many years ago
in a lifetime very far far away
a life without a wife, two kids, two dogs, a straight 9-5 gig, and a mortgage
I was in college
it was not time well spent
but it was a good time just the same

during that time of the mid 80's I was living and loving the music of post punk DC hardcore
riding a skateboard
dying my hair and growing it long
no real cares in the world other than where we were drinking that night

while in college in Southern Maryland I met an assortment of local folks who also skated, most of which were far better skaters than I
most of which shared a love for PUNK ROCK
more specifically DC Hardcore
admitably I was playing varsity soccer and riding my bike
skating was just yet another aside
in many ways it seemed that I shared more in common with many of the locals than I did with white bred college crowd
there were some colorful characters...
Todd and Toby Morris
Damian and his sister Anya, Damian who was a student, later became my room mate
Rusty Pistaccio and older guy with his own place
Dave Bean with a ramp in his backyard
Tevor with a ramp in his backyard
some guys I knew from the bars that I would go trail riding with, Greg and others whose names and faces are far forgotten
there are more names, but not all central to the story

These guys were locals
Every college has its local/college by rivalry
I have seen BREAKING AWAY enough times to know that I am more CUTTER than COLLEGEBOY
many of these guys attended the college parties and chased the college girls
of course boys being boys....there was often some tension

back to work
more on this later




back

Rusty and Todd....
there story is an intersting one
I can recall Todd and his kid brother Toby talking about getting out of the county, St Mary's County, Maryland
it was funny
Toby was no more than 14 or 15 when we first met
he was full of this raw energy, most of it positive, all of it channeled into skating and his desire to get to New York
seems that their dreams and desires have come true
and they seemed to have done it all on their terms
all rocking together in H2O

Rusty looks like the same dude I met some 15 years ago
he was a cool cat then
and it looks like he has not shaken the cool and has managed to stay true to his course
he still makes music and jewelry
check out his site for his hand made Jewelry, PNUT


the point of this story is blurred and so are my memories
just ranting because there was a mention of RUSTY and his artwork on VH1 the other day
so I did some Web Surfing to catch up and see where these guys are at
it gave me a warm feeling to see that it is all working out for these guys
it has been a decade since I have seen any of these guys
last I saw they had less tattoos
but the same positive attitude

would love to catch up with them
guess if I chased them down I could hear the stories right from their mouths
instead of reading it all online