SIDEBURN MAGAZINE # 10 LAUNCH PARTY

Tomorrow night in Liverpool! Friday 16th March..... I got two features in this issue!
If you are in town or nearby....get on over...we got the new mag, shirts, live bands, great DJ's and pre and after-parties at Fids house

ACTION NOW MAGAZINE TV SHOW 1981

My good friend Tim Stamp had a VHS copy of this that we hammered when we skated in '83-'84.
ACTION NOW magazine rose out of the ashes of SKATEBOARDER magazine when the skateboard boom took a dump in 1980.
It was a last ditch attempt to stay afloat and the mag opened its doors to other action sports: BMX, roller skating, surfing, skimboarding etc. Unfortunately, this ploy didn't work out...it totally alienated the hardcore few that still skated, the lowpoint for me being a photo of someone on a horse down at the beach.
On a plus point, the mag did have a reasonable music content and it was quick to champion the LA punk scene. Lots of Circle Jerks, Black Flag etc as well as features on the big UK punk bands at the time.
The mag didn't last long and around this time a new, truly independent skateboard magazine was launched called THRASHER that drove the final nail in the 'Action Now' coffin.
The Action Now TV show was a self financed 30 minute showcase produced at one of skateboardings all time low points. By todays standards it looks nothing special but the skate footage blew me away. It was the only way to see moving images of the new 'bionic' skating that was starting to come through. particular stand outs are Neil Blender and Steve Alba....totally inspired by this, me and a few friends built STIFFNECKS RAMP.
I wish the rest of the show was on Youtube. Its been over 25 years since I saw it but I recall some good footage of Jeff Watson on his BMX in the Upland fullpipe and some early Bob Haro ramp riding.

Roots of UK skateboarding

I stumbled upon a little bit of UK skateboard history by pure accident. The pics in this post came from two entirely separate sources.

Firstly, after watching a 1965 British teen movie BE MY GUEST (starring a very young pre-Small Faces Steve Marriot) I googled the leading actress JOYCE BLAIR. It turns out that she was the sister of famously camp TV dancer LIONAL BLAIR. I also found the shots of Joyce posing in London's Hyde Park on a wonderful Gerry Anderson licenced STINGRAY skateboard!

Fast forward only a few weeks to Christmas time. I received some vintage TV21 comics as a present and there, amongst the pages, was this ad for the very same skateboard. The magazine advert dates the photo to 1964.

It's strange to me that two completely unrelated interests of mine, namely Gerry Anderson memorabilia and sixties beat music led me to learning stuff about a third unrelated intrest!!

MOTORCYCHO MAILSHOT

Lots of thanks to Norman McFuzzybutt over at MOTORCYCHO magazine for a package through my letterbox today! A big bunch of 45's, stickers, buttons etc. This mag has been in existence for 15 years now and also has a blog page that you can visit HERE

New Sideburn magazine

Ok, apologies for the Lapse in posts for these last few weeks but I lost my blogging mojo....

The latest issue of SIDEBURN mag is back from the printers next week!

This is the 6th issue and features a submission from yours truly. The feature is called "Dancing with the Devil"

Its official......

Here is the flyer for the forthcoming SIDEBURN MAGAZINE LAUNCH PARTY.

Date is Friday 26th March. We have THE STAGS playing at home for the first time in ages, Biker Burlesque with BAMBI LA BEAU, spinning vinyl we got JOHNNY ALPHA, MR. MURDO and CONWAY CASTLE. We also have the DAVIDA HELMETS 'MOTO-PHOTO' art show and hopefully a couple of cool bikes on display.

No tickets, just pay 3 quid on the door. See you there?

Here is title track from The Stags album 'Do the Ton' on Soundflat records

'DIRT TRACK IS AN ARTFORM'....

Here is a full set (so far) of SIDEBURN magazine, numbers 1 to 4. This really is the best 'Go Fast, Turn left' magazine in the world! The mag is masterminded by Gary Inman (pictured above) and Ben Part.
When you consider the subject matter in the magazine, i.e. dirt track motorcycle racing, predominantly an american pastime, it's kind of unusual that the printed word for this activity... is based in the UK!
What's even more unusual, is the mags acceptance by the U.S. dirt track community, both old and new, as the mouthpiece for all things dirt track.
I am not just making an assumption here...I witnessed it first hand.
Last September, I went to the Indy and Springfield Mile races. I took some copies of issue #3 to give to Chris Carr to sell at his race tent, which he did in about 2 hours. I don't like to name-drop but some other guys who are amped on SIDEBURN are Jared Mees, Rich King and Dave Aldana, just that I know of.
It's not just the racers who dig it either. We got talking to a coupla older guys in the stands, when Sideburn came up in the conversation. They had heard all about it but not actually seen it in the flesh, so to speak. I gave 'em a copy and some stickers and they really liked it.
I feel that part of the magazines charm, is the skewed angle it comes from. I don't think you will ever see race results in its pages, nor classified ads. It's fair to assume SIDEBURN won't run ads for products that have little or no relation to dirt track/flat track. It is not purely focused on the winners circle....it has just as much interest in the supporting cast... the folks that limp, that live and breath oval racing, no front brakes,steel shoes, big, wide bars and square number plates.
The writing and photography have a timeless quality to them....Issue #1 will have just as much relevance as issue #20 in 10 years time.
Now I don't want to put words into Mr. Inman and Mr. Parts mouths, but in my opinion, for what it's worth, I believe the magazine takes the stance that dirt track is an 'artform'.....Put the competion element to one side for a moment.... the very act of riding a certain kind of motorcycle, in a certain kind of way, at a certain point in time.... when it's popularity has been in steady decline for many years....is a noble thing to do.
Please don't think I am insinuating that the mag is yet another 'retro-rag'....nothing could be further from the truth. You may well see features within the pages that take a look back at dirt track's rich ,100 year history but they will be right next to articles on todays young racers.... like Sammy Halbert and Brandon Robinson.
Sideburn is a 'specialist' magazine that somehow manages to appeal to people who don't neccessarily ride motorcycles,own dirt trackers or even go to the races. It is able to convey all the excitment and ritual, without getting too bogged down in the mundane details.......People seem to just get the 'grassroots artiness' of it all! It's a labour of love....

Issue #5 is due to drop late March and will be available in some discerning stores worldwide, or online at http://www.sideburnmagazine.com/

For a daily SIDEBURN fix have a gander at the SIDEBLOG:
sideblog

Mert Lawwill

Here is a nice little 'promo' mini mag given away free with the March '99 issue of Classic Racer.

This was exclusive to the USA edition and features a bunch of pictures from the Dan Mahoney archive.

I picked this up during Bike Week and got Mert to Autograph it when we met him at a 'Hall of Fame' Breakfast fundraiser, where he was guest of honour.

The event was kinda like a Sportsmans Dinner with maybe 150 guests in attendance. It started at 7.45am with a fantastic breakfast followed by an 'after-breakfast' lecture/talk from Mert. He talked at length about his racing career, his contributions to the bicycle industry, his patented amputee gadget for motorcycle riders and his friendship with Steve McQueen and the making of 'On any Sunday'. It was a very special morning and something I will remember forever.

In all my life I think I only ever asked for 3 autographs: Mert Lawwill and Evel Knievel, both at Daytona '99 and Tony Alva in '78 at Southport Skatepark.

I like magazines....part one

Whilst up in my attic space, photographing the stickers for the last post, I came across my stash of old magazines. I've never been that much into books but have always really loved magazines. I think this started as a 5 year old when my Grandad took on the role of night watchman at a magazine distribution warehouse. The warehouse was located on the same grounds as the Joinery company he worked for. He agreed to keep an eye on the warehouse on the understanding that he could take a few comics and magazines, for his trouble, to give to his grandson. This was 1969-'70 and I vividly remember visiting my Nana and Grandads in St. Helens, Merseyside and him taking me into the warehouse every Saturday. The place was just stacked floor to ceiling with mags and comicbooks. As a 5 or 6 year old  I was mainly drawn to the comics, American Marvel and DC. I remember Gold-Key comics with Photo covers of 'Man From Uncle' and 'Star Trek'.

I also got 'Mad' magazine and 'Famous Monsters' magazine plus all the other FM ripoff publications.

I still have some of the 'Famous Monsters' today but regretfully, I sold all the other comics (200 plus) for 6 pounds back in 1980.

 As with a myriad of things, I think the internet has killed off the Raison D'etre of the specialist magazine. In the late 70's the only way of checking out what was going on with U.S. skateboarding was to read SKATEBOARDER mag. This was before the video age and you would just look at the pictures and try to imagine how the guy got up there.....and how he got back down and there was never ever any question that the guy bailed the trick. Nowadays, its all de-mystified, you are aware that Jake Phelps smashed his glasses within minutes of it happening and if you wanna see him do it, it will be on Youtube.

The old mags featured in these pics are just a few of the hundreds that I have boxed up. I have most THRASHERs from the beginning to the mid 90's. I also have a good collection of early BMX PLUS, KUNG FU MONTHLY, FAMOUS MONSTERS, EASYRIDERS, IRON HORSE, MONSTER MAG, AWOL, BACK STREET HEROES, 60'S PLAYBOY, 60'S MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS, FANGORIA, FLIPSIDE, MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL to name a few.

I think I'm gonna go back in the attic and find the issue of the English SKATEBOARD mag with the topless model kneeling on a giant skateboard!

UPDATE Fri 19th Feb: Here it is.......in issue # 9