modern pix
Now Playing: U2 In the name of Love
Here are some pix that Kris K shot at Modern the other night:

That's Billy, hamming up a no-footer, then asking if it looked awesome.

the legendary Jason Suchen, with a 360 X box game of BMX.

FatAss McGillicutty, trying to impersonate one of my teen idols, John Crews.

Omni-present local, Jeffrey Tabb. JT is awesome. I love that kid.

dedication or disgust?
Now Playing: Jay-Z 99 problems
I rode flatland tonight. It's been a long time and it felt good. My flatland bike is light and nimble and easy to manuever, even though my flatland skills are novice at best. I was stoked that the few things I've done in the past came back pretty quickly. I started trying whiplashes and they were coming really close. I say "whiplashes", but technically they really aren't. I'm riding into them but stopping halfway through. That's more like just a regular tailwhip from the pegs. Whatever. They are fun and hard and I decided I wasn't leaving until I pulled at least one, straight to the pedals. I had to pee really badly. I usually ride flat at this church near my house and there is no where to go sneak a piss or anything. It's pretty much out in the open. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I went to get my Deliverance Bar Bag (TM) and as I was putting it on, dancing around, it hit me "I'm about to pee my pants, for real". I'm not talking about the little pee bullet that shoots out, I'm saying I full-on pissed my pants. I just gave up. I stood there in the church parking lot with pee running down my leg and onto my shoes, the whole deal. I had a puddle going. I started to leave but said "fuck it". I pulled the whiplash three tries later.

Here's a photo of me skating the bowl at Modern GR to make up for my incompetence. Or is it incontinence? Photo by Mark Flipowicz.

"You're dealing with an Expert, Dude"
Now Playing: Built To Spill Broken Chairs

Sometimes I take a while to post on here because I don't have a lot to say, sometimes I'm busy and once in awhile, I'm so overwhelmed by what has gone on that I have to save up energy to proceed. The latter was the case for this one. Last thursday, over twenty of us made the trek to Rays MTN bike park in Cleveland for what was to be one of the most memorable days of my BMX life. Twelve of us from Michigan, four dudes from New York and Cleveland locals like Pat Schreader, Jim Hill and Lurch made the scene and it was incredible. A lot of the Cobras had never been to Rays and were just blown away. Naturally, the New York contingent hadn't been there yet, but Kelly Baker, Jeff Collins, K-Mart and Snake went right to work. I still can't believe all of these people were in one place in one time. Some of my best friends, old and new, all in one amazing skatepark, hanging out and riding bikes. On the way in, some of us stopped to see Ken Schneider. His shop is literally around the corner from Rays and it was great to see him. By coincidence, our visit came just within a day of the one year mark of when he was violently attacked. He has come a long way in his recovery and was happy to meet the crew. Ken is awesome. The vibe at Ray's was amazing. It was like a bunch of little kids cut loose in a toy store. We were all over the place. Phil Race was flipping into the foam. Todd Britton was landing on his head in the foam. Davey Coop 360ed the Red Bull box that most of us were barely clearing. Chris Yankee was in full ninja mode, going as high and riding as well as I ever seen him. I can't remember ever seeing Solan so happy about anything (and he's a positive guy!). It was apeshit. We all started getting hungry and ordered a bunch of Pizzas. Most of us were standing around eating and I will clearly remember the following sequence of events for the rest of my life. I was thinking, "This is so fucking awesome! This Pizza is awesome and after I eat it I'm going to go back out there and it's going to be awesome". Just as that thought was ringing through my head, Davey came riding up and said "You have to come here right now!" At first I thought he was excited to show me something, but no: "Kelly is really hurt. He hit his head and he's bleeding like crazy. I think we need to call an ambulance". As awesome as Rays is, it's an old building and has some flaws, like low-hanging beams and rafters. Kelly actually hit his head mid-trick and broke his helmet, which cut his head open and caused him to bleed all over the place. It was gnarly and scary and one of those moments of panic where you don't know what to do next. Fortunately, it was the toughest guy in the building who got hurt and he was more or less unphased. We went outside for a bit and he was saying how he was bummed about breaking his helmet. I knew what he meant--he was bummed because he didn't have a helmet to continue riding with. Bad ass. Afro Pat gave him one to use and after donning a tee shirt around his head and under his helmet, he looked like a wounded soldier and commenced to ride like nothing ever happened. Saving Private Kelly. We all kind of calmed down after that and continued the session. I know I wasn't the only one that started feeling my best at about ten o'clock, five hours into the session. The energy was ever-flowing. At the end of the night we all locked into seek and find mode to locate some missing keys that weren't really missing, said our good byes and headed for home. Pretty much a six hour session with a time out for Pizza and Kelly's drama (always gotta steal the show, don't you Baker!). We got back to Detroit around two AM. Kelly and crew hammered it all the way back to Central New York and got home before the rooster crowed.
On Friday I was totally depressed. I almost felt like I should just quit riding after that. It was too good. Too much fun. Too many good people all together at once. One of those days that you know isn't going to happen again any time soon. It was truly an amazing day. Here's a slide show of pix, taken mostly by James Brichard. You can click on the photos to read the captions. Kelly has a piece about the day on his site too.

Besides that monumental day in Deliverance/Cobras/Master Blasters history, some FODs scored new rides. King Crimson Crandall is rolling tough on 1100cc of Japanese steel

while Noah Simon Towne is super stoked on his first two wheeler, courtesy of his uncle Kelly Baker.

The quote at the beginning of this post is from Chris Yankee...

slacker..
Hi all, its Dane here, i have been slacking on putting up blogs on here. i really have no excuses, but hey, im lazy, its nice out, and i've been busy. I am leaving for Mega Tour on Tuesday, and probably shouldn't be back till the day before Easter. Should be a good trip. For more info on the trip, check out Albe's and Props. Scott kinda got me inspired on "modding and customizing" random stuff, so my latest "custom ride" is a beach crusier i found in the trash last thursday, ill try to post pictures tomorrow, but let me tell ya, i aint gonna drive a car as much if i got this baby crusin'. So, check back tomorrow for a picture of my bike, and maybe even my BMX as well, so till then, enjoy this great weather!

Graveyard Shift
Now Playing: Thunderlip Bad Day On the High Seas

The Cobras Local 77 met in it's O.G. Sunday Morning formation for the first time in years. Although this event occurred on a Thursday night, the stars aligned and it was awesome. The three adults in this photo are Phil Rase, Chris Yankee and Solan SF Foster. Three of the greatest.

This action shot depicts one David HK Cooperwasser being served by Sean Rakos. Davey was once the underling of Sean at those early morning TRP sessions and Sean felt the need to confirm his alpha dog status.

Davey's taunting from beneath the chokehold of Sean was classic little brother smartass action. I can't put into words how good it was to have all these guys together, even if only for a couple of hours. It will happen again, soon. It was good to see Hanaan from VeteranBMX.com back on her bike after being out with a broken wrist as well. She and Buc-E are honorary Cobras for sure...

vampire contests
Now Playing: Ian MacKaye interview on www.vbs.tv
The GR Modern contest was for vampires. It was a nocturnal event and it sucked the life out of me. We all like to ride and do stuff at night, but not ALL night. The idea to have a full-on contest that starts after all the skate sessions, etc. are over, is probably not a good idea. Including the time change, I got to bed at 5 am and it wasn't from partying. I only drove 45 mins to my in-laws. I can't imagine what time the Albe's bus got back to Detroit.
That being said, it was an awesome event. There were a shit-ton of riders from all over the place. Catfish drove up by himself from Dayton and his presence in the building alone was enough to make it a great time. Catfish rules and I'm glad he didn't get really hurt trying to slid that rail on his ass. His hair-extentions were a definite hit as well. He didn't bring his DK Stunt Team rider, Lil' Mad Dog, but he did give him a call:

Mad Dog is a shredder! Flairs, nose-dive 360s and even a backflip over this same spine! Insane. He is so good. That's his dad on the deck right there. Dave Moon didn't bother to ride in the contest, but he did pull this wall-ride early in practice.

It looked like the Kennedy assasination the way that kid's head snapped to the side as Dave grazed his shoulder, scaring the crap out of him and all the skaters on deck. Bob Hammond set this contest up, along with Shane from Modern, then proceeded to tear it up. Yeah Bob.

Jeremy Ball won the last GR Modern event. Part of his winning run then was a 360 from the mini into this quarter.

He knocked himself silly trying it this time when he bonked his head on the rafters and then crashed really hard. He got up and limped out of the building. I hope he's okay. Long Tall Kevin Beachamp has been on a mission lately and he continued his ripping ways in Grand Rapids.

He later intentionally slapped the vent above him in this shot with his hand and had some really scary crashes trying a huge transfer. Brandon Dosch has been progressing like mad and learning all kinds of stuff. He still has the racer speed and style to make huge gaps but the bike control to pull shit like this.

Brandon took the win while Flip documents it all. DAne Wild won best trick with a ridiculous ice pick that went up, over and down a seriously 20 foot long grind box. I should also mention that the intermediate dudes would have won pretty much any contest a few years ago. BMX is out of hand.
I went to the Detroit Autorama on Friday and it was awesome. I learned that my new paint job on my bike isn't really all that new. A few different "Rat Rods" had the same kind of deal going:

. At the GR contest, Jamie Martin was asking all about my bike paint job and telling me how hard it was to do that kind of paint. He called it "Batino" or something like that. He said he works in a paint shop for cars and only a few people can do it well. The way it happened with my bike was basically an accident! I like it though. Maybe I'll start painting hotrods. Ha! They had some sweet m/cs at the Autorama as well.

I want to thank Sean Newton for all the contest pix. Sean does a kick ass job and might very well be my new neighbor, which is kind of a weird, cool, coincidence...

77 Customs
Now Playing: Built To Spill Mess With Time
Anyone that saw my post on New Year's regarding 77 Customs probably assumed I was talking about tye-dyed and spray painted shirts. I guess I was, to some extent, but this is more like what I'm talking about:

It may not be in 2007, or 2010, for that matter, but I vow that this Honda Haulin' hybrid will see the streets eventually. I already have the motorcycle, it's just the sacrificial Civic that may be hard to find. Anyone have a '78 Honda Civic they want to get rid of?

WE GOT THAT ATTITUDE
Now Playing: Bad Brains Attitude

I have this sticker on my helmet. That graphic is from the early 80s but it could apply even more in our modern world, couldn't it? Bad Brains are so friggin' awesome. I got a BB live DVD a few months ago from a show in 1982 that is great and there is amazing footage of them in American Hardcore, a kick ass documentary that just came out on DVD a couple weeks ago. There is old footage as well as current interviews with HR from the Bad Brains, Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn from Black Flag, Ian McKaye from Minor Threat/Embrace/Fugazi/The Evens and a bunch more icons of 80s hardcore. I couldn't wait to see this movie almost the same way I couldn't wait to see Joe Kid on a Stingray. Hardcore music changed my life in a lot of the same ways that BMX did and in a lot of ways that it didn't. It opened my mind and also made me realize that there were other people in the world that were as pent up, angry and frustrated as I was. If nothing else, go to that link and watch the trailer. Don't type in "AmericanHardcore.com" though, because you won't find anything about punk rock It's AmericanHardcoreMovie.com. Wow, writing about music again. Weird. There is a contest coming up this Saturday night at Modern in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The "other" Modern park is really good and it should be a fun time. Deliverance is a sponsor, too, among all the others listed on that funny-ass flyer.
I rode the other Modern tonight and it was a madhouse. A whole crew from Kalamazoo among a gaggle of dudes ripping around with lots of near-misses. I didn't see any collisions while I was there, but I was almost in about five that were mostly my fault. The scariest one involved a backward rolling Joe Gall and my fat ass rolling forward toward him at a high rate of speed. Sorry Joe. I finally re-laced my freecoaster with a lighter rim and spokes and rode with it for the first time with a normal set up. I've ridden with it on my flatland bike and a regular bike with no brakes and even one time on a regular bike with only front brakes, but why I've never tried it before with just a regular old rear brake is beyond me. My stupidy amazes even me sometimes. It wasn't a great night to try to get used to a new set up but it was really fun.
In other news, racism still sucks:

skate and destroy
Now Playing: dinosaur jr. almost ready
I was totally into rollerskating when I was 10-14 years old. The same way kids are into BMX or skateboarding and only last as long as their ADD or their friends stay involved or until they get a girlfriend or whatever, that was how into going to the Ideal Roller rink I was. The more than half the kids that ride at Modern and TRP now won't ride BMX at all two years from now, that's how I was with rollerskating. I was a local on Friday nights. I thought I was hot shit with my feathered hair, comb in the back pocket or my Levi's cords and my ability to two-step to the Doobie Brothers when the DJ put that record on the turntable. It was the 70s! Fucking A, that was so long ago. I'm not making this up, but at the latter part of my roller-boogie career, the DJ was a midget named Eddie Gail and he later played Howard the Duck in the movie of the same name. Howard the Duck was from Plainwell, Michigan. He didn't do the voice, but he was the guy inside the suit. There was an article about it in the Twin City news. Anyway, rollerskating was awesome. The part that was cooler about rollerskating than going to the skatepark is that almost an equal number of girls were skating as boys. "Couples only" was the part where you got super stoked or super bummed when the cute girl from 4th hour or better yet, the rival school, hooked you up with a skate or shut you down. Ain't no roll-backs while holding hands with a girl going on at TRP. Maybe Buc-E and Hanaan, but no one else (Sorry, I had to write that). Anyway, rollerskating is apparently becoming cool again and just like it was for me in the late 70s, it's a good winter alternative to BMX when you can't ride outside...

That's the new graphic series I'm working on. It's called "Bad Birds". Here's another idea:
Also, there's lots of FOD coverage on the Team Young post from a couple days ago. The photo of Jason Burton on there is one of my favorites.

88888
Now Playing: Modest Mouse Interstate 8
I neglected to mention in my last post that it was written and "posted" from the waiting room at the VW dealership where my van was being worked on. A lot of people warned me about the quirkiness and potential hassles of owning a Volkswagon but I bought one anyway. I can't say that I regret buying it, but it has been a hassle lately. Shit has just been going haywire, beyond the already existing hassle of having to drive from Detroit to Lansing just to get an oil change or any basic maintenance performed. That being said, it is still the perfect van for my needs and I really like it. Having a BMX buddy who just happens to work at the dealership is a point for my team as well. Mad props to Brian Block for helping me out with the most recent repairs and saving me a bunch of money. I owe you one.
Talking about my vehicular troubles seems extremely insignificant when thinking about the passing, two months ago, of our fellow BMX brother and friend, Glenn Seals. I was looking for a phone number in my phone a couple weeks ago and came across Glenn's number. It is so hard to accept that he is gone. I didn't see Glenn very often as it was, so when I scrolled to his number it was a very sobering reminder that he is no longer with us. I rode Kzoo tonight for an hour and found this written on the wallride that Glenn helped to build for the jam:

Obviously, this was written the night of the jam by one of Glenn's siblings, but I didn't see it then. I wanted to post it for us all to read and to think about Glenn. Whether you knew him or not, Glenn touched so many people that he will never be forgotten and even though I didn't know him as well as I would have liked to have, I knew him well enough to miss him terribly now.