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Week One
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Monday March 19, 2007 - Chula Vista High School (Chula Vista, California) It’s hard to believe that 2007 is already here, as we embark on yet another adventure with the got milk? Gravity Tour. It was back in October when we wrapped up the 2006 tour at the Miramar Air Show, but it seems like only last month. Seeing as how we ended last year’s tour in San Diego, it only seemed fitting to start the new tour where the old one left off.
This year’s tour is going to hit thirty-five high schools this spring, and the very first one was in south San Diego, at Chula Vista High School. Since today was the first stop of the tour, we had plenty of media buzz to start our day.
The day began for me, and the ramp crew at 4:45 AM. We arrived on site to greet Rod Luck, a local TV personality from KUSI-TV, and his camera crew. Mr. Luck is known for his crazy antics during his interviews, and he wasted no time getting to know the athletes and crew, and asking questions about the ramp. We did several live shots throughout the morning on KUSI. In addition to our coverage at the school, Fabiola da Silva was in downtown San Diego, doing an in-studio interview over at KNSD-TV. Late on in the day, we would receive a visit from a third TV station, for a live shot on the afternoon news. In addition to all of the television coverage, we also had several local newspapers come out to cover the show as well.
After all the media attention, it had almost felt like we had done several shows, and we still had the students to perform for. Fortunately the athletes had some downtime to relax before the assembly started. The students filled the bleachers around 11:30, and it was time to kick off the first official show of the tour. Chula Vista High School has a student body of about 2,900, and they all came out to the football stadium. The athletes for this week of the tour are Alex Perelson (skateboard), Danny Mayer (skateboard), Fabiola da Silva (inline), Dave Voelker (BMX) and Gabe Weed (BMX).
The students greeted the athletes with a roar of applause and enthusiasm, that never let up, but Fabiola was definitely the crowd favorite of the day. She was throwing down flatspins, big airs and 360’s with ease. Gabe Weed dazzled the students with his flatland skills. Danny and Alex put on a clinic with all of their kickflips and varials. Dave Voelker was blasting some big airs and finished the show with a HUGE 540 and a backflip.
Today was a half day for the students of Chula Vista high school. They were dismissed at noon, but more than half of them stuck around to get autographs, and to be a part of the “live show” on channel 8 that took place about 20 minutes after the show.
It was a long day, but an amazing one, and I can’t think of a better way to start a seven-week tour. Special thanks go out to all of the newspaper and TV reporters who came out and took part in the kickoff of the 2007 got milk? Gravity Tour. Another big special thanks goes out to Vice Principal Kevin Willard, for all of his help and planning, to make today one of, if not the best “kick off” the tour has ever had.
-- Jimmy C
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Tuesday March 20, 2007 - Torrey Pines High School (San Diego, California) Day two of the got milk? Gravity Tour, took us to the north side of San Diego, to Torrey Pines High. Yesterday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. Today was a little chilly and overcast, and the forecast actually called for rain.
We arrived at the school around 7am, when the sun began to poke out, and it looked like the clouds were gone for the day. Just about an hour before showtime, the clouds came back and it actually began to mist on and off, but it cleared up just before showtime. Today’s show was a 30 minute lunch assembly, and the ramp was set up in a great location, the main quad right in front of the gym.
The bell rang at 11:55, and as the students flooded the quad to eat lunch, they were greeted by the ramp and the athletes, warming up. This was a special show because we had a bonus athlete today. Zach Miller is one of the best amateur vert skateboarders in the world. He also happens to be the son of vert skateboarding legend Chris Miller. Well it just so happens that Zach is a senior at Torrey Pines High. He had showed up when we were setting up in the morning and asked if he could skate in the show, and of course we said yes.
The show started right as the bell rang, and right after the introductions it started to mist again. It would come and go, but it never was enough to stop the show. Zach wasted no time in getting used to the ramp, and he got plenty of support from his fellow students. Dave Voelker pulled off several 540’s during the show and ended with his signature “backflip fakie”. Danny Mayer decided to try a 540, which prompted Zach to do the same. Zach came pretty close, and Danny landed one on his first try, and he even tried a “kickflip 540” during his last run of the show.
It was a fairly quick show, but a great one. Zach stuck around to sign autographs with the rest of the athletes, but then quickly had to run back to class when the bell rang.
Special thanks go out to Mr. Scott Chodorow for arranging the event at Torrey Pines High, and for his hospitality today. The students of Torrey Pines High are very lucky to have a teacher like him.
-- Jimmy C
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Wednesday March 21, 2007 - El Capitan High School (Lakeside, California) Today we woke up to pouring rain. It started to rain last night around 11, and it did not stop until this afternoon. As we pulled out of the hotel parking lot and headed towards the school, we were hoping that the rain was just in our area, and not out in the city of Lakeside.
As we pulled up to the campus of El Capitan High, our fears were confirmed, it had been raining there all night as well. That being said, the football field was entirely too wet for us to set the ramp up, but we had a back up plan.
Sandy Martinez was our contact at El Capitan, and she greeted us with one of her ASB students, Josh VanDermark. We told them about our indoor show options, and we started looking around the campus for a suitable place to either do a flatland show, or a box jump show. The gym would have been ideal, but the students were doing state testing in the gym. After searching the whole campus, we realized the gym was the only option. Sandy said she would look into working something out, and told us to hang tight.
About two hours later, I received a call from Josh. Testing was over and we were clear to use the gym. With that news, Armand, Tyler, and I sprung into action, and began to assemble our portable box jump. All of the students were packed into the gymnasium bleachers.
The show consisted of Gabe Weed riding flatland, and Dave Voelker on the box jump. We had about a thirty-minute time limit, and Gabe and Dave made the most of it. Gabe did his usual amazing flatland routines, while Dave treated the students and faculty to 360’s, superman airs, and plenty of backflips. At one point, Dave even had several teachers and the school Principal lay on the basketball court on their backs. He placed them side-by-side and put a hat on the Principal’s chest. He then pedaled towards them and did a “bunny hop” which is basically jumping over someone or something, without the use of a ramp. The crazy part about it was that when he jumped over them, he knocked the hat off of the Principal’s chest, with his back tire. Now that’s what I call precision.
Despite the rain, it was a great show, and the whole gymnasium was packed. The assembly was actually a reward for students who had done well on their testing this month. Special thanks go to the school staff for being so flexible with us today, and to Sandy Martinez and Josh VanDermark for all of their help this morning.
-- Jimmy C
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Thursday March 22, 2007 - Hilltop High School (Chula Vista, California) The rain from yesterday left the area, and we had nothing but clear skies for our show today. For this event, we headed back down to Chula Vista for a performance at Hilltop High. Hilltop is a large campus, just down the street from Monday’s show at Chula Vista High. Our setup area was a little different. Instead of a quad or a field, the staff set us up in front of a large concrete amphitheatre, which made excellent viewing for the students.
We got set up around 10 AM, and the students were due to come out around 11:15. We had one big assembly that lasted almost an hour, and the entire 9th and 10th grade classes, were the ones who got to see the show. When the students first started to make their way out, the seats were only half full. Then there was a second wave of students, and there wasn’t a seat left in that ampitheatre.
Gabe Weed got the show started and got the crowd riled up with some of his high tech flatland moves. Danny Mayer and Alex Perleson were putting on a display of varials and kickflips. Alex was going extra high on the ramp today, much to the approval of the students. Fabiola da Silva was getting into the high-air game as well, and she even floated a few flatspins. At the end of the show, Danny had already taken his last run, and Dave Voelker was about to drop in. Danny threw his helmet back on, and decided to go for a 540, making it on the first try. Since Danny had gone upside down, it was now Dave’s turn. He rolled in and did a few setup airs, then spun a HUGE 540, right into a giant backflip to fakie. The crowd went nuts when he did this.
After the riding and skating was over, Daveee Blair, tour emcee, did a trivia session with the students that really hammered the anti – tobacco message home. He even got the Principal involved.
That’s it for today, it’s hard to believe that week one of the tour is almost over. It seems like just yesterday that we started. Last stop this week, La Costa Canyon High in Carlsbad.
-- Jimmy C
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Friday March 23, 2007 - La Costa Canyon High School (Carlsbad, California) After the show yesterday, the clouds rolled in and we had some wild thunderstorms in the area of our hotel. I had never seen anything like this before in the San Diego area before. It reminded me of a Midwest thunderstorm in the summertime. We got to see some heavy rain, and quite an impressive lightning show. It rained off and on through the night, and was still misting a bit when we hit the road this morning. To our advantage, it didn’t rain as hard to the north, and it was nice and dry in the city of Carlsbad and more importantly, at La Costa Canyon High School.
La Costa Canyon is a large campus that almost looks like a community college. Our show today was in a large grassy quad at the front of the campus. Our show was during lunch, and was actually the big finale to a large pep rally they had earlier in the day. The pep rally started in the auditorium with presentations by all of the spring sports teams. It was a pretty cool event, and our tour emcee, Daveee Blair, had to give a quick 5 minute speech to the students about our show taking place in the quad. He was a little nervous, but he got through it. Right before the assembly we met a teacher from the school, who just happens to be the brother of legendary surfer, Rob Machado.
Once the pep rally was over, the students were dismissed and sent to lunch. As they exited the auditorium into the main quad they were greeted by the ramp and the athletes warming up. The whole lunch period was about 40 minutes long, and the students got quite an eyeful. Dave Voelker and Fabiola da Silva were blasting big airs, Danny Mayer and Alex Perelson were doing varials and kickflips, while Gabe Weed did all of his ground tricks on the flatbottom.
During the show, one of the staff members held a BBQ with some of the ASB students, so the students could get their lunch right by the ramp, and not have to miss any of the action. It was a perfect day for riding/skating, and Danny even tried a “kickflip Mctwist” during his last run.
A big special thanks goes out to Andrew Saltsman from La Costa Canyon High. He went through a lot of extra planning for this event and the BBQ in the quad was all his idea as well.
That’s it for week # 1 of the got milk? Gravity Tour. It seemed to have passed in a blur. We have the weekend off, and then it’s on to Los Angeles.
-- Jimmy C
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