It's a few weeks since Harley's electric bike division, Livewire, partnered with UK artist D*Face and Dice magazine. Livewire supplied the bike, D*Face decorated it, and some Lewis Leather jackets, and Dice pulled it altogether and organised the party. D*Face also offered up his East London Stolen Space gallery to host the show and party.
Dice asked me, Bonzorro (from Sideburn 50) and Bill Brink to DJ, which was a treat. I love playing records for people.
The big fella giving it the victory vee is D*Face. He is a super big time artist and motorcycle mad. If you don't already, give him a follow on @DFace Instagram (if you engage with the app). His pop art and the enormous murals he designs and paints all over the world are a treat.
He has also designed a couple of items for Sideburn: T-shirts that sold out in a blink, and some D-Rip sweatshirts we have in very limited quantities.
The other fella is another creative genius, Ben Wilson of the Wilson Brothers. Ben helps create incredible shop interiors for high-profile flagship stores, including for Supreme, all over the world. He does a lot more than that too, but it would take too long to explain it all here.
A couple of the fine, Made in London, Lewis Leathers jackets D*Face customised for the show.
Bonzorro luring in the crowd.
DJ Bill B spinning 7-inchers.
Big crowd. Lots of hats.
Dice brought US photographer and Sideburn fave, Scott Toepfer over to shoot a film (below) and some stills. That's him on the left. On the right is another Sideburn (& Dice) fave photographer, Sam Christmas. These two have quite a few SB covers between them.
We featured a portfolio of Scott's photography in Sideburn 48 & his wonderful Champion Triumph 500 in Sideburn 39 and his BSA desert sled in SB32.
Sideburn 48 is available individually or as a 48-49-50 bundle and SB39 is available as an individual issue.
You can read SB32 for free on the Sideburn ISSUU digital site.
In the background are the D*Face-designed skate decks made just for the launch.
Scott wears a rare and old, original Sideburn 85% Club T-shirt. OK, that's enough cross references.
Lots of friendly faces and former SB mag feature stars, including the DTRA founders, the Brinks, blurry Jason, Geoff Co-Built, Sahara survivor Diana and Deb Sideburn.
D and Me. He's such a great fella. He also used to own London bike shop, Rebels Alliance. One of their bikes, the Rough Diamond, was on the cover of SB35 (we only have a handful left).
It was an honour to be a part of the night. Thanks to Dice for the invite. They put on good events.
Deb and I stayed in an AirBnB right on Brick Lane. Very convenient to the gallery, very noisy too. When I opened the curtains on the first floor flat on Saturday morning, the world famous artists Gilbert & George were opposite. They live locally. By the time I was sure it was them, and got my phone, they'd walk down the street. You'll have to take my word for it.
Here's the film Scott made for Dice & LiveWire.