Week Two
 

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Monday March 26, 2007 - South High School (Torrance, California) Week two of the got milk? Gravity Tour, kicked off today in the Los Angeles area. Our first stop of the week, took us to the city of Torrance at South High School.

It was pretty cloudy and misting somewhat when we got up this morning, but not enough to halt the set-up. South High School has a nice flat blacktop area between the school and the football field, and it made for an excellent area for the show.  Since the area was so level, the ramp was set-up in no time and we had an hour or so to kill before show time. The athletes arrived shortly after we finished, and we pulled out the basketball and played a few games of “horse”.

Shortly after noon, some local media showed up, and it was time to put on the pads and get down to business. The local NBC and FOX television stations, as well as a couple of newspapers came out to cover the event.  Reporters interviewed Danny Mayer, Fabiola da Silva and me.

The bell rang at 12:20, and the students were released to lunch. They had 40 minutes to eat, and check out some of the best action sports athletes in the world, while learning about the dangers of tobacco and the benefits of including milk and dairy in a healthy diet.

Danny Mayer has been skating in these shows like he’s trying to win a championship competition. Every single day, he takes the show to a new level. The students were very appreciative of the athletes and their talents, and they erupted in a roar when Dave Voelker ended the show with a backflip on his BMX bike.

Special thanks to Vicki Hildreth from South High for having us out today, and special thanks to NBC and FOX for covering the event.
-- Jimmy C

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Tuesday March 27, 2007 - Palos Verdes High School (Palos Verdes Estates, California) We watched the news last night and heard that a late winter storm was quickly moving southward through California. It had already dumped rain and snow in northern California, and was expected to bring more of the same to the southern regions overnight and in the morning. This concerned us greatly because our show today was on a football field, and it was an early show. Despite the weather reports, we awoke to find it had not rained, at least not at our hotel, so we headed to the school.

Palos Verdes High School is a relatively small campus, in a gorgeous neighborhood, nestled between multi million dollar homes with sweeping ocean views. It was still dark when we arrived on campus, but to our surprise the football field was still bone dry. Although the field was dry, we still had another problem, the wind. The school campus is located about 100 yards from the beach, and the whole area is elevated from the coast somewhat. It was pretty windy inland, due to the storm, but being that close to the water, the winds were a lot more intense.

I had a quick meeting with the ramp crew about the wind and we all agreed to go for it and hope that the wind would die down by show time. It took us a little longer than usual, but we got the ramp up. It was really hard setting up the barricades and railings, because the wind would almost rip them out of our hands.

The assembly started at 10:30, and the entire campus made their way out to the football field. The wind did die down a little right at show time, but conditions were still challenging for skating and riding. I actually told the athletes “take it easy, don’t go overboard in this wind” and Dave Voelker promptly replied with, “that’s not in my nature Jimmy, I’m going full blast.” With that, he put on his helmet and was the first to hit the ramp. Despite the windy conditions, the athletes skated and rode this show like the wind wasn’t blowing at all. Dave Voelker even wrapped up the show with his signature “540” straight into a “backflip fakie”. None of us could believe that he tried that in these super windy conditions.

After the show, Daveee Blair did trivia for got milk? prizes and the students were able to sample some free milk from Swiss Dairy, one of the local dairies in the LA area that help make up the CMAB.

Special thanks today go out to Kristin Clement from Palos Verdes High. This was the first time we performed at this school, and she went out of her way to make sure it was a success. I would also like to thank my two ramp crew staff, Tyler Hank and Armand Sylvie. A lot of people would have said “no way” to working in the weather conditions we had today, and both of those guys went out of their way, to make today happen. Lastly, I want to thank the athletes for performing in the wind. When the weather is rough, I let them make the call. They went above and beyond to make this a memorable experience for the students and staff of Palos Verdes High. I couldn’t ask for a better crew.
-- Jimmy C

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Wednesday March 28, 2007 - Palisades Charter High School (Pacific Palisades, California) After yesterday’s windy conditions at Palos Verdes High, we got treated to quite a storm as we headed back to the hotel. I had never seen clouds or conditions like this in Los Angeles before, and it was quite a spectacle to see this storm move in over downtown LA. It was over as quickly as it had started, and the whole weather front finally moved out of the area. That being said, it was nice and clear for our set-up/show today at Pacific Palisades High.

Our show today was an early assembly, at 10:30 so we had to start setting up at 6:30. It was still dark when we arrived, and it was pretty cold because this campus is really close to the ocean. The skies were clear, but it was still fairly windy.

The assembly today lasted one hour and the entire campus came out, which was roughly about 2,700 students. As they made their way onto the field, they were greeted by a refrigerated truck from our friends at Swiss Dairy, and their truck driver, Stoney, was busy handing out free milk. Once the whole student body made it out to the field, it was show time, and the athletes had plenty of time to show their skills. The entire assembly was an hour, and the skating/riding portion lasted over 40 minutes.

Everybody was riding/skating so well today. Danny Mayer and Alex Perelson were digging deep into their bag of tricks, and pulling off things I haven’t seen them do in a long time. Alex really tried to push the limits today by trying a “blunt to kickflip out”. He almost made it the first time, so we dared him to try it again. He gave it 4 or 5 attempts, and came closer each time. That’s a really hard trick to do, especially on a metal ramp. Dave Voelker wrapped the show up in true Voelker fashion by doing a HUGE 540, right into a big backflip.

After the show, Daveee did trivia questions with the students for got milk? prizes, and one lucky student even won a got milk? skateboard deck. It seemed like the entire hour went by in a blur, but soon the field was empty, and it was just us again, time to pack it up and head to the next school.

A big special thanks today goes out to Stoney, the truck driver for Swiss Dairy who came out for the 2nd day in a row and passed out free milk, and to ASA employee Anne Mastoris, for coming out to assist us today and for helping Stoney pass out milk too.
-- Jimmy C

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Thursday March 29, 2007 - Venice High School (Los Angeles, California) What is up with the wind in southern California this week? Today’s show was at Venice High School, and when we arrived this morning, it was nice and sunny and calm. As soon as we started unloading the truck and setting up, our old friend the wind decided to make another appearance and make life difficult. It would be calm at times, then start gusting again. It was pretty mellow for an hour before show time, but as usual, right before show time, it started gusting again.

Our show today was one big assembly. The staff at Venice had made a special schedule for today and had a “double 5th period”. During the second half of 5th period, the classes were brought out to the football field and placed in the bleachers. The ramp was in the middle of the field, just off the 50 yard line. Both sets of bleachers were packed.  It was almost surreal. Words don’t describe how crazy it looked with that many students packed into the stadium, you just have to look at my pictures to appreciate it.

We had an hour today to do our show, and despite the wind, the athletes put on quite a performance. This was also a special show for us, because the ASA office is literally a ¼ of a mile down the street from Venice High, so some of the office staff decided to stop by and check out the show as well.

Gabe Weed is just amazing with what he can do on that flatland bike, and today, it seemed like he took twice as many runs as usual. Danny Mayer was busy doing pretty much every trick he knows how to do, while Alex Perelson was blasting huge airs, despite the windy conditions. Tour athlete/spokesperson Fabiola da Silva, was floating huge airs as well, and threw down some flatspins, 360’s and 540’s. Speaking of 540’s, Dave Voelker launched one early in the show. That’s a trick he normally saves for the end of the show, but today he was feeling good and did it in his second or third run. He also ended the show with another big backflip.

The students of Venice High were a great crowd today, they even did a wave today. It started in one bleacher at first, but after a little coaxing from tour announcer Daveee Blair, they made the wave start at one bleacher and go completely around to the other side. We’ve done a lot of football field/bleacher shows before, but I can honestly say we have never had ANY school pull off a wave like that. It was awesome.
-- Jimmy C

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Friday March 30, 2007 - Fairfax High School (Los Angeles, California) Today was the last day of week # 2 of the tour, and it brought us to good ole Hollywood, at a school called Fairfax High. It was sunny and clear skies today and guess what? There was no wind to contend with today either. We arrived at the campus around 8:30 and met with our contact, Mrs. Heideman. She showed us to our setup area and the crew got busy. We had one assembly today, of about 45 minutes.

The bell rang at 11:50 and the students made their way to the basketball courts. It was a scorcher today, easily into the 80’s. We had a special visitor to our show today. My friend and X-Games BMX co-host, Steve Swope, was in the neighborhood and decided to come by to see the show. Steve is a former BMX vert pro, so by him being there, it pushed Dave Voelker to take his tricks a little higher and a little farther today.

Dave was in rare form today. From the minute the show started he was riding like it was an NBA halftime show. The other athletes fed off of his energy, and it made for a great 45 minutes of riding/skating. Alex Perelson was blasting huge airs and using every inch of the 20 foot wide ramp. Fabiola da Silva was busting out with all of her spin moves, Danny Mayer was spot on as always, and Gabe Weed did every trick he knows how to do. Since we were set up on blacktop, Gabe had extra space to ride in, and used it to his advantage.

After the show, the students were dismissed to lunch but most of them hung around for autographs and a chance to meet the athletes. It was definitely one of the biggest autograph sessions of the tour thus far.

It seems like we started the 2007 Got Milk? Gravity Tour just yesterday, but here we are at the end of week # 2 already. Special thanks to Mrs. Heideman from Fairfax High for having us out to her school, and for being so flexible with the set-up area and showtime. Another great big thanks goes out to Anne Mastoris from the ASA office. She came out to most of the shows this week, and she helped set up and tear down a few times, and always brought the crew breakfast.

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