English S&M rider Alex Leech came over on holiday with skater friend Rob Lawrence, which always made for entertaining sessions while we were making Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer.
When I produced the first six AFA videos in 1987, I sat in a half-million-dollar edit bay that looked like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. I called out time code numbers from a really comfy rolling chair while video wizard Dave Alvarez edited the videos. When I edited the '88 2-Hip video, I sat at a big table in my bedroom with two pro level S-VHS decks and an RM-440 edit controller. When I edited The Ultimate Weekend in 1990, I rented an edit system in the back of a video store for $25 an hour. Then, in 1991, when I edited the S&M video, Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer, I sat on the living room floor of Chris Moeller's tiny,eight foot wide apartment. I hooked my S-VHS camera to an S-VHS VCR that Chris bought, and looked at it on his tiny TV. Next to me sat a 40 of beer, probably Mickey's.
Normally editing is a really mentally intense job, where you go into a room, shut out all distractions, and focus on how to best put the pictures and sounds together. When editing "Leg Muscles," bouncing around the room were Chris Moeller, Jason Pro, a girl we called Sexecutioner Lisa and Lisa's kitten named Satan. There was also a set of BDSM nipple clamps which we all took turns wearing for some reason. Needless to say, concentrating was hard, especially while wearing the nipple clamps. I edited the sketchy way, hitting play-record-pause on the VCR, then play on my camera, then pause on the VCR, and hoping the video edited somewhere near where I wanted it to. Meanwhile, I'd look up and see drunken foolishness, Satan the kitten was drinking Kahlua, and people asking me how it was going every five minutes. So that's pretty much why the editing sucked. I remember that after John Paul Rogers' "section," I fell backward, drunk off my ass, and gave up for the night. Looking at it the next, it's a good thing I did.
So... how did we come up with the lame-ass (and now classic somehow) title, Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer. The day before I edited it, Chris was wondering what he should call the video. I had no idea. So I said, "As we get drunk tonight, let's just write down every idea anyone has, and in the morning, when we're all hungover, we'll see which sounds the best." Chris was down for the idea. Every so often someone would have an idea, and they'd yell it out and write it down on a paper on the counter. We probably had 20 or 30 prospective titles to ponder the next morning. If you've seen the actual video, you know there are a whole bunch of titles on cards before "Leg Muscles." "I dig girls in low top Converse was one." "40 ounces to freedom" was another, I think. But the winner was the line Dave Clymer used to pick up his then-girlfriend, "Feel My Leg Muscles, I'm a Racer." Yeah, that actually worked on her.
We looked over all the titles, and picked Leg Muscles. But Chris wanted to mess with everyone and have a whole bunch of titles. So he found some index cards and wrote down all the titles, as well as the name titles. Then he sat on a lawn chair outside the front door, and I shot the video of all the titles as he flipped the cards in his lap. I think that happened the weekend before the editing happened. Maybe. I was pretty drunk both times, so I'm not sure.
I've never edited another video in such weird conditions. It seems hilarious now that riders and skaters spend six months or a year to get their tricks, and then companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars on editing. It was a whole different world back when we were making this whole bike video thing up.
Dave Clymer's section from Leg Muscles
Mission Trails K.O.D. section from Leg Muscles
Jimmy Levan's section from Leg Muscles
Can somebody tell me why Perry Mervar's section isn't on YouTube? C'mon, make it happen.
I've got two new blogs I'm doing now:
Crazy California 43- This blog's about weird, cool, odd, and historic locations in California.
WPOS Kreative Ideas- This blog's about creativity, writing, art, blogging, promoting creative work, and whatever else I feel like blogging about.
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