Wednesday, June 13, 2012


My first encounter with wax, in '97, was stealing from a stack of long slender candles that my mom would use to light up these glass shrines of saints from the Holy Bible.  Her catholic friends would have a session around this saint that was no longer alive, to share in prayer, and ask for the courage and support for answers to questions they couldn't answer.

Eager to get as far away from something I truly still don't understand, I'd take a candle from the back-up stash, run in between the object my mom's prayer group was chanting to, and not owning rollerblades yet, I'd run and follow my friend Ken Jajalla, while he rode his K2 Backyards.  Ken was the man who gave me the gift of 8 wheels. My appointed job at the time was to be the "wax boy" for a red curb at the end of his street.  I'd watch him do soul grinds, and ask if I can borrow his blades after he was done and give Soul Grinds a chance.

When I finally became the owner of a pair of blades, I'd save my lunch money and would buy the "holy" wax.  Greasey puddy like candles that was encased in glass, the same size as a tall can of beer, and had some sort of majestic Catholic painting of the Virgin Mary on it.  Taking the bag that it was placed into when purchased, I'd tie it up, and hurl it on the floor - shattering the the glass into a million pieces. I'd pull out the greasy chunk of wax, wipe down any remaining shards, and smear it onto whatever we were grinding.  The ledge would instantly become black (when cops came we swore blader's were not doing as much damage as metal trucks on skateboards would do).  I'd use the bag to hold the grease chunk to avoid getting any on my hand as if I was wiping a piece of dog poop onto the ledge.  The wax was a quick fix, the oily residue never really adhered to the ledge.  If we waxed a rail it would only slide for a few grinds and we'd have to reapply.  The wax was poor quality for blading.  But, being able to destroy something and discard any signs of evidence (since all of the glass stayed in the bag) had me coming back for more.  If we ever needed wax, we'd only have to look for a bag in the trunk since we knew leaving it out would melt and ruin wherever it laid after spending the day in the trunk of a car.
After I got over this destructive phase in my life, I thought buying 3-wick large candles, that had girth which, would make any black man feel asian, would be the purchase of the month.  Vanilla scented preferred - the formula used to make the colossal candle would crumble.  It was a load of microbeads placed together, that looked a lot more fun to snort than to actually wax the obstacle we were grinding.  We'd then break it in half, and lose a 1/3 of it cause someone forgot it at the spot that we were at.  What we thought was the "gold mine" for our waxing needs ended up becoming a weekly purchase since we would lose it often.

My friend Nick Rother, had done a science experiment in high-school and after several tests of finding ways to make a play rail slide best, he came to the conclusion that Parowax was pure cut like top quality crack cocaine, that other candles would dilute, lowering its quality and slanging it like it was top notch.  Parowax is used for canning jellies, waxing snowboards and surfboards, and is used as a base for candle wax makers.  The wax stayed on obstacles longer than any other of its kind. P.W. is easy to find at your local grocery store, located in a humble blue box, as if it came straight out of the '60s.  Finding Parowax was love at first sight, after having crap dates with other candles, I finally found the jelly to my peanut butter, the cheese to my macaronni, the cookies to my cream.  It maintains a solid texture without the grease and disgusting other stuff that was in the equation to make those "B" rated candles, and fit perfectly in the back pocket of my Vibralux jeans.

In the latest Xsjado session photos there was a closeup of my parowax tribute blades.  Everything matched including my Nike Blue SBs that Sauer had donated to me.  I couldn't have done it without the amazing Create Originals frames, the only frames, where art is welcomed.

There would be no extreme in "Extreme-sports" if wax did not exist to make curbs, handrails, skiis and/or boards slick enough to slide. The two go hand in hand, and if it wasn't for dating several types of wax, I would not have found the love of my life.  I love you parowax, like a fat kid loves cake.