Greg Prato for Brave Words reports:
As the host of MTV’s Headbangers Ball from 1990 to 1995, Riki Rachtman helped introduce countless bands to the metal masses. And let’s not forget that he co-owned the famous Hollywood club, the Cathouse, which proved quite popular with some of the era’s top bands (namely, Guns N’ Roses).
On a date soon to be announced, Rachtman will be taking part in a charity motorcycle ride that will take him across North America, from Key West, Florida to Glacier View, Alaska – to raise money and awareness for 988 Suicide Prevention Hotline.
Brave Words: Let’s discuss Riki’s Ride 25.
Riki Rachtman: One of the things that I’m very proud of, that a lot of people don’t know is about my charity motorcycle riding. I’ve been doing it since 2014 going on long distance rides. And then I started deciding, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this and do it for a charity.’ And I picked different charities along the way. And then the rides got longer and longer. And one year I rode 14,000 miles and gave $32,000 to stop soldier suicide, giving $20,000 to Alzheimer’s. And I do it every year. And this year I’m decided to raise money for 988, which is the Suicide Prevention Hotline, or Crisis Hotline. So I started my own foundation, which is called Heavy Mental.
And Heavy Mental is any penny that we take in, every dollar goes right to Vibrant Health. Which, they run the 988 Suicide Prevention Hotline. And so for my motorcycle ride this year, I’m going to be riding from Key West to North Carolina to Texas to Wyoming to…Fourth of July we’ll be in Palmer, Alaska, then right down Alaska, then to Sturgis. It’s going to be about 13,000 miles. My wife, Lea Vendetta, is going to be on the bike for half of it, and my goal is to raise at least $30,000. Most of it’s going to be by myself…And we’ll be meeting [Faster Pussycat frontman] Tami [Downe] and [gutiarist] Gilby [Clarke] up at Sturgis and stuff like that. So, it’s something that I just love to do.
Brave Words: If people want to donate, what’s the best way to do so?
Riki Rachtman: Go to lostramblers.com. It’s going to get updated, fixed soon, but there’s a GoFundMe that they can donate, or they can donate to Venmo, which is Heavy Mental Foundation…it just goes right to the people that run 988 Suicide Prevention Hotline. This is something that’s very important, because there’s so many people…especially because I’ve been affected with some very, very close people that recently passed away due to suicide, and it’s just way too common. And 988 is a phone number that that people can just call anonymously. If you’re ever involved in any type of personal crisis, you call them.
Brave Words: I remember the last time we spoke, you were doing some spoken word dates. Are you still doing that?
Riki Rachtman: I did 45 shows, a lot of sold out shows in America. I did four shows in Australia. It was the greatest thing that I’ve ever done my whole life. And I want to go back out on the road and do it, because there are states that I haven’t done yet. Like I said, it was the greatest time I ever had in my entire life, because I had no idea what it was going to be like, and if people were going to like it. I didn’t have a producer or writer. I just went up on stage and started telling stories and the shows did really well, and I learned a lot about life and myself…
Brave Words: Any other projects you’d like to discuss?
Riki Rachtman: “I’ve still got my t-shirt company, cathousehollywood.com. I still have my coffee company, cathousecoffee.com. And when the ride is done, I’m going to be focusing on some more stuff, because I’m old now. I’m old, and I’d love to tell everybody that I’ve got this big bankroll saved, but I don’t. So I still have to keep on working, and I don’t know what I want to do. I’d like to do more content for my Patreon. I’d like to do my own version of Headbangers Ball….
Read more at Brave Words.
2 Responses
Great job. Very noble cause. That’s a lot of miles. Hopefully he will exceed his goal.
Good on Rikki – Mental Health services are sorely lacking in this country.