The Powers BMX museum in Richmond, Virginia

In this video, Chad Powers, owner of Powers BMX bike shop and museum, gives a tour of his amazing collection of  BMX bikes, components, clothing, magazines and videos.  The Powers shop and museum is located in Richmond, Virginia.  If you're into BMX, and get near Richmond, go check this place out.  You can buy from the Powers BMX website here.*

All of us who got seriously into BMX at some point, remember the bikes, media, and unique frames, forks and components of that era.  It's like the cartoons you watched as a little kid, that first period of being into BMX gets imprinted on you.  Years later, when you see a bike from that era, or an old set of cranks or handlebars at a garage sale, or find an old video or magazine from that time, it takes you right back to your early days of BMX stoke. 

In the weird journey of my life, I landed in Richmond, Virginia, more down and out then usual, in August of 2018.  I had never been to Richmond, I didn't know anyone there, as far as I knew, and I had $3.50 in my pocket when I got off the Greyhound bus.   About three weeks later, much to my surprise, Former FBM owner Steve Crandall called me up, and said, "Hey, meet me at Powers Bikes this afternoon, I'll help you out."  I figured out where the shop was, which at the time was on the side of this big, old industrial building, where several companies manufactured different products.  When I got there, Steve wasn't there yet, but I met Chad Powers, who is one of the coolest guys in BMX.  

I wound up staying in Richmond for about eight months, and made several trips to Powers during that time.  Both Steve and Chad helped me out a lot personally while I was in Richmond, and I really thank them for all their help.  But that first day, the shop looked like this high roofed place, more a small warehouse than a bike shop, with dozens and dozens of bikes hanging high up on the walls.  

When Chad found out I was a former BMX industry guy who had worked at BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines for a short period of time, he led me into a back room with dozens of binders of magazines.  Much to my surprise, he asked me to sign my first published article, which I wrote as a freelance guy, for FREESTYLIN'.  The article covered the AFA Masters freestyle contest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the spring of 1986.  It appeared in the August '86 issue of FREESTYLIN', with the iconic cover featuring a tiny photo of a new ramp rider, Josh White.  

My article wasn't great, by any means.  But it just happened to be the article that Mat Hoffman's first editorial photo was in.  The industry didn't know who Mat was then, and I had to call around to find out his name, after editor Andy Jenkins said they had a great photo of some young kid doing a no footed can-can, which only two people could do then.  They didn't even know Mat's name for the photo caption, but I mentioned him in the article, and he was in the results, winning 14-15 expert.  That contest was amazing for me, and seeing the magazine took me back to the weekend that launched me into the BMX industry, and changed my whole life.  So that's my personal story of Chad's collection taking me back to my own beginnings in BMX.  It's done the same for many other riders before and since.  It will be a trip down memory lane if you visit Powers BMX.

Back out in the main part of the shop, which was more of a small warehouse packed with stuff, I saw a bike way up high that looked almost identical to my first bike.  I told Chad about it.  It happens to be the bike Chad points out in this video, a 1984 or so Skyway T/A, with red Z-Rims and a red pad set.  I didn't realize, until watching this video, that finding that bike cheap started Chad's collection.  Yep, I had a pad set on my "freestyle" bike, because I was still racing when I got that bike.  Chad pulled it down that day, and I got a photo with the bike.  Here's me in 1985, on my second BMX bike, and the first frameset I bought new.

Yes, it's a really dorky photo, shot by my co-worker, Vaughn Kidwell, at the Boise Fun Spot, the summer of 1985.  I learned a bunch of Robert Peterson style balance tricks over that previous Idaho winter, since I couldn't ride outside much.  

While I was in Richmond, Chad told me of his dream to get a bigger shop, and actually be able to have a BMX museum, with his huge collection of bikes, components, jerseys, clothes, magazines, and other things BMX.  When I was about to leave the area, he told me he was looking at a new building.  So it's great to see this video of Chad taking the time to give a tour of the huge collection displayed in the new building.  

For all of you old schoolers and mid schoolers out there, if you have some BMX stuff that's cool and vintage, and you'd like to put it somewhere that lots of other BMXers and see it and appreciate it, think about donating to the Powers BMX museum.  Again, if you're into BMX, and wind up near Richmond, Virginia at some point, go see Chad and the BMX museum, you'll be glad you did.  

Here are a couple of photos I shot at the BMX DIY World Championships jam in 2018, put on by Steve Crandall and Chad Powers, at Powers BMX's old location.  

I had been away from the sport for so long that I don't know who either of these riders are.  If you do know, hit me up on Facebook or email, and let me know.  

* Not a paid link.

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Steve Emig The White Bear's Substack

A few more random photos from recent days...

 Top photo, downtown Richmond, looking from the Mayo Bridge over part of the James River.  In the photo above, the little blotch near the top of the tree is an osprey.  They're big raptors, hawk-type birds, with wingspans of about 5 feet, that catch fish in the river. Ospreys carry those fish headfirst, aerodynamically.  No other bird got the aerodynamic memo.  I need a better zoom, (or a real camera), this is the best  I could do.  You can see ospreys in early mornings, flying over the river near the Mayo bridge, looking for a fish breakfast.  There's really cool bird watching there, which includes, cormorants, Canada geese, great blue herons, vultures, and a bald eagle or two, if you're lucky.  I'm surprised there aren't more wildlife photographers on the Mayo (and other) bridges catching the action in the mornings.

 As an old school, HAS BEEN BMX guy, "squirrely" is a term we used for people who don't pedal smoothly.  When sketchy BMX bike riders die, they probably go to the Squirrely Gates.  But people here can just go to a game at The Diamond, to go through them.

Also as an old BMX/skateboard guy, I'm always watching the local sticker culture.  It's a low key form of street art to people like me, and seldom noticed vandalism to most.  I've seen a few of these stickers around town, and I think it's funny AF.  Finally got a pic of one downtown.

Richmond's Shockhoe Bottom are in photos #5

 Here's some art pieces I stumbled across on my little exploratory photo hike in the Shockhoe Bottom area of downtown Richmond, Virginia.  These are through the weird little portal doorways a couple of posts back.  Really cool looking in the early morning light.  #RVAallday

Richmond's Shockhoe Bottom in photos #4

More photos when form last weekend, when I walked around the "urban jungle" part of the Shockhoe Bottom section of downtown Richmond, Virginia.  I was walking to a bus stop around dawn, so some cool, backlit flowers, and just started taking pics.  I didn't have anywhere to be, so it turned into a fun hour exploring the crazy architecture of this area.

Richmond's Shockhoe Bottom in photos #3

 Here's some more photos from my photo taking hike around the Shockhoe Bottom area of downtown Richmond, Virginia, last weekend.  I started around dawn, and wandered around for an hour.  I started near 14th Street and the James River, along the canal.

Richmond's Shockhoe Bottom in photos #2

 Continuing on with my wandering photo hike through the "urban jungle" part of the Shockhoe Bottom area in downtown Richmond, Virginia.  It was about dawn when I started snapping pics, and I walked around shooting photos for about an hour.  It's a really cool area with all the overhead roads and train tracks.  It has a sort of dystopian movie set feel, while having this crazy cool mix of shapes and light and shadow.  I started all this near 14th Street by the James River.  #RVA all day.

Rock climbing wall and a river resident

 I saw three great blue herons on my walk along the river.  This guy was kind enough to let me take a close photo.

 I actually went down the riverside trail looking for a bunch of street art I know is there somewhere.  I went the wrong way for that, but found another really cool thing I'd heard about, this old bridge support wall turned climbing wall.  It's hard to believe now, but I got into bouldering (low altitude rock climbing without ropes) in '92, and maybe I'll get back to it someday.  This is some good motivation to keep losing weight.

 Sport climber nearing the top.

Another wide shot, with a climber hanging, trying to figure out the next moves.

My first First Friday Art Walk in Richmond: 10/5/2018

So... you'd think there would be a few videos of the First Friday Art Walk from Friday on YouTube.  But most of the videos are from 5 to 8 years ago.  WTF?  If you want to promote your art scene people, throw some vids on YouTube, not just Instagram.  And I couldn't make the few photos I took make the cyber jump from the new (old) phone to my laptop.  I have that problem sometimes.  So here's a video about the Richmond mural projects. 

Anyhow, I DID make it to First Friday two days ago.  I posted up on an empty storefront on Broad, next to a gallery that had people making little, crafty lantern things.  They had a crowd, and that slowed people down a bit for me to yell, "This stuff was made with Sharpies!"  I put my just-done Sumatran tiger drawing, my old Gwen Stefani drawing, and four smaller ones up, just masking taped up on the window of the empty store. 

My last First Friday scene was in Winston-Salem, NC, where the art scene is packed into three blocks, and people meander slowly around the blocked off street.  The Arts District here in Richmond is so big that people walk by at a "I'm late for a meeting at the office" pace.  Seriously, I needed some speed bumps.  Many didn't even glance at my stuff.  No prob, it ain't for everyone.  The people who did slow down and give it a good head turn, I'd say, "this was all made with Sharpies."  That stopped quite a few, they thought my stuff was just some more paintings as they strolled by.  Once they heard it was done with Sharpies, they looked close at the pics.

I wound up talking a bit to maybe 40 people, and had some serious conversations with about 6 or 7.  It was really cool, I met a handful of local, young artists, sold three small prints for $5 each, got three new Instagram peeps, and met a couple people who may want me to do a large drawing soon.  For being a complete unknown posting up on an empty storefront, that's a win.  I talked to a guy named Jay, an artist/rapper, another young rapper nakmed Chieftane, and "vandalismart" (Insta-tag, forgot his real name already).  I also met a young woman who was such a diehard Johnny Cash fan, that her dog is named Cash.  I gave her one of my Cash prints.  Just had to. 

The art scene here in RVA (that's Richmond's rapper name, like RUN-RVA or The Nortorious RVA), is freaking huge.  There are a ton of young artists of all kinds, many from  VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) which is one Pulse bus stop away from the Arts District.  Some are from other colleges, some high school up and comers, and then there are a ton of older artsy people as well.  Rather than one tightly packed scene like back in Winston-Salem, it's a huge mishmash of interconnecting scenes here.  It will take a while to really get to know what's going on, because there's so much.

So I met a few people, talked to a bunch, and got the ball rolling in this new city's art world.  Looking forward to seeing where things go next. 

Tornadoes in Richmond today

This happened in the last couple of hours, about 9 miles from where I am.  There's one person confirmed dead, in this building you see getting destroyed.  I'm in the main Library in downtown Richmond. 

We were asked to go down into the basement a couple hours ago because of a tornado warning.  I've done that many times as a kid in Ohio, and sheltered in place (no basement) ready to go into the apartment bathroom in North Carolina.  One tornado touched down about 10-15 miles from us in Ohio once, and one about 20 miles away in North Carolina once.  I didn't expect much.  The library staff put the local news up on a big screen downstairs. 

Last I heard, 8 confirmed tornadoes in the Richmond area today, at least a dozen more radar indicated, possible tornadoes.  Three confirmed tornado touchdowns in Richmond area.  One known fatality.  One car on its roof.  At least three or four cases of serious roof/structure damage.  Crazy day.  Even crazier seeing as I'm homeless and sleeping outside tonight.  Homelessness, it's not just pathetic, it's an adventure. 

Oh, and the local news station, CBS News 6, got struck by lightning while I was watching a little while ago.  Crazy.  These storms are the remnants of Hurricane Florence.  Guess Richmond didn't totally escape he wrath.