The Dragon's Unexpectedly Cute Spawn

Yes, I know I promised to keep the baby blogging to a minimum, but I've got relatives crying for blood over the lack of baby pictures.
Besides, just look at this cutie! I know drag queens who would kill for those lashes.

Amongst the overwhelming flood baby shower gifts, and even enough hand-me-downs to cloth an Appalachian village of infants and toddlers, was a 10 mega pixel DSLR.

One of the other productive things I've been doing, is working on an actual website for my artwork and photography and such. It's still a little barebones, but there is a gallery of baby photos. All the other galleries are public, but I've decided to require a password for access to the baby photos. I mass emailed a bunch of folks with the password, but if I neglected to send it to you, or it got caught in your spam filter, let me know and I'll send it to you.

I just figured only friends and family needed access to a soon to be vast archive of baby photos. Plus, my buddy Sky caught some flack for posting an innocent photo of his twins naked in their wading pool, a while back.... and well, I guess a little online paranoia is not a bad thing.

So while Honkytonkdragon.com is not fully functional at this time, there are some cool pictures up over there, mostly things I've posted here in the past, but collected all in one place. And there is more to come, of course. And if you have the misfortune to be one of the dragon's friends or family, and want to bask in the glory that is little miss Zoe, drop me a line, and I'll get you the access info.

New Painting: January Sky

Just finished this painting, and I'm pretty happy with it. It is the most intensive piece I've completed in like four years. There are little bits I was tempted to keep refining, but a voice inside my head started saying, "Step away from the easel, and no one will get hurt..."
This of course is a reference to an old artist's joke:
Q: How many people does it take to paint a painting?
A: Two. One to paint, and the other to shoot them in the head, when it's finished.

If this image looks familiar, that's because it's something I've been working on for several years. It originated with a photo I took in my senior year at Evergreen.
This image of my good friend Sky was part of a series of digital photos I took of friends in bars. Here is the original...

While I did a little editing of the digital file in Photoshop, this consisted of nothing more than using the computer as a digital darkroom. I fiddled with contrast, color balance and the like, but the source was always one image. The image itself was made possible by altering the digital camera's settings to operate in low light with no flash, which is why it has the appearance of a double exposure. This is still something that interests me, the ways in which a digital camera acts differently than film.

Anyway, I've always liked the photo, though I had the feeling that I saw a potential in it, which others didn't quite grasp.

A couple years later, I finally got around to playing with the image again. This sketch was actually done on a plane, during my first trip out to CT. I'm very fond of it, as I am of the original photo, though for different reasons. It was one of the first serious sketches I completed after a long dry spell. It deconstructed the photo, which was very 21st century in its conception, in a very classical manner. That amuses me, in a perverse way. Plus, Jes's father, David, was very emphatic in his appreciation of the sketch over the photo. As best I can tell, David has very a sophisticated, albeit conservative, aesthetic. So, not long after returning home from that trip, I skritched down some outlines with vine charcoal on an extra canvas...
And then I let that canvas sit for a year.

So for my birthday last year, Jes and her parents chipped in to get me a new easel. A really nice new easel, the kind of tool, gift which demands use. So I started going through my stack of blank canvases, and there was that under-drawing. At the time, I was in the mood for some daring experimental work, and indeed I started several other pieces which are more abstract and non-objective. You can see the influence of this approach in the image above. But once I gotten to about this point on this painting, it had started to dominate my thinking.
At about this point, I'd abandoned all pretension of abstraction and non-objective painting. Unsatisfied with how the work was progressing based on those strategies and the original sketch, I returned to the original photo. There was something in it which had originally entangled my thinking about the piece, an ephemeral quality which was only hinted at in the sketch, and was missing thus far in the painting. At this phase, you can see where I attempted to do away with some of the more obtrusive mandala-like elements which had existed previously in the background.

There is no set interval to these work-in-progress shots. But I think the progression is interesting. Though not the best example, this work does show some sign of what technology can mean to traditional artistic endeavors. Though this work was executed in acrylic, smearing pigments on prepared cloth is an antiquated endeavor. Still, for all the convenience of modern media, this painting will be around centuries after inkjet prints have faded, and optical disks have become unstable. All our advances have yet to displace the smearing of minerals coated in a binder on a substrate.

At about this point, I began to be dissatisfied with the composition as it had been scrawled on the canvas in charcoal.
Oops. Too late for that. Well, I guess I started with some abstract intentions, so at this point I figure I'll just tweak the abstracting of the background and color strategies to compensate.

Almost done here, the magenta shades on the left side are pretty well finished. But it took several hours of work after this point to get the depth and texture which I felt the piece needed on the right hand side.


Though the depth that is achieved through varying layers of glazes, velaturas, and scumbling, can't really be captured by photography, you can see how the layers of colors interact. So some of the depth which is readily apparent in the actual painting is lost here, you do get a sense, though flattened, of how color was used in the piece, as well as some of the brushwork.

January Sky is 16" x 20", Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, ready to hang, and can be yours for $1000 USD. Contact information can be found on this page, or notify me of your interest in the comments.

(Edited 04/15/08. Posted better quality images of the final painting and the closeup. Also, removed text complaining about the poor quality of those initial photos.)

Online Tools/Resources for Visual Artists

So, like a relapsing junkie, or a backsliding Baptist, the Dragon has of late, resumed easel-painting in earnest. In fact, embracing this life-long obsession, has been one of the reasons why my posts have been so infrequent and brief the past coupla weeks.

To laundry list and extrapolate on the reasons for my seven year hiatus from my painting addiction, would an exercise in self-indulgence which even I am unprepared for. Let's just say that one time or another I've been guilty of the first eight items on the list above.

But, somehow pigments and binders are in my blood (probably literally, though I'm scared to take the tox-screens which might verify this.) My current proximity to NYC is inspiring, Jes is extremely encouraging of my creative endeavors, and she even says that I'm easier to live with, and seem happier when I'm painting.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of those artists who is content to paint solely for their own enjoyment. Someday I'd like to earn some recognition for what I do, and maybe even something resembling a living wage... In order to keep these hopes, and their inevitable shattering from once again interfering with or even halting my artistic growth and production, it is important to keep in mind "5 Facts Artists Have to Face to Succeed in Business"

1. You will not get "discovered."

Marketing your art is hard work. There are thousands of artists making extraordinary efforts to promote their work each and every day. Waiting for an angel benefactor or hoping for a patron, is just a way of procrastinating. You need to stop making excuses and put a plan into action to deal with the reality of the hard work it takes to get recognized.

2. You will not find a gallery that "understands your work" and feels as passionately about it as you do.

... artists have to stop dreaming about finding the one person out there who can be their "art soul mate" and realize that galleries are in business to sell art, and that is exactly what you are hiring them to do for you. They do not need to understand your work on every level, nor do they have to be emotionally moved by it...what they do have to do, is be convinced that they have the contacts and collectors that will like your work.

3. No matter how original you think your work is, it has been done before.

Originality does not define quality, quality defines quality. Regardless of whether or not your work is original, what makes art exceptional is the context in which it was made from an art historical point of view.

4. Just because your work looks just like Jackson Pollack, (or, fill in the blank) doesn't mean it's as good, or that you can price it the same.

The price of your art has very little to do with what it looks like, what it is made out of, or how big it is...it has everything to do with what the market will bear, supply and demand, and your exhibition and sales history.

5. You will not be able to make a living off the sale of your work.

Sales are great and every artist needs and wants the positive feedback that comes from collectors buying your work. But, assuming that you want to live above the poverty level in the United States, to make a decent living you would need to sell over $150,000 worth of your art to net $75,000 before taxes. That would make your net approximately $50,000 before you deducted any expenses for studio space, art supplies, framing, advertising or promotion. Of course, it is possible. But, if you keep waiting for it to happen without accepting the reality of the odds, you are doing yourself and your work a disservice.

These are condensed from an article on Sylvia White's Art Advice website, which I highly recommend. Her checklist for making the transition to becoming a professional artist is also required reading, if you find yourself at that stage.

Fine Art's relationship with internet has been strange... I've been surfing since the mid-90s and of all my obsessions it has been the most difficult to research virtually. There is whole essay at the least, probably more like a doctoral thesis, waiting to be written about why that is... but for now let's just accept it as a given.

Recently though it seems that artists are really coming around to using internet tools for promotion and commerce, which is freaking awesome!

Empty Easel's 8 Must-Read Art Blogs for 2008. You should also check EE's articles on online art marketing.
In particular, Empty Easel is the best place I've found so far for comparison's of the various sites that have sprung over the last few years which sell paintings. If that's what you are looking for, their market analysis of these sites could be of real use to you. They also have a nice comparison of their features.

Noticable omissions here are Etsy and Absolute Arts.

Another interesting site I've come across recently is MyArtInfo, which is kind of life a Facebook, or MySpace for Visual artists. it's still in beta, but the design is clean and attractrive, and they are an off-shoot of ArtInfo, a site from the folks who publish Modern Painters, so it just might maintain some art-school cred.

Speaking of art-school cred, here are some links to to some resources for polishing yours up:

Links to Free Art Education Online

M.I.T.'s 20th Century Art

By way of an endnote, this disjointed rambling was greatly influenced by a recent IM chat I had with my friend Gretchen, who is trying to get a photography business going. You should check out her site: www.gretchendrewphotography.com

The Dragon's Portfolio and Guerrilla Marketing

I began this blog almost two years ago with intent of it being a platform for promoting my creative endeavors, as well as a tool for archiving the assorted internet weirdness that inspires me. In that time, well it's turned into something slightly different.
Ironically, I guess one of the reasons for that divergent development is that I have a hard time tooting my own horn, despite that being the original purpose of this blog. It's not that I have low artistic self-esteem or anything. Far from it, I probably think more highly of my talents and potential than my output warrants. But self-promotion just seems kind of rude... like a dinner guest who only talks about themself... (Just counting the first-person singular pronouns in this paragraph makes me cringe...)

Anyhow, as I make baby steps to developing some self promotional materials, I've started referring potential contacts to this blog, and have realized that there is no easy way for readers to find my personal works. Clicking on Painting just gives you every post on painting, frequently featuring works by other artists which tickled or inspired me. Same goes for Art or Photography.

So to make it more convenient for those who might be interested in browsing images created by yours truly, I've gone through and labeled posts with my personal works as Portfolio.

If you are interested, you can always check a different version of my art portfolio here, without all my usual insipid ramblings.
The same goes for the photographic portfolio here.
Yes, I'm working the free online image storage services for all they are worth. My artistic endeavors are being operated on a hobbit's shoe-string budget (that is to say nonexistent), so if you'd like to see these images in a more professional dedicated environment, you could always buy one of my t-shirt designs or one of my fine-art prints...
On the other hand, if all the above has bored you to tears you could just use the Scooters label for the dedicated Scootin' posts, or the Steampunk label for some RetroFuturist love...

Any artists out there have any other suggestions for guerrilla marketing tools and techniques, or ways to overcome a Mid-Western feeling of self-promotion being cheesy, greasy, and sleazy? I'd love to hear some conversation on this in the comments.

Scooterlife

So for the past few weeks I have been working at what has to be one of my dream-jobs. That's right, I'm working at a Vespa dealership! Vespa Ridgefield and Branchville Motors, which are two faces of the same Janus-like business, is where I'm spending my mornings. In addition to Vespas, we sell Triumphs and Moto-Guzzis, as well as the best selection of high-quality riding gear I've ever seen under one roof.
For now it's only part-time, but I'm really enjoying it, to say the least. It's a small locally owned dealership that is located within two cool old structures. The Vespas, Piaggio scooters, and gear are in an old wooden building, which was a house in it's original incarnation, and a specialty gun dealer prior to housing sweet Italian two-wheelers. The motorcycles and service area are in an awesome old stone building that looks like it was purpose built as a garage back in, well back whenever they first started building garages. The owner, Alex, has been selling vehicles here for some time, and the basement has all the parts you'd expect for the marques we carry, as well as a smattering of Royal Enfield, BMW, Indian, and even Whizzer parts!
Look at that, that's what I look at every day when I get to work!
(Sigh.)
We have a small crew down at the shop, and I'm really starting to like and respect these guys. After my last corporate job (which was so horrid, I don't think I ever mentioned it on this blog) it is so nice to go to work and associate with people who really care about what they are doing.
Jim, the guy I work with the most, has been selling bikes for over twenty years, and riding and racing longer than that. He is an amazing resource of knowledge, as well as having the best collection of cowboy boots, this side of the Mississippi.
Boy, look at that GTV... such a pretty scoot.
Don't get me wrong though... I'm certainly not drooling over over scooters all day. I'm drooling over Bonnevilles and Thruxtons. Seriously though, it is an interesting atmosphere to work in. Our customers tend to be very serious riders, not content with the view that Harleys are the end-all-be-all of the two-wheeler world, and not looking for the latest Japanese racing Sui-cycle. I'm beginning to understand why many Vespisti later go on to Bonnevilles, when they feel the need for greater displacement.
Speaking of the never ending biker's lust for more cc's and Triumphs, have you seen the Triumph Rocket III?
This monster is the largest production motorcycle in the world, with three cylinders weighing in at 2300 ccs! Um... yeah. It's definitely impressive, though not for me. I mean I still feel quilty for lusting after the upcoming Piaggio MP3 500. IllNoise, over at 2Stroke Buzz recently posted a video on this bike, that looks like it was produced by Monty Python for Triumph. I guess over the top British humor is the only way to promote over the top British engineering.

But the coolest thing, from this anachronistic countrified reptilian scooterist's perspective about this job, is that I work with the fine gentleman pictured above. I'd seen this picture on the BBS or on Scoot.net some time ago, never thought I'd meet this guy. He's Larry of the Checkered Demon S.C., and he's a scooter mechanic where I work.
Though we normally work in different buildings, one morning he comes into the wooden building and asks Jim, "What's the story with that crazy Woody Vespa in the back?"
After the obligatory exchange of info about scooters ridden and owned, I discover that Demon Larry is about as old-skool a scooterist as I've ever met. Heck, his wedding to his lovely wife Sam is listed as a rally in the gallery section of Scoot.net.
Anyway, Larry told me that Jes and I "just had" to go this party for the folks who organized the most recent Gotham Rally, that was coming up. Well, long story short, once we found out that there would be an open bar and go-go dancers, we reckoned it just might be worth the trip into mean old NYC, to meet some fellow scooterists in the area.

So after much studying of train schedules and subway charts, we ventured off into Babylon. Now some of you may be thinking that the Dragon, whose scientific name is Dragonis Rusticus, might have been like the country mouse venturing into city mouse territory. Well, I'll inform you if you didn't already know, I've lived on the streets of N'awlins as mohawked punk, wandered the projects of Lil' Rok back when it had the highest murder rate per capita in these here United States, and even eatin' dangerous looking patty-melts at Norms. Still despite living in some tough areas, having had a gun or two pointed in my face, and even sharing a one room apartment with not one, but two of the owners of Last Word Books, I will admit, I was a little intimidated by the thought of my first trip to NYC. And the Lower East Side, on top of that.
These hesitations vaporized once we got off of that last subway car and emerged on East Houston. 10 p.m. on a Saturday night in New York City. Neon, bustling people of more ethnicities than you ever thought existed, traffic like crazy, and taxi drivers illustrating that smallest quanta of empirically measurable time is the interval between the light changing and cabbie hitting the horn. That's right, baby, the night life ain't no good life, but it's MY LIFE.

After a few blocks of of extreme urban sensory overload, we reached our destination, the Parkside Lounge. The scene was just about what we expected, loud, cramped, and sweaty. Luckily Larry and Sam where right near the door, and so were easily found. We met a lot of cool folks, and I must say felt right at home with the NYC scooter scene, and Lower East Side bar scene. I guess hipster drunks really are the same, wherever you go.
I don't know how much of the party is really appropriate to report with these pixels, but as you can see above there were some loverly scoots in attendance.
I spent a lot of the night chatting with yet another fella named Larry, who was the sole Rocker in attendance. He showed up on this great 1973 Honda 350, which he informed me was the highest selling cycle in the states, back in its day. He'd heard about the gathering on NYCVINMOTO.com , a site I'll be investigating in the coming days. We had a great conversation about smaller displacement motorcycles, scooters, and the principles of appropriate technology as they apply to personal transportation. Larry also happened to to be a Reed Alumnus, so we discussed West Coast liberal arts colleges (emphasis on the Liberal), and the classic Eastside vs. Westside conflict.

Of course, as all good things must, the night had to end eventually, and the bell started tolling as we neared the deadline to catch the last train to CT. Sam and Larry let us know that they could hook us up with a place to stay in the city, but Jes thought it best to head home. I was torn between the angel on one shoulder, advocating shooting a homeward azimuth, and a devil on the other whispering, "but there's free booze and go-go dancers here!" Luckily, the angel and my sweetie's wisdom won out over diabolical influences, and we hoofed it back to the subway.

So after all that, I will leave you with your notion of Zen for the day:
"If you meet Jack Kerouac on the road, kill him."

Art and Commerce

I promised some scooter photos a couple days back, so here you go...

Actually, fulfilling that pledge is only a secondary purpose of this post. The real motive behind this post is to notify the world that I now have a small select group of fine art prints available for purchase at Imagekind.
And by small I mean, um... three.
For the past week or so, I've been distracted from my usual quirky, snarky blogging duties, by a personal experiment in the abomination of intellectual endeavor which is trying to marry art and commerce.
I've known way too many extremely talented individuals who steadfastly believed that trying to make a buck off of their creativity was a lost cause, and thus exiled themselves to the service industry. Seriously, for every waiter who wants to act, there is a Van Gogh busing the tables after them. And as much as I am prone to argue with these folks, and at least try and encourage them to SHOW other people their work, I am a crappy example. Sure I spent several years hawking paintings in group shows, and small exhibits in coffee houses and bistros, but I've let defeat and apathy get the best of me. I haven't made a serious effort to show and sell my work for sometime, cordoning myself off from the world in a labyrinth of rationalizations and self-pity.
Anyway, lately I've been trying to hack my way out of that maze. I haven't made as much progress as I might like, but I do have a few things to show for the struggle. Like the above digitally edited photo of an extremely Mod Modern Vespa , taken at AmeriVespa in Seattle this past summer.



Also available are prints of this image, called Goldmund's Gaze. It is a highly digitally edited image of a painted collage I did a few years back in a fitful rage of creativity after reading Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse. The original is currently in the collection of Ben Coffraw.




And last but not least, prints are finally available of this painting of Fudo Myo, or Acalanthara Vidya Raja. More simply called Demon Buddha, I finished this painting (still one of my favorites) in 1994. It was featured in the 40th annual Delta regional exhibit in 1995. Since 1996 or so, it has been in the private collection of a thief.

The Dragon's got Style... (for an Old Man!)

Like usual, I was checking out the Modern Vespa Forum today, and I came across this thread by IFixJets.
Mr. Jets, had posted a link to a Scooter Style blog, wondering if anyone had seen it.
While I had checked out the blog in question, it had been some time. So I'm scrolling through, and I found the post which the title link will take you to.

This is a terrific example of minimalist scooter aesthetics. Old and new form a convincing whole. The vintage Vespa (an eighties rally, according to matt) and goggles, and the black helmet go great together with a new Corazzo jacket. Thumbs up for savvy styling!

The thumbnail picture looks kinda familiar...so I click it and it takes me to a Flickr page...



Yup, that's the Dragon, on Jes's Sprint... and while Scooter Rider Styling gives me thumb up for fashion sense, the photographer's comments on the pic are "Old man on his Vespa scooter."

Hmmmm....

Some Photos From the Dragon's Archives

So yesterday I promised to post some photos I've come across whilst assembling my portfolio. And for once, I'm not a day late, just a dollar short.

For starters we'll do a coast-to-coast, waterfront theme.
Here are a couple of my favorite shots of Puget Sound's Mud Bay, near our old place in Olympia.




And here are a few shots from Ocompo beach in Westport, CT, looking into Long Island Sound.





Coming soon, portraits, digital abominations, and of course scooters.

Diana+ Camera / About

Diana+ Camera / About

Lomography has released an update to the classic Diana camera, the Diana +.

The Grand History of the Diana Camera
Back in the 1960’s, a small firm in Hong Kong – the Great Wall Plastics Factory – created a dirt-cheap 120 camera called the “Diana.” Crafted entirely of plastic, each camera cost about a dollar. As a mainstream product, the Diana was pretty much a failure – and was discontinued in the 1970’s. But like any superstar cut down in their prime, the Diana’s posthumous appeal skyrocketed. As a cult artistic tool of avant-garde and lo-fi photographers, it was a rousing success! They loved its soft & dreamy images, super-saturated colors, unpredictable blurring, and random contrast. Diana shots are raw & gritty, with a character all their own. They simply cannot be duplicated by any other camera on Earth! In short order, the Diana rose to prominence as one of the most treasured and sought-after cult analog cameras from the late 70’s onward.

Lomography's web page on the new camera, gives the above (and then some) history of the Grandma of "toy cameras," and a lot more. The Diana+ is going for $50 USD or $70 with 20 rolls of Afga 120 film. While that might seem a little a steep (although $1 a roll for 120 film is anything but!), the next closest thing is going to be a Holga, and to get one with all the features Lomography has added to their Diana, well honestly, you'd have to get at least two different Holgas from Holga Mods. Those would run you at least $30 a pop, so the Diana + actually might be a good deal, if you need those features.

"But Dragon," I hear you saying, "Features? Isn't part of the appeal of a toy camera, apart from the Wabi-Sabi of vignetting and lightleaks, the lack of features, the enforced freedom to just roll the dice and shoot? If I wanted features, shouldn't I just pick up a used high-end medium format on ebay, since the pros seem to be dropping them like names at a country club?"

And I hear you, I really do. That forced simplicity IS a lot of the appeal of toy-cameras for me. But another appeal is the how easy it is to mod these cameras yourself. Back in college, I had two Holgas, one pretty much standard, except with some interior flocking and tricked out to do 6x6 frames instead of 6x4.5. The other was hacked with a pin-hole, and bulb setting on the shutter. Even though this was only four years ago, Holgas were cheaper then at about $16 so even a college student could afford to carry a couple around.

The new Diana + offers a tripod mount (I guess this is standard on Holgas now, though it didn't use to be), can be easily converted to a pinhole, and has a bulb setting as well as a shutter lock. So I'd say if you want to take some magically crap-tacular 120 shots, as well as experiment with roll-film pin-hole photography, the Diana + might be a good choice.

Still, I think I prefer the Holgas... $30 seems steep to me for a toy camera, $50 ? I just don't know. I don't think I'd use the extras that much... plus I kinda enjoy tinkering with them myself.

via Retrothing

More AmeriVespa Wrap Up

The jaw-droppingly glorious scooter above is a 1954 Hoffman Vespa "Koenigin"or "Queen". This was a fantastic piece of scooter-history that was totally new to me. Henrik Harms won "Best Widebody Vespa" for this stunning scoot. You can find a little history about the German branch of Vespa genealogy here. With old-school widebodies, bike-style handlebars, and headlights on the fender and headset, not too mention that crazy standard chrome on the front of the cowls, this ride was really something else. Orin over at Scootin' Old Skool has a picture of this bike with the Pav trailer fully installed... (Excuse me one moment, as I clean the drool off of my keyboard.)

Here is Henrik's compadre Christian's Hoffman. Looking a little more lived-in than the gilded beauty above, it is still a wonderfully functioning piece of history. Did I say functioning? You bet your sweet saddle I did, these guys also won furthest traveled to the rally. They shipped their bikes from Europe to the East Coast (I heard Boston, and I heard NY... so I'm not sure) and rode to Seattle. What's more, they were planning to hit Canada, Mexico, and Cuba on their anachronistic wanderjahr. They have a website, America-by-Vespa, but sadly it is in Deutsch.


Here is another sweet old Wasp that was on display. Man, I dig these old fenderlights!

Great Ceasar's ghost! Is that 60 year old original paint?

And look at those lines! This baby is almost obscene!


There is beauty in pragmatic functionalism as well. This P200E caught my eye, as I strolled the parking lot. Not a shiny show-off scoot, but a hardy daily-runner, just the kind of bike I hope Quell grows up to be. The owner of this bike, Rob, put some miles in himself getting to Seattle. He rode this P from Eureka, in two days. He was obviously proud of the solidity of his little steed, and we talked for sometime about these workhorses of the manual scooter world. I learned a lot in my chat with Rob. When I was discussing my earlier problems with the fuel pipe in my carb, he insisted on opening up his carb, so I could show him exactly what I was talking about. (I noticed he had a hoseclamp holding that connection.) While the outside of this scoot might look a little "ridden hard and put-up wet," everything under that engine side cowl was pristine. The engine looked mint!
Rob also recommended that I try Blue Marble oil. He said he's used this two-stroke oil for years, and it's the cleanest thing he's come across. It burns clean, with little to no smoke, and leaves no deposits or residue in the engine. Not only does it significantly reduce his emissions, but it is also supposedly bio-degradable. Rob really couldn't say enough good about this product. He convinced me to at least look into the oil, which is generally marketed to snow-mobilers. I did some digging on the internet, and did find some independent tests with some promising results. I'll be ordering some here soon... and will of course share my personal experiences.


Speaking of down-and-dirty P-series rats, this bike the "Thunderturd," just really tickled me. Heh, heh, "Thunderturd," brilliant.

I love how the legshield is reminiscent of an old jousting shield, with an area cut out for couching a lance. Plus I'm a sucker for those light protecting grills... I'd really like to find some for Quell.

edit: 07/23/07
Reader Vespabelle writes:
The Thunderturd is owned by my husband Dave McCabe. It's a "fanciful recreation of a Acma Troupes Aéro Portées (TAP) Vespa which was used by the French military in Algeria and Vietnam. There's a nice write up of this bike in Collin Shattuck's book Scooters: Red Eyes, Whitewalls & Blue Smoke.

D'oh!
She is of course refering to this:

an image that shows up all over the scooter web from time to time. Heck, I posted it some time ago...
Still, I think I like Thunderturd better than it's inspiration...

AmeriVespa 2007: More Concours and Random Pics

Here's the winner for "Best Custom Modern Manual Vespa", "La Lone Sirena Vaquera"or the Cowgirl Mermaid Diva Scooter. Hmmm... Cattle wranglers and mythological creatures and scooters... and brass even... the universe is definitely strange.

Ooooh, Pretty!

and a closer look at that cowl art. Congratulations, Dawn Brocks, that is definitely one beaut of a scoot!


While there were a few scooters that are heavily mechanically modded and intensely custom painted, many of the entrants leaned towards emphasis on one or the other. Take for instance the Franken-Scoot pictured above. I have to admit, I almost overlooked this radical custom job, due to a newbie's fascination with the superficial aspects of the scooters. However, I was fortunate enough to meet Dave Pettet the owner/creator of this monstrosity. And I do mean monster!
This beast started life as a meek little ET2, 49cc automatic 2-stroke which Vespa discontinued a couple years back. The engine apparently died, so Dave got the deliciously mad-scientist-like idea of transplanting a 172cc Gilera Runner into the chassis. This required a lot of modification to both body and engine... such as installing a radiator into the legshield, and cutting ventilation holes in the legshield. Dave said this was a process he approached with much trepidation, as he needed to maintain the structural integrity of the legshield. I got to talk to Dave at length about his scoot, which he has been working on for two years, and level of mechanical engineering he has put into it is staggering, and obviously a lot of it was over my head.
Eventually he hopes to take the scoot to Booneville to test it's ultimate landspeed. The engine has not been fully broken in, and Dave has yet to have it at full throttle, but he's had it up to 70 mph at somewhere between half and three-quarter throttle! Sheer madness!

Speaking of odd scooters, here is the ride which won "Best Oddity":

This awesomely dieselpunk gem is a 1957 Peugot. I can not describe how sweet it was to see this rare piece of scooter history in person.

Wow!
Very reminiscent of the Heinkel... see:

OK, this stout German beauty, wasn't in the Concours... it was just out in the general scooter parking... as was this one:

here's another peek at that:

Speaking of Germans, there will be more about the German Invasion of AmeriVespa next time....

AmeriVespa 2007: Concours d'Elegance Pics and More

These pictures and comments are really in no particular order.
There is some slightly more organized coverage available at The Scooter Scoop

One of several severely performance modded Lambrettas. While there were all sorts of crazy modded scoots, it seemed like the Lambretta is really into this kind of thing. There were many really impressive Lammys, a lot of them hailing from just North of border. Indeed, Canadians walked off with many of the trophies this year.

Another beautiful Lambretta. I didn't have a great view of the screen for the slide show during the awards banquet, so I'm not positive, in many cases of who won what. Anyway, here are a few more shots of this 'bretta:





A beautifully restored Sprint.


Same Sprint from the back...


And from the front.


I'm pretty sure this veteran from the Cannon Ball won an award, but I forget which category.


Best Rat bike went to this chopped and duct-taped Vespa


This Blue Angels themed P200 took the Best of Show trophy. A really brilliantly executed custom job.


Wow!


Custom seat really sets the whole thing off.


But those fins, and that tail-light? Freaking amazing! Just an awesome scoot.


The "Country Sedan". I believe this scoot was entered last year as the "Country Squire." Beautiful Woody Vespa.


This scoot got Honorable Mention last year for "Best Automatic Vespa." There should have been a category this year for "Best Presentation." This looked like the display from some alternate universe scooter showroom. This photo also shows off what a great location for the Concours this was, right by Seattle's Center for Wooden Boats.


I believe this outstanding black customized Lambretta won something, but I can't remember which category.


And here of course is the humble Quell. Which despite the whirl-wind of activity on Saturday, I'm pretty sure won "Honorable Mention" in "Best Custom Modern Manual Vespa." At least that's what the ribbon says...


Coming up next even more pics, both from the Concours and the parking lot in general. Including several of "La Lone Sirena Vaquera", the fantastically custom painted P125 which most deservedly won "Best Custom Modern Manual."
Stay tuned.
(Oh and please let me know, if you know about awards, details on scoots, etc., which I have missed!)