The answer partially is in this thread, one of the last replies shows that he is at least aware of the HAMB http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281366&highlight=brennan+dianna&showall=1
OK, it sounded like he "Couldn't". I guess if it mattered to him, or anyone else, he could. And working in the industry, I know a lot of guys who have a similar opinion to what has been stated here ......
I have an ego and I'm still in business after 35 years. I'll be 55 next month, so the ego trip is over. I have to use the senior citizen discount. Does anyone on here have an ego? Naaaaww. Go burn some rubber in your hot rod...EGO!!! Ok, so getting back to that rod hot I'm building...
Met him...he talked a lot, mostly about him. Brian Brennan? Now, there's a piece of ...work. I have suffered thru this entire mish mash, hoping for a rehash of what illustrious ex drag racer-gone-publisher Dianna 'editorialized' about 'Brian Brave'! Please enlighten me. (was it in regard to the Magoo/'29-for-'76 scandal?)
When the HAMB gets too serious I like to have a laugh with Christians old **** chopper story Quote: <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset" cl***=alt2>Originally Posted by Christian 01-24-2002 06:46 PM You know that feeling 'cause you tinker with cars you think you can fix anything? Well sometimes you better not try, here's why: I live in an old house from the twenties with originally just one toilet, outside, where you take a **** right into the sceptic tank, somewhere down the line whoever lived here got sick of his *** freezing to the toilet seat in winter and they installed a bathroom on the second floor. Unfortunately they cut a few corners and instead of running a big pipe up to the second floor to dispose of turds they installed a 'brouilleur": one of those big blenders behind the toilet bowl so they can run the chopped turds down the little sink-drain pipes. Dunno if you have those things over there, they're kinda comparable to those blenders you Americans have in your kitchen sinks. Anyway, our "brouilleur" has been acting up for months, it just kept on going, normally it shuts itself off 30 seconds after you flushed, first it became a minute, then it just wouldn't shut off at all. So what we do is take a ****, flush, wait 30 seconds then pull the plug. Been going on like that for weeks, so today I finally get my courage together to do the dreaded job of checking out the ****-caked brouilleur box. It's a white blastic box that sits right behind the toilet bowl and out the top comes a small pipe that dissapears into the wall. It only took a couple of minutes to unhook it, and without getting too much **** on my hands. I take the lid of to be greeted by the most horendous sight ever, tubes and mechanisms with a nice old layer of **** in all shades of brown over 'em. Take the thing downstairs and outside and pour it's contents over the fence (no neighbours) then take it into the garage and put it in the sink. I can't see anything, first of all 'cause I can only look at it why holding my breath (me, a smoker, 10 seconds), secondly 'cause you can't see anything other then **** in the shape of machinery. Logic tells me the mechanism probably shuts off and on with the level of water/piss/sheit in the box. So I decide to plug it in and run water from the tap in it to see what happens. It fills up, and up, and up when all of a sudden the thing starts mixing, and, remember the pipe coming OUT THE TOP, and THE LID BEING OFF????? There was a fountain of **** coming out of that thing all the way to the ceiling!!!! Of course most of it caught me on it's way back down, it was horrendous, I was ****man, the white T-shirt didn't help either, in my hair, ****, everywhere... The missus is still laughing, and I've just spent two hours in bath, changing the water 3 times..... </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________
Christian from the old Primer! site? Holy ****,that's some funny ****(no pun intended) right there.Never saw that story before!
All I can say is all the money I payed out for a couple of magazine subscriptions with Buckaroo,,American Rodder and Rodders Digest,was money wasted when I only received a couple issues of each. I sent them a letter asking if I would receive a refund or magazines to compensate my loss,,,never heard anything. My money has been better spent here with Ryan,,I have received more than my moneys worth with my Alliance Membership and when I had a problem and sent Ryan a PM,I have always got a prompt reply,,,Diana could learn a lot from our boss! HRP
I started reading HRM in1961, dropped it the late 70s. I still have all the issues, and look thru them occasionally. I like reading tech articles the best. When Street rod builder came I thought it was great. Then it went down hill. The editorials by Dianna were biased. dropped the subs before it went under, didn't loose any money. Smokey Yunick had the best tech articles and did it all. Ago
You could have ended it right there. Was there good in the job? Of course. I learned how to work from my home with a boss 4,000 miles away. I turned in good stories, done the way I wanted them done. And frankly, we kicked Petersen's/Emap/K3/Primedia's *** while we were good. I'm still proud of my "How to Chop a Merc" story. But John's method of employee motivation was "The carrot and the stick." He'd ram the carrot up your *** while beating you with the stick. Walking into the home office at 8am to flip on the computer and find a 2-page email rant that was sent at 3 am, calling you lazy and suggesting it might be time to find another job because you "only" turned in 64 pages of editorial this month, plus three news items, and the issue theme and most of the ideas for the last three issues were yours but you don't know what the **** you're doing. You guys who bought subscriptions and got shafted? I am still waiting for my last $6K in expense reimbur*****ts to get here. As for talking about him on a web board? I know for a fact he had absolutely no compunction whatsoever about throwing me and every other employee under the bus any time, anywhere... including while we were standing there with him while he spoke to other folks in the industry at SEMA or PRI. Kind of awkward when the boss backs the Prevost up over you and you have to "take one for the team" in front of So-and-So from That Company. I wouldn't hesitate to say the same things to him. And what's more, I know he'd agree, say "Well **** You then," probably laugh, and go on like nothing happened. I found out late in my tenure there that he actually liked it if you stood up to him. I left on good terms, for a better job. But there is a reason he's famous--or infamous--in the industry. And it's got little to do with sour g****s of former employees and underlings. -Brad
I've known "little johnny" since he was a tire wiper for Grumpy Jenkins. He brought an east coast flavor to HOT ROD and was a hell of a schmoozer and a scammer. After he was fired, he started Buckaroo and there are more than a few rumors as to who provided the financial backing for the enterprise. I know several people who made the move to TN and ended up losing a lot more than a job. This industry has always had its share of people with dubious reputations. Unlike "little johnny" they had a certain charm and a sense of humor
Brad, you aren't the only one owed money to. A certain other writer I know that retired here is in the same boat. Thats what makes it personal to me, when a pal is screwed.
Interesting stuff about John Dianna and Buckaroo. thought he had great magazines. was thinking about him recently. sent him e-mails etc years ago,about why he never spoke about his Delaware roots and some of the cool and famous drag racers , car builders , in his home state. Is this what happens when we achieve fame and fortune ???? not supposed to !
I know that this story is 14 yrs. old, but you've had to know Christian to know just how funny this really is..... He stayed with me in 1999, went to the Antique Nats, where the poor Belgiun cooked like a waffle, Took him out to the lakes, Anthony Casteneda's Orange County R&C where he met both Markie and Anthony. He bought a "P***ion Pit" 66 Econoline and drove either my 34 roadster or 34 3W coupe while stateside. He had a ball!!!!! I miss Christian's "PRIMER" and know that he got hitched shortly his return from the states, had a little one and was working on a Deuce P/U. Really don't know what happened to him as he just doesn't seem to post much here that I'm aware of, but PRIMER is how I got here in like 1998??? for some reason my join date changed with one of the new formats to Tax Day 2002. .(note to Ryan, please change it back) . This story made me smile and laugh as I could see Christian in a situation like that. It's about people, life and situations-in our case personal tastes in motor-vation. The paper mags are something we can take to that bathroom that Christian speaks of, where we can look over pics, study little details that make that one car different or similar to our chosen tastes. It's kind of hard to take the laptop, pc or smart phone and read it in the bathroom all the same way. The whole JD thing was a sad demise of what Paisano Publications issued when it created American Rodder when it had Ermie Immerso's 1932 Ardun on it's 1st ever Oct 1987 Cover. Paper Magazines will remain, but only the strong will survive..... I met John at the 1st Americruise, he sat in the stands with us as it began to rain while we had our lunch, I seem to remember him driving the white 34 Chevy HOT ROD Magazine delivery on that ride. I have no idea what happened in Oxnard/Camarillo with The Buckaroo Boys, but their content didn't include my taste so perhaps there were like minded people who weren't in love with that current content. I do know that I was a subscriber to both versions of AR, but did not renew at re-up time. I do feel that there is a need for a type of magazine in print that chronicles the likes of what goes on here on the Hokey Ass Message Board or else there wouldn't be so many people that subscribe to certain threads/posts. It's funny,but all I wanted to see is how the "New Angle Anglia" was completed, although I know that Chuck Lombardo did some work to it, but see what happens when you see a project started in a paper mag to end up being GOOGLED then a whole deal about the owner..... Anyway T-man, Thanx for posting Christian's story. It was stink'n fun-e !!!!!!
Love him or hate him or otherwise, he made a mark on our hobby throughout his lifetime. We all get the same in the end, life is something we don't get to keep. Enjoy it while you can and hope that you too get 74 years and maybe a few more to add to it God willing. RIP John. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hot-rod-magazine-editor-publisher-group-president-john-dianna-died/
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