Bam Margera Gets Serious, Kind Of — Video
Professional Skater by age 13, TV star by 21 when he took swings at his dad in their West Chester, Pa. home on the show 'Jackass.' Bam Margera has led an interesting life, completely all of his own designed path, and as of this past Tuesday, Margera has had released a book, 'Serious as Dog Dirt,' collecting personal drawings and pictures from the past 10 years giving everyone a serious -- yet painful at times -- look into the behind the scenes of the cameras he's in front of and directing.
"It was originally supposed to be called 'Serious as S--- Water'," Margera confessed to Noisecreep of the book's title. "But after a while we realized we didn't want a cuss word on the title of the book, so we changed it to dog dirt; which is fine by me because serious as dog dirt sounds funny coming from a guy from Jackass." For those unaware, dog dirt is the way to say dog poop if you're a little kid.
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"Oh did you just step in dog dirt Brian?' he chuckled in the haste of long flight hangover traveling back to the states from Finland, a country he's now been to 25 times in his life. This last trip was to film some footage of band CKY, which Margera's older brother Jess is the drummer of, while on tour. But the trip before that involved him tricked into attending Sexhibition Convention (it is what it sounds like). "I didn't know why I was going there. I was wondering why someone was flying me and six of my friends to Finland, and my buddy [Joe] Franz wouldn't tell me what it was for. He said 'it was a surprise', probably because he knew I'd say no, 'but the money was too good so I didn't tell you.'"
This book actually came about after Margera suffered a large accident at the backyard events normally caught on film for his previous MTV show Viva La Bam. But there were no film crew this time, which is the whole point of the book. "My one idiot friend collided with me drunk on a four wheeler in my backyard while I was on a dirt bike, " Margera explained. "He crushed my foot and broke it in three different spots so I was basically in a cast for three months sitting at my kitchen table bored to tears. So I pulled out all my favorite photos and I found these calendars that documented every single day since '97. I was like 'if I'm going to be sitting here, I'm going to be gluing photos and writing about them.'"
The book also contains drawings showing how ideas began for stunts on 'Jackass,' as well as for the music videos Margera has directed for bands like CKY and 69 Eyes. But even though the book details events from the past ten years it's a book that can be read at any point, which Margera personally enjoys. "That's a good thing for me because I have ADD and even though I have bookworm tattooed on my knuckles I've only completed like three books."
But before the dirt bike vs. four wheeler brawl it was another book, one that Margera doesn't consider as one of his inclusions to his finished books list, compiled by a British Musician that first gave Margera the inspiration to put together his own book. "For Christmas my team manager at Element [Skateboards] Ryan Kingman gave me a Pete Doherty book, and it just looked really cool how it was handwritten and he did everything," says Margera, "like he taped the photos in there himself. That was just around the time that I broke my foot so it gave me the perfect idea to just get started on it. Three months later I had 220 pages."
As would be expected (possibly delighted for some to know) there are those moments cataloged in the book where the physical dares go wrong, just as in 'Jackass.' Margera recalls a behind the scene moment displayed in story and pictures involving a golf ball, an intent to hit from the backside of a friend, and a misjudging swing. Pain. Funny pain because it's not any of us. "Killing time waiting for the camera crew and this is what happens," he laughed in delight.
This video contains excerpts from the book as Margera receives discouraging coaching from long time friend Ryan Dunn on recording an audio version of the book. No one gets hurt.