A Chico musician, artist, and fledgling skateboarder is a quarter-finalist in a national competition involving Tony Hawk.
Scout Parker, known musically as Scout the Wise, is currently competing in the Tony Hawk Skatepark Hero Competition, where communities vote for a local skater and community member to win $10,000 and the opportunity to skate with the celebrity.
NSPR's Alec Stutson spoke with Scout about his lifelong love of skateboarding, his music career, and how playing the banjo connects him with his family and cultural roots.
Editor's note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
On his childhood love of skateboarding and Tony Hawk
I've been a fan of Tony Hawk since I was a little kid. I used to play his video games and watch videos of him all the time. I was obsessed with skateboarding. I was not good at it, but I was obsessed with it.
My neighbor across the street, when I was little, was a professional skateboarder. And I would always see him out in the street doing tricks and teaching his son how to do it. But one day, I went out there, and he and my uncle tried to show me how to do an ollie. And it finally caught on. And I was just like, so excited. And it was so cool.
That tied in with my daydream of Tony Hawk accidentally coming to my house, because I just had this daydream that all skateboarders knew each other and maybe he'd be going to visit the other skateboarder. It was really silly, but it was like my biggest dream when I was little. I thought he was so cool. He felt like an uncle to me, but I did not know this man.
On entering the Tony Hawk Skatepark Hero Competition
I saw it online. And I was like, 'I'm not going to win this.' But it would be cool to do it because signing up is free. So I just did it for kicks. And it's going really well the whole time.
Chico is super supportive towards my art and music. And they've always been so friendly to me and welcoming and loving. Everyone's gathering together as a community and trying to get me there. It's really nice. I'll run into people on the street. And they'll be like, 'I voted today! I've been voting every day!' It's the nicest thing ever, actually.
I've got it posted on my Instagram bio, and it takes you to my page, and there's a picture of me on there. And then you can vote for free by proving you're real by logging into Facebook, and I think there's another option there too. And then you can vote for free, or you can donate money and get more votes. And the money goes towards building skate parks in underprivileged towns or towns that don't have the resources.On how his identity and experience intersect with his music
I've been making music since I was a little kid. I started off posting on YouTube and doing covers and original songs. And then, I started doing community shows, benefits for cancer and for people who were raising money for the community or for homelessness. Then it just blew up from there.
I play pop music, and I incorporate the banjo to reference my black roots. And then I sing and play the guitar. I've just always written. It's always been my way of coping with life and getting through hard times and happy times as well.
I have an album called “Transitioning” that is online and on Spotify, and on all the streaming sources.
I'm transgender, and the album is about my transitioning on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). I'm singing about real issues I'm having in my relationships and in my life, but you can hear my voice changing throughout that.
I definitely make most of my art based on my own the things that I noticed in life and that's obviously going to be experienced through the lens of someone who's black and transgender. Someone who's just naturally loving and caring about others.
On his use of the banjo
My great-great-grandpa was a banjo player. And I always looked at pictures of him growing up, and I thought it was cool. And so then eventually I thought, 'Oh, I could do that!' So I bought a banjo for $200, and I taught myself how to play it. I love the banjo, it's just really cool.
I looked up the history of black banjo players and how the banjo was a slave instrument that got picked up by people who were doing blackface, essentially. It's definitely worth reading about and learning about. And I'm always trying to encourage black people to learn how to play because it feels so good. It's a connection to our roots.
There's a few different ways you can use your hands for picking or clawhammering. And I like the feeling of the strings bouncing off my hands. I like the easiness that comes with muscle memory. I like the way that it sounds, kind of like rain on a tin roof. It's just a very beautiful instrument. It's definitely something that I am very thankful for. It's probably like the sixth or seventh instrument that I've learned, and it's my favorite instrument. It's a good metaphor to show that you can learn new things and have them mean a lot to you.
