Sturgis Rally Kicks it into High Gear!

The bikes are pouring into town. The sound is that of coming home to me. I'm here with my Sturgis family. There are probably about 40 of us. Maybe more. Folks keep showing up in the backyard that I haven't seen in awhile.

I don't see where the gas prices have affected anyone because there are huge RVs with trailers in tow sailing through town. Maybe everyone cut back all year on all the cool things they usually would do to afford to be "home" at Sturgis.

There are so many more girls on bikes. The Rat's Hole crew told me this year at one of their events more women got trophies then men. Wow. This is the year for women in motorcycles. We're finally being recognized as the fastest growing marketplace. The vendors have tons more product for girl riders. I remember when there was only a handful of fun things available for the girl rider. And that was only a short time ago.

It's exciting, that's for sure. The last few days I've been preparing for filming which begins Monday. Today I'm going to do a few hours of riding before it's time to launch the film project. There has been some extraordinary spiritual things that happened since last Tuesday when I arrived. More on that in another post. Right now, I need to get a coffee at the Sturgis coffee shop.

Peace, love and rock that throttle!
-S

Jasmine Cain Band featured in Easyriders Magazine!

According to the article in this month's Easyriders, Jasmine Cain is known as the Pixie with an Axe. I agree. She plays killer bass and is a powerful singer and songwriter. Commanding the stage with sweet ferocity, she's been playing the major motorcycle rallies for years performing for several tens of thousands of people at any one rally and is finally getting tremendous recognition! I met her years ago and seeing her evolve into a superstar level artist is so exciting.

She has dearly earned this, putting her heart and soul into everything she does for her music. The road has been extremely long and filled with challenges that would make even the most accomplished musician want to hang it all up. Not Jasmine. She toughs it out because music is the oil that runs in her veins and she loves performing for any type of gear head audience, especially for the bikers.

Performing her stunning originals in a manner of stadium quality-showstopping entertainment, she's a walking library of great rock cover songs including country. High energy! She can play for four hours straight with only a quick 15 minute pee break, and this is NO easy task. Her stamina definitely comes from being a rancher's daughter and keeping up with the demands of tending to the farm, so, yes, she is areal cowgirl from the Wild West. She rides horses and dirt bikes.

You can't take your eyes off of this marvelous and eccentric-looking band. Jasmine Cain is an artist who has truly honed her craft on the road playing every style, with all kinds of bands, until she formed her own group. Jasmine Cain Band has also opened for a few national headliners. Her music is along the lines of Nickleback meets Evanescence.... if I was working in the record business again, I would sign her on the spot. She's one of the hardest working artists I've ever met and a TOUGH business woman too. A record label's DREAM artist.

Her second release is "Locks & Keys" which she co-everything'd and with pockets turned inside-out - foot the bill. A powerhouse collection of ballads and high octane rock, the album draws you in and you just can't let go of the listening experience, because her captivating style won't let you! Her first release "The Inside"received amazing reviews and she sold plenty at her shows and online.

Though Jasmine lives in Nashville, she's a native South Dakota girl born in Sturgis! When she's home here in Tennessee, you just might see her rollerskating down the honky tonkin streets of Lower Broadway, carrying her Warwick bass, her long purple, blonde and black locks blowing in the breeze. Yeah, she'll perform in rollerskates, too, when the mood strikes. Jasmine laughs all the time and loves to make an entrance. We have a super time together because we both love music and we're silly about everything having to do with the motorcycle lifestyle.

Oh, and another thing, here's a girl who, on her own, last minute booked The Whiskey and The Viper Room in L.A. all in one night and so impressed the booking folks that they told her she can come back anytime! That's a rockin' feat! She revs up the wildchild freespirit in everyone so life feels like a good time and an easyride! Biker chicks ROCK!

Go get the June Easyrider magazine and read the fabulous article about her. Oh, and it's the 420 issue, that is, the 420th issue. A must!We roarrred over that! However neither one of us partakes in the herbalessence. You can also read the article in the PG version V-Twin magazine. Yes, the article is written in such poetic language and in ol skool rockin' roll voice that it would make a great cover piece in Rolling Stone mag, too! Beautiful feature. It'll take you higher.

www.myspace.com/jasminecain - listen and watch some videos. Don't expect inflated myspace numbers. She doesn't "mine" for myspace fans. She doesn't hard sell anybody, she only wins everybody's attention. Haha! And she loves to make friends so stop by her myspace or at a concert and reach out.

The man of my world.

My beautiful Daddy Poppi, the man of my world. I adored my father beyond measure. While I was in Sturgis due diligently interviewing for the Miss Sturgis contest, I went to the mountain, Bear Butte, to find peace, and to be with my Daddy Poppi in spirit. To leave a prayer tie for him to let him know how GOLD he is to me. Pure. Precious.

My friends and family, I am crushed to lose my friend and father. Now more than ever I'd love to just crawl into his lap and feel his beautiful father energy just sooth my soul. I know he's transferred to spirit form and it was his time to be rescued from the ravages of Leukemia that took his strapping Irish build down to my weight and stature....tiny. I traveled with the bandana that I wore on my head, the day and evening he passed. That bandana which he caressed in his frail hands and looked deep into my eyes to let me know how much he loved his wild child, before he departed.

I couldn't bear to see my Daddy Poppi in a coffin, so didn't go to the memorial. I sat quietly in my home and on the banks of the river. To see a disintegrated body laying in a wooden box would have been a nightmare for me. The only place I could make sense of this was at home visualizing his spirit surrounding me.

The comforts of my Nashville home was a place I didn't want to leave to make that journey to Sturgis. But I was loyal...loyal to my entry into that silly contest that turned out to be weird. Dedicated to those who supported my entry and the goal of being a strong ambassador for Sturgis Rally and the sponsors, girls who ride, everything awesome about our rider lifestyle. My Daddy Poppi was happy about my trying for a contest like this. It took a long time for me to hit "submitt" on that entry form. I'd never done anything like it before. It was a goal to be a breakthrough I guess, as a real girl rider and true participant of the rally lifestyle, especially since Sturgis is my very favorite. Sort of like the way the Dove commercials feature real girls instead of models. After all, that's what the Sturgis Bike Week people kept bringing up to me during the contest process, how they would like to see more real female riders enter the contest.

I kept that photo shown above of my Daddy Poppi that I took and placed in the passenger seat. I cried and held that photo the whole time. I went through all kinds of weather, snow, sleet, driving rain....to get to Sturgis. I felt protected with my photo of my father clutched against me. I spoke to God and my earth father quite a bit. I don't think I realize the full impact yet...it seems like I can just pick up the phone and call Daddy Poppi. Not so. See how the photo is cradled into the rock? That's of one of my favorite stops along the Bear Butte trail. I recommend that you hug that rock and pray about whatever comes to your heart. The rock is warm and solid. so when you feel like you may have a chill from the darkness of the world, you can feel the warmth and be enlightened. Bear Butte is not about going for an exercise climb, like one local had mentioned she loves to do....I was hoping she'd follow her motive with, and to stand atop the mountain, is to be held in the arms high, by the essence of mother earth and you are her child and she is showing her child to the world and letting the world know that you belong to her; You are a child of mother earth and father sky. The perfect location to give thanks and receive spiritual direction.

God turns strange journeys into opportunities for divine intervention. Someday, you'll know all the details. I ended up driving to Denver after the Sturgis Bike Week committee meeting to see my aunt, my father's sister. She didn't get a chance to say goodbye. We sat and looked at photos. I didn't cry....because I knew if I let one tear fall, I was done fer. I'd be totally inconsolable because I hadn't gotten to that deep cry. It was important to be strong for her. I feel it close by...it's right here with me...the tears. That deep soulful movement. I'm trying to keep control over it. I don't know for how long I can hold back the onslaught of tears I need to have... I had a bit of it after he took his last breath, I'll tell you that. I sat in my car and screamed. I drove aimlessly around Dover, DE sobbing. Then I just drove and drove and drove, thinking I'd go to Bear Butte to climb the mountain and collapse onto Mother Earth and just stay there awhile talking to God and trying to find my Daddy Poppi up there in the wind. I'd then fulfill my obligations and have that meeting while I was there. Holy Cow. I made it to LaSalle, Illinois and there was one of my very best friends, Skip, waiting for me. He took me into his home, I slept there for the night. I was in no shape for any meeting whatsoever. I was in no shape to be alone in the car driving...I needed the comfort of my sweet Tennessee homestead and all my friends and family. Then I headed South to be home, with my kitties and poodles and Patrick and my friends. I pulled into the driveway of my home and sobbed. Patrick took me into his arms and we went down to the river bank and mourned our Daddy Poppi.

On the riverbank, we found the funniest piece of drift wood that looked like a silly characature of a snail laughing. I knew Daddy Poppi put it there for Pat and I to see. He was always carving and using driftwood for his works of wood art. In fact, there were many signs that Daddy Poppi was with me. That's for sure.

I faithfully climbed back into the cadillac and made my way to Sturgis three days later, with the heavy heart. But I did it, just like a windsister would do for her windbrothers and windsisters that she loves so very dearly, follow through with the mission that would benefit our beautiful and amazing motorcycle culture and rally. I'm sorry that I did not ultimately be that ambassador for us, our love of riding, and our deep passion for the rally.

Whew. I need to be alone now, all week. I won't be writing on this blog for the week dear ones. After having traveled all that long journey, which probably was used by the Lord as a healing grace considering Daddy Poppi was also a wanderlust and loved to drive endlessly, I'm going to rest, go to the gym which I have neglected for awhile with all the stuff going on, and work on the copyedit for my new book Chrome Cowgirl which needs a great deal of careful attention.

Thanks to all my friends and family, windbrothers and windsisters for your love and encouragement. You're precious and you make the world reasonable to understand. Your love is a healing grace.

xoS

Finalist Round 2 Miss Sturgis Contest!

My dear friends and family and those new folks who I haven't yet met who supported the Miss Sturgis contest:

Thank you so very much for your love and support. I have made first place in the second round of the Miss Sturgis contest. There are two more rounds to go and then Miss Sturgis will be selected. Since I am now a finalist, one of 12 final girls from which Miss Sturgis is chosen, I am no longer in the voting catagory.

The Sturgis Bike Week committee will select the Miss Sturgis winner after the fourth round of voting and all 12 finalists are selected. With that, I encourage comments to be placed on my Miss Sturgis contestant page so that the committee understands why you voted for me, and how much you love Sturgis, and all about YOUR passion for riding. http://www.misssturgis.com/girls/?p=5 and place your comment.

I am truly honored by your support. The comments on my contestant page are breathtaking, I feel ya'lls beautiful glowing light in your hearts.

God bless you, treasured people in my life. I'm so happy about being a finalist and deeply grateful to the people who have supported this contest and voted for me. The passion that folks share for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally certainly shines; it's evident that the legacy of riders and racers over the 68 years is something to uphold and cherish.

To think it all started with Pearl and J.C. "Pappy" Hoel, an incredibly enthusiastic and generous couple who loved to share their passion for motorcycles with a family at large. Who knew this rally would evolve to be so big as to attract riders around the globe. The residents of South Dakota are warm and loving, and it's always a pleasure to receive their kind embrace during rally season.

To me, the Miss Sturgis title is to celebrate all that goodness and to recognize the female motorcycle enthusiast who journeys to the beautiful Black Hills on her own ride. I'd like to take this title to new heights, encourage people to follow their dreams, and to share the title to promote great causes.

Peace and love, Sasha

The Hottie on the Harley is still in the running...UPDATE!

Well, further to my post this morning....looks like I'm still high five in the runnin...

I encourage your votes, my beautiful friends and family and those who love girls who ride motorcycles and the legacy of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally!

VAVAVAVote away.....www.misssturgis.com

XOSASHA....