Vick and I (and Smokey)

OK, it's not really me in the photo. I swear! But I have to admit that it's pretty much what I looked like--actually pretty much exactly what I looked like when I was 24 (that was a very good year...), so much so that friends and family have stated it's either me or an identical twin about whom no one knows. It must be the latter. The picture actually came from Life Magazine, sometime in the mid 1970's I think. One of my students brought it to school more than 30 years ago and promptly accused me of being a Hell's Angel, which I thought was cool, but, alas, untrue. I hung the photo in my classroom where it remained for two or three years until it disappeared one day. Apparently, someone wanted it more than I did.

I've been looking for another copy ever since--finally found it while looking for photos of Sonny Barger, one of the founders of the Hell's Angels, whom I thought might make an interesting addition to my series of motorcycle mousterpieces (if I were a real painter, I'd call it my "motorcycle period"). Vick and I met the infamous Mr. Barger in '95 in Sturgis. Anyway, on a whim, I googled "Life Magazine, Hell's Angels," and there it was--or there I was. I amazed myself. Yeah baby, I'm getting this Google thing down.

What makes this photo even more fascinating--eerie might be a better word, is that not only does the dude on the panhead look like me, the dude on the far right looks amazingly like an old college friend, whom I haven't seen in years, John Koelsch, or "Smokey" as we used to call him. I was actually pretty proud of myself for finding this photo after thirty years, so I thought I'd press my luck and google my old friend's name "John Smokey Koelsch." Lo and behold (or in '60's slang, "far out"), I found him in Wells, Nevada. Found his email address too, so I sent an email directing him to my blog.

Don't know if he'll respond but if he does: Hey, Smokey! What's up? It's been a long time. Next time I roll through Wells on my Harley (I actually have a Harley), I'll attempt to look you up. Meanwhile, what do you think? Does the dude on the right look as much like you as the dude on the bike looks like me--actually, let me re-phrase the question. Do the two dudes in the photo look like we used to look about 35 years ago?

I will admit that I doctored the photo in one respect. I added Vicki (the only person smiling in the photo, which is pretty much a dead give away I suppose). Oh well, she is my motorcycle mama, so I figured if there was going to be a biker chick on the back of a bike I was riding (or that someone who looks like me was riding), it should be Vicki. Oh yeah, Smokey, click on the photo above. Check out the name tag on your twin's jacket...

I call this mousterpece "Black Beauty." It's my "real ride," an '02 Heritage Springer, accessorized to create a very nostalgic look, reminiscent of Harleys from the late '40's and early '50's.