corporate scum
Now Playing: rightous bros.

new stickers with the new "corporate" logo. Psyched on these. It's difficult to come up with a color that works on all backgrounds. These will look good on almost anything except a green bike, which is what I'm riding, naturally. There's a photo of me on my green bike on Team Young that I'm stoked on. When the flash fired, I was self-conscious about my goofy facial expression, but luckily my arm is in the way. Team Young will be getting their shred on up at the DirtFest deal north of Flint on Saturday. Check it out.
I got the new FBM catalog/zine deal today, which features this Deliverance ad, printed in vivid black and white:

The Kzoo contest is Sunday and it's going to be awesome, I'm pretty sure. There are so many prizes I can't even believe it. The Division Tattoo for best trick is a $200 job! Be there or not....

Ohio
Now Playing: crosby, stills, nash & young ohio

I finally rode the Akron park. I've skated it a couple times, but never got to ride my bike there. It used to be very anti-bike, which is pretty ridiculous considering that the park is built on a hill and it's basically impossible to get speed to hit parts of it on a skateboard. It's also next to a really fun-looking BMX track (a rarity these days). Anyway, I got there early and besides a couple kids coming in and out, I had the whole place to myself and I have decided it's one of my favorite parks. I still get freaked out by the blimp hangar back there though. That thing is just so enormous and ominous and it just seems like it could inhale the world around it. I get really tweaked out just looking at the thing and I know I'm not the only one, right Kelly? There are tons of lines, some good hips and some really fun ledges. I rode it for a couple hours and it was great. From there, I went to my shop in Kent, then, kind of the same way I just never did it with the Akron park, I finally went to the Kent State Memorial at Kent State University. If you don't know, Kent State was the site of the 1970 killing of four college students (and wounding of nine others), who were protesting the invasion of Cambodia. They were shot and killed by American National Guard. Think about that for a minute: Un-armed college students shot dead on a college campus in a small town in Ohio by United States National Guardsmen. One of the truly horrific and ugly pages of American history. Viet Nam was ugly and there seem to be a lot of parallels these days, aren't there?
The actual memorial wasn't much to see, but just being on the nice, tree-filled campus, riding around on my bike, looking for this site and then really sitting down, reading and thinking about it all was very heavy. Yeah, heavy.
I hit a couple more shops on the way home, including Rise Above, in Lorain, Ohio.

This is a brand new shop opened by Chenga legends/locals Dominic and Kerry Sayre. The shop is in the heart of downtown Lorain and it's a cool ass spot. They have tons of skate and BMX goods and it's on the come up. They will have Deliverance product on hand as soon as the new batch of stuff arrives (and there is a lot of new stuff coming down the conveyor belt).
They had some framed magazine covers laid out and about to be mounted on the wall. The relevance to the shop being that they feature Cleveland locals.

The relevance to Deliverance is that both Afro Pat (Plus!) and Anthony Cico (Dig)are both wearing the infamous Born To Lose tee shirt.
The Westland bike "trial session" was last night. I just made it for the last hour but it was really fun. I was told that the park claimed they made more money last night from the bikes than they would have in an entire week of skaters. The park was much bigger than I remembered it (I only looked at it through the fence before) and was super fun. Of course, it was a mad-house with rookie skatepark kids mixed among the who's who of the Detroit BMX scene. I hope they continue to have bike sessions, as it seemed like a very positive event. Of course, the dipshit doing burnouts in his beater car in the parking lot may be a strike against us. I don't want to be the rightous old guy, but come on, you idiot, use your head. It's a "trial" session and if dumbshits like you do dumb shit like that it may be the only time we get to ride the park. Dan Closser was ready to hunt the kid down and strangle him. The no-peg rule is a fair comprimise after having been there. Take a minute and e-mail the Westland Parks & Recreation department at parks@ci.westland.mi.us and tell them thanks for allowing bikes. Like it says on the sign "this is your life".

sparks
Now Playing: The Stooges on vinyl

Matt Sparks is one of the three Deliverance "team" riders. Dane Wild and Chris Hatfield are the other two and I speak of them often in this blog. I don't talk about Sparks a whole lot, mainly because I don't talk to him or see him very often. He's an enigma. Asking Matt if he wanted to be on the Deliverance team was kind of funny. I brought it up and he said something to the effect of "I wanted to ask you about it, but...", which is kind of a typical Matt thing to say "Hey, I've been meaning to call you...". I remember the first time I met him. It must have been '99 and it was at Chenga. He was bomb-dropping off the deck of the ten foot wall-ride corner deal. Insane. I remember it even more because shortly after that day I saw him at TRP where he excitedly reminded me of his Chenga antics. He seemed like a hyper little kid and I guess he was pretty young then, but he's come a long way both in his riding and his personal development. I've probably regressed in both areas in the time since but I want to take this time to say that I'm proud that Matt is part of Deliverance. I always laugh when I think of the Albe's "50% dumb ass + 50% bad ass = 100% Matt Sparks" ad, but I know him well enough to realize he's not a dumb ass at all. He's simply on his own program. And he is a bad ass.
Solan Foster is legend FOD team status on Deliverance and I talked to him today. He took second at the NBL Nationals in Illinois last weekend. Solan rules. I'm glad he's doing well racing because I know he truly enjoys it.
I'm in Ohio right now. Remote posting is pretty exciting for me. Like I'm acomplishing something when I would otherwise just be sitting her watching TV or whatever. This is also the first time I've edited photos from the road and posted them. Yoo hoo, technology! It's weird that Chenga one is gone. I always planned my Cleveland trips around going there. I could have made it to Chenga 2 for the last part of the session, but it would have been a lot of effort to get there for a half an hour or so. Instead, I'm down near Akron and unless it rains or something goofy, I'm going to ride the Akron cement park in the morning before heading south. More important than any of that, though, is that I saw Ken Schneider today. It's the first time I've seen him (I spoke to him on the phone in June) since the "incident" that nearly killed him in March. There is a newspaper clipping posted on the cash register in his shop stating that his attacker has been sentenced to 250 years in prison. That's going easy on him if you ask me. We didn't talk about that specifically, but we had a good conversation and Ken looked awesome and is doing well. He's still not 100% but he is getting progressively better every day. He is very grateful to everyone that contributed to his fund and I am as well. Thanks again to all that took part in the Ken Schneider fund.
Seeing Ken and thinking about all he's been through this year makes me think about how precious life is and how petty and unimportant a lot of my every day "problems" are. They ain't shit. Much love to Ken. He asked about Deliverance and how it has been going. He was one of the first shops to buy product from me when Deliverance started.
New stickers and shirts should be ready for Kzoo.

teenage wasteland
Now Playing: Jim Carrol People Who Died
It seems lately that some of the public parks are coming around to the BMXers. The Brighton park had an "experimental" few days a couple weeks ago where bikes were allowed and now the public cement park in Westland (michigan) is going to allow bikes this Friday, August 11, from 4:30 to 9 pm. No pegs allowed and it's $5. I tried to skate that park one time and couldn't figure out how to get in. It's pretty small but it is cement and I'm sure it would be fun. If you live near, check it out and hopefully it will become a regular session. PS, No pegs is fucking dumb at a cement park, but whatever. I'm not riding pegs right now myself. I'm also running a 39-13. That's right.
Sean Rakos is riding strong again and apparently landing tailwhips like it was nothin' down in Texas, according to FOD Matt Morren. Another FOD, Davey Cooperwasser, is still traveling around Europe and is definitely logging in some miles on the Metro or Eurorail or whatever mode of transport he seeks. Solan called me today about riding at the Waterford track, which is cool because I haven't heard from him in awhile and I was starting to get worried. Solan's hot on the racing circuit this summer. I couldn't make it to Waterford but an hour at Modern was better than not at all. Hatfield and Dan Closser were going to ride the Monroe park tonight. Another public park that is apparently lifting the bike ban.
There are some new custom Deliverance tees in the works, hopefully in time for the Kzoo contest. Peace be with you.

Armchair quarterpipes.
Now Playing: the cure why can't I be you?
Yes, I'm listening to the Cure. One of my guilty pleasures. Please note the flyer for the Kzoo contest below has a bunch of sponsors on it now, including DK, FBM, Vclub clothing, Team Young, Animal and Terrible One. That's some good shit! Rich from Division tattoo is offering a free tattoo to the winner of the Best Trick event, which is really cool. You may also notice the logos of Dans Comp, Albe's and Empire mail order shops. Peace and love and everyone living in harmony! I'm so stoked about this. There are already enough prizes to make this contest totally kick ass. For real. That's not even counting the Deliverance and Etnies stuff. This one is gonna be good.
I don't watch traditional sports on TV but when the X games, Dew Action Sports and all the that comes on I am a regular armchair quarterback, swearing at the judges, cheering on the good guys and getting all crazy by myself in the living room in the middle of the night. Travis Pastrana with a double MX backflip? Please. Kevin Robinson's double flair was ridiculous and I am really happy for the guy. I've met him a few times and he is a sincere, friendly dude and I know he works hard at his vert riding. That shit is no joke. As a BMX purist though, I really spit Budweiser out of my mouth when I saw this:

Morgan Wade's insane transfer across the entire course like it was nothin'! He is insane and insanely good. Last year I called BS on Scott Cranmer not winning but this year I'm calling BS on him winning and Morgan not. Oh well. It was radical, either way.
The TRP contest was on Saturday and was off the chains. I got there just in time to get drafted for Advanced class judging and it was ridiculous. I guess I can relate to what the X games judges were going through because it is tough to compare wild styles to dialed smiles, you know? The TRP format has one run in the rhythm room and one run in the "street" room, which is a cool format. When it was over, Alan Schmalz was unquestionably the winner. He drove home the point with this full-length ice-pick across the wall in the street room.

Matt Carmichael is an O.G. TRP rat kid that is now a full grown adult ripper. He dabbled a few times but his shit was out of control, most notably this front flip over the little street spine to flat!

Sparks had some incredible lines as well, but kept it in sparks mode by only pulling a few key moves.

Sparks rules. Sparks' Etnies/Deliverance/Albe's team mate Dane Wild held his own before leaving town again for Binghampton. Hatfield took these photos between hot laps and Bud Lights in the parking lot. A dude from Illinois, Sam Spadey (something like that) got second with some nutty lines and tech trickery. It was cool to see a non-local coming up with new stuff. His buddy big Greg ran a Cheng Shin and shook the building with some hot licks as well. Hopefully those dudes will show up at Kzoo.
When TRP first opened, Steve Byrnes was a rollerblader, but now he works at Woodward and is super good on the two wheeler. He came dangerously close to pulling a double whip out of the quarter to wedge set up, landing one-footed about ten times. Steve's buddy Justin Bayless won Best Trick with a bar-spin to ice pick to hop-over to fakie on the hitching post. That's a tough one right there. The contest was fun and everyone got to ride, which is what it's all about. Good job TRPeople. There's better coverage and more photos of the TRP gig at Team Young

ain't no cure for the summertime blues
Now Playing: articles of faith up against a wall

It's time for the annual Kzoo BMX contest. August 20th is a sunday and on saturday from 4:30 to 9 bikes are allowed as well, so there will plenty of time to ride one of the midwest's best parks. There are already a grip of sponsors lined up and I'm just waiting for the thumbs up from a couple more companies and I'll send this flyer out to spread the word. This is truly a Deliverance/Etnies event and is all about a good time. Kzoo's outdoor section is awesome and unless the weather gets crazy on us, it will a full-tilt bozo event. We'll take it indoors if it rains or hellfires or something.
Speaking of Hellfire, I think we're expecting it to come any minute now. Hatfield, Fro Ardelean and I made an early morning trek to Charlotte yesterday but there was no beating the heatmiser

. We got there a little after 10am and rode for like a half an hour. It was absolutely brutal. Like scary, hallucination brutal. Insane. We did enjoy these "burgers" that Fro's mom made on the drive there

Don't ask.
Modern, on the other hand, is air-conditioned and that is a blessing. It was a fun session Sunday and tonight but I really wanted to ride for longer. I could have ridden for four hours tonight. People seem actually bummed that I have front brakes on my bike, like "how dare you! Those are so 90s!" I love it. I still haven't really learned anything too exciting, but if I can learn nose-picks on quarters I'll be stoked. The park was busy for both sessions and I heard a lot of gripes about that as well. I guess I have the "adult" perspective, but, uh, guys, paying customers keep the park in business, you know?
There is a contest this Saturday the 5th at TRP in Dearborn, Michigan. I was going to put a link to their site but it seems to no longer exist. Here's the info I took from the Team Young site.

Transitions Ramp Park Contest THIS SATURDAY!
8.05.2006
BEG- $15
INTERMEDIATE-$30
PRO-$50
CASH PAYOUT FOR PRO, PRIZES FOR OTHER 2 CATEGORIES!
PARK OPENS @ 10 A.M.
COMP STARTS @ 1 P.M. WITH BEGINNER CLASS
While you're at the TY site, check out the photos of Dave Moon and The White Lotus riding those crazy trails in Charlotte. That one photo is especially amazing. You'll know which one I mean when you see it.
Those of you that know Sean Rakos may not recognize him while he's using his new disguise...

Yes, it's real. A real tattoo, not a real mustache.
Dane is moving back to Binghampton soon and is also going to get this tattoo:

. Matt Sparks drove the Albe's car in the Kink demoltion derby and Joe Gall's Team Young car was defective and didn't run until the end of the derby. I woulda been pissed. Joe was. He vented his anger by taking free-coaster madness to new levels.
I know I'm always talking about obscure bands and documentaries and such, but I am really stoked about this one. That is my music--the shit that changed my life for good. It's like the Joe Kid on a Stingray of music for me. I can't wait to see it.

stress remedy
Now Playing: J Church Where the Trains Go
Between work stress, home improvements and traveling, I've been a stressed-out mofo lately. Like lightning bolts shooting through my head stressed. The home improvements are a big cause, which are causing work stress, all of which make for family stress. Plumbers deserve to be millionaires. Fuck plumbing. Dan Closser is our electrician but I need to find a plumber friend. Matt Bu-C Newman is a plumber, but I don't think he does residential work. He and Hanaan, his partner in crime, are two of my favorite people to ride with and they also have a new website, called VeteranBMX. I like the name, but I had to laugh when Hanaan explained they named it veteran because they are "getting old". Mid-twenties is kind of old for BMX for the average person, but to me it's just getting started. Sean Rakos started riding BMX when he was 23. He completed tattoo school up here a couple weeks ago and did so well he was offered a full-time job by the instructor. Sean hates Michigan, so he had to decline. I'm still waiting for a photo of his insane new tattoo.
Anyway, Veteran BMX is a blog-based BMX site and I dig it. This quote is so right on: "it's pretty interesting dealing with all the things that come with being an adult and trying to hang on to childhood". Works for me.
As far as the stress, riding at TRP last night and Modern tonight have cleared my head and really let off some steam. I really need to keep things in perspective. I get worked up about some pretty unimportant crap. A leaky pipe can be fixed. Front brakes can be dialed. Both are not right now but it's not the end of the world. No lives hang in the balance. Was that a really shitty front-brake related pun? The front brakes are cool, but so far I am doing the same shit with them that I was doing without them. We'll see how that goes.
Dane wild finally returned from an extended trip to Binghampton and points east. He made a last-minute attempt to get a Deliverance car entered in the Kink Demolition Derby, but I was too stressed to answer the phone. Next year. He also brought me a soil sample from Baker's Acres, which is amazing. I'll post a pic when I get my ant-farm set up using it.
Speaking of stress and keeping things in perspective, I recently signed up for the J Church band newsletter. The singer of J Church, Lance, was in a early 90s band called Cringer that is one of my favorites. J Church is kind of a continuation of that band and has been putting out great music for years. Recently, Lance's health has taken a very bad turn and he is getting Kidney dialisys and may be facing a heart transplant, which is horrible. I don't know the guy or anything, I'm just a fan of his music, but I really feel for him and wish him the best. The things I've been sweating ain't shit compared to that, you know? Check out J Church Newsletter for more info and there are lots of J Church songs on Itunes.
Lots of questions and comments so far on the Deliverance Man Bag. Stay tuned for a whole slew of new shit....