words by: Charlie Church
photos: Chris Mcdonald
George lives the ideal life of a train wreck. He drinks every night and does more drugs than you know about. But really, none of that is true. Despite his scootering roots, George is a skateboarder to the core. Now you might be wondering why you don't see him skating around the city...well if you cruise by welfare and thomas circle I guarantee you'll find him doing some kind of wallie. -Allen Danze
Charlie_ How old are you and how long have you been skating?
George_ I'm 20 years old, I've been around skateboarding for quite some time but I got into it about 2 1/2 years ago. Beforehand I could ollie, but not much besides that, just messing around, skating the occasional flat ground with Luvi.
Charlie_ 2 1/2 years seems kind of short, what's up with that?
George_Yeah I wish I got into it earlier man. When I started, I skated with my friends Max and AJ everyday and they had been skating awhile so it pushed me to catch up to them. I was determined at points to get stuff down, regardless of falling a lot. We'd just skate everyday. RIP tall box.
Charlie_What's your sponsor situation looking like?
George_I just got on Elite Boardshop/Palace 5ive. I'm really happy to be a part of the team. I've known Greg since they opened and always supported the shop.
Charlie_Yeah, any thoughts on your Out of the Box part?
George_It was a fun project, just skating with everyone downtown. It was nice to go skating with Luvi because I've always known him and then I got to know Nick and Brendan really well. Luvi used to skate the worst set ups to and still land good tricks, it was ridiculous. That nosegrind shove it at welfare is on some old ass deck that I was gonna throw out but he wanted it. It was great to film for Out of the Box because it was more about skating with a group of friends and enjoying yourself than it being a stressful thing. It was a good opportunity to be downtown a lot and meet tons of people.
Charlie_It seems like you and Luvi have known each other for forever. I saw a video called "Different Strokes for Different Folks" the other day. Luvi had a sick part and as did you except for the fact that you were scootering. What was that like?
George_Haha yeah, that is sort of embarrassing. I used to ride a scooter as transportation and then I learned how to tailwhip and I guess that started off the desire to do tricks on it. It's definitely a lot easier than skateboarding. I would film Luvi and some other guys and we made a video out of it. I got to know the spots around Washington before I skateboarded so I guess that gave me an advantage. I'm pretty sure Smalls posted the entire video on Google.
Charlie_So what's the deal with your love of Thomas Circle?
George_I don't love it; it's just a good spot. It's nice because you rarely get kicked out and it's a perfect wallie ledge. It's a real treat to not get kicked out of spots in DC.
Charlie_Is it hard living in Harrisonburg during the school year and filming at the same time?
George_Nah it's actually pretty nice. They have a good skatepark so I'm usually there most days after class. There are a few ok street spots but I rarely go skate them. It's definitely nice to be able to skate hassle free for awhile. Then, I have new tricks for the same old DC spots when I'm back. And also I don't feel like I'm missing out because I come back in the area to skate about every 3 weeks anyways.
Charlie_You made a few trips up to NYC this year and seem pretty hyped on it. Any words on that?
George_Yeah, NYC is like DC on steroids. Better spots, bust factor, things to do, and attractiveness of girls. It was such good times. That's probably my favorite thing, just traveling with friends and being able to ride my skateboard. We had some sketchy experiences to. Dietrich surprised us with the information that our hostile was located in the heart of Harlem the day before going. So when we were returning to the hostile at night we hauled ass back from the metro, dodging gangster's left and right. The last time I went to NYC we stayed at Johns Aunts house, who is great, and we just skated all day and would go out and lurk on the streets at night. I really appreciate stuff like that now that I'm back at school and don't have the chance to do those things.
Charlie_What's in the future for you?
George_ Hard to say, I definitely want to film a video part for something or other. I'm a junior so after graduation I will need to get a job. Not quite sure where that will be at, regardless I'll be skateboarding whenever I get the chance.
Charlie_Any thanks or shout outs?
George_Of course, my family, friends, Elite Boardshop and everyone I skateboard with.
GEORGE & BRENDAN FROM 'OUT OF THE BOX'
COLT CANNON SPOOF
OTB LATE NIGHT
bs tail @ Thomas Chricle. photo: campbell