Michigan News Agency is a legendary spot in downtown Kalamazoo (it's just left of center in this pic from the 60s). This has been one of my favorite places to go since the 70s. To this day, they have all the magazines that you can't find anywhere else and they have them before anyone else. They have the latest Dig (granted, they got it long after those of us that get it in the mail did), they always have The Horse Backstreet Choppers before anyone and when I was a kid, they had Bicycle Motocross Action, which was impossible to find anywhere else (besides a good bike shop, maybe) in 1977. I could walk into Michigan News right now and point to the spot where this very issue of the magazine was. I remember it like it was yesterday: Eyes scanning the racks of hundreds of periodicals, locking in, instantly, on the magazine that was changing my life every two months (it was bi-monthly at the time)...
It may sound corny, but this magazine was truly my escape. There were no videos or websites, just this. And it was everything.
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That is such a great little story. After reading bmxPlus for ten years in the school library, I vividly remember the day I stumbled upon a magazine called RideBMX on the WalMart magazine wall. Cover boy Chase G instantly became my idol. Two months later, some guy named Taj had the cover. Bmx was cooler than I had ever imagined.
That's cool Tony. My story is much like Scott's, but I was 5 years behind him in the BMX discovery phase. Sounds like Tony was about 10-12 years behind me.
There wasn't a place around me that reliably carried BMXA, but until I was able to afford a subscription, I was on a sort of constant mission to find it anyplace that I could.
Speaking of magazines, I still(?) get BMXPlus! and in the April issue that showed up today I spotted a Deliverance sticker in one of the photos (nice Dane Wild barspin).
chris yankee showed me the first copy i ever seen and i was hooked 4 life.
I dont know if you got my voicemail but I went into Michigan News Agency today to pick up the latest DIG for all its glory. Low and behold i find that they are SOLD OUT! Sean told me you picked them all up. That was my last resort for getting my hands on an issue in Kalamazoo! haha. hope you have an extra you can let go of...?
_Tyler
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