Taken for a bumpy ride

Dave Brooks

It’s obviously brewing in the back of his mind.

Capping off a recent screening in a makeshift studio in his

parent’s Huntington Beach home, filmmaker Kristian McCue says he’s

still rushing to finish his skating video of local legend Tosh

Townend. But he’s got a much scarier task to deal with in his

immediate future: he’s got to get the Weenabago home.

To say that he was going to “drive” his 1976 Dodge six-pack would

wrongly characterize the vehicle’s preferred method of travel.

Getting from point A to point B isn’t as simple as stepping on the

gas pedal and actually moving.

No, getting the Weenabago to go usually involves some combination

of pushing, kicking, cursing, crying and always keeping a distance

from the tail pipe, which tends to shoot out flames. Big, hot scary

ones.

“Yeah, the Weenabago isn’t really used for cruising around,” said

the nervous McCue, 23, as he rode to pick it up with Townend, 20, and

local artist Mark Paul Deren, a.k.a. Madsteez, 24, whose cartoon

character Mr. Ween inspired the name for the vintage Winnebago.

The three young men are the creative forces behind “The Weenabago

Projekt,” a cinematic adventure following skaters Townend, Wes Lott,

Jake Rupp and Ryan Cottrell on a 21-day road trip to Vancouver and

back.

For hard-core skateboarding enthusiasts, “The Weenabago Projekt”

is a glimpse into Townend’s progression toward his stylized form of

street skating, but the film is as much a reflection of the journey

of the young men as it is about their many concrete destinations.

Many of the beautifully gritty 16mm sequences capture the American

fascination with the “road trip,” along with the constant frustration

of automotive breakdowns and personal conflicts. And like any good

board flick, it also includes plenty of skate footage, one part a

particularly lucid scene of airborne-addict Brent “Grass-Hopper”

Atchley at Portland’s famous Burnside Skatepark.

“I wanted it to stand out by being an indie film that I did on my

own,” Townend said. “I didn’t just want to show the skateboarding,

but the friendships and the emotions that go into it.”

Townend and McCue have been buddies since their days at Huntington

Beach High School, when the skater was developing a global following

for his pre-pubescent Evil Knievel sensibilities and propensity to

clear massive handrails. The son of Peter “PT” Townend, the first

World Champion of Professional Surfing in 1976, Townend’s success has

propelled him through multiple commercial ventures including his own

skateboarding company and shoe line.

In July the pair purchased the Weenabago from a self-professed

gambling man in Stanton with the guarantee that it only had 50,000

miles under its belt. Although both Townend and McCue were both born

long after the era of the leisure suit, both said the 1970s appeal of

the Winnebago, complete with a plush brown leather interior, ugly

green carpeting and quick-action swivel chairs appealed to their

tastes. Artist Madsteez was brought on to redesign the exterior of

the RV and the pair recruited five other skaters to take their

journey with them.

The pair first hit a road bump when one of the skaters failed to

show up for their road trip mission. The objective: to meet up with

other skaters in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and other West

Coast cities for an insiders tour of local parks and spots.

With a media van following close behind, the Weenabago made it all

the way to Vancouver without any major mechanical problems. But when

they tried to get through the border, they started to encounter

problems.

Canadian customs agents flagged the boys down and arrested

everyone on suspicion of trying to sneak goods into the country for

resale -- the agents thought the skaters were going to sell their

collection of skateboards, t-shirts and stickers without paying

duties.

Everything was confiscated and the skaters didn’t get their

belongings returned until after they forked over $420. That would

just prove to be the beginning of their troubles.

From there, the Weenabago would break down every chance it got,

losing its brakes, corroding countless batteries and providing too

many brushes with death on windy, dark mountain roads.

“There were times on the tour when I wanted to blow the thing up,”

McCue said.

The four skaters and their film crew eventually made it home. They

plan to hold the inaugural screening of their movie at Huntington

Beach High School at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The film will also be shown on

the big screen May 12 at Mann’s Pierside Pavilion.

While the many mechanical headaches with the Weenabago make for

great film fodder, both McCue and Townend said they wish the RV had

been in better shape.

“I think we missed out on a lot because the thing kept breaking

down,” Townend said.

“Yeah, but we want to keep the Weenabago going,” replied McCue.

“We’re already planning an East Coast tour for the thing. We’re just

going to have to totally rebuild the engine before we go out on the

road again.”

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

966-4609 or by e-mail at [email protected].