A Venice Saturday With Bikers And Burners!

It would be great if someone was visiting Venice for the first time this past Saturday, because they would have walked into what felt like good old Venice ... with fun and festivities for everyone - for free!

Clear blue skies and bright sunshine set the tone for the day. The roar of motorcycles woke the town early as the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Club had their rally set for that afternoon, and they always kick it off with a group ride up the PCH, leaving bright and early - and loudly.

The rally itself felt a bit more sparsely attended than most years, with less bikes ... and for sure less babes, as there was no Miss Venice Vintage contest this year, so the venue was pretty dude heavy. I got there just in time to hear National Anthem rock the place, and split during the Cougar Getting, Jr. band that sounded a whole lot like AC/DC. People enjoyed checking out all the bikes, and the beer lines were well-attended. All looked to be a success ... but the beach was beckoning.

The Rayfield siblings (Dakota and Jackson) were tending bar together at Surfside, so we killed some time there until the sun started to set on the Venice Art Crawl Afterburn edition, which is when it got really spectacular to look at. The Burning Man burners brought a whole bunch of art installations to the beach at Windward Plaza, so the rest of us could get a little piece of desert Playa. The dragon was most impressive.

The Boardwalk was packed with partiers, and locals kept bumping into each other and couldn't stop smiling, because THIS is how we like to think of our Venice. Fun. Creative. Dancing. Art focused. Awesome, really. And PROUD - proud that visitors could be with us and see how Venice is supposed to be.

There was a big music box flame-thrower that served as headquarters for a Karaoke set, where someone was singing some buzzkill Adele when I walked by ... and quickly split down the way where more upbeat jams were being blasted.

There was a little pop up version of the great Rohitash Rao fake album covers show work.

If you needed some psychiatric help - you were covered.

If you felt like dancing in a big electric pineapple - no problem.

If you simply needed a hug - any variety of hug at all - someone would hook you up.

Of course, there were plenty of unofficial hugs to go around also, as every two feet you would bump into someone from Venice that you knew and loved ... even the Kosmick Krusader (Harry Perry) himself was there, looking right at home in front of a spaceship.

Several attractions had platforms for dancing on them, and one had to squeeze in real tight to get some dance partying in ... and it was a blast.

There were several things going on all over town Saturday night, but the more you hung out at the Afterburn, the more you realized you were staying put in Venice (Sorry, Bart Saric/Skatermade! Really wanted to be at the Everything Went Skate film release party ... but downtown!!). Moments like these, with the whole community dancing outside together under a huge moon surrounded by glowing art, are all too rare these days, and you have to stay put and soak them up!

There were little places to chill (inside the Yellow Submarine ... in a "Snailoon" ... on little hovercrafts), but most people were busy rocking out, many in their outfits leftover from Burning Man - only minus the dust. To glance around in any direction rewarded you with views of total and absolute fun.

There was a drum circle keeping time of it all, and that encouraged even more dancing around. Nights like this (and it was on all weekend long!) are truly why we live and love here in Venice, California.

A big bunch of Venice folks wrapped up the evening back at Surfside, with a performance from Jake Klassman, son of Bagel. RAD. Thank you to the V.A.C. and everyone involved with creating this wonderful gift to our Community! LOVE!

The 2015 Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally - Bands, Beers, Babes. And Bikes

The 2015 Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally is in the books, and it was another total blast of a day in Venice. It was extra HOT, so the rally held on the blacktop of the Farmer's Market was pretty much an inferno, but that only helped to give the beer gardens a brisk business.

Motorcycles and booths lined both sides of the parking lot, with gear heads and cyclists of all ages and backgrounds milled around checking out all the great bikes.

I know about nothing about motorcycles, so I'll just say this was my favorite one, and because it's a great blue, basically.

The revving of engines and the speakers blaring the live music could be heard for blocks, and gave the whole neighborhood that festive feeling that comes with a big community event.

The kid band, Detour, was back this year, blasting out a cover of Rage's "Killing In The Name" just as I arrived. They are awesome, and will only get better with age.

The Whaler had a full bar booth, so that's where you could be sure to bump into someone you knew while they were waiting to quench their pronounced thirst. Here is where I got to introduce two of Venice's best songbirds to each other, Miss Jessica and Lacey Kay Cowden - both from Louisiana, and both carrying their little dogs. I think there needs to be a collaboration here, ladies!

A highlight of the Motorcycle Rally every year is the Venice Vintage Pin Up Girl Contest, and this year brought out a large roster of lovely ladies ready to strut their stuff across the Rally stage. I'm pretty feminist, so I'm usually mixed about these kinds of things, but bikes and babes have always gone together, so it makes a certain sense. And they all looked great, all were talented, and any one of them would be great to represent the VVMC (except maybe the ones from San Francisco. We're in Venice.)

The contest is the baby of Nik Falco (of Trim fame), and she was also a thoroughly entertaining MC. I laughed out loud several times, and not just because the ladies were doing talents like ventriloquy with lips fully moving. One girl said she could fix any of the bikes there, and I thought that might be reason enough to win, but the judges, celebrity locals like Jeff Ho and Brian Van Holt, thought differently.

Several of the gals sang, and they were all pretty good. One lady (Sasha from Venice!) sang "Cool Rider" from Grease 2, and for those two things alone, we felt she really should have won. I thought the girl that laid down and jumped a bike chain with her ass might take the title, but in the end, the honor went to Elizabeth Deo.

Deo told me that she was origianally going to sing too, but as there were too many singing talents, at the last minute she decided to apply her lipstick with her cleavage, and that brought her the sash. She was lovely and gracious, and took a moment after her victory to give some pointers to a future Miss Venice Vintage, Tallah Tiger (the darling daughter of contest judge, Mersedeh Ahrablou). Adorable.

Raffle tickets had been sold all day to win a vintage motorcycle, and when the time came for the name to be drawn, the guy wasn't present. They called him and put him on speaker though, and the excited winner promised to high-tail it down there to claim his bike, putting to rest shouts for a re-draw. I'm sure he was stoked.

With the crowning of Ms. Deo, it was time to now just rock. GLR played a blistering set under the blistering sun, and the crowd was all the way into it.

People partied until the sun went down, and then branched out across town to keep the party going. Another great day in the neighborhood, and another great Venice event, that just gets better every year.

Thank you to Brady Walker, Nik Falco, the VVMC, and all the bikers and babes that came out to celebrate yet another thing we love about Venice.

See you next year!