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Biker night gig in Texas last night
- Thread starter Burwabit
- Start date
Like someone else pointed out, I would re-phrase that as "I have found biker gang members to be good guys as long as...". I would call myself a biker, but I don't belong to a gang. Therefore whether you're "OK" or not, and whether you have anything I would want or not, it makes no difference. I'm just a regular guy who likes to ride his motorcycle on the weekends. On weekdays I'm mid-management of a large firm, wear a suit, and take my 3 kids to school in the morning.
It would be better if we separated the wheat from the chaff, and called things by their proper names. Biker gangs=gangs on motorcycles. They are likely to be as criminally inclined as any other type of gang (by definition a gang is a criminal group).
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There's also the criminal biker gangs that hold charity events to give some cover as an attempt at some positive PR. I have nothing against bikers or bike clubs, but the criminal gangs are just that, and they should be treated and viewed as such.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Yeah, that is part of the issue but speaking as a life long Texan, most small town Texans that don't live near a metropolitan area are pretty much exactly like they are described. People living in the cities tend to have a different frame of mind
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What I'm gathering from this thread is that some bikers are good, some are bad, but P basses are good. JOKE STEALER!
And don't wear shirts with Japanese writings/designs! That was in vogue back in the early 80's and a couple of us made the mistake of wearing them to a biker party we were hired for.
They let our guitarist know how offended they were by his choice of clothing and gave him a Harley shirt to change into. Mine was a little more discrete and apparently they never noticed
so got a pass on that one. Of course, at the end of the night was the obligatory "burnout competition" and our equipment was covered in rubber "dust" and smelled of burnt rubber for
months after. Other'n that, a real good time! Plus we had to play Born to Be Wild and Bad Motor Scooter multiple times!
I'm afraid we have way too many shootings here, but can't recall the last time nine guys got killed in a brawl over parking spots.
When you think about it, deep violence over inadequate parking sounds a whole lot more Manhattan than Texas…with all of that big, wide-open space, the fellows have to be taking each other out over parking?
Big Hoss
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- Sep 5, 2014
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Pretty sure it was a turf thing... I never quite got the whole criminal gang thing, biker or otherwise.
A Moto-Booty Affair? (with apologies to Parliament Funkadelic)
My praise group has played for two biker memorial church services. City police were a little concerned when the church's parking lot was full of motorcycles from four rival gangs. Even though colors were allowed in church, there were no problems at all. They joined together for one common purpose, to memorialize their friends and family who passed away due to gang violence, accidents, drugs, and alcohol abuse. Very emotionally moving ceremonies.
Once played a gig in Helena, Montana during their annual jazz festival. At the same time, there was an Indian powow, a biker rally, and a bunch of Japanese cowboys who were in town for a training session on American cattle raising.
We are set up on the floor. We have Indians, American cowboys, Japanese cowboys, bikers, and the up town jazz bunch all in the same club at the same time. Would you be surprised if I said I was apprehensive?
Nothing happened. Everybody got along and had a great time.
We are set up on the floor. We have Indians, American cowboys, Japanese cowboys, bikers, and the up town jazz bunch all in the same club at the same time. Would you be surprised if I said I was apprehensive?
Nothing happened. Everybody got along and had a great time.
The last time I saw two grown men have a knock down, drag out fist fight was in the vestibule of a whitey tightey, mainstream church, only about a month ago! One man had recently found out that the other was bonking his wife, and waited until Sunday morning to sucker punch the offender. Ya wanna talk about 'all hell broke loose'! The folks who had invited us apologized profusely, but I told them that we knew it didn't have anything to do with them, or their church. Please keep in mind the wars that have been fought...the people who have died...over arguments concerning God. Do not pretend that 'church' is inherently 'safe'. I don't mean to be THAT GUY but your post seemed a bit sanctimonious to me, and I wanted to balance the scales. I played bars for decades, and apart from the occasional drunk falling down and hurting himself, I have never once seen blood spilled. All hail the good bouncer who is doing his job and nips trouble in the bud. (Bikers have always been cool to me.)
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My grandfather is a pastor and back in the seventies he moved from Macon Ga to Southern CA. One of his first duties at the church in CA was a funeral for a member of the Hells Angels. He said there were a few hundred in attendance and the other pastors refused to handle the funeral because of their reputation anyhow my grandpa did the funeral and had nothing but good things to say about them. They also liked my Grandpa so much as a sign of appreciation they gave him a Fender Lap Steel and an old Randall amp. I still have the guitar.
You're not seriously trying to say that biker bar gigs are inherently safer than church gigs, are you?
Friend Jimmy...that's not what I said...that's not what I tried to say...that's not what I implied. I told a story...a true story...and related it to my experience. That's what I did, and I Yam what I Yam...
After pruning the politics, ad hominem attacks, name calling and trolling, we are back open. May have missed some stuff but I am in a hurry to go party with some friends.
My apologies to people who lost posts that quoted other posts that got pruned. That happens sometimes when threads get messy.
Moral here is:
Got a funny story, tell it. Got a horror story, tell it. Got a bone to pick, there's always OT. Got a political opinion, go tell it someplace else as it's not flying here.
My apologies to people who lost posts that quoted other posts that got pruned. That happens sometimes when threads get messy.
Moral here is:
Got a funny story, tell it. Got a horror story, tell it. Got a bone to pick, there's always OT. Got a political opinion, go tell it someplace else as it's not flying here.
Okay, here's my biker gig humor/horror story. (Probably told this one before.)
Many many years ago, I did a pickup gig with a couple of guitar players who didn't tell me it was at a biker clubhouse until I got there. Parked the station wagon in front and loaded in. Did the gig, which had it's own not-so-funny-at-the-time drama (i.e. the giant biker's old lady who thought that I was so adorable she just had to flirt with me all night - "Really? Are you trying to get me killed?").
When I did the load out, I discovered that the station wagon was now surrounded by motorcycles, leaving me less than a foot of clearance thru which to move my gear. Summoning near super-human strength, I managed to lift my pre-neodynium bass cabs over the bikes and into the station wagon. As I started to back out, there was a loud metallic bang and crash. I seriously thought I had knocked over someone's bike and had done my last gig on this earth, until some biker chick reached behind the car and picked up the mic stand I'd left out. She was laughing pretty good and said "You should see the look on your face." I didn't start laughing until much, much later.
Many many years ago, I did a pickup gig with a couple of guitar players who didn't tell me it was at a biker clubhouse until I got there. Parked the station wagon in front and loaded in. Did the gig, which had it's own not-so-funny-at-the-time drama (i.e. the giant biker's old lady who thought that I was so adorable she just had to flirt with me all night - "Really? Are you trying to get me killed?").
When I did the load out, I discovered that the station wagon was now surrounded by motorcycles, leaving me less than a foot of clearance thru which to move my gear. Summoning near super-human strength, I managed to lift my pre-neodynium bass cabs over the bikes and into the station wagon. As I started to back out, there was a loud metallic bang and crash. I seriously thought I had knocked over someone's bike and had done my last gig on this earth, until some biker chick reached behind the car and picked up the mic stand I'd left out. She was laughing pretty good and said "You should see the look on your face." I didn't start laughing until much, much later.
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