Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.09.2013, Blaðsíða 28

SPUNTINI
RISOTTO
PASTA
CLASSICS
DESSERTS
UNO at Ingólfstorg | Tel. 561 1313 | www.uno.is
The kitchen is open until
midnight on weekends
17:00 – 23:00 sun. – thu.
Fresh off of touring Europe and the
UK this summer with his band Fuck-
face Unstoppable (or FU, for short),
Bam has spent the last month here
in Reykjavík planning a fundraising
concert in memory of his best friend
and former Jackass co-star, Ryan
Dunn a.k.a. ‘Random Hero,’ who
sadly passed away in a motor vehicle
accident in June 2011.
“After Ryan passed, I spent three
years not really knowing what to do
with myself. I started FU, and we’ve
been touring loads, but I still think
about that day like it was yester-
day,” Bam tells me over a coffee at
Priki!. “We were on tour in Europe
last month, and only had Helsinki,
Stockholm, and Oslo left to go, and
I wanted to cancel the whole thing.
Basically, I had a dream where I was
slapped awake by Ryan, and he told
me ‘Get off your fat fucking ass, and
do something.’ It felt so real. When
you’re constantly in front of thou-
sands of people, or surrounded by
your entourage, sometimes there
isn’t a lot of time to think about
where you’re going.”
After a moment, Bam recalls,
“Then, it just hit me: I’m going to
start a ‘Random Hero’ festival here
in Iceland in Ryan’s honour, every
October 5th, and make it bigger and
bigger as the years go on. This year,
we’ve got Yelawolf playing, and all
the proceeds from the festival will
go to building a skatepark here in
Reykjavík, since there isn’t a proper
outdoor park here and because it
looks like they’re ploughing this one
down over here,” Bam gestures out
the window towards the small, grass-
roots, do-it-yourself skatepark on
the now-off-limits property known
as Hjartagar!urinn, or Heart Garden.
Over the last year, artists, local
musicians, and skateboarders have
been locked in a perpetual battle
with the City and Reginn, the largest
private real estate firm in the country,
in hopes of saving the square from
destruction in order to make room for
a new hotel. As of publishing, bull-
dozers and construction equipment
have occupied the square, and have
begun demolition.
“There’s so much amazing art and
culture at Heart Garden, and you’ll
never get that back. A lot of people
don’t seem to realise that,” says
Bam’s fiancé, Nikki Boyd, who has
joined us at the table. “Yeah, there’s
nothing more annoying than going to
skate a ledge in front of a building,
and getting in two tries before secu-
rity comes out, then waiting for them
to go back inside, just so you can
get maybe one more try,” Bam adds.
“Just give them a skatepark! One that
will last.”
Bam is no stranger to skateboard-
ing in Iceland. Downtown skate spots
such as Ingólfstorg have appeared in
several of his films and video parts
over the years, namely ‘CKY2K’ and
‘Elementality.’ Reflecting his personal
brand of skating, the skatepark he
plans to build will be far from run-of-
the mill. “I want a lot of weird-looking
transitions, waves and bumps, and
crazy art-sculpture obstacles. But I
also want to keep it easy to skate,”
he says. “I don’t want to go too over-
board with the size. There’s noth-
ing worse than having some gnarly
18-foot transitions, when the park, as
a whole, would be way better if they
were only 8-feet. That’s how it is at
FDR Park in Philadelphia, my home
park. Whenever people get cement to
build things there, all the old-school
hessians and gnardogs come out of
the woodwork, wanting these insane
20-foot bowls. I don’t understand
that—the most that’s ever gonna
happen is that somebody’s going to
fakie-rock it, and then they’re gonna
call it a day!”
As we finish up, I ask if Icelanders
can expect to see more of him and
Nikki around town in the months to
come. “Well,” he says, “I just bought
a place here... AND a car! I figured it
was cheaper, since I practically had
to buy the last car we rented here.
I got arrested at the airport, and
Hertz charged me $7,000 dollars for
damages because they thought I did
it on purpose, when in reality, the car
actually got sideswiped. No matter
what I do, I’m doomed.”
Professional skateboarder, stuntman and star of MTV’s Jackass, Bam Margera has had a
very busy year, and it’s not slowing down as he brings his trademarked brand of mischief
and mayhem to Iceland in the form of a new music festival, to complement his marriage
to long-time girlfriend Nikki Boyd on October 5.
Bam’s 'Random Hero' Festival
Jackass star Bam Margera speaks about his up-
coming wedding and all-new music festival to raise
money for a quality skatepark in Reykjavík
“I just bought a place
here... AND a car! I
figured it was cheaper,
since I practically had
to buy the last car we
rented here.”
Words
Bowen Staines
Bowen Staines
6,500 ISK October 5th
Random Hero Music Festival
ISK
Music | Festival
MusicIssue 15 — 2013 28Attn: Jackass fans, the closing scene of Bam's new movie, 'Let's Go To Jail,' will be filmed at this event.