{"id":2056,"date":"2026-06-08T21:33:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2056"},"modified":"2026-06-08T21:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:33:34","slug":"pearl-jam-bassist-ament-highlights-skateboardings-impact-in-indigenous-communities-in-tribeca-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2056","title":{"rendered":"Pearl Jam bassist Ament highlights skateboarding\u2019s impact in Indigenous communities in Tribeca film"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Raised in the rural Montana community of Big Sandy, Jeff Ament got hooked as a teenager on skateboarding at a time when not much more than only a handful of ramps were available in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Ament\u2019s first love was a \u201cterrible\u201d clay wheel skateboard and his passion blossomed on a family trip to California, where he skateboarded and felt the g-forces on urethane wheels on paved asphalt streets and then poured through the pages of Skateboarder magazine on the 20-hour drive home to Montana.<\/p>\n<p>Ament found pictures of decks and ramps that he used as inspiration for designs that his dad, George, would help him build \u2014 like how to craft a kick tail and create the perfect tail radius \u2014 and took his skateboard to compete in larger contests around the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the idea that he was helping me build something was the most important thing to him,\u201d Ament said. \u201cHe gave me a life skill.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Ament\u2019s other major life skill, as bassist for the Pearl Jam band he co-founded, also has served him well and provided him with the means to help fund the creation of world-class skateboard parks in Montana. Many are in small, isolated communities, including at least one on every state Native American reservation by the end of the year. Construction starts in two weeks for one on the last reservation on the list, Northern Cheyenne.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think a lot of people don\u2019t understand artists,\u201d Ament said on a Zoom with The Associated Press. \u201cI think skateboarding is probably even more of an art than it is a sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ament has found the parks can help kids survive and thrive outside of daily isolation, a message spread in the short documentary \u201cPaving the Way.\u201d Ament created original music for the film \u2014 which captures skateboarding\u2019s power to foster creativity, challenge stereotypes and build community, spotlighting Indigenous youth on the Flathead Reservation \u2014 that premiers Sunday at the Tribeca Festival in New York.<\/p>\n<p>The film tells the story through skater and artist Alishon Kelly, who perseveres with her love of skateboarding even with a broken foot. \u201cPaving the Way\u201d is directed by Keelan Williams and was nominated for the Big Sky Award at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what he captures really well is just, when you have that thing inside of you, you just feel the need to be created,\u201d Ament said. \u201cI think it explains it really well, how cathartic it can be, how it helps you understand other aspects of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the film\u2019s backbone is a partnership between Jeff\u2019s Montana Pool Service \u2014 a nod to the large bowl at the center of a skate park \u2014 and the Confederated Salish &amp; Kootenai Tribes, as five new skateparks rise across the Flathead Reservation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re reminding people of our first peoples,\u201d Ament said. \u201cI think most people in this country have no idea that they even exist. I think there\u2019s even been certain people in our government that are trying to kind of rewrite history, erase history. You even hear young people, say, younger people than me, talk about the Native people as if they\u2019re immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 63-year-old Ament delivered the commencement speech at MSU-Northern in Montana last month and touched on the importance for the graduates to be being open to getting out and seeing the world, even if they come from areas that can seem disconnected from their rural hometowns. He met with some of the students after the ceremony and found the experience \u201cgave me hope. I think sometimes I don\u2019t always see the best of the younger generation. They\u2019re almost to a person, so gung-ho about getting out, getting after it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There also are plans in the works to get \u201cPaving the Way\u201d out in the world \u2014 Ament hoped for distribution beyond Tribeca, where Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder was the focus of a film in the festival last year \u2014 now available on YouTube or PBS \u2014 but wanted to make sure the film is somehow available to those in Indigenous communities and to show them the hope, resilience and joy that can be found at the skateboarding parks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese parks are where we come together and where we look out for each other,\u201d said Terrence Lozeau, a skater featured in the film. \u201cYou see little kids watching the older ones and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Ament\u2019s day job, Pearl Jam returns in September to headline the Ohana festival in Dana Point, California, in its first performance since drummer Matt Cameron left the band in May after 27 years. The band has kept the identity of his replacement under wraps and will make it official at the Sept. 27 festival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the big question is, if it\u2019s going to work out that this is our future drummer,\u201d Ament told the AP. \u201cIt\u2019ll be the first show, so there\u2019s a little bit of a trial happening. It\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s taken a little bit longer than we thought it would take. We\u2019re not in any massive rush either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ament said the band has started writing new songs but would like to play a few dates with the new drummer before Pearl Jam hits the studio again next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we need to get out and play like 10, 15 shows with whoever our drummer is and just kind of get that part going before we make a record,\u201d Ament said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2050\">Pope Leo XIV acknowledges stiff competition with Bad Bunny in Spain and weighs in on soccer rivalry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2052\">A raucous Copenhagen crowd cheers Denmark\u2019s 2026 Mullet Championship<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2054\">How to stay safe while traveling during extreme heat<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raised in the rural Montana community of Big Sandy, Jeff Ament got hooked as a teenager on skateboarding at a time when not much more than only a handful of ramps were available in the state. Ament\u2019s first love was a \u201cterrible\u201d clay wheel skateboard and his passion blossomed on a family trip to California, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101,1102,149,150,166,167,1103,1104],"tags":[3306,3307,3308,3309,3310,3311],"class_list":["post-2056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-0-no-apple-publish","category-1gridmagazine","category-a-town-magazine","category-celebrities","category-credits","category-sentinel-screen","category-uncategorized","category-z-other-galley","tag-alishon-kelly","tag-big-sandy","tag-jeff-ament","tag-montana","tag-paving-the-way","tag-pearl-jam"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pearl Jam bassist Ament highlights skateboarding\u2019s impact in Indigenous communities in Tribeca film - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2056\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pearl Jam bassist Ament highlights skateboarding\u2019s impact in Indigenous communities in Tribeca film - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Raised in the rural Montana community of Big Sandy, Jeff Ament got hooked as a teenager on skateboarding at a time when not much more than only a handful of ramps were available in the state. 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