Ricardo Fonseca

September 17, 2008 @ 12:10 PM

Hats off for the man who put Portugal on the map. All hail the bearded motorcycle black Madonna, two wheel Gypsy Queen cheating death on Lisbon’s congested highways and winding back streets. Heads up for the magical, musical mastermind, the free fall tour van DJ extraordinaire with the lyrics of a thousand hits of tomorrow and yesteryear stashed under his ponytail and summoned up and delivered with a vengeance at the earliest hint of the first quarter tone. Buckle up for a dip into the shadows of the black market of Lisbon’s netherworld, where hot items change shaking hands, talk is cheap and stolen goods even cheaper. Place your bets and roll with Ricardo - you’ll live longer for it because laughing adds years to your life and Fonseca has been known to have a joke or two up his Portuguese sleeve.

How come you seem to be the only Portuguese skater we hear about or see?
Hmmm… I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I guess it should be good. Skateboarding is starting to get bigger in Portugal now, but before I think people here didn’t really realize the reality of skateboarding. Now they are a bit more open minded, they are starting to see the opportunities that is there and just take them. It’s starting to really develop, media wise, trick wise, the level is rising. It’s kind of starting to be not just skateboarding as whatever, but skateboarding as… I didn’t want to use this word, but skateboarding as an ecosystem, as a way of living!

How did you make it into the international stage of things from Portugal yourself then?
Aah, I was just lucky! I didn’t really want to move that much, because I really feel comfortable in Portugal. It’s my home. But Jérèmie [Daclin] still wanted me on Cliché, so…

How did you meet him?
I met Jérèmie in a contest in Europe, maybe ‘99 or 2000. At the time I thought OK, I’ll try. Around the same time there was this proposal from Pete Hellicar as well to ride for Unabomber. I ended up on Cliché and got to know the guys that were doing it. It was good.

But in the beginning, how did you end up being this guy who comes out of Portugal, at a time, when no one seems to come out of Portugal?
Right, right, so I went to Münster before. A couple of guys were going, my neighbour wanted to go - he was really gifted in skateboarding and later on in music - so I’m 15 years old and we go to Münster. I really wanted to make the best out of it, so I entered the contest. I didn’t do that good, but it was fun, so the following years I went to more contests in Europe. Not thinking too much about the contest, but trying to… I don’t know, learn new stuff about skateboarding.

Did you know any languages apart from Portuguese back then?
Yeah, I learned English in School. And my dad had some American videos without subtitles, so I had to figure out what they meant. And when I didn’t understand some words, I asked my parents and they would help me.

What about French?
That’s Cliché’s fault. I spend a lot of time with those guys and I really don’t like not being able to understand what people around me are talking about. So I do my best to be in the conversation. I’ll speak this and that and the other, I’m not afraid of making mistakes so fuck it. I can make up words.

Do most of the Cliché trips happen in French?
Oh yeah, I mean there are a lot of French guys on the team. But then there’s me, Javier, Brophy, Joey…

How are Brophy and Jojo getting on with their French?
Oh? Ha! Well… They don’t speak that much!

As far as travelling, it probably helps to have a pilot for a father?
Yeah that’s really good! Or at least some time ago it was. We got good prices for tickets back then. Now it’s way sketchier, but it’s still sort of doable.

Airlines are getting tighter?
Yeah.

Have you been somewhere crazy that you wouldn’t have gone to otherwise?
You mean without Cliché or skateboarding?

I meant the golden handshake from your dad’s airline.
No, not really. More because of Cliché. I mean I’ve been all over the world with them, in Europe, in Taiwan, Australia. Without anything to do with skateboarding I’ve been to Mozambique and Brazil…

You guys speak the same language as Brazilians, and I am I probably an idiot asking this, but how come so many amazing skaters come from Brazil and not from Portugal?
I guess they’re trying to make a better living, because the situation in Brazil is really tough.

So it’s not some gene that the Portuguese and Brazilians share that makes a person an amazing skateboarder?
I don’t know, it’s different.. Maybe they want to come to Europe to make a better living? Maybe they have less to lose? I don’t know, it’s a different mentality. For me, if I really wanted to make my living out of skateboarding, I’d go to Brazil, or to US. But I feel comfortable here, so I stay here! I take my time.

But obviously you have been making a living out of skateboarding for years now. Do you think that by doing that, you’ve pushed other skaters in Portugal to take it further?
Aah, yeah for sure. Not that I did it on purpose, but maybe I opened up their eyes. I don’t want it to be just me, I want the people here to know their value and stand up. Because there are a lot of skaters here that are really gifted.

You were going to set up a distribution business at some point?
Oh, me and my friend are doing Cliché [in Portugal] but just to keep it alive here. We’re doing some stuff, taking it step by step, I don’t wanna mix up this business with my skateboarding. I prefer to skate and as long as I can, I will skateboard. Once I can’t, maybe I’ll focus on the real business. I know you can’t skate forever, but I’ll do my best!

When I first met you, you came to ask for my e-mail and I got an electric shock from the pen. Are you quite into practical jokes?
Oh yeah! I didn’t remember that one! It was good, that pen. I did it with Ali [Boulala] and he was pissed off at me for like ten seconds. Then he’s like, Give me your pen, give me your pen, and he goes around trying to give shocks to everybody!  You know, it’s better to laugh than cry, right? Sometimes the jokes work well, sometimes they don’t work at all, but I’m still here! You know, sometimes you have to hit your head to learn. As long as you can get up and go on with your life, it’s all good.

What about violence, are you into that? You had some crazy clips on your computer on a trip…
I had this compilation of accidents and everything, like crazy stuff, and I took it on tour once, and the other guys we’re like Oh man, you’re crazy, I don’t want to see it! They’re always like this - I don’t wanna see it - but they keep watching! They tell me I’m crazy for watching it, but they’re watching it with me. So I’m like OK, make up your mind. If you wanna talk shit, you talk shit, but if you wanna watch, then shut up and watch. Either way is good with me, but make up your mind. But no, I’m not generally into that stuff.

Speaking about hitting your head. What happened to you on that slam in the beginning of your part in Europa?
I broke my skull in two places and I had some internal bleeding. I was in the hospital for almost two weeks. Shit happens, right? But I’m alive, still kicking. It felt like someone just hit me in the head with a sledgehammer. I remember being so angry, thinking what the fuck just happened, and then I blacked out. When I woke up I saw Jérèmie [Daclin] and Geoffrey [van Hove] and they’re looking at me like they’ve seen a dead guy. I tried to get up really fast to make them see it’s nothing, but I couldn’t. So I just put up my hand, like wait a second, I’ll get up in a bit. The next thing I know they’re asking me questions and I couldn’t remember anything. It all came back later on, when the video came out and I saw the footage, but at the time I didn’t remember anything. I felt my whole body go numb and I was talking to them in Portuguese, so they’re like OK, something is not good and they’re asking me if I want an ambulance. So they took me to a hospital in Lyon and did this magnetic scan or whatever and they’re like yeah, it’s not good, it’s not good. And at the time I didn’t understand shit, cause it was in French. I went to another hospital and I stayed there for two weeks. First I wanted to go to Portugal but then I thought fuck it, why would I want to go there, when there’s way better doctors in France. In the hospital I kept repeating the same jokes over and over! They put these paper shoes on my feet and I thought they looked like Aladdin’s shoes, so I said Hey, look! It’s Aladdin’s shoes! Then ten seconds later I’d say Hey, hey, look! I have Aladdin’s shoes! I couldn’t remember the pin code for my telephone and I was tripping over that. They gave me a sleeping pill and when I woke up the next morning, I put the code in my phone first try. I was so happy, like OK, I’m back. When I fell on my motorbike before…

Wait, you had a motorcycle accident?
I had several.

You still have the bike?
Yeah, it’s Yamaha GT-R 600. Not crazy powerful, but it gets me to the beach, gets me through traffic. You know, when I had my second accident, I hit the other side of my head than before, and I kept repeating it’s good that it’s not the same side. I kept saying that, just like with the Aladdin shoes.

Are you a reckless driver then?
Na-ah, I’m pretty safe.

That’s not what I heard and when I asked you if you had an accident you said several.
Yeah, but not in a long time now! You know, when I first got my licence I always thought that shit happens, but it happens to other people. So when I had an accident I thought OK, I hit a car today, but fuck it, that was just crazy bad luck, and I have to make the most out of my time, so I can’t slow down… Fuck I was driving so fast! I still am, but I drive fast to places and I think that I think, not that I can - that I think that I can drive fast.

Whatwhat??
Like when I think that I should be more cautious, I think nowadays I have more ability to think. And think right! [laughing]

Have you noticed that the craziest skaters make the craziest drivers?
It’s like my friends would tell me, Hey man, your car is not your skateboard! But you know, as soon as you start to fuck up this, fuck up that, the money starts to come out of your pocket and you start to be more careful.

Traffic accidents cost money.
Especially when it’s your fault! No, but I was lucky because I never hit a person or anything crazy, just material damage. I used to go out and do crazy stuff on a motorcycle, and even if the accidents were always the other guys’ fault, it’s like my father told me, if I was driving properly, they wouldn’t have happened.

Did your head injury leave you scared of slamming?
In the beginning a little bit, but then I was like, what’s the odds?

Of it happening again?
Yeah. But it did. Nothing serious that time, though.

Did you go back and land your trick?
I wanted to, but then I went there a couple of years later and I just felt bad vibes and I thought it’s just a stupid trick, so there’s no point. It’s a crazy high ledge and right before it, the ground starts going down hill, so fuck it. I got defeated. But it’s still there, if someone wants to 5050 it! For me, I don’t regret trying it, but fuck it, it’s not worth it.

Any other regrets? Things you would do different now, given another chance?
No. I think I would do everything like I did. I have no regrets.

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