As a 40-plus-year member of the Hell’s Angels MC, Phil Cross decided now was a good time to put his wild, lifelong motorcycling adventures down on paper. With the help of his wife of almost 30 years, he laid it all out for us to consume in this engrossing tale of the rough-and-tumble times between motorcycle clubs, cops and citizens from the 1960’s.
The collaboration results in an easy read that carries us from his youth through the myriad of mishaps and chaos into the more relaxed role he holds with the HAMC today. The 239-page volume includes photos of his family, both blood and otherwise, to accompany some pretty wild tales of fist fights, fun and motorcycling feats like flying through the air over cop cars in the streets of San Francisco.
We learn how Phil became a member of the Gypsy Jokers MC and started charters of both the GJMC and HAMC in Northern California, how he became a martial arts instructor and eventually a prisoner as well as a fugitive. He manages to carry on a long-distance, coast-to-coast romance while hiding out from the feds, all the while wooing the woman he still loves to this day. In between all this, he hangs out with some notable celebrities from both the biker world as well as the entertainment community.
It’s an entertaining, action-packed tome that’s filled with all the chills and thrills one would expect from a biker’s memoirs, and is well worth the read. It’s also a nice addition to any motorcycle enthusiast’s library. The most critical part of the book, for me, was page 236. Get your own copy while you can; they’re going fast.
Phil Cross: Gypsy Joker to a Hells Angel
By Phil and Meg Cross
Amazon.com, $22.68 hardcover; $14.99 Kindle download
(This book review Youth Gone Wild was published in the June 2014 issue of Thunder Press.)
