July the 16th 2007.
The Last couple of weeks have been out of control, we have been preparing for the second release of the lost angel. In total we approved 5 samples eventually we were happy with the out come of the toy and now it was time to focus on the event. I wanted to break out my 1963 ice cream truck and drive it into the show, It has not had an engine for 10 years and all the suspension was old and needed to be re-done. I new installing a big motor in the ice cream truck would be a huge task and I have been putting it off for a few years. Deciding I could not take it any longer, it being summer time and time to manifest my dream of the ice cream truck driving over the sixth street bridge, blowing peoples minds.
I found a good mechanic who was willing to work out of the shop and my father committed to oversee the day to day process of bringing the truck to life. The Ice cream truck was not the only ride being built in the shop, Pops has a 59 Elco 80% done and my 60 Impala hard top is 70% finished, the other guys at the shop have been working on all 3 cars simultaneously. While all this was in motion it came to me that since we are doing this event as Glendale Harley Davidson I should Candy Paint and mural out my road king classic. It sounded like a good idea at the time but then I had to start, this meant putting in an immense amount of work in a short amount of time to complete this project.
This meant after I am done Tattooing, drawing the graphic novel, working on the latest stussy collaborations, focusing on the vans Simpson project and 20 other projects that I can even begin to think about, I have to go and air brush the bike. When I mural I don't put to much preparation in to the mural concept I just approach and paint, going off the head and giving the homies what they want to see. This last week was so crazy it had blessings and tragedies, working as hard as I do, every day until 5am in the morning reminds me of how much my women loves me and stands by my side, I love you.
So this week was the release party of the Simpson's vans as well, I got the chance to meet Matt Groaning and my family were proud to be present at the event. Matt Groaning has been a huge influence on me and it shows me that anything is possible, to have him draw my portrait and chose me as one of the artist….. That blows me away and really catch's me off guard. I would like to thank Berto from Supreme and Tom & Gabe from Vans. Thursday Afternoon we were stressed out getting ready for the show Inviting car clubs, approving samples of our ice cream box, and trying to for see the challengers ahead, there's so much that goes into the planning of these events.
It was really cool when my friends Frankie A and Risk 1 came through to give me mural support, to bullshit about graffiti, Harley's and Risk had just got back from Spain were he was kicking it with Estevan. The 7th letter crew went out there for the Bread and Butter show, WCA, AWR, MSK destroyed Spain and made sure the it will never be the same again. After thrilling me with the stories, they left assureing me that they were going to bring 5 custom Harleys to show at the toy release event, little did I know this would be the last time any of us would see Frankie again.
I got the phone call later that night while I was painting my bike, telling me the tragic news, that while Frankie was helping my homie by riding his bike back to downtown LA, he was killed by a drunk driver. The coward that hit Frankie, tried to hit and run but was later caught through there own stupidity. Frankie was a good Father, an entrepreneur, and a good friend, he and his brother owned the LA boxing academy in down town LA.
I immediately hung up the phone reflecting on all the good times and got choked up thinking about his kids. I picked up the air brush and started the final mural on my bike, a ride in peace dedication to him and my other fallen homie's that road bikes. We dedicated the show to him, after the murals were complete and 2 days of no sleep I crashed out in the shop for 3 hours, as soon as I woke up I had to start designing the rest in peace memorial t shirt, our friend big Nerv printed the t-shirts there and then on the day.
Of course nothing went right when it came time to apply the clear coat to the muraled tanks and fenders. Fish eyes, orange peel, and a small window of time hurt us when it came time to polish the bikes paint, we still made the show.
I had to think that everyone would be focused on the murals and not the imperfections in the finish, I was so tired I had to surrender and let go, of course I wanted everything to be perfect but at this point in time it was out of my hands. When thinking about my homie Frankie the imperfections in the paint did not seem so important anyway. As I was reflecting on the homie's life I was distracted by the roar of a motor, I looked outside and saw the ice cream truck driving down the street, after I picked my mouth up from the floor I looked up at the clock and it was 3 am.
We had to be up at 6 am for the toy release, I grabbed 3 hours sleep, then my alarm rung at 6:30am I woke up in the tattoo shop lounge area, jumped in the shower, Starbucks action and then started warming up the 8 classic cars. We were in such a hurry we shined on the Gas station and prayed we would make it. 5 out of the 8 cars made it 3 ran out of gas on the free way. Setting up the show took 5 hours but it was all worth it. I did interviews for MTV CTV and Skee TV I did an out reach for kids and raised money for Frankie's Kids by the looks on every ones faces they loved the cars, the hogs, and the Moachie ice cream. Jason Pullen was pulling off the craziest tricks ever seen on a Harley, it was a peaceful event that showed unity of people bought together by candy paint and chrome.Special thanks to Julie & kids,Moms & Pops for grindin,Fern,Rick,Geo & Frank for workin hard,,,thanks to Estevan Oriol,Greg B & Nobueno
