Sunday, February 20, 2011


Living in the limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme

Living in a fish eye lens
Caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend

I do some stupid shit but this one ranks right up there. I'll give you a taste of what it's like to live in my mind.
Last night, in the barn, I dinked around endlessing with wiring and made little headway. In positive contrast, I mounted a new headlight, connected it, relocated the switch and got stoked. After all this electrical action and not running the bike, the battery was starting to wane "Better charge this battery and tomorrow I can maybe try to start this mofo".
Fast forward 18 hours and I flipped on the light switch. Nothing. Turned on the key. Nothing. I looked at the battery, with the charger clamps still connected, and the above is what I saw. Red is negative? I'm an idiot. The $30 mis-connect. AND I swear I was totally sober.

Thursday, February 17, 2011


Trails is shouting! I absolutely cannot wait to get back at these. If I can stay on pace with the last two years, we're talking just over a month away. Yeah, yeah, yeah.....

Wednesday, February 16, 2011


Did my first fork rebuild on Sunday and was surprised to see this prestigious stamp on the extended legs that were on the Yami. Unfortunately, I saw this as they were coming off. Get it low, bro. So pissed that my kickstand--my first legit welding accomplishment last summer, is going to have to be modded now.

So ready to start digging in the dirt.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011


Sean Rakos is a renaissance man. When I first met him he had just moved to Michigan from Texas, where he had been helping out original Mutiny dude Steev Inge. Sean was a big, tattooed, intimidating guy who didn't say a lot. The next time I saw him was at TRP where he asked if I had a chain tool. I had one, let him use it, and he unknowingly broke it. I was bummed but afraid to even mention it to him. From there, a friendship started gaining momentum and blossomed into something great. In the short few years that Sean lived in Ann Arbor, we covered a lot of ground. Many road trips, many Sunday morning sessions at TRP with Davey Coop, Solan Foster, Phil Rase and the late, great Chris Yankee. Always laughter and always good times. Sean was pivotal in my starting the Deliverance Clothing company, helping with designs and turning my shitty art into something feasible. He also worked at the print shop where the shirts were printed, which was really the catalyst for the whole thing happening to begin with.
Shortly before Sean moved back to Texas, he, Chris Hatfield and I took a trip to ride some parks, with the Athens, Ohio cement park being the apex. So much funny shit happened on that trip. Losing a joint in my Expedition and the panic that ensued as Chris and Sean tried to find it was hilarious. Me taking out a skater at the Athens park was a low point. Being overly defensive is one of my lesser qualities and I remember talking to the skater I ran down "dude, I'm so sorry, I was just skating right before I hit you..." So lame. That trip was one of the last times I smoked the ganja. I'm just not wired for it. A great trip regardless.
After Sean moved back to Austin, I stayed with him for a couple days during the premier for the Etnies Grounded video. We rode a bunch and hit all the Austin hot spots (except the 9th street trails, they were wet). Great memories of that trip as well. Riding the five hips ditch, the T-1 ramp and so many other spots.
These days, Sean is a tattoo artist at Atomic Tattoo. Hopefully someday I'll get some ink from him. Sean rules. Just stay on his good side. I witnessed the transformation into "Angry Sean" a couple times and it was really scary. I thought he was going to choke a dude at a gas station one time who yelled at him for grinding on some pipe by the gas pump....

Tuesday, February 8, 2011


Tall and awkward is out for oh eleven. Tighten it up, dial it in. Here's what it was like before http://www.chopcult.com/news/articles/scott-townes-funbro-chopper.html
I will think of this insanely cold night where I gladly handled freshly cut and ground aluminum for warmth when I have a welding mask on in July and sweat is running through my eyes.

Sunday, February 6, 2011


The winters were long when I was kid. Cabin fever would motivate me to do just about anything to be able to ride my bike. This winter is starting to seem like one of those long kid winters too. I celebrated Superbowl Sunday (and my birthday) by building a snow jump. Here's to not growing up.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011


A true artist sees beauty in the ugliest of conditions. Sean Newton photo of the incoming blizzard...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I remember when I took this photo being bummed that weather was going to get shitty quick...