5.8.10 // i currently work here in san francisco at high grade distribution as an in house sales rep. i never thought i'd be calling up shops all day long trying to get them to carry satori wheels, creation skateboards, paradox grip, upful hardware, and other rad shit we make. it fucking sucks sometimes, i've never been good at asking people for shit, and plus having spent lots of time working in a shop i know we kinda already know what the fuck we wanna carry. however there have been a lot of shops out there who have trusted my word and carried our wheels. thanks to matt gillen over at backdoor skateshop for being the first to say: "fuck yea, i wanna order some shit from ya". anyways these past few months calling up shops has been quite interesting. you learn a lot, some people will only carry products from companies that hook up their team riders, other shops have gnarly histories, some shops just don't wanna fucken hear from ya, and some people just wanna talk your ear off and still not get anything from ya. but that's cool. luckily the fine folks at satori have given me an hourly wage because if i was strictly comission i'd be one poor motherfucker. i've learned a lot calling up these places, one thing i've learned is i suck at being a sales rep, i can't just unload a bunch of product onto people cause i'm a fucking minimalist, but damnit, i swear to you our recycled core 101a wheels are the fucking shit, i've been through so many sets of wheels out here in sf, and these are the first fuckers that haven't gone shit quick, and its fucking great. but that is besides the point, this post is about ryan davis. well now it is. ryan was once in the same boat i am, he used to be a road rep for adio (i think) and then moved on to element. he said after partying with those dudes he was handed a list of shops to call and told to get to work. calling up shops ain't that fun kids, i mean its cool but i feel like a retard asking the same shit everytime... "how's the scene doing? any parks in the area? how long has the shop been around for? how long you been there for? any videos in the works? need anything from us? we got these awesome fucking wheels..." . moving along, when ryan was a road rep he kept a super 8 camera on him at all times. you know when you talk to people and you can just get hyped on how hyped they are about something? well talking to ryan he told me he has been working on a video since 1994 and it includes a ton of north carolina heads from way back in the day. he mentioned josh frazier of blacksheep, chad shooter, jed shooter, tommy harward killing it on the old fayetteville street mall, and a bunch of other shit. he mentioned the whole time he was filming witht he super 8 he didn't even know if he was doing it right, but voila he got back the tapes shortly ago and everything was gold. i just wanted to let you know ryan davis has something in the works, he just rebuilt fusion park so go pay him a visit. and thanks to all you shops who have ordered some wheels from me, i know times are tough as fuck right now so that's why i really don't try to sell you shit, and probably why i'm such a shitty salesperson. keep ripping, cause well, thats the goal. <