Ara Macao

What I've been listening to lately...

The Shape of Speed

I've got a thing for Art Deco - or anything made between the wars. A style that felt forward thinking, futuristic, and yet tied to the time and space in which it existed. My interest in this era, this style, is so great that I stopped in Tulsa, OK just to eyeball the architecture for a few days. And so, when the Portland Art Museum proclaimed the introduction of their latest exhibit, 'The Shape of Speed,' which showcases streamlimed automobiles and motorcycles built between 1930 and 1942, I purchased tickets and packed a camera, no questions asked.

The exhibit will be on display from whenever you're reading this, until September 16th of 2018.

You should go.

Asher Emerson

"In a dimly lit corner of an automotive restoration shop in Tempe, Arizona, there’s a giant dragon. It looms overhead, long and twisting and yellow, with flames thrown from a mouth adorned by a mustache. I look up from below, admiring its form, its size, then pull a few paper towels from the roll, dry my hands and exit the little bathroom in the back of Asher’s studio. On the walls there are tracing paper sketches of the human form with could-be tattoo designs covering their butt and backs. Traditional Irezumi art is everywhere. There’s a small drafting desk, a padded massage table and a big bendy light, which looks a little bit like that character from The Brave Little Toaster. Asher is standing in front of his computer, which casts a blueish glow over his upper half. He’s looking at something that he’s scanned, the outline of a design which he’ll soon paint onto the back of my leather motorcycle jacket."

I wrote about my friend Asher for Wayward. Hit this link and check out the piece I put together.

From the Phone - Vol.8

Most of this won't make much sense to anyone. It's just a bunch of photos pulled from my phone. Many of which are old, like maybe a year or more. Anyhow. At least I know what it all means, for now, while I'm still cognizant and not suffering from some kind of memory losing old-age disease. That said, the first five or six photos are contemporaneous - a lake in Arizona, an International Scout like the one I had, and a photo of my grandfather and his second wife. Those are followed by a random assortment of images that include a month long motorcycle trip around Italy (and France), drag racing on the East Coast, the stump of my grandmother's redwood tree, my father, my wiener, and a few negronis. It's a mish-mash. And something I haven't done in quite some time. So here goes. A pull from the ol' telephone memory book. If you want to see more, you can hit the FTP tag at the bottom of the post.

BTS | The South

We traveled throughout the South in April, filming the third episode of our show, Perpetual Motion, spending something like three weeks on the road. We'd been across the Bible Belt before. A few years back, on the same sort of bikes (see: Scouts Honor). From New Orleans to Key West, riding along the southern edge of America. We didn't take our time, however. We had a deadline in Daytona Beach, and were running out of money. This go around, though, we had a bit more of both - time and money. So we spent some time in New Orleans, where we drank ourselves silly and ate wonderful things. We then wandered into the bayou where we met some friendly fishermen who took us to a Civil War fort now surrounded by the sea. Afterwards, we headed to Birmingham, Alabama to see the greatest motorcycle museum on earth and kick back a few beers with an old friend and photographer, Raymond. Our next stop was Atlanta, Georgia to see Steve West, eat our annual donut, and do some drag racing with our friend and 11-time national champion, Rickey Gadson. From there we traveled to Charleston, South Carolina where we swapped motorcycles for sailing boats. Long story short, we'd met this dude, Chad, by chance a few months back in Baja. And he made the mistake of suggesting we come sailing on his boat some time. Dummy. After that? South to Jacksonville, Florida for the circus, then Daytona Beach to ride our bikes along the Atlantic Ocean. There's more, though... Drinking mezcal with a members of law enforcement, kickin' it with a couple of Eastern European contortionists, sitting on the disassembled Globe of Death, etc.

All of this and more will be featured in the forthcoming episode of our show. So, stay tuned for that.

In the interim, though, check out some of the behind-the-scenes photos I shot throughout the South...