The Twenty-Third Of June

It’s official. On the twenty third of June, we will be hosting a release party for Issue #2 of The Jalopy Journal in print.

Man, did that feel weird to type. In fact, I never really thought I would type anything close to that. Ever. Certainly not in a serious manner anyhow… And that sort of says it all I think. Except maybe to speculate that I had given up the idea of a print publication out of self righteousness, dignity, and fear of not being able to back up my nose-high stance on the print medium all of these years since issue #1. And that’s an old bitch, so screw it… I don’t want to mess this up with pompous bullshit.

Here I am. Here we are. Make of us what you will.

First, there is John Mearns of Acme Speed Shop. He is the muscle of the operation and the number one reason there is a book at all. He took on the roll of project manager and loony bin director. He did so admirably and without any regard for his own health as he handed out foreboding threats to hoods like myself and our other partner – Jeff Norwell. If we missed a deadline, there was hell to pay. Both Jeff and I learned that quickly. Mearns willed this through.

I guess I just introduced Jeff Norwell as partner #2. He wielded his brush all over this book with not only the art you have all grown accustomed to, but with layouts and crops and… well, other shit as well. In fact, I’m sure he is laboring over the machine as I type this right now. He has the fear as I do.

And that brings us to me. My technical title has the word “editor” in it somewhere, but mostly I’m just a writer. Somewhere a long the line, that’s what I decided I wanted to be. I don’t know if I’m gonna be a good one or a bad one or just another author aimlessly floating about, but I’m not looking for any such direction really. I’m not good with directions.

This all probably sounds like a bunch of nonsense to many of you, but this book is based off the babble I’ve just laid out. I don’t think it’s like anything you’ve ever held or read before. Flipping through it is akin to walking through a museum. It has white walls, white floors, gorgeous abstract art, and a furiously inebriated curator. It’s what happens when a few guys get together and create something purely out of their own passions and with no regard for anything else.

I’m not all together sure, but I think what we just created would be best categorized as an art book. It’s certainly not a “hot rod magazine” by today’s or any other period’s standard. For good or ill, I’m in absolute love with it and have a hunch that many of you will feel as I do.

But enough of that. The day of reckoning is soon. In fact and as previously stated, we will be releasing the book at 7pm on June 23rd at the Continental Club in Austin, TX. On that same day, a few of us will also be getting together a little earlier for a reliability run through the hill country. It should be a weekend of fun and we’d love to have you. I’ll be posting more details as the plan comes together.

Until then, well… We will see you then.