Robert Brink - Writer

New Jack: Jon Goemann

August 8, 2006 | Skip To The Comments (0)

New Jack: Jon Goemann
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag September 2006

After a few years of hanging out with, observing and interviewing young up-and-coming ams in skateboarding, something kind of inspiring and refreshing that I've noticed is a certain amount of innocence and carefree attitude that emanates from them. Qualities that, if we aren't careful, are easily lost to the hustle and bustle of everyday life, aging, girlfriends, careers, money and whatnot.
Speaking to these ams…these types of interviews are probably the only time I'm happy to hear “I don't know” as an answer to my questions. Because really, it kinda just means they aren't thinking too hard. And when people don't think to hard, you can bet your pimpled ass they are getting' busy living for the moment and having a good time. In Jon Goemann's case, he seems to be kicking back and enjoying the ride. Poker, candy, skateboarding, breaking and losing expensive shit and a whole lot of not knowing…God I envy this kid and you should too. Because with the style of a modern old skateboarding soul, heaps of well-rounded ability and pop and a unique satchel of tricks, for certain, one question you won't be able to answer “I don't know” to will be "Who is Jon Goemann?"

Are you guys back from Texas yet? What were you up to down there?

Ya we're in Arizona now, we just dropped off Aaron Suski and are getting some food. We're heading back to California tonight. We just skated a lot of cool backyard ramps and stuff—just filming for the video and shooting for an article.

What did you do for Easter in Texas yesterday?

Not much. Ate some dinner then checked out all these bats that fly out from under a bridge at night. It's pretty cool. Sitting out on Easter night with a bunch of people there.

Bats?

Ya. Bats.

Is that a seasonal thing where the bats just kinda migrate or whatever?

I dunno if it's seasonal or if it they do it every night. But I think the people only gather to watch on Easter. I think its pretty much every night. It might be seasonal, I'm not sure.

I hear you eat a lot of candy? Did you rock a lot of Easter candy yesterday?

Not really. I mean I got some at the gas station just to snack on, but not much more than anyone else I don't think.

How much candy do you eat in an average day?

I don't know. Probably like six or seven things maybe—probably about that. I get a lot of donuts and random little candy bars at gas stations and stuff.

I'm more into chocolate. I'm not into like Skittles and stuff.

Ya, chocolate is pretty good. Skittles can work though.

Like in a candyless jam?

Ya, they can work.

What do you hate or totally avoid, candy-wise?

Candy-wise totally avoid? Like, gummi worms and stuff like that. I try to steer clear of those things.

Do you have bad teeth? Or do you not like the texture or what?

I just don't like the texture. They don't really hurt my teeth. I am just not too into them. They just seem weird.

I'm not into gummi candy either except Swedish Fish.

Oh Swedish fish are the shit! Definitely good.

Ya it seems to be the only non-chocolate candy I can deal with.

Ya I think that's probably me too. Everything else like gummi worms and gummi bears, unless you eat ‘em with ice cream or something.

I keep hearing about how late you sleep.

Ah yea, 'cuz I just pretty much stay up all night and sleep all day. Normally I go night skating unless I am on a trip, then I'll have to wake up early.

What happens when you pull and all-nighter but have to get up early for something? Are you just miserable all day?

Ya pretty much, or I just wont wake up and blow off what I was supposed to do and do something else.

If I don't get enough sleep I get this feeling like I have to puke all day long the next day.

It's just really hard for me to get up if I haven't slept much. But then once I am up I tend to be fine. I'll just drink more caffeine or something like that. It's just too hard for me to get up and actually get out of bed and take a shower and stuff.

But what about the trap? When you wake up early without sleep and then take a nap later?

Oh man, then you are even more fucked. If you do that you'll have to stay up all night and then the next night to re-get your schedule back. Cuz if you take a nap there's no way you are gonna fall asleep at night and then you are in this vicious cycle that keeps going. Ya, those things are hard to come out of. It's good with skating though ‘cuz you pretty much can. Anything else and you'd be fucked.

What's the deal with you and bad luck? I keep hearing how you have a dark cloud floating over your head…losing/breaking all the iPods and phones and shit?

Ya, it seems that way sometimes. Actually I just lost my phone on this trip too. I've had like 10 iPods or something in the last few years. I got a Nano and I was all psyched on it ‘‘cuz you can skate with it and I always skate with iPods because once I started I couldn't really skate without it. I just broke one and then right before I went on this trip I lost the other one somehow. I have no idea how. I skated Carlsbad park with it, put it in my car, went home, started packing, went back out to my car to get the iPod and it was just gone. But it couldn't have been stolen ‘cuz my doors were locked. Unless somehow it could have, but I dunno. Yeah.

So it just disappeared?

Ya, I guess. Well it couldn't have disappeared obviously but like…I dunno. I have no idea really. I haven't figured it out yet. I'll probably just end up finding it when I get back and have two iPods.

How about other sorts of bad luck like losing passports and tickets. Missing flights and whatnot. Are you a scatterbrain? Do you just not care?

No I do. Well, with the passport…I don't know. I could have sworn I put the passport in my bag. But with the plane ticket, it was a paper ticket, but we had e-tickets so I didn't think I needed to keep it the paper one. So I kinda just put it in my bag or maybe I threw it away or something. So I had to buy a new one and the airline was supposed to credit my account but it never really happened.

Despite all this bad luck, you're a poker ace?

Not really an ace, I just play a lot. That's almost what keeps me up all night. There is this casino, Ocean's 11 that's like 10 minutes away from my house and I got this fake ID that works there, so I just go there every night and then wake up pretty late and go skate a park.

So you got a fake ID just to play poker?

Yea. Well, I've had one forever but its pretty much to go play poker.

Poker is super popular these days.

Oh ya, it's so trendy. It's almost kinda good though because you get all these people walking in thinking they're the shit but they are just so terrible. So it's good that it's that big, but at the same time, like just the average dude…everyone is getting so much better at it that its getting kinda crazy to play, but its still good.

Why do you think poker got so trendy now?

I don't know. I guess ‘cuz it's a skill game but any lucky guy could win, you know what I mean? I don't know, it's a weird game to play but as far as gambling it's probably the best game to play. Unless you are gonna play like chess or something. I could see people doing that.

What got you into it?

Just me and my friends would always play with each other once a week. The same seven or eight dudes would get together and play. Actually the movie Rounders too. We saw that right when we started playing and that was pretty sick so we started playing poker a bunch after that.

That's kinda like how people got into skating from Gleaming the Cube or Back to the Future.

Ya for sure then they tried it and got addicted.

So you got hooked on poker ‘cuz of Rounders?

Well not just ‘cuz of that but ya, pretty much.

What's the longest you have ever sat there playing?

It actually wasn't too long ago I had a 24-hour session. It was pretty gnarly.

What's the most you ever won?

$700. I don't play in the bigger games that much. I just buy in with $40 or $50.

What's the most you ever lost?

About $200. But normally if I lose I try to win my money back and if I lose a second time I just end up leaving.

So you aren't addicted to gambling?

Na, if I keep losing I'll just leave. It's more just something to do when I get bored pretty much. It's more like entertainment.

Have you won or lost more money overall since you started playing?

I'm pretty sure I've won more, but you can't know for sure. I'd like to think that when I go I win more than I lose for sure.

Do you have any really good poker stories? Has anyone ever gotten pissed at you at the table?

Well, ya, people get bummed if you get on a winning streak. Or if you bluff someone once they keep trying to call you with really bad hands just ‘‘cuz they saw you bluffed that one time. But it's almost good to do because once someone knows that you are capable of bluffing, often you'll get called more than normal. Or if you show them like, five good hands right away they will fold more because they will know you had this or that the last time. You just have to remember the patterns and what you did and stuff like that.

Do you have any special poker flair?

That's actually kind of funny. But I think it is almost a weakness I think—when you see dudes with like shades. I'll rock my iPod because sometimes you get so bored sitting there for so long if you aren't really playing. But I think it's pretty funny when dudes rock like full shades and crazy hats and stuff.

Like I saw this one guy on TV once wearing sunglasses, but upside down. What's that all about?

Oh ya, that's Marcel Luske! He's like a Swedish dude [Marcel is actually Dutch-TSM ed.] he rocks his sunglasses upside down and a crazy suit and a hat with his visor all crooked up right?

In poker you'll find a lot of crazy dudes, its kinda like skating. Just weird flair and people are known for being lame or being dicks. But that dude is kinda crazy. He's pretty good though.

Who is that fat guy who wears the glasses with the reptile eyes on them?

That's Greg Raymer. They call him "Fossil Man." He wears those crazy glasses and has this statue of a fossil to protect his cards. Cuz you are supposed to protect your cards so no one flips them over and ruins the hand. I just put chips on mine, but some people have special flair. But he just got called Fossil Man ‘cuz he had a fossil on top of them and probably because he is pretty fat, which kinda helped too.

Tell me the story of Slash and the black widow.

It was actually kind of a joke at first but he got pretty bummed. I had known him for like five years before he was “Slash,” he was just Brian Hansen, a normal dude. Like a random kid skating Vista. And he was like really afraid of spiders all the time. But his nickname is “Slash” so he can't really be called “Slash” and like, be afraid of spiders.

So I found this black widow in my room. It was kinda sketchy, and I was just gonna throw it away, I wasn't even intending on doing anything. But we just kinda got bored one day and called him up to make sure he wasn't home. I had the spider in a cup and we had this CD just in case his mom answered, so we could tell her we wanted to return it to him so she would let us in his room. Then we just dumped it in his bed. It was kind of a joke but he got pretty bummed.

Can't black widows kill people?

I dunno, I heard they can't even pierce skin. I am sure it could, that's what I heard my whole life, but if you get to the hospital after you're bit, you aren't gonna die. Say you get bit by one and never go to the hospital, then maybe you'll die, but probably not. But I am sure a brown recluse is way more deadly than a black widow. People get bit by those and black widows and live all the time.

Did he find it?

No, but he found out I put it in there ‘cuz he got all paranoid and was calling us back, like “Why we were you calling? What were you doing at my place?” And my friend Dylan eventually ratted me out.

So you have been on Birdhouse for over three years now?

Ya, like two or three…something like that.

Seems like people are getting more amped on Birdhouse lately, like it's losing the ‘little kid company” stigma.

Ya, I don't think of it like that, but its definitely changing for sure. I like it.

How is filming going? When should we expect a new video?

There was a deadline like a month ago for all the footage but I am just taking my time trying to make a video the best I can so it might not be out for a while.

What's a trick you can't do or really suck at?

Ahhh, frontside flips. That and kickflips in general. But frontside flips more so than the rest of ‘em.

Seems like that's a trick you either just have on lock like Reynolds or you suck at it.

Ya, I definitely don't. It's a weird trick. But you don't want to have like, the Muska flips where they go between the legs. It's so hard to just get ‘em right. I dunno, it's just a weird trick.

So you decided to drop out of high school to travel and skate more?

It wasn't really a decision like that. But yea I dropped out like two years ago. I was in the beginning of my senior year. My teacher was really lame. I was supposed to be able to just leave school whenever I wanted to travel. She was like “Yea, ok, that's fine.” So I told her I was goin' on this trip one time but then she called my mom like “Where's Jon? He's supposed to be in school.” So I completely told my mom and she was like, “You can just leave if you want now that you are 18.” She didn't really care.

And your dad doesn't know huh?

Ya he still doesn't know. He thinks I'm still there. I am just gonna try to get my GED, but, I don't know. I'm kinda fucked with that one.

Are you ever gonna break it to him?

Well, I want to but I dunno. He just asked me the other day when I'm going to graduate. He does pay attention but not that much. Like he doesn't know exactly how old I am and stuff like that, so I can kind of get away with a lot of stuff.

Maybe you should just wait until you have some fat paychecks from your board sales?

Ya that might be a good time to spring it on him.

Rumor has it you have a full sleeve of tattoos but you keep it covered.

Ahh, no. That was actually just a joke. I found this nylon thing that was like a fake sleeve of tattoos that you just slide on your arm and I took some photos and sent it to Seamus and he was like “Oh my god you got sleeves, when did you do that?” I just tried to keep that one going for a while. I don't even have any tattoos.

When I ask people to tell me about you they seem to say a lot about your style. Do you ever consciously think about your style when you skate? Or is it just 100% natural and unplanned?

I don't work on it. I don't think I have a good style at all.

Some people just can't look bad…maybe Gino, Guy…

Ya, I am pretty sure if you see me do a frontside flip you'll say I looked bad.

Whose style are you into?

Drehobl is really sick to watch, Ya. I'm gonna go with Drehobl. He's sick.

Who are your favorite skaters now?

Probably just Drehobl. I gotta get in the van now man, these guys are waiting on me.

Sorry man, I need to get 3,000 words out of this.

Wait, what? I can't hear in the van, what was the question?

If you weren't so into skating right now, what do you think you would be doing?

I might just be playing poker or something like that. I don't know. Probably be back in school for sure.

How about after your career in skateboarding? Any plans?

I don't know right now.

I know you're barely getting started but how would you like to be remembered or what mark would you like to leave on skateboarding,

I don't know.