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IMAGINE AN AMAZINGLY TALENTED SKATEBOARDER WHO IS ALSO AN ACCOMPLISHED CLASSICAL PIANIST. NOW IMAGINE THIS PERSON IS A PATRIOT AND CHAMPION OF THE CONSTITUTION READY TO PURSUE A LAW DEGREE IN ORDER TO DEFEND IT. THIS SKATER’S NAME IS COLIN COMMITO AND IN ONE 45-MINUTE CONVERSATION, MANAGED TO DESTROY ALL OF MY PREVIOUS EXPECTATIONS AND RESTORE MY FAITH IN THE FUTURE OF BOTH OUR COUNTRY AND SKATEBOARDING. I GIVE YOU COLIN COMMITO.
What makes up the flesh and bones that is Colin Commito? What are you all about?
I am all about a lot of things. First I am all about achieving my goals. I’ve always had relatively good grades in school, good drive. I’m also a classical pianist. I’d like to pursue that as long as I live.
What happens to your ability to play classical piano if you snap a wrist while skateboarding?
To tell you the truth if I snap a wrist it’s pretty much over for piano and me. To date I haven’t hurt my hands. I used to go into Piano lessons and my professor would see my hands all scabbed up and she would get pissed. She didn’t tell me to quit but she let me know that if I hurt my hands the more difficult pieces would be relatively impossible. I’ve just got to try not to hurt my hands while I’m skating.
So I understand if you don’t make it in skateboarding and you don’t make as a classical pianist you want to go into to politics?
I decided to double major in Political Science and Classical Piano so I could always have something else to fall back on. Eventually I want to have a Masters Degree and go to law school. I’m interested in Constitutional law. I have a passion for law, the constitution, and politics. Maybe I’ll become a judge one day.
Who is your favorite composer?
Claude Debussy. He was French and he started “impressionist music” in piano.
To play at that level must be incredibly difficult.
Yeah most of these composers were absolute geniuses and athletic virtuosos, most everything is difficult. I am better at some of the romantic pieces. There are periods in music, Baroque, Classic, Romantic, and Contemporary. We are in Contemporary now. I guess I fit into the whole Romantic-Contemporary area. I like to play Chopin, Scriabin, and Debussy.
You must have intense focus to be able to play classical piano. How does that translate into skateboarding?
There are a lot of parallels between skateboarding and piano. You have to have amazing tenacity. Practice makes perfect. That is where I stand with skateboarding and piano. Both are a perfect venue for absolute creativity. When I am solo pianist and I’m not playing with a whole orchestra it’s pretty much all up to me and I have the freedom to play what I want and play it how I want and it’s the same with skateboarding. I don’t have anyone telling me how I should be skating. I’m pretty much my own boss, which is the best thing about skateboarding and piano. Skateboarding and piano are about the ultimate creative freedom.
So who pushed you in this direction? Are your parents piano players?
No my mother wanted this for me since I was born. I’ve had piano lessons once a week till about two years ago. My whole life, when I turned fourteen that was when I really took it from her and made it my own.
With this cultured background of yours how did you get into skateboarding?
There was a Foundation Demo when I was really young I convinced my mom to let me bail soccer practice early so I could go. I bought my first board there.
What is your motivation for getting a degree in Constitutional law?
Because the constitution is the supreme law of the land, it’s the end all. It governs everything we do, even though George Bush might think it shouldn’t. The current administration has just dismantled so much of the Bill of Rights. Privacy has pretty much been destroyed by the Patriot Act. If you are considered a terrorist they don’t have to provide you with a trial. Trial by jury has been essentially cut from the Constitution. They have suspended habeas corpus, which is one of our most vital rights. They want us to sacrifice our civil liberties because we are in a time of war but the most frightening thing is, how long is this war going to continue? Terrorism is something that you cannot put your finger on, so how long can they say we are in a time of war?
So you feel so strongly about this you are pursuing a degree in law?
Absolutely, this is one of the things that fuel the fire for me. It is really interesting for me. It shows me that there will always be challenges to the Constitution.
What about the politics of skateboarding?
I’m completely dumbfounded regarding the politics in skateboarding. I don’t really delve into it much I just try to skate and hopefully things will work out. There is not a damn thing about pure skateboarding that is bad. When something turns into a business you have to make business decisions. In the end it’s about profit, which is understandable. The business must go on. I might not agree with some of the decisions that are made but that’s the way it goes.
What decisions don’t you agree with?
I think that there is a general pool of individuals that skateboarding picks. I think that it would be great if the industry went out side of that pool a little more often and picked some different people that are more diverse. I see the same skaters over and over again ending up on different teams. It’s kind of like the “Good ol’ Boys” group in a sense. They keep rotating people around. The people that they rotate are obviously amazing but I think that it shows kids that they don’t have a chance. They see the same people coming up. Once you are in you are in. There is no revolving door. I think it would be cool if the industry took more chances.
What message do you have for kids trying to make it in the world?
I’d show kids you can skate anything you want. The more variety, the more interesting everything gets. I’m kind of a proponent of doing your own thing, making up your own mind. Take a chance. Everything that is established right now might not be all that there is. Even though that is all you have to choose from. I’m saying try not to conform too much. You can’t help but to conform some, but just not too much.
What skaters do you look up to?
My favorite skateboarder of all time would probably be Eric Koston. He’s got style, power, tricks, innovation, creativity, everything. He’s so consistent with everything and each part he puts out is a little better than the last one. I also like Dan Drehobl. That guy is also amazing.
What composer would Eric Koston most be like?
I think that Eric Koston has had the perfect career. For the most part for the time the composers were living it didn’t allow them to have any longevity. They did what they did, and got sick, and died. A composer that was powerful and graceful at the same time would be someone like Beethoven. He is as close as I can get to finding a parallel with Eric Koston. They both had clean and powerful styles. Beethoven is the musical equivalent to Koston.
What gift do you want to give to skateboarding? Do you want to expose skateboarders to Classical music?
Absolutely. So many kids are very one routed in skateboarding. Skateboarding lends itself to everything. A lot of skaters over look that. You can stay in school and skate at the same time. It might even create some new content for you to skate with. If you are working your mind in other places, you get new ideas about skateboarding. You look at it in a different way. It might make you better. It might make it more rewarding. You don’t just have to be a skater. A lot of skaters think, “Ah, I’m a core skater. I can’t do this, or I don’t do that because I am a skateboarder.” Nah man, you can do anything. The more diverse skateboarding is and the more diverse people it has in it will just help expand skateboarding.
Awesome point. What about you exposing skaters to Classical music?
It has a lot to offer. There have been studies published that prove that listening to Classical music improves the mind. You skateboard with your mind. That is what makes skateboarding great and that is what defines everybody within the context of skateboarding. Yeah I’d love to open skateboarding to classical music. It’s unfortunate that Classical music is rooted in this kind of haughty-taughty upper-class stigma. It wasn’t like that in Beethoven’s time. The peasants were down for it. Mozart died a pauper. He was extremely poor, he gave his life to his music and it wasn’t until later that he was recognized as one of the greatest composers to ever live. Classical music was revolutionary back in the day.
Can you see dudes showing up skating with Mozart playing in their headphones?
Absolutely. Hopefully from this interview we’ll have a bunch of skaters listening to Scriabin or Tchaikovsky.
Do you think it’s possible to start a new musical movement in skateboarding?
Yeah, anything is possible.
Click here to watch Colin Shred Prelude #12 by Claude Debussy
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