Office Space.

So. A no-photo post. Which means that I know nobody's gonna waste any time readin' it.
Whateva'.
Spent a few days in Calgary, got home just long enough to lose my office space, then hit the road with Hobbs, Queen, their girls, and a few randoms... I'm not gonna go into detail til the Mac De Los Muertos is back on it's feet and I can post some photos to go along with it... until then, check out the details at Hobbs little space - blackallday.blogspot.com. All I'm gonna say is it was a killer jam, and I can't wait to get back out on the road.
In the meantime, I'm lookin' for new office space.
If you know of any awesome space, LET ME KNOW. Otherwise, I'll be camped out with the meth heads outside the plasma center, tryin' to steal free wireless on the 6 year old Dell laptop. No fuckin' good, man.

Cake and smokes.

Holy shit, my chick is fucking hilarious.

Yesterday I left for a 20 hour day in a pretty shitty mood.  I walked in around 2am this morning, and Heidi was still up, waiting like a kid at Christmas to give me this cake she'd made to cheer me up... "because you love to smoke, and you like cake!"

Lord Thunderin' Jesus, she fucking nailed it.  I love my girl.

Run, rabbit.

2,000 portraits in 6 days. 

1,000 subjects, 2 different lighting scenarios for each.

4 cities, 2 countries, one continent.  I have a blister forming on my forehead from pressing the camera against it.  Not joking.

Catching a much needed smoke somewhere in the Utah desert.  Photo by Weston - thanks for the help today, Cowboy.

2 days deep, 4 to go.  No sleep til Brooklyn.

Close.

Sorry for another bike post - I know this blog should probably focus more on my photo work and  not my ridiculous hobbies.  And yes, I probably neglected photo-related projects that I know I'm behind on. 

But she's so close I can taste it.

And regular people take weekends off, so why shouldn't I do the same?  At least once in a while...

Pulled her off the lift for a minute to do some super-high-tech eyeballing, placed a few things, made a few calls, and she's back up on the table now to start the long process of getting everything finalized...

So close.

Juxtapouzer.

I got a call from my good friend Jacob in Chicago last night asking if I'd seen the new Juxtapoz Magazine... I had to admit that I don't read it too often these days, so no - I hadn't.  But he fed my vanity and gave me reason to go pick up a copy for myself, and one for my mom.  She gets so proud of me for crap like this.  Anyway, April issue, damn near the last page: my drunken, defeated lookin' face.  Check it out.

Live Undead.

2 years of no chop sucks.  Rolling a bagger gets embarrassing.  

So here's how she sits as of this very moment... getting closer.  She almost looks like a motorcycle again.  Bike night tonight... she's getting close.  PS.  I need $2500 to buy an S&S top end kit... so somebody hire me - I'll give you the $2500 a day/rate if you do it today (so I can order  it tomorrow)...

Dia de los muertos.

March 18, 2007.  The day I wrecked my motorcycle, wide open in 5th gear, no helmet.  Today makes 2 years.  1 fractured neck (T1), 1  broken collarbone (lengthwise), 1 shattered shoulder blade, 3 broken ribs, 1 broken wrist, 1 broken ankle, 1 smashed-to-hell chopper, no medical insurance, tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills for a 1 night stay in the emergency room, a $3,000 settlement from Progressive.  No surgery... poor people aren't worth fixing.

I walked away, and I'm pretty stoked about that fact 2 years later.  Even knowing that next time I buy a suit, it'll need to be tailored to accommodate the 2 inch sag of my right shoulder.

Projexx.

Spring.  

That magical time of year when the snow melts off and reveals all the rotting piles in my yard.

Every spring I hope to make some headway on 'em... never happens.

But I'm optimistic.

This year's goals, aside from shooting a whole new slew of personal projects and gathering hundreds of new clients:

  1... Teach myself to paint fancy flake panel jobs and lay down gold leaf details.  I've got at least a dozen helmets waiting to practice on...

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2... Heidi's Cafe.  I picked up this little CB350 late last fall with the intent of building Heidi a sweet little racer.  As soon as the Sporty is done, this guy's got next-ups on the lift. 

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3... My Z.  I love this car.  She's been off the road for a little over 2 years now... Heidi had a little incident with a cement post, then I had a hangover jump-start scenario that fried the wiring harness.  She needs new suspension, steering rods, a fresh wiring harness, and a whole lotta cosmetic love.  This is the least likely project to get done, but probably one of the most desired... just way too much work.  But damn I love this car.

Fire.

Shot a story on a local fire academy on Friday - these dudes work way harder than you to make way less than you.  I don't know what the actual statistics are on death and injury for these guys, but I've definitely got a new respect for 'em... it gets hot in there.

Priorities.

One of my four motorcycles, shot with one of my dozen-or-so cameras, loaded into the back of my only 4-wheeled vehicle... which I share with Heidi.

Yeah.

Priorities.

This should have been ready for spring months ago.  But, as with everything else that doesn't pay me money, it's been put off til the last minute.  Whatever.  New tubes and tires, fresh re-jet, new fork seals and a few other goodies are on the way for this guy...

Later than your girlfriend.

This post is comin' at ya' way late, but whatever.

Last week's storm brought in 21" at Sundance, arguably the worst mountain in Utah.

But I have a pass there.  I justify this with the fact that I can be out my front door and on a chairlift in 15 minutes, no foolin'.

So when the last storm dumped a freak amount of snow at The Dance, Jac and I were quick to get on it...

Jac used my G9 and snapped a couple of me goin' for some cab mutes off the only decent cat-tracks on the mountain... this resort is so bad/small/dry that I've never even bothered givin' tricky names to the lap runs.  Anyway, I finally got around to giving 'em a little post-love --- gotta hide that weird G9 colorcast.

Cab Mute on the first cat...

Followed by the same cab mute on the second cat.  Apparently, cab mutes are the only trick left in my shallow bag of "tricks".

And, having taken the day off, I didn't take any shots of Jac ridin'.  But here he is lookin' vato-loco at the base.

Hammers.

Bike night is officially back underway... find more here.

And if you don't wanna click the link?  All you need to know is that the narrow tank is gettin' dangerously close to being dangerous.

Dear Canon;

Dear Canon;

I have waited patiently since Thanksgiving.  Please do not let this suck.

Sincerely,

The Staff of blacklistVISUAL, AKA, Steven Stone

THE ART OF REBELLION... or at least inappropriate public urination.

... is all wrapped up.

Saturday night was the big night --- The Art Of Rebellion show, sponsored by HD, at Robert Berman Gallery finally went down.  Featuring Shepard Fairey, Frank Kozik, Tara MacPherson, Alex Pardee, David Trulli, The Clayton Brothers, Shawn Barber, Mark Dean Veca, Bob Dob, and Oliver Vernon...

Oh, yeah.  And my shit, huge, all over the back wall.

But no name on the billing.  And no invite to the VIP party.  And no signed poster from the show... no respect.  Whatever - I'm wallpaper, and I'm over it.  Photographers aren't artists, duh.

Anyway... the turnout was pretty amazing.  When the doors opened at 7 o'clock there was a 40 minute line to get into the gallery, and when the doors closed 3 hours later there was still a 40 minute line to get inside.  Apparently there were a couple requests to buy my work, but none of it was for sale at somebody else's request... not sure who to blame for that.  Again, I'm not a big name, so I was just stoked to be there.

I guess the turnout was so surprisingly good, despite the rain, that the powers that be have decided to extend the show (originally slated as "One Night Only") for another couple weeks - so if you didn't make it, get out there before February 21st and check it out.

I did a little Googlin' today, and there's a couple decent reviews out already... check some out here:

Ovation TV's Review

HiFructose Magazine's Review

LA Weekly's Review

The Art Collectors Blog

- This was the scene...

- I was interviewed about my work by a crew from The Speed Channel for some show.  However, not having TV in my home, I have no idea what it was.  If any of y'all out there know what show the chick in the leather is hosting, please enlighten me so I can find it somehow.  And, if my interview happens to make the show and you watch it, please know this:  The interview was conducted at the end of the evening, and I can drink a lot of beer in 3 hours... I'm just sayin'.

- And here's some snappers of me.  With some people.

All in all, it was a pretty rad experience:  I almost got into a fight for peeing next to some dude's "living room"(Toyota Dolphin);  I met Frank Kozik, Alex Pardee and Shawn Barber (unfortunately Mr. Fairey was too busy getting arrested at his 20 year retrospective in Boston, so I didn't get to meet him);  My little brother drove out from Pomona with his lovely wife Anna and their new baby Charlie;  My attorney (and damn good friends) Hyrum and Pegs rolled down from Valencia;  The other half of my legal team, Juenger, rolled in from Culver City;   And, as a totally unexpected surprise, chop-builder Rico Fodrey of Sinners/Hi-Bond Modified/Choppertown fame was there to check shit out - definitely rad to meet him.

I didn't feel like packin' a camera around all night, so thanks to Pegah and Heidi for snappin' some shots for y'all... you ladies own it.  And thanks to Terry, Matt and Robert Berman Gallery for giving me the chance to hang with the big dogs.

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And now, a couple randoms from the trip...

- Heidi and I's hotel in Pomona on Sunday night was a little sketch, so Mr. Saturday Night Special worked an extra shift and provided security for the evening.  I usually feel a little silly leaving a gun in the nightstand... not that night.

- We could've flown out to Santa Monica, for sure.  But I hate to pass up an opportunity to rally through the desert.  You don't get moments like this when your scanning the SkyMall catalog...

No sleep til Brooklyn.

So the Santa Monica show is  about 40 hours away now.

In those 40 hours I still need to get out of this damn office, get home, gather my shit, pick up the rental car, drive 700 miles, find a hotel, and then - at long last - get to drinkin' some beer.

I haven't slept more than about 4 hours per night in at least 10 days...  been busy.

BUT.  It's been productive -- on top of doing what's been necessary to keep client work (mostly) on time, I've also FINALLY gotten around to doing some branding for myself...

- New portfolios.

- New business cards.

- New postcards.

And here's the real kicker...

- New website.

I've formatted hundreds of photos, done my part for gettin' the layout and navigation dialed, and been told by the web-guy that I should have somethin' live by Saturday afternoon.  If you know anything of my history with websites, then you know you probably shouldn't hold your breath.  But I'm trying to be optimistic.  

And, worst case scenario, the saint Jory Dayne has offered to at least whip up a slideshow pro version if the other cat can't catch the train.

So I should be pretty much set to do my schmoozin', come Saturday Night... 

Finish coat for the portfolio pages... photo by Jac Scott.

And here's a little sneak peek of the new branding... get into it.

Oh, and thanks to everyone who's tossed in and given me a hand this past week - y'all kick ass.