John Lindsay

Yokohama ollie

Vivien loves beer and doughnuts, John loves pizza and gelato, and E.T. loves life!

John and Adam doubles; fs rock & tail block

I had been living in Japan for 3 months, skating by myself, hanging solo and touring Yokohama and Tokyo by my lonesome, and wondering when was I going to meet some skater brethren to form a schralping posse. Scotty The Body Too Hottie gave me some contacts via MyFace, and eventually I met John Lindsay on the world wide web; a fellow gaijin amongst all the nihonjins. John immediately said he would meet me later that week and take me thrashing. At this point all I knew about John is what I saw on his MyFace page and it was all very mysterious. “Well”, I thought, “what have I got to loose. He speaks English, he lives pretty close by, and he shreds.” I was at our meeting place on time and John wasn’t there, but there was a nihonjin guy holding a skateboard in the exact place we planned on meeting. So, I approached him and introduced myself in broken, pidgin Japanese. His name was Natsuki and he was a friend of John’s also waiting to push the night away and his Engrish was as good as my nihongo. John showed up a few minutes later, we shook hands, and set out into the streets of downtown Yokohama. As soon as we let loose into the night I saw a corner store and requested a quick pit stop for a tall boy and some peanuts. Natsuki seemed pretty excited about my desire to drink beer and thrash, however John seemed a little apprehensive but he opted for a tall boy too. After we slammed those 16 ounces of classic Japanese low-malt brews, the best beers for fried foods in my opinion, we were off again like bats chasing bugs. As we pushed down the street at a break neck speed I saw John bust a heel flip that made me whistle. A few minutes later I made a comment about how my buzz had turning into sweat, and John replied “Really? I think I’m still drunk.” John is man who stands almost a foot shorter than me, but his disposition is taller than Sequoiadendron giganteum; he’s extremely sincere, he has a YouTube addiction, and he is a righteous individual.

Mr. Lindsay. You are married man with two cats a sweet tooth, and you and your missus were living in the Kanagawa prefecture of Japan before moving across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco. What Nihon nostalgia do you and Mrs. Lindsay share since relocating, and what stimulates your brains about your new home in the SF Bay Area?
Since relocating, the one thing I really miss about Japan are the convenience stores, the old fashion candy stores, being able to drink beer in the street (important to note that I only started drinking after meeting Adam), pretending I can’t understand anything, getting special treatment for being foreign, skating in Yokohama and Tokyo, having great in-laws, having the Jehovah Witness group come to my door every week to recruit me for their cult, stray cats, skipping work to go bowling and play video games, drinking beer at work, having friends come visit, and being able to find Adam in the most crowded train station (editor’s note***due to his height and good looks) . I think Mrs. Lindsay doesn’t miss it too much yet, but if anything, it’s probably the food and her cat.

SF is a great city! We like how you can pretty much take a leak anywhere you feel inclined to. The restaurants here are delicious, the people are friendly, and the scenery is beautiful.
John, your baking skills are surprisingly good for a breast-less, uterus-less human. What’s your preferred baked morsel when masterminding in your kitchen? Also, when you enter a bakery, what is the one baked item you look for first, and how many do you typically purchase?
First off, I want to say, “Thank You.” I think you might be one of the only three people who have actually eaten one of my baked goodies. I am a very big fan of “Butterscotch Chips, “a close cousin of the more renowned, Chocolate Chip.” Just as delicious, but just hits a different taste bud. For the record, I don’t go to bakeries too often, since I do like to bake my own cookies, cakes and pastries, but when I do, the first things I make sure to look for are cupcakes. There’s nothing better than a store bought cupcake, in my opinion.
Mr. J. C. Lindsay, you have traveled quite a bit for a man of 35 minus 9 years of age. Of all the countries and or cities you’ve visited, which area of the world touched your heart and why, and would you please recall a memorable account from that place on the planet?
My favorite trip was to Vietnam a couple years ago. Being a white guy in South East Asia can be pretty cool, everyone wants to be your friend! By the end of my trip, I had friends all over the place, even ones who felt comfortable enough sticking their hands into my pockets and helping themselves to my money.
On one particular trip to some sand dunes, about 50 little Vietnamese children greeted me as we rolled up in an old authentic Army Jeep leftover from the war. They all greeted me with smiles, hugs, and a big “Hello”. They took me to the top of the sand dunes and wanted me to go down it on their homemade plastic slide. In my most courteous manner, I tried to refuse, but they were very insistent that I go down. I tried to refuse once more and just walk away, but as soon as I did, I felt the weight of about 50 children pushing down on my shoulders forcing me onto the slide. They all got behind me and started pushing me down the hill. As I started to get a little further away from them, I jumped off the slide and starting run down the sand dune in hopes that my athleticism would pay off and I could out run these kids. I could hear them yelling at me, “You Slide, You Pay!!!!” As you can probably tell, I was really scared and I just kept running toward the jeep where my tour guide was waiting. He was drinking coffee and saw the angry mob behind me and quickly ran to the Jeep to get us out of there safely. We got in the Jeep just in time as the kids ran up next to it screaming, “Fuck You!!!”

On another trip to Korea, I had lost my way and could not find my hotel after being stranded by the group I was with. I walked in the direction of where I thought the hotel was and after asking a couple people, they all ignored me or couldn’t understand what it was that I was trying to say. I finally saw a guy who I assumed could speak English. My assumption was correct! He was from Pakistan and had been living in Korea for a couple years working in a cell phone factory. He grabbed my hand and took me to my hotel. I thanked him and thought it was all over, but next thing I knew, he was asking me to come to dinner with him. I couldn’t turn down the free food so of course I went with this stranger. He took me down the street and tried to get me in a taxi. I tried to tell him I wasn’t comfortable getting in taxi and just wanted to eat around my hotel, but next thing I knew, I was being pushed into the taxi against my will. We got in and our taxi driver was just as crazy as the guy who was trying to either kidnap me, or try and rape me later that night. They started screaming at each other in Arabic, because as it turned out, the cab driver used to live in Saudi Arabia, and my new Pakistani friend also lived in Dubai and could speak Arabic. Things got weird at that point and they started screaming, “Allah….Allah…Allah…” or something of that nature. We eventually arrived at our destination and to my surprise; he took me to a Pakistani restaurant! He ordered a ton of food, drinks and deserts which all had to be eaten with my hands. The food was real good, but one thing I knew that he didn’t know, was that I didn’t have any money! Surprise! It didn’t matter too much though, because at the end of our meal, I found out, he didn’t have any money either! Double Surprise! He went up to the counter and started arguing with the restaurant owner. So, I nonchalantly walked to the bathroom and slid out the back door, never to see that guy again, and with a free meal in my stomach.
John, let me remind you that you have a Bachelor degree in Painting, and thus you could be considered an artist. Artists usually appreciate other artists’ work, so please counsel us on your artistic inspirations, both in terms of people and favorite crafted compositions.
Can I go way back for a minute? I’m going to. When I was a little weef, I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island where my father was working for Hasbro Toys at the time. My brother and I used to go into the office a lot and play with all the toys, and I used to hang out with some of the designers who were kind enough to give me my first set of markers and some old scrap paper. I would look through old drawings of toys, GI Joe’s and Mister Potato Heads all day long, and this got me into drawing my own characters, which oddly enough, I still do today!
In terms of artists, I really like Mary Blair. She did a lot of illustration work in the 60’s for Walt Disney and worked closely with Salvador Dali. Tezuka Osamu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezuka_Osamu) he did a Japanese comic book. Ge-ge-ge no Kitarou artist, Shigeru Mizuki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeGeGe_no_Kitaro). Makoto Aida, Japanese modern artist (http://www.ybca.org/exhibitions/2009/makoto-aida.aspx). Anything that is kind of flat and 2-dimensional is alright in my book.
And lastly Mr. Lindsay, I have noticed you are extremely skilled at living each day as it comes, or living in the ‘here and now’ as some may say. However content you may be in the here and now, I would like to know what the future holds for you, your missus, and your two cats, Momo and Cookie, who by the way are the nieces I never had, because I’m their Uncle SZA SAD.
Wow… the future. I haven’t really thought that far ahead! I hope the future holds for me lot more traveling. I would really like to go to Norway and see my family there as well as Ireland to see where my other grandfather was born. I also have a son in Paris, France, he’s 34 now? My goal for the future though is to get my stuff together and show some paintings. I have also made a promise to myself to give up sugar. Now it’s in writing!
I must say I don’t think that will happen because of your love for baking, cupcakes, and candy. Sorry John. Either way, you have my unconditional support, my friend.

ollie photo: Styley

doubles photo: Kohei Yamada

artwork: Soy Panday