We hosted a steamy barbecue on the rugged coast of California, at the Bikernet Headquarters to celebrate Memorial Day, 2009. After the 50-gallon drum of potato salad was emptied, the last Corona guzzled and the last single woman spoken for, we shut the massive rusting steel gates and escaped to the Bikernet Studios screening room. Our AT&T SBC Global dish system has been on the blink, forcing us to resort to our DVD collection. I've attempted to be lured by motorcycle videos, and last night we watch Hotel Rwanda and Showdown in Durango.
As it turns out I know the producer of Hotel Rwanda, but we still avoided watching the African mass murder epic due to the extreme negativity unveiled by the film. It's a bummer of the highest order. We live in strange times and all the past history of lies and deceit are beginning to surface and stab us, and folks all over the planet, in the back. But this film isn't a complete downer. It's a tough-as-nails, treacherous story about one man's effort to save as many neighbors, orphan kids and family members as possible, and all the desperate strings he pulls to make it happen. There's so much to learn from such a film.
It was still early and my whiskey glass wasn't empty, so in popped another freedom-related epic from a motorcycle producer EZJ, who decided to cover the Four Corners Rally in 2006. Jeff hired a film crew and a helicopter to capture the majestic rides through the Jack Pines of Colorado, Ute Indian reservations of New Mexico, the deserts of Arizona, and the Poncho House Ruins in Utah. It was going to be a breezy weekend in the hills until the authorities shut the historic event down.
This is a film about brotherhood, freedom, and biker discrimination, wrapped around a gentle horde of predominately stock bike riders. There were no crime-laced outlaws pushing political buttons and raping the town's teenage girls over trashcans behind bars. This was a bunch of dedicated Harley riders in their mid 50s, with their wives and kids, who love to ride the winding roads from Silverton to Durango and share roadside stories with other riders who enjoy long treks through the wilderness. This group admires freedom, the open road smells and a lumbering Harley-Davidson ride to anywhere.
EZJ, or Jeff, and his girl are passionate riders. When they realized the event was being shut down, their travelogue became investigative reporting feature with interviews with the local sheriff and authorities, while gathering permits, and documentation. Jeff interviewed the promoter, Dan Bradshaw, the facility owner, who promotes and hosts several public gatherings a year, the boss of local law enforcement and riders. Unfortunately, the Four Corners Rally has encountered tribe politics and political upheaval throughout its history. Jeff is no 60-Minutes producer and he's no Tom Brokaw, but he did the best he could to document the bullshit, the arrests, and the repudiated permits.
Jeff did an admiral job of capturing the love of the open road and the warmth in a biker's heart. It's a true story, and it touches on a handful of freedom imperative elements of our society, and the bullshit extortion many cops put motorcycle event promoters through, in order to produce a completely harmless event. They've learned the political loopholes they can use to shut down bike functions. They demand exorbitant police fees to quell the projected unruly crowds. Hollister was shut down predominately because the California Highway Patrol charged the city over $300,000 to patrol the event. It's outright extortion, but events are shut down on a regular basis. I know of several Easyriders events that were closed or moved to another town because of police threats.
Don’t get me wound up over this bullshit, but you might watch Jeff's film. We rarely have the opportunity to document a series of such occurrences, get to know the folks behind the party effort, and study Four Corners history. I wish Jeff could have interviewed Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, an old friend of mine, who was involved during the first couple of years. He's mentioned in the film.
There you have it. Two films about freedom watched and enjoyed on Memorial Day. A fitting reminder why we celebrate our fighting men and women, and what they continue to stand for.
Following are some additional comments on the film from “Biker Magazine”:From Kit Maira’s Biker Magazine review : “Several months ago, we did a post mortum on the Four Corners Rally in the Rockies. Much of what we uncovered came from Jeff Kraus, a documentary filmmaker who was at the event when all the trouble went down.
The film is done and they did a good job substantiating promoter, Dan Bradshaw’s allegations of bad faith on behalf of the county and the tribe. Of particular interest was the moment when the sheriff asked them to turn off the cameras. The filmmaker left the microphones running, recording the conversation the cops later claimed never occurred. The replacement rally is Labor Day.
Before you go, you might want to check out the video and decide whether you want to support this year’s event. The county government and the southern Ute tribe sure don’t support you.
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