Rust never sleeps
Now Playing: Johnny Cash I still miss someone
My bike is starting to rust. My bars are those custom, unpainted Solid bars, so I knew they would start to rust eventually, but my pegs are rusting, as are the pins in my pedals. Having two kids and moving and being on a work deadline is hard work. Riding bikes is at an all-time premium right now. I got a lot of saddle time in last week on the road, but BMX action has been minimal since. This pic looks like a traffic jam, but it was actually taken at full freeway speed in Cincinnati.

I did ride last night though, and it was awesome. "Wolverine" is like a skatepark almost. I will miss that place.
Pat Schreader and some cleveland dudes had a trail jam last weekend, featuring big jumps and rain.

Here's a shot of Pat doing a very Pat-like trick...

A double tree tap at the Hooligan trails in New Yawk. That was sneaky, one would think that last pic was from the trail jam in Cleveland, but it was really from a while ago in NY. Pat is a sneak.
I did a ton of work at our new house last weekend and it was pretty brutal. The very last thing I did before I left was to mow an outline for my new trails with my new ride, the Cub Cadet.

Trails are the new girls pants.
I was already aware of the "Moped Army" in Kalamazoo, but I witnessed it first hand, as literally hundreds of mopeds rode past our new house last weekend. It was insane. Sounded like the world's largest swarm of mosquitos.

Mopeds are the way to go with gas prices right now. Here's a shot of Noah getting rad on the swings...

Have a kick ass weekend and shit.

Fade to Black
Now Playing: Rolling Stones Paint it black
The last session at Modern is Sunday and I'm not going to make it. We are beginning our big move to Kalamazoo. I am super bummed that I won't be there but I feel good about the last session I did ride. It was at the premier a week ago and this photo means the world to me in terms of this skatepark and the role it has played in my riding life...

My favorite trick on my favorite hip, taken by a good friend, Matt "Buc-E" Newman and stoled directly from VeteranBMXdotcom. I'm sure the Sunday session will be crowded and fun, but I feel good knowing that I never took the place for granted. I rode there with 100 people and I rode there alone, with no other people in the park. I'd like to think that every time meant something substantial. It's a sad time, but it's also a new beginning for me (and the park). It's the "Best of times and the Worst of times". I cherish the memories and friends that I made at that park. Let's KIT in '07 and beyond.
Get well soon to my new neighbor, Sean Newton, who suffered a concussion and skull fracture when a 180 over a bucket when horribly wrong. Twp beans in a bucket...

porker
Now Playing: crazy kentucky evangelist on cable access

I got so excited to take this photo with my phone that I knocked my Coors over and spilled it on my laptop. Not cool. It seems to be working okay so far though. The dude looks like a hardcore singer but he was preaching the word. It was awesome. The super fat lady sitting in the corner was almost more disturbing. Almost. I've been on the road since Monday and it's pretty crazy being away from my family. I miss my boys! I've been running it hard with shop visits, but I have been able to ride a few good sessions. A short one in Coldwater, Michigan (fun little hip but useless otherwise), skated the rad cement no-bikes (that's not rad) park in Ft Wayne, Indiana, then rode the Indianapolis cement park in blinding mid-day sun and heat that was fun, sans the sun and heat. Last night, I met up with Frank and Ernesto from Dans at Ernestos house. Ernesto grilled up some delicious grub, we watched the Etnies video, then went to Louisville park for a really fun session. Sounds great, right? All that was, but we had work to do as well and finished that at 2:30AM, followed by a 7 o'clock wake up call (even earlier for those guys) and an 8:30AM meeting for me. Today was rough. I can't remember being as tired as I was today. I checked into the Super 8 early, took a nap, then rode the Florence cement park. I love that park and it was real fun. The riding has been great, but beyond that it has been sellin' shoes, driving, eating in the car, barely sleeping and missing my family. I get home tomorrow and I'm siked to do so.
I guess most of the mirrors in our house are packed away because I took a look at myself in the mirror tonight and am completely depressed at how fat I've become. I look like the preacher in the above pic almost. My goal is to shift gears and gun it a little more toward my hero, Bruce...

or my other hero, Kelly Baker. Check out his latest blog entry and photo of him blasting air on his circa 1976 Yamaha Motobike on the FBM site. In the mean time, live life like you mean it.

Last Dance
Now Playing: Lucero Just that Kind of Girl

The premier, from my perspective, was almost perfect. Tons of people (and that lil' dog!) came to watch and lots of people were riding the park before and after. Linda, who is the owner of Modern (along with her husband George), was cool enough to keep the park open until 1 am. It was awesome. The Etnies video is insane. I had already watched it a couple times at home but it was so cool to see in jumbo projector-vision. The Deliverance movie was well-received too. The only negative thing that I encountered was one dude being a complete asshole after sneaking in, getting kick out, trying to sneak back in and worst of all, being a total dick to Linda and Dave (a super cool kid that works at Modern). I wrote a really long rant about this, but this shorter version is sufficient.
I realized today that I probably won't get to ride Modern again. Next Sunday is the last session and I'm probably not going to get to ride any of the the sessions before then, including the last one. I have a lot of good memories of that place and have made a lot of good friends there. It would have been five years this July since the park opened (as Vans). I got to ride the very first session, with tons of skaters and chaos. It was awesome. I always felt a little weird about the whole corporate Vans aspect but the park is probably my favorite ever. I know there are a lot of things that could be better and that it's missing some elements (a real wall ride, for example), but the hips and wide-open high-speed lines are my favorite. The quarters, too. I've gone my highest (not that high!) on those six foot quarters and learned lots of things in that park. It's weird and sad that I am moving right as it closes. I'll really miss riding there. I'm sure the new Modern park will be awesome when it opens later this summer, but it's hard to imagine re-creating the hips and lines. It's hard to imagine not seeing the same faces at the park, either.

baby man hands
Now Playing: howard on sirius

I thought I would be a funny guy and post this photo of the Etnies DVD casually tossed into Noah's toy box. The joke was almost on me (and everyone attending the premier tomorrow) when, a few minutes after I'd put my camera away and sat down, my toddler son came walking up to me with a shiney object in his hands to give me. My dumb ass left the DVD in the toybox after I took the pic. Good thing Noah is responsible. I can't wait to watch this video....
Two years ago, I went to New York for the Subdivision tradeshow and into NYC while I was there for the premier of Joe Kid on a Stingray. Kelly Baker and a few other dudes made the trip, including Ralph and Shane from Animal and Catfish. It was a crazy trip into the city, finding a place to park and then literally running through the streets to get to the theatre with minutes to spare. I was still out of breath when Joe Kid started playing. It was awesome. Afterward, we went to eat at this Hare Krishna restaurant. Our small group was sitting at a table, chowing down on blessed food. Out of nowhere, Catfish started laughing. "Kelly's fingers are like little people!". He couldn't stop laughing. Kelly has man hands in every way. That dinner and that day were just amazing. Unforgettable. That was two years ago this week and I still crack up thinking about Kelly's man hands and his brutally honest response to the waiter's inquiry about why none of us had eaten our soup "It pretty much sucked". Kelly is the best.
The point of all this is that when Dylan was born a week ago (today!), one of the first things we noticed were how long his fingers were.

Dylan has little man hands! I hope they stay that way because I have little stubby fingers and I think it has made things like playing basketball and/or guitar more difficult for me. Or, I just suck at both activities. Baby man-hands.
Otto is a true inspiration in my life. He is a unique and genuine individual. THis clip of him riding the big pool at Modern the other day is testimony to how much of a bad ass he is...
Modern is closing on May 27 and tomorrow's video premier is one of the last events at the park. I'm going to miss that place.

video killed the radio star
Now Playing: Lungfish Recording and Reporting

Let's not forget about this!! It's going to be awesome. I plan to torture everyone with the Deliverance short film "Fresh Air Cure" as a warm up. Kind of like how they used to show cartoons before the movies. What, you don't remember that? Don't worry, FAC is really short. I didn't think it was ever going to leave my computer. I had all kind of ball ups, but I can now say I have a burned, functioning copy of the "artsy lifestyle" movie (wow, that even sounds boring). More later...

the new guy
Now Playing: the wha wha whas

Well, that last post said my wife was going to have labor induced the following morning. I shouldn't have stayed up so late on the innernet, because the water broke and we were on our way to the hospital at 4:30am! We were really happy because Gail didn't want to be induced and a "normal" childbirth was pretty exciting, let me tell you. Everything went remarkably well and all involved parties are fine. Noah didn't know what to think at first, but he's into his role as big brother now. Two kids! I still can't believe it. The new dude's name is Dylan Luke Towne. If you happened to receive a text message on Thursday morning that said his name was "Luke Dylan", I was delirious. Actually, we decided to change it around.
Here's a shot of one of my other children at the Westland park, Dane Wild photo by Kris K.

He pulled it.

Hard Labor
Now Playing: Lungfish Nothing Is Easy
It has been a pretty insane few weeks around here. Surgery and floods and lots of hard work. I've done heavy lifting of some sort every day for what seems like weeks now...
Things have been so nuts, but the big thing we've been waiting for still has not happened. My wife is having labor induced tomorrow morning at 8AM, so hopefully everything goes well.
I know I've said this before, but I honestly do try to keep things in perspective. The basement flood was such an incredible pain in the ass, but now it's over and there is new carpet and it looks way nicer. Since we are trying to sell this house, "way nicer" is way better. And things could be so much worse. Just read that last post or the headlines on any given day. I know we have it good and I truly feel blessed. A lot of my friends read this and I will keep you all posted on the progress of new baby and baby Momma.
I got this a few weeks ago by Rich at Division Tattoo. He drew it and applied it.

It really fucking hurt. The sternum is a sensitive area. Nothing is easy, right? Irony right there. That tattoo was not easy. The "Nothing is Free" comes from a Kelly Baker slogan and is a play on words. "Nothing is free, that is why so many people have it". That's a little long for a tattoo, but the message is awesome. It works for nothing is easy as well. It's easy to do nothing.
Sean Rakos did some work with Rich at Division before moving back to Texas.

Sean e-mailed me today and said he got a job at respected tattoo shop in Austin, so he is stoked. His wife is about to have a baby too. Rich and Sean did a big piece on Dane a couple weeks ago too. Looked like it hurt. He deserved it. Ha ha.
I've been told that the last day of business at the Modern Novi park is Sunday, May 27th. The very last session there will be a bike session. Get your ride on there while you have a chance.

That's another Kris K photo from the same session I keep posting about. Not bragging because I'm not doing much but I love this photo. Makes an old man happy. It's kind of weird that my favorite park ever is moving right at the same time that I am moving away. They are relocating the park, so don't fret. New location TBA.
You may have noticed a slight change on the opening page of the site with the name, "Deliverance Project". "Clothing Company" has always been a stretch and it's kind of the same deal as the "Team". It just doesn't really fit. Translated, "Deliverance Project" means "Freedom Project", which is alright. This whole project gives me a sense of freedom. Nothing is any different. We're still going to make clothes. It just says Project instead of Clothing Company.

The new short film (is that pretentious?), entitled "Fresh Air Cure" is nearly done and is definitely a Deliverance Project. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading my rants.

The Kids at Modern...
One of the many awesome things about being involved in BMX for so long is that I've interacted with people much older and younger than myself on equal levels. When I was 12, I had to deal with adults and parents at the race track and even to order bike parts. Through the years, I've been around tons of kids of all ages. Now, as an "elder statesman" of BMX (cough), almost everyone is younger than me, but at the skatepark, we're all equals and can relate on one level at least--BMX. One guy that will always has a couple more notches on the calendar than I is Otto.

Otto rules and has been riding BMX a lot lately (believe me, he rides some sort of bicycle more than any mere mortal can comprehend). THis photo was taken by Kris K at Modern a couple weeks ago during a really fun mini-ramp session. Kris K also took that photo of Jason Burton (below post) during the same session. Thanks Kris. Otto has never stopped riding bikes and I'm sure he never will.
Since that park opened, as a Vans park in '02, tons of kids have come and gone. I can think of a few that got really good really fast, then just faded away. Sometimes they make a "comeback" but usually not for long. Maybe they get bored or frustrated, I don't know. Bored with bike riding is something I don't understand.
I remember the faces and names of a lot of these guys. One thing about the limited number of sessions at Modern is that the bike riders are all there at the same times each week. I remember the first time I talked to Nick Zander. I asked him about the shirt he was wearing. It confused him a little and his response was funny "I think it came from Target". I also recall the last time I spoke to him. He had pretty much stopped riding at the park, but he was there for an event or something. I talked to him for a minute and he told me he had been riding dirtbikes. I remember talking to Nick a lot of other times too. A couple times, he couldn't ride, but he would come to the park and video tape his buddies AJ or Dave Patterson. One conversation I recall very clearly was during a celebratory session to mark Nick's last day of chemotherapy. We called him "Zander", not only because it was his last name but because of Robin Zander from the band Cheap Trick. I think I tried to explain that one too, but the generation gap was pretty obvious.
That was all a while back. Nick's cancer had gone into remission and he was getting on with life. But it came back. He passed away last Thursday. My heart goes out to his family and friends in this time of heartbreaking loss. Rest in Peace, Zander.

angels with butterfly wings

Jason Burton is a hero. Saved the day for my family yesterday by just happening to show up at my house. Jason lives over an hour away and has only been to my house one time before, so for him to just roll up while I was standing outside, trying to figure out my next move, was truly unbelievable. Did I mention that my wife was having major contractions and that our basement had flooded? Yeah. Thanks dude.
Also, check out the video of Dave Patterson on the Team Young site, along with the insane sequence of Davey Coop, destroying himself at a playground. Dave and Davey also play the parts of heroes around here as well, but Jason truly saved the day this time. Thanks Bro... Kris K. photo.
More later...