Jeff Decker: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

SERMONETA

This quiet little 10th century mountain hamlet, an hour outside of Rome, is the place I'll disappear to in my quiet years.

ROME with an i-phone

The Eternal City seen thru a cheap phone camera is a oxymoron... or maybe I am just the moron.

Last time I came I had an expensive Leica, and all the film was lost, this time I got plenty of mediocre shots with my cell phone.

Verona was a blur

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Blaster worked hard for his filthy lucre

Allumanti

Antonio Blanco kept me in wild boar all week!

Nathan got a new tattoo!

California Uber alles

Over a decade ago Jerry Brown unveiled my Joe Petrali monument in front of Bob Dron's HD in Oakland.

We made small talk, & I asked if he was a Dead Kennedy fan or knew Jello Biafra... that the closest I've ever had to having a meaningful conversation with a politician.

soft spot for the mods

One of my favorite booths at the MOTO EXPO in Verona.

A little Motown, a Parka & one of these... a perfect Glory Boy starter kit.

MOTORRAD

The neatest magazine cover ever.

The work in progress shows different fairings being worked to a perfect 1/2 scale model.

Finest job in the factory, in my opinion.

I have the magazine, now the dream is to find the prototype drafts & model.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Joe Wilson of Fresno

On Mark Shubin's hunt for Sprouts Elder history he ran across this photo of Joe Wilson.

The Wilson family opened the HD dealership in Fresno, Ca. in 1919.

Nice factory hill climber with the tiny tank.

Hoppy Hopkin's Helmet

Hoppy ran motocross in Europe when most Americans had never heard of it.

Von Dutch painted this for him & he ruled the scene in pink & red!

I got it from John Sawahski years ago & use it more than any other helmet.

I love it so much, we used it for color scheme on the Special K bike.

Cole hated the colors, but Bill Carter pulled off another brilliant job & that bike speaks for itself!

Barry Sheene

Barry must of had dozens of helmets during the course of his career.

I wore mine during the Cannonball & Mike Vils(the original painter) said, "Hey, I painted that!"

It'll spend more time on the shelf, than on my head, from now on!

Earliest orange & black I've ever seen

Eric's ol' man

He sent me these pics a long time ago, & just before I deleted some old email, I rediscovered them.

Great cut & really cool family history, thanks for the pics, Eric!

6" X 9"... mia culpa

I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Just a plain old tool.

I have managed to create more work for myself, plus I told everyone 4"x6" envelopes, with work.. but 6"x9" avoids folding stuff!

I am having fun so far, plus I leave country tomorrow, so I can pass the buck to my daughter!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Family celluloid

My mom kept 100s of photos in volumes of albums that bring to tears to my eyes still to this day.

We need to print things on tangible mediums, as I fear all this information we have available to us now is only on the screen we are looking at.

There is no charm in a disc of info.

JJ suggests I start using a Polaroid, & I think he is right.

I believe I will.

I know I am naive & backward, but if offered a disk of images for $1 or a greasy photo album full of faded images for $100. the decision would be made with out hesitation.