Marty is my kind of skater. He isn’t flashy, he’s got solid style, and he has ridiculous control on a skateboard. My kind of guy. As it would turn out, Marty is also an extremely pleasant fellow. You know that expression, “wouldn’t hurt a fly?” Well, that definitely applies to … “wouldn’t hurt a fly” … wait a minute … oh Marty, you got lucky! The McFly jokes that could have been! Oh the missed opportunities…
Wesley: You ready?
Marty: Let’s do it!
Wesley: So Marty, is this your first interview? Are you nervous? Tell me a little bit about your feelings.
Marty: No, not the first interview. The first one was a Product of the Environment. But they just took quotes from what I said.
Wesley: Well, are you nervous? How are you doing?
Marty: Uh, I always get a little nervous. I’m just taking a walk right now ‘cause it’s easier to talk if I’m moving.
Wesley: Okay, well explain to me your place in the world of sponsored skateboarding right now. Would you consider yourself a starving am? I’m kind of curious what it’s like as an amateur in skateboarding today. Does Matix pay enough to cover your bills? Do you work a day job? How does that work?
Marty: I would say probably a starving amateur. They pay me enough – just enough to cover my bills and that’s it. I sell stuff to kids or whatever and I work at a skate shop in Arizona, but that’s only when I need to. For the most part, they help out a whole bunch. I’m always trying to get the extra money because I spent too much at the bar or something.
Wesley: Do you wanna plug the name of the shop?
Marty: Yeah, that’d be cool. Freedom Board Shop.
Wesley: I just got the new Transworld today and Mike Mo said that you were his #1 favorite man am.
Marty: Oh man…
Wesley: Do you feel like age is a big factor in being an amateur skateboarder?
Marty: I guess it depends. You’ll be able to last longer if you’re younger. It’s better for the company to have a younger kid because they’ll obviously be skating longer… But it seems like it’s kind of gone away from the little kid skateboarders now.
Wesley: Which is a good thing in my opinion.
Marty: Yes, for sure. People want to see a grown man skate instead of a little dude jumping down something. I remember when all the little kid stuff was happening and older people were getting kicked off the teams. I was like, “why did this person get kicked off the team? I wanna see him skate instead of a little kid.” I don’t think it’s as big of a deal now. There are people who are a lot older who are getting their chance.
Wesley: How old was Dan Murphy? Wasn’t he like 27 or so when he turned pro?
Marty: I’m not sure. I heard that Frank Gerwer was a little bit older. I heard that Louie Barletta was a little bit older.
Wesley: Yeah, I think Louie might have actually lied about his age. I remember seeing him, years ago, in two different magazines and one said that he was 16 and one said that he was like early to mid twenties. I don’t blame the guy, you know…
Marty: (laughs) I should do that in the next interview.
Wesley: Well, you’re sticking lower to the ground, so I don’t really see your knees going out soon.
Marty: Yeah, I try not to jump too much.
Wesley: Marty, how do you think that we could make you a little more marketable? You know, so Chocolate and DVS might bump you up to full-time am. Have you ever thought about playing off of the word “raw” in your last name?
Marty: Playing off the … what?
Wesley: You know, if you were going to be in a deoderant commercial or something they could call you Marty “Raw” Murawski!
Marty: No. (laughs) I would never do that.
Wesley: Well, how about if we made your last name into three words? We’d call you Mur Raw Ski. You could be the next Logan Earth Ski.
Marty: The next what?
Wesley: Logan Earth Ski. You ever heard of them?
Marty: No…
Wesley: That’s a really old company. Nevermind.
Marty: Yeah, I don’t think that I’m gonna mess with any of the marketing stuff.
Wesley: Okay, well I just wanted to let you know that I’ve got some great ideas here – so if you need any consultation just let me know.
Wesley: Okay Marty, tell me honestly, and I ask this in an entirely heterosexual manner, do you ever get an erection from that kickflip that you did in Filmbot Files?
Marty: (nervous laughter)
Wesley: Don’t pretend like you don’t know which one I’m talking about.
Marty: No, wait, the one to fakie…?
Wesley: No, the one that you caught completely with the sides of your feet.
Marty: Oh, yeah, I know what you’re talking about. I’ll tell you this, when I landed I was pretty excited. I didn’t wanna mess up the line. I didn’t really care too much about the other tricks, I just wanted to have the kickflip in there. Maybe I got lucky.
Wesley: As an Arizona boy, who would you say in the present skate game is making Arizona the most proud?
Marty: Ooooh… I would say… A lot of people know about Trapasso, obviously. He’s kind of out in Long Beach now but he definitely still reps Arizona. John Motta. Levi Brown – I like that dude a whole bunch.
Wesley: That was my answer.
Marty: Yeah, me too, especially because he’s still in Arizona and he was struggling for a while. I was just like, “you gotta keep doing it, it’ll work out.”
Wesley: I noticed you snuck into his part in the Element video.
Marty: Yeah, he put me in there.
Wesley: How do you feel about this Steve Forstner Wedge business? How many gnar balls does he get for that one – or are you a little iffy about the motorcycle business?
Marty: Yeah, I would say that’s pretty up there. I don’t know if it’s the highest up there, but it’s pretty crazy.
Wesley: Tell me a trick that you’ve always tried to pull off but never managed. It can’t be a heelflip or anything. It needs to be something of a more technical persuasion.
Marty: I had one that I was working on but someone else, I think Brezinski, just did it. I did it before, but I did it bad and he did it really good so I stopped doing it.
Wesley: Did he know you did it? Did he steal it?
Marty: No, not at all. Joey’s cool.
Wesley: Well, what was the trick?
Marty: It was a front nose nollie heelflip.
Wesley: Oh, the new Adio ad, right?
Marty: Yeah. I did it on a different ledge. I landed it and got hurt. Then I heard that he did it so I was like “oh, I guess I don’t have to try it anymore” which was fine since I already tried it for like four days.
Wesley: So, are you mad at that little shit Vincent Alvarez for stealing your spot on Chocolate?
Marty: (laughs) Oh man. No, not at all. That kid’s really good. I’m psyched for him.
Wesley: Okay, I was just wondering if he had any kind of punishment in store.
Marty: No man, there’s no punishment with anyone. He’s cool too.
Wesley: Marty, when you get in trouble over at Matix does Tony (Evjenth, Matix TM) ever call you “Martin?” You know, like “Martin Murawski, come over here for your spanking!”
Marty: (laughs) No, he’s never gotten too mad at me. I’ll wait to find out, I guess. Tony pretty much just laughs at everything. He doesn’t put on his serious face too much.
Wesley: Have you been a little upset that you are Racket’s second official skateboard interview and not our first?
Marty: The second interview? Who was the first interview?
Wesley: Ed Templeton.
Marty: Oh sick! I’m psyched! Happy. That’s dude’s great.
Wesley: You’re the first am interview though.
Marty: Nice. I’m going down in history here.
Wesley: I was talking to one of my fellow Racket folks yesterday and he told me that he hates the “what next?” question that people do at the end of interviews. So, just to spite him, I’m gonna go ahead and do one.
Marty: Ahhh, I knew it was coming! (laughs)
Wesley: Yep. This one’s for Patrick. What does the public have to look forward to when it comes to Marty Murawski? Any power moves coming up? You gonna be topping the Exposure Meter?
Marty: (laughs) Oh man, just skating. Saving footage. Trying to put together a video part. Something that I’m happy with.
Wesley: Who are you doing a video part for?
Marty: Not sure yet. Just saving footage. We might do a Matix video. They’re talking about it. I can’t really say yet though.
Wesley: How much footy do you have?
Marty: Oh… (laughs) Maybe a minute and a half. Two minutes. I’m still not satisfied though. I’ve gotta keep working. I got hurt though so that kinda put a stop to it.
Wesley: What happened?
Marty: I kept dislocating it and the first doctor that I went to told me that surgery wasn’t an option and that I wouldn’t be able to skateboard ever again if I had surgery. Then it popped out a couple more times. Once a week before I went to Europe. Then when I was in London it popped out and I just had to fly home. That was when I realized that I needed to do something. So I went to a different doctor, the one who does the Phoenix Suns, a sports dude. I wish that I would have gone to him first.
Wesley: But things are looking up now?
Marty: Definitely.
Wesley: I think we’re about done here Marty. Do you have any final words you wanna toss out there?
Marty: I would like to say thanks to Tony, Sam, and Rick and all those guys. All the sponsors. Mike Mo for saying that I was one of his favorite man ams.
Wesley: (laughs) You weren’t one of them. You were number one.
Marty: That’s awesome.
Wesley: You may be our second interview, but you are Mike Mo’s favorite man am.
Marty: Nice. He’s got my back
-By Wesley Miller