PB: So, what have you been up to since retirement?

TH: I've been doing a lot of exhibitions, tours and promotions. It's a lot of the same stuff that I was doing before, but now I'm more concentrated on it.

PB: You also produced the Tony Hawk Skatepark Tour for ESPN.

TH: That was all filmed in July and August 2000. They're talking now about putting out all of the shows together on video, but that hasn't happened yet. Something's on hold with it, but I'm not sure what. I think there are issues with ESPN and the production company over who owns the rights. It's a big hassle.

PB: Have you enjoyed working with ESPN?

TH: They've been great, especially on the tour. We've never had a tour with a budget like that. We had a huge bus and everywhere we went they had set it up beforehand. We had carte blanche anywhere we went even if it wasn't a skatepark. That was really cool.

We're just starting to plan next year's. We had high hopes, because we thought the show was really successful, but on the first conference call we had with them we told them we wanted to go to Europe. They said, "You won't be able to go to Europe on that same budget." I guess that was their way of telling us that we weren't going to be getting any more money.

PB: Have your dealings with commercials and movies gone well?

TH: Yes.... Once I got an actual agent we could dictate what the companies need to do. For instance, Disney called and told me that they used footage of me skating as a model for the animation in Tarzan and asked if I wanted to be involved with the promotion of the movie. I agreed to do a commercial for the Tarzan home video, but I didn't have time to go over all of the ramp instructions and ideas because I was on tour. So, they hired my friend as a consultant to tell them what I would like to see. It made everything so much easier.

PB: Had you been aware that they had used you as a model for Tarzan?

TH: No, but once the ball got rolling they made it sound like I was there from the inception. They did let me bring my kids to the premiere, though.

PB: Several years ago Nike attempted to manufacture skateboarding shoes but suffered a severe backlash by skaters who felt the company sought only to exploit the sport. Now that skateboarding has become more mainstream, how would you feel about Nike making skateboarding shoes again?

TH: It wouldn't bother me that much because the hard-core skaters wouldn't buy it anyway. I did really like the ad campaign they ran that showed athletes being chased off like skaters with the tagline, "What if we treated all athletes this way?" That was brilliant. I backed that because it was really cool of them to bring that level of awareness to people.