“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.”
George Eliot
Last night, Friday the 13th of April 2012, my friend Mike Tag died.
For those of you that don’t know, I grew up riding BMX from age 11, and continued to do so my entire life. Mike was among a small handful of characters that influenced me, inspired me and at the same time got me into immeasurable amounts of trouble from the time I was 17 or so until just a few years ago.
He once tazed me in the stomach in the middle of the night on Hank Williams III’s tour bus, he fed me my first alcoholic drink as an adult at a VIP party we snuck into at the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco, and even when he wasn’t getting into trouble, he was always smiling like he was.
He was a true roughneck, and a pioneer of BMX street riding and style. Mike was as caring and loyal as he was tough, and will be mourned by many, but forgotten by none.
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Below are two FBM videos featuring Mike. The top one is one of my favorites ever, and captured Mike, myself, and many of our friends during one of the best times ever in BMX. The bottom one is my favorite video part of Mike’s, to one of my favorite songs ever.
Live Fast Die. from FBM BMX.