Mr. Harold Hunter I hate February already...a couple years back my homeboy form back in the dayz Ricky Pelitier passed on to the next level. So when I got word about my dear friend Harold it smarted painfully similar. Everyone and anyone with a clue knew what a character Mr. Hunter was...always smilin and clownin and frontin. My local shop brats and Lair headz are often spoiled and get to really kick it with some of the small world of skateboarding celebraties. Thats why they took the news equally as bad. Ya see, the shop has been around for 6 years now but I've known this maniac Harold for about 15 years. Nothin but love for him and his family and friends. The following, if you are interested, is a little timeline of sorts on how I was lucky enough to be one of em...RIP homeboy, say what up to Ricky. For additional info peep www.haroldhunter.com.

When I was 15 or so I never gave a fuck about my hometown scene. Not skate scene, there was none, I was just about the only skater in my fuckin town. I'm talkin about the fuckin meatheads town scene that hung out in AM-P or 7-11 parkin lot. They got pissed cause another townies car had pulled through or some bullshit. I was too busy sneakin off to this other world only 2 hours away...NYC fool...and with my usual luck I was lucky to get right in thick of it. I couldn't give a fuck about Sullys big barn party, the adventures a big city had to offer paled in comparison at that time. I had extended family member who lived in NY. He was your typical Brooklyn kid...loud, pissed, and fuckin fun yo. He didn't really skate but he was also into hardcore. Back then if you skated you would be into it too...it went with the scene back then like how dudes put on chick pants now...how the fuck did that happen? Anyhow I had snuck off to the city to go see this Bad Brains show everyone was rantin about. I brought my board to kill time...I had never been let loose on that place and shit, it probably has some spots huh? Keep in mind at that time 1990 (yeh I'm old) street skatin was random curbs in busted ass parkin lots. By the time your boyband got off the bus, fuck that show....yo I'm skatin. So on the real smart and stable tip I bombed out...by myself...yo I can't tell you the name of 5 streets in my town, but I thought it would be a great idea to fly around Manhatten and Brooklyn. Shit I was right again! My cousin didn't really know many spots but he did tell me about some presidents park and some exit ramp spot with brick banks. Do your fuckin homework fellas. I was used to skating backyard fuckin vert ramps with about 4 to 5 dudes max at a session. But it was 1990 and I was getting into real street skatin and after this NY trip thats all I cared about for years to come. NY is like a good right hook to the jaw for the first time and shit I loved that too...good thing cause I was gonna need it. I ended up at that park. It was like a big city hangout and even Run DMC vid was shot there. (Yet another thing kids from my school knew nothing about) I also noticed fuckin HUGE groups of kids skatin around everywhere. I'm talkin like crews all around. I had never really seen that many skaters in my life till that point. They were all just like my cuz and I chatted it up with some. While gettin a drink a couple blocks down I bumped back into one of em I had joked around with at the park. He was skinny and funny as fuck and looked like a livin cartoon character in huge jeans. He also called me nigga (he was black if you have not figured out who i'm talkin about yet) a lot, yet another new thing NY had for me. He asked me if I had ever been to the other big banks spot. I didn't know there was 2. He was with a huge crew of kids that some to this day are still very dear friends of mine. Most of which would appear only a few short years later in this movie Kids that somehow the kids in Suffield and the rest of the world actually did find out about. Imagine that...funny thing this skateboard huh? We skated the banks till late. I got a little glory there cause at that time if you did anything on a handrail it was craze. My favorite skater at that time was Frankie Hill, and I hadn't sacked enough yet to be really too scared of the rails. (My opinion now on that shit has definitely changed a bit) I got the seal of approval from the locals and was havin the time of my life. To this day that is still one of my favorite sessions.

We skated till late. NYC can be an unforgiving place and my first night I got to test my hicks from the sticks skills. These punk asses tried to rob/check that did rob and punch one of my new buddies buddies...got that? I wasn't havin it and neither was Harold and we beat some ass. He then invited me to a party in a highrise and let me crash at his place (which in itself a whole nuther story yo) and I doubt at that point he even knew my last name. He had a heart of gold and was more than a character even back then. It was so damn fun and I was hooked and went every single chance I had. I didn't see him for a short bit, but then on another visit with the Janker twins, we were stayin at their new sponsors apartment for a bit...we stayed in the city for weeks at a time by this time...NY kids and scene was the place to be and they just knew what was up...they played Wu-Tang on mixtapes at sessions (another thing kids in Suffield didn't know about in 1994 yet)...we hollered at all the girls passin by...skated till 3 at night....in that time, guess who we bumped into again and it clicked...holy shit its that same dude...we were friends ever since. What blows my mind is how many people got to know him as well. Kids and I'm talkin like 14-15 years old now come in and still know about that movie kids. I remember it really blowing my mind how many people knew about that when it came out as well...especially my parents....AH HA HA HA....Harold was more than a unique individual who didn't give a fuck what you thought and loved skatin and the world that comes with it. And that real scene loved him right back. It makes me beyond sad that he's gone now. But for all my crew and friends that got to know him, and anybody for that matter, its obvious we ain't never gonna forget him. Thanks for everything homeboy. We'll do it all again someday.