if it don't make dollas, it don't make sense
Now Playing: AGainst Me! Tonight We're Gonna Give it 35%
One thing that sucks about doing Deliverance is paying for stickers that I just give away. I might as well just give everyone fifty cents when I see them, it would be easier. There is one exception. Cory Martin, the red-wigged ripper from Owosso, always insists on giving me a couple dollars when he asks for stickers. Thanks Cory. I don't expect it and usually don't accept it, but I have and will. I love stickers but making them does bum me out, especially when the non-existent "team" complains that the stickers are too big or they don't like the colors or whatever. Here are the "new" stickers. I made quotes around new because these are old graphics (seems like we would have made these sooner, doesn't it?)

The D logo is one of the very first Deliverance logos and the bird logo was created by FOD Sean Rakos. They are a bike friendly size, fitting nicely on a head and/or seat tube.

Note the Moon stickers. I actually paid over twenty dollars for a set of those on Ebay. Keeping in mind what I just stated about paying literally hundreds of dollars for stickers that I just give away, the notion of paying money for stickers, just because they are cool, is just ridiculous. To be honest, I don't even really know what Moon makes. I know they make hot rod car parts. Wheels, I believe. All I know is that I liked that logo when I was a real young kid (in the 70s!) and always have. I was so stoked when I got them in the mail yesterday. Ask Davey, he was here. I wonder if Dave Moon knows about Moon hotrod parts? Oddly enough, he was at Modern last night, but I hadn't fabricated my bootleg Moon stickers yet. Dave is rad and usually wins the Kzoo contests. Nice series of segways tonight, eh? Please note the flyer below regarding the upcoming Kzoo Mini Ramp champs event. Apparently Animal accidentally sent two boxes of prizes, so at least we'll have some sweet Animal stuff and free Deliverance stickers to give out for prizes.
Going back to my Moon stickers. Since I paid so much for them, I didn't want to actually use them on my bike, knowing that I'll probably paint it or decide I don't like it or something ridiculous, so I scanned the stickers and made fake ones, taking elaborate measures using various materials I had around here to ensure an authentic look. I need to start getting more sleep. Or something. If you're wondering what Biltwell is, wonder no more. They are friends of mine and they make some sweet motorcycle parts. Here's another ridiculous one. I ordered one of those El Diablo tee shirts on that site last Wednesday night (late) and on early Thursday, UPS brought me a Merry Xmas box with a couple El Diablo shirts for me and my wife, along with stickers. I don't even think they had received my order yet. They must have crystal balls. They even sent the exact size and color that I had ordered. Fuckin' weird, dude. I really do need sleep.

Mini Ramp Champs, Pt. Deuce

weirdest christmas ever and the return of Randy
Now Playing: Motorhead We Are The Road Crew
Christmas has been a pretty big downer for me for a long time. I would go so far as to say that I used to get really depressed around the holidays. Nothing that heavy drinking couldn't numb, but not my favorite season. Having a son and a family changes everything. Christmas was awesome this year and we had so much fun with Noah and his Grandparents and cousins and it was just great. Then it got weird. My wife and I left Noah at Grandma's and went off to look at some houses. We were driving slowly, looking for a street, when this big deer bounds across the road, right in front of us. "Holy shit!" was my initial reaction. It was cool too see and of course I was glad I didn't hit it, but in the same instant, I thought "uh oh, there might be another one...BAM!" before I could even finish the thought. I was looking right in the direction it came from and I never even saw it. It kind of wrapped around the corner of my van. This big, beautiful animal was lying on the side of the road, flopping around. My wife and I were freaking out, of course, not knowing what to do. We managed to calm down a little, observing for a minute (not wanting to get kicked in the head as well). Just then, the deer got up..."Yes!", then ran in a circle and fell down "shit". It lay there for a another minute and just as we were about to walk back to it, it stood up and ran off into the woods. It looked pretty stable and there was no blood, so we're hoping the best. Now, my van is another story. I will start by saying that it could have been so much worse and I realize and appreciate that, but it is fucked up. The grill is broken, the big molding piece under the grill is broken and this little side panel is dented really badly. Keep in mind that this is a VW van that they don't even sell in the US anymore. Oh well, I was just happy that the deer seemed to be okay. The van can be fixed.
Then it got weirder. Not more than five minutes after we left the scene of the deer incident, we found the house we were looking for. It was a dead end street and we were stopped a few houses away, getting a long view of the house. We were parked in front of another house and I glanced over and saw this.

I looked at my wife real quick to see if she saw it. Ugh. Yes. A semi-nude, saggy, older lady was just standing there, staring at us, wondering why we were in front of her house, I'm sure, but WTF? It wasn't like we just happened to look in the window and saw her changing her clothes. She was straight up standing at the window in full, disgusting view. It did help us to forget about the poor deer for a minute but it was weird as hell. I don't even remember what the house looked like, we scratched that one off our list due to omen-like circumstances.
With Christmas and weirdness behind us, I was excited to ride tonight but knew the park would be crazy busy. It was. Local hotshoes, home for the holidays, guys that have been MIA for awhile, little kids on Xmas break and then there was this dude.

There's always some old kook at the park who dusted off his ten year old bike and just gets in the way....

Christmas 1976
Now Playing: Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down
It dawned on me Thursday morning that I was coming up on an anniversary. On Christmas morning, 1976, I received my very first BMX bike. It looked like this:

This photo isn't of my actual bike, but it was nearly identical, except for the grips, I believe. It was called the "Silver Fox". I believe this same bike had more than one name that it was sold with, depending upon where you bought it. It's hard to see, but the handlebar clamps are actually U-bolts. They didn't hold very well and they dug big grooves into the bars. I found out a few years ago that these bikes (mine was purchased at Montgomery Ward) were made by a company that made mini-bikes and go-carts. I entered my first race in May of 1977 on this bike and got my ass kicked by all the kids on "rigid" bikes, which were already the norm by then. Bikes with shocks had been popular on the downhill tracks of Southern California in the mid-70s and my only point of reference for BMX were some motorcycle magazines that had occasional articles on BMX and a book I had from 1974 called "How to Win Bicycle Motocross" which had all kinds of crazy, experimental bikes with shocks and various gizmos. Everything was new then. This bike weighed almost 60 pounds (I weighed about a hundred, maybe). Bikes were all different then and if nothing else, they were interesting. Bikes are so much better now but they are pretty boring to look at. A crazy thing about that book is that I now know the guy that was on the cover! Obviously, if I got my first BMX bike in 1976, then I'm an old man in the world of BMX. I've never really freaked out about it too much, but thirty years is a long time to do anything. I'm proud that I still can and plan to continue for a long as humanly possible...
If you haven't see this, you need to. Happy Holidays to all of you, the FOD.

im up too damn late.
Ha, its like 6am and i havent slept yet. its been an on going thing as of late. Never sleeping. Ohh well, im only 19. While i was laying in my bed, i was making a couple of predictions on 2007, so here we go with a few.

Scott will make and break a "team" for Deliverance about as many times as his kid shits in a day.

I'll actually settle down and get a job.

Chris Hatfield's beard will grow long enough to where it becomes an amusment park.

Dan Closser will be still be on Lavar.

Mat Sparks will whip to double whip back.

Those are a few small predictions i have for the year to come. I've been lacking on my duty to post stuff on here, but i just forget to. So i guess to end this year off with me, ill show some pictures of me from various happenings.

This is probably the last time i rode street, or in the street actually. They were fixing a pothole right in front of my house, so i took advantage.

I went to baco this year, and bravely got over my fear of flying. This picture right here i actually put my foot down, and broke my big toe.(Which is still messed up to this day.)

In July i got to go on a trip to Boston and Pittsburgh with Tony Hamlin, Aaron Ross and Stew Johnson. This is the result of riding Primo pedals for about 5 and a half years....

And last but not least, myself and the Captain have been making it happen for a while.

I hope everyone has a save and wonderful Holiday. Thanks to everyone who has made this year awesome, and im hoping for another good year ahead. Thanks!

danewild.

Slide Show Mel
Now Playing: Wolfmother Lovetrain
Here's a LinK to a bunch of photos from the TRP mini-ramp champs event. Thanks to Joe Gall, Matt Newman and Hanan Saab for sending them over....

also...
I've decided (again) to do away with the term "team". There is no more "Team Deliverance". It's just a corny concept for what is really just an on-going art project. All the same dudes are still involved, along with all the FODs. I really like the "Friends Of Deliverance" program and I'm going to run with it. One big, un-organized, dysfunctional, family. Perfect. Look for the new icon for '07!

there is a new post below if you didn't see it already.

the idea factory
Now Playing: Transplants Killifornia
The ideas just keep coming. First it was man-bags and knives, now this, the simulated belt shirt. Much thanks to Turbo Todd for the idea...

I'm not an overtly political person, but I am aware and disgusted by a lot of what is going on in this world. I saw the new issue of Time Magazine at the dentists office the other day--"The Year In Pictures". Always amazing, but this year the photos are especially poignant. When Froseph Aredelean sent me a link to the very same photos today, I took it as a notion to lead people to them. Thanks Fro.
And speaking of photos, Joe Gall sent me a heap of them from the TRP event...

This is one of my favorites. It's Craig H from the high air event. Keep in mind he had to roll-in from the deck we are all standing on to get speed--that's a fuckin' boost right there, and he didn't even win! Brandon Dosch topped it by a couple inches. I'll post a flick R album when I get some more. There is full coverage on Team Young and Veteran BMX.

Invincible
Here is a link to a super rad video interview with Matt Sparks that Joe Gall put together. It is great.

This is Flair. Sparks does some flairs in that video but none as sweet as this one...
FOD Kelly Baker has a blog that is simply awesome. It's only been up for a week or so and he already has some insane stories written. Believe that he has a shitload more and they just get wilder! Still no pix from anyone of the TRP jam (I guess I'd better take my own at the Kzoo comp!), besides the awesome Kris K. video. Here's a shot I took today of my Honda, before Davey HK and I nearly killed ourselves trying to load it, along with the broken remains of my backyard mini-ramp, into a U Haul truck.

TRP Video
3ntropy Images Video by Kris Kunihiro. Kris K., as he is more commonly known, put together this awesome video from the TRP event. I think every person who rode that night has clips in there, including my fat ass. One funny thing, there's a part in the middle where you hear "Look out, look out!" and people yelling, then Craig H. comes flying out off the street spine and almost lands on a fat dude in a Freddy Krueger sweater. Yeah, that's me. Kris K. also rode in the jam and his last run, specifically, was the most unique, creative, insane run of the night. Kris K. rules. Thanks! Here's a shot of him from a couple months back, enhanced in the rising sun motif that he adopted as his own (note helmet).