breast patch jacket.
Pharaoh Monch “Push”es the second track forward with Dave speeding through another alley, popping backside onto a shingled roof’s bank to back wallride the stone textured whitewashed wall above before returning to roofride alleyside.
“I live my life, one day at a time,” echoes with carpe diem urgency as Dave dashes down sidewalk and filmer follows backside from the street past a morass of handrails fronting a demolished lot so Dave ollies the flat gap where the entrance to this ghost structure once stood. More metal bars separate viewer from subject as Dave front 180s down a sidewalk one-stair to position himself frontside facing in black hoodie with white FTC chest logo to switch ollie a crusty nine into downhill alley landing. In another video he does a further half cab into the bottom of the hill, but faster cut here with music maintains energetic pacing. “Push” released the same year as Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push” and both tracks hit with similar energy well suited to skate documentation. Though of course Lupe’s skate tribute is more obvious, Pharoah’s track provides enough suitable entendres that one can sense how Dave must have taken this track as lifestyle anthem.
The filmer rolls atop roadside bank as Abair approaches from the street, pops frontside curb ollie to bankroll up onto this concrete landing where he front tailslides a turquoise stoop in black Converse with white chevrons and carves onto the sidewalk past piano key tiled steps to wing an ollie down a banked sidewalk section into further graded driveway back onto the street from whence he came. I imagine his early life in snowy, rural Vermont attuned him toward slalomic downslope passage that San Francisco concretely equivocates.
Where the streets have no names, under power lines with towering green growth filling fisheye for flatground nollie tre and powerful push to ollie off the road over bushes and a busted fence to landing on an adjacent dead-end street heading downhill fast in an OJ wheels back graphic black tee and camo pants.
An urban academic courtyard provides companions with a six-stair for chilling while Dave switch ollies that, continues to pop manual on a pad down a level then speedily situates to heelflip a long, low four-stair, swerving his landing to reveal and avoid the mountainous fountainous sculpture at the base. On a sunny autumn day he kickflips up a curb, skimboards a powerslide then boosts ollie over a large green recycling bin to downhill.
Atop graffitied ditch, Abair rick flips into the first bank, then reaches bottom twist to corkscrew up the pocket and pop frontside shove-it to fakie pumped up reverse route with a smile. On more curvaceous transition, he frontside carves the broad lip of a reservoir retaining wall and pumps up the spillway channel backside, crouching to whip nollie blizzard flip at the cusp on down the drain. A tight white natural quarter pipe, hip high, prompts alley oop nollie frontside flip clipping smith grind in camo pants, then he’s back in black FTC hoodie at night to heelflip backside wallride from black parking lot bank onto white wall in black shoes with white soles. Next nocturne, camera lights blue pad nose manual balanced into further nose manual down white banked siding before Dave cruises past collected crew with a few fast pushes to accelerate his nollie down eight into abysmal dark landing pit. He wallies up a loading dock into nose manual around a stable and pops into a far side corner pocket asphalt bank. He rides manual across a sidewalk into back wallride on an overpass approachment, then back 180s over cobblestones off curb before reaching the bridge. He kickflip nose manuals a driveway pad and ducks his rollaway into someone’s tight front door entry space wearing a Low Card hoodie.
In grey camo pants, he switch front shoves, then switches his stance mid-push for regular ride onto sidewalk and down the block, cuts into a driveway and wallies up, onto and across concrete front yard, then back 180s down to sidewalk shifted switch rollaway. At a white downhill ledge spot Massimo Cavedoni skated in Six Newell, Dave fakie front nosegrind reverts to regular, cruises downhill as buildingside ledge drops to next section for back boardslide turned front 180 down the drop onto next lower ledge for back lip. Following clip shows the same back board to back lip combo with “the flow, so underground” now nollie twirled frontside 270 alley-ooping exit as soundtrack swoops, the Pharaoh say “Push!” and we sense how Dave is perpetually skating at the forefront of his abilities, channelling belief into progression on some true dilapidation that mightn’t receive much love otherwise. The way Dave places complete trust in his board as a facilitator on these perilous excursions makes me imagine he had his board with him when he died.
Two interlocked boards prop a grate bump to street sofa over which Dave hucks his beloved heelflip. His shaved head recalls Peter Ramondetta as Abair heelflips into nose manual atop a cement waterfall playground and nestles into the crawling bank descent. Affront a civic building, he pops nollie shove into manual across the pad that spans the double-set entrance steps to drop.
This is for my blue collar workin', beer guzzlin', bootleg DVD sellin', keep hustlin'
Push, if you represent the struggle then push. Dave’s wearing two chains over a black tee with a fat cuffed black beanie as he begins downhill stair set sequence with a softly lofted kickflip down the first and biggest, then riding ollie lifts over furthermore as downhill speed accelerates. He front 180s driveway and hedgerow as a heavy single clip, then unveils a cramped residential front door triple-set ollie that reminds me of fellow East Coast Dave Bachinsky stacking in San Fran for City Skateboards. Abair’s spongy style also shows traces of Jon Newport from his time in Florida with Jimmy Lannon on Yellow Brand and one considers how many thousands of skaters Dave sessioned with in the triangulation of his life between Vermont, San Francisco and Miami.
Dave’s next trick on the sideways natural halfpipe named The Hook is nollie frontside flip, caught alley-oop tweaked touching 9pm, his pinpoint recapturing of the same trick done in a full pipe for the SHUFFL video years before. Dave’s backwards black hat over shaved head with white Skate and Destroy tee, light washed denim and black shoes personifies a skateboard archetype, here stunting smoother than apparent heshness might indicate, akin to Tim Upson, with hang-ten rollaway testament to hesh/fresh cross-pollination in SF skate scene that Walker Ryan references in Top of Mason, which seems to include a somewhat Abair-inspired character.
Dave’s next and last trick is noseslide on a regular sized ledge quickly turned into a three block hill bomb, accelerating into the future as wind blows sideways. The skateboarder’s frequent self-propulsion method makes an easy comparison for “Push,” but as Dave crosses intersection after intersection, the deliberate pushing forward that his heart did seems equally apparent. “But I’ve already bought a high definition Dolby stereo 3-D helmet cam.” The Scumco logo appears stamped white on the scene bleeding into the white sky marked with filmer’s hand.
Striking Distance 2 titling appears and we go forth into the rest of this half hour feature with the knowledge that teammates are putting on for their fallen comrade: Kyle Nicholson, Kevin Taylor, Nick Teodori, Ty Beall, Jay Pitser, Elias Myers, Brian Downey, Justin Grzechowiak, Jake Baldini and Josh Narvaez all contribute to the engagement. The video ends after credits with Dave pushing away, Scumco logo on back of his black tee, popping ollie over one sewer cap then heelflipping the next at the hill’s crest and down toward downtown powersliding out of sight until top of his head disappears. Every session is our last until the next one. Let’s see if Mars wants to run with me skating through the park.