Creative Life 12/16/2018

This is Airin Roso, longtime BMX freestyler, trick show promoter/rider, and and skate/bike park builder/maintainer.  I'd never met him, never even heard of him before.  But I've been out of touch of the mainstream bike world for a 20-some years. I ran into him randomly at Powers Bike Shop here in Richmond a couple of weeks ago.  I was there to pick something up real quick, and Airin stopped there on the way through town, enroute to a contest in North Carolina.  I couldn't find any big air clips of him, though ramps are his specialty.  Airin used to do a front flip dismount in shows, off the bike, and land on his back on the box jump landing.  OUCH.  Here's a clip I found of him doing that into a foam pit.

We started talking, and wound up talking all afternoon about the old days of BMX freestyle, the current days, and all the different ways people contribute to the world of bike riding.  He's made a really good living doing shows, mostly anti-drug shows at schools.  Airin (I'm guessing it's spelled a bit different on his birth certificate) can bust some flatland, and has done ten foot airs on ramps, and is still riding hard well into his 40's.  He's one of those riders that never stopped.

I actually got a really cool blog post idea from talking to him, which I started to write, but then got sidetracked by another writing project.  That's why I haven't mentioned him in a blog post until now.  Meeting him is one of the cool happenings in the last couple of weeks.  That blog post will be out before too long.

Also on the BMX track, I decided to do a zine to actually sell.  It started by working on a 40-48 page zine, the first in a series of Freestyle BMX Tales zines, about The Spot in Redondo Beach.  Freestyle BMX Tales was my second blog of BMX stories from back in the day, from about 2009-2012.  I wrote over 500 posts on that blog, and it got something like 120,000+ page views in its day.  But I deleted the original version during a dark time after my dad died in 2012.  So I decided to do a series of zines, and sell them, since zines wind up as collectible items by their very nature.  And I just can't afford to write and publish an actual book right now.  And I need to earn some money to get my life back on track.

Once I got going, the 40+ page zine turned into TWO 48 page zines, which I'm laying out right now.  So it's going to be a little package of old school BMX goodness.  Stay tuned, they'll be ready to go soon, before Christmas. 

I couldn't get money and time together to do an art project for the December First Friday art walk here in Richmond's Arts District.  And it was supposed to rain some.  So I ended up wandering around the Arts District on First Friday, and met a couple of different groups and talked a while.  I'm going to do a post about the one artist, who's info isn't in front of me right now.  Again, the zines are the priority at the moment, everything else will come soon. 

On my own art front, I have a gallery space in the Arts District that digs my work, and wants to put some up.  That should be happening in a few days.  I'll  give all the details when it happens.  I'm really stoked on that, and hopefully it will lead to some really cool events in the future.  I'll have both big originals and small, inexpensive prints for sale there.

I've got a big drawing I'm working on, which I'll show once I get it done.  It's for a friend who's totally helped me out over a couple of years.  I've got a smaller drawing to do right after.  So I'm staying super busy, but no big announcements at the moment.  Lots of stuff soon.  You can check out my Sharpie art with #sharpiescribblestyle on either Instagram or Google images.

Then, this past Friday, I went to Steve Crandall's art show, which you saw in the last blog. 

Here's the 8 1/2" X 11" drawing of The Notorious B.I.G. I just did.  Prints available soon:

Caffeine Addled Nonsense: Steve Crandall's Art Show last night

 It was a dark and stormy night...  No, really, it was.  OK, not really stormy, but was dark and rainy as I walked from the Pulse bus stop in the Scott's Addition area here in Richmond.  I was looking for an industrial place called Cut and Bleed, the site of Steve Crandall's art show.  Cut and Bleed isn't a nightclub playing The Cure and Morrissey 24/7 for depressed Suicide Girls.  It's an oversized item printing business.  Need to wrap Grandma's car with photos of your kids, or a 30 foot tall banner of The Ramones?  Cut and Bleed can do it for you. In the shop there are a couple of rooms which are the perfect size for an indie art show.  FBM Bikes founder Steve Crandall, throwing some peace above, held a solo art show displaying his signature style of cool coffee cups and cinder block ramps there last night, December 14, 2018.

 The 3,000 pound concrete elephant in the room.  If you were at the D.I.Y. World Championships Jam at Powers Bikes in October, or if you saw video it, you saw this HUGE cinder block with a curved ramp set up on it, a MEGA launch ramp.  One of Steve's big themes is the idea, seen often last night, to "build your own fun."  His simple icon of this is what so many of us BMX guys and girls started jumping as kids, a cinder block and a board.  I remember jumping similar ramps as an 8-year-old on a tall handlebar banana seat bike, and doing the same thing on my BMX bike at 17.  Nearly all kids who have ridden bikes much know this simple set-up and remember it.  To Crandall, it's the epitome of using what's around to build something to ride and create your own fun.  This simple, but awesome, idea is a main theme of Steve Crandall's outlook on out world.  You don't need a ton of money, you don't need to be sponsored by a basketball shoe company to have fun on your bike.  Look around.  See what's sitting around, grab some stuff, build a little something, and go session.

Somehow, in a Stonehenge-like mystery, Crandall had the 3,000 pound monster cinder block from the D.I.Y. Jam transported to the art show.  To me, walking in and seeing that humongous object there just made me laugh.  It totally reminded me of the Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas.  It just made people smile, whether you  wanted to or not.  The absurdity of this huge chunk of concrete in the middle of the show, with the launch ramp on it, was just hilarious.

 If you are at all familiar with Steve Crandall's paintings, you know coffee is his main theme.  Coffee cups, to be exact.  I heard him tell someone last night that on a cross country trip a while back , he was guzzling coffee to stay awake, and the coffee cup idea took root in his brain.  Coffee cups took on a mystic importance to him, or something along those lines.  So there were about 10 big paintings on plywood, most of them huge coffee cups, and maybe 40 small paintings on paper in the show.  Each one is was a bit different, and all were reasonably priced for the people at the show to take home.  The blue painting above had a bicycle for eyes, while the brown one has a bike inside a heart.  Love coffee, love bikes, ride, have fun. 

If I had my act together financially right now, I would have taken this painting above home.  That was my favorite of the show, except for the two big photos.  Below, the real thing.  Life imitates art imitating BMX. 

 Another look at the monster block, with local BMX racer and BMX Hooligan mom's funny jacket slogan behind it.  She's definitely NOT ugly, by the way.  This was also the most kid friendly art show I've seen.  The mega-sized launch ramp and mini quarterpipe (with the yellow arrow in the background), made a little halfpipe.  A few of the kids burned off energy running back and forth between them, like riding a halfpipe without a bike.  Hey, they were real ramps, not art show props, go ahead kids.  Have fun.  You won't brake these.

This was my other favorite of the show.  It's a very vintage ironing board with a happy coffee cup and "surf's up" on it.  All in all, it was a really cool indie art show, and the old school BMX crowd of Richmond, a really good crew of people, showed up to check it out, and support Steve's work.  Plenty of people went home with art.  We all pigged out on the snacks, and wine and beer for most.  One idea if you ever do a BMX world art show, put some art up next to the snacks (which were in a side room).  A whole bunch of us stood there munching, for a long time, because we're mostly cheap ass BMXers at heart, and talking.  I'd put a few pieces up (and plastic covered), by the food, beer, and wine.

It was a good time, with a cool, BMX scene crowd, and a chill and fun vibe all evening.  Props to Steve Crandall for doing a ton of original work, putting the show on, and showing us all a good time.

I was inspired.  My mind was racing on the way out for ideas to do my own art show somewhere down the line.  Oh, if anyone needs a dining room table that will survive a nuclear holocaust and the zombie apocalypse, call Crandall.  That monster cinder block may need a new home. 

Blogger's note- It's 2026 now, and I'm doing most of my writing on Substack, a platform designed specifically for writers.  Check it out: 

Steve Emig The White Bear Substack- "Steve Emig Art"

Still alive after night in snow storm... homelessness is no joke

Snow.  It's beautiful when you're inside looking out at a heavy snowstorm.  It's even beautiful when you walk out in it for a while, and then go back into nice warm house, even better with a crackling fire to warm up by.

But when you're homeless, like me at the moment, a heavy snow quickly turns to a life or death situation.  "Plan A" was to sell my tiger drawing last Friday and save money to get a cheap motel room for the potential snowfall last night.  Things didn't work out as planned, the storm shifted north, and I ended up on about Plan W. 

I have a little spot I sleep, with a tiny roof over it, on the side of an abandoned building.  There's a side wall that keeps most of the rain out, except when the wind comes from one particular direction.  Last night it was coming from that direction.  With snow.

Since I'm in the"working homeless" group, but working for myself doing artwork, I spend most of my time at a library or fast food place where I can draw, use wifi, and get drink refills when possible.  That's also why I avoid the "Homeless Merry-Go_Round" of free meals, short term shelters, and social workers. When an area like Richmond, not used to big snows, gets a storm like this, things close early.  I grew up on Ohio and Idaho, places used to, and equipped for, lots of snow.  In Richmond, 10"+ of snow is epic.  In Ohio, it's Sunday.  Life goes on.  Stores are open.  Here, for good reason, unfortunately, things stop.  As a homeless guy, that makes my situation worse.

So I left a large store's food court last night about 6pm, when they closed several hours early.  I hiked through about 8 inches of fresh snow in running shoes.  By the time I got to my sleeping spot, my feet were soaked and cold.  It was snowing hard.  The temperature was around 30 degrees, and the wind was about 10 mph coming right into the top of my sleeping area.  My spot was wet concrete with an inch of snow on it.

I hiked through more fresh snow to a nearby dumpster, and a bunch of cardboard boxes.  I made a wall by the opening of my spot, out of cardboard and snow, to block some wind and most snow.  I shoveled out the snow inside with a cardboard box, and tossed some newspapers out that were on the ground for insulation, but were all wet.  Then I laid cardboard down, as best I could, while freezing my ass off and with wet, cold feet.  Then I took off my heavy coat and stocking cap, both covered with snow. (Thanks again for the coat Scotty!), I pulled my two sleeping bags over my body and head, while sitting up, the only position I could manage without getting part of me wet, and I began to warm up.  I put the winter jacket over my sleeping bags for added insulation.  Once my body warmed up, I took off my wet shoes and socks and worked on warming my feet up.  It worked.  They weren't toasty, but stayed far from frostbite.

Last evening, I walked out into what is now Richmond's worst early season snow ever, and the 12th biggest snow since records have been kept.  My feet were cold and wet almost immediately.  I stayed out in the cold for over 17 1/2 hours.  I did not know if I would survive.  Honestly.  Last night was a crap shoot.  I would have bet against myself.

I had someone interested in buying my tiger drawing last Friday, and I was hoping to sell it.  We didn't connect, for whatever reason, and so money for a motel for last night wasn't there.  Shit happens.  I adapt.  On Friday, we were looking at a weather prediction of a little "wintry mix" Sunday night.  As it always does on the Eastern seaboard, the weather pattern shifted, and we wound up getting 9-14 inches of "wintry mix" yesterday and well into last night. 

I laid under my sleeping bags for hours this morning, because the only fast food joint in sight didn't open.  My socks and shoes were soaking wet and actually froze over night.  While I managed to keep my feet fairly warm, and avoid frostbite, last night, I knew I couldn't go far after putting wet shoes on bare feet this morning.  Finally, since I really needed to go to the bathroom, I had to throw the icy shoes on my bare feet, and trudge through 10 inches of fresh snow to get to a nearby store, hoping it had a public bathroom.  I pulled my shoes off in the bathroom and dried them with the hand dryer.  Feeling much, much better at that point, and finally sure I'd actually survived, I hiked to a place with wifi and food, where I am now.  My feet got kind of cold and wet again.   This is why I don't bog much about my day to day life right now.  No one really wants to read it.

So that's the last 20 hours of my life.  How was your day?

Newspaper report on the snow storm of 12/9/2018 here in Richmond

Alternative Christmas Playlist

Yeah, you know this song.  Or at least you think you do.  Have you ever actually sat down, closed your eyes, with the headphones on, and listened to the lyrics of "Mr. Grinch?"  Seriously.  Do it.  This song is as punk as it gets.  "You're a triple-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich, with arsenic sauce."  Those are actual lyrics in the song. How can that not make you smile when thinking about all the crap you have to do before Christmas Day? 

DISCLAIMER:  This list will likely be offensive to people who should be offended by the gross over-commercialization of Christmas, but aren't. 

If you're like me, and the holiday playlist playing everywhere, like the McDonald's I'm in right now, is bad boy bands and washed up pop star covers of old Christmas songs that make you want to vomit. Here's some alternative holiday tunes to lighten up the day:

"Jingle Bells"- Brian Setzer Orchestra
"Silent Night"- The Dickies
"Little Drummer Boy"- Joan Jett
"We Three Kings"- Blondie
"You pissed yourself"- Bad Santa
"Merry Christmas (I don't want to fight tonight)"- The Ramones
"The Season's Upon Us"- Dropkick Murphys
"Silver Bells"- Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney
"Oi To The World"- No Doubt
"Christmas in Hollis"- RUN-DMC
"The First Noel"- Bad Religion
"Christmas Wrapping"- The Waitresses
"Run Run Rudolph"- Lemmy Kilmister
"Stray Cat Strut/Mr. Grinch"- Brian Setzer Orchestra
"White Christmas"- The Partridge Family
"Holiday"- Green Day (Christmas instrumental cover)
"The Chanukah Song"- Adam Sandler (Somehow it's just not Christmas without hearing this)
"Blue Christmas"- The Partridge Family
"Silent Night"- Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins &
friends
"Drunk at Work"- Bad Santa
"Christmas Canon"- Trans Siberian Orchestra
"I Won't Be Home For Christmas"- Blink 182
"Little Drummer Boy (Peace on Earth)"- David Bowie & Bing Crosby
"Daddy Drank our Christmas Money"- TVTV$
"Angels We Have Heard On High"- Brian Setzer Orchestra
"Amazing Grace"- Dropkick Murphys
"White Christmas"- Stiff Little Fingers
"Christmas Wrapping"- Save Ferris (Jewish Version) 
"Little Drummer Boy"- Pentatonix
"Oi to the World"- The Vandals (the No Doubt version is a cover of this one)
"Skank For Christmas"- Reel Big Fish
"The Christmas Song"- The Partridge Family
"The Insults"- Bad Santa
"Christmas Sucks"- Peter Murphy & Tom Waits
"Merry Fucking Christmas"- Dennis Leary
"Christmas Cards & much more"- George Carlin (just in case you're not offended yet)
Johnny Cash & Family Christmas Special 1977
Christmas Fails 2016 
Christmas Fails 2017 

Have a Happy Holiday Season everyone.  Me?  I'll be Home(less) for Christmas... so stop your bitchin' about stupid shit, it could be worse.  Heh, heh, heh, ho,ho,ho...

Four Great Talks for Artists to Check Out

Simon Sinek is the Optimist/writer of books like Start With Why, and Leaders Eat Last.  I've listened to several of his talks on business and finding your "Why?" in life.  He's easy to listen to and makes a ton of sense.  This one surprised me when it popped up on my feed a couple days ago.  I found it totally fascinating.  Maybe you will, too.  Oh, among other things, he gives an actual definition of "art."  Hell, I've never managed to do that.



What do you do after you spend a year eating, praying, and loving?  You inspire the freakin' world with an epic TED Talk.  Elizabeth Gilbert's epic piece.  I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've watched this.



Why are we all afraid of asking for so many things we need?  Maybe it runs in the family.  Maybe we need a ukulele anthem to psych us up first.  Another epic TED Talk involving creativity.  Like the one above, I can't even count how many times I've listened to this.





"Let's talk about donuts..."  What?  You had me at "donuts."  Maria Popova does some serious brain picking into Amanda Palmer's thoughts.  I wasn't sure what to think when I started watching this for the first time.  Like those above, it's become a favorite I've watched many, many times.  EAT THE FUCKING DONUTS!

The thing I've learned about suggesting books, talks, music, or orgasmic techniques to other people is that what is amazing for me may not do anything for anyone else.  So I'm throwing four favorites out there.  If one calls to you a bit, watch.  Listen.  That little intuitive spark of interest nearly always means there's something in it you need to see/hear right now.  Let me know if any of you get something cool from one or more of these.

Why I started selling my artwork... without a dime to my name

Lana Del Rey drawing I did as a commission earlier this year.  It was bought by a mom, as a gift for her daughter's 16th birthday.  Young Erin, who received it, was "over the moon," upon receiving her gift.  I felt the same way when I got the photo of Erin, with a huge smile, holding this drawing.  That's a big part of why I draw these pieces.  I want you to see the people you admire in a new way. 

I grew up in a world where art was a hobby and everyone was told to go get a "real" job.  And that's what I did.  I had a whole bunch of real jobs, some cool, many of which kinda sucked.  From my early 20's on, after unexpected success in the BMX bike industry, I was still struggling with personal issues.  You know, all those wonderful (ahem) mental blocks, negative feedback loops, and emotional baggage that come with growing up in a family that's more dysfunctional than most, less dysfunctional than some.  In other words, I stumbled into a couple of dream jobs, and was still miserable.  I had shit to work out.

So rather than focus on going to college a few years later than most, my aim was to work through my shyness and other issues.  I didn't really give a damn about a traditional career path.  I worked a whole series of odd jobs through the 1990's, from a crew guy on the hit TV show American Gladiators, to bummed out telemarketing guy, and many in between.  It's a long story, but this, and an injury, led to taxi driving in 1999, and through much of the 2000's.

What I didn't plan on was new technology destroying the taxi industry, even before Uber and Lyft came along.  The switch from CB radio dispatching to computer dispatching changed the whole game, and forced us all to work 7 days a week.  That led to living in my taxi for about four years, working 14 to 18 hours most days, gaining over 150 pounds, and three bouts of leg infections that nearly killed me.  The declining business and my poor health led to the point where I could no longer make the $600 a week to pay for my taxi, and the $300 a week to pay for gas.  I walked into the taxi office the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2007, dropped off the keys, and walked out onto the streets of Orange County California with about $15 in my pocket.  My health was so bad, I assumed I would die within a few weeks.  Obviously, I didn't.

After a year on the streets, panhandling to survive, and unable to find any way to earn  living again, I called my parents.  They'd offered to fly me to North Carolina, where they, and my sister and brother-in-law, had wound up living.  We're from Ohio originally.  I never wanted to go to NC.  But I just couldn't get things going again in SoCal, so I accepted their offer.  I flew into Raleigh, and they drove me to Kernersville, in the Piedmont Triad area, near Greensboro, in Central NC.  That was mid-November 2008.  You know, back when the entire world economy was collapsing.  There were no jobs to be had.  In fact, except for another year of taxi driving, I never did find ANY "real" job in NC.  My dad died in 2012, I moved back in with my mom, who I'd never gotten along with.  By the time November 2015 rolled around, I knew I had to do something to start creating my own job.

We were living off my mom's Social Security, which is actually a decent amount.  But handling money is not my mom's strong suit, to put it mildly.  She got her check, I drove her on a couple of all day shopping expeditions, and then we were in financial crisis mode for the next 27 days.  Same thing, month after month.  The only thing I did that made me any money was my weird Sharpie artwork.  I drew pictures of kids' names in their favorite colors for $20-$25.  So I decided to focus on that, and work to turn it into a business.

My first step was to take stock of what I had to start with.  I had a small bedroom in a quiet apartment.  It was a completely toxic environment, but it was free.  "Free" meaning I chauffeured my mom around to stores, and an endless list of doctor's appointments.  I paid a huge emotional price getting berated all day, every day.  But I didn't pay money for rent.  So that was good.  Kind of.

I had a bunch of Sharpies, a cheap, 12" X 18" art pad, and a card table in my room to work on.  I didn't have a cell phone, much less a smart phone.  To communicate with the outside world, where I would have to sell my most of my artwork, I had a refurbished (like $60) HP laptop, still running Microsft XP in late 2015.  Perhaps most important, I'd built a small, but fairly hardcore following online, blogging about my days in the BMX freestyle industry when it was just getting going in the 1980's.  I got depressed and deleted my three best blogs shortly after my dad died, but I'd re-started one of them.  So I had a small, but legit, audience online.  Most had become Facebook friends as well.

What I didn't have was money.  I LITERALLY did not have a dime.  In my mom's apartment, if I had any money she knew of, a "crisis" would arise that needed all that money.  If I made $20 for a drawing, and spent $4 on some Ben and Jerry's ice cream to celebrate, a crisis would erupt that needed $16.  If I had $1.43 to my name, my mom would have a crisis, usually involving chocolate, that needed $1.43.  So I started without a dime.

My first step was to sit down one night and ask myself what I thought was a simple, but smart question.
 "What could I draw that I'd actually want to put on my own wall?"
I sat down at my mom's computer, which was faster than mine, and looked at all kinds of art.  When I was homeless in 2007-08, I discovered Banksy and became a big fan of Street Art.  Graffiti, from the collage-like look of layers of tagged walls, to huge, colorful bombing pieces, was another huge influence throughout my life.  I also like M.C. Escher as a kid, and the wildlife painter Bev Doolittle (Google her "Doubled Back," I loved that as a kid), and Russian Surrealist Vladimir Kush, who i met at a show.  I  looked at the western art of Frederick Remington, and the "masters" we're all supposed to like.  But I kept coming back to stenciled street art, like Banksy, Shephard Fairey, and others worldwide.  

I found a simple stencil of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.  He was my first hero as a kid, and a guy that got more and more interesting the more I learned about him.  So I printed it out.  I borrowed a couple of bucks from my mom, and blew it up on a copy machine, and transferred the simple image onto my art paper.  I colored it in with my Sharpie "scribble style" that I'd developed years earlier while actually living in an indie art gallery in California.  I put words in the background, quotes from Bruce Lee.  It came out cool, I actually did tape it up on my wall, and I knew I was on the right track. 

So while I grew up in a world where everyone told me that art was "OK as a hobby," but that I needed to get a "real job," that had changed by 2015.  I still couldn't find ANY "real job."  So I took to art to begin to earn a living when regular work just couldn't be found.  My world had reversed itself.

In the next art post, I'll talk about HOW I started selling drawings with no money and just an old laptop to reach the rest of the world.   

Eight of my BMX blog posts you forgot about... plus art and stuff for sale

The Nortorious B.I.G., a brand new drawing, my take on a classic photo.  8 1/2" X 11" copy available on card stock for $12 (shipped in the continental U.S.).  Paypal me at stevenemig13@gmail.com  (2 prints for $22, 3 for $30 same or mix and match the ones in this post).  Outside the U.S., email me and I'll figure shipping costs.  I'm working my way out of homelessness right now, this art and zine books are how I'm making my living.  I could use your help to keep writing, and doing cool projects.  Buy something. ( #sharpiescribblestyle)

Here are two of my older BMX blog posts you may not have read:
Don Hoffman, Eddie Fiola, and Pipeline (skatepark)
Mike Dominguez's Best Public 900 Attempt

I started blogging stories of my days in the old school BMX world in 2008, right after losing all my raw video footage (1989-2007), my master tapes, and all my magazines, hundreds of poems I'd written and all my other creative work.  It was a real dark time for me, but also the first time I had unlimited access to a computer.  I was basically a Luddite before that.  I knew nothing about online communities or even that old school BMXers communicated online.  I found the FREESTYLIN' book online, and I wasn't mentioned, though I published the top freestyle zine at one point, and I worked at FREESTYLIN' for a few months.  I thought they'd at least make fun of me.  So I decided to write 20 or 30 blog posts about my stories just to say, "Hey, I was a BMX industry guy, I saw some cool stuff happen, here's some stories."

I started a blog called FREESTYLIN' Mag Tales, and  soon started connecting with old school riders again, much to my surprise.  I wound up writing over 200 blog posts about the magazines I worked at for only five months.  Then I started a new blog, Freestyle BMX Tales, and wrote stories about my other experiences from my serious years of BMX riding and working in the bike skate industry.

Johnny Cash drawing, get an 8 1/2" X 11" print on card stock for $12, free shipping in Cont. U.S. (Mix and match these 4 drawings, 2 for $22, 3 for $30, 4 for $35 shipped in U.S.).  #sharpiescribblestyle

Over about 2 1/2 years, I wrote over 500 blog posts about my BMX days in Freestyle BMX Tales.  I think that blog got over 125,000 total page views.  I wrote them all because I wanted to, for free, on my blog.  I did put ads on my blog for a few months, but I got kicked off Google Adsense because I didn't respond to an email about tax info.  I took the ads off the blog.  All of those 700+ BMX blog posts were read by quite a few people, which amazed me.

Then, in March 2012, my dad had a severe stroke.  After a couple of months, I quit my taxi driving work to spend more time with him.  He had survived the stroke, but he wasn't strong enough to live much longer, and he died in August 2012.  I moved in with my mom, and went into a real dark period of my life.  In a depressed moment, I deleted all my blogs, the BMX blogs, and other's I tried out on other topics.  At one point, Brian Tunney, at ESPN, actually wrote a eulogy to FREESTYLIN' Mag Tales, which is pretty crazy.  What kind of blog actually gets a eulogy when it dies? 

Here are two more of my older blog posts many of you haven't read:
The S&M Bikes BS 20 Neon
You Are (fo)R(g)OTTEN- The P.O.W. House Video (sort of)

Drawing of a BMX vert turndown with my "Become" poem handwritten on it.  Get an 8 1/2" X 11" print of this for $12 (shipped in U.S.).  Paypal me at: stevenemig13@gmail.com .  (Mix and match these four drawings 2 for $22, 3 for $30, 4 for $35). #sharpiescribblestyle

At one point, I switched from Blogger and went to the better blog platform Wordpress, and did another version of Freestyle BMX Tales there for a while.  But I wasn't as into to it, and didn't do that many posts.  I eventually went back to the simpler Blogger, mostly because it automatically formatted the blog for smart phones at the time, and Wordpress didn't.  I ended up writing another 89 blog posts about my BMX days, published between 2015 and 2017.  That's where these blog posts have been sitting.  More of these are from the time period of 1990 on, which I never wrote about in my first two blogs.

Here are two more BMX posts from this surviving Freestyle BMX Tales blog:
The Birth of Club Homeboy
Feel My Fingers... I 'm Editing Drunk 

My take on the classic photo of Bob Marley.  Get a print of this 8 1/2" X 11" drawing for $12.  Paypal me at stevenemig13@gmail.com for a copy.  (Mix and match these four prints, 2 for $22, 3 for $30, 4 for $35).  #sharpiescribblestyle

As time went by, living in the small town of Kernersville, NC, I couldn't find any work at all.  Even restaurants wouldn't hire me.  I finally decided I had to create my own job.  The one thing that made me some money from time to time, was drawing pictures in my weird Sharpie style.  So I decided to focus on that.  After spending a couple of hours looking at all kinds of art online one night, I decided to start drawing people.  I found a simple stencil painting of Bruce Lee, and I blew up the photo, got the simple outline, and drew it.  I started working towards the goal of creating a small business, without a dime to my name.  I've been building it slowly since, drawing nearly every day for three years now.  I'm still not making a viable living.  There's been a ton of drama since.  But I'm still plugging along, still drawing, and trying to write more, as I can.  I brought all my former blogs together into this one in late June 2017, and it's been well read since, much to my surprise.

Here are two more of my older BMX blogposts you may not know exist:
Memories of Scot Breithaupt, part 2 (The Godfather of BMX)
The First Time the S&M Guys and the P.O.W. House Were in a Video

Ten years ago this week, I was at a real dark time in my life, having just lost my entire life's creative work.  For several years I'd been thinking of making a really cool documentary with all of my original BMX freestyle footage.  Then, because I couldn't borrow $150 to get my stuff shipped to NC from CA, it was gone.  Poof!  That's when I started blogging about stories from my life and work in BMX freestyle in the 1980's and early 90's.  I've written well over 800 blog posts about BMX in ten years.  All of them were available for free on my blogs.  Over 100 are still available.  At the same time, I was struggling personally and financially.

Last week I set a big six month goal, to earn $10,000 in sales from my artwork and writing in six months (until April 27, 2019). All of you reading this will probably make and spend far more than that during this time on everyday life.  But I'm starting again, in a new city, while homeless.  That's a big goal starting from basically nothing.

Much of this money will go to buy art supplies, make the prints, zines, original drawings, and ship them to people.  The biggest chunk will be to simply rent me a room to live as soon as possible.  It's winter here in Richmond, and I'm sleeping outside.  It was 38 degrees when I walked to McDonald's this morning (cheap food, bathroom, and wifi).  I cussed up a storm for a minute because I tweaked my back Saturday, and could hardly move this morning.  Then I picked up my stuff and headed off to get to work.  That's what I do everyday.

Yes, there are homeless programs for housing, which usually take 6 to 12 months (for single men) to get a subsidized, usually not very safe, ghetto apartment.  And then you're not allowed to actually make a good living in most cases.  You have to earn a sub par income forever.  That's just not me.  I WANT to work.  I have lots of drawing and art show ideas.  I'm starting a series of Freestyle BMX Tales zines (see below), the first one will come out in 2 or 3 days.  I have several books I want to write, ranging from my crazy taxi stories to building creative  scenes (art/music/bike/skate, etc), and where we're heading as a society (my geeky brainiac side is a futurist). 

I'm not asking for donations.  I've figured out that if I sell $10,000 worth of work in six months, I should make enough to go from homeless dude drawing at the library, to a legit art/writing small business.  That's my way to make a living going forward.  You can help by buying the prints on this page.  They are, technically, high quality color copies on card stock, which comes out really cool.  These are the other things I have available:

Freestyle BMX Tales Zine #1- "The Spot in Redondo Beach" - 48 or more black and white zine pages of tales from my time riding with R.L. Osborn, Gork, Lew, Craig Grasso, Chris Day, and others.  Unlike my blog posts, this will be more than just stories of riding, it will be some history of each place, and a bigger picture look at BMX freestyle and its place in the world.  These are $6 shipped in the continental U.S,  paypal to stevenemig13@gmail.com .  $5 + shipping anywhere else (message me, I'll figure shipping).  If you've ever made zines, you know the cost and shipping of a 48 page zine is about $5.  Not much profit, if any, but I want people to get these and check them out.  Zines, by their very nature, become collector's items almost immediately.  Each copy will be signed and numbered by me.

Large, original, 18" X 24" Sharpie drawings, you know, like these:

Vic Murphy top (from the classic black & white photo), Dave Vanderspek on his GPV below (from my best photo ever).  These take me 35 to 45 hours each to draw, and I charge $150 each.  I work from photos, and I can do your favorite athlete or musician.  I MIGHT be able to do a personal photo.  Some photos just don't work well.  These take about 10 days to complete with everything else I'm doing, and I have two lined up right now.  I MIGHT be able to do one and ship it in time for Christmas.  Maybe.  Message me on Facebook or email first- stevenemig13@gmail.com

Club White Bear.  $25 a year.  I'll send you a 24 page or bigger zine every other month, with BMX and other stuff in it.  And you get first chance at buying my future prints, and 20% off any original art of mine you buy.  Plus random goodies, and art copies no one else will get.  Paypal $25 to stevenemig13@gmail.com, add your address to send it to.

Thanks for reading everyone.  Thanks even more if you buy something.  Let me know what you're thinking about my blogs and artwork.  Look up the 60+ big drawings I've done, with #sharpiescribblestyle on Instagram or Google images.  Later.