The latest in the Electric Theater series with clown of Slipknot, features a very human conversation with skateboarding sensation, Nora Vasconcellos.
With accolades that include Transworld's Reader's Choice Female Award to becoming the first female skater added to the Adidas skate team, the candid discussion revealed that Nora's passion for skateboarding is more artistic than competitively aggressive. Her fulfillment is in actualizing what she wants to do on the skateboard, not the awards and honorable mentions that come along with it.
Finding her connection to the sport through the Nickelodeon animated series Rocket Power, Nora admits she was hooked from the start. What grabbed her attention in middle school had become an obsession by high school. Nora admits that by then the only thing she wanted to do was skate.
clown and Nora would continue to trade experiences as Nora asked about clown's small-town upbringing and related her own experiences of having big aspirations in a hometown that just didn't have the culture she was looking for. Looking to immerse herself in the skate and surf culture of California, Nora would eventually make the leap, a transition clown understood from his own experiences in leaving Des Moines to pursue music.
The two also connected on the strange asterisk of prefacing Nora's title as a professional skater with gender. clown acknowledged how unnecessary it was to label Nora as a 'female,' considering gender has no basis on what Nora has been able to accomplish in her field.
That talking point would segue into Nora and clown digging into their upbringing in an environment that was equally supportive and skipped any bias. Nora discussed how her parents had always nurtured her ambitions and clown recalled how his father, though he never understood rock & roll, was also the same person that bought his drumsticks.
Though Nora has amassed an impressive list of achievements, the discussion never needed to revisit them. The rapport between the skater and the veteran musician was genuine as the exchange focused entirely on establishing a connection, rather then asserting any credentials.
clown confided in Nora about growing up with alcoholism in his family, the tragic loss of his daughter, and what it was like to start his career at 30. Nora confided in clown about her struggles with anxiety and not starting her professional journey as a skater until she was in her twenties.
That kind of candor makes for a compelling listen. What's even more noteworthy is how strangers, from seemingly different worlds, could connect on a phone call and find so many parallels in the short span of an hour.
Listen to the complete conversation with clown of Slipknot and professional skater, Nora Vasconcellos on the latest edition of The Electric Theater below.
