IT'S THEME TIME: BIKERS!
SONS OF ANARCHY on the FX channel is Hamlet meets biker gang, and it is perhaps the best pop culture take on 1%ers I have ever seen. (1%ers are outlaw gangs). Thanks to MojoPojo for turning me on to this show. Check out the first two episodes here:
It is also ON DEMAND under TV SERIES (including the third episode).
Today's theme holds a special place for me because for 6 years I partied with many clubs.
Shooters. Some of the wildest sex, comparable to the 60's but kinkier, great brothers, groups that wouldn't be seen together passing girls around like potato chips, never saw a fight there between bikers....
The first time I went to Shooters I entered and saw a girl on the pool table with a deli product.
I knew this was going to become my bar. And for 6 years rain or shine, Doc and I went two or three times a week. This led to being invited to biker parties at their clubhouses, Jenny McCarthy when she was a med student was there, girls from the strip clubs would come in and let guys do things to them no one at a club could ever do. I even organized a fundraiser for one group, and earned a patch for doing it.
From what I hear, there had never been a place like that before, and there hasn't been one since. The owner got a job with the government so he had to let go of the bar.
The first time I went to Shooters I entered and saw a girl on the pool table with a deli product.
I knew this was going to become my bar. And for 6 years rain or shine, Doc and I went two or three times a week. This led to being invited to biker parties at their clubhouses, Jenny McCarthy when she was a med student was there, girls from the strip clubs would come in and let guys do things to them no one at a club could ever do. I even organized a fundraiser for one group, and earned a patch for doing it.
From what I hear, there had never been a place like that before, and there hasn't been one since. The owner got a job with the government so he had to let go of the bar.
I took the woman I would marry to a party at one of the clubhouses and I made the mistake of calling the head of the club to tell him I was bringing a civilian. He met me at the door with his new glock (really cool lightweight gun), and handed it to me in front of her, urging me to feel the weight, and she didn't run away. In fact the biker chicks really liked her. A person we brought with asked if the jackets the girls wore were ironic, because they read property of and then the name of the guy they belonged to. I explained there was no irony with bikers.
No one I have known wears their beliefs on them the way bikers do. From 1% to close to 1%ers to just guys who like to ride, you know exactly what you are getting when you see them. Suits can hide many sins. That jacket and colors a biker wears let you know where they stand.
The restlessness I feel in life was gone those years. Or, perhaps because we all shared it, it was normal. We all understood. It didn't have to be said. That really is why people join biker groups or outlaw groups.
The restlessness I feel in life was gone those years. Or, perhaps because we all shared it, it was normal. We all understood. It didn't have to be said. That really is why people join biker groups or outlaw groups.
Down the street the dogs are barkin'
And the day is a-gettin' dark.
As the night comes in a-fallin',
The dogs 'll lose their bark.
An' the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind,
For I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind.
And the day is a-gettin' dark.
As the night comes in a-fallin',
The dogs 'll lose their bark.
An' the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind,
For I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind.
From the crossroads of my doorstep,
My eyes they start to fade,
As I turn my head back to the room
Where my love and I have laid.
An' I gaze back to the street,
The sidewalk and the sign,
And I'm one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind.
My eyes they start to fade,
As I turn my head back to the room
Where my love and I have laid.
An' I gaze back to the street,
The sidewalk and the sign,
And I'm one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind.
It's a restless hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good,
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good.
You're right from your side,
I'm right from mine.
We're both just one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind.
That don't mean no one no good,
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good.
You're right from your side,
I'm right from mine.
We're both just one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind.
BOB DYLAN
THE WILD ONE was the movie based on a true event that set both the good and bad of bikers in pop culture. The group itself is like the Dead End Kids and the portrayal would continue for decades- even in the silly film THE MASK with Cher, bikers punch each other for no reason and act like clowns. But THE WILD ONE does have Lee Marvin, who played it closer to the truth. Rent the film, it was banned in the UK for over a decade!
I live on the block with The Outlaws. They saved my life when I was a kid. Here is a video of their club
This is the story of how they saved my life as a teen
Nothing on earth like a biker babe. http://eatinbugs.com/babes/babes.htm
The club that took over a town and also had broken into a bike race is still around. The Boozefighters were the real life basis for The Wild One.
It was 1946 when an individual named Willie Forkner crashed through a fence during a race in El Cajon, California and joined in the fun. The club he was in did not find it funny so they kicked him out.
Well Willie took it in stride and went about finding other outcast veterans who found life back in the States overwhelmingly dull. He didn't have to look long or far. Fatboy Nelson, Dink Burns, George Menker and more than a few others were ready for a change in some of the formalities of the clubs at the time.
It is said that the club was actually formed at the All American Bar, in the blue-collar town of South Gate in Los Angeles. A fitting name for a group that consisted of many Veterans of the great War, they had been there, done that so to speak and the quiet life just wasn't in them..
So "Wino" Willie Forkner joined these men together and formed "The Boozefighters" (BFMC). http://www.boozefighters.com/
Outlaw Biker News covers the ongoing battles between bikers, and bikers and law enforcement.
The Hell's Angels actually did a documentary about themselves
Here're some famous great photographs taken by the great gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson. Notice the greatest one of them, his self portrait after his great beating by Hells Angels.
When you're a biker, you're a part of a large community with its own specialized vocabulary. If you're new to motorcycling, it may be difficult to understand everything said. If you run across a biker term you do not know just remember to check the Total Motorcycle Bikers Dictionary!
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/dictionary/motorcycle-dictionary-index.htm
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/dictionary/motorcycle-dictionary-index.htm
Here are the top 20 terms
The man who started the custom bike craze is still around
Not all bikers are 1%ers- there are even clubs for cops- like The American Knights. http://akmc.netfirms.com/
BEST SITE OF THE DAY:
The opening of EASY RIDER may be the best movie opening ever.
Even if Peter Fonda's bike screamed pu--y!