Let me tell you about the old bike shows that we used to put on and why they were so much more than they appeared to be. On the surface these old shows looked to be just a bunch of scooter people throwing together a low buck bike show. We used to call them “street shows”. Advertising for a show was the simplest… just a sheet of typing paper or a piece of poster board and a marker would announce the date and place and that place was most often the local bar. We might even put a notice up in the local custom shop. This minimal effort was enough however because the bike scene was very tight “back in the day”. Even just the word of mouth would have drawn quite a crowd back then. So now I’m going to make my first point: there was a togetherness… a community ( no not a freaking village ), a lifestyle.

As the word got around people would show up to help. Somebody would volunteer to play the music for free just to be part of what they knew was going to be a kick ass party. I remember one group called the “Curle Brothers” that could rival Stevie Ray Vaughn! This is my second point: good times and good parties were a big deal.

The reason that we used to call these things street shows is because that on the day of the show people would show up at the bar and fill the sidewalk and street with motorcycles. The street would be blocked off because of the number of bikes parked everywhere. The street was taken over hence the name street show. One show was so big that bikes were across two lanes and the band set up in the median of a four lane road. What permit? The cops didn’t bother anybody. Their attitude was that as long as we weren’t tearing anything up that it was cool. Besides, there were a lot of bikers there… old skool bikers. That’s my third point: unity.

Something that most of the the new bikers of today wouldn’t understand is that in many of these shows there were no trophies. No one thought about them or would give a rat’s ass anyway. Unlike today’s t.v. driven new riders with theirbiker t.v. soap opera drama shows, the old guys truly liked their bikes and they rode them. They didn’t need any heroes or small victories to boost an unsure self esteem. It was all about the bikes, the brothers and the individual stuff each guy did to his scoot. If you liked something about a guy’s bike you told him and he’d tell you all about it and sometimes help you do it too! My fourth point: self assuredness or confidence. Maybe the word manhood describes this. You didn’t have to be told that were better than the next guy because somebody liked your paint or handelbars. Trophies or pictures in magazines did not make you a biker. Your bike was enough. Besides, back the just riding the thing got you plenty of recognition both good and bad.

So ther you have it… a street show. Iwish you could have been there because if you’ve taken the time to read this far the maybe you’d have fit in. Maybe you’d have seen what didn’t show on the surface but what was being lived by the people in that street. This story really doesn’t even begin to explain it.