June 30, 2009 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Dear readers,

The following letter is from Nick Biddle, a Conservative Republican from Temecula. Mr Biddle is a fierce opponent to the proposed quarry for a variety of reasons, a lot of info can be found on this site. Here he presents a new approach to stopping the quarry from going in. It is certainly worth a read.

The video certainly worth a view. It is from CNN.com and about a mining town called Picher Oklahoma. Picher is now a ghost town with poisoned air, land and water. I am sure the people of Picher never thought their town would end up this way, and even if only 1% of what happened in Picher happened in Temecula, Rainbow or Fallbrook it would be too much. Consider all this when thinking about the future of Temecula Valley and if we trully want a mine located where Granite Construction is proposing the ‘Liberty Quarry’. Please feel free to chime in and leave comments.

Bill Gould
Publisher

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Remember when Toyota began exporting ugly, tinny, underpowered little malfunctioning copycat cars to America in 1959? (Yes, I’m that old.) GM’s Caddy Eldorado Biarritz convertible was the American dream machine then. Toyota quickly retreated in abject failure—only to return again a few years later, with a slightly less revolting car. Fast forward. “And the rest is history”, as Paul Harvey used to say. Toyota is now the top selling car in America while mighty GM is bankrupt, done, kaput.

Temecula’s Plan A, just like Toyota’s, didn’t work, with the mullahs of LAFCO in Riverside on June 4th. With an imperious sweep of the hand, they ignored all our written petititions which were arduously, and admirably gathered by hardworking, devoted SOS members and leaders, many erudite and passionate individual speeches. They sternly labeled all of us as farcical, having already leaked to the press the previous week that they were against us, and warning us not to bore them. Okay, so bring on Plan B.

Shift gears. Don’t dig ourselves deeper into the same hole with the same failed strategy. Be agile Toyota, not sclerotic, smug GM.
Copy what works. It’s unnecessary to “re-invent the wheel”. Emulate feisty, adaptable, relentless copycat Toyota. Don’t mope around. Do change strategy.

Here’s Plan B:
Copy (gulp) Granite Construction Company’s proven successful PR and advertising strategy. It works, different from our failed methods. Yes, Granite is very good at what it does. Copy them. The Japanese did cheezy knock-offs of American products fifty plus years ago, as China does today. Similarly we can outdo Granite at its own proven PR game, but we’re for real, not phony or cheezy or dishonest like Granite. When we see their huge color ads featuring laughing children, smiling miners in yellow hardhats, green Liberty Bells, back dropped with crystal blue sky over our beautiful hills with the intoned message “character matters”, we know it’s all sheer, bogus nonsense.

But it WINS!
Our strategy LOSES!

We moan about mountain lions’ and other wild critters’ interrupted paths across SMER, itself a 47 year old world famous national and international treasure. But this only allows Granite to portray us as a bunch of bleeding heart, tree hugging Socialist elitists, while good ole Granite looks out for the regular down home folks of Riverside County just trying to make a living. Our whole approach seems to have obligingly played right into their dishonest PR, like a moth to flame. Instead, let’s focus on a few (or many) groups of the 250,000 people in the Temecula Valley who will be adversely affected by the quarry.

For example:
1. Use as our template, that marvelous multicolored Granite ad. Get real laughing Temecula children and their parents playing in our beautiful, huge, new, proud Birdsall Park, one mile directly downwind from the toxic quarry, instead of the phony yellow hatted smiling truck drivers, child models, and green Liberty Bells. Keep the background blue sky and hills, though. They’re a great touch as Granite knows. We could even steal their smarmy “character matters” mantra, only we’ll be talking about the real character of all the many constituencies and businesses of Temecula and adjacent towns.

2. How about interviewing our resident Abbott Lab scientists, in their gorgeous, new, large office tower, as well as Granite’s truck drivers? Wouldn’t they have a word or two to say? By the way, Abbott has annual sales of $29.5 billion, compared to Granite’s puny $2.7 billion, and 69,000 employees, compared to Granite’s measly 3,500 employees. Shouldn’t we notice that and point it out?

3. So who’s really the 800 pound corporate gorilla in this picture who should be listened to, if we only care about corporate needs, and county tax revenues, as the Riverside Supervisors usually do? Would the Supervisors really want to sacrifice the needs of a far more important classy county client-resident, Abbott, for a rinky dink, often lawbreaking bush leaguer like Granite?
Face it. The Riverside Supervisors don’t care, and never will care, about anything other than what will get them reelected. Granite has money and influence of course, while we don’t have as much, but popular opinion and voters are the really big stick we do have, and which the Supervisors respect. Notice Iran’s Supreme Leader in Tehran today? Amazingly he’s back pedaling a bit, different from the 1979 bloodbath, and is worried about Twitter, the penultimate modern people power.

We need to get that sense of people power through to Riverside. Plan A (critters, environment and SDSU’s SMER) are still just as important as we all know and deeply care about, and must still be emphasized. But it can no longer be our main focus anymore. The 250,000 people and their lifestyle and health must be the main focus henceforth. Abbott’s hundreds of resident Temecula employees, are on our side. Let’s now enroll them and other similar corporate friends in the battle. It’s a lot more than about mountain lions, as Granite knows. At the end of the day, even if it’s only about the money, as Granite and the Supervisors believe, we win that one too, considering all the moneyed, Riverside County taxpaying interests of our community who will suffer from the Granite invasion.

Nick Biddle

Posted in Inland Empire, Old Town Temecula, Liberty Quarry, Anza, Riverside, Riverside County, Real Estate, Dumb, California, Homes, Money, Mortgage, Sports, Cars, Politics, Temecula, Family Attractions, Food, Commentary, Murrieta, Schools, Hiking, Fallbrook, United States of America, San Diego, News | Print | 1 Comment »

June 26, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

WHEN CREATIVITY AND DRIVE MEET IN T-TOWN, LOOK OUT HORACIO ALGER!

Temecula, CA – I’ve often said that this valley in which the cities of Murrieta and Temecula sit is a fertile area for creativity. Earl Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler both lived around these parts before Arnold ever lifted his first barbell. When I first came to town, I had a children’s story ‘in the can’ by the six month mark though I haven’t gotten it published yet. The Universal Finger Light and the Metal Mulisha both were introduced to the world from here. The same can be said for Monster Energy Drinks, but perhaps the most inspiring story of all might just be the story of Skin Industries owner, Al Borda. It is a story that would have made Horacio Alger proud. Who is Horacio Alger? Google it, for this tale is all about Al.


This story starts out from a small conversation with Al’s mom down at the USA gas mini-mart where she and her Jag are adored by the day crew. The next story stop was in Los Vegas a few weeks ago when I stopped by the Skin Industries booth to say ‘howdy neighbor’. Lance Thayer, Skin CFO, was between appointments and so I related the Skin mom story to him. He chuckled and said, “You should tell Al about (the meet-up). He would enjoy hearing about it,” and gave me Al’s email. Now I have to say that I knew a little about Skin Industries for in the late 90s I was printing private label, mostly band, T-shirts. I was hoping to break into the clothing market and was trying to come up with a catchy name and a band to wear them, think Blink 182 and Hurley, which Nike later bought ‘cha-ching’. I was pissed when I started to see ‘Skin’ shirts. The name was so simple, yet so profound. I got over being angry at myself for not thinking of it a few days later and life went on. Years later I saw that there was a Skin store in the Murrieta Target center, and said to myself, ‘Damn, Skin (Industries) must be doing alright.’ In the years since, I have seen a black Hummer and Lamborghini both with huge Skin outline stickers across the rear window. Skin Industries has its own energy drink and Skin apparel is available at Tilley’s, No Fear, Pac Sun, Zumiez, Dillard’s, and Macy’s in the States, along with having distribution in Canada, Europe, and Australia, and of course online, not to mention having a booth at FMX and other motor sports functions. At any outdoor dirt/river rat gathering, you will see someone wearing a Skin T-shirt, and usually more than one. Not too shabby for a kid that dropped out of school in the ninth grade, wouldn’t you say? As I walked into the year old ‘new’ offices which sit close to the hills at the outer southwest perimeter of Temecula’s industrial park, I had no idea of what was under the skin of Skin, but I got a clue when I looked down the long hallway and spotted a lone figure standing outside just beyond the glass door intently texting.

Stepping inside the office after Al, the first thing to catch my eye was the absence of any female staff, except for the few who are in pictures that adorn the walls along with past tribute articles done in magazines like Skinnie, Heavy Hitters, and MMA Sport, among others. The second observation was the two massive golden Foo Dogs which stand guard outside the doorway entrance of Al’s office. “I’m very superstitious,” he says. A second tiny pair of dark brown wooden Foo Dogs sits on his neatly compartmentalized desk. “They weed out evil spirits. I don’t believe in religion, in any one religion,” he says. “I’d be broke, living in a box somewhere if I donated to everything people want me to support.” Then he smiles, “I have a good friend who is a Christian pastor that works (in) the super cross and motocross (field), Chaplain Steve. He has spiky blond hair, full on tat sleeves, a really good looking guy. He never tells you to read the Bible and says that he’s ‘not here to advertise my beliefs or religion’ (to the guys). He’s had hard times and is there to help or answer any questions (about God) but he doesn’t Bible thump you the way a lot of Christians do. (Action sports) have a lot of Christian people in them who do.”

Taking a second call, Al apologizes and says to continue the interview because “I can multi-task,” and does, as over the interview period of an hour or so various members of his staff come into his office for final approval on various projects (ads, photos, licensing). Though not hyper or overly stressed, you get the feeling as you look at a guy with some five o’clock shadow, tats on both arms but not complex sleeve work and tats on his knuckles, proving he is no poser, that Al is the Captain of the Skin ocean liner. Suddenly it makes sense that his ‘beautiful’ wife, Holly, sets his work time limit at 60 hours a week. “I grew up really poor so I just work. That is my drug and my passion,” says the man who does no recreational drugs and has about four glasses of wine a year. But he can hang if he has to as Matt, his body guard, quips when he recalls the time when Al ‘slammed down’ a full beer as the group got ready to leave Hooters one night. You can tell that Matt, Lance, who got me a Skin energy drink which was very flavorsome with no aftertaste, Sergio, the Marketing Assistant, and Charles Armstrong, the lead designer (although there are a combined 12 different people currently working on future design art that are on staff), are all friends and teammates. Al is the ‘coach’.

“I was born (January ’72) in Blythewood, AK, on an air force base, but my parents divorced when I was one year old. Then my mother remarried (another man in the Air Force) and we moved to Europe. When I was about eight we came back to the States and settled in Chula Vista because my step-dad was from San Diego. I don’t know why they chose there because being a white boy and speaking no Spanish, well I got stabbed in school, in the sixth grade,” he says as he shows me the faded scar on his arm. “They all said I wouldn’t (amount to anything). We moved to Del Mar (where I) attended Torrey Pines High School that had a bunch of rich kids that went there. These kids’ parents bought them Benz, and Lexus and they got to park on the upper level. The teachers had to park on the lower level, that’s how rich this school was. And since I lived on the other side of the freeway, they let me know that I ‘didn’t live in Del Mar, I lived in San Diego.’ I got the shit beat out of me (on occasion) and left high school in the 9^th grade. I told my mom pretty much right away (about quitting).” His mom and step-dad had split when Al was around 10 or 12 so Al ‘always did my own thing.’ Taking some regular part time jobs like gas station attendant and being a ‘bus boy’, he found real action in becoming an exotic car broker for a major auto procurement company, moving out of the house at 15 ½ and soon had clients like Sly Stallone, Ice T, Mike Tyson, Tu Pac, and Tom Cruise (who had his Rain Man character based off Al’s bosses who are the two brothers that owned the company). “I would find the cars in newspapers at these newsstands in Hillcrest. I would go through the want ads, find a car a client was looking for, and then I would fly out (and get it).” This high octane lifestyle lasted about two and a half years but the street hustler instinct was polished and detailed at a young age.

Al Borda was also making some interesting friends that would later solidify his love of action sports. “I’ve known Tony Hawk since I was 13. His dad ran the Del Mar Skate Ranch. He’s just a couple of years older than me. I also used to ride (dirt) motorcycles a lot. I worked at this one place and behind the building were all these hills. Ken Block, before he started his DC brand shoe company, was part of our group. We had our own (private) motocross track out back. I would draw up (art) designs and they went out in graphic kits for motocross bikes, or ‘skins’ as they are called because they cover the bike fenders. They became a hit.” Once these ‘skin’ designs were done on T-shirts, they became an underground ‘must have’ and Skin Industries was born in 1998. A wall picture showing a blond Bro bombshell standing beside a speed limit sign of ‘98’ MPH attests to that start-up year. “We put more effort in the design and keep doing it the same way as when we started. No one has requested that we do stuff (like Ed Hardy) with rhinestones, sequins and things like that. We are more concerned with design than ‘bling’. We moved the company up here (to this valley) in ’99. I lived Temecula for a few years, then in Murrieta, but the last five years I’ve lived in De Luz.” When I asked how the company had been steered into blowing up so big, Al said very self-effacing, “Well I don’t know if it has yet. It’s been 11 years and a long steady process,” an achievement that’s rare these days since Al and Skin did it without backers, co-owners, bank loans, or creditors. “Every penny (put into this company venture) is mine” is a statement of both motivation and pride. So what’s next for Al? “I’ve been married for 11 months. We got married a year to the day after we met, which was on 8/7/07. I wanted to get married on 8/8/08 since eights are lucky (in the far east Foo Dog culture) but couldn’t get things to work out, too many conflicting schedules, so we got married in Vegas on the day before, the anniversary of our meeting. (This time) I had thought about having a big party at the house, but now we might go to San Francisco because (my wife) has never been (there).”

As I left the office where each person there was wearing a Skin T- shirt (Al had a red design on) from the 250 designs put out over the years, I wondered if one day the name of Al Borda will be synonymous with action sports the way Tony Hawk is with skateboarding. Skin Tees certainly are and it is not through some lucky break or rich parent legacy, just good old-fashioned hard work, elbow grease, and the Simpsons’ way of ‘whatever doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger.’ And in this case also richer. As I said earlier in this story, not too shabby for a ninth grade drop-out who now deserves to park on the upper level of TPHS, should he ever decide to visit his old high school digs. Kick ass!

Posted in Sports, Cars, Money, Boats, California, Motorcycles, United States of America, San Diego, Family Attractions, InViews, Our Favorite Things, Temecula, Schools, Murrieta, News | Print | No Comments »

June 24, 2009 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Dear Readers,

I got an email from my dear friend Pat Comerchero who runs the Temecula Children’s Museum on Main Street in Old Town Temecula. Pat does great work there in helping to educate kids in a fun way and for that her facility was nominated for a 2009 Nickelodeon Parents Pick Award. I need your help to make sure the Temecula Children’s Museum wins! Please read on and make sure to vote every day, and spread the word to freinds and family!! The TCM is currently in first place with over 53% of the vote with 20 days to go, please help keep them in the lead!!

Please visit: http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/parents-picks/san-diego-ca-usa/best-san-diego-museum and vote for the Temecula Children’s Museum!!

Thanks,

Bill Gould

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GREAT NEWS!!! The Temecula Children’s Museum has been selected as a nominee for Nickelodeon’s 2009 Parents’ Pick Award!

This is the second year for this nationally recognized award and nominations are based on recommendations from Nickelodeon’s local city editors. We were notified today.

BAD NEWS!!!!  We are grouped under San Diego, which means that we are competing with their museums like the Space Theater, everything in Balboa Park, etc.

The winners of the award are based on how many on-line votes each nominee receives.

Parents are encouraged to go to http://www.parentsconnect.com/parentspicks! to vote for their favorite.

SO… We need everyone in Temecula to vote for the Temecula Children’s Museum - not once, but every day until July 15!

If you go to the website, you’ll see that we have 1% of the vote while the big S.D. museums have about 43%. But we can make a difference if lots and lots of Temecula residents vote every day until July 15. It seems like a really difficult task, doesn’t it? But knowing how Temeculans stick together, I think we can at least make a big effort!

Truthfully, I am so excited (please forgive if any of this note is a little incoherent!) that I seriously need help from everyone to plan a marketing campaign, since my head is spinning right now. Can any of you who specialize in that sort of thing please volunteer some of your expert help to get the word out and, more importantly, to get people to vote????

I pasted part of the email below - it has the link so you can vote for us. Choose San Diego as the city, click ‘museums’ and then the Temecula Children’s Museum.

Thank you - we really need your support right now to promote Temecula and our very special children’s museum.

Pat Comerchero and the Friends of the Temecula Children’s Museum

www.pennypickles.org

Posted in Anza, Theater, United States of America, Winchester, Inland Empire, California, Riverside County, Old Town Temecula, San Diego, Schools, Temecula, Our Favorite Things, Family Attractions, Murrieta, Wildomar, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, News | Print | No Comments »

June 18, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

TRAVIS SIFLINGER ANOTHER TIP OF HUGE ICEBERG

Lake Elsinore, CA – Before the music show started with free hats from Rock Star at the Diamond Stadium where the minor league Storm play baseball, I had a chance to stroll around and see the vendors’ booths. After seeing only one food vendor, Smokin Aces Barbeque (714.737.1044), I kind of wished Mr. Pete’s had been there also to offer folks a choice, but some of the Mr. Pete guys were playing a show, Ivan was running a stage, and I was being my social butterfly self, so there you are. I met a lot of people at the vendor booths and most of the clothing companies I’ve already mentioned in the previous article, but there were more than just great looking ‘splash front’ T-shirts available for purchase or models for eye candy. To help popularize the event and put their name out, both Used and Optic Industries tossed out free T’s to the crowd, one of which I donated to a friend with a busted wing who couldn’t jump for the tosses. The ‘dirt’ culture, like the hot rod culture, or the boating industry, is big, second generation young and still mostly underground. By underground I mean like skateboarding before Tony Hawk became a household word to anyone under 40. So far, there is no ‘household word’ for the dirt culture, though there are three that I see in the running. Two of them will be covered in this piece. But first, a shout out to the ’real as dirt’ folks I talked to, all of whom were pleasant, engaging, and informative once I broke the ice.


As I looked out over to the horizon at the gleaming McMansions sitting above a shrinking lake, I wondered if the lake gatekeepers knew that Elsinore lies conveniently in the middle of the dirt empire. Justin Morgan of Raw Music Management rolled down from the furthest point, Reno, Nevada. One of the first booths that caught my eye as other booths were still setting up was the Game Over Fight Wear. Meeting Vince, Vance, and Game, talking a bit of politics raised by the images of their ‘Respect, Honor, and Support’ draped flag T-shirt showing a soldier charging toward you wearing a teargas mask as Ivan whizzed by us with a “Watch out, he’ll talk you ear off” (me?), it wasn’t long before I was getting the inside skinny about the band who chiefs the GOFW label, a hip-hop group named White Virus based out of Hollywood, CA. One visit to the band’s MySpace where the default banner reads ‘Boycott the Radio’ and list key words like ‘2012’, ‘Aliens’, and ‘The Illuminati’ show my ‘Spidey sense’ was politically correct. WV has just released their fourth CD, ‘Collapse of the Puppets’.

Rounding the corner of one vendor aisle, there was a set of ‘homemade’ kart style cars with a young boy and several adults milling around them. Striding over, I came across someone who may one day become a household word in the ‘dirt’ world, fifteen year old Conner Hart. The somewhat stocky kid who had a huge banner strung along the parking lot chain link acquainted me with his automotive passion, driving ‘trophy modifieds’ like #550, a 450cc stadium kart around the tracks at Lake Elsinore and at the Perris Speedway. The karts are called that because they are hand built from after-market parts. “I’ve been driving for two years. My folks help support (my interest, but it’s) my neighbor who built these,” as I peer over a 250cc and the larger 450cc (Honda powered) kart that is basically a roll bar cage fitted over an engine with four wheels attached. Conner smiled when I told him that I wished I had had one of these (karts) to drive around when I was fifteen. Next up I joined Real Smokers Only, a vendor from Buena Park, and got my membership card. Some hottie from San Diego passed me a guest V.I.P. pass to Pure Platinum, a gentleman’s club down in S.D. Then it was over to talk to Nick Nicholls, the cool rep under the Planet Minis Magazine big EZ-Up. PMM ties up all the loose ends with the latest in dirt track racing, the ins and outs of having, fixing up and racing mini bikes, like the FMX uses in their events and lifestyles of the Colorado River, the wet side of the dirt scene, the ‘river rats’. Having been a ‘river rat’ back in the 80s on the mighty Miss, I know first hand the fun and camaraderie you find in these groups. If the truth be known and if I can wax philosophical here, most people anywhere just want to live in peace, have fun, and be free of government intervention, and that is especially true of Americans, no matter what the color of skin. There’s a reason why everyone wants to come here to live. The opportunity to make money and have fun is huge in the USA, and in Southern California, it exists in spades, which segues me into the second person vying to become a household word from the dirt world.

Perhaps the one vendor who opened my eyes to the real dirt back story was the guy at Kronik Minis, a guy named Pete. Pete is a product tester/developer for SSR Motorsports and has been for the last seven years but now faces expulsion from his job because the state government has recently said that Pete needs to complete certain state requirements and pay state fees to keep doing the same job he has been doing for those last seven years. You have to wonder when the ‘state’ will quit pimping the working people to pay for the political/bureaucratic unearned ‘royal’ lifestyles. Pete explained the world of minis to me, which exist alongside the cars and boats in the world of extreme motorsports. Pretty much Honda introduced the kids to small 50cc lawnmower engine mini bikes. ATV’s followed and a culture sprang up of big and little kids riding around in the woods or hills or anyplace off the beaten path. But Hondas are expensive so a few years ago China entered the flay. They created beefed-up mini bikes and aftermarket parts that pack more punch but still fit the size of the Honda minis at a fraction of the cost. “Little 70s (70cc) get the little kids aged 5-6 years old started. These ‘pit bikes’ are stouter than the Honda 50cc but a Honda will cost you around $1000-$1200. The 70cc model that we carry, (a starter Kronik Mini) starts at $570. The bike has an automatic clutch so the kids don’t have to shift gears. For adults or the bigger kids we have an 110cc model with a hand clutch at about the same price. From there the prices go up,” said the SSR rep. “This is a huge but underground (market culture).” It was when I asked him how he got into this dirt tour underground that his face lights up. “I’ve known Travis (Siflinger) since he was 16 (years old) when the ‘dirt tour’ was just an idea and dream of his. He has a lot of heart and a lot of drive. He was the best friend of the son of the body shop owner that I managed. He takes care of everyone out here,” he said spreading his arm in a sweeping pattern. “He takes care of what he created. In fact, I owe him for the shade today as my EZ-Up blew over when a gust of wind got it after we had first set up out here yesterday.”

Though the Dirt Tour wasn’t as successful as it was hoped for, no one can deny the heart and soul of Dirt Alliance creator, Travis Siflinger, a Murrieta resident, to grow the whole scene and maybe one day to be the ‘Tony Hawk’ of the ‘dirt world’.

Posted in Sports, Inland Empire, Cars, Hemet, Christianity, Riverside County, Orange County, California, Motorcycles, Boats, Corona, Arizona, Perris, Temecula, Murrieta, Our Favorite Things, Family Attractions, Food, Lake Elsinore, Las Vegas, Moreno Valley, United States of America, San Diego, San Bernadino, News | Print | No Comments »

June 15, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

“NO FILLA, ALL KILLA” – DJ CIRCA (DGAF)

Lake Elsinore, CA – It has been a long time since I rolled into the Diamond Club for a free beer and a DJ (DJ Louie Ochoa, Classic Cuts, this time), in fact, it was back when an event called ‘Throttle’ was put on at the Storm Stadium in 2002, pretty much at the start of my music writing career. Now this past weekend, looking out over a ball field so green and even Tiger Woods would putt here if he could, I enjoyed another free beer(s) and revisited another ‘throttle’ style event. The author of this venture wasn’t a cool, rich MX rider named Steve who rode with folks you read about in the industry mags. This time the minds behind the event were one Travis Siflinger, ‘Mr. Dirt Alliance’ and his promoter, Ivan McClain, of Ivan Promotions, who I’ve rolled with on past music adventures, but more on Travis in the companion piece. First bear with me for a little historical background on the demographic found in the ‘dirt’. In the MSM, there is much ado about the stars, the connected, the middle class, and the minorities, rich or poor, honest or dishonest, but there is one group of people who have been ignored and maybe a little misunderstood too. Had there been no racism set into orchestrated living patterns, this group would be the white kids living next door to the black kids that are the first generation in that family to graduate collage. This is the group that falls through the cracks of notice. In a perfect world, if you have an N.A.A.C.P. then you would have an N.A.A.W.P. But this isn’t a perfect world; however, in the midst of the way Satan would spin the world by deceit, God sprinkles the world with His sense of humor that I call ‘paradox’.


Remember that point. This unnoticed demographic, the ‘bottom of the bottom’ segment gravitated toward mechanical things in the past the way other cultural segments used sports or entertainment to gain recognition. Over time and further sifting brought about separation of this demo into a class of boaters, and a class of inlanders with dirt hot rods. Now the sons of this inland demo have branched into a huge underground market with a culture all its own. The ‘Bros’ are the scene kids at the heart of this underground culture, though the ‘bro’ look also extends into the hardcore and straight edge underground markets. In the dirt world, what used to be the world of Glamis (‘desert rats’) has now spread through the neighborhoods of suburbia. Eminem with his edge are the flashpoint and inspiration for the ‘white boy hip-hop’ music culture that bookends one end of this dirt underground while marijuana bookends the other end. In simple terms, this scene is almost a mirror image of the black hip-hop culture (except with different beats and melody flows) but with less reaction to outsiders coming in because this scene also ties in to the motor sports. Like black pride, white pride is high in the hood, but a lot less bitchy than gay pride from the rainbow hood. It is from this ‘hot rod’ stock that the U.S. has drawn steady on for drafts and soldiers for the wars. Now like most sub-groups honed by current events, a strong political vein is present, though the ‘white boy hip-hop’ portion is more into holding on to the home turf, partying, sexing, and fighting rather than shooting. As the most political music rap/hip-hop group that brought heat Saturday night said, “We don’t vote, and we don’t complain,” showing not naiveté but a realistic isolation away from ‘the Establishment’. “You’re either with us, or against us. And if you’re against us, Whaaaa! Fuck U!” (- DGAF.)  When you stir in the natural handsomeness of many of the young people who live in Southern California, add girls who have visual Latino influences to the Viking mix of straw haired platinum pin-up babes showing mid-riffs and being cheeky, happening on a early fall-like weather night (thanks ‘June gloom’), the event becomes like a late summer concert in Iowa, only without the rides, for wholesomeness, and also like a block party back in the days of early Motown (crowd-wise, both in dress and actions). Away from the stages people wandered through the middle two merchant aisles that featured the many logo clothing companies there to sell their wearable artwork. The logo label names say much about the mindset found in this particular youth centered culture. ‘Lost’, ‘Outlaw Industries’, ‘Fatal’, ‘Controversy’, ‘Corrupt’, ‘Sullen’, ‘Hostility’, ‘Pure White Clothing’, ‘Dirt Tour’, and, of course, ‘Skin’,  with only the name brand of Mickey Thompson Performance Tires to show the hot-rod roots of this new side culture that anchors on Tony Hawk, Brian Deegan, Mike Metzger, and Ryan Johnson, among others, with many of these old schoolers also founding a clothing company logo label that paved the way for others to see past traditional vocations for income. Out in the parking lot there was a ramp set up allowing different kids, all teenagers, to practice and pop wheelies on their 250cc FMX motorbikes as fathers looked on. At one end of the vendor area was the main stage, the same Ernie Ball Stage from Warped Tour that I last saw Animo (now Heart ‘n’ Soul Radio) on two years ago. At the other end was the smaller Addicted2Riding stage, presumably for hip-hop artists. Our RV was parked over behind the EB stage so after a look-see for a lay of the land, I rarely ventured back out past the main stage area except to return to see who won the battle of the MC systems between 103.9 FM and the cool dude at the ‘4130 Clothing’ tent. ‘Molly chrome’ won.

The show opened with a couple of MCs and a DJ who did a very short set, ending it with a “Fuck you, if you don’t like it”, showing the ‘line in the sand’ rap attitude, think ‘Gangs of New York’ done ‘So Cali’ 21^st Century urban style. Passing the J King set back stage, I was back for Divide The Day, recently signed to a major label (Universal) record deal. Billy, the band’s bass player had his parents in attendance as did fellow friend and Inverse bass player, Paul. The sound was crisp for Divide The Day and the original straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll outlaw, think Sunset Strip, sound drew in a nice crowd to listen. DTD rocked it and got a small gaggle of girl fans to dance down front. The power ballads really gave the afternoon that Iowawegian feel to it and smoothed out the aggressive hip-hop edge. Besides the record deal, a hit single from DTD, ‘One Night Stand’, is in rotation on X103.9FM and 105.9FM. After this it was time for Inverse and I took photos for Corie who wanted to dance. The crowd gathered in somewhat but decidedly could have been bigger though radio spots and more ad co-ops done in all available markets coupled with some form of discount, like a ‘2-fer’ ticket for these lean economic times. Still, the crowd that was there enjoyed the set and danced because Inverse is always a good rock show live. However, the next group, DGAF, a ‘white boy hippy-hop’ group from Hermosa Beach, part of the famous South Bay area, represents the culture ‘where the dirt meets the sand and took the night back to the hip-hop groove. DGAF provides the paradox I spoke of earlier in that the funky rhythmic melodies that are layered over the aggressive lyrics bring about both a circling mosh pit and young girls gyrating their buns into their boyfriends’ crotch to the beat of the turntable music. Ah, those house parties of long ago, but just like the funky heat in those days, these days the raw funky sound is felt in a group like DGAF, which stands for ‘don’t give a fuck’, on the hottest underground label there is right now, Suburban Noize Records. The group’s philosophy is put out straight from the opening lyrics, ‘if you’re down on your luck, feeling rich with one buck yeah, D-Gaf, D-Gaf, if you don’t give a fuck, staying drunk as fuck, then yeah, D-Gaf, D-Gaf, either ride with us, or collide with us’. The heavy funk bass line booming under the top of the tamping head and hand motions brought in a tight crowd that knew the Suburban Noize Records label group. At first just ChuckyChuck, Gillies (Gil-lees), and SaintDog, with DJ Circa working the ‘tables’, were driving the crowd, but after a few songs and some ‘Burning Man’ style hottie dancers, BigHoss, a rapper in whiteface makeup with black stitch mouth makings, a belt loop bandana, and an ornate blond wood cane from Jamaica, joined the group and the stage show cranked it up another notch. Being down front in a four person deep belt of people with the pit behind us gave me a chance to chat with ‘Crazy’ Angie Martinez, a petite hottie there with her boyfriend Josh. She brought me up to date on the guys being her faves, sang and moved to the words/chorus, and had that left coast ‘Westside Story’ look to her. From the video of ‘Knuckle Up’ I knew this band had a raw pit-bull ‘throw down’ energy that went out unharnessed. I expected the pit and the ‘bro’ stomp. What I didn’t expect was the ‘groovin’ couple-up scene hittin’ it to the funky R&B verve. For me, it shows the music has come full circle. This is the N.A.A.W.P. edition of R&B. Damn well! More on this group in the review of their CD. After a finale of FMX with jumps you could see from the stage area, the headliners, Unwritten Law, hit the stage. UL didn’t disappoint as the largest crowd of the night gathered to listen with a large pit being hollowed out in the midst of it. Though the sound could have been clearer, perhaps DGAF had melted the dials, the band still got both couples dancing to their power ballads at the same time as the bros moshed counterclockwise. At this point even Paul (Inverse) entered the pit for awhile as did several models that stayed dead center as the mayhem in motion circled around them. UL had the wildest drummer of any act, and with his long hair flailing, added that flair to the guitars full sound and stadium band look. When the mosh pit continued to songs like ‘Up All Night’ and ‘My Fault’, you see that it is the culture, not the songs that bring out the mosh pit, which for me was an interesting observation. A highlight of UL’s set for me was the acoustic opening lead-in to the song ‘Sinner’, of which there is a video out. Before the night was over, I had seen my share of ‘rat-tails’ validating an earlier season’s observation (search Faraway, CA in the archives). All in all, it was a good night, a good show, and a good crowd.

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