Ride: I brush my teeth, I dry my hair
I put on skimpy underwear
And I ride
To hell and back
Yeah I ride
Carving up the nation..
Comic song by the late and everso great Kirsty MacColl for a comic piece on French & Saunders. In the video Dawn & Jen are riding choppers through a dreary English countryside- well they’re actually on the bikes which are strapped on a trailer. Kirsty would have been 60 today.
Like Steve McQueen | Singer songwriter Sheryl Crow sporting a cool tee which she is proud to wear.
Bayou Biker | CCR frontman John Fogarty hoofing around on a Honda Scrambler – Creedence Clearwater Revival were a mainstay of late sixties music with their early progressive swamp rock sound.
Is it a Byrd? Bassist Chris Hillman looking hip on a Triumph back in the sixties. I was listening to McGuinn, Crosby, Clarke, Clark and Hillman with their Easy Rider soundtrack earlier when preparing the evening meal.
Kinky Boots | As Patrick Macnee (John Steed) & Honor Blackman (Cathy Gale) sang back in 1964:
“Full length, half length,
Fully fashion calf length,
Brown boots, black boots,
Patent leather jackboots,
Low boots, high boots,
Lovely lanky thigh boot,
We all dig those boots..”
Nice Trident & Commando too!
The View from the Bridge | Another snapshot from a fortnight ago. Waiting for the gang to fill up at the Mount Carroll gas station. I always thought the windscreen had cat ears atop it…
There’s a fella down the chip shop… | This image was doing the rounds a couple of weeks ago. Late night talk show host and former Saturday Night Live member Jimmy Fallon dressed as Elvis riding a Triumph Bonneville with a bear sitting at pillion. Vegas is undoubtably the destination.
Je t’aime | French musician Serge Gainsbourg (L) gives a cheeky smile to his muse Jane Birkin who sits astride a high piped Tiger on some Rue de Paris. She’s sporting white thigh high go-go boots which puts the photo late sixties. – Moi non plus…
Badge | The story goes that when Eric Clapton was putting the finishing touches to a George Harrison written piece he thought the middle bridge was labeled ‘Badge’ hence the Cream song got its name. George played backing guitar under the name “L’Angelo Misterioso”. This bikers vest is covered in Triumph embroidered patch badges.
Firestarter | Woke up to the sad news that The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint died over the weekend. If you were at a rave in the mid to late nineties you will have danced to their music. Fluorescent hair and wide-eyed he was the vision of a Century making a last gasp for excitement. He was also an avid motorcyclist to the point that he owned a race team – Team Traction Control – who, with Ian Hutchinson on a Yamaha R6, grabbed some wins at IofM and the Ulster GP. A lot of people said he was a friendly down to earth bloke. Sad day. RIP Keith Flint (1969-2010)
Jon and Dorothea – Mr & Mrs Bongiovi lookin’ like a happy couple riding a Harley softail across the desert of Moab where he was filming the video for their chart topping hit from Young Guns II “Blaze of Glory”. Jon Bon Jovi is 57 today. Cowboy boots ‘n’ all!
The Man in Black – Johnny Cash was born this day in 1932. He wrote humbling music which could pierce the coldest heart and sang with a calm but authoritative voice that sent shivers down your spine. “He walked the Line.”
Pleasant Valley Sunday – after Peter Torks passing last week I’m adding this excerpt from a ’68 Monkees Monthly ‘zine that was unearthed showing drummer Mr Dolenz haring around the Hollywood Hills on his Triumph.
Monkey Magic – sadly earlier today saw the passing of another Monkee; prime goofball Peter Tork died at the age of 77. Here he is in ’67 at the height of their fame grinning big on a Honda Monkey bike.
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Kurt Cobain -he would have been 52 today. Hard to think… his alternative music was evocative and inspiring for a youth in a post Thatcher/Reagan world.
