3162 Kashiwa Street in Torrance, California

Sometimes a location becomes famous itself, as a focal point of human activity that affects a large number of people.  Over the last couple of days, an old school BMX freestyle rider made a Facebook post about a non-descript industrial building at 3162 Kashiwa Street in Torrance, California.  A whole bunch of us added comments.  Why?  Because that building was the longtime home Wizard Publications, which published BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines.  That address became legendary to us BMX freestylers of the 1980's.

After reading the comments on the FB post, I knew it was time to write a post about that place, because I worked there for a short time, from August 1st to December 31st, 1986, and it changed the entire course of my life.  Since the photos shared were on FB were of the outside of the building, I've decided to write this post about a few things I saw happen in that parking lot.  Yeah, just the parking lot, the one you see R.L. Osborn and Ron Wilton sessioning in the the early part of the video above.

This BMX Action Trick Team video was written (they did that back then) and produced by a professional video production company.  This video cost about $40,000 to produce, and lost a ton of money.  No disrespect to R.L., Ron, Windy, Dian Harlan (the world's greatest receptionist at the time) or anyone else in this video, but, let's face it, it sucked.  The reason it sucked is because nobody knew how to make a really exciting BMX freestyle video at the time, and only professionals could afford high quality equipment.  So those people were hired to make a standard, documentary-type, video about the BMXA Trick Team, and the new and emerging little sport of BMX freestyle.

In that parking lot, on my first full day working for Wizard, I helped set up for a party commemorating the 10 year anniversary of BMX Action magazine.  Gork, the editor of BMXA at the time, spent Saturday, the next day, at the party.  Andy Jenkins, Lew, and myself, made a short appearance, but then went off to other plans for the day.  But during that short appearance, I saw Bob Haro, the guy who invented BMX freestyle, for the first time.  Fan boy moment on my second day living in Southern California.

In that parking lot, I had some after work freestyle sessions on the T.O.L. (Tower Of Love) halfpipe, with R.L. Osborn, Eddie Fiola, Gork, Lew, and a few other riders. I never got up to coping, but it was fun anyway.

In that parking lot, I rode a mono-shock bike for the first time.  Some old schoolers brought a few really old BMX bikes to the warehouse for a photo shoot, so we had a couple of impromptu freestyle sessions on them, and even rode them all to lunch one day.

In that parking lot, I first rode on Gork's BMX sidehack.  We tried a few freestyle tricks on it.  We actually managed to do a few backwards wheelies on it, Gork on the bike and me on the hack.  They weren't easy, I'm pretty proud of that trick.  But no one thought to snap photos back in those days.  Bummer.

In that parking lot, I saw an unknown rider named Mitch Collins, wearing one of Woody Itson's old uniforms, blasting higher airs on the T.O.L. than anyone I had seen ride it.  He didn't air quite as high as Josh White did, but I started working there a few months too late for Josh's epic photo shoot there.

In that parking lot, I saw Eddie Fiola session the T.O.L. halfpipe many times.  He ruled that ramp in 1986.  A couple of guys got a bit higher, but Eddie had the lines and the flow since he was a skatepark rider, and rode the ramp more than anyone during my stint working there.

In that parking lot I had flatland sessions with R.L. Osborn, Gork, Lew, Craig Grasso, Chris Day, Zack, Melody, and the local kids, Dizz Hicks, Ceppie Maes, McGoo, Dave Vanderspek, Maurice Meyer, and the entire NorCal/Golden Gate park posse, along with other random freestyle travelers.

In that parking lot, one pro rider showed us the nude photos his girlfriend had professionally taken so he could check them out while on tour.

In that parking lot, I first tried a trick Gork dubbed the Spud Stall.  He named it that since I was form Idaho.  I pulled up my front wheel while rolling straight at the warehouse wall, then I tried to touch both tires to the wall with the bike straight up.  Fakie wall rides hadn't been invented yet, but that's what I was trying.  I'd get my front wheel on the wall, and my back wheel within six inches of it or so, hit the brakes, then hop back and ride out.  Craig Grasso, who saw me try these for months, and get really close on a skater launch ramp in Hermosa, ended up being the guy to actually make fakie wall rides happen and get the first photo.  I'm stoked on that.  I had to clean the white Wizard wall because my tires left black marks on it.

Just outside that parking lot, in the street, I was sent out one day to help some ramp rider kid set up Brian Scura's ramp to do a photo shoot with Windy.  It turned out, Brian had engineered the ramp to be set up by a single person, so this kid with the stringy blond hair didn't need help.  I hung out and watched him warm-up anyhow.  At one point it looked like he was bailing, but he ended up doing this insane, upside down footplant.  I'd never seen anything like it.  That was the day I met Dave Voelker.

One day, Andy led us out into the parking lot for a "meeting."  Gork, Lew, Andy, and I sat on the curb of the little island, and he brought up our topic.  He was thinking about hitting up Oz to make another video, and he wanted our ideas.  Since Oz spent $40K on the BMX Action video (above), there was a "don't ever mention making another video," unwritten rule in place at Wizard then.  Andy thought that if we could come up with a really, REALLY good idea, we might be able to talk into making another video, using the new, amazing (and cheap) Video 8 camcorders.  We all threw out ideas.  My idea was to show us getting off work on a Friday afternoon, and then going riding with all the best riders in SoCal all weekend.  Nobody liked that idea.  So I self-produced the concept as The Ultimate Weekend in 1990, 3 1/2 years later.

One morning, while standing outside the little warehouse door on our break, Haro pro Ron Wilkerson rode up on his motorcycle.  He shut it off and coasted up to us.  There was a small person, which appeared to be a blond kid, about 13-years-old, on the back of the motorcycle.  We looked at each other in confusion, wondering if Ron was going around picking up young boys or something.  They took their helmets off.  Ron said, "Hey guys, this is Spike, Spike Jonze.  He jumped in the Haro van back East and went on tour with us as our roadie."  We had no idea what that (17 -year-old) BMXer/skater kid had in store for his life.  I don't think he had any idea either at that point.  He's still surprising us all.

So those are some of my best memories from the average looking parking lot, located at 3162 Kashiwa Street, in Torrance, California.

30,000 page views in less than a year. Heck yeah.

On June 26, 2017, about three weeks after coming to Winston-Salem with $15 in my pocket, I brought all my assorted blog ideas into one.  This blog was born.  I spent about 9 1/2 of the last 12 months living in a tent in the woods and drawing my weird Sharpie pictures as many hours a day as I could.  My blog is all over the place:  old school BMX stories, pics of my drawings, macroeconomics (by a homeless dude?  WTF?) and random thoughts.  The occasional rant that pisses off the entire power structure of North Carolina.  If any blog should have bombed.  It's this one.  But it's all me.  And you folks keep checking it out.

THANKS! 
I'm stoked on hitting 30,000 page views in less than a year.  I'm also stoked I'm sleeping on a futon now under a roof.  Huge thanks to Rick, Ben, Scotty Z, My sister Cheri, my niece Katherine and nephew Ethan (just for being cool kids and not giving up on crazy Uncle Steve) Jane, Phred, Lee, Rachel, Ian & Catherine, Trina (love the knuckle photo), Olu, and everyone who's bought a drawing, let me push their shopping cart at Adli's for food money, everyone who's thrown me a few bucks just cause I look like hell, and everyone who's checked out this blog in the last 11 months.  Keep rockin' people, and I'll try my best to keep this thing worth checking out.

The Year of the Tent #12: What can one homeless person accomplish in a year?

Unable to find any job in Kernersville for years, in November of 2015, I decided to focus on turning my weird Sharpie artwork into a small business.  I started literally without a single dime.  I had a place to live, a $60 refurbished laptop running Windows XP, a sketch pad, and a bunch of Sharpie markers.  I sat down for a couple of hours and looked at all kinds of art online.  I had one question in mind, "What could I draw that I would want to put on my wall?"  I ended up doing this simple drawing of Bruce Lee, my first hero.  I've been drawing, honing my skills, progressing, and promoting myself ever since.

One year ago, on June 1st 2017, I decided to come to Winston-Salem, because I couldn't re-invest the money I was making back into my art in my living situation in Kernersville.  I stored my few belongings in a friend's closet.  I moved into a patch of woods in Winston-Salem, since I wasn't able to afford any place to live.  I had about $15 to my name, a few clothes, and my art supplies.  I lived in a tent for 9 1/2 of the past 12 months.  

This post, and the previous 11, show you what I've done in the past year as a homeless artist.  I just recently was offered a place to stay, so I'm not homeless anymore.  I'm making consistent money from my art, though not all that much.  I make about what I'd make as a part time restaurant employee.  But I draw and work on the computer all day.  I've created my own job.  I have a two month backlog of work to do at the moment.  My prices aren't that high, but they're increasing bit by bit.  The money will come.

My goal was to create a small business from my art and writing.  Along the way, I've blown most people's stereotypes of what a homeless person can accomplish, which is a nice added bonus.  Scroll through the pics and enjoy.  Here's my info:

Facebook page: Steve Emig (the only one in Winston-Salem).  I have an FB group about Winston-Salem Art and Creative Scenes that you can join (if you friend me) or checkout at any time.
Pinterest: Steve Emig  stevenemig13
Email: stevenemig13@gmail.com
No phone at the moment.  Really kids, that's actually possible.
You can see my work in person at Earshot Music (3254 Silas Creek Parkway), and maybe at 625 Trade Street.

Media:
Winston-Salem Journal- Artist Profile- November 1, 2017
Fresh From The Vine Radio show- WDRB Radio Charlotte- April 8, 2018- interview at 23:40
WGHP Fox 8 News- Interview by Allison Smith- May 17, 2017

The Year of the Tent #11

 Stevie Ray Vaughn/The Sky is Crying, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  One of my favorites of the favorites I've done in the last year.  This drawing is now in Kentucky with several others of mine.  I got to actually see him play in a bar, on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas in 1987.  I didn't know who he was then.  Freakin' amazing bluesman.

 My tools.  Most of them.  For the last crazy year, I've carried my art studio wherever I go.

 Be weird.  "Most progress in the world comes from the Freaks, Geeks, Dorks, and Weirdos."  This drawing, and the one below, are now on the office wall of Ms. China Krys Darrington.  She works in the trenches helping people recover from opiate addiction and similar issues.  Keep up the great work China.  These two drawings, and several others of mine, now live in Ohio, where I was born and lived as a kid.

More good advice (in my opinion), "Do the impossible, it really pisses off normal people."

The Year of the Tent # 10: Happy Customers

 This is Erin, who got a drawing I did of singer Lana Del Rey for her 16th birthday recently.  Her mom Lisa said she was "over the moon."  Finishing a drawing I really like feels great.  But seeing a photo of someone who got one of my drawings as a present is as cool as it gets.  There's a close-up photo of the drawing a few posts back.

 As a long time skateboarder and one time skate industry guy, I was really stoked on this opportunity.  In this photo, all three ladies are in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.  On the left is Vicki Vickers, in the middle is Deanna Calkins, and on the right is Robin Logan, from the family that created the Logan Earth Ski boards.  After receiving a drawing of mine as a gift herself over a year ago, Robin has had me do drawings of friends as gifts.  This past Mother's Day, Vicki and Deanna got these drawings as gifts from Robin, both of photos from their heyday as pioneering women skaters.

 As a Sharpie artist, what do I do when my brain is tired from concentrating?  Adult coloring... sort of.  I draw freehand "doodle art" pieces, and then color them.  This "Love is the Answer" drawing full of hears still isn't finished, but you can see it if you find me at the Winston-Salem First Friday Gallery Hop tonight (6/1/2018).

Here's the first drawing Robin Logan (above) had me do, her older brother Bruce Logan. 

The Year of the Tent #9

The late Dr. Maya Angelou, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper, sold.  This one managed to wind up on stage at the garden party at Bailey Park here in Winston-Salem, celebrating Dr. Angelou's 90th birthday party.  That was pretty cool. 

 Joan Jett/I Love Rock n' Roll, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  I started this one for myself, and like so many others over the last couple of years, it wound up for sale.  You may see it in a window on Trade Street, that's where I last saw it. 

 When you wind up homeless for any reason, most people somehow believe that you must have lived a life that would inevitably lead to homelessness.  In almost every case, that's not true.  So here are a couple of photos of me when I wasn't old, fat, and homeless.  Here I am in 1989 as a camerman for Unreel Productions, the video company owned by Vision Skateboards/Vision Street Wear Clothes.  The camera on my shoulder is a broadcast quality Sony Betacam that weighed 35 pounds and cost $50,000.  I was shooting the AFA Masters Finals, the year end national BMX freestyle contest.  The location is the former Olympic Velodrome, used in the 1984 Olympics, on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills.  For you old school rap fans out there, this is a couple miles from Compton.  Photo by Mike Sarrail.

This is a video still (at 1:05) from my 1990, self-produced BMX freestyle video, The Ultimate Weekend.  I'm doing a wall ride over my younger sister Cheri's head.  She's a grade school teacher in Greensboro now.  The location is the Blues Brother Wall, a slightly undervert wall, right next to the beach in Huntington Beach, California.  It's near 14th Street and PCH. 

The Year of the Tent #8

 Lana Del Rey/Old Money, 18" X 24,", Sharpies on paper, sold.  A friend named Lisa, who I met when she interviewed me about my artwork, had me do this for her daughter Erin's 16th birthday.  I'm always nervous about doing a birthday present drawing for someone I don't know.  as you'll see from Erin's photo in another post, things turned out well.  Erin loves the drawing, and I am now a fan of Lana Del Rey, thanks Lisa and Erin.

Tedeschi Trucks Band, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  A Triad couple who bought a couple of my drawings from Earshot Music later had me do a series of drawings for them.  Tedeschi Trucks Band was a group I'd never heard of, and they're amazing.  I always dive into the music and interviews of the bands and people I draw.  With this drawing, I got turned on to a new band and this is one of my favorite drawings I've done in the last year.  This couple's orders basically kept me alive and got my art business off the ground.  Thank you for that.  They recently moved to Kentucky, and I have a couple more orders to do for them.  Like Hannibal in the A-Team, I love it when a plan comes together.

Jimi Hendrix/Hey Joe, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  Why would a fat, smelly, homeless guy take a shot at drawing one of the most classic images in Rock n' Roll history?  Because I thuoght I could fucking rock it.  Jimi came out pretty good.  He's living in Kentucky right now.

Young Elvis Presley and fans, 18" X 24," Sharpies on paper.  The guy who bought my Kurt Cobain drawing in my show at Earshot Music last November, has turned a friend of his on to my work, and that man is now a collector.  I started this Elvis Presley drawing intending for it to hang on the wall at Earshot Music.  Elvis never made it to the wall.  Sorry wall.  Good problem to have for me, though.