THE BRILLIANCE! > Nino what's the latest, anything decent for breakfast?

NINO SCALIA! > Not a big breakfast guy. Usually coffee with tons of sugar and maybe some yogurt parfait from the coffee shop in my building. Am I supposed to follow up the parfait with a "no homo"?

TB! > If you had a parking space with your job title on it what would it say and what was your path to get there?

NS! > My parking space would read "team manager" right now but I really hope to have it be "screenwirter/producer" someday soon. The team manager part was something that came to me after my dreams of wanting to get sposored were smashed with a broken ankle and torn ligaments at Love Park in philadelphia. Josh Kalis and Rob Dyrdek asked me if I wanted to be the tm at Alien Workshop cause the owner was looking for one. That got me started in the skateboard industry at a young age. The screenwriter part came from always wanting to do it and being frustrated with skaqteboarding. I moved to Cali and bartended for awhile and just wrote. I found out Stephen Baldwin (the fat, weirdo of the Baldwin clan) had written a movie about skating and sold it for $700000. There was no way that I could let him be the guy who got the next crack at making a skate movie and killing us in the public eye. I put the script I was writing on hold and called my best friend Rob Dyrdek and said "let's write a skate movie". We both were going through vicious breakups at the time so it really helped us both out. Rob moved me into his crib for a bit and we just hammered the script out. 3 Years later we are finishing post production now and it should be out in a theaters next year. All of it a dream come true.

TB! > What's the history of the Ice Cream Skate team, who's on it and how big is the staff to run it?

NS! > The history of the team is that Pharrell has always been down for skating and wanted to do somethign with it. I had met him while I was working for Zoo York and he said that he wanted to start a shoe company that would be like a skate shoe company. Years later Ice Cream happened and he had lready had Terry in place and wanted me to build out the rest of the team for him. As for the team we have Tery Kennedy who needs no introduction, Kevin Booker who has one of the best styles I've seen on a skateboard, Cato Williams a totally original skater, Jiimmy Gorecki who is like my little brother and the youngin Jacob Walder. The staff is pretty small, it is me for the skating, I deal with Reebok on certain things and my boss who runs all of Pharrell's business' Yaneley, at BBC it is Loic and Phillip. Pretty much I deal with Yaneley and Pharrell. They are very involved in everything with the team and product.

TB! > When did you personally first start skating? And what was that one trick you had dialed?

NS! > I started skating aroung 1986. I got a board from a guy who my sister was tutoring in the eigth grade and he was the derelict of my school. He gave me a board and introduced me to all of the skaters in my town. I didn't take it seriously till I moved to Philly when a year later in the sixth grade. I always told myself that I would be happy as long as I could do nollie flips, tre flips and kickflips. I just loved to pop them high and catch them. I'm a little rusty now but it's like riding a bicycle.

TB! > What's a typical day like as the manager of Ice Cream Skate Team?

NS! > I work out of my house so I am an early riser because I live in Cali and am already three hours behind the gun at 9 am. First thing is coffee in the morning. Then it's emails emails and more emails. Lately I have been pretty heavily involved in the post production process of my movie so I go straight to the editing bay and work out of there for the rest of the day. I am very lucky to be able to run my whole life through my sidekick.Then maybe some dinner, a little skating and beddy bye. Everyday changes a little, especially if we are on the road.

TB! > What's your relationship with Pharrell in terms of work. Do you make a lot of the decisions, kinda run things and check in or is it a collaboration every step of the way?

NS! > Pharrell kinda leaves it up to me as far as what is good for the team and their needs. He had alot of input on the video and is always has tons of ideas. He is a super busy dude and rarely in the same place for very long so he trusts what I do with the guys. I would say it is a good collaboration. On the product side, it is him and Nigo 100% on the clothing side and he brings the team in for the shoes.

TB! > Do you all have input on the technical aspects of the products? Pharrell and Nigo collaborate with Reebok to get them right and the team will test drive whatever they bring. For me the Ice Cream Skate team concept is a huge accomplishment in terms of Black skating. That feeling of being slightly outta place is almost shattered when I see yours or DGK ads in mags and see the videos. Do ya'll feel that when you meet kids at demos?

NS! > Definitely.There is no denying that because of what we and Stevie are doing there is a whole new type of kid picking up a skateboard these days. I hope that out of the all the kids that pick it up thinking it is easy to do and you are gonna get paid tons of dough that alot of them stick with it. Overall though I would say that it has opened up alot of eyes to skateboarding and the lifestyle behind it. The public never really understood skating and still doesnt totally. Slowly but surely things are swinging around. Also, within skating though, race has never been an issue within skateboarding, only to the outside world. I grew up skating in Philly with Stevie Williams and I can tell you that neither of us had any money when we were young and it didn't matter. He was a black kid from the hood in west Philly and I was an italian kid from guido South Philly. By all means we should have never met but skating made that happen. I am thankful for the life education skating has given me.

TB! > I am sure ya'll get a fair amount of hate because you get a fair amount of attention. How do you deal with the ignorant?

NS! > It isn't really an issue for the team. The thing they all get most is "yo, i'm not hating on you, just Pharrell don't skate." That has got to be the dumbest thing someone could say. These people forget that the dude cuts our checks personally and gave them all the opportunity that they have. Why wouldn't they be upset about it? Do they really think they are saying soemthing people don't know? Of course he doesn't skate everyday, if you had the opportunity to make his dough and do what he does would you be skating everyday? All in all though they take it in stride. No big beef has risen from it at all, just alot of chitter chatter behind their backs.

TB! > What's next, ya'll hit the scene pretty hard. I cant wait to see what mark this team leaves. New videos, tours, products?

NS! > We are slowly working on a second video, we are going to be doing some more trips and some demos this summer. New ads soon as well as something that has three big letters in it and is everyone in America's house...

TB! > Are Ice Cream and Billionaire Boys Club two totally separate entities?

NS! > They are, but only in the approach to them. The mindset behind Ice Cream is a couture approach to skate gear and BBC is all around couture streetwear.

TB! > Being in the BBC family I am sure it's a misconception that y'all are G5'ing it to demos, but what's the main difference in your team compared to a team with a more traditional skateboard image.

NS! > You mean that all skaters don't get flown in the g5? I coulda swore that every sponsored skater got 100 carat tennis chains as a christmas bonus? As far as us compared to other teams, I think that we just do us. I know that is a terrible answer but we don't claim to be anything we aren't. We definitely get some fun perks by having Pharrell be our boss. Like going to an awards show orgetting to hang out at his video shoots or meeting celebrities that he introduces us too. Beyond that we are just trying to carve out our space in the skateboard industry.

TB! > Airwalk Prototypes or Vision Streetwears Hi-Tops? Black or Titanium Macbook? In My Mind or In Search Of? Adult or kids cereal?

NS! > Airwalk prototypes one of my first pairsof skate shoes, "In Search Of" a big surprise from Pharrell and showed what a different he is, Black macbook because titanium is played.

TB! > Favorite travel destination? Dream travel destination?

NS! > Favorite destination is definitely Tokyo. So much fun and such an interesting place the ultimate mixture of cultures old and new. Dream travel is Sardinia. I want to retire there and live life like Gal from the movie Sexy Beast. Be fat and tanned poolside.

TB! > I remember when the Ice Creams first came out a lot of people slept on them looking back...the clear sole, the packaging the color combos...genius and nowhere to be found. The silver metallic and red ones are on the level of Jordan 4's to me. What's your favorite pair of Ice Cream sneakers? Are the first generation pairs sitting in some closet somewhere?

NS! > My favorite are the white diamond and dollars by all means. They are a classic shoe and the print is the cornerstone of Ice Cream and I definitely kept some for a fresh day. Hope to break out a fresh pair with a suit for the red carpet premiere of my movie.

TB! > If you could own one piece of original art, price didn't matter, what would it be?

NS! > It would definitely be anything by Egon Schiele. I mean anything. The guy was amazing and understood a dark side of life most people won't admit exists.

TB! > What'd you think of THE BRILLIANCE? Who should we interview next?

NS! > The Brilliance is awesome. You guys have great taste and I appreciate the fact that you guys aren't just using it as a way to jock whatever t-shirt (coughs) I mean streetwear brand is hot right now. You guys have an eye for the good life. You should definitely interview Rob Dyrdek. He is a multifaceted guy with a ton of things going on from Rogue Staus to making movies to holding down being a professional skater and of course the tv show. Truly a dynamic funny ass dude.

TB! > Shout outs? High-fives to anyone? Big thanks for checking in with THE BRILLIANCE.

NS! > The Brilliance for one. Keep showing people how to have impeccable taste. They need it. Light roast coffee for getting me through the day, my overly understanding girlfriend, Philadelphia, skateboarding, Rob Dyrdek, Alien Workshop, Apple computers, Hot sneaks, Bentley, Ferrari, The Rivington Hotel, Ice Cream Team, Pharrell, Rob Walker and Yaneley.

End.