SCRAPE by the LAKE |
SCRAPE by the LAKE |
past shows... |
past shows... |
Lowrider Magazine - Legends Tour Chicago, IL - Aug 2003 |
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We've been to a ton of Lowrider Magazine Tour stops, and Lowrider Mag Supershows, but we've never had our rides in the actual show - its always been a dream of ours, but its always been way too far. This year, we decided we'd enter the Chicago stop Lowrider Magazine Legends Tour. About 10 hours drive from here, we figured based on coverage we'd seen at prev Chicago tour stops, this was the one. Three of us from the local Rollerz Only chapter pre-registered, and received confirmation that we were going to be displayed inside. Our first show and we're starting on the show floor inside - we were pumped to say the least! The road-trip started off shitty - trailering 3 rides in the pouring rain straight through the night. Then when the sun came up it was a perfect day - until we got about 1/2 hour from the show and hit another thunderstorm - but what the hell - shit cleans up, right? After the 10 hour journey, we pulled into the parking lot of the show Saturday morning...tons of cars were already lined up - it was an amazing sight! Then, as we pulled up to the guy at the gate tells us the show just got cancelled cause of the rain earlier that morning (it was now sunny with barely a cloud in the sky!). We got out and wandered up to a scrum that had formed around the GoLo staff. All they were saying was "sorry, its rained out, there is no show, there is nothing we can do...we came all the way from Cali, too, so we know how you feel, now leave". Now my question is this...if the show was cxl'd that morning after the 30 minute storm, why were there no Hawthorne park employees, except security, anywhere to be found - no maintenance, no parking staff, no anybody? I think they knew not to come to work that day. Other than armed park security, there was some GoLo staff and thats it. In other words, people to give the bad news, and people to keep shit from gettin nasty. And even the security dude we talked to said they thought the GoLo staff were gonna book and leave them to deal with it alone. So I'm thinking, as a show promoter, how can I save a huge marketing disaster? So off to the side I said to the GoLo dude that seemed to be in charge that he should talk to the local chapter prez's and get them to pick a park "unofficially" for everyone to meet up at on Sunday, kinda "fuck Hawthorne" lets still do this shit, and by keeping it unofficial, avoiding liabilities, etc. He said "thats a great idea", and walked away - did nothing. Later we saw Mark (LRM hop judge) at Hollywood's and he explained shit straight to us about what happened. I told him if they had explained the situation like he just did, people would have been more understanding - that it was Hawthorne, not LRM that fucked us. But the GoLo staff made sure everyone'll pin it on LRM. We're never gonna get our time, hotels, gas, food, etc back, but LRM owes us a real explanation. On a brighter note, we still had some fun in Chitown... thanks to Tyrone (our tour guide) and his boys, KJ and the Cali Swangin posse, Hollywood Bob, Vic, VegasHopper and the rest of the Hollywood crew, Daniel and his downtown crew hangin at Rockin McDonalds, all the LIL people we met, and the two dudes in the silver coupe deville for helpin us try and find the picnics on the Sunday... You all made the trip better with all the hospitality. We'll definately be back to Chicago again, but next time it'll be the Majestics/Individuals picnic instead. |
