backyard blam: Let's time travel

Since we last spoke I was running the Chrome Portland HUB doing all the things that went along with it and then some. While I was thrilled to be working with Chrome I wasn't so pumped on retail. I know there are people out there who get fired up about sales and inventory, but I am not one of them. I love to throw parties and races, so I used that platform to do just that. In my time as the HUB manager I threw the Grand Opening party, a motorcycle show, a photography show, a mobile tattoo studio, and a super sweet race, among other parties here and there. What race, you ask? This one:

Go ahead, give it a watch. I'll wait.

We all knew that sitting at a desk wasn't for me. I needed to be free to do what it is I do; spread hi5s like they were the herp... but in a good way, not the open sore way. Chrome sent Palmer and me out onto the road for 4 months to explore America's top cycling cities in a 1976 GMC RV. The idea was to ride with the locals, party, get tattooed, and live to tell the tale of the Wrenched Nation Tour. True story: I got my drivers license a month before I left. How hard could it be? I see idiots driving all of the time. I knew in my heart I too could be an idiot.

Photo by: Brenton Salo

A lot can happen in 4 months and it did. I came back with the kind of stories that one can only get by putting some serious time and miles on the road. Also, my hair was longer so that was nice. I learned that a shower and toilet are a luxury and not to be taken for granted. After that tour was in the books, Chrome decided the road suited me just fine. I found myself out in it, doing pretty much what I did for Backyard Blam except in different cities and for Chrome. I built and ran Orange 20, a pop up HUB in Los Angeles. I threw a photography show with Ricky Powell in New York. I built a whiskey den in the Chrome van, Vanna Black, for the 5th anniversary of The One Motorcycle Show, and of course I did what I do best and threw a sweet race or two.

Photo by: Kit Engwall

Chrome keeps me super busy and I recently returned from the Mobile Factory Tour where I made our Forged Rubber shoes which was fun. I get to write about all my adventures, but often it's in the "Chrome voice" and for a company so my personal thoughts aren't always included. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining it just felt like something was missing. That something was this, you, us, the BLAM. The BLAM was never about money or a product, it was about the party. It was about that all inclusive one-off race. It was about funk, and babes, and bike shop stuff, and my pals who kept me awesome. It's about posting videos and supporting my friends who support me.