MISS DANGEROUS CURVES, 1954 | BUFFALO BILL MOUNTAIN HILL CLIMB QUEEN
Category Archives: pop culture
TROG– THE RACE OF GENTLEMEN, 2018 | WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRYAN HELM
Everyone thought Hollywood was showing his pride and paying tribute to the Oilers club– “Kinda funny story about this pic… Someone yelled out to me that a flag flew out of a car and was in the middle of the track. As usual I wasn’t paying attention to the races. I rode out, grabbed it and held it up so it wouldn’t flap around and hit me in the face– had no idea it was an Oilers’ flag until I got to the finish line to return it!” ~Hollywood AKA @knucklebuster1939 of the Oilers CC / MC. Photo (c) by Bryan helm
Moon Equipment Co. Transporter– 1938 Ford COE, originally an old Coca Cola truck, yellow was their color before red said Mel Stultz himself! — TRoG, The Race of Gentlemen 2018– Photography (c) by Bryan Helm
ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH’S LOST & FOUND 1956 FORD F-100 KUSTOM PICKUP TRUCK
Fred Beindorff photographed Ed Roth with his Ford F-100 pickup for Rod & Custom magazine in April 1957. The truck also appeared in the Nov. ’57 issue of Car Craft. Dave Shuten and his crew at Galpin Auto Sports returned the truck to this original state, right down to the Olds Fiesta hubcaps.
ZAPPA KRAPPA | ROBERT DAVIDSON’S CULT FAVORITE PHOTO NEGATIVES RESURRECTED
The photographer Robert Davidson will soon be officially releasing these famous images of Frank Zappa on the crapper, affectionately known to fans as “ZAPPA KRAPPA” or “PHI ZAPPA KRAPPA”, for the first time since they were originally shot back in 1967. The image below of Zappa on the toilet has gained cult status over the years, and is being admitted into the permanent collection at the National portrait gallery in London. The bizarre story behind the 50 year search for the lost negatives has now finally come to light…
THE SELVEDGE YARD X TRIUMPH & DISASTER GREASER GETDOWN RECAP
Our new friends at Triumph & Disaster descended upon The Selvedge Yard in New Hope, PA and did exactly what they threatened to do– throw one helluva party with us and giveaway a free trip for 2 to Waiheke Island, New Zealand. TSY was extremely honored that T&D founder himself, Dion Nash (along with Holly Walker & Caz Little), traveled to join-in on the festivities and to meet our crew of incredible supporters, locals & friends.
Lovely Linda Missal @citygirlmotorbike (above left) was the winner of our TSY x Triumph & Disaster Greaser Getdown trip giveaway! It came down to 3 awesome finalists, which made for a tough decision. Linda, a member of women’s motorcycle club The Miss-Fires was joined by her boyfriend John James Linsley who was also dressed for the event. The good-looking couple was a one-two punch that sealed the deal– along with the fact that Linda showed true grit by riding her bike in the pouring rain all the way from Brooklyn! Well deserved!
Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races | 120 Film Photography by Jungle Pat
“With caffeine levels topped up for the five hour journey to south wales, I was finally going to experience the buzz that surrounds the VHRA Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races.Stepping back in time doesn’t quite do it justice. It’s one of those events that people can’t stop talking about, and they assure others that haven’t been that they need to make the pilgrimage. Everyone congregates on the hill waiting for the tide to go out before the racing can begin– and when it did the two hundred strong fleet of rods seemed endless making their way to the pits on the historic beach.
With the sun bursting through the few clouds in the sky, it was as if our brothers across the pond at the east coast The Race Of Gentleman in Wildwood NJ, had sent some sunshine to the U.K. as rods and customs were kicking up sand on both sides of the Atlantic.
THE RUNAWAYS | LA’S YOUNG CHERRY BOMB QUEENS OF NOISE WHO WERE BIG IN JAPAN
1976, The Runaways — Lita Ford, Joan Jett, Jackie Fox, Sandy West, Cherie Currie — photo by Tom Gold
The Runaways teenage, all-female rock band was co-founded in 1975 by guitarist Joan Jett and drummer Sandy West. The two were joined by Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, and Jackie Fox and became the main core of the group. Vicki Blue, Micki Steele (who’d later join The Bangles), Peggy Foster, and Laurie McAllister also flowed in as others dropped-out, and they eventually broke up in 1979. The Runaways actually saw greater success in Japan than here in the US, where many critics and serious rock fans alike had a hard time taking the sexy teenage girls from LA seriously. Their mania and memory largely slipped into a slumber until being sparked again by the 2010 biographical flick, The Runaways.
Being a child of the ’70s & ’80s I was aware of The Runaways, but was exposed more to TV than the live music scene. Suzi Quatro (who inspired Jett) was riding a wave of curiously sexy, somewhat androgynous, lady rocker vibe and saw decent TV airtime. I’ll admit, I was intrigued. Pinky Tuscadero definitely had my attention too. Then Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and Lita Ford (now a pursed-lipped, metal guitar goddess), shot back into the rock limelight wiser, and with stronger musical chops. Looking back at The Runaways, one thing I’ll say is that they were well-merchandised, as witnessed by the great archive of images that have successfully survived the test of time.
BUSTY BETTY BROSMER | PINUP PHENOM & 1950’S COVERGIRL QUEEN
Betty Brosmer was the highest paid supermodel of the 1950s – winning more than 50 beauty contests before the age of 20 yrs old, posing for more than 300 magazine covers, and stunning men and women alike with her insane hourglass figure (38″-18″-36″)! You litereally could not go anywhere without seeing her image in a magazine, on a record album, or store window display. She married the fitness icon Joe Weider in 1961, and joined his fitness lifestyle empire. Together they co-authored several books on bodybuilding, and founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders. Check out this trove of photos of Betty Brosmer in her stunning prime.
CRY BABY | JOHNNY DEPP IN JOHN WATERS’ ’50S HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS CULT CLASSIC
“John Waters’ musical ode to the teen rebel genre is infectious and gleefully camp, providing star Johnny Depp with the perfect vehicle in which to lampoon his pin-up image.” –Roger Ebert. Well said. Depp has always deftly embraced ironic roles to deflect the trappings of his undeniable handsome-as-hell looks. 21 Jump Street definitely had the potential to pigeon-hole his career, had he been a lesser actor.
Cry Baby would go on to become a cult classic, due largely to the pouty lipped, chiseled face of a young Johnny Depp in his physical prime, and on a Harley to boot. (They used a Sportster and K model, both red, that they swapped a few times in the film apparently with the thought that it would go mostly unnoticed.) For me the enduring 1950s aesthetic is always a draw, and Waters’ witty one-liners are priceless. And let’s not forget the interest that was stirred up back then by the young and sultry Traci Lords. It was her first non-nude screen role following her controversial (not to mention highly illegal) underage porn career that was still hot on everyone’s tongues and minds.
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FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH | CROWE’S UNDERCOVER HIGH SCHOOL MASTERPIECE
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) remains one of my favorite teen / high school films of all time. It brilliantly captures the cultural touchstones of a generation, and the glory days of youth long gone by– before we were slaves to technology and all this social media bullshit.
A young Cameron Crowe, then a freelance writer for Rolling Stone magazine, went undercover as a student at Clairemont High School in San Diego, CA to write a book (of the same name), which he also adapted for the film. In Fast Times we get to witness a bevy of young Hollywood stars already in the making– Sean Penn (who totally stole the film, and birthed an army of Spicoli wannabes in high schools across the country), Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh. There are also early appearances by relative unknowns at the time who would go on to major stardom– Nicolas Cage, (then Nicolas Coppola), Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, and Anthony (Goose) Edwards. Fast Times’ soundtrack was also groundbreaking, featuring a quintessential blend ’70s & ’80s rock & roll artists, that to me, will forever be connected with the film. I mean, who can hear “Moving in Stereo” by The Cars without instantly thinking of that hot, hormone-raging pool scene? Epic.
Haters gonna hate, but eat this– In 2005, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. If you’re of this era it’s definitely a film that still resonates and makes you want to roll a fat one, throw on your Vans, hit the arcade, grab some tasty waves, and meet some babes.
The Selvedge Yard 