Laffin' with the Devils

It's kind of a soap opera for Harley owners, I guess. The Discovery Channel has a new reality show, "The Devils Ride" about a San Diego Motorcycle Club (MC). These guys are not the Hell's Angels. They don't pretend to be and they are probably more to MC's than the Angels are in that they are not the 1% of cyclists that the American Motorcycle Association deemed the bad apples of the riding bunch. There might be a thousand MC's like them, guys who just like to ride, hang out and look cool.

I had a friend who belonged to a Club. Steever told me once not to call it a gang. He was not in a gang, he was in a Club. He never had to tell me again. I know this because he never had to punch me out.

When I knew and worked with Steever, he looked like a Club member. He had a bone-stock, '57 Panhead. A very serious bike. He rode it to work one day and told Big Brian that, if he could start it, he could have it. Brian was a big kid, a Harley owner himself. He stood on that kick-start for several tries before he realized he wasn't going to make it happen. Then, Steever, maybe 40 pounds lighter and ten or so years older, fired it up in one try. Older Harleys are tempermental. They famously leak oil and often break down. You really have to love them.

Steever showed me some photos of his Club days. Though he looked like he could play bass for Skynard now, he was very clean cut back in his Club days, almost baby-faced. It was quite a contrast which he acknowledged and laughed off. His Club was just a bunch of boys he had grown up with that liked to ride together. They had cuts and colors and rules with a heirarchy and a president and all that. They even had a housemouse- a gal who hung around and pretty much was sexually available to any Club member. They rode together and partied a lot. I know he didn't tell me any club secrets about prospects and such. That's kinda like frat boys. They don't really want to fess up to any hazing that goes on. It's good to have that layer of secrecy as it mightcould save some embarrassment. Steever's Club wasn't a criminal enterprise. Most are not. They didn't war with other Clubs or deal drugs or guns. His affiliation ended when the Club voted to merge with a more serious Club, one quite a bit more notorious. They just weren't him.

The Laffing Devils are like that too. If they were a criminal enterprise, I doubt they would have let TDC in amongst them with their cameras. Three episodes in and not one member has shoved his hand in the cameraman's face, annoyed at the spotlight. Will, on "Son's a Guns" seems to do that every five minutes. I'm guessing they not only like the influx of cash from TDC but the noteriety, as well. Let's face it: the colors and the Harley do scream, "LOOK AT ME!" That's the idea.

Elsewhere on the 'net, the LDMC is being laughed at. Oddly enough, I've never seen the popular "Sons Of Anarchy" a fictionalized account of a more volatile MC and many people opt to criticize it for not being "like that". Reality varies. Such is life. These guys are not a gang. It seems that most have the good jobs that tends to go with Harley ownership these days. Motorcycles are not cheap. The synopsis claims that most are former military looking to recreate that brotherhood they once shared. Clearly they are modeled after all the Clubs that came before them in that they have a president, vice-president, a sergeant-at-arms who enforces the rules and prospects who spend about a year being probationary *members* before getting a patch. I think one of them explained, 'you spend a lot of time getting in so they don't have to spend a lot of time getting you out'. Something like that. They have an initial classification of "hang around" for guys who are looking to be prospects. In last night's episode, they got rid of "Hangaround Tony" whom some patch-holders had thought should not have even had that staus because he didn't actually have a bike! Tony quit on his own, for reasons that might be revealed next week. I think they should have nixed him from day one for lack of motorcycle PLUS the sad fact that he looked like Doug Heffernan of "The King Of Queens: TV show. Would you ride with Doug?

Some of *reality TV* is scripted, I think, to some degree. Conflicts that happen off camera might be recreated, perhaps enhanced a bit, for effect. Maybe even encouraged... But, the reality of life is, if you get a bunch of guys together, there will be conflict. Most of us know this from work. Not everybody is gonna get along, especially if there is drinking involved. And cameras!

I know guys like these. Some ride motorcycles, some don't. It really doesn't matter if they do or don't.  What appeals to me about the show is it's as incongruous as life is. A few of the LD's seem more like bikers than the others. At least, they look the part more than some of their brothers. There is certainly some profiling going on, some acting, just like real life. The coolest character is "Gypsi" the defrocked former president of the Club. Odd, but he seems less of a *biker* than some of the others. He's a smart, calculating man though and clearly has the respect of most of the Club even though he's no longer a member. Evidently he's also a bounty hunter so, no doubt he can can handle himself. More than that though, he appears to have leadership skills. Evidently he was a Marine who saw combat in Iraq. Manufactered drama or not, he's looking to start another MC. He retired from the LD's and should have been allowed to keep his colors but, was asked to turn them in and did. Regardless, starting a new MC is kind of an affront to the old Club. Will some guys defect and join Gypsi? To complicate matters further, the Prez wants to start a new chapter of LD's elsewhere in the county and- inexplicably- has delusions of franchising the Club all over the world! Slow down, chief. He seems like a nice guy but, not a world leader. Not even sure right now if he can lead the small world he has right now. Billy the Kid (the new Prez) is being called one of "the young bloods" in the Club by the producers. Perhaps more made-for-TV license to show old guard versus new. I'm sure it's there though, just as in real life. Being of a certain age myself, I do cringe when I see younger guys doing things I wish I hadn't done. Ya can't tell 'em anything....

So, I like the show. It's harmless entertainment, a soap opera again. It's life on and off two wheels pretty much like life for most of us. But, three episodes in and no housemouse? How seriously should I take these fellas?