Emmett Crooms, nothing at Sheep Hills, 1999, I think.
In 2000, after 5 years of riding on my own nearly every day, but being away from the BMX business, I bought a Hi-8 editiing system, and made a super low budget, fast paced, bike video. I had been going to contests, and shooting random "lurktographer" footage, as well as going down to Sheep Hills once in a while. The idea was to make a practice video out of footage I had shot over the past few years, plus a bit from 1991. Then get a bunch of the hot young riders of the day to want to go out and shoot some new footage for a much better video, to get back into the game.
Chris Duncan, one handed tailwhip at a Core Tour event in Huntington Beach, 2000, I think.
That idea didn't work. Just before Christmas, 2000, my driver's license got suspended, which turned out to be a clerical error at the DMV. But since I was a taxi driver who had just gone Christmas shopping, that left me broke and unable to earn money. No driver's license, notaxi driving, no income. Plans screeched to a halt, and I wound up working a sketchy telemarketing job for a while. I edited this video, Animals, in 2001, and it sold about 10 VHS copies. Most of those I sold to to A-1 Bike Shop in Westminster, the old POW House local shop. I handed a few copies out. The follow-up video never got made, and I wound up homeless for a while, and finally got my license, permit, and got back into taxi driving on Labor Day weekend 2003. The taxi industry was going down the tubes, and so was my life. So my return to making BMX videos failed.
Alex Leech, wallride off the stage at Huntington Beach High, 1991.
In 2008, fate forced me out of Southern California, and to North Carolina, where my family wound up living after I moved out. I grew up in Ohio and Idaho, so I had no connection to NC, except my parents and sister's family. What little I owned then was in a tiny, 5 foot by 5 foot storage unit. I lost everything, including all my BMX master tapes, 18 years worth of raw footage, my bike (Dyno race bike), my whole BMX magazine collection going back to 1982, (including complete collection of FREESTYLIN' magazines), and all my videos and DVD's. I went into a deep depression as soon as I landed in NC, which was November 2008, as the economy was collapsing. Bad time to find a job anywhere.
The Animals video was totally lost, until Alex Leech posted a couple of stills from it a year or so ago. Somehow, one of the few copies wound up on BMX Movie Database, where you can watch today- link above (if you're really bored).
Dave Mirra, one handed toothpick over the spine at speed. X-Games qualifying comp in Anaheim, 2000.
While things didn't go as planned 22 years ago, they never really do. I was really stoked that this, my "lost" video, resurfaced. A bunch of my lost footage was in this video, though there was about 35 more hours, shot from 1990 to 2008, that was never seen by anyone. Through the rough years of the 2000's, I planned to someday make a BMX documentary from that footage.
Two or three weeks after landing in North Carolina, after losing everything from my BMX days (except my Haro brake lever keychain), I started blogging about BMX. All I had left was memories, so I started writing them down online, not sure if anyone would ever read them. That's how my BMX memoir blogging career began. At the time, there wasn't really any media in the Old School BMX community, just a lot of chatting on that new thing called social media. Luckily for all of us who rode in the 1980's and 1990's, sonce then the OSBMXR, books, and podcasts sprang up, allowing a lot more people to tell their stories from those days, which I think is awesome.
Bill Nitschke, one of the first Whoppers (bunnyhop tailwhip) to be captured on video. The Spot in Redondo Beach, 1991.
I captured all these stills, and a bunch more, several months ago, to do something with them on Pinterest, I think. They've been sitting on my hard drive. While they don't have the photo quality, or the age, of Bill Batchelor's great photos in his new book (Concrete and Smog), they are a few snippets of the BMX that happened in front of my video lense over the years.
Big Island Mike, drawing on Mat Hoffman's arm with a Sharpie, with Steve Swope checking it out. A hint at things to come, perhaps. The X-Games in San Francisco, 1999. Mat's bike and uniform got lost by the airlines, so he borrowed Rick Thorne's bike and gear. With no sleeves, Mat decided he need some ink to do Rick's jersey justice. So Mike grabbed a Sharpie and gave him some right before riding.
Dave Clymer, AA pro racer, dirt jumping pioneer, P.O.W. House O.G., and street rider with white boy dreads. Huntington High in 1991.
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