May
02
2008
One of the great rock anthems of my youth is The Who’s My Generation. I can’t tell you how many bands I have played in where all the songs had this message. Of course we always emphasized the most alienating lyrics like “don’t try to dig what we all say” and “hope I die before I get old”. Now that I have a few years under my belt, as well as a few pounds, I understand that some of that was the usual adolescent angst, but still find myself screaming those same familiar lyrics and living a life of paradoxical intention (look it up).
It may be old news to some, but several years ago the BBC put together a documentary on the isolation and imprisonment experienced by the elderly which included the following video of the Zimmers, featuring a 90 year old lead singer. Think about it…are you ever really too old to ROCK?
Mar
10
2008
SHOWNOTES: Like most of you, I have developed my scooter interests over a long period of time and have been influenced by the things I have read, people I have met and the unexplainable. There are many scooterist who are utilitarian. They ride for lots of reasons, but mostly because of the efficiency or the ease of commuting. Where I am going with all of this, is to talking about what motivates each of us to take up an activity that sometimes is dirty, sometimes dangerous and other times just an outlet for never having really grown up. In my case it is definitely the last thing I mentioned.
For the past three months I have perused the scooter magazines like I use to do with the Sears Christmas Catalog, marking all the pages, circling the things I wanted, weighing the pros and cons of this scoot over that scoot. Two weeks ago I ended up on Craig’s list. Did I mention that I and a chronic window shopper? When ever I get questions about looking for used scoots, I suggest, “first go to Craig’s list”, because you get a good idea what is available in your area and as long as you steer away from all the Chinese junk, you’ll be fine. Well, in my case, a dream machine appeared. It was a 2006 Vespa GTS. I knew that I couldn’t afford a new GTS, so this seemed almost too good to be true. It was fairly priced and had only 1300 miles on it. After an email and talking with the owner, who had the interesting name of Fox, I rented an Enterprise cargo van and headed up to Maryland. Of course, on the way there I got lost, that is to be expected, but when I arrived Fox proved to be a fascinating character who is a bit of a celebrity in his community. Fox has quite a history, although I didn’t hear all of it. He appears to be an adventurous type who walks with a slight limp from his motorcycle racing days. He apparently has owned just about every brand of motorcycle or scooter around. So why dump this beautiful scoot? “I am tired of it and I’m on to other things.” I considered Fox’s ADD, my good fortune and with the help of his friend Mike, loaded the scooter up for the trip back to Richmond. All I could think about when I left Fox was getting back and eating, but every time I looked in the review mirror, the headlight of that elegant bike stared right back at me. It was then that I realized that after all the dreaming and talking and even your suggestions, I had come back to the Vespa for one specific reason, it is beautiful. I have aways been a sucker for the Italian sense of style and this new scoot has it. How do these things happen? In my world things happen for a reason, and although I don’t know why this has happened, I plan on enjoying it. I’m not giving up on my old classics, but at least I will have a scooter that feels like a part of the family and will fit in with all the rest.
Blog Posts
- The new 2008 Amerivespa site up and running. The site has a beautiful art deco picture for this year’s event.
- Jon, who runs the Yamaha Zuma Forum sent me an email several weeks ago to reminded me that there are other scooterist out there. Take a look at their forum and join their Friday or Saturday evening Chat.
Music for this show is from the Podsafe Music Network
