Lunatic Fringe - Into the Void

Just a babe in the woods some would say. An ordained minister and a bridesmaid for all occasions others might. Even a potential regional man someday in the not too distant future! Zej Moczydlowski (M'ski to the rest of us normal people) started his career in the sport the old fashion way. He was ordered to jump!  From a start in the military to a really rough first hundred jumps as a civilian, he's put a fair amount of time and learning into his 800 jump career. As one of the wordsmiths behind Teem's Friday Freakout and Blue Skies Magazine, Zej has dug in firmly with his life along the Lunatic Fringe, and takes the time to tell a few stories, fire off a few baseless insults at me and a few others, and talk about the direction of the sport and where the next generation may want to lead.

Starting out at Skydive Crosskeys in the early 2000's was a fucking trip! Just ask Mr. Will Lajeunesse...  From the dropzone fix-it-all man so he could jump his ass off, to a fully sponsored athlete, Will had the chance to see skydiving from every angle, both good and bad. From crazy highs to deep lows, he's had the opportunity to taste a bit of it all. Having become infamous for some seriously sketchy shit, to becoming zen in the alps, Will has some wonderful memories to relive and great advise to pass on that you're not going to want to miss.

Haulin' Meat and delivering flags for nearly a fuckin' quarter century! Mr. Jim Dolan found a way to not just balance a bit of a skydiving habit with the normal (or so he says) life of a school teacher, but he managed to do it as a member of one of the most unique demonstration teams in the world. Featured in their own IMAX film, the Flying Elvi have had one hell of an amazing run! A good laugh and a few lessons from a guy who's seen and done a whole lot.

From a horrible first experience, to what should have been life altering, career ending injuries and surgeries, you would have thought Derick Massey would have either never become a skydiver in the first place, or hung up his harness years ago; but between an iron will to continue on his path with the Lunatic Fringe, along with a true passion and love for our sport, there's just no keeping him down. One of my closest friends in the world sits down to talk to me about his time in the sport and out, along with some of the fun, stupid and downright dangerous shit we've gotten up to both apart and together.

The desire to skydive seems to grab each of us in a different way it seems, and Mr. Tom Noonan is no different. His passion? From the very start it was of all things, tandems! Where most of us are dragged kicking and screaming at first, he was drawn to instantly, and went about making it his lifelong passion to not only share our world with people as a tandem instructor, but to go much deeper and help train those of us who chose to throw drogues; and along with the true tandem pioneers in the sport, also to go about making it as safe as humanly possible. And on top of all this... he decided to hit the actual top of the world with Everest Skydive! Join in for an extremely informative and entertaining path along the Lunatic Fringe.

I think it's safe to say he may have pissed off a few people in his day. I also think it's safe to say that he gave more assholes like me with a little potential a chance to shine than most ever would. From a true country boy with a real desire to fly to the owner and operator of one of the longest running mid-sized dropzone's in the US, Mr. Ray Ferrell has his footprints all over the world of skydiving. He was there with the pioneers of RAM air canopies and a crazy new kind of flying called "Relative Work", and became his own kind of pioneer as he helped to design the first ever skydive specific aircraft. Listen in as he paints a picture of a wonderful 30 year career building dropzone's, parachutes, airplanes and life long friendships on his journey with the Lunatic Fringe.

From his beginnings in Venezuela and then on to New Zealand, it turned out to be a pretty substantial injury to his shoulder that initially aimed him toward skydiving, but it wasn't until years later that his full on love affair with nylon began.  As a master rigger and skydiving instructor, he's had the opportunity to work on some pretty substantial projects all over the world, and his journey into the world of air sports certainly wasn't boring! Give a listen to an enjoyable and heart felt chat with Pablito the man!

DJ Marvin, host of Gravity Lab, founder and owner of the Ratings Center, long time skydiver and professional shit shooter sits down to talk to me about his beginnings in the sport, the podcasting world and where it's all led him. A love not only of skydiving itself but the community in which its based have been the driving force behind his desire to educate and expand the wonderful Lunatic Fringe in which we live, and he takes the time to tell me why.

Revisiting exactly what a modern version of the American Dream really is, Sydney and Barry Williams "gave the middle finger" to an antiquated idea of happiness that just didn't fit, and hit the road in a van with no regrets and no looking back. Both retired professional skydivers, they've taken the lessons they learned in and out of the sport, both happy and tragic and used them to help both themselves and others as they hike and talk their way across America on a motivational speaking tour that hits the real issues of our time. Listen in now as they share their path along the Lunatic Fringe.

The Father of Freefly.  Was he the first person to be on his head in the air? of course not, but he was most certainly the first to go out of his way to stay there! Dancing around the clouds like Peter Pan for the last 30+ years, Olav Zipser has been "freeflying his mind" and traveling the world encouraging others to learn to do the same with not just technical ability, but with heart and passion. With ambitions that range from catching his shadow and its rainbow on every cloud he could find, to looking for ways to blast into outer space, Olav has led his best version of the life he almost didn't choose.