review: backstreet havoc magazine issue #1

received a nice thing in my mailbox yesterday, a free copy of the premier issue of backstreet havoc magazine.

[UPDATE 07.30.12: seems the editor of this mag, matt knowlson, has taken a few year-long subsriptions and not filled them. i’ve been told by a trusted source he bought this issue after reading about it here, ordered a year-long subscription, and never received one more copy. that makes all of the original info below make matt look like a liar and hypocrite.

i see his website is dead and he ought to refund those who paid and received nothing. for shame, dude.]

first of all, let me say that for a first issue rag made by bikers, not over/under-educated artists and writers following a trend with beards and baseball caps that say PABST, it’s an excellent read. there were articles about bikes and builders, hot rods and music, proper jabs at the myrtle beach city council and babes. cute ones, not skanks.

the number one babe is colleen, pictured here. she’s the centerfold and is posing on a nicely done rat panhead by rusty nuts out of greenville, south carolina.

i knew a girl from greenville once. we met online when i was living in san francisco. we had phone *** a few times. she sent me pix of her dressed as a schoolgirl ’cause i told her that was my fetish. she was a sweetheart. ever since, i’ve always thought south carolina girls were all like her.

before i go off on one of my patented tangents, let’s return to backstreet havoc. the mag is run by a man named matt knowlson, a former marine and veteran of the never-ending mid-east war. one of his passions is helping wounded vets and their families. he has asked me to mention task force dagger, a group of current and former war vets who assist military men, women, and their families who need help when their hero is wounded or killed in battle.

for every 400 copies sold a box of 40 magazines will be donated and troops at war. some of the mags will go to wounded dudes in hospital beds. that’s a good thing.

tfg was founded by current and former members of the united states army special operations command. these were the first dudes/pawns to hit afghanistan in the weeks following 9.11. their charity benefits those who are members of their group.

while i believe these wars have nothing to do with freedom, and everything to do with corporations and bankers who profit from selling tools of mass destruction and extending credit for nations at war, i also believe the men and women who fight do so largely out of a sense of patriotism for their nation. i respect that even as i wish i could change their minds because i don’t see how suspending habeas corpus and the restriction of free speech means young men and women ought to fight and die that we might allow presidents paid for by these bankers and corporations the right to imprison us without ever seeing counsel or a court, while telling us that what we say or do cannot be said or done.

all the president has to do is say you are a terrorist and you disappear. and the supreme court says that’s okay.

that’s not what these men are fighting for. except they are.

some enter the military because their options are limited, but i would imagine that the members of task force dagger would not say killing people is fun. rather, i suspect they see it as their duty to protect american interests. that would be true, whatever those interests might be…

so if you know anybody at war, or a family who has an injured vet or is missing their dead loved one, tfg donates 95 cents of every dollar to them. these aren’t guys you wish to f**k with and when they say 95% of all donations go to those in need, i believe it.

back to issue 1 of  backstreet havoc.

it’s all harley v-twin stuff. matt says he’s got a trump in the next issue and some yamaha tracker/cafe thing, so look out for that mid-march because he knows there are a dozen mags that do trumps and v-twins only and only few that print the metric bobs and chops. i hipped him to a few builders that do kickass metrics as well so with your support, they’ll get pieces in his heartfelt rag.

as i mentioned above, this was put together by bikers, not college kids with expendable income from a trust fund or a tasty day job at an ad agency. there are typos and the bigger photos need to be taken in higher resolution. matt is working on that.

i enjoyed the graphic design/art direction, which is darned good, and the writing is honest. there are no agendas such as “buy my insurance” or “advertise with me.”

matt writes about a visit to myrtle beach and asks questions while being judicious in his reporting. there is a piece about a tattoo parlor, and another about a cool rockabilly band, the defilers. you can hear some of their music if you visit backstreethavoc.com

the quality of the magazine was great. it was meaty and well produced, and there is even a mention of the dreaded midget wrestling!

they prefer to be called dwarves.

VERDICT: matt has a good thing going on. he’s real (oops), not a poser (oops again). the rag is only going to get better and it’s a great start already. it reminds me of old horse mags. he’s passionate, truly cares, and he’s a biker’s brother, not some douche in a bandanna and harley tee he wears every weekend when it’s warm and sunny to the ice house.

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