Jeff Decker: September 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

I wasn't invited... but I was there.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I am a lot like you...

John Leland & his lecture on "the history of hip" completely miss the relevance of the So. Cal cultural impact.

So. Cal is vast, angry, multicultural, musical, artistically rich & car/bike-centric.

San Francisco is an east coast city on the west coast & Oakland is a midwest city in Cali.

LA & the surrounding area is a unique beast.

In 1927 Louis Goebal opened Jungleland in Thousand Oaks, California, right on the LA/Ventura Co. line.

The pictures in the previous post are of me & my cousins at Jungleland in January of 1969, when I was 2 1/2 years old. It closed in October of that same year.

I delivered the "News Chronicle" to Mr. Goebels front porch & used his overgrown "Hollywood Zoo" as my own personal playground. It was history to me, the fact that Tarzan & Robinhood were filmed there or Jane Mansfield's kid got his arm chewed by a lion, meant nothing me.

It was ours, our turf, hang out, a free skate park.

The Z-Boyz tagged the bowls we skated, perfectly smooth vast undulating tracks of cement, where alligators, sea lions & ducks once ruled.

While surfing may have had a Zen effect on those living in Hawaii or No. Cal, it was mean & territorial in So Cal.

Car Culture & Vatos, Surfing & Skating, Punk Rock & Hollywood, all left a scar on my personality, that makes me relate immediately with a Jason or a Cole.

Is it real or unique, better or special, more clever or neat than any other growing up experience? I think not, but it is mine & when watered down & commercialized by those reminiscing about a past that is not their own for the sake of selling a clothing line, it is surreal & brings out that angry, territorial tendency ingrained in me, since my youth.

Old Man take a look at my life

"Stay off that knee" said Dr. MaGee

At home recovering.

Will I do it again, I tell you now, "never", in a month, "perhaps", by next year... I'll sign up.

I participated in an event that was a character builder at the very least.

The milage was boring in comparison to the crucible of personalities brewing in the late night hours.

During the day magnetos & hopes were fried.

The night, tantrums & wrenches thrown.

Riders with perfect scores lied & cheated as people with only a few hundred miles clocked proved to be inspiring to all.

Some where flown home under doctor's orders & others let their own poor sportsmanship pay for their flight.

The very same act was performed with perfect nuance by some & total hypocrisy by others.

I'm sure I drove people to near murder with my personality, but I also gained life long friends & fiends.

Among the newly beloved, and only at the very moment I publish this post will I remember the names I neglect, are;

Moe, Steve, Sean, Goose, Eric, Dale, "Bill's daughters", The Jersey Devil, Doug, Dave, Joe, The Motormaids &...

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Good times & bad times

On our day off we had about an hour to relax by the Silver Mullet after our ninth magneto rebuild.

We also arrived just seconds after Matt Olsen went down, & took him to hospital, he is a champ & with lots of cuts, a broken nose & arm is my hero.

Goose has been taking tons of pictures, checkout his site at nogooders.com

Your humble narrator

Not quite last place but close.

This allows a freedom to share events as they are.

The riding is a constant monitoring of advance & retard, oil drip & worry that I may destroy a original paint machine worth more than I am.

Blew my knee out on day two, but pulled off a 280 & 300 mile day back to back... brutal.

As I limp with my shot knee, I idolize the Jersey Devil with one leg who has twisted two rods & made a third from a tractor store, an over night complete motor rebuild.

I have seen heroes in one night work magic that professions charge us thousands & take months to do...

I will put coherent thoughts together later, but for over two weeks I have been living on sloppy joes & 2 hours of sleep, Not at my prime.