In The Wind

Slowly but surely, things are getting better—or so we’d like to believe.

The unfortunate truth is the recession has sent an alarming number of families into financial distress for the first time. Unemployment remains high. Home foreclosures continue. The Portland Police Bureau respond to what seems like an ever increasing number of calls involving people struggling with mental health crisis, including suicides.  Visits to food banks have reached record levels. The increasing demand for services—and diminishing state and local resources—is straining the community safety net for people in need.

I don’t have answers to the economic issues.  But undeniably, the sensation of air molecules colliding with one’s face is refreshingly life-affirming.  To be in the wind: Free. Untethered. Sans obligations, financial, agendas, appointments, offices, annoyances.  Life’s problems just don’t seem as bad…

In part, it’s the reason for the tag line of this blog “Whatever it is… it’s better in the wind” which I created back in July 2007.  The thinking was all a person needs is a few bucks for a used bike, $20 bucks for some fuel, a couple t-shirts, some free time, and a couple like-minded friends to enjoy the sensation. If you can’t scrape that together, then at least roll down the windows on the SUV, and enjoy a few moments of well-deserved Wind.

And speaking of wind in the face… a couple years ago I blogged (HERE) about Scott G. Toepfer — an emerging documentary photographer with a love of motorcycles and adventure.  His posse set out across the Western U.S., to experience the spaces between here and there, and to see what becomes of them on the road.

It turns out that Mr. Toepfer finally aggregated the content he captured from their rides over the last two years and release the short film (HERE – 17 min) which tells the story of their adventures.  It’s certainly worth a watch and may even be an inspiration for getting out in the wind!

Photo courtesy of Scott Toepfer.

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Thank You Steve Jobs

Apple II Ad

Steve Jobs has passed away and what we’ll find over the next couple of weeks will be planned storylines about the life of Apple’s co-founder and his time in Oregon attending Reed College.

I had an article ready to post about the letdown of the iPhone 4S launch.  Given all the hyperbolic speculation and secrecy leading up to the launch I’m not sure expectations could have ever been met, but it all just feels off. Like way off today.

I did a blog post HERE last year about Steve riding on a BMW, nostalgia and my early Apple experiences.  I have very clear recollection of Apple when living in North Dakota attending college.   For awhile I worked part-time at Team Electronics (Store #30) in Bismarck.  This was circa 1977 and I distinctly remember when the first Apple II computer showed up at the store.  In college we were learning how to write BASIC programs for an Intel 4004 CPU (4-bit).  No one knew what to do with the Apple II (8-bit), but soon enough we figured out how to spent hours playing a Star-trek game (loaded by cassette tape).

Whether you love or hate Apple–or fall somewhere in between–it’s hard not to acknowledge that Steve Jobs was a remarkable and brilliant man. He’s also a man who we don’t really know a lot about in his personal life. But he’s also a man who changed a lot of lives.  Mine included and I wanted to thank him for that today.

Wozniak and Jobs in the early days

Steve Jobs clearly loved what he did and I’ve returned several times to his 2005 Stanford commencement speech, where he said:

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma–which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

I didn’t really know what my reaction would be until the moment actually came.  I’m profoundly sad today on the news of his passing.  Steve’s remarkable ability to touch every person on the planet started in Minneapolis and for me it started in 1977.  My heart goes out to his family and many friends.

Photo courtesy of Apple.

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It’s About Being In The Wind

A Motorcycle Film By Scott G. Toepfer

Sound familiar?  It’s a modified version of the above tag line, but that’s not the point.

It’s about a Portland transplant living in L.A.

Scott G. Toepfer, is an emerging editorial and documentary photographer with a love of motorcycles and adventure.  His posse is setting out across the Western U.S., to re-imagine the stories of previous generations, to experience the spaces between here and there, and to see what becomes of them on the road.  No escort vehicles.  Basically a couple $20 bills and a change of t-shirts.  More importantly he plans to photograph the entire process and its through his Red Letter Images company where he intends to release a documentary (still-photo) film that tells the story of their adventures.

Scott describes the documentary as:

“This project is a “visionary journey.” There is something very visceral to the riding of a motorcycle for long distances.  You are naked to the elements, forced to listen only to your own thoughts as the engine becomes white with the background.  The road is beneath you and you are one with the world that surrounds you.  The elements in your face remove you from your daily comforts, and you become alone within the group. The most important reflections in your life can happen here, and at the end of the day it is the group that will bring us to face the next”.

Most of us are on that “gainfully” employed treadmill — motoring along the track.  But, it’s one that discourages a seemingly outlandish and extremely open-ended adventure across this country.   It’s refreshing to know that there are people who can capture and share the essence of how “it’s better in the wind” and this is one film I’m looking forward to its release!

UPDATE: October 1, 2012 – Mr. Toepfer finally aggregated the content he captured from their rides over the last two years and release the short film (HERE – 17 min).

Poster photo courtesy of Scott G. Toepfer.

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Jobs, Motorcycles And Nostalgia

Steve Jobs Riding a 1966 BMW (Taken in 1982)

The word “nostalgia” is a compound from ancient Greek consisting of nóstos (”returning home”) and álgos (”ache”). Etymologies don’t get much more interesting than that if you’re into that sort of thing.

In the late 1600’s a Swiss doctor identified nostalgia as a medical disease — a kind of hypochondria of the heart. And for the next couple of centuries people went on suffering the disease without a treatment.  Then a professor of Slavic languages at Harvard named Svetlana Boym spent years studying various manifestations of nostalgia, and determined that there were two distinct types of the sensation. One she called “reflective nostalgia”, which consisted of longing for the past without denying the present. The second type she called “restorative nostalgia”, which involves inventing a tradition to make the past more coherent.

Apple II Advertisement

Nostalgia came to mind when watching a television show a couple weeks back called “Welcome to Macintosh” on Apple history.  The reflective kind, to be precise.  One enlightening part of the documentary was how the director happened across an old Apple II computer — on the internet up for bid. It wasn’t just any Apple II, but the fifth unit (S/N #5) to roll off the manufacturing line in the late 1970s.

This led the director of the film to the Twin Cities and to Wayne Wenzlaff.  Wenzlaff has long been credited with giving the still-emerging Apple its first big break. As the film puts it, “It all started in Minnesota.”  The documentary recapped how Wenzlaff picked up the film director at the Twin Cities airport and whisked him off to his Apple-related treasure trove, which included the Apple II.  Complete with an Apple-imprinted leather case from 1977 and given to Wenzlaff by none other than Mike Markkula, Apple’s original investor.  It turns out that Wenzlaff was a buyer for the since shuttered Minnesota-based Team Electronics chain of stores.   Team Electronics went on to become Apple’s first big foothold in the consumer-retail market. In addition, Wenzlaff helped Apple win its first big education-market deal, in Minnesota.

Souvenir Team Electronics Pocket Knife (circa:1977)

It’s funny.  I can’t remember what I had for lunch last Thursday, but for some reason I have a rather clear recollection of my Apple experience when living in North Dakota (“NoDak”) attending college.   For awhile I worked part-time at Team Electronics (Store #30) in Bismarck.  This was circa 1977 and I distinctly remember when the first Apple II computer showed up at the store.  No one knew what to do with it, but soon enough we figured out how to spent hours playing a Star-trek game (loaded by cassette tape).

Apple II StarTrek Screen Shot

In fact, a good buddy of mine (who also worked at Team and was partly responsible in getting me a job there) we’re talking about this documentary and he told the story of his attendance at a mini-electronics show in Minneapolis just weeks before the Apple II’s arrived in the stores.  Before the opening of the show, there was a meeting of all store reps and Team Central staff where the Apple II was going to be unveiled.   He recalled this tall guy with hair in a pony tail wearing an uncomfortable suit 10′ away — none other than a nervous Steve Jobs!   It was ground zero for the introduction of the Apple II to the Team Electronics Franchise.

The past can’t be fully recaptured, and often it never really was the way you recall it. But, this documentary delivers some laughs and I recommend it to anyone with even a vague interest in Apple.  The 1.5 hour film can viewed online HERE.  At the 12:15 minute mark is where the Wenzlaff/Team dialogue starts.  There is also a great article from the October 1982 edition of National Geographic on Silicon Valley and Jobs HERE.

Photo’s courtesy of Charles O’Rear and Apple. Pocket knife is from my tool box!

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Harley-Davidson’s Avatar

Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) -- Avatar

We’re always being told how moviegoers set new revenue records during the holiday.

Last weekend not only did the movie industry set the largest single weekend at the box office with three movies topping over $50M each, the blockbuster film from James Cameron, ‘Avatar’ set a new 10 day gross total of $212.7M.  Maybe that doesn’t mean anything to you, but how about the fact that the movie has more than 400,000 fans on Facebook?

And though no motorcycles were featured in the movie Harley-Davidson managed to secure a primo clothing promotion from Sam Worthington’s character (Jake Sully) who established an “outlaw” biker image in wearing a H-D logo laden t-shirt in a bar.  More than just a product placement it instantly helped create a rebellious tough guy tone with the audience.  To be candid, I’m not sure I would associate a biker bad boy image with a $35 t-shirt, but like I said it’s a movie.  More important it represents a rare opportunity for Harley-Davidson—a window if you will of opportunity—to be part of something successful and catch some PR/marketing buzz!

Sam Worthington is well known for movie parts with ties to motorcycles.  In Terminator Salvation he played a terminator with amnesia that had motorcycle killing machines based on Ducati’s Hypermotard.  Footage is featured on Ducati’s website, showing the motorcycle terminators being put through their paces during filming.

I’m a fan of James Cameron who is famous for writing and directing successful movies such as Terminator, Aliens and Titanic.  However, as people dropped $15 of their hourly income to absorb the 3D cinematography in ‘Avatar’ — I can’t help but think he’ll be remembered more for being an arrogant ass and reinforcing I’m “privileged” and above the fray.  TMZ posted a video of an alleged “fan” seeking Mr. Cameron’s autograph on an ‘Avatar‘ poster at LAX.  The man is snubbed, threatened and called an ass by the famous and privileged director.  Nice.  Way to put your fans first.

Trying to smooth over the situation musical artist John Mayer wrote a nearly 1,000-word essay on his blog standing up for Mr. Cameron’s a’tude and basically stating it’s okay to be above the fray and crap on the hoi polloi or just ignore the teeming masses… Homey don’t play that no more John.  Never having met the man who ask for Mr. Cameron’s signature, John Mayer quickly assumed he was an e-bay whore.  Now isn’t that fascinating.  Cool that you have an opinion, but talk about the pot calling the kettle black…did you ever stop to think that selling yourself out to corporations and shilling products works for more than just a musician?  Hypothetically even if the guy was going to sell it on e-bay.  So what?  Step down from your mega-million-$$ ivory towers and mix with the regular people.  How much do you think H-D paid Cameron to use that t-shirt?!

Celebrities and musicians are beholden to their audience, the public, and the consumers.  And despite the undeniable pain of the global recession we have been willing to plunk down hard earned $$ to keep you famous for another fifteen minutes!   We’ll forgive the mistake… make apologies and continue to try and get it right in the future.  If not, then we all live with brand new rules because it’s an era of immediacy and 24 hour news cycles.  You’re now in the pit with your customers and if you want to escape the groupies then you’ll have to live in a bathroom with the lights out!

Photo courtesy of Fox.

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BRMC

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC for short) is an American alternative rock band from San Francisco.  They formed in 1998 and took the name from Marlon Brando’s motorcycle gang in the 1953 film, The Wild One.  In the film the gang was referred to Black Rebels MC.

But, I smell a legal battle because Marlon Brando’s estate signed off on a new project with Triumph Motorcycles to debut Brando-related apparel at the company’s dealerships. As you may recall Brando played a tough biker gang leader Johnny Strabler and rode a 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T.  The Triumph Legends Line will offer replica leather jackets inspired by the movie.  The replica includes key features of Brando’s original jacket right down to the embroidered ‘Johnny‘ name tag and the BRMC (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) distressed print on the back of the jacket. They are also developing Brando print men’s and ladies’ T-shirts.

All of this will likely add to the “what-to-wear” debate and whether you’ll get beat down for imitating or wearing so-called “colors” of a motorcycle club (i.e. SOA: Son’s of Anarchy or BRMC).  Maybe you’re indifferent.   If so you wreak more Brando than you think.  He was famous in the movie for being outright contemptuous for contemporary middle-class society.  Asked what he was rebelling against and his response was “What have you got?”

Photo courtesy of Triumph

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Military Motorcyclists Reality Check

Opening scene of Semper Ride

I’ve blogged previously about the folks in the armed forces, the increased number of motorcycle accidents and dealer responsibility.  The military draws many parallels with motorcycling and with overtly male-dominated advertising the stats are very clear.

Military personnel have a higher fatality rate than the civilian population which is too high!  In fact, Yamaha launched and I commend them for doing so, an ad campaign specifically targeted to members of the military due to the increased number of riding accidents.  And let us not forget that the amount of female military personnel on active duty has increased from a 1.4% in 1970 to over 15% to today.  Although women make up only 10% of all riders they represent about 25% of new motorcycle purchases.

In a broad effort to promote more responsible riding the U.S. Marines have produced Semper Ride, a film and web site designed to catch the attention of young soldiers.  The seven minute movie combines big-action and a message on riding safety from stars such as Jason Britton, Keith Code, Jeremy McGrath and James Stewart.  The movie from One Eyed Bird Entertainment, uses a mix of educational and rider-to-rider advice from experts in freestyle motocross, racing and stunt riding.

The movie is very effective in conveying the message of riding responsibly, no matter what your experience level.  After watching it I felt compelled to purchase a dirt bike and hit Sand Lake!

Photo courtesy of U.S. Marines.

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Speed Versus Steed

Harley-Davidson announced earlier this year that they were looking for female film makers who could capture the sense of empowerment, freedom, and adventure that is inherent when women get behind the handle bars of a Harley in a short film. The winning film maker would win: $5000 cash, a hi-definition video camera, a Harley-Davidson leather jacket, and a Los Angeles premiere party for her film.

Victoria Sampson’s (Need for Speed) was the grand prize film contest winner.  Harley rolled out the orange and black carpet for the gala event in L.A.  You can view her short film HERE on Facebook.  Melissa Kosar and Marta Masferrer each were selected as First Prize winners.  Congrats to all!

Victoria’s film is a well crafted short, but I can’t address whether it inspires women to get behind the handlebars of their very own motorcycle.

 

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Burn It

Burn After Reading

Scored tickets to the Northwest premier of “Burn After Reading” last night. 

It’s a new Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men, Intolerable Cruelty, LadyKillers, The Big Lebowski, Fargo) movie. 

It’s a black comedy film set to release September 12th and stars John Malkovich, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt.  The odd-ball plot focuses on the world of the CIA, physical fitness in Washington, D.C., and internet dating. 

After the film dud’s of Intolerable Cruelty and LadyKillers, the brothers really needed a big movie to get back on track and No Country for Old Men did exactly that!   However, this new film has proved to everyone that not only do they still have what it takes – they are better than ever!

So what’s the movie got to do with motorcycles?  Not much except for the peripheral fact that only 11 days after his New Jersey motorcycle accident last year, Clooney was on the set filming ‘Burn After Reading‘ in Brooklyn Heights.  He was driving his Harley motorcycle in Weehawken with friend Sarah Larson and collided with a “cager”. Clooney suffered a hairline fracture of a rib and some scrapes, and Larson suffered a broken foot. Ouch!

Clooney didn’t come out of this accident a “changed man” like others who began calls for new helmet laws or changes to existing laws, but officials did suspend 27 workers at Palisades Medical Center for one month without pay for allegedly peeking at Clooney’s files and allegedly leaking his medical information to the press.

I’m a “doggedly faithful” Lebowski fan and this new movie is great.  I highly recommend it…

Film poster photo courtsey of web site.

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Another Biker 3-B Movie

Just when you thought Hollywood was done with questionable biker movies (Ghost Rider) along comes an oily jeans, bandana’s pulled real low over foreheads, tattooed up bad boyz, full of angst looking to intimidate or harass anyone within ear shot type film.  It’s unlikely this one will change the street level viewpoint of outlaw biker “clubs” being solid, totally innocent, citizen and humanitarian’s of the world.  Rather it’s a mash-up of Kill Bill charters a motorcycle club as a “beat down” form of entertainment?

The encounters in “Hell Ride” are like a sporting event from the Gladiator.  Billed as a throwback to the Sergio Leone “spaghetti western” day with motorcycle revenge and retribution they leave out the fact that there might be some gore since Quentin Tarantino produced the film.  Larry Bishop wrote and directed the story about this bunch of old guys in need of the “3-B’s” (bikes, babes, beer) riding around and along the way they shoot and knife a bunch of people.  The only thing missing is Dylan’s recording of “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”!  You can preview the movie HERE.

Lending star power credit as a real biker movie, Easy Rider legend Dennis “Scratch” Hopper stars as a rival member of the satanic biker gang.  I guess he took a break from the “Dreams Don’t Retire” advertisements.  Either that or his investment advice from Ameriprise Financial has him working for “scraps” as 60 is the new 35, right?!

I do like Michael Madsen who starred in “Reservoir Dogs” and that was a well written movie.  Hell Ride was released on the opening day of the Olympics and reviews suggests a very quick ship to DVD (without going Blu-Ray!).

With all the issues and tensions in the U.S. on outlaw biker “clubs” it’s clear that Hollywood subscribes to the idea that “fiction is often the best fact”.

Film poster courtesy Third Rail.

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