As gas prices continue to wreak havoc on budgets everywhere — even at an ultra-cheap $2-something a gallon — and scooters and scooter riders multiply like fruit flies on the road, it would seem that question is being answered for me.

If hipsters, those who realize the terrifying repercussions of our country’s dependency on oil, and those just looking to have a good time and zip around on two wheels have found peace — and a way (at least in their own minds) to look cool riding a scooter — than who am I to doubt them?

It’s a very good question, but still my cynicism persists. 

Tucked up knees. Lawnmower power. Rain gear. All of these things come with traveling by scooter, and all of them — at least in a traditional sense — are basically the opposite of cool.

But maybe that’s it. Maybe one can look cool on a scooter because of the irony — the same way that indie dude with the mullet I see at all the Tacoma hipster shows rocks it?

Or maybe I just need to check myself. What does it mean to “look cool”? And who the hell really cares?

I would say: not the Tacoma Fuck Yeah Scooter Club, who will celebrate their inaugural ride and get-together this Saturday, Nov. 15. But then again, for a gaggle of scooterists who — assumedly — don’t give a flying you-know-what about looking cool, these guys are actually pretty, well, cool.

And they know how to throw an event.

A full day’s worth of festivities that will start with lunch at the Spar at noon, the Tacoma Fuck Yeah Scooter Club’s first ever group ride is being appropriately called “Trouble in T-Town.” After lunch at the Spar, coffee at Satellite, drinks at Jakes in Steilacoom, and two scenic and sure to be raucous scooter jaunts in between, Trouble in T-Town will culminate at Bob’s Java Jive later that night with Lava 3, a show organized by the fine folks at the Jive and sanctioned by the Weekly Volcano, set to feature C-Leb and A-Bro, Waves and Radiation, Bandolier and Skull Kid.

How’s that for cool?

“There isn’t much of a scooter culture in Tacoma, not like Seattle. But, hopefully this club is the start of one,” says one of Tacoma Fuck Yeah Scooter Club’s creators, Lino Fernandez — whose band, Bandolier, will also play Lava 3. “There are definitely more scooters on the road because of the cost of gas. I think Tacoma is one of the few cities with enough grit to hold a scooter meet in November.”

“Tacoma has a lot of scooterists. Some use it as alternate transportation, but there are a few real scooter lifestyle folks out there,” adds Lino’s brother, Reylan Fernandez — also a scooter aficionado and co-creator of the club. “We ride because its fun and the rain doesn’t phase us.”

 

It’s a good sign that rain doesn’t faze the Tacoma Fuck Yeah Scooter Club — because there’s certainly plenty of rain in Tacoma. But while rain doesn’t faze the club, asking whether or not it’s possible to look cool on a scooter just might.

“Matt, I ride one and obviously the folks in the club do. One of the guys in Girl Trouble is a scooter fanatic. Brian of the band the Dirty Knockers has a Vespa GT250. He’s a pretty cool guy. He was in Three Inches of Blood. I dare you to say something bad about a meat guy riding a scooter,” says Reylan in response to my ignorant, ignorant query. “Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday is an iconic image. Enough said ... Wanna ask that question at the Scooter Insanity in Seattle? I dare you.”

Point taken, but I doubt they’d respond with half as much spit and grit in Seattle. That’s one of the many things I love about this city.

For a full schedule of TFYSC events, check out www.myspace.com/fuckyeahsc.

After the ride, join Bob’s Java Jive and the Weekly Volcano for Lava 3 — featuring the music of C-Leb and A-Bro, Waves and Radiation, Bandolier and Skull Kid. 

 

Even if you don’t ride a scooter, this will be an evening for the Tacoma history books.

 

And it’s looking like it’s going to be a pretty cool one too.  

[Bob’s Java Jive, C-Leb and A-Bro, Waves and Radiation, Bandolier and Skull Kid, Saturday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m., $5, 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843]

Get on your bad motor scooter and ride via e-mail to mattd@weeklyvolcano.com.