thanks
Now Playing: Archer's of Loaf Chumming the Ocean

Thank you to everyone who came out, contributed and rode their bikes in Glenn's honor. Check here. And here. And maybe later, here.

Thanks...
I dont know if scott will be able to get on a computer before he leaves for some random trip he has to do, so ill go ahead and thank everyone for coming out tonight. There were a lot of people there, and it was a very great time. This is how BMX should be. So again, thank all of you for coming out, and i hope ya'll had a good time. If im wrong, scott will probably update the site tomorrow at some point. But yeah, thanks, and i hope everyone made it home safe through that ice storm...


-dane.

raffle daffle.
Yo, dane wild here, just a quick update on some happenings on whats going on tomorrow with the raffle. i havent discussed prices for tickets, or any of that jazz, BUT! My mom will be in attendance and selling raffle tickets, with chances of winning stuff from(i am not 100% on all of these, so dont kick me for it) Deliverance Clothing, Albe's, Division Tattoo, Animal Bikes, and many some others, so, buy a raffle ticket, and support the cause. Hope to see ya'll there, and look out for my mom, she'll be selling the tickets! DRIVE SAFE.

Vacation pix
Now Playing: 80s new wave
FOD Jason Burton sent over this pic from his family vacation. I felt a little creepy posting a pic of his perfect family on the intraweb, so I did the old "conceal the identity" trick.

Representing with big Mick!
Also, I want to give a shout-out to Bill Sympson in Minnesota for sending me some more Moon Eyes stickers. Now I don't have to make fake ones...

stay gold
We got the stickers today. Sometimes I write "we" on here to make Deliverance appear to be more than one dude, sitting in a basement by himself. Today, "we" was Davey HK, who drove the Deliverance team van to Ypsi to pick up the Glenn stickers to make sure we had them for the Saturday event. Just to clarify, they are gold on clear. The image I posted before would make one assume they were gold on black. I chose gold for a reason:
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-- Robert Frost
Ponyboy reads that poem to Johnny in the movie, The Outsiders. It's one to remember. Hope to see you in Kzoo on Saturday night....

stand up and be counted
Now Playing: The Evens Minding Ones Business

Jason Burton is the first one to contribute to the Glenn fund and for that I say thank you. The stickers should be done for the Kzoo event. I was trying to think of other ways to raise some money, but Dane came up with the simple and awesome plan to get raffle tickets for people to purchase. We have a lot of prizes already (Animal sent stuff two times!), so I think the raffle will be good. It sounds like a lot of people are planning to make the trip.
This past Sunday we had most of a Cobras Local 77 reunion with Solan, Phil Rase, Sean Rakos and Chris Hatfield. The glaring ommissions from our one-time weekly Sunday morning session was Davey HK Coop and Chris Yankee, who was rumored to possibly show. Davey had a good excuse as he was in Flint and also had a bruise like no other on his shin. He redeemed himself at Modern tonight by landing harder than I've seen anyone land in a long time. Yeah Davey. It was a fun session, though a bit hectic with people flying all around the park. The friendly folks at Veteran BMX had some new die-cut stickers that were so awesome I put one on my bike right on the spot (I don't even have a new Deliverance sticker on the bike I'm riding right now).
Out New York way, Kelly Baker is single-handedly building a skatepark in the town where he lives. I'm not making this up... Kelly's blog I talked to him last night and on his blog he is down-playing how much work he is doing, almost all by himself. Beyond that, he is paying for concrete and materials himself. Every new thing I learn about Kelly, I am even more amazed than before. The dude is dedicated! In the new Ride UK there is a great interview with Ian Schwartz. He mentions BMX people having "Unorthodox priorities", which is the most right on description for the way a lot of us think. I've known Ian for quite a while and he's the real deal. I'm glad to see him on the move.

Memorial Mini-Ramp Jam
It is difficult to comprehend that the Kzoo Mini-Ramp jam coming up on 1/13 (see flyer in post below) has turned into a memorial and tribute to Glenn Seals. The jam was his idea and he was super excited about it. I'm sure he would be happy to know it was going on with him in mind. I talked to Bill from Kzoo yesterday and he is donating all of the proceeds from the Jam to Glenn's family to help with funeral expenses. I also spoke to Brice from LPK, who was Glenn's dear friend and business partner (Brice owns LPK) and he told me they were doing some shirts in Glenn's honor. Deliverance is having these stickers done, and 100% of the proceeds will go to Glenn's family as well.

So don't be surprised if I try to strong arm you into paying $5 for a sticker (kinda ironic after that post from last week, huh?). If you can make it to Kalamazoo, please do so. The jam is going to be fun, the rest of the park will be open to ride and now it is for a really good cause...

Glenn
I just found out a couple minutes ago that Glenn Seals, Kalamazoo BMX kingpin, passed away two days ago from a heart attack. This is absolutely devastating news. Glenn was an infectous personality. He came on strong with genuine excitement and was ready to be your friend. This dude was all about BMX. The upcoming Kzoo jam was mostly Glenn's idea. I spoke to him Thanksgiving weekend about it, after he had called me. I told him we were in Kalamazoo but I had gone street riding instead of coming to the park because I knew it would be crowded. He told me he had his little cousin or nephew with him that he was getting into BMX. He was always telling me he was getting someone into BMX. Glenn has two little girls that he loved with all of his heart. Before our son was born, we were at Subdivision in New York, and Livin' Proof Kustom's booth was right next to ours. I talked to Glenn the most I ever have those two days. Glenn told me this about having a kid, and I think of his word's often: "You don't even know what love is until you have that baby in your arms. You can't believe you even have that much love inside of you".
Glenn was so pumped about the Kzoo jam. I told him we were looking at houses in Kalamazoo and he was excited about having another person in the scene to ride with. He always told me about riding his bike from the east side of Kalamazoo to my dad's shop in Plainwell, no joke it's at least fifteen miles, to put this Redline on layaway, and how it took him forever to pay for it, but my Dad kept it for him and how cool my Dad is and...
Glenn was the best. Rest in Peace, my brother. I took this from the Livin' Proof Myspace page. Ted Van Orman wrote it and I know for a fact that Ted thought the world of Glenn...

Glenn Seals

The sound of this name has always sent me positive energy for the simple reason that every time I encountered Glenn he always had a smile for me. Happy to be alive, pedaling around Kalamazoo, boasting about how much he loved his two little girls and how becoming a father really had straightened out his life. He carried a lot of pride with him because of his family. He loved them more than anything!
Life introduced me to Glenn Seals through a similar hobby of BMX bikes. I spent a lot of time with Glenn going on trips, riding campus and more importantly having good conversations. He always loved to talk, he gave me a lot of advice on life and growing up and for that I thank him. He was a true friend. A friend I could count on if I were in trouble; regardless of the circumstance he would be there. He had so much love to give and his time here on earth was cut way to short. His passing breaks my heart, along with everyone else’s that knew him. Kalamazoo has lost one of its finest!
I will never forget you Glenn, thank you for all the good times!

“Livin Proof”

Theodore Barrett Van Orman

coons and goons

This New Year's day marks the beginning of the 17th year of my being a vegetarian. No meat, no fish, no chicken stock in my soup--I'm sure by mis-information in a restaurant or whatever, but my motto is "If you don't know, don't go". I don't think I'm self-rightous about it or preachy or in-your-face. Live and let live is why I do it and also how I feel about other people's lifestyle choices. I guess talking about it on a website is kind of self-rightous....
Anyway, there are FODs who are on the veg. plan and these noodles are my latest recommendation. $1.99 at Trader Joes, the ultimate grocery store for vegetarians, pretty much.
So I'm going to throw this question out there to anyone who thinks they could possible answer it: If I care so much about animals, don't eat them, try not to wear to much leather (guilty by default due to my job on this one, but again, not preaching about it), definitely aware of the cruelties and abuse of animals (my wife and I choose the Humane Society as the only charity that we donate to), then why does it seem like I always have a wild animal drama to deal with? The deer incident on Xmas was crazy, but that was not even the beginning. Our two "cute" little dogs

have caught and/or killed no less than six baby rabbits in the last couple of years (including two on Easter!), several of which I was able to rescue. Now this:

This giant racoon has been camped out in the flower garden since early this morning. I called the Humane Society and they were no help (the thanks we get!), telling me to call Animal Control. I think of "dog catcher" when I think Animal Control but I called them anyway. They said to wait for awhile and see if it leaves, because sometimes they get flushed out of their homes when it rains a lot. It did rain a lot, three days ago, but this guy seems sick. You can see the carrot in the pic, which he didn't eat. My wife tried to give it some chicken as well. It's fairly responsive when we talk to it, but I don't know what to do.
On an un-related note, FOD Dane Wild and I were involved in a scary-ass crash last night in Modern. 205 pounds + bike - brakes divided by 120 pounds + bike - brakes = trainwreck. We actually collided at the top of a big wedge, so it seemed like an eternity as the crash unfolded. I honestly had time to think "thank God neither of us is running pegs" as we waltzed down the ramp in a tangled mess. We were both laid out on the floor afterward and definitely shaken up, but both more or less okay (I have a weird tire burn on my wrist, of all places). I decided that my new $14.99 jeans from Old Navy are my "crash pants". I ate shit street riding the day before wearing them and had them on again last night.
Yeah. Rambling. Bye.

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