12ozProphet

New York City lost one of it’s true legends this weekend,
and I lost one of my oldest close friends and brothers in the struggle, Andy Kessler.

For those who don’t know - among other things - Andy was the original leader of the original Zoo York crew, the pride of the old school New York skate scene, and the father of the east coast skate movement as we now know it. Andy was also a righteous dude, a true diy punk at heart, a loyal friend to those he cared about, and frankly, didn’t really give a fuck about all the fame and fortune the skate world had to offer other than respect where due. In his late 40’s Andy still lived to skate and surf, which he still did on the regular, and mentored many a younger skater along the way too. We always stayed in touch all the years while I was living on the west coast, and had reconnected regularly these days too since I moved back to NY. Over the last few years we had many deep conversations about his desire to find a way to bring the real history of Zoo York, our crew, as well as the late Mark Edmonds ( Ali ) and the Soul Artists role in that legacy, to light… even having meetings with a few producers exploring the possibility of a documentary about it all. I had always also reminded him, that whatever misgivings he may have had about the disconnect between the modern brand and business of what the world now knows as Zoo York, not to lose sight and be proud of the fact that so many skaters worldwide now also proudly represented the name that he had in fact been instrumental in establishing. When all was said and done, I kept telling him that he should really just write his own book, in his own words, about his experiences, and that the bigger picture and story would also come to light through his eyes naturally… It’s a tragedy to me now that he will never have that opportunity, but it is also some comfort that he did get the opportunity to do a number of interviews for the documentary “Deathbowl to Downtown” about the origins of the New York skate scene, and that at least his major contributions and role in skate history will remain recognized through the brief but key early sequences in that film.

We last hung out together a few weeks ago, catching up on life in general, ( including the plans for the Vans sneaker model he had coming out this year ) and I remember clearly one of the last things I said to him was as we were reminiscing about some of the friends and people we had in common from the old days on the upper west side ; that at our age, you really knew who your true friends were, that they were the people you never fell off with regardless of time and distance, and that that was why we were still sitting there shooting the shit together in the summer of 09’, because we had always remained that to each other. After a good long cry last night after our mutual friend Dante Ross called to break the news of his death to me, I went back to my studio and started scanning some of my memorabilia and old pics of Andy, a few of which I am sharing with you here now : including the cover and “Sports” page of the original and only issue of Ali’s “Zoo York Magazine” from 1979, a shot of the board I created for Andy in 1984 ( in the window of his old bedroom on West 71st St. ) along with the original sketch, and the board I did for the benefit show he produced at the Blind showroom in Soho in 2005. Rest In Peace my brother, you are loved and will be dearly missed by many, and I know you will be grinding the lip of a cloud somewhere up above now, middle finger held high.

Eric Haze - 8/09