The Day I Met Snowboarding Pt.1

It's time for a story, much like my first post here.

WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SNOWBOARD LINGO THAT NOT EVERYONE WILL UNDERSTAND - MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AUDIENCES

I'm a snowboarder, and I have been for a long time. I would say that it's my favorite thing to do. I love it more than playing my drums, drawing, design, or photography. I once told my wife that if she ever told me to stop snowboarding (she wouldn't because she loves it too) I would file for divorce without a second thought... and I'm completely serious. Snowboarding is free, and it gives you a sense of complete disconnect from everything bad. It helps you forget everything.

When I was twelve I told my father that I wanted to start snowboarding. I had been on skis since I was four years old, and I think he saw it as a natural progression, and welcomed it with open arms. My father is an avid skier, and we go on our annual trip to The Beast every year with my siblings, and despite the conditions, it's ALWAYS fun.... ANYWAY. By the time I broke the news to my father that I was leaving the two plank world for the stick, he'd already been snowboarding a couple years as a side hobby (he doesn't anymore) to skiing, so he was able to teach me the basics. He bought my first snowboard. This Jackson Pollock looking Burton Elite, which was too heavy for me. The bindings were set too far back, and I couldn't hold the nose forward... so I rented. I snowboarded for a couple years, and was okay at it as most people are their first few years.

*Cut to family time*

A couple years after I had started snowboarding my aunt...we'll call her Kelly (because that's her name), started dating a new guy. He was awesome...still is... they're married now, and they're pretty much the best... but this new guy we'll call him "Tim" (because that his name) had a game on his home computer that my cousin, who we'll call Dan (because that's his name) and I would play whenever we went to Tim's house. X-Games Pro Boarder. It featured some of the best riders at the time; Terje Haakonsen, Todd Richards, Daniel Franck, Tina Basich, Morgan Lafonte, and Jamie Lynn. I didn't know who any of these riders were, at all, but that's what they were...riders, and that was awesome

X-Games Pro Boarder had short video cuts that you could watch featuring each of the riders, and I'd say I spent about half the time playing the game, and half the time watching those videos. The rider that struck me most was Jamie Lynn. His steeze and ability to huck himself was like no other... and he was smooth. He made me want to ride. Jamie can throw a method like no one else...in fact most people will tell you that trick is the reason he became a professional. After seeing that video I worked my hardest on my grabs, and especially my method. The next year My stepfather bought be a used Jamie Lynn Genie from a co-worker as a Christmas gift, and I remember being stoked... I had a board with Jamie Lynn's name on it. After I entered my teenage years I started to shy away from snowboard videos (for girls and music) and didn't take it as seriously as once did, I was still riding fairly regularly, I just wasn't pushing myself.

After a pretty nasty break-up about the age of 22/23 I started getting a little more serious about my snowboarding again. I had a car, and I could drive anywhere I wanted to ride with no one to hold me back. When I was working at Guitar Center, one of my co-workers was a skier, so we bonded over that and talked about it every shift we had together. I was into it. I had made my decision: I want to design snowboard graphics! (I still do, btw)

In my research and browsing one name kept coming up: Jamie Lynn

I remembered that he was my favorite rider when I was younger. A childhood hero. Jamie does the graphics for Lib-Tech as well as riding for them and having a pro model. On top of that he's a musician...in the words of TWSnow he "is snowboarding" this guy was pretty much who I wanted to be from my younger years up into my twenties...so as the last snowboard my father would buy me we bought a Jamie Lynn Phoenix

*Fast forward to last weekend*

Lib-Tech brought their Downtown Throwdown to Boston, and after reading that Jamie Lynn would be there,,,,well... I had to go. So I packed up my camera, an old pair of goggles, and headed to Boston. The event was cool. A 25 foot scaffolding in the middle of City Hall Plaza set up with three rail lines and a quarter pipe. Professional snowboarders everywhere, a Lib-Tech tent, Adidas tent, Eastern Boarder tent, and somewhere; Jamie Lynn. I watched the rail jam for the four hours it went down, and I met Krush from Snowboy Productions, the man behind the Downtown Throwdown as well as a couple other guys, and took as many pictures as I could when toward the end Jamie sat down with the event commentator Jessie Burtner (another legend and founder of Think Thank) and proceeded to draw on, and sign his 20th anniversary Phoenix.

After awards were given out, Jamie headed back to the Lib-Tech tent where:

Meeting Jamie Lynn
Date Taken: Oct. 18, 2014
(Yes... this is a selfie)

I met my childhood hero.

We stood at the tent and chatted a bit. I gave him my card in hopes of getting an interview for loveyalifestyle,com, had him sign my goggles and chatted about music. He was in a band called Kandi Coded, who has since broken up and told me about a new project called Tittyfish. He told me they were playing at The Greatest Bar that night, and that I should come out... in fact he told me: "Don't be that guy. Don't go home and sit on the couch...."

I told him I would convince my friends to head out that way, and he said "I'm going to hold you to that." So I called people, and they told me they had different plans, but I wasn't passing this up. I went home, picked up my wife, and we went to The Greatest Bar where they were playing Think Thank's "Left Turn, Right Turn", and "Almanac."

Jamie showed up, and I introduced him to my wife, and he introduced us to his girlfriend, who's a total sweetheart, we had a drink, talked for a while before he went to play the Tittyfish set. Krush bought us a drink, we watched the set (Jamie even dedicated their last song to 'Kevin and his beautiful wife') and after much harassment from my friends, we said goodbyes I told him to e-mail me, and call me next time he's in town, and he said "definitely," and I headed out to my friend's apartment to hang.

All in all it was, at first a daunting experience, but as time went on a very pleasant one. Jamie is very calm and mellow... not anything I would have ever expected, and probably one of the nicest guys I've met in a very very long time.

And that's the story of how I met snowboarding.

Sitcom worthy don't you think?