Last year I had the incredible opportunity to come to Sturgis and host the World Famous Original Broken Spoke Saloon, down town! I would work all day and then the one and only Jay Allen would roll over the mountain from the Campground, come on in, talk to the people who love him and who he loves so much, the bikers that take their rally time to spend with us. He would host a contest, then jump on his bike and race back over the mountain. At night, he would do the very same thing. He would race over the mountain and come down and host the Miss (enter beer brand here) contest and then boogie right back out and over the mountain. On Thursday, during the 70th, I was notified that Jay could not make it down tonight and that I would have to host the contest myself. I was asked if I was up for it? Are you shitting me? Of course I'm up for it, this is what you pay me to do! Only problem was it was not a Miss anything, it was a Mr. Corona contest! I didn't get the short end of the stick, I ended up getting both ends of a whole bunch of different size and length sticks. It was also my birthday!
Well to say that I knocked the contest out of the fucking park would be an understatement. As a matter of fact, it would be the understatement of all understatements. When the contest was over, I was walking around the dance floor and as I went to leave, I WAS STOPPED! My microphone was taken away from me and all I could think was "JACK YOU WENT TOO FAR THIS TIME"! Next thing I know, a bar stool is being pushed under me from behind! An announcement was made that it was my birthday and the entire packed Broken Spoke sang happy birthday to me, it's something I'll never forget. Then all the girls from the beer distributor came out and surrounded me and they were carrying a pie. A birthday pie for lil ol' me! All the while this is going on, the one and only Mike Lichter was just shooting away.
It seems that only a short time before, Sasha Mullins, my boss downtown had gone out or had sent someone to the store. I think she had gone herself with Radical Randy's girl and got me this pie. Here lies problem one. The pie was frozen. As I blew out my candles, the beer girls discussed who was going to push the pie in to my face. No one wanted to be the one. They each thought that I would be mad at them. Here is a photo that Mike just sent to me last week, you can see me posing with my happy birthday clown hat on and the girls in the back with the pie.
I'm a giver, not a taker. It is so much easier for me to do nice things for others but it is really hard for me to receive gifts or compliments. That is why I'm always so humbled to get them. I wish I had a clearer shot of the girl with the pie in her hands because I'd sure like to get some pay back.... lol... You can even see the look on my face, eyes closed and looking down. Any body language person will tell you that I'm uncomfortable here and touched! Here lies problem two, the pie was still mostly frozen and the girl was so afraid to let me see her coming that she tried to reach around and hit me in the face with it. So what I got was a pie in about 15% of my face, the rest was in my ear and the frozen, jagged pieces went straight in to my eye!
As you can see in the above photo, the missed nearly all of my face but the left side eye and ear were just jammed packed with it. It was a great night and I couldn't be more thankful that anyone even took the time to do this for me! As I warned Sasha, I'll get your ass back for this.... I'll find out when it is your birthday and I'll get ya... She told me that I would never in my lifetime know when it was. Well needless to say, I found out when it was, had a pie delivered to her front door step with a note that looked like a Ransom note. I wish I knew where that pic was. You guys would have really loved it, one day I'll find it and I'll share it with you. It had to screw with her head because I live in Az. and she lives in Tenn., so for me to not only find out the date but have my minions do this was amazing! The long reach of Mr. Shit!
As so many of you know, when I work, I never stop. I also nearly never, ever leave the property where I am working. There are far too many things that can go wrong and I will never take that chance. At the 70th Sturgis Rally, part of my duties for the Spoke was to attend the Cycle Source Magazine Ride out of the Spoke Campground. It was truly an incredible ride with an amazing turnout of some of the finest people our lifestyle has and some of the sickest machines to ever hit the pavement! If you ever get a chance to do this ride, don't miss out on it!
So on that day, the one and only Mike Lichter did what he does better than anyone that I know. He got his crazy ass on the back of a bagger, backwards of course and shot the ride. A few nights ago, he was kind enough to not only share the photos from my birthday celebration but he was also kind enough to share with me a few shots he captured of me riding KOKO, my Knuck through the Black Hills on the way back from the ride. This man is the master of what he does and it truly is an honor to have him capture you for all eternity, doing what it is you love the most! So check it out. I always wondered what the hell my bike looked like from this side while in motion and now I know.
There are a few things that happen in your life and your career that you never forget. Hosting downtown at the 70th Sturgis rally at the Broken Spoke will be one of them and these photos that Mike Lichter captured above will also be right up there in that list of memories.
Mike, thank you so much for sharing these with me, you are one class act!
Until we see each other on the road,
Keep the wind in your face,
Tits in your back
and The Man off your ass!
Your friend,
Jack Shit
The group photo above was sent to me after the 70th rally. It was shot by Geno Stull and it's a hell of a shot from an amazing day!
No comments:
Post a Comment