Posted: February 4, 2008

JAMES CRAIG
Photos: Broach | Interview: Schmitty

Years skateboarding?
Eighteen.

Sponsors?
Blind skateboards, Venture trucks, Power footwear, Liberty board shop, and Upful hardware.

Birthplace?
Bellflower, CA.

Nicknames?
Cliff, Tiny Torso, Shnarf, Bow Wow (yeah, that’s a T-Dog reference).

What's a normal day in the life of J.C. consist of?
Wake up around 7:00 am to make my lady here coffee, then go back to sleep 70-percent of the time. Make myself a nice cup of joe and then check out the web. Stretch and watch some ESPN or a skate flick—there’s been plenty of great material lately. Make some calls to my friend Aaron to try and go film, or I’ll go skate around. Downtown Fullerton it super sick, I got a few different runs. Filming and shooting are going to happen from two to five days a week, and for me nothing is eas,y so it’s usually a few hours plus per day. After a sesh I grab some brews, and we usually get a little poker game with the homies. Hopefully catch a Laker game and make some dinner with the lady; chicken of some sort. One more strech and peace, I'm out.

How was being on King of the Road?
KOTR was super fucking fun for me. It was something right up my alley. It was pretty tough near the end, but we were feeling pretty good most of the time. Weiss was a sleepless freak who was a driving, filming, editing, nude-skating, cross-dressing, burger-eating warrior! Jake and Danilo were two dirty, ripping, international gigolos! Creager got to show the tranny moves off. KASPER! Mr. Smith was setting back tail records and wishing he had the junkyard to sesh. The teenage Geico cave man Broach had a smoke every time the van slowed down. As for me, I sat shotgun most of the time and dealt with some fun verbal bashings from William, and usually had a cold one to crack at any time. I’ve heard a lot of talk of "If we had this" or "We would have won if," but as I recall we won by like almost 1,000 points and our MVP had pneumonia and shit! Who was Burnett interviewing in the mag, anyway?


switch b/s 180

Who was the most intense on the trip?
Most intense tie between Broach and Bill; I think Broach might have edged Bill out after the mag came out. He seemed so angry and forgot to even mention half of the team in the issue.

Who could have stepped it up a bit?
Broach on the jump ramp. Sorry dude, but it's the truth.

What was your reaction to having Josh Kasper back with the crew?
It was sick! I’ve always been cool with him so it was tight, and he killed it from the get go.

Would you want to come back and defend next year?
I would love to defend next year!

What's kept you loyal to Blind for all these years?
I’ve stayed loyal because they gave me a chance when I was a kid, and it was a dream come true for me to be on Blind. They have also helped me through the tough times in my career, so you can't forget that stuff when shit changes.

How did that personalized rap come about in What If?
My homie MURS from Living Legends and my friend Justin from Patchworks hooked it up. MURS said he wanted to do it, and as a fan of his I was all for it. I know it's taboo to a lot of "cool" people, but fuck it, I loved that shit. Props to MURS and Justin.

What else is going on with you?
Trying to skate as much as I can, and trying to progress every day on my skateboard. We’re filming for the new Blind video, that’s my main focus. I just got a sample of my signature shoe from Power called the Laker. Have some big plans for the upcoming year, but video first and that’s it.

How much time do you spend on the interweb?
A lot! Peace to all the SLAP PALS—I know you will see this, HOLLA. I’m a skate nerd so I like to peep stuff like video sites, blogs, message boards… It’s pretty crazy what gets on those boards: 50-percent bullshit plus 50-percent true shit = 100-percent entertainment. Good looks on the shirts Schmitty, and everyone, check the Trife!

What kind of shit do you do besides skateboarding?
When I’m off board I like to try to golf, it’s fun and frustrating. I like the game of poker a lot, and sometimes I hit Hawaiian Gardens casino. Laker games with my brother Jeremy sometimes. Hang with my special lady friend Lisa.

What’s the status on the Blind video?
The video is looking really sick! I think we might surprise some people with it, but we will see. Hopefully It will be ready for Summer of ’08, but we just want it to be done when it's really, really good and ready.