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.

like the old blog days. scanned some photos.... scanner works.

"A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours" - The Smiths

I try not to be doom and gloom. But i've been guilty of it, the following short story is about such a time.

   It was in Australia, during the filming of the  TENT CITY trip, we camped out most every night, random places, parks, peoples backyards, the skatepark, rarely at a legal camping spot. So after one of the sessions we asked some skaters----- "hey where is a good place to camp?"

 - "eeeehhhhhhh fuck mate" "dunno"
--"anywhere where people will just leave us alone"
-"ehhhhh like crap, ehhh uhhh well theres a dump down the way"
--"like for trash?"
-"ehhhh yeah we drink down there sometimes ehh"

 so we regroup, discuss our failed attempt at getting solid camping info. But we're all wiped out from skating, and we want to set up our tents, get a few slabs of beer, unwind and talk shit. So we fold, and drive down to the dump. We kind of find a spot where the dirt and grass had already grown over the trash. We limp and shuffle out of the van and grab our shit and start to chicken head around for good spot to lay our tents. Far from snoring, far from sleepless shuffling, you got to get the right spot..... most of all a flat spot! So I moved  my tent twice, unsettled each time, then i finally just said screw it and put it right near the van and the road because it was flat.
  An orchestra of zippers going up in down, the sound of piss on a tree, and so much nylon sleeping bag swishing noise, a burp, a fart, a giggle, then possibly some snoring. I laid there often thinking about the day, images spinning through my head. It takes me a while to fall asleep, always. A few hours later I'm half asleep and i hear car wheels on the gravel road, but I'm still kinda sleeping, then i hear a car door open, some laughing, a beer bottle fall to the ground, then a fast running noise through the grass around us......thena brief pause, every thing was silent for a half second....... well then everything around me caved in, like a car crash. The car crash was a mans ass coming down hard on top of my tent, landing directly on my face, smashing my big german irish nose. Oh shit!!!
I forgot to mention, right before the silence the guy about to jump yelled "GET FUCKED YA CUNTS" So Im lying there totally confused and shook. And i went fucking dark!-- Why me?
We need to find these guys and kill them, were they skaters? who does that? is this attack on america? is this gang related?........slight embellishment at the end there. But no shit at that moment i was ready to leave the trip early pack my shit and go. My nose killing me, my tent all janky, but most of all my pride was dinged and dented.
    I ended up falling asleep for a couple hours and then awoke to the sunshine, and dewy grass, and low chatter of people waking up. " you alright max?" yeah all good. And we packed for another day. I looked around and the dump was kinda of at beautiful spot, and my friends were all there and guess what,,,,, we made it to live another day.
   But when your in the middle of shit, it's easy to let it get you and take you down and not think of the next day, and the sunshine and your friends. SO in the middle of this wild, frightening time we are in at the moment, I'm trying not to go dark.  This is real. Our president did not take it seriously, because he's business man not a leader. Let's work together and be smart about this.

Some stuff from the last few days::

i cut the tunnel out and cleaned it and found 100 pin holes...... but all in all its a good hummer tank so I'm making some mods and fixing it.

pen15 club

that has to be 5 miles more of gas

to bee continued 

going to retire this one and put it on the wall, so sick of people dragging finger across it

in case it get froggy

March 17. Bay Area " shelter in place" corona virus day

thanks for stopping by, I've noticed people are following suit and putting energy into these blogs again. happy to see that. It puts energy back into individuals hands, and puts less into the big cespoul of crap. I believe its a better forum for an individual. we'll see

this light

   this love

this temple



this lady




this hummer tank getting reworked

kick flip on vert

  the first person i saw ever do a kick flip on a vert ramp was mic-e reyes...... it was about halfway
up the ramp. That was the late 80's maybe almost 90. It was a typical friday night session at the widow maker ramp, one that jake had let a handful of the SF street skaters come for the session. Lot's of amping during those sessions. Mostly grinds, ollie, disasters, some backside airs. I don't think Mic-e rolled into the ramp to get to skate, but from time to time Jake would turn a blind eye.  He hopped one the ramp, did a few turns and then BAM did a quick kickflip halfway up, then took a seat.
  I was really tripping on it, for weeks I thought WHAT IF? you cold do that at the top, or even out.
So i tried it every so often, sometimes it would flip so perfect and be on my feet but I'd kick it away thinking it was too good to be true. Then I had heard rumors of others trying it and i really wanted to stick it. When you haven't seen something done, you put this mystique around it, its less tangible, but seeing mic-e do that one halfway up kinda made more real, that thought lingering in my subconscious.
  I'm not saying I was the first to do it, but one of the early few. I always thought the division between street and very should be more grey. I guess more like they are in modern times.

So here's one years after those ones when i was a little more comfortable with the flip. Over the channel and into the woods. Gabe took the photo and it was still film, Im sure there was a pile
of 400 speed black and white film of bails laying next to his camera bag.

a photo michael schmidt took long ago. cruising down from twin peaks

this ones the shit and contemporary with a timeless sound

for all the ones that are "some-timey"

Not on every sunday xlch

i really had no idea how much fun the XLCH is.
64x69x69
i also like the lunchbox square oil bag..... I'd never change it for the more popular
earlier one. Its funny how things trend, especially when the esthetics aren't more appealing.
  Regardless, I've known Toby and Sara for a long time now, somehow we've all ended up with
these early sportsters.

2012 Sioux City for The El Forastero 50th

would love to have a few more of these conversations with Tom. Little Jer in the background
working on Toms pan.

i like this one