book

I first met Vince Goodeve on a photo shoot for American Iron Magazine some six or seven years ago. Vince, Bob McKay and I rode from Spearfish, South Dakota, to the neat little town of Rochford twenty miles off Highway 385 between Deadwood/Lead and Cheyenne Crossing. We spent the morning shooting two of Bob's bikes, both decorated with phenomenal Vince Goodeve graphics. The little town, population 26, provides a wealth of photo opportunities, as well as cold beer from the General Store when you're done. Between then and now, Vince and I became friends and collaborators. Vince contributed to our earlier Airbrush book: Airbrush Art, How to Secrets From the Masters. Based on that association we decided to do Vince's own book. Thus I'm pleased to announce the release of Professional Airbrush Techniques, the Work of Vince Goodeve. This new book is based on a series of start-to-finish airbrush projects shot in Vince's shop with help from his wife Lisa. Professional Airbrush Techniques is Vince's personal spin on airbrushing and color theory. In putting the book together we tried hard to retain all the little "Vince-isms" so it would retain his personal touch, and more important, his huge enthusiasm for anything having to do with paint. The book is coming off press now and will be available by the time you read this.

Travel
As a young motorcycle enthusiast, there were only three motorcycle events: Sturgis, Daytona and Laconia. So far I've been to Sturgis almost twenty times and Daytona fifteen. Other than a couple of trips to Laughlin I've haven't tried out many of the newer events, until last week that is. For years now, people advised us to skip Daytona and go to Myrtle Beach instead. Their reasoning ranged from better weather to nicer cops, cheaper hotels, better riding and nicer locals. Now that we've spent the last week along the beach of South Carolina, I'd have to agree on at least two counts. We did have rain, but mostly at night after we'd returned to the hotel. As for the cops, I've apparently reached that age where I don't have much trouble with the cops. Geeze, it's been three years since I had a speeding ticket. More significantly, we did not hear the horror stories about overzealous cops that are so common in Daytona. And while not exactly cheap, our hotel was slightly less expensive than the hotels in Daytona. The riding is nicer, if you take the time to get away from Myrtle Beach proper and check out the countryside. As promised, the locals are friendly, though as the Myrtle Beach event grows and grows some of their enthusiasm for bikers may be worn away by the crowds, the traffic, and the noise. Speaking of noise, I spent parts of two evenings sitting out in front of our motel, along Ocean Boulevard (which could be called motel row), watching the parade of bikes going by. As I sat there talking with friends, three things came to mind: First, there are more and more young riders, many on Busas and Ninjas, at what we often think of as "Harley" events. Second, the neon light thing is in full bloom, on bikes of all makes and even some four-wheelers. Third, the bikes, primarily the V-twins, are louder than they ever were. Before you accuse me of getting older (an undeniable fact) consider: there are more bikes on the road than ever before, the motors are bigger, the compression is higher and the pipes are straighter. My own bikes are not exactly quiet. I'm simply suggesting that the issue has reached some kind of threshold where if we don't deal with the problem ourselves someone else will. Knowledgeable people in the aftermarket industry have even suggested that the proposed EPA rules regarding home-built bikes were initiated, at least in part, by people in power getting pissed off by the VERY LOUD motorcycles passing them on the highway and roaring past their houses and vacation homes. It reminds me of the shirt my friend Mikey had made, it reads: Loud Pipes Cause Helmet Laws.

Projects chain
Projects like hot rods and motorcycles, and worries about pending legislation, have taken a back seat to work lately. Spring is often busy at Wolfgang, but it's especially frantic this year as we struggle to produce more than double our standard quota of new books. Which means I've spent most of my weekends chained to the computer desk and haven't done a hell of a lot of work on the old J bird, or the bikes or anything else for that matter. I did get the new/used oil pan for the old Hemi motor repaired and off to the sandblaster, soon to be painted. Next I hope to pull the motor and tranny back out, install the oil pan and other necessary bits and pieces and get the engine set back into the chassis. Who knows, someday it might actually run.