10 am pst Monday 12-18-2023 some xmas stuff

 *stopaskingquestions

New 47 knuckle I built. Unaware I had grease all over my face.

 

Jason Webber and hi sknuckle buld from overa dcade ago. very clean with great details. I did the paint

 

there will be a day I wont be able to do this, or at least in this human form, I'm aware of that

 Frisco's a mighty long way

If you can afford to fly
But it might as well be the moon, Lord
When you're as broke as I

Here I sit with my head in my hands
Watchin' the trains roll by
Lord, the helpin' hand mission man warned me
That the nights here got cold

When you're cold there's nothin'
As welcome as sunshine
When you're dry there's nothin'
As welcome as rain

When you're alone there's nothin'
As slow as passin' time
When you're afoot, Lord
There's nothin' as fast as a train

Ol' Frisco's a mighty rich city
Now that ain't no lie
They have some buildings
That reach nearly a mile in the sky

Everyone's so busy
They can't tell me the reason why
Here's a world full of people
So damn many people alone

When you're alone
Life just don't seem worth livin'
While you're alive
Ya gotta learn to live with the pain

You've been gone for so long
There's no one left for forgivin'
You find yourself searchin' your mind
For the links to the chain

When you're cold there's nothin'
As welcome as sunshine
When you're dry there's nothin'
As welcome as rain

When you're alone there's nothin'
As slow as passin' time
When you're afoot, Lord
There's nothin' as fast as a train

Charles Bukowski - The Genius of the Crowd

this line right here......

"Beware those who seek constant crowds, for they are nothing alone."

-------- happy new year 2023 ----------

work in progress

amsterdam 1994 ??ollie to fakie
 

The Oakland Minute #9 2-27-2022

 photo by dylan 35mm

good things

1941 i built for Dan

the bad ass little foster pup. miss this guy

60's G&S

I've said it before, but i'm gonna try to water this blog tree more this year.

prob 20yrs ago now i found a used leica, the thing is nice, but i destroy everything and figured i ruin it. But what's the point of having the damn thing if it just sits locked. So over the last year I've been shooting more. I will share, they ain't but they mine. Just candid around the shop and what not. 

  Going to try to capture more this year along with some super8 stuff.

INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL--------thank you

 

It's about to go down....

LET ME JUST SAY THANK YOU NOW. CAPITALISM IS ROUGH THESE DAYS. IT'S HARD TO BE  PART OF THE CHOPPER CASH GRAB THAT IS HAPPENING. IAN MACKAYE STILL ANSWERS THE PHONE AT DISCHORD... I STILL PACK ALL THIS STUFF, COME UP WITH IT AND HAVE THE LOCAL PUNKERS PRINT IT, THEN DO MY NOTES BOX IT UP AND GET IT TO YOU AS QUICK AS I CAN. SO I'M SAYING THANK YOU BECAUSE I KNOW YOU ALL UNDERSTAND WHERE I AM COMING FROM.

THNAKS, MAX 

 

OK lets do the holiday stuff tomorrow sunday evening dec.18 at 6pm my time. pacific standard. I will avoid mentioning it on the gram.

 

This is the story i wrote about my ride down to born free 13

I like to read, it's good to hear peoples stories. The picture one can paint with words. I've ridden an old chopper cross country, this was not that. But it was a beautiful time in my life and i wanted to try to put some of into words. The imagery is secondary.... It's really all i had because i was pretty wrapped up in the moment. This kind of spoken word deal won't be for everyone, i get it. Just thought I'd try it because it's been on my mind. We could all be the same, or we could be ourselves.... this is a piece of me, it comes from my heart. i spent 6 months building this bike for born free, as you know most bikes get trailered to the show, i get it. It's a show bike, but i really wanted to ride my show bike to the show. I kept that in mind the whole build. I got to do a few shakedown miles, then it was time to bounce. Its only a Little over 400 miles to the show, but that's far enough for things to go wrong, happy to tell you it was all smooth..... it felt really good.

many are called few are chosen

way to play. click the girl riding the spark plug to the right of the page 

 -------------------------------------------------------->

or CLICK THIS

let's do it guys. shirts and crew necks, monday dec. 13th! 2021 . sometime before noon.

USA MADE GOODS. 

THANK YOUI GUYS

 

HIGH NOON 69er

 GET IT HERE

--the green day house--

   Maybe i've told this story before. But this house is on the north side of ashby right before telegraph ave. The young men from greedy lived in it in the 90's so it was coined "the green day house" this was before the album -dookie- came out, or right around that time, because after that, and the success of that album their lives changed forever. The went from local pop punk gilman st heros, to full blown work wide pop stars, whether they wanted to or not, life as they knew hd to change.

  Mark Gozales was up here staying at the house skating, we'd drive around and listen to the smiths and look at girls and he's buy expensive socks and cigars. Mark is the best. I showed him this spot, more as a "wouldn't this be gnarly".... not thinking he's want to try it.  No run way, steep as fuck, and a huge kink to truck blocker at the end. In true GONZ fashion it was done before it started. A few awkward attempts, a couple slams, and before you know it, he's landed it. No wax, no filmer, no crew, just for the pure challenge. He was gassed that green day lived there and I feel like that had something to with his spark to pull it. The house is still there, the steps are so steep they've added a handrail. Just goes to show you, Mark is the king.

------Shirts for Sale-----

A little experiment to the loyal  blogosphere. Not posting on Insta unless i have to. Some of you have been with me here through all of this, I'm very grateful. CLICK HERE

. 

Old Super8 footage

June 24, 2020 nothing for sale today

   What a strange time in our world. A pandemic sweeping the nation and our world, accompanied by a piece of shit cop that kneeled on a mans neck for over 8 minutes and in the end,  ending that mans life. Both these things have been dividing  our country. Truthfully I've never seen it so divided. I've seen so many people show their asses, people i've always expected to be narrow minded, small, and straight up ignorant....... have floated to the top of the toilet bowl, I can see them and now they can be flushed.  You care more about a haircut or the beach being closed than a virus that could kill members of your family or the way we treat the black folks in our country. Tell me that "george floyd wasn't really a good man" or "blacks kill more blacks everyday than cops kill blacks" then tell me " cops kill more whites than blacks"........ without ever searching the population of whites to blacks, without ever thinking of a system that was designed to help keep the black race down.
   As a white man that moved to an all black neighborhood as a young man I was stopped by the cops from time to time, "are you lost" "do you need a ride home"...... No I'm good I live here. An odd look and they drove away. Now reverse that situation. I'm a black man in an all white neighborhood, the cops would pull up and I'd either end up in handcuffs, in the trunk, and/or  as we've been shown a pretty good chance i'd end up dead.
  I've seen evil in all men, all colors. The man the pointed a gun to my head was black, the bouncer the strangled me outside a bar was black, when I got jumped on the sidewalk of Oakland at 13 the boy was black........ And I think this, If there is no value put on your life, what have you got to lose? If no one really cares for you, why follow the rules. This country has shit on black folks for so long it had to pop. When i rode cross country there was no problems from people, any bar we walked in people wanted to talk, buy us beer, offer us a yard to crash in. I know that would never work that way for a group of black men. So that's my point.......it's just obvious. I hate most of all ignorance, and god damn there is a lot of it, from all races. But i'm the guy that believes if we just tried harder to even things out and try harder to help and show love the world wold become a much better place. I'm not seeking for some utopia, no one needs to take your guns, no one needs to tell a woman wether she can or can't have a baby. If you're a republican or democrat..... who fucking cares. But wake the fuck up, we have a child for a president, a bully who actually calls people names, the president of our country, calls people shitty names, racist names, shames them, and makes fun of people for being different.
 Well maybe I've done that too...... but guess what!!! I'm not president of the USA. Be a fucking example, bring us together.
    I've had a tough couple years, my bother, Jake, My Dog..... fuck it's been rough. Not comparing to others that have it so much worse, but for me, it's been a struggle. Gradually I'm losing friends too, either based on my opinions, politics, or just that they can't handle my emotions and that's a drag, it's odd that maybe they can't see how it's been and support rather than bounce off. I've always needed my space, some people are not prepared for that, I'm not a hand holder, but I'll tell you this, I'll be there for you when the chips are down, or you need an ear. Who you think I am, or what you've come up with that defines me is probably wrong. I've seen people want me to be "cooler", party harder,
or even like them more, and that's probably where it went wrong. I'm a shitty capitalist, but I'm not a fool, I see whats happening, it's all for sale, and really i don't want to be a big part of it. What have i ever asked you for?? VS. what have you shared with me? My problem is I've always put it all out there.....  and it got taken. If i'm too emotional, does that mean i just care more? I really don't know.
Maybe the sunset looks better to me, or the evening light in my shop, or Taj's smile. That's my fucking heart. I keep thinking of this line in a john Prine song it goes:
 "Wondering just exactly how 
how much more they think a man can take" 
  

1991

2003








a few years back

thank you BUD, you were one of the good ones.

--a couple photos of the knuckle i built for the born free give away years ago--

*HOPE EVERYONE IS STAYING SAFE AND HEALTHY OUT THERE. 

Built this bike for Born Free 6 give away. Finished and rode the 400 miles down, incredible trip with my buddy Dylan.  1946 motor in a panhead straight leg frame.

--Life on Wheels-- Book

I got this book  some years ago, but within the last decade. This woman Michelle Blomstedt made it with photos she had of her dad and his friends,(that's her as a baby on the back of the gen shovel) I believe its all northern calif. Lots of great images, about 7"x7" thought I'd share. These are scans from the copy I bought.