In the Summer of 2008, I had been away from Detroit for nearly 2 years and the scooter club I helped start (Rovers S.C.) was in the middle of trying to conceptualize the 4th Motor City Shakedown.
I was heavily involved in developing the identity for both the Scooter Club (logo, etc.) and the first rally “Motor City Shakedown” in 2005… and had a strong itch to participate in some capacity - despite living across the country. I was going thru a severe stage of homesickness and even contemplated returning to the Motor City.
I posted some rough sketch of some artwork that was influenced by a deck of Mexican Loteria cards. I wasn’t very aggressive with my design pitch… it was a half baked idea that I would have explored further if my Club Mates in Detroit liked the idea.
The Rovers elected to go with the theme “4th Gear”. It was an obvious reference to the forth gear on a scooter and if memory serves me correctly, it was well received by everyone who attended.
A number of years had passed and I helped organize a number of Third Coast Rallies in San Antonio, but felt a little hamstrung in conceptualizing those rallies.
3CR was conceived by a local group of friends (Ne’er Do Wells) well before my arrival to the Alamo City and despite little involvement from the core of Ne’er Do Wells - it felt like we were organizing a rally under banner they started.
3CR held its last organized rally in 2009 in the Alamo City.
Amerivespa (National Scooter Rally) - was held in San Antonio in 2010. I wasn’t involved with any of the planning and it felt nice to just attend a Rally in San Antonio without having to endure any of the stress that accompanies it as an Organizer.
A number of years had passed… the Ne’er Do Wells (who have openly avoided the tag “scooter club”) were no longer putting on rallies. Local scooter groups had not put anything together… So my friend Clayton hit me up if I had any interest in developing a Rally for San Antonio.
My interest was peeked, but I wanted to organize it with friends I genuinely liked and respected. I also wanted the rally to be produced by a local club. A group of people with vested interest in producing something of merit.
Clay came up with the idea of doing something involving Day of the Dead and he pretty much had me when he said “Rally De Los Muertos”.
No scooter clubs in the area (Houston/Dallas/Austin) were producing rallies in late October - so we had an opportunity to throw a scooter rally with costumes.
The last condition I mentioned to Clay, was that I wanted to set the limit of Rally De Los Muertos to 2 or 3 installments. I really didn’t want to produce RDLM 8… and creatively work within a box.
Everyone in the room nodded and before I knew it, we were knee deep in organizing another Rally.
A lot goes into organizing a rally. The thing I enjoy most, is curating a weekend experience for attendees (local and away) and have them check out some of the best kept secrets in the City. It feels great to throw business to places I frequent on my own time and showcase local artists.
The biggest boon in developing RDLM in the past two years is getting to establish a friendship with local artist Robert Salinas. I discovered him by total accident… I wanted to find a local Gig Poster maker to help us conceptualize the first rally. He had made a posters for the bands The Brand New and the Get Up Kids - so I reached out and things just clicked.
For RDLM 2012 - we let Vito put something together and provided very little direction. We wanted to allow him and his skillets to put us on the map. In my humble opinion, we arguably had one of the best Rally Logos in 2012.
When RDLM 2 came along… I knew exactly what I wanted.
I couldn’t let it fucking go. I talked to Clay and Henry about the idea and they got behind it immediately. When I worked with Vito again for RDLM2, I wondered if providing too much detail for a poster - would possibly sour his interest in developing another poster for us. I was so happy to be wrong on this front and he delivered what I think is the finest scooter rally work I have ever been a part of.
RDLM2 - may be kicking off today, but it’s very much been a part of me for half a decade. I can’t thank Clay and Henry enough for letting me exercise this creative demon out of my system.
