Paint, Pavement & Purpose with Contemporary Artist Ross Pino

Hey everybody, welcome to episode 113 of the Arrive Alive podcast.
I'm your host, Len Bilella. Now, you know, it's hard to imagine.
We've had comedians, we've had filmmakers, we've had authors, attorneys, you name it, they've been
on the show. Today, we have a contemporary artist likened to a mix of Keith Haring and Basquiat,
and his name is Ross Pino. Now, I met Ross a few weeks ago at our Two Wheel Tuesday meetups.
and this one was at a place called the lotus blue cafe and it's down on allen street in the lower
east side and the owner samantha boy does she know how to throw a good party we had music we had a
dj ross's uh works were inside and we even had a tattoo artist there so if you're ever down in that
area definitely stop down to the lotus blue cafe now ross grew up in the southwest and his
indigenous roots go back you know 18 plus generations and You know, in desert country,
you have rattlesnakes, you have scorpions, you have skulls. And all that pours straight into his
work. And as a kid, you know, he traded his bike for his brother's skateboard.
And that cracked open everything, apparently. Art, music, fashion, modeling.
He's a self-taught painter and been in the New York area since about 2008.
And his work has been described as both fast and loose. and pure and fun.
So he's owned about 50 motorcycles from a 73 Honda Cafe Racer to a really nice Triumph Thruxton
TFC. He's a dad of two, and he's a Memento Mori guy who rides with his eyes wide open.
Ross, it's so great to have you here. Glad you could take some time for us. Yeah, thanks for having
me, man. You have kind of an interesting background. We've had all types of people. I know you have
an acting background. I've had a few actors. This woman, this Korean woman, she's one of the top
five spinal surgeons in the whole United States. And she rides her Triumph to work every freaking
day that it's not snowing in Chicago. It's crazy. And I've had the director of Why We Ride.
So, you know, we've had a few creative types. When I read about your background, you're definitely
interesting. And you're in your late 30s, so you kind of started in New Mexico with the
skateboards. What was the skateboarding culture like when you were growing up back then? It was
different. It was your way of saying fuck you to everybody and everything that was trying to have
you conform to a certain way of life and a certain image.
It was more of an outlet for me to go ahead and get creative. And with that,
you know, creative, you know, skateboarding life that I had, it also brought in many other creative
outlets such as art and music and fashion and just like all the cool things that, you know,
one is supposed to be submersed with in the world, in my opinion. Now, back then,
you know, today you see skateboard parks, you know, in Nassau County, Suffolk. Did they have that
stuff back then, or were you just kind of like thrashing around on the streets and pretending you
were? What's that famous skateboarder he's like in his 50s now, late 40s? Were you talking about
Tony Hawk? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there was, you know, like pools and stuff. And when I started
skateboarding, there was a skate park that was already built uptown where I was living.
But there was not many skate parks. I would go. there occasionally but i was primarily a street
skateboarder so i would like rip up the city got it for the most part yeah do you remember what
like your first skateboard was like did you build it did you buy it um well i had a bike at the
time i was probably like 11 12 13 right and my um my brother had been given a hookups deck um by
one of my mom's friends and I remember there was like a couple of skateboarders that were in the
apartment complex that I was living in and I wanted to make friends with them. And I already kind
of knew how to like do like an ollie because I was like practicing, you know, with like some
friends way back when. So I ended up trading my bicycle for my brother's skateboard.
So yeah, it was a hookup step. Well, that's cool. And, you know, I looked at your art.
Actually, I passed by Lotus Blue Cafe last night. We had our motorcycle meetup at a...
Taqueria plays called Edgar bone. And the, I saw your artwork on, on the front of the metal thing.
Did you, I know you've been in a model and an actor where those at this,
did those come first before your art inspiration before being an artist?
Yeah, actually. Um, I got into modeling probably when I was like 23 or something moving,
moving to, um, New York. I kind of had like a couple of different odd jobs. And I realized that's
not really what I wanted to do. So I found myself into like, you know, like catering.
And that was kind of like a build your own schedule type thing. So I really liked doing that and it
paid very good. But then I started getting involved with like some catering companies that do like
high fashion catering. They would hire like models to, you know, like serve like cocktail events
and bougie events and, you know, like, you know, events that,
you know, have like celebrities and. and you know like the higher-ups whatever at these at these
places and so um i just started getting more on the street you know like the different modeling
agencies and i pitched myself and submitted my shit to you know a couple of these agencies and i
was you know i was wrapped in
OK, that's cool. And I know, you know, I tell you, the world is different. There's I live in Murray
Hill, 37th in the East 30s. And if you ever stop by, you got to meet my friend Larry, who lives on
the bottom floor. Larry's like in his mid 50s. But in the 90s, he's part of a twin. He's two
identical twins. And they were male models and they were male models for like J. Crew. They did
some runway work. And Larry today is he's married and he's he has one daughter. But he used to tell
me, you know. In the 90s, a good to very good female model would be getting paid $17,000 to $30
,000 a day. And a male model would be lucky if they got $2,000 a day.
And he said it's kind of, now he doesn't do that anymore. He works for Bank of America. He's got a
corporate job and that type of thing. But I always thought it was funny how the pay disparity for
female models and male models is a little bit different. Yeah, I mean, it's the exact same way
today. Nothing has changed, which is weird and unfortunate. But I guess, you know,
like more people like looking at a hot woman than they do like looking at a, you know, good looking
man. There you go. Yeah, I hear you. Okay, so you do the skateboard and you come to New York and
you got them. So you've been here with how many years, 17 years since were you here before 9-11 or
after? I got here in 2008. So after, yeah. So it's been going on probably like 19 years now.
Son of a gun. Time flies. And have you had a motorcycle your whole time while you've been here in
New York?
Essentially, yeah. I think I got my first motorcycle probably two or three years into moving to New
York. I was still like gathering my bearings and saving money and doing all the things and just
figuring it all out. But the first motorcycle that I purchased while I was here in New York was
a... It was a 1973 CB354. Oh, wow. And I had that probably for a good eight years.
But during that time of me having that motorcycle, I ended up, you know, like doing so much work to
it. I ended up like turning it into a cafe racer and then I ended up selling it.
But like I've been through probably, I would have to say like upwards of 50 motorcycles since that
time of all like different vintage motorcycles and whatnot. Since being here in New York? Wow.
Yeah. I never really was one to hold on to a bike. I was more of like, you know,
like once I get bored of one and also having a CV 354, it's like you're always itching for more
speed and a higher gear and being on the highway, I'd ride along the highway. It's like you can
never get exactly what you're looking for. So went from there to like,
you know, like a Yamaha 650 and from there to, you know, like a shit.
a shit ton of harleys and well you got the tattoos to be out of harley but i think you're too like
you know cool i don't know but man you missed and i have the coffee table book so if you do come to
our uh meetups one of these days i'll bring it you could borrow it and and i'll pay it's um in the
late 90s i want to say 1999 the guggenheim museum had an exhibit called the art of the motorcycle I
don't know if you've ever been to the Guggenheim, but it's the round one, the circular. And you
would just walk up and just all these vintage and current motorcycles and future and historical.
And it was great. And I have the coffee table book, which back then cost like 40 bucks, like 30
years ago. Now it's probably like 200 bucks, but it was great. And, you know, do you being an
artist, I know you're contemporary and I've seen, you know, some people compare you to Herring
meets Basquiat.
And when you look at a motorcycle from an artist's perspective,
what are you seeing? For me, I'm looking at, does it have enough luggage? Is it comfortable?
And is the color cool? And you've seen my bike. I parked next to you. It was that red BMW. And if
that was a human being, Ross, I would marry that freaking motorcycle. I love it so much, right? But
when you're looking at a motorcycle, is it a little bit different when you're an artist?
For me, the way that I view most things is I put a lot of things in just various different
categories. And just like with a motorcycle, there's an ask for every seat, right?
Not everybody's going to want to be on a chopper or a road king or even a cafe racer.
Some people, there's different usages also for different types of motorcycles and different types
of lifestyles. There's touring bikes. So, like, I'm not going to, you know, like hop on a vintage
motorcycle CV354 like I had, you know, back in the day and try to like tour the United States with
that little thing, you know, like that's just, you know, like so uncomfortable and it doesn't have
the power and also it's old and so many things could go wrong.
I look at it through more of a lens of like personal aesthetic and also functionality,
what it is that, you know, like it does for me. Um, also the way that I see,
you know, like the, like my, my most current motorcycle is like, how does this fit into my
lifestyle? And also does it portray the image that I'm trying to relay to,
you know, the world about the kind of individual that I am? Right. Do you ride in a Thruxton now?
Is that what you're riding? Yeah. I got a 2020, uh, Triumph Thruxton T,
uh, TFC. Yep. Yeah, so it's a limited edition of like maybe $750.
Did you get that? There's that Triumph dealer, I think, in Wantod. Did you get it out in the
island? I didn't, no. One of my friends, he actually sold it to me. He fell on hard times and he
was like, bro, I don't want to sell this to anybody else. I'm asking all my homies first if they
want to buy it. Do you want to buy it? And I'm like, of course. I couldn't pass up the opportunity.
So I ended up buying it from him and I've had it probably for the last...
three or four years now, which yeah. That's your daily bike. You take it to Brooklyn to your studio
type thing when you drive. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, and I wouldn't say that that's more of like a
daily driver either, but it's, it's functional for me and what it is that I need to do. You know,
like I live an hour from like the studio, if not 45 minutes, an hour from the city,
depending on traffic. And you know, like that's more than, you know, like the bike is, is good for
the kind of commute that I do on a daily basis. Got it. It's a similar story with my bike.
It's a red R1200R, and there's this guy, Don Eilenberger, who is a retired Bell Labs.
uh engineer and i've known him online for years just through the forums and i met him in person
once and uh he got some prostate cancer was going through chemo but he called me up one day and he
said you know len uh as i'm getting older i'm getting shorter and i can't reach the ground in the
bike anymore you know i'm thinking of selling the bike would you want it And he lives in Spring
Lake, New Jersey, about an hour and 20 minutes south of Manhattan. And basically I said,
I'll be right over because this guy kept his motorcycle. First of all, he's an engineer. So
everything was custom, right? He had a heated seat. The one thing bad about BMWs,
I don't know how Triumph horns are, but their horns are not so good. So he took the horn from an
Ford F-150 and he put it on the bike. So now it's like, you know, type thing.
And I feel like I am. Not so much the owner, but the caretaker of his motorcycle for now.
And he's still, you know, I think he's beat prostate cancer. It's in remission. I don't know if you
can ever beat it. But, you know, he'll always like my photos on Facebook. He said, how's the bike,
Les? I'm treating it good. And he really did, you know, and he had all the farkles on there.
So that's cool.
Have you ever been down on a bike? I have, yeah. A couple of different times,
actually.
I hit a pothole on my way back to Queens on some road. Yeah.
And it, like, you know, got me. And I slid out into the intersection probably, like,
20 feet.
Left there with, you know, basic scrapes and bruises, whatever. Didn't even do anything about it.
I was on the BQE. I'm merging. There was, like, construction and shit.
And, like, some car sideswiped me. went down. My gas tank, this is on the 354,
my gas tank ended up flying off because it was never bolted in. Gasoline all over the place.
I ended up like, you know, scraping my knee, scraping elbow. Yeah. Wanted to make sure that
everything was cool. Ambulance came, picked me up. Bike got towed, X, Y, and Z.
Another one, I was in the city and I was trying to get past You know,
like the car, so I was splitting lanes on the right side. I didn't know that you shouldn't do the
right side until after this happened. Oh, don't tell me a car opened their door. Yeah, a cab driver
opened up the door. Don't do that, Ross. The passenger opened up the door, and I nearly freaking,
you know, like squished her in between, you know, my motorcycle and the cab door.
Anyways, I fly over the cab door. And I get up and I'm all messed up.
My bike's all jacked. She's good. Thankfully, the cab driver comes out and he's like looking at me
like in shock. like, yo, are we good? And he's like, we're good. He slams the door,
doesn't shut. He gives it another nudge and it does finally close, but like half the doors like
stick it out. So yeah, I've had like a couple of times that I've gone down, but not in a long time.
Thank God. I try to ride as careful as possible. What kind of gear are you, you know, it's summer,
it's 87 degrees. Uh, you're in a tank top right now. I mean, are you, yeah, some people I'm,
I, I'm not all the gear all the time, but the, the podcast that was the cattle or the incident that
was the catalyst for this, I happened to be wearing most of the gear. I was actually a hundred feet
away from my front door of my apartment going South on Lexington and a guy from the Bronx.
blew a red light and I bounced off of him. It was a, it was a panel, not a panel van, an SUV,
because if it was a regular car, I would have flew over just like you did. And I probably wouldn't
be here, but I bounced off of him, but I was wearing really nice gloves and, and my pants that are
kind of anti-abrasive. Um, and I'm a little heavier guy, so I have some natural padding anyway,
but what's your kind of philosophy for gear and stuff? I think like as much gear as possible,
man, you know, like, but that's, that's an idea that i have i don't normally do that usually i'm in
like you know black jeans cowboy boots and you know like a shirt and and a jacket you know like a
jean jacket um and in the fall in the winter you know which i very rarely ride in the winter a
leather jacket so and then and then gloves obviously in the helmet um i think you know like back in
the day before there was any you know real riding gear you know with um protective you know like
plastics and whatnot with within them um the standard was you know like a pair of you know like
leather boots and you know just like straight up leather and it's not the safest thing in the world
but at least it'll protect you know somewhat so i'm not one to you know like get you know all
suited up in full racing gear i'm not out there trying to ride like an idiot yeah um and obviously
we know as riders that Sometimes it's not even our own fault that, you know,
like we go down and we sustain injury. You know, usually we could be the most defensive driver
possible. And some asshole, you know, like fucking knocks off her bike or something.
For sure. You know, there's good and bad about everything, right? The bad today,
and there's this woman, Jamie Chang. She is from Taiwan, born there, moved here about 20 years ago.
5'3 maybe weighs 90 pounds, right? But when she first got to America, she bought a motorcycle.
She had a Suzuki. Have you seen this? Suzuki T250X. And basically,
it was so small, you could wear it as an earring. That is like the joke that we used to have. But
she would ride that thing all over the city. And when she said when she first came here to this
country, she would stay off the roads Fridays and Saturday nights because that's when the drunk
people would be on the road. And the other times was fine. But now she says today it's the opposite
because the drunk people on Friday and Saturday nights are taking Ubers home. But during the day,
you have guys and girls, Ross, doing everything except driving when they're behind the wheel.
Texting, Snapchatting, putting on their makeup, doing their hair. So in many ways,
it's tougher. Now, the good part is we have some technology. We have airbag vests, airbag jackets,
and even airbag pants. And you're an influencer, so I'm sure you kind of get, I don't know what
they call brand partnership deals or, you know, influencer deals. Have you considered kind of
looking into whether as an influencer or even just, you know, buying them yourself, like getting a
nice airbag vest or jacket?
100%, man. I mean, i think like if i if i really road road like i i don't really ride as much as
i'd like to right like i think i'm on the bike probably at any on any given year maybe like a month
total out of like that entire year so i'm not like one to really ride so an investment of you know
that nature is you know just kind of like you know it's it's wild to me but like i like what you
said about the brand ambassador you know type type you know like deals that you know like i could
probably do some sort of like brand deal with you know like so currently on your instagram or on
your website like not for motorcycle stuff but arts like whatever your clothing or you know that
type of thing do people approach you for that um a lot of times yeah i mean i i get you know hit up
with a lot of different things like me and my buddy jason naylor um he's an artist as well and we
share a studio together We both ride motorcycles. We both have Triumph Thruxton's and whatnot,
but we have an event coming up with Ducati September 19th,
and we're going to be painting two motorcycles, a motorcycle each, and we're going to unveil them
at the actual Ducati location. Like the bodywork actually painting on the motorcycles? Exactly,
yeah. Are they going to be for sale after that, or are they going to keep them? It's going to be
for sale, and also we're going to be... Ducati's brand ambassador. So we're going to be able to
ride the motorcycles and until they sell and whatnot. And, um, yeah,
we're, we're going to be showcasing our artwork and doing live painting and having, you know, like
a lot of cool brands that are going to be coming out there with us to, you know, like, Oh, that's
great. You know, I run into, and we'll talk about this offline, but I'm, you know, if I'm able to
get you some motorcycle type brand partnerships in the future. So we will talk about another time.
You said you have, so you're in Huntington. You have a daughter, I think you have a child. I do.
Yeah. My daughter, she is going to be 12. Oh, congratulations. Yeah.
And I have a son. My son is going to be 16 actually on the 26th or sorry,
the 22nd, which is coming up in like a couple of days. I have a daughter who's 22 year old. She
grew up in Tampa, Florida. She just moved here to New York, to the Jersey city area. And,
you know, and she wants to get a motorcycle. They have a 2018 Toyota Camry.
And I tell this to people and I, well, Len, you ride a motorcycle. What's the big fucking deal?
Well, the big fucking deal is things are different today. Number one. With your two kids,
your daughter and your son, have you, have they ridden on the back with you? Do they like it? Does
your wife ride with you? Like what's the family kind of motorcycle thing?
Yeah. Well, to your first, I think like it's a smart idea to go ahead and have one of each, you
know, vehicle, you know, because you can't really ride a motorcycle throughout like the, the
entirety of, you know, um, New York city weather. Um, at least that's what I've come to experience.
So it's nice to have a car, you know, like during the off season and whatnot. And it's fun to have
a motorcycle whenever you really want to go and rip around. As far as like, you know, my family,
yeah, I've taken my son and my daughter and the girl on the back of the motorcycle and just all the
things. And it's fun, but it's not something that I do all the time. You know,
like I'm already enough of a danger to myself being on that motorcycle, you know, by myself as it
is. why should I risk, you know, anybody else for, for what, you know, unless,
unless we're, you know, like gonna, you know, like do like a cool little, you know,
fun little windy cruise, you know, with not so much traffic or anything, but most of the time I'm
just on the motorcycle just to commute back and forth from the city. You know, like I don't even
really like taking the motorcycle into the city too much anymore. Um, because I already know that
once I go into the city, there's a chance that I'm gonna probably like end up at a bar drinking you
know like beers with my cousin or my friends and I don't want to have to you know like put myself
in a position where like fuck i don't want to leave my bike i don't want it to get stolen and also
i don't want to be driving drunk yeah you know it's funny you say that because as i get older you
know i live in midtown manhattan i parked my bike at a place called rider's alley which is a
private uh motorcycle only garage you know it's in a building and you know see i envy you in a way
and and and my parents because my my parents live like nine minutes from jones beach Um,
so, you know, it's easy over there. If sometimes I'll spend the night, I'll just head out to Jones
beach or ocean parkway, but living in the city, it's like, yeah, the first half hour and the last
half hour of every ride suck. Number one. And I don't drink any more these days myself,
but, um, it's just like between the potholes. But then once you get out there, like once I get to
Harriman state park, or once I get to Lido beach, I don't know if you ever read, um, you know,
where that, um, that draw bridges and ocean parkway you ever go to ocean parkway yeah it's one of
the best roads you know so scenic you know and you know once i'll get out there i'm like this is
why the fudge i'm out here right and yeah so you know the first half hour sucks whatever and you
just have to be on high alert um are you what is your like um are you as far as like navigation do
you have like a phone on your handlebar do you keep it in your pocket are you typically you know
you're commuting are you kind of listening to traffic what's your your setup typically yeah so i
mean i have like one of those um senna type situations and i have like a quad lock on my phone
which is like It comes with like a charger, like a built-in, you know,
like mounting charger. So it just locks there. And like I could throw my maps on if I'm,
you know, like afraid that I'm going to get lost. Right. If I'm like going to a place that I don't
really know. And I could also play music, which is not crazy too, you know, too crazy loud where I
could listen to, you know, traffic coming. And also I could like enjoy some tunes while I'm riding.
So the phone has never really been an issue. Because it's always constantly there mounted on the
thing.
And if I do need to pull over and take a call or a text message comes in, that's normally what I'll
do. But I'm never really looking at my phone when I'm riding.
We had this woman on the show, Alicia Maria Elving. She wrote a book called The Historical Women in
Motorcycling. And she has a Ducati with no speedometer. She kind of like, you know,
it was a Ducati, but she kind of built half of it herself, you know. And she was in a crash in
Oregon. Oregon is different than here. When she had the phone on her handlebar, she landed in a
ditch. And the phone was 65 yards away from where. And luckily,
she was able to get up. She broke a leg, but she was able to kind of crawl to her phone. But she
said after that, she always kept her phone in her pocket. Because just in case anything like that
happens. And, you know, she bought a GPS or she actually did turn by turn, you know,
with the phone, just with the headphones. But there's definitely two schools of thought. But here
in the city, we don't have too many ditches. But, you know, it's just something to keep in mind.
Totally. Have you had I know you haven't had too much professional training as an artist,
correct? Or have you? No, I haven't actually. Like I took a couple of, you know, like beginner
classes, you know, and like painting and drawing and technique and yada, yada, yada. And that was
at Nassau. But like, I think my biggest takeaway was learning art history when it came to me going
to school, because I only knew like maybe a handful of artists and Basquiat was one of them.
And Picasso was probably another one. And some artists that I knew were professional skateboarders
like Ed Templeton. You know, like my cousin, he was painting and my uncle,
he used to paint. And I really didn't know much about art, art history, you know, what all that
looked like. And so for me, like I wanted to know who the heck was out there. I needed to
understand, you know, like why art was so important, why I was so drawn to it and all the greats
and all the masters that came before me. So learning about art history gave me a plethora of.
different things to pull from and to integrate into my own artistic,
you know, study and nature. If you could paint for 12 hours in a day or ride a motorcycle on a
beautiful spring day and you had to choose which one, which one would you choose?
Hard question, man. We'll come back to that one. I have no artistic ability,
so I would choose the motorcycle, but I totally hear you. I went to Burlington, Vermont last week,
and I took Route 22. I don't know if you've ever been on Route 22. It's the most changing road.
You can go 20 miles an hour. You pick it up right off the Bronx River Parkway, and you take it
right into Vermont, 275 miles. So sometimes you're doing 30 miles an hour, and sometimes you're
doing 90 miles an hour. And it took me a good seven hours of riding, and I rested for a couple
hours. But it was so, you know, I met this guy. There's this historic house.
I'll have to send you the picture. It's now a bed and breakfast. But in the 1800s, it was a
stagecoach. train station, almost like the Penn station, you know, and now it's a bed and
breakfast. And I just stopped to get a drink of water and take a photo because even though I'm not
an artist, I love taking photos. Remember the commercials with Travelocity or whatever that travel
company was with the gnome and the guy would always go traveling and take pictures. That's how I am
with my motorcycles. It's I'm usually traveling by myself. I'll take like a picture of my
motorcycle. And this guy comes out from Staten Island, but he lives up there now. And I thought he
was going to like say something bad to me. What are you doing? He's like, no, no. And he gave me
the history of this place. And you walk in and it's like you're in like 1950s gangster movie,
Oak, everywhere. Crystal and goblets everywhere.
And if I would have took the thruway, you know, Ross, I never would have said. So it's like those
little things of not taking, you know, a little bit of the road less traveled.
So your artwork, so mostly self-taught. You didn't know. And I, I hear that I read and tell me if
this is right. Cause it could be wrong. Cause it's the internet that you really like, uh, produce,
you'd rather produce art quickly and good than be a perfectionist.
Did I read that right? Yeah. I mean, I don't, I don't want to ever, you know,
try to, you know, spend too much time on a painting where, where I'm nursing it, you know, like
constantly, like I want, I want to get my point across and I want to do it in such a fashion where
it doesn't look like it's. You know, that I'm that I'm trying to make it realistic or hyper realism
or anything like that. I really just want to give like the the essence of what it is that I'm
trying to say and somewhat of like a childlike nature.
And a lot of the times what I do use to go ahead and like speak these things is a lot of symbolism
in my work. I use a lot of.
Things that I grew up with in my childhood. Right now, I'm working on this whole new series that is
about my indigenous New Mexican roots of 18 generations. Wow. Probably more than that now.
Also, just the kind of culture that I grew up in in the Southwest when it comes to rattlesnakes and
scorpions and the desert. and like those kind of colors,
you know, that the desert, you know, like brings in the Southwest. And so right now I'm like hyper
-focused on, you know, like creating artwork that is, you know, like within that series. But my
artwork as a whole is very like dualistic in nature. So you'll see like a lot of highs and a lot of
lows, a lot of like, you know, death and skulls and, but also like a lot of like good and fun and
energetic and like childlike things within the artwork as well. So just an ebb and a flow. when it
comes to the way that i paint being in southwest this may sound like a silly question but i
apologize is um did you ever uh have any real life encounters with scorpions or rattlesnakes where
you lived yeah i mean i was always like in the mesa you know just like fucking around and my dad
would always take us you know to belen and we would go fishing and we would go off-roading and
whatnot and so like we would be in like the little ditches and whatnot you know like catching
catfish and crawdads and there'll be rattlesnakes crossing the road and sometimes my dad would you
know like you know kill it and skin it and then like we would like be eating rattlesnake and
catfish on the same exact day over the same exact fire and how would he kill a snake like just with
like grab it with like some things and then like the head or what Yeah, I mean, if you have, like,
a gun on you, you, like, shoot it in the head, bone, take it out, and make sure to chop off its
head so you don't, like, get, you know, like... The poison. No. Yes, hit with the venom.
And then you would just, like, you know, cut it down, like, you know, the middle of its belly and
skin it and save the rattlesnake tail and then season it up with some butter and some salt,
and there you go. Wrap it in some foil and stick it on the fire.
It's probably not a very fatty piece of meat, right? It's probably like rabbit or something.
It tastes like chicken. From what I remember, it tastes like chicken. There you have it, folks.
Ross Pito saying... Rattlesnakes taste like chicken. Interesting. Remember there was that Discovery
Channel or A&E when they had the Crocodile Hunters. I don't know if you remember that show from
years back. Now you can buy that stuff online, crocodile meat and things like that.
Did you ever like magic as a kid?
I've always liked the idea of magic and illusions and even shit that you know.
could possibly be real like telekinesis and and intuition and reading minds and you know like all
that good stuff but yeah magic has always been intriguing to me can you name a magician that you
like either now or that you liked growing up i mean going back looking at the greats you know like
houdini and david blaine chris angel like these are the Pretty much the only magicians I'm familiar
with. Sure, Angel. All right, so let's say Chris Angel was here with us right now, and he had the
magic powers to improve one aspect of your motorcycle riding skills by a factor of five.
So he just blinks or whatever he does, and one part of your motorcycle riding skills are vastly
improved. What would you wish for in terms of that?
I mean, let's just go all the way. I've watched Isle of Man and like those fucking guys, they're
crazy. Oh my God. Like, like they have a death wish, like 100%, dude. But like, let's not take it
that far. Maybe just like, you know, being able to go on the track and like, you know, just rip it
up. Like I've never been on like the racetrack on my motorcycle or a motorcycle. So. That's like a
goal of mine within the next couple of years is to, you know, like get out there and like actually
do some track days. Oh, yeah. They have like, I don't know if you know Dave Brooks or do you know
Shmooley, the guy who runs the two wheel Tuesday? I do. Yeah. Yeah. When he's back in New York, you
know, he's been living in California for the last year or so. But he organizes the track days. And
then there's another guy, Dave Brooks, who also organized and like for 200 bucks. You know, I think
it's a little bit more if you like have to wear their leathers or something like that. You go to
the Poconos. or upstate New York. I haven't done it yet myself, but, um, and you're getting back to
the kids and the safety. There's a famous YouTube video of the guy, a gentleman who won like one of
the motorcycle, uh, you know, F1 races, you know, and he's like typical motorcycle racer,
kind of lanky and the whole thing. And there's this woman, I think from ESPN and she's talking to
him. She's like, Oh, what, what, what motorcycle do you ride at home in the street? And he looks at
her, he says, what? He's like, what? She's like, do you have a motorcycle at home? He's like, oh,
no, I don't. It's too dangerous, right? Like, these guys are doing 190 miles an hour around through
a corkscrew. But you know what? When you think about it, and I've had a lot of people on the show,
I mean, I had 112 episodes, you know, and probably at least half of them done track work. And they
all say the same thing. Track work is so much safer because, A, you're always wearing good gear. B,
everybody's traveling in the same direction and see, there's no idiots in cars, you know? So if I
get more information on that, I'll, uh, I'll send it to you. Um, Have you ever,
so living on Long Island, do you have, and I know you do most of your commuting and with a family
and working and, you know, I'm sure you have a busy life, but is there a route, whether it's North
shore, South shore, that let's say if you had like three or five hours to kind of kill on a good
day with your bike that you like to explore on Long Island typically? Yeah. I mean, I've,
I've done like, you know, several different rides, you know, throughout Long Island, all the way
up, like say to the Hamptons, you know, like on the. on the what is that the south fork yeah but
also like the north fork is very gorgeous you know you can find some really cool rows that like
take you all the way up to like wine country and uh yeah those are some pretty scenic rides
especially like in the fall before the leaves actually start falling and like you know like some of
them like are all wet on the ground and whatnot but like the this the way that the colors change
with all the leaves and whatnot like that's that's amazing Um, but yeah, I mean,
I've done like also rides, you know, like up to like Bear Mountain and all the way, you know, like
up there into, what is that? Like Watkins Land or, yeah.
So there's a lot of, a lot of really cool roads that you could ride here in New York. Does your art
change with the season?
It doesn't really change with the season, but it does change on the mood that I'm in.
Does your, is your mood affected by the season?
And sometimes, you know, like I get bored of a certain thing that I'm painting for a while or
within a certain series that I have to switch it up. So, yeah,
I mean, my art does change by mood and moods are kind of like seasons. I hear it. I mean,
you know, when it gets dark at four o'clock. Toast. I hate it. And, you know,
I think I told you when my mother grew up in Italy, she moved here when she was 19. My dad was born
here in Brooklyn, but his family's from Sicily. And, you know, the Italians are great artists,
right? We got Picasso and Da Vinci and Michelangelo and everybody else, but we're also very
emotional people. And for many years, and part of the reason why I started this show six years ago
is I had a problem with road rage. And,
you know, if somebody cut me off or something, you know, I mean, I would flip, not only flip them
the finger, I'd give them a, you know, say a lot of words of wisdom to them, but a lot of times,
and I had a few people on the show, especially early on and say, Len, that's a freaking wrong thing
to do because a, you losing focus and B when you take away your focus, you're more,
have you ever had, you know, like is road rage has ever been a problem for you and if so like how
do you combat it yeah i mean i've gotten better with road rage over over the time but like
definitely you know like stupid drivers are one of my biggest pet peeves yeah um especially being
here in like you know new york city like driving through manhattan traffic you know bumper to
bumper and just dumb ass drivers and the cabs don't know how to drive and um especially whenever
you're on your motorcycle man like it's so easy for you to get like hurt killed injured like all
the things yeah when people like you know the times that i really really get fucking mad are the
times whenever some idiot is purposely trying to you know harm me or they're doing something
deliberately and like i've had instances where you know like several several on several different
occasions where that that has happened where somebody like i'm in a lane they like cut cut cut cut
me off yeah and i like you know pull up on the side of them you know and like they try to swerve
into you and like dude like these people they they really don't care so the way to you you know
like combat that is By just not getting in. And it's easier said than done. But,
you know, like in the moment you feel like, man, like I got to do something. I've gotten a lot
better. I don't know if you heard of this guy, Bill Z. He's from Queens. He was killed by a road
rage guy. He had a Ducati and he had two kids, 46 years old.
Nice guy. And he's on Queens Boulevard. And this guy ran him over.
And there were four cameras that caught the whole thing. The guy was held without bail just until,
it was only a year ago. He was held without bail up until two months ago. Finally, he had some high
-priced lawyers. They got him bail, but he can't really leave his house. And that was because of
road rage. And we've had, unfortunately, two guys that we've ride with. Unfortunately,
it passed away. One was road rage. One was just a wet piece of road. And he hit a guardrail.
And we also have another friend that comes to the Two Wheel Tuesday. And he's in a wheelchair.
And he still comes to the Two Wheel Tuesday, which I can't freaking believe. And just last week, he
had a party. He had a two-year anniversary party that marked the day that he was paralyzed.
And he called it the Day I Didn't Die Party. And I said to myself,
And he's like 44. He's from Korea, a computer programmer and web developer by trade and lives down
in the village, NYU area. And when I got the invitation to this party that said the I didn't die
party, I said to myself, wow, what kind of person? I don't think I would have had a celebratory
party saying, hey, two years that I'm paralyzed from the waist freaking down. But I guess something
like that puts you in perspective. And he still comes occasionally. to our meetups and in his
wheelchair you know and i think that's uh that's quite amazing i don't even know if there's a
question there but it's just yeah i mean no like um it's a scary world out there especially being a
motorcyclist but you know that's that's life life is a roller coaster and you know like i live life
you know based on like a memento mori which is you know we're all gonna die someday so live life
you know to the fullest and um my brother my brother actually passed away on a motorcycle Oh,
I'm so sorry. Yeah, so a little over two and a half years ago,
he was riding with one of his buddies, and I tried to call him that day,
and he didn't pick up, but he texted me. He was like, hey, man, I'm about to go get some dinner.
Is it important? I'm like, nah, dude, I'll just call you tomorrow. Love you. And he said, love you
too.
A couple hours later, I get a phone call. and he ended up like striking a pedestrian uh the
pedestrian was walking um through uh his green light and he was you know he had the right away but
there was a car that was blocking the pedestrian walking and as he was like going gave it a little
bit more throttle than probably what he should have and ended up killing both of them so yeah
motorcycles they are It's like a roll of the dice, right? It's a gamble,
and sometimes we lose some of the best people in our lives due to them,
but it's not a deterrent for me riding. It's more of an homage to his life,
and this is us in a nutshell. It's a gamble. We're all kind of junkies for that speed,
that adrenaline, and we're chasing it, and we want to have fun, but we got to do it to the safest
of our ability. So I think that's a good... So let's leave it on this. Let's say... I'm a 27-year
-old male or female, and I live in Kew Gardens, Queens, and I'm thinking about getting a
motorcycle, or I have a motorcycle. What one or two pieces of advice,
it could be about training, it could be about clothing, it could be about mindset, would you give
to this random 27-year-old about their first motorcycle?
I would say, first off, pick something that's reliable. Okay. Um, and also second,
it's, um, you know, really understand the consequences, you know,
that come with owning, you know, a machine, a machine with such power and authority.
Right. Um, I remember I got stuck on the, and this is what I mean by being reliable.
I got stuck on the George Washington bridge with my CV 354. Uh,
the fuse had ended up blowing or, or whatever. And I'm in pitch black. Thankfully, my wife was
following me on the bridge because we were like, you know, traveling upstate for some reason.
And she put on her hazards, but like these cars are flying and I'm on this little black motorcycle
and all black and nobody could see me. So if she wasn't right behind me, I probably wouldn't be
here right now. So having a reliable motorcycle is probably one of the greatest things that has
ever happened to me within the last like, you know, couple of years. That's a good thing. You know,
I get a lot of emails, you know, some I get, you know, mostly positive emails. Some people say, Oh,
you screwed up on that road or blah, blah, blah. But most of them are positive. But sometimes I
get, because everything's more expensive now, Ross, as you probably have seen, you know, people, I
get people like say, you know, I'm my, my insurance payment is crazy. My motorcycle payment is
crazy. And I know I got to wear good gear. But who can afford a fucking, excuse me,
a $700 jacket? And one of the things I tell them, I don't know if you have them in Huntington, but
here in the city, we got all these like thrift stores. So I tell them, go to a thrift store because
the one thing about motorcyclists, you know, most of these people, you know, there's people of
normal means that have bikes, but you know, you've seen the BMW guys, the Ducati guys. I mean,
these Ducati bikes are what, 30 grand, some of them, right? So, you know, you got to be making good
money. I tell them you'll find, especially if you're like a halfway decent size from a medium to
even an extra large, go to a thrift store and you'll find, you may not find a racing suit, but you
will find a nice leather jacket. You'll find nice boots for like one eighth of what they went for
new. And I think the gear, like we were talking, cause you went down like three or four times and
you said you were wearing some decent gear. So I think that's the other thing I would say to
people. Yeah. I think also too, like the thrift stores, you don't really find much,
you know, motorcycle stuff, but online, you know, like say you go to Facebook marketplace or eBay,
you could definitely find, you know, like things that are fucking phenomenal. So I just bought like
a old vintage lapel motorcycle jacket from like the eighties for like 50 bucks.
Oh boy. Genuine leather, you know, like, so you'd be surprised at what you could find on Facebook
marketplace. I really appreciate the time now. This may sound like another silly question,
but you know, models and actors and singers, they have agents to artists. if somebody wants and
we'll put your Instagram and contact in your website on the show notes, but let's say if somebody
does want to get in touch with you, whether for business, you know, because I know you do a lot of
these pop-up paintings. Oh, just real quick. I saw your piece with Rosanna Scotto when you were
painting with her live on, you know, and she's got a restaurant in New York. I don't know if you
knew this. Did you know this? It does fresco by Scotto. I know her because I know her daughter and
her and her daughter on that. She seems like a wonderful woman. Yeah. She's cool. yeah i like that
piece that you do with her so are you available for commissions typically would you like does an
artist like you have an agent are you kind of your own agent yeah so um when i first started
painting probably like two or three years one one or two years into it um i ended up uh having a
manager for like three years and then that kind of like just you know like dissolved And ever since
then, I've been kind of like a free agent. The only times that I ever have contracts with people is
like, you know, shows with museums or galleries or, you know, different brand deals that I have
going on. But yeah, if people want to reach out to me, the best way is like my email, which is Ross
Pino seven at Gmail or my Instagram, which is at Ross Pino 88. Excellent.
We'll put that on. Oh, and how did you meet Samantha who owns that fabulous little cafe?
Oh yeah. So, um, me and Sam have been friends, uh, on IG for a really long time. Okay.
And over the course of the last six months, we just got to talking about her cafe and she wanted to
hang art inside the cafe and she wanted to do an art with my, uh, she wanted to do an event with my
art and just, you know, like try to bring as many people as possible. She did an event with Porsche
with like, um, a company that does like cars and coffee with, with like Porsche riders.
Okay. And, um, I was like, hey, if you want to replicate something like that, I'm tied up with a
really fucking cool group of people that go by Ride More, Talk Less,
Two Will Tuesday. If you want to do something cool with that. And she was all for it.
But yeah, that's how we kind of met. So she doesn't ride yet, I don't think, right? She doesn't
ride, but I think she wants to start. Oh, very good. All right. Awesome. All right, this has been
great. Totally appreciate the time. So glad we got this. I'll put all your contact information on
the show notes and, you know, if I don't see it, but I'll let you know when we have the Two Wheel
Tuesdays if you can come. But it's been great. Yes, thanks for having me, man.
Well, you know, I've done 113 episodes and I always am pleasantly surprised from at least one or
two things that I learned and I've been riding for 30 years. So what did we learn? from Ross today.
People call him herring meets basquete. But one thing that I learned is that I didn't expect to
hear about his dad catching and skinning rattlesnakes in the New Mexico desert.
Or that Ross rides because his brother died on a motorcycle,
not in spite of it. And he carries that as a homage. And that stays with me to this day.
It's two weeks later. that I'm recording this summary and it stays with me. And,
you know, the memento mori idea that he lives by, which is Latin for remember that you will die.
Now, this is not a gloomy saying. It's actually the opposite.
It's a reminder to actually live while you, we are here.
Ross rides with that in his back pocket. His eyes and his soul are open to that.
And, you know, as far as safety goes, buy something reliable. You know, I love BMW,
but if you're a young person, you can't afford $19,000, $30,000, whatever, get a Japanese bike.
You'll have it for the rest of your life. And the resale value will be pretty cool. You know,
a fused blue on his black bike and pitch black on the GW Bridge. That totally sucks.
And if his wife wasn't right there behind him with the hazards on, he might not be here, okay?
So reliability is being seen as saving lives. Now, two, good gear doesn't have to cost a fortune.
Check Facebook Marketplace, check eBay, and see what you find.
And now I want to thank everybody who made this show possible. The Heyman Law Firm. Rob McLaughlin
of the West Coast Arts. He's our Senior Vice President of Music. He's got a great new album out.
Listen to it. Spotify, Apple, Liam Murray, our Director of Commercial Music,
and people like you. You with the headphone on listening to this, smiling, learning,
riding, whatever you're doing. Please keep on sharing the show, rating the show. Share it with your
friends and family who ride. Share it on Facebook. Share it wherever you want. If you want to get a
hold of me, arrivealivepodcast at gmail.com, all one word.
And we can talk about having you on the show, supporting the show, whatever you want to do. Okay,
that's it for today, folks. Get out and ride. My name is Len Bolello. See you very soon. And if
you're in the New York area, put September 29th on your calendar. It's the big end of season block
party, though. The season doesn't end for many of us. September 29th, I'll have details on the show
notes. Take care.