messengers
so, i was a bike messenger. in the 90s. in chicago. you could actually make some money at it back then, not so sure now. in that era (i swear) giant corporations weren't so sure about electronic formats and things like blueprints for plans etc all had to be delivered in hard copy.
none of that is really the point. the point is that I ran into a dude (duey by name) who had a velocity messenger bag yesterday. velo was the "the" cool messenger company when I was a messenger. the dudes were all fast as shit, and fancied themselves as way, way cooler than you, whoever you were. some of them actually were.
anyway, homeboy mentions to me that bobcat got fucked up last year, I figured it was messengering (we also talked about tommy mcbride getting killed on his way to work - I was working inside that day and the police came to cannonball because he still had his cannonball messenger ID on him even though he'd switched shops a few weeks earlier) but apparently he fell from his 4th floor apartment trying to get in after locking himself out. wheelchair bound. almost dead. messed up.
well, bobcat was one of those velo dudes that fancied himself as cooler than thou. maybe he was, maybe he wasn't - but certainly he was important to the community and cared about it, but was too elitist in my mind (I was always more of a john greenfield sort of messenger).
anyway, the conversation with this dude reminded me of what is one of many decidedly different components or phases of my life. Bobcat, though I'm sorry to hear about his accident, wasn't really important to me as a messenger. but there are some people there that had a bigger impact on me, people that I look back on and thank for my interactions, or simply enjoy the memories or even just wonder about.
here are some of them:
Chris, James, Scotty, Kyra, Patric, Jason, John, Ken, Elvis. These were people to me. people that mattered in ways that're hard to quantify, even to qualify, but people. real people. Some of them I never even felt like I got to know that well, but somehow you just knew them as good peeps.
Cannonball was rad because they had open channels so you heard people all day if they rode for cannonball; I gather those days are gone now, but really, some of those dudes weren't c-ball riders, just guys you'd stop and chat with when things were slow, or when you needed a break.
I wonder what it feels like to be a messenger now.
I do know one thing - it's a lot fitter feeling - I really actually miss being on a bike for ten hours a day ;)
none of that is really the point. the point is that I ran into a dude (duey by name) who had a velocity messenger bag yesterday. velo was the "the" cool messenger company when I was a messenger. the dudes were all fast as shit, and fancied themselves as way, way cooler than you, whoever you were. some of them actually were.
anyway, homeboy mentions to me that bobcat got fucked up last year, I figured it was messengering (we also talked about tommy mcbride getting killed on his way to work - I was working inside that day and the police came to cannonball because he still had his cannonball messenger ID on him even though he'd switched shops a few weeks earlier) but apparently he fell from his 4th floor apartment trying to get in after locking himself out. wheelchair bound. almost dead. messed up.
well, bobcat was one of those velo dudes that fancied himself as cooler than thou. maybe he was, maybe he wasn't - but certainly he was important to the community and cared about it, but was too elitist in my mind (I was always more of a john greenfield sort of messenger).
anyway, the conversation with this dude reminded me of what is one of many decidedly different components or phases of my life. Bobcat, though I'm sorry to hear about his accident, wasn't really important to me as a messenger. but there are some people there that had a bigger impact on me, people that I look back on and thank for my interactions, or simply enjoy the memories or even just wonder about.
here are some of them:
Chris, James, Scotty, Kyra, Patric, Jason, John, Ken, Elvis. These were people to me. people that mattered in ways that're hard to quantify, even to qualify, but people. real people. Some of them I never even felt like I got to know that well, but somehow you just knew them as good peeps.
Cannonball was rad because they had open channels so you heard people all day if they rode for cannonball; I gather those days are gone now, but really, some of those dudes weren't c-ball riders, just guys you'd stop and chat with when things were slow, or when you needed a break.
I wonder what it feels like to be a messenger now.
I do know one thing - it's a lot fitter feeling - I really actually miss being on a bike for ten hours a day ;)
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