Waiting for Lightning Page #2

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The first time I went to Del Mar

skate park, it was a done deal.

Like, I was addicted so fast

that it's the only thing

I could think about

from that point on.

Our stepfather, Tim, he

would take us to the skate park

when Danny was, you know, six years

old, and I was eight years old.

He'd go down and pay for them

to hang out there all day.

It was almost, for me,

like a baby-sitting program.

Some people spent

every waking hour at that park.

They came when it opened

at 9:
00 in the morning

till 11:
00 at night.

When I

first saw Danny,

he was just

a little kid from Vista

trying to come into this scene

that was Del Mar,

and, like, we were always

kind of tough on him.

Unfortunately

he was the little kid,

and we were

the big 14-year-olds,

so, you know,

picking on him,

hiding his board...

I was always smaller

than most my friends,

so I was in a position

where I had to earn respect,

and I always was trying

to prove myself.

We could tell Danny to do anything,

and he would do it.

We'd hang out with

our neighborhood friends then,

and we'd be like, "Hey, Danny,

go kiss that girl,"

and he would do it,

just whatever it took,

to get the attention

and respect of the group.

When I hit 28,

I started partying a lot.

I realized that

with alcohol and drugs

I could mask

the pain of Dennis dying.

I would leave and not come home

for a few days.

Mary had a hard time

letting go

of what happened

to, uh, Danny's father.

I think that haunted her,

and it affected the kids.

Our mom was gone a lot,

and so for Danny and I,

skateboarding really

became our family.

We were with each other

every single day skating.

It was just

what we did.

There was no alternative.

There was no option.

After a while,

I thought the grass was greener

on the other side,

and I caused my marriage

to go upside down.

And that's when Tim

and I parted the sheets.

I got a lot of backlash,

not so much from Damon,

but from Danny.

Danny's had

a level of anger inside him

for as long

as I can remember.

He had a particular thing

with my mom,

and I think a lot of that

was just Danny's anger

and rage around

losing our dad,

then losing

our stepdad.

My mom had

so many different boyfriends,

from drug dealers

to just abusive guys

who used to beat

the sh*t out of her

and my brother and I,

and, um, you know...

Yeah, it's just...

The police came

to our house a lot...

a lot in Vista.

So, my kids grew up

never knowing what they

were gonna come home to.

Whenever things

got really difficult at home,

Danny would always ask

to go live with Tim.

He was always so happy

around Tim.

He had a mentor,

he had somebody

that could support him

and act as a father figure

in his life.

You have scars from scraping

himself on the sidewalk.

You also have scars

in your mind

that you never

can get rid of.

Sometimes it's good

to talk about them,

but sometimes

it's just too painful.

So, what do we do?

We go out and find

something that's fun.

Sometimes it's dangerous,

but oh, well.

It's worth it.

We've always been out

to prove ourselves

because of having

to make up

for what we didn't have

in the family structure.

What comes along with that

is a strong, competitive spirit.

When I was watching Danny,

he had a focus.

He made up his mind

to do this one trick,

and he would keep trying it

until he did.

I mean, he'd get

beat up, man...

bam! sometimes...

but he'd just

get back up.

Will he survive?

Gale Webb was an interesting

person in Danny's life.

She took Danny

under her wing,

got him hooked up in the

demo circuit she was doing,

and provided some kind

of structure for Danny.

At the beginning,

he was kind of shy,

and then I generate

the excitement.

I go, "Oh, you like that?

Come on, we wanna hear you!"

He'd look at the crowd,

and he would just be different

with the crowd because they

were rooting for him,

and all of a sudden he'd start

pulling off some of these tricks.

When I first heard

Danny's name,

I know we were doing

a demo for a shop in Vista,

and the shop was a-buzz

about Danny.

Witt hired a limousine to take

Tony and some other people over,

and then I jumped

in the limo with them,

so that was the first time

I shot photos of Danny.

I think it was

a little intimidating,

because we all came,

like, the hoard of us came

and descended

on the ramp,

but at the same time he really

wanted to show what he had.

I saw Tony look.

He look at me

and he goes...

Let's hear it for Danny!

Whoo! Danny Way!

Two months

before the event,

we got permission to jump

at the Great Wall.

We have a location,

but we still need

money to build

the biggest skateboard ramp

that's ever been built.

DC, who was Danny's

main sponsor,

they were hearing us

going, "This looks real,"

but they weren't responding,

and it was radio silence.

When Danny

had the idea it was amazing,

but he was asking us

to put up a lot of money

to build a ramp that we don't know

what the end result's gonna be.

We had such

a short amount of time.

I knew right then and there

this was gonna be

a very massive project.

It was gonna take the toll

on all of us

in certain ways that we

just could never imagine.

I remember

spending the night

at Damon's and Danny's

all the time

because it was a little

more liberal than my house.

So, I got to just

kind of hang out,

I could just smoke cigarettes,

and skate the miniramp.

As a skateboarder and as a

young kid, it was badass.

I had this group

of friends in Vista,

this really talented group

of skateboarders,

and Danny really wanted

to be part of that group.

That was my crew.

It was my people.

We'd go see movies,

try to scam on chicks,

and skate all

the areas all around.

Hi, what's

your name?

- Courtney.

- Amy.

- Come over here.

- See if you can get a date and I'll film it.

Those were my friends

I skated with every day,

and Danny would tag along

and skate with us.

My brother always said

they were his friends.

They always defined me

as the young guy

who was too young

to be a part of their crew.

I was like, "We all skate.

What do you mean?"

I just remember

just boards flying,

you know, and elbows,

slight little punches

and jabs in the stomach

and boards in the shin.

Danny skated harder

than anybody else,

so he wasn't going anywhere, and

that caused friction, you know?

Damon really was

a big influence on Danny.

He just wanted to emulate

his older brother,

and he pretty much

would do anything...

or try to do anything

his older brother did.

We were skateboarding

Vista high. It was me and Damon.

This jackass rolls up

and just cold-cocked Damon.

And Damon fell down,

hit his head on the curb.

There was, like,

a little bit of a scuffle.

Then it kind of just died down.

It wasn't that big a deal.

We skated

for a little bit longer,

and then I took him home.

On the way home,

his head's, like...

"I got a headache," as you would

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