We've just officially begun the prelude to The Great Depression of 2019

Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, with Jason Boham on drums, lead a huge ensemble in Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven," when the band was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2012.  I love Jimmy Paige's reaction to this performance.

As I begin to write this, 32 minutes ago, the Federal Reserve just reduced the Fed Funds interest rate by 1/4 of one percent, or 25 basis points, as they usually say.  What does that mean?  That means the people in charge of the U.S. economy lowered the interest rate that most other interest rates are guided by.  The last time The Fed did this, was late August 2007, 3-3 1/2 months before the official start of The Great Recession.  You can see that on this historical chart of the Fed Funds rate.  The Fed Funds rate is already near historical lows, which is one problem leading into this coming economic downturn.  The last time the Fed started to lower interest rates (to "stimulate" the economy) before 2007 was in early 2001 (the Dot Com Bubble recession), and before that was in 1998 (the Asian Currency Crisis), and the time before that was in 1990 (right before another recession, and a six year long downturn/stagnation of the real estate market here in Southern California).  The Fed ONLY lowers interest rates in time of extreme distress.  We've just "officially" entered one of those.

The Southern California real estate market is topping out, before turning downward.  Over 30% of the $1.5 trillion in student loans are not currently being paid back.  The U.S. stock markets have just hit new highs, but those highs are only 3% to 4% above the highs hit 18 months ago, in January 2018, after the Trump Tax Cuts were signed.  By comparison, the price of gold, that boring investment that old guys like, is up about 9% to 10%, three times as much, in the same18 months. 

When The Fed reduces interest rates after a long period of steady or rising rates, it means they think we are either entering a recession right now, or we will enter a recession in the next several weeks.  Basicially, them lowering interest rates is like pulling the ripcord on a parachute to soften the landing of an otherwise dangerous crash.  That just happened this morning.

So what does this have to do with Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven?"  You know that long, mellow, beautiful acoustic guitar melody at the beginning of the song, that riff so iconic you're not allowed to play it in a music store?  The economy has entered that type of period, where nothing much different will seem to happen right away.  But like "Stairway to Heaven," the economic craziness, over the next year, before the 2020 presidential election, will crank up to epic proportions as we go forward.  Enjoy this beginning part, before things get really gnarly financially.  Hell, about 2/3 of the people in the U.S. feel like the last recession never really ended.  Every bubble eventually bursts, and every period of economic growth eventually ends and markets go down for a while, sometimes quite a while.

On the bright side, as I have said before:

Recessions are when the whole world goes on sale, but hardly anybody wants to buy.

They are also one of the best times to start a new business, because nearly everyone else, all the "Big Boys" (and "Big Girls"), are struggling, too.  This Great Recession (or very likely Great Depression, which lasts longer) will probably really be set off by more trade war actions by President Trump.  Instead of sub prime mortgages being the thing everyone blames, it will be student loan debt this time around that becomes the larger trigger and will drop considerably, or completely collapse.  But that opens up great opportunities for people who have solid businesses, people with no debt, or people with  a lot of money to work with.

I'm not the only one looking forward to the economic downturn.  Here are some very successful business people also looking forward to the opportunities that will be popping up as the financial world goes down:

"How to Get Rich in the Next Crash" - Rich Dad Radio Show, March 2019- Robert Kiyosaki (and wife Kim), owners of thousands of rental properties, oil drilling businesses, and author of financial bestseller, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and several other best selling books.

"Jim Rogers: The Coming Global Financial Crisis will be the Worst in Our Lifetime" -Geopolitics & Empire- April 5, 2009- Jim Rogers (along with Geroge Soros) was the co-founder of the legendary Quantum Fund in the 1970's, and is semi-retired, living in Asia (the future), and head of Rogers Holdings today.

"How to Prepare For the Next Economic Collapse"- DailyVee- 501 -  November 2018- Founder/owner of VaynerMedia, guy who took his dad's liquor store from $3 million to $60 million by drinking wine on You Tube, internet/social media expert, guy who's going to buy the New York Jets and try to win lots of Super Bowls.  

"Jim Rickards Exclusive: The Aftermath of the 2008 Crisis is what we never really escaped" (part 1)- Kitco News- April 18 2019-  Jim Rickards is a lawyer, precious metals expert, and financial author. 

Even though The Fed did exactly what the stock market wanted it to do, because chairman Powell insinuated that he doesn't plan to keep lowering interest rates this year (he probably will anyhow), the Dow Jones Industrial average is down 333 points (1.2%) in the last two hours, and the Nasdaq is down 98 points (nearly 1.2%). 

Meeting Dave Voelker for the first time

Eddie's Roman's 2000 video of fellow San Diego ripper, Dave Voelker, one of my favorite riders of all time.

I was a couple of months into the job that changed the entire course of my life, working at Wizard Publications, home of BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines.  As epic as that sounds, I spent much of the first two months sitting in my office, going through boxes of Windy's old 8 X 10 black and white photos, looking for ones to decorate my office, and reading back issues of BMX Action.  I was waiting for the printouts of the articles to get handed to me to proofread, and Andy, Lew, and Gork were masters of the last minute.  I usually got all the copy for both magazines over about two days, the day before deadline.  I also drove Windy to photo shoots, where I helped out a little, but mostly just hung out.  I built up the bikes for that months bike tests.  I wrote little pieces of the magazine, when asked.  But it took a couple of months for my job to really evolve and keep me busy most of the time.

About the time that happened, sometime in the Fall of 1986, it was nearing the end of or normal workday.  FREESTYLIN' editor Andy Jenkins came over my intercom, and said the weird, goofy, but brilliant rider, trick team owner, and inventor, Brian Scura, had a new ramp rider.  He had just driven up to Wizard from San Diego to do a photo shoot with Windy Osborn, the photographer for both magazines then.  Andy told me to go out side and help this new kid set up the quarterpipe for the shoot.

So I walked out of my office, through the small warehouse, out the human door next to the big roll up door, and out to the edge of the parking lot.  There was a van with a flat trailer, with a sturdily built wooden quarterpipe on it.  Walking around the trailer was a young guy, maybe 18 or 19, with stringy white blond hair.  I told him Andy said to come out and help him set up the ramp.  He said something along the lines of, "I don't really need help, Brian Scura designed this thing, he laughed, "it's pretty much a one-man job."  I laughed, Brian Scura was the guy who designed the Gyro brake cable detangler, and I got the job of listening to Brian for an hour on how to properly dial in a Gyro.  Then I had to put that knowledge out to the BMX freestyle world in like 2 or 3 small paragraphs.  Brian was a inventive genius, so I was intrigued on how one guy could set up a big, heavy, 1980's quarterpipe.  I told the blond guy I didn't have much to do, and I might as well hang out.  He just laughed, and went to work unloading the ramp with off the trailer, basically by himself.  There was a car jack, and the trailer tilted as I remember.  It was brilliant the way it had all been designed.  Typical Scura.

He was right, I stood there and pretended to help here and there, but wasn't needed.  Kashiwa Street, where Wizard was located, was on the backside of a closed loop, so there was very little traffic.  When riders brought their own quarterpipes, they'd set up on the side of the street, next to the Wizard parking lot.  In typical freestyler fashion, the blond guy and me just started talking, riders rarely introduced themselves upon meeting back then.  We all rode, so they were part of the group, no matter how they dressed or what music they listened to or what background they came from.  I think at some point, Dave and I introduced ourselves, both being new to the industry side of freestyle, neither of us knowing who the other guys was.

Once the ramp was set up, Dave moved the van, and parked nearby.  Then he grabbed his bike, but not his helmet, and did a few warm-up airs.  Although I rode ramps, I rode them badly, and aired about coping high, or a little under.  Dave's first air, just to check out how the ramp was sitting, was maybe 5 or 6 feet.  That was a solid air for any rider then.  The top pro riders of the era topped out at about 8 foot straight airs in contests, did variations 2 or 3 feet lower, and a few could push ten foot airs on their personal ramps.  Every rider's quarterpipe was different then, with transitions from 5 1/2 feet to 9 feet.  Some had a couple inches of vert, some were still the slightly undervert, six foot tall, Bob Haro-style ramps that had started quarterpipe riding.  The Brian Scura Trick Team ramp was 8 feet high, as I recall, big for the day, and I sat there watching this unknown kid from San Diego, Dave Voelker, blast several six or seven foot airs without his helmet on.  That was insane at the time.

Then he headed to the ramp a tiny bit slower, and I gasped as his bike went completely upside down, for a couple seconds, I thought he'd looped out, and this new kid was going to kill himself before Windy got a chance to shoot a single photo.  As I caught my breath, I realized he was actually doing a downside footplant at the very top of the ramp.  There were 2 or 3 riders that did downside footplants.  But this Voelker guy did one so freakin' upside down, and so stretched out, that it blew my mind.  As he rode back from it, I told him I thought he was going to bail right then.  He just laughed and said something along the lines of, "Yeah, people trip out on those."

A couple of airs later, Windy walked out with her camera.  I asked if she needed any help, because I just wanted to see what this blond nutcase was going to do with his helmet on.  But Windy said she had it handled, and it was still during work hours, so I had to head back inside, and miss the actual photo shoot. 

As the years passed, Dave Voelker did one crazy thing after another that blew my mind, and everyone else's.  His flatland riding influenced mine, and I learned to do quicker flat ground 360's, because the ones he did looked so cool.  On top of amazing riding, Dave was always just a cool dude to hang out with, he always just seemed kinda stoked to just be riding.  And that's a good thing.

When I came across this photo from a few years back, the best footplant photo of Dave I've ever seen, I knew I had to do my own Sharpie art version of it.  That's the drawing below.  I got Dave's OK to draw it, and sell some copies, and he's getting the original.  I'm doing 20 high quality color copies, signed and numbered by me.  Like the John "Dizz" Hicks drawing I did recently, I put a kind of apocalyptic, dystopian, urban background in this one.  I wanted to do something different than the lyrics and song titles I've done in the backgrounds of my musician drawings.  Also, we're in really crazy times in the world these days, and I kind of want to remind everyone that no matter how dark things may seem, BMX freestyle riding shines bright.

Eveyone who gets a drawing copy can get Dave's autograph, if you meet up with him at some point, I left room for that.  Half of the drawings are on their way to Europe, and there are 4 of the 20 still available as I write this.  If you're interested in one of those, hit me up on Facebook, or email me at: stevenemig13@gmail.com .  

Now grab a cool drink, and watch that video above.  It's one of the classics that never gets old.  Thanks Dave for letting me draw this, and thanks to Shad Holland, whose photo of the drawing copy I'm using below.  You can also order some of Windy's classic BMX photos, and her new stuff, on her website at windyosborn.com . You can find my Sharpie artwork all over using #sharpiescribblestyle.

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" Book Launch Party- S&M Shop- July 20th, 2019

 Chris Moeller on the mike and Chris Stevenson holding a copy the book up, at the party last night.  Moeller was telling the story about how women at bars used to get the two Chrises that worked at S&M confused, and they'd hook up with women who thought they were the other Chris.

I first heard of 16-year-old racer/jumper Chris Moeller when BMX Action editor Gork "discovered" him, while on a photo shoot in Huntington Beach with another rider.  I soon met Chris, and we saw each other at events now and then over the next four years.  Then, in 1990, I shot some video at the P.O.W. House and at Edison, with Chris, Dave Clymer, and 3 or 4 others from the P.O.W. House.  (P.O.W. stands for Pros Of Westminster) and put them in my first self-produced video, The Ultimate Weekend.  The S&M shield, spray painted on the door of the VW bus in this clip, was the first time a lot of people saw that now iconic image.

A year later, I was working nights at a video duplicator in North Hollywood, and Chris somehow tracked me down, called me up, and said he wanted to make a video for S&M Bikes.  I was about $7 grand in debt form making my video, and then living off my credit cards, like an idiot, for a few months.  I thought, "Cool, those guys are rad, and I can make maybe $2,000 for doing this project on the side.  I asked Chris what kind of budget he had in mind for the video.  He said, "I was thinkin' like $200."  So dreams of paying off debt went out the window, but I started going down to H.B. on the weekends and shooting footage for what turned out to be Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer.  I also got fired because I logged the John Holmes porn video, that Chris wanted to use bad acting footage from, at work, because I didn't have a VCR where I lived (a house crazier than the P.O.W. House).  So I wound up living in Chris' one bedroom apartment, and working (sort of) for S&M Bikes.  At the time, S&M was housed in the single car garage of the apartment called the Winnebago, because the whole apartment was 8 feet wide, long, and skinny. 

 Hey, it's not an S&M Bikes party without former S&M roommate/employee, Big Island Mike, giving $25 tattoos, right.  Back in the day when he was a scrawny little Hawaiian BMXer, with no visible tats, he got dubbed Big Island, often we just called him Big.  One day Chris asked what island Mike was actually from, and I think it's Oahu.  So we pondered changing his nickname to Medium Island, but that just doesn't have a good ring to it.  So Big Island it stayed.

Anyhow, I wound up sleeping on the living room floor of the Winnebago apartment, on Alabama Street in downtown H.B., and working for S&M when needed.  In those days the first phone call of the morning woke me, up, because the phone (old school cord phone) was on a little table by my head.  I'd crawl out of my sleeping bag, get up on my knees, find a pen somewhere, and take down an order from a shop somewhere.  Then I'd lay back down, and go back to sleep until I heard Chris put on either a Pegboy cassette or this SST/Cruz compilation tape called The Big One.  It had a Green Day song, a song by The Offspring, another by Big Drill Car, and "Bob says No" by Pop Defect, among others.  That music was the morning (10:30 am to noon, depending on the level of hangover) wake up call.

One of us would make some sales calls to shops and distributors.  Eat some breakfast.  Sticker some frames or bars in the garage.  Pack up some orders.  The UPS guy would roll up the alley and pick up the orders going out.  If we had international orders, we'd put the bikes boxes on a skateboard, and push them over to the mail box place a couple of blocks away, to ship them out.  With that done, we'd often head to Papa Joe's on PCH for a slice of  pizza (if we could afford a slice), and then go ride much of the afternoon.  Obviously, Chris had a lot more to do to keep the business running.  He'd often bum a ride with someone (he didn't have his truck yet), and go run errands.

We'd come back in the evening, it was Chris, a guy named Shaggy (who looked just like the cartoon one) and me at first, and then Bill Grad replaced Shaggy later on.  We'd fix ramen or pasta for dinner, and Chris would pick the DBV or Designated Bag Victim for the night.  That was the person Chris would make fun of, humiliate, and bag on all night.  There was a 50/50 shot of being DBV in those days.  So one of us felt like shit, and the other laughed his ass off all night.

Then we'd go get ride some more, get moderately drunk, either with a 40 or the H.B. cheesy bar tour (4 bars in downtown H.B. then), come home, pass out, and do it all again the next day.  That was S&M Bikes, in a nutshell, in 1991 and 1992.  I was Chris' roommate, off and on, through the P.O.W. House, the Sowell House with John Povah and Bitch Girl, then the other Alabama Street apartment, with Timmy Ball and Neal Wood, and finally in the condo, with Big Island, Operation Rick, and other roommates at times.

Because Chris ran S&M Bikes, every travelingBMXer, from pretty much anywhere, crashed on our floor.  I met Steve Crandall, Will Smyth, Ian Morris, in our living room, and a whole bunch more that way. It wasn't unusual to com downstairs, and have to step over complete strangers sleeping on the couch and floor.  I'd ask Chris or Timmy, and they'd be like, "Oh, those are guys from Germany that came in last night." 

Where do you drink when you're at an S&M Party?  The Slam Bar, of course.  Nice touch.  Paul Roberts was the beertender.

So, there was a party last night at S&M.  Old blokes there included Chris Moeller (duh), Dave Clymer, Big Island Mike, Troy McMurray, Chris Stevenson, Super G, Pete Augustin, Paul Roberts, Paul Green, Ned, Ruben Castillo, and some more I don't remember.  There was free food and beer, paid for by Chris Moeller, the guy who first taught me to steal food and beer at Ma-fuckin'-zotti's in H.B. 28 years ago, when we were all broke.  Can't beat that.  Kinda takes the fun away, though.

A lot of people bought books.  I didn't, cause of my current situation, the damn raccoons keep knocking over my bookcase.  I'll get one some day.  Somebody let me know if I got mentioned in it,  there's a lot of shit to cover in 30 years of craziness, I know.  But I was around the company for about 4 1/2 years, and produced and edited the first two videos, so maybe I got made fun of for a couple of lines.

Anyhow, it was fun last night.  I had to catch a bus, so I bailed out early, just as Chris brought Dave Clymer up on stage to tell stories.  I have plenty of my own stories to tell from those days, at least of half of which don't involve graphic nudity by Chris.  Well, not half... maybe 25%.  Some day I may get around to those tales.  If anyone has any things from the early S&M Days you want to hear about, let me know.  I'll share the stories I remember.

Anyhow, the party was cool, it was good to see a few more old friends form way back, like Dave Clymer.  Troy McMurray forgot who I was, but I never knew him that well.  I did jump in the Deegan/Metal Muliha fight in Irvine, and wound up with the 4 or 5 members of the Metal Mulisha stomping on my head, after I tripped over my own feet and went down.  I had crazy pain in my inner ears that night, and a weird gurgling of fluid inside my head, after I got home from my job at the porn store.  I lost about 70%-80% of my hearing for about 3 weeks, and thought I was going to be permanently deaf.  And both sides of my head were sore for about 5 weeks, so they probably cracked my skull a bit.  What can I say, I never was a fighter, and shit happens.  My hearing came back eventually.

All in all, the S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book launch party was a good stroll down memory lane, and I'll get a book when I can.  Check everyone's social media today and tomorrow for more pics and stuff from the Sheep Hills Jam Friday and the party last night.  Thanks for the hospitality Chris Moeller.  I'll be building up the bikes from the parts I threw over the fence last night, and selling them at the swap meet for a month.  (OK, I didn't really do that, but Chris will probably take an inventory anyhow, because he won't be completely sure if I'm joking or not).  There are a few more pics in the post below.  The only way to end this post is with the best photo of the night... Dave Clymer.  You can buy the book here.

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" Book Launch Party- S&M Bikes shop- #2

 The sequence of Chris Moeller, jumping the Cadillac at the Palm Springs Meet the Street, is BMX legend stuff.  In a riding career full of big, gnarly, sketchy ass jumps, this one stood out.  He jumped the car once, lengthwise, off a 2 1/2 foot high launch ramp, with plenty of room to spare.  Then some guys put a 4 foot high, 8 foot long 4 foot wide box jump box, sideways, in front of the car, and a bike, I think, then people just put random stuff, in front of that, like helmets, T-shirts, a Big Gulp cup.  Chris came charging down the road from half a block away, a second time, and jumped the whole freakin' mess.  Definitely a good choice for the cover of the book. 

 It would be hard to try to sum up the crazy, dysfunctional, innovative, gnarly as fuck philosophy of S&M Bikes' 32 1/2 year history in single photo.  But Matt Berringer walking his bike into Sheep Hills with a 12 pack of PBR in hand comes pretty fucking close. 

 The scene in the S&M Bikes shop parking lot last night (July 20th, 2019) at the Behind the Shield book launch party.  Old BMXer/punkers don't age all that well, but we look badass as hell.  Lots of black T-shirts and scars old scars, I think that's the key.  Glory is temporary, pain is forever, and chicks don't really dig scars.  Something like that.

 Straight outta Westminster (at least in the early 90's), Iroquois street legend turned car salesman and happily married man with a kickass grill, Ned and wife Kristy.  If they invite you over for a BBQ, don't miss it, that's the biggest thing I've learned from his Facebook posts. 

 I know black don't crack, but the indomitable Super G looks younger than he did 25 years ago.  People were tripping out about that as he walked in last night.  WTF G?  Good to see the man who took a bullet (literally, he did) and survived intensive care JUST so he could pay Moeller back the $1100 he owed for T-shirts he had made.

People I don't know listening to Chris tell stories on the mike as 44 Something plays in the background.  That's Keith Treanor doing a turndown at Moreno Valley on the screen. 

She never had a name that I know of, but the S&M T-shirt dominatrix chick (Sadistic Sadie is my nickname for her) made it to the book launch, on two classic green S&M "chick shirt" T-shirts, I saw guys wearing.  Whip it, whip it good.

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book jam- Sheep Hills- July 19th, 2019 - #1

The original "M" in S&M Bikes, the guy who's been running the company solo since like 1989 or something, the Mad Dog, the Angry Canine, the Pissed Puppy himself, Chris Moeller, at the jam at Sheep hills yesterday.  Yeah, he's still doing 360's over doubles, by the way.

In 1987, teenage BMX racers and jumpers, Chris Moeller and Greg Scott, were tired of their bikes breaking all the time.  So they went to a machine shop called B&E, that actually built the bike frames and forks, for several small BMX companies.  The young duo asked the guys there if they could make a frame with double thick back drop outs.  That was the start of S&M Bikes, which stood for Scott & Moeller.  Well, and the sex thing, too.

As the 30 year anniversary of the company rolled around in 2017, somebody decided that doing a book on the history of the company would be a good idea.  So they got started, and now it's finally done and coming out.  As I write this, the official book launch party is tonight at the S&M Bikes warehouse in Santa Ana.  To get the idea out, and just to have some fun, they had a book launch jam at Sheep Hills yesterday afternoon and evening.  

Since I've been back in Orange County for about three weeks, returning from my ten year banishment to the Eastern Seaboard, I decided to go check it out.  These nine blog posts are a bunch of  (mostly horrible) photos I shot of the fun yesterday.  I'm not good a shooting action shots with my phone, and I missed the peak on nearly every jump.  But it'll give you all an idea of what went down yesterday.  

On my end of things, I first heard of Chris Moeller when BMX Action editor (and my roommate at the time) Gork, saw Chris while on a photo shoot in Huntington Beach with another rider.  Chris quickly became a BMXA test rider, and went on to contribute to the magazine (and Go) later on.  I met Chris when Gork and I gave him a ride to a national in Lake Elsinore in 1986.  I went my own way, worked at the AFA and at Unreel Productions, Vision Street Wear's video company.  I ran into Chris now and then at events. 

While working at Unreel, which was on the edge of the bluff in Costa Mesa, I used to ride some jumps that were on the hillside, where the condos above Sheep hills are now.  I would also roll down 19th Street hill in Costa Mesa, and ride this ditch below, which the Vision skaters told me about, on my way home from work.  One night I rode along the little creek, headed down to Hamilton.  I saw this little rabbit trail through the tall grass, and laid my bike down and followed it.  About 100 yards back, into the 15 foot tall trees, there was a sort of open meadow.  You could see it from the houses up on the hill, but not from ground level.  I thought, "This would be an awesome place to build some jumps."  That was the first time I walked into the area where Sheep Hills is now.  I went to the swap meet that weekend, motivated to build some jumps, and I bought a shovel.  Then I ended up building small jumps in the Bolsa Chica wetlands, close to where I actually lived. 

The skate ditch you can see at 1:13 in Vision Psycho Skate, and which I used to session solo in 1988-89, a couple of years before Sheep Hills started being built by Hippy Jay and Hippy Sean.  This ditch is maybe 150 yards from Sheep Hills.  

In 1990, I started shooting video on the weekends with my own camera, determined to put out a self-produced BMX video that wasn't goofy like the Vision videos we made at Unreel Productions.  As the economy tanked, and the BMX and skate industries tanked even harder, Unreel was shut down, and I was moved to the Vision main offices in Santa Ana.  That building just happened to be about a block from the current home of S&M Bikes, where the book party is tonight.  It's weird how those things work out.  

I left Vision in July of 1990, after going on a three week skateboard tour as manager, and then produced my own video, one of the first four BMX riders to do that.  That video was The Ultimate Weekend, and came out in October of 1990.  Because so much was happening in riding at that time, the video had a lot of firsts in it, like introducing the world to a hungry young rider from New Jersey named Keith Treanor.  That video was also the first video that Chris Moller, Dave Clymer, and a few others from the already legendary P.O.W. House appeared in.  You can see that part here...

The first time I ever saw the S&M Bikes shield logo was on the VW bus, when I shot that clip.  This was the first video the S&M Bikes shield ever appeared in.  That shield survived 29 years since, and it's been through a lot.  Tonight you can learn the story, say it with me now, "Behind the Shield."

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield"- book jam- Sheep Hills- #2

 My favorite shot that I snapped at the jam yesterday.  Archibald 360.  Hell yeah!

 It's Sheep Hills, anything is possible.  Six foot high, off road unicycle.  Apparently he plays guitar while riding this at times, as well.

 Sheep (Hills) dog.  S&M Bikes Behind the Shield book jam spectator.

 Tailwhip.  I'm pretty sure this one didn't end up well. 

 Big air at dusk.

Sunset over Sheep Hills, taken on the walk back into Costa Mesa after the jam.

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book jam- Sheep Hills- #3

 Train through the line.  Sheep Hills 1991?  Sheep Hills 2019?  Hard to tell.  Some things never change.

 People hanging out during the jam.

 X-up above the crowd.

 Young rippers talking between lines.

 Old School, and Beard of the Evening winner, Paul Roberts.

Just like old times.  As fellow residents of the P.O.W. House, Todd Lyons and I hung out a lot back in the early 1990's.  I haven't seen Todd in over 10 years, since I was stuck Back East.  Seconds aftert he handshake, it was like no time had passed.  "Sluggo, get a picture of me."  Todd had been riding for a while, and I forgot to turn on the video his first pass.  He took a breather, and I took snapped this pic on his phone the second time around.  Still rockin' the 1 footed X-up.

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book jam- Sheep Hills- #4

Tucker Smith (see below), I believe, with a big double tailwhip.

 Seriously, I wasn't trying to be snap a creepy pick of some kid's long hair.  I'd been watching this kid rip, and kept missing getting pics of him.  When I saw his Instagram handle on his helmet I snapped a pick so I'd remember this kid's name.  If you get nothing else out of this series of blog posts, remember that @tuckersmith_bmx fucking rips.  Keep an eye on this kid.  I just followed him on Instagram, and he has a super stretched Superman no footer from last night on his feed.

 Whip.

 Big air, big wheels. Sheep Hills 2019.

One foot tire grabber, hell yeah!

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book jam- Sheep Hills- #5

 Dusk at Sheep Hills means it's almost... but not quite... time to go home.

 Dodging the crashed rider and bike, and age old tradition.

 Aggro guy.

 SHL member, Freddie Chulo, yeah, he was riding.  He said he's been surfing more these days, "It's easier on the body."

 SHL member, X-Games medalist in the early days, and the only guy present who can free dive to about 150 feet down on one breath, Barspinner Ryan Brennan.  Aloha brah.

Bad timing again, he got it well clicked and tweaked, I just missed it.

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book jam- Sheep Hills- #6

 One of the few times I managed to snap the digital shutter at the right time.  Big no hander.

 Brrraaaaaap!  Whip.

 This was some cool kind of a nothing that I missed.  Damn phone.

Todd Lyons dreadlocks reincarnated?  Maybe.  Talkin' smack at the trails, a natural part of riding from the early days on.

No footed can-can, snapped a bit too late.  This kid fuckin' rips.

This is about where the P.O.W. jump used to be.  I'm not sure if that's still the case, but if so, here's a member of the P.O.W. House jumping P.O.W.. Todd Lyons, one footer on the SE DJ Ripper.  "I've got two turntables and a double jump..."

S&M Bikes "Behind the Shield" book jam- Sheep Hills- #7

 Sheep Hills.  Bad lighting for photos and video for 28 years now.  You'd think at some point someone would have built jumps that are well lit in the evening, when most people ride.  But no.

 This guy, who totally reminds me of the aggroness of Pete Augustin, just rode and rode and rode.  Hardcore.

 Unofficial motto of BMXers everywhere.

 It doesn't matter what you say, Old School U.K. legend Ian Morris (left), won't believe you.  Ian and Jason "Timmy" Ball watching while taking a breather.  Want to know how Jason became "Timmy?"  Shortly after moving to Huntington Beach in about 1993-4, and becoming a roommate to me and Chris Moeller, Jason went along to McGoo's house one night.  When Jason was introduced to McGoo, Mcgoo said something like, "Another Jason, there are too damn many Jasons around here, from now on, you're Code Name Timmy.  The name stuck.

 Big Island Mike (left), did a little riding, and some hanging.  He's going to be doing bargain tattoos at the party at the S&M warehouse tonight (July 20, 2019) as I write this.

This girl wins for the most "Behind the Shield" bike of the jam.  She was riding a classic S&M Dirtbike plastered with S&M shield stickers.  "My dad put the stickers on," she told me.

This kid came through one of the smaller lines of jumps, then skidded to a stop right in front of me, but his back wheel washed out, and he landed on his butt.