INSIDE THE COMPOUND

"Creepy" Joe nursing a beer at 9am after his big night of skating and a fight.
Nick is a good guitarist and skater.  I had him pose in the soft light.
Clay the resident filthy guy.  He liked to call oil stains "Country Camo"
Brewce having fun with his rented dozer.  I shot this two hours after I arrived.
I can't remember his name but he really tried to throw the punker guy in this bowl.

      This segment of my journey really begins when I pulled off Highway 64 at a small town named Grayson. I was beat from a long drive through two storms with tornado warnings. I drove down main street and saw all the usual chain stores including Grayson's own taqueria, Taco Bell.

I opened the double doors and saw about 12 women occupying the center tables. Colorful paper bags with handles, wrapping paper, and a large cake were all there. A birthday? No, what I witnessed was a baby shower at Taco Bell, welcome to Eastern Kentucky.

I awoke in the morning and crossed the border into West Virginia for a brief stint. 35 lead me to Point Pleasant which is on the Ohio side of the River. Ohio and West Virgina are divided by the Ohio or Ohia River depending on who you ask. I merged onto 7 and headed North along the river. I was blown away by the old farmhouses, grain silos, and churches. These differed greatly from the ones in Texas because there is water here; therefore, everything is green. It was raining very slightly while the clouds moved in and out. I was really enjoying this experience when I looked in my rear view and saw the local sheriff...great. This guy tailed me for the next ten miles which greatly altered my mood. He finally pulled off and I continued up 7 passing two huge smoke stacks along the way.  I am not sure if they were nuclear plants but it sure looked like it.  

       I finally made it to Rutland, Ohio the home of Skatopia.  Brewce Martin and the CIA (citizens instigating anarchy) bought 88 acres in this town for $45,000 fourteen years ago.  The idea was simple, they wanted a place where he could build without permits and not be bothered by neighbors.  His dream has come to fruition there is a 13 foot wooden bowl called The Punisher housed in a hundred year old barn, the Lula bowl (outdoor cement skate park) which is named after his dog, a vert ramp, wooden full pipe, and a indoor cement kidney pool.  I drove up the dirt driveway which was covered in thick mud due the the recent rains and parked The Cocoon .  I got out and immediately noticed the old barn which is home to The Punisher and the Full pipe; it's hard to miss with it's bright pink paint job.  I didn't see anyone around so I started walking up mud soaked hill to see what lay at the top.  Upon arrival I noticed a full sized excavator moving dirt around, a tall, wiry, bespectacled dude with Carhartt overalls and heavy duty work boots stared at me.  

"Hi" I said.

"Why are you here"? he growled.

"Check it out, skate...I heard you guys were having a work party, do you need help"?

"Yeah you can help take down the bowl...but first help me get this truck out of the mud.  My names Chris."

His tone changed once I said the magic words  "skate and work".  I guess they have had a lot of problems with non skaters stealing tools etc.

We walked over to a red F-150 and I watched another guy crawl under the truck and wrap a chain around the frame.  He came up covered in mud and connected the other end to the bucket of the excavator.  

"Get in that bitch and gun it." said the guy in the excavator.

The tires started spinning and the bucket swung to the left and pulled the truck out of the ditch.  Chris and I walked down the hill toward the barn while the excavator followed.  The guy in the heavy machine got out.

"Who are you"?

"I'm Matt from California"

"You drove all the way here for a work party"?

"Well I am headed cross country and the dates worked out."

"Well, cool I'm Brewce.  You got tools"?

"Yup"

"Well head on back to the bowl and start demoing her out."

      And with that I crawled into the Cocoon and got out a hammer, crowbar, drill and saw zaw.  After a couple hours of work I walked to the front of the barn and watched Brewce smash a car with the excavator.  Wow, I have been here two hours and already the carnage has begun.  It looked like a cat playing with a mouse, he would pick it up drop it, bat it with the bucket and then drive over it.  He was having a ball.  There was another photographer there documenting the whole thing.  Brewce picked up a white minivan and started in again.  This time he started driving towards the barn with the minivan 10 feet in the air.  This was too good, I went to the Cocoon and grabbed my camera.  The excavator/minivan filled the frame beautifully I was stoked.  

        That night a few more people showed up, mainly from Ohio, New Jersey, West Virgina and New York.  There is a bunch of people who live there full time in little shacks or sleep in the barn etc.  Hillbilly skaters?  Yes it is a really strange combo.  Besides the skaters there were a bunch of hillbillies that just came to drink, and be complete imbeciles.  The level of stupidity was unbeliavable.  I am talking about full grown men talking about nothing but fighting, fucking, shitting, and getting wasted.  

   There was a pool table in the "Slackers Lounge" which had a band room, couches and pool table.  All the walls were covered in Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cases.  Traveling street kids, hillbillies, skaters, punks, and yours truly all hung out.  Brewce was talking and people listened.  He is the king of his castle, their is no questioning that.  He is extremely extroverted and needs an audience.  I did not find my people in this room so I quickly got a game on the pool table.  Brewce may be the king but I was defiently holding court on the table.  House rules you have to bank the eight ball for the win.  This adds time and a little spice to the game.  Every fifteen minutes a Roman Candle would go shooting through the room followed by yells and whoops.  This antic soon grew old, so half drunk beers became the new choice of flight.  A middle aged, malnurished woman started to play.  She had a solid bridge and was a pretty good player.  She told me she was the "House Mother" or something like that.  I had already won six straight games and was felling it.

"That's my Mom and if you beat her, I 'm a gona  Kick Your Ass."

 I turned to see where this lovely threat was coming from.  There was a large hillbilly with a full leg brace, and a long small braid coming out of the back of his baseball cap.  I just smiled.

"Well she's not really my Mom...but fucken crazy too."  

"My names Matt".  I stuck out my hand.

"I'm Konvict."  We shook hands.  And I continued to kick his Moms ass on the table.  I am not making this up, yes his name was Konvict with a K.  

I had enough so I crawled into the back of the Cocoon and settled in for the evening.  People were still partying but it wasn't to loud.  Ten minutes later they started blaring Iron Maiden and everyone let out a roar of approval.  A fight broke out over a sleeping bag I guess Chris tackled some hillbilly  from behind and they got into it.  Brewce broke it up and sent the other guy away to sleep it off.  Then Iron Maidens classic 666 is the number of the beast came on and the crowd continued to set off Roman Candles and drink.    

   I awoke to the sound of fireworks and giddy laughter.  Some of these douche bags had been up all night drinking Evan Williams (a cheap knock off of Jack Daniels).  I had a cup of coffee and headed back to work.  It felt good to work and not be bothered by anyone.  I put in 4 hours and headed up to the truck.  Brewce had me move it up by the Lulu bowl which sits on top of the hill overlooking the barn and the stage which they are building so Slayer (hardcore, metal band) will play this summer.  I ate and noticed that a session was starting to happen at the bowl.  I grabbed my skate and headed over.  I got in a few grinds and had some old man speed lines; regardless of my diminishing abilities the Lula Bowl is really fun.  

    A tall, lanky, shaggy redhead with bandages on both hands walked up to the bowl.  Somebody asked if he cut his hands.  He pulled off the bandages to reveal SKATOPIA in red and black freshly tattooed on his knuckles.  His name was Brandon and he is Brewce's son.  He ripped that bowl apart and I set up all my flashes and shot a bunch of photos.  He is totally the opposite of Brewce, really mellow and quiet.   I was surprised at his choice of placement for the tattoo.  I guess he wanted to make the old man proud.  I meet this guy named Joe from Washington.  He has been living at Skatopia for three years at Camp Sleezy.  This is next to the Lula bowl where a bunch of skaters live in ramshackle buildings.  Joe or "Creepy" which he had been coined had a tattoo going down his nose and around his eye.  I offered him a beer and we had a good chat.  He works for Grindline (a company that builds skate parks) on and off.  He introduced me to his friend Scott who also lives there.  Scoot told me that in winter the Skatopia really slows down due to all the snow.  Spring and Summer it comes alive again and people from all over the world show up.  

After cooking some Annie's Mac 'n' cheese on the tailgate of the Cocoon I headed down to the barn to check out the nights festivities.  They booked a bunch of bands to play.  There is a little stage to the left of the Punisher.  So the bands play and people skate the bowl and mayhem ensues.  I set up my flashes while the first band played and started to shoot the skaters in the bowl.  The Punisher is 13 feet deep with 3 feet of vert...ie really gnarly.  Brewce is 40 something yet he still rips that thing.  Creppy dropped in did a couple of grinds and then things went bad; he wheels slipped out, causing him to face plant into the wall.  His eye swelled up and old  Creepy was done skating for the night.  

    Creepy may have been done skating but that didn't stop him from joining the mosh pit which had started  in front of the band.  Creepy didn't like the band so he started doing this weird little dance in front of singer and generally acting really strange.  I noticed a clean cut looking kid with a Mohawk (strange mix) sitting on a large amp.  He would run into the crowd a hit people really hard when they weren't expecting it.  Scott started spitting beer on him when he would come around.  Mohawk kid had Creepy in his sights and hit him in the ribs.  Boom it was on.  What this kid didn't know was that Old Creepy lived there and had Lot's of friends.  Mohawk got swarmed on by a furry of kicks and punches from all directions.  The crowd finally settled and there he was in a fetal position covering his head.  He hobbled outside and took a rest.  Now most people would of got the hint and got the hell out of there.  Not our boy Mohawk, ten minutes later he is back in the mosh pit and it starts all over again.   This time I see Zach run over there and grab him by the feet and drag him to the bowl with the intention of throwing him in.   If he landed wrong it could of broken his neck, luckily Mohawk's friend stopped him.   I hate to see this fights and this one got to me, my stomach felt ill,I was done.  I packed up my gear and headed back up the hill and got in the Cocoon.  I was awoken at 4 in the morning by Brewce and a truck full of wasted hillbillies.  

"This is a beer raid.  All we want is your beer."  

 They cleaned me out of a 18 pack of Budweiser.  With each arm full of beer they dropped in the back of the truck the hillbillies let out cries of joy.  I figured hey I got off easy, take it.  In the morning Camp Sleezy was drinking whiskey and falling over each other.  I walked over to the bowl and saw Creepy drinking a beer.  His eye was all swollen with dried blood down his nose.  I asked him how he felt...he was still drunk.  I took his photo and talked to another young kid.

"Man this place is like Heaven." he said.

"Yeah, a twisted one." I replied.

my response freed him up.

"Yeah, it's like Heaven with a little bit of Hell in there.."

   With that I was out of there to go and clean my soul.  

ps when I get to New York I am processing a bunch of film from Skatopia.