I NEVER BACK OUT ON A BET!

Although looking back, I probably should have. Okay, some background first before I explain myself. When we left for Sturgis a couple weeks ago, we took about 8,000 T-shirts to sell. Now Sturgis has 200,000 bikes and half a million people, so I though blasting through 8k in shirts in 7 days was a no-brainer.

Well, the guys in the custom shop didn't agree. So they made a bet with me that if we came back with more than 100 shirts, I had to wear a dress to work, as well as host bike night with it. "Ha!" I told them. "You might want to break out the Macy's catalog 'cuz you're gonna need express delivery for those dresses while you wrench on bikes!"

As you can see from the picture, I lost the bet. But I did keep my end of the bargain. I wore the dress for the day at the bike shop (yes, I had to take a couple of important meetings ... do you know how hard it is to have a serious meeting when you are wearing pink taffeta?), as well as for 4 hours DJ'ing Bike Night. Everyone at the biker bar thought it was pretty funny. I think my farmers tan on my arms was the best part. It was funny, for sure. So there you have it. Never let it be said that I don't hold to my end of a deal.

In retrospect, I learned 3 very important things from this whole experience.

1. I make a VERY ugly woman.

2. Never make a bet unless it's a sure thing.

3. There are no sure things.

Hope you all enjoyed the photos, I'm thinking about putting it up on Ebay as the "Humility dress." 

DG

TIME (warp) FLIES!

On September 26th it will be 30 years since the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released. I feel fortunate as one who actually saw it during it's mainstream movie release back in 1975 at a regular theater. I can remember being a 15 year old reading about this wild, campy movie being made based on a hit play in the UK, and was very eager to see it. It finally showed up in Chico, California about 20 miles from my hometown of Orland (4,000 people, one stoplight) so it was decided my best friend Don and I would go see it. The opening night was Friday at 7:30PM.

We got to the theater early. We were about 3rd in line and got pristine seats in the middle aisle, center section. The place filled to capacity, as the word of mouth on this movie was huge. I think we were the only teenagers in the place ... the rest were folks in their late 20's and 30's with a smattering of 40 year olds.

Then, the movie started.

These giant red lips came on screen singing, "Science fiction ... double feature ..." I thought it was brilliant. 10 minutes into the movie, about 12 people got up and left. By the time Tim Curry arrived, about a third of the crowd left. Right before Rocky was born, it was down to 20 of us. We watched the last couple of people in front of us exit the theater. We sat and watched the rest of the show. After the credits, the house lights went up. We got up to leave and came to a startling revelation. 

We were the only ones left in the place. I remember telling Don; "We just witnessed something REALLY special." I knew that for a movie to force people to completely empty a theater ... well, it couldn't be the end. Little did I know how right I was.

I left for college 3 years later only to discover that this movie was making the midnight circuit in Stockton, California. My new found college friends and I had a new destination on Friday & Saturday nights. Yes, we brought props, yes I dressed up as one of the characters (Dr. Scott, if memory serves me) and yes, I watched it 33 and 1/2 times. The punk band I was singing for did covers of the songs, and it was an awesome time to be young and free ... to be honest, I think some of my best memories are getting together with my friends, Greg, Pat, Jerry, Jason, Mike, Karen, Janette, Dave, Eric, Danny and so many others for a late night outing to see Rocky Horror. Either straight, drunk or stoned, it really didn't matter ... a good time was had by all.

The reason for this walk down memory lane? It was playing on showtime tonight. Made me feel a little nostalgic. Wow ... Thirty years ... time really does fly. So much has changed. I don't think I could do a midnight show again .... it would take too much out of me the next day. But one thing's for sure. I'll never forget those days for as long as I live.

It's just a jump to the left ...

DG 

Had a GREAT time in Sturgis! We took 3 days to get there, and it was a awesome road trip. There were 200,000 motorcycles and over 500,000 people converging on this timy little town in South Dakota. The event was great, I took Thursday off and rode my bike up to the Crazy Horse monument ... about 150 miles round trip. Got caught in a HUGE rainstorm, but rode through it ... I guess that makes me a REAL biker now. We took off for home Saturday afternoon at 3:00PM, and arrived back in SoCal Sunday night around 5:00pm. I drove the U-Haul for 15 hours straight .... remind me not to do that again. Don't have a lot of pictures, because I was stuck in the booth for most of the time but it was big fun, nonetheless. I'll post some more, but for now, here's a pic of me, Cody & Vinnie from "American Chopper." I'm the one in the middle, in case you didn't know.

DG