Interesting times when these were on the airwaves - '67 & '68. The mid to late sixties was a time of turmoil in the United States, some of it pretty serious right close to home for Shop Teacher Bob. The Watts riots were in '65, Detroit in '67 and Chicago, which was only about 50 miles away from where I was living back then, had not just one but two riots. One early '68, about a week after I bought my Harley Sprint, and another when the Democratic Convention came to town later that year. The latter had Chicago's finest versus the Yippies and gave us the famous quote from Mayor Daley "The police are not here to create disorder, the police are here to preserve disorder." I also remember hanging out at the Texaco station in town and watching the National Guard go down Main Street heading to Gary in case they were needed if Hatcher didn't win the election in November of '67 and a riot broke out. Troubling times, indeed.
In case you've tuned in late, this is what I'm currently working towards - a nice looking '68 HD Rapido and making a bit of progress too.
I bought myself one of these in April of '68 - a '67 Sprint H model. Great little bike for a kid who was a senior in high school and a big step up from the Honda Sport 50. Both of these little Harleys give you an idea of what the latest Italian styling was looking like, with a few concessions to the American market like high rise handlebars, because we were used to wrestling steers, don't you know. No mirrors, though. The Italians were never too concerned with who was behind them, as long as they were.
Now that I'm in quarantine it's starting to feel like the sixties all over again out in the shop. I'm spending a lot of time working on a '68 Rapido and I've got a couple of Sprint projects in the queue (threw that one in there because there's a BSA in line as well). Even though the Rapido project seems to be growing, time in the shop is pretty much just like it was 50 years ago - can you dig it? I knew that you could. I do need to get some better music on my MP3 player. Something more like what's up above. "The classic rock" stations I can pick up are starting to play a lot of music from the eighties and as all of us old farts know, nothing good came out of the eighties.
Hooker & Heat - that's the stuff!
7 comments:
I had no idea Kenny Rogers sang that song until we watched the great documentary on him last week on AMC.... watched a great one on Dolly too last week. We are teaching Charli the important historical figures.....
Bring her up right - play some Merle for her as well. The way things are going, she'll be in high school before I get a chance to stop by. Stay safe my friend.
I have that John Lee Hooker record.
I bought a turntable a few years back so I could convert my LPs to digital files. I should see if I can remember how to run that rig and load up some more on my MP3 player. I've got some Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker I believe. Also got plenty of time.
Terry Reid has been evoking a certain vibe in my shop lately.
https://youtu.be/NnhRv1vtx-4
Rich - I don't recall hearing any Terry Reid before and I listened to just about every genre of music back in the 70s. He must not of gotten much commercial air time. Or maybe it's just that having gotten old and dropped on my head a few times, the memory just went away. I listened to a couple of cuts on the album - good stuff. Which is exactly why I need to record some of my old vinyl and convert it to digital or upgrade the shop radio to something that will allow me to listen to more than the three stations that come in clearly.
Good to hear from you - hope your keeping well. I was planning on heading down to the Bluegrass State this year before the Kung Flu hit. I wanted to hit Brandenburg, Bardstown and Shelbyville - home of Claudia Sanders' Dinner House. Home cookin' just like my grandmother used to make. Stay safe.
The Wife and I are doing fine; common sense trumps fear any day. I work from home, and make a once-weekly trip to town to ship stuff out UPS or Fedex. Wife goes to town to her office each day, but no customers allowed in, so they're pretty well quarantined in place.
I have an old Califone record player (the ones used in schools - heavy duty) that I have used to record MP3s of some old military morse code training records. Most of them are 78's, and the results were excellent. I used Audacity to clean up and record the audio. Worked great.
Rich
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