’89 domande a Shawn Hale – Skateboarder

Name? Shawn Hale (@hale).

How old are you? 34.

What’s your job? I am a pro skater and I own a business called Avos Therapy. I’m sponsored by Birdhouse Skateboards, Indipendent Trucks, Orbs Wheels, Bones Bearings, Glassy, Mob Grip and New Balance Numeric. Basketcase Gallery gives me really cool clothes lately.

What did you study? I didn’t, I only graduated in high school. I was about to begin art school but I choose to skate instead.

The quality you would like to have and don’t have? wish I was more uninhibited in public like my father.

If you were a character of a movie which one would you be? Donnie Darko. Or maybe the main character in La Planète Sauvage, that is also another favorite movie.

How long did it take you to learn how to do your first kickflip? 10 months.

Couldn’t you have learned it faster through a YouTube tutorial? There were none at the time. I did take a book from the library to learn the technique but it was too difficult, so once while I was trying a guy who was really good was swinging by and he gave me some advices.

Can you give us a definition of art? Whatever comes out of a person can be art. I feel like our existence is an art expression. The difficult part is to make it good and not bad. 

Your favorite style icons? Gonz (Mark Gonzales, pro skater), Natas (Natas Kaupas, pro skater) and my girlfriend Kate Baumgarten.

If you could speak in television broadcasting live and worldwide for 15 minutes what would you say? I don’t know… I’d say that everybody needs to fucking chill down. I’d try to convince them that we are poisoned in everything we do, from what we eat to what we see. And we should wake up and realize this in order to live the best lives we can. Flouride in toothpaste and water is poison, look it up and learn that it will bring calcium and aluminum to your pineal gland. Think about when you close your eyes and can imagine, daydream, or dream, your pineal glad is structured like a literal eyeball at the center of your brain. It’s trippy. And crazy most people don’t understand this or care. Protect your vision!

If you could have a super-power what would that be? Time travel. 

Do you think the relationship between art and drugs is just a cliché? I think drugs might be beneficial for everybody. But so is self control.

Do you have any political orientation? No.

Who is in your opinion the best skateboarder in history? Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, , Daewon Song, Guy Mariano, John Cardiel, Ishod Wair, there are so many to name.

Miki Vuckovich (read here ’89 domande a Miki Vuckovich) in his interview told us that in his opinion you are the best skateboarder at the moment, who do you think is the best right now? Not me (ahahah). At the moment there are so many mind blowing skateboarders. Tom Knox, Kevin Rodriques, Louie Lopez, Yuto Horigome, Ishod Wair, Oskar Rozenberg. I just watched Sora Shirai do some crazy tricks in person at Street League.

What is the night you spent the most money to have fun? Never spent that much, I have more fun spending none because the things I love are free.  

If you could choose which historical era to live in, which one would you choose? 90s. I lived through the 90s but I was too young, so I wish I could have been a bit older in the 90s.

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If you could spend a day with an historical figure who would that be? Somebody from Egyptian times. A Pharaoh maybe.

Who are the people who most inspired you? My family, parents and sister.

If you were an animal which one would you like to be? A giant squid. 

If you could choose a famous person to spend a night with, who would it be? Elon Musk or Kanye West.

And for a relationship? Amber Heard (haha).

Do you believe in any religion? I believe we are all one. And the proof is in our faces. Everyone knows we exist in the third dimension. We are also in the others. The first dimension is a single point of existence, we are one. I don’t need science to know this is true, science will catch up eventually.

Do you have some phobias? No, but being forced to sing in public would give me anxiety.

The material good you most desire and envy? A big house for my parents to live in here in California. 

Have you ever been offered something in exchange for sex? No.

Which do you think is the hardest trick to do skating? Backside Noseblunt. 

What makes a skateboarder better than another? If they’re having fun. Whenever somebody’s having fun is better or he’s good anyway, because in order to skate properly you must have fun.

What is the best trick you have ever done? Maybe the courthouse roof jump. It was much scarier than I anticipated.

The one you are most proud of? While shooting the video “Beautiful Mutants” for Birdhouse I learnt a trick inside an empty pool. But I had never done that before and it was cool because the first time I did it was while shooting. 

The one that is most appreciated? Maybe some creative tricks I like to do.

Any advice you can give to someone that want to do your job? Enjoy yourself. 

Best party you’ve been to? I went to an Elon Musk party once. At the Tesla headquarters in Cali. I got invited. Pretty cool.

Can you tell us a skate trick someone else has done that you wish you could do as well? I wish I had good Switch Kickflip. I can do that but I wish I could do it better like some friends I know.  

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Who is your best friend in the skateboarding world? I don’t know because I have so many. 

What is the thing you like most about Italy? I don’t know a lot about Italy, but I like the culture around it, I like how to Italian hold themselves. Seems opposite from America (in a positive way). 

And one you don’t like? I actually always loved that it’s shaped like a boot since I was a kid.

If you could change anything about USA what would it be? A lot of things actually. I don’t think US has the best interest for us people, seems more like a business and I don’t like that. It’s all about money. The US should be more like Japan. Just watch some anime movies and see how they take the opportunity to teach.

Where have you been on vacation when you were young? I went to Japan a couple times with my family.

Where does your family come from? My father is from LA, my mother is from Fukuoka (Japan).  

Where are you going on vacation now? I go to Tulum (Mexico) because my girlfriend’s family has a place there. I usually don’t go on vacation besides the places I visit to skate. 

Do you think it would be correct to create a place where man can live in the state of nature, making him free from a choice of social belonging that is instead taken for granted? That would be really cool because you could exist like a natural human. 

What’s the topic you know most things about? I wouldn’t say I’m an expert or know so many things, but I think what I’m most fascinated by is lucid dreaming and astral projection. 

What is a lucid dream? It’s being aware of dreaming while doing that.  

Are you able to do that? Yes. 

Since when? Since I was five years old. I thought it was normal until 13 years old then I found out nobody could do it. Growing up I lost this ability and then I got I back by reading a book called “Lucid Dreaming”. 

Have you ever been in love? Yes. All the time. 

Have you ever had a homosexual experience? Not really.

Where do you live? Santa Monica.

Which neighbourhood? Sawtelle (Japanese neighbourhood). 

Where are you from? Joplin, Missouri.  

Other cities where you lived? All around southern California for the past 12 years. 

Which languages do you speak? English, some Spanish, some French, few words Japanese. 

Which are your favorite places in your city? Spots where I can skate. There are many in the city. 

Favorite movies? Donnie Darko, Spirited Away, Totoro, Ponyo, Prometheus, The Departed.

Favorite songs? No Flockin’ by Kodak Black.

Favorite bands? Yung Lean, Modest Mouse, Crystal Castles, New Order, HEALTH, Desaparecidos, Kodak Black, Kate Bush, Young Nudy, Viagra Boys, Wu Tang Clan, Gravediggaz, The Cure, Frank Sinatra.

A famous band you don’t like? Grateful Dead.

Favorite books? My favorite is probably The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. I also really love Lucid Dreaming by Robert Waggoner, Boundless by Ben Greenfield, DMT The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman, How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, Alcohol Explained by William Porter, Be Here Now by Ram Dass.

Favorite artworks? Whatever from Salvador Dalì. 

Do you feel envy for anyone? If so, for whom? I only care about skate so I wish I could have skated earlier. I envy only that in people.  

If you had the possibility to remove social networks from the world, would you delete them? Yes, I think so.

And what about globalization? I don’t know. I don’t think so, I think it’s cool the world’s accessible to everybody. And I think the opposite as well so I can’t be sure.  

The craziest experience you’ve ever had? The reason I’m so fascinated by lucid dreaming, astral projection, remote viewing is the craziest experience of my life. A couple of years ago I dreamt I was flying over a place that I could see so clearly, I was flying over it and every detail of that place was so crystal that I could have made a drawing of it. In the dream someone or something I can’t remember told me to go visit a place called Emerald Road that was in this city, or place. As soon as I got there I woke up. I took note about everything before getting back to sleep, as I usually do since this is a key passage in order to be able to have lucid dreams. The day after I called a very close friend of mine, Josiah Gatlyn, because he had published a song called “Emerald Isle” by Patio Portals, so the dream reminded me about him, and I wanted to know if he was all right and so on. When I told him about the dream he replied that Emerald Isle is an actual place, an existing place where he visited as a kid and that’s why he called his song that way. The fact is that the song has got no lyrics, and I had never been there or known about the existence of that place. When I went looking for it in google maps I was blown out because it was exactly as I dreamt about it, flying over it was exactly the same. Never had an experience like that and that’s why later I got so fascinated by this world. I’ve learned how to “remote view” during astral projection dreams and have had more of these experiences now. Real information in the dream world is bizzare, to say the least. Look up the CIA’s Gateway Documents.

When, in your opinion, can a person be defined as an artist? I guess everyone can be an artist but not everybody can be a good artist or a great artist. But what is good anyway? Everybody should dedicate their life to something in particular that they love. I think this is what art is.

What’s your favorite artist? My sister, Ohara Hale. She’s a great artist, talented musician, writes award winning books, and a great human (oharahale.com).

What’s your favorite show business character? Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Can you define yourself with an adjective? I think I’m curious. 

Favorite TV series? Midnight Gospel.

Have you ever had sex with more than one person? I have. 

What time do you usually go to sleep? Midnight.

What time do you usually wake up? 8/9

What’s your favorite city in the world? Tokyo.

Have you ever skated in Tokyo? Yes. It’s difficult, too many people and too many controls.  

How important is it for you to be rich from 1 to 10? I believe being rich isn’t about money, it is about life experiences. Money helps though.

How important are fame and money to impress a partner? If that’s important I want to find a different partner. 

Do you consider yourself smart? I think we’re all pretty stupid. 

If you could choose any brand to be sponsored by which one would you choose? SpaceX. Because I’d really like to go to space. 

What do you usually drink at the bar? Soda water and lime, I used to love mezcal and tequila before I quit drinking. 

What drugs have you done? Weed, Mushrooms, Acids, MDMA, DMT, Bufo (5-MeO DMT from Toad Venom).

Which one is your favorite? DMT is coolest thing anybody could ever do but you can’t do it all the time. It’s a crime against humanity the fact that’s illegal. And mushrooms as well, how can they be illegal, they grow on the ground. 

And which one you use more often? Weed.

Are you in favor of the liberalization of soft drugs? Yes.

And hard drugs? I think people should be able to do whatever they want to. I never did heroin and such, but the fact that’s not allowed will take people to do that even more. 

If you could choose someone to follow you on Instagram who would you choose? Kanye West. 

What’s your best talent? Persistence. 

Can you tell us a number from 1 to 89? 33.

What would you have done (or wanted to do) if you had not done your job? I think I would have wanted to be an architect. 

If you could choose a person you know to read this interview, who would it be? Jake Dizsik from the band Health.