thanks to dice magazine for letting me be involved with the DICE issue 54-Q.

 thanks to jason webber for the kind words.
nice to have some of the
friends in the same issue.
Most of all i really liked writing
these words below.
I like writing in general and to write about
things you love is alright with me.


stay tight, keep it upright.  max schaaf spring 2014


     They were never gone, the fire always burned. Caves have been replaced by garages and we are the men still blowing on the embers to keep it lit. Some days are spent hunched over it, feeling it's warmth and trying to make it come alive, to burn bright. A good day is spent running and roaring with the blaze bright and fierce. Alone or in packs, showing the world the inferno you've built.

     My name is Max and I'm fortunate enough to hold this fire, and to be able to point it into a direction that completely defines freedom in my eyes. I've always leaned to vehicles of expression and the opportunity for individuality. Once I was lost, but then they found me. Through skateboarding and choppers you have the ability to pick the road you want to travel, get in line,fit in, join, rebel, be alone, the choice is yours. Do your thing. Push or coast, hopefully do both. For me it's so personal it almost seems foolish to try to explain, but the flip side is sometimes I want to shout it into the air and shake the world awake to see the loves that i've found. I've made a million mistakes, followed dead ends, been broken, but when the air is right, the road is smooth, and there is a warm breeze on your face as the sun set's between the grips of your handlebars, you realize that life is for living and now is the time. Write your own pages and live your own dreams. 4Q is what i've written, it's the action not the image and an ideal i've always thought worthy of putting my soul into.

 Years ago on an rainy Oakland day, i lurked at a magazine shop's motorcycle section. It was the typical bombardment of welded together cob webs, beer tap shifters, acorn swazi nut doo rag horse shit…. but then there was a small zine sized rag, it was unassuming and simple and it was issue #1. The magazine was called Dice and i bought and i will always thank them for being a breath if fresh air when everything else "chopper" was a turd.

get it.....

oh snap....  ok lets ride.

big kid bmx.

my Mom and I, her first bike photo shoot. stoked on this photo.

i like turk, and his bike, and the pics of him and his lady on it.

my Brazilian brother.... Paulo of Joe KIng helmets fame.. seen here with his new
clear helmet.

dan and his righteous machine

i don't know these people but they look really happy
and it didn't look to forced and corny.  made me want to
double up with my bubble butt.

Australia tour part 4. The end.

a simple game of 3's that turned into a $500 game. even the bartender got took.

natty lite.

shabby chic beens&dines. i just trade marked that &

paint work i did over on the gold coast

 but using kangaroo meat and vegemite instead of salsa.

2015 prius

when it rains at pizzey you cry inside and drink on the outside

so at the pizzey demo all these dudes showed up. they rode a long time to get there. they let me take a spin... good dudes. chopper-ing is alive over there.

man down

furry calamari with his tribe.

that's a wrap. sunset salad station. go to Oz if you ever get the chance.

thank you fourstar and hardcore. love you guys.

Oz part 3. matt the machine and his files.

there is lots of talk these days about real people versus fake people. if you really sit down and ponder that idea.... you come to a place of -well what does that even mean-? if it's about an activity does the length of time one has been involved in the said activity determine how real vs. fake you are? or is it the skill level of  the said activity.. hence the better you are the more REAL you are? or does it come down to your literal knowledge of the activity... like  how book smart you'd be on the subject. In all aspects i end up in pretty much the same place..... that NONE of that can judge realness or fakeness. It's all pretty silly actually. I mean,  if so for example if we're talking choppers none of us would want some kid on melrose that just pulled up on his new sporty and new metal flake helmet to start telling you about how cool panheads are and soon he's getting a panhead and he just loves period correct choppers and blah blah. It doesn't mean he's not feeling it, or is fake.... he's just too much of a geek to shut his mouth and keep those feelings inside. it's a respect thing.. to those involved and to the activity itself. just like the guy calling everyone a fake, it's cause he doesn't really have it in his heart, of course he had the right to tell melrose Manny to shut the fuck up because he sounds like an idiot but if he really loved what he did, he would remember the learning curve... when something first grabs you, you just kinda blow it a bit. Some don't cause they already learned not to from something they were already involved in, and once kooked it or saw enough others do it that they never wanted to be "that guy". If the judges and jury of real vs. fake are threatened by you, then once again their lack of true passion will let their insecurities pounce upon all that doesn't hold up to their idea of realness.  Have you ever skated with someone that is kinda all over the place, going for it, and just slamming and getting back up.... not technically -talented- is that guy a fake? No he's just trying really hard at something god did not give him the natural gift to do. I once saw that guy at a tampa pro vert contest make the top ten, he maybe did 3 tricks but was up there with tony hawk and bob burnquist and the likes because the judges and the crowd went off and his passion was addicting to watch. His name was pete the OX and he is as real as it gets, and his love for skating is pure. Yes, some vert jocks were bummed cause they got bumped out of the finals.... fuck those guys and in choppers music or art fuck those guys too. Fuck your need for credentials and social circle jerks and your need for conformity. Some of us aren't like you... you are simple minded and have only one thing you focus on in life so you have to protect like some schoolyard bully. Truthfully you're over it. Hang it up and let everyone breath. I take my own advice here... shit i see so much corny chopper crap and it's gross, but you have to bite your lip at times and let it pass. I often feel under intense scrutiny but i think that would lessen if i played the game a little better or if my chopularity was less. Everyone complaining about skaters getting into choppers, fuck what about dudes into choppers claiming skateboarding, taking pictures of themselves with skateboards or holding them...? wtf but then talking shit about them. Some people are just forever hang arounds, they never really got it, they just bought the slammed chevy, the skateboard, the chopper and they just have it... it's part of their identity. Those guys are trouble, big mouths calling everyone a fake cause they don't truly have it in their heart. This too shall pass. I've skated my ass off, i've ridden a chopper far a wide, and somedays i don't want to go near em. i don't feel it, so why force it. Seems people should be happier to have their health and family and friends, i'm happy to have somethings that i really enjoy doing. I still suck at guitar, i still have piss poor spelling, and my shop is a total mess but why fight it. Life is too short. Do you want to be remembered as the dude that just called everyone out, and was more hardcore, OG, here first... or someone that was "real" and passionate. 

So in all this at he end of this rant... my point is Matt Darwin is very REAL. He is unique and passionate and an individual. He lives out in the middle of butt fuck Australia and lives his own way. I had the pleasure of meeting him - in person- and he was really inspiring. We went for a little ride, i slept with his dog, i saw god, and he asked me about all the chopper bobs. Matt, Thank you. He's starting something really cool.. i don't have the facebook but he can be found here THE MACHINE FILES. 

the ozone is gone.

kitchen in garage or garage in kitchen

what makes us tick

a man, his land, solar panels, and a pond.

boat anchors

gassing up for getting down

he's going backwards in this photo and headed for a giant butt plug gently protruding out of a kangaroo's mouth.

OZ part two.....

you see that lil kangaroo  by that thingy way over there? the bus was not busted. rules no greasy food, no smoking, no partying... all rules were ignored with in about 12 hours.

 Ck1 with a slab of VB for the boys

there are good people peppered all over this world. these seemed to be some of them. thanks for the book and conversation.

"skate you cunt".
"my shoulder is fucked up"
"skate you bloody cunt"
"i can't man, i'm fucked up"
"skate you cunt, want a swig of rum?"
"sure, but i can't skate right now"
"get fucked, look at my belly tattoos, draw something on me you cunt!"

-the italian one- Feds. a mood maker, and boom stick shaker. truk that world.

this looks so -poser of the month-, but it was actually quite nuts.

australia trip intermission.... so you can't keep everything and i'm what the jealous or johnny come lately type might call a hoarder, so i need some money and less stuff so i put some boards i've been saving on Ebay.

a couple examples....
blurry photos no xtra charge.

here is a link to one SELL YOUR LIFE