Hushed whispers and anxious talk these past weeks that California’s Heath Kirchart may have won skateboarding. Whether such a thing is possible, or even within the tremb-ly bounds of reality, matters little to them who speak of web-winged horrors in the night and terrible, elder gods whose names are better lost to fabled memory. We find ourselves confronting a post-‘Stay Gold’ gap that fits like an abyss and is that much more perplexing for its almost welcome appearance.
It’s maybe wrong to say Heath Kirchart went out “on top” as he didn’t really wear the hungry contender hat — Rob Welsh once notoriously described himself as your favorite skater’s favorite skater, and probably that isn’t really the right hat to put on Kirchart either, but maybe something closer to your favorite skater’s most feared specter. His shadow was a long one, stretched by negative vibes, bushes-hiding and the occasional bout of physical violence, and it will grow with time. And perhaps the completion of certain American biking challenges.
So maybe better to say he left* on his own terms, though the Kirchart of the Thrasher interview might try and argue the point — saying more like forced out by tougher competition or something. But compared to a slow, five-year slide through fourth- and fifth-tier shoe sponsors and elastic cable accessory endorsements, it could have been much less dignified. And it was without a blaze of sour grapes, or grabbing for some Hollywood brass ring, as interesting as that concept may have been.
Possible knocks on Heath Kirchart: A Career On Four Wheels? With counter-knocks
-Skated for Birdhouse during the height of the cartoon graphic/Tony Hawk deification era
—Was in “The End,” among the best 90s videos; damaged property and lit fires with future “Hater’s Ball” honoree Jeremy Klein; ate shit skating a bus stop
-For much of his tenure, a “handrail skater”
—Unless I’m wrong, was the first dude to backside noseblunt such a handrail; christened El Toro; that lipslide shove-it from the Foundation vid
-Turned in a half-dozen tricks for his last video “part”
—Jumped the mega-ramp/set a higher bar for “street dudes” taking the plunge; told everybody they could stop paying him afterward
Others?
*Barring a comeback, which would inevitably bring comparisons to Jereme Rogers
Tags: America, El Toro, Foundation, Haters in Time, Heath Kirchart, hot dogs, Jeremy Klein, spectre, Stay Gold, We The Best Season Has Returned
October 21, 2010 at 12:32 am |
Just that huge kickflip that he ate shit on… I don’t know the source but it was in Anthology. That is my favorite 10 seconds to ever go down on (and off) a board.
October 21, 2010 at 12:34 am |
ah shit, I guess the knock in the above case was that he didn’t ever make the kickflip, but better to have never loved at all?
October 21, 2010 at 7:10 am |
hes your favorite handrail skaters favorite handrail skater. nobody does it better than him. he could go the way gino did and put out random tricks here and there and id be fine with it.
October 21, 2010 at 11:41 am |
kick back lip also.
October 21, 2010 at 12:32 pm |
Someone’s really into Lovecraft right now, huh?
October 21, 2010 at 12:54 pm |
He beat his switch self at a game of skate. One of the best web videos ever.
Also, he took handrail skating to it’s physical limits, where either the board explodes upon landing or he was driven into the ground so hard that his human frame could not absorb the impact, like at that LSU rail at the end of sight unseen
October 21, 2010 at 1:20 pm |
singehandedly killed a once skate mecca UCI
October 21, 2010 at 1:40 pm |
Man crushes.
October 21, 2010 at 2:28 pm |
i like the lovecraft references
October 21, 2010 at 4:13 pm |
the reason he is/was the best is because he killed everything he skated but more so he never fed into the douchiness that skateboarding has become….he is just hardcore…the way skating should be.
October 21, 2010 at 6:26 pm |
no id say it, hes your favorite skaters favorite skater. his misses are better than a lot of peoples makes.
October 21, 2010 at 7:41 pm |
-Mumbled into the mic in Rolling Thunder
–Was a bonafied REAL TALKER in Epicly Later’d, Dylan (one name status?) edition.
October 21, 2010 at 9:01 pm |
– Caused a stir with monochrome outfits
– this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BxtZZLWDGs
It’s really fucking hard to find something to complain about here.
October 21, 2010 at 9:03 pm |
Just noticed the TWS goon throws his arm around Heath’s shoulders. Something akin to stepping between a mother bear and her cubs?
October 22, 2010 at 12:15 am |
“Rob Welsh once notoriously described himself as your favorite skater’s favorite skater”
Man, Rob Welsh is no one’s favorite skater. He can suck it. When that guy lived in AZ and would skate Tempe all the time and he was a dick to almost everyone. Sorry not everyone wants to watch you (poorly) skate flat all day long.
Sorry, Zoo York wanted to cut your pay in half and you had to leave such a cool company Rob, no need to take it out on everyone in AZ.
October 22, 2010 at 12:16 am |
“Rob Welsh once notoriously described himself as your favorite skater’s favorite skater”
Man, Rob Welsh is no one’s favorite skater. He can suck it. When that guy lived in AZ and would skate Tempe all the time he was a dick to almost everyone. Sorry, not everyone wants to watch you (poorly) skate flat all day long.
Sorry, Zoo York wanted to cut your pay in half and you had to leave such a cool company Rob, no need to take it out on everyone in AZ.
October 22, 2010 at 11:36 am |
I STILL have no idea why this guy blogs—seems to complain more than praise, I thought Twitter and Thrasher.com were more suited for haters. Heath doesn’t want to destroy his phsical self for money anymore? God Bless him—I have had bad knees and swellbows since my late teens from skating and am nearly 50 now—and I never got paid, I just skated because I loved doing it and loved hanging with my friends (some of who were Pros back when being a Pro mattered)…give the guys his props for doing what he wants for fucks sake!
October 22, 2010 at 1:48 pm |
call the waahmbulance
October 25, 2010 at 4:56 pm |
you have no idea why Pilot Light blogs? then i have no idea why you even come here to read the blog. i can’t believe bill o’reilly has a show, but that doesn’t mean that i go and fucking watch it. you’re a closet BTO fan…face it.
also, complaining about complaining. way to go you fucking moron.
October 28, 2010 at 1:11 am |
I just re-read the blog sentence by sentence and I don’t see any complaining.
Could you be referring to the “Possible knocks on Heath Kirchart: A Career On Four Wheels? With counter-knocks” section?
If so I think you are misinterpreting. Note that it contains both “counter- knocks” both in title and content.
The blog entry contains numerous nods to HK’s grand legacy. Even when it’s written that he did not go out “on top” it justifies that HK is more mature than to be fighting for the #1 spot.
October 22, 2010 at 7:52 pm |
In all honesty, Rob Welsh is one of my favorite skaters. and pants-wearers.
October 22, 2010 at 8:37 pm |
His aloofness (not Maloofness har har good joke) walks that very thin line between complete asshole and completely hilarious awesome person, sometimes wobbling all over both sides.
October 22, 2010 at 10:50 pm |
Like Bill Murray in his best roles.
October 26, 2010 at 3:30 pm |
The Program must be affiliated with the Situation from Jersey Shore—WTF is a BTO fan, Cornhole? All I say is I am all for Heath not wanting to destroy himself for the amusement of basement dwelling fucktards and I get picked on—yeah, I’m the moron here—-NOT!
Go eat a hot steaming bowl of hot dicks, Program…you know you’ll love it
October 26, 2010 at 9:16 pm |
BTO….Boil The Ocean? Perhaps? WTF, BBQ!
Here’s an interesting website you might enjoy: http://www.slapmagazine.com/forum
They generally use smaller words there. Or, you could try http://www.sesamestreet.org and http://www.veggietales.com.
The internet is, I think, the only place where a visitor returns over and over to a “location” he claims to hate and find devoid of value.
October 26, 2010 at 3:32 pm |
oh and Program—there’s a Manny Pad at a local park new just calling you to do your hardcore skating magic on it—GET TO IT!
October 30, 2010 at 10:01 pm |
I hope this is the only sentence in the world with Jereme Rogers and Heath Kirchart both in it.
November 1, 2010 at 4:01 am |
Who was involved in the physical confrontation being referenced?
November 1, 2010 at 4:16 am |
You’re referring to “His shadow was a long one, stretched by negative vibes, bushes-hiding and the occasional bout of physical violence, and it will grow with time.”?
I wondered the same thing. “physical violence” may not necessarily mean a man-to-man fight, though I agree that it’s the first three possible interpretations I can think of. Next up are board throwing, breaking shit during “The End” period, ….?
What about the “negative vibes”? To those of us who do not live in SoCal to know the inside baseball gossip, I interpret this as a reflection of his most-of-the-time intense, silent, brooding, awkward silence generating persona.
How come in all the retirement posts/blogs/chatter no one has mentioned the greatest, most random, most Bill Murraysh HK trivia: the snack machine business.
November 6, 2010 at 1:37 am |
i think alex moul did the first backside noseblunt on a handrail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Hhnn5E_B4&feature=related, although it was probly a five stair. still sick. heath definitely did the first legit one
November 10, 2010 at 5:36 pm |
Dude. Barbarians… If you’re not in a banned video, you’re crap!
January 21, 2014 at 11:25 am |
He wishes he never left and I bet he wants back in.