Modern Vespa

And if anyone asks you to play a tune, just ask them if they know the definition of a gentleman.

"Hmmm, now that you mention it, what is the definition of a gentleman?" they'll say, to which you'll respond:

"It's someone who knows how to play the trombone but doesn't."

You need a blue tooth speaker playing:

[url]

I hope in a good way.

I'll use that in a pinch, but I'm pretty certain that the saying was borrowed from banjo players.

Clothesline will work, but I regard this as a prime opportunity for Duct Tape!

Also works for kazoo, ocarina, vuvuzela, and vibraslap hit more than one time in a career.

Plus I am learning so many useful things. I wish I could lend you my old AllState for at least some of the time...

Thank you.

Red or Green

I must say, that beat up $10 trombone I found yesterday, with a lot of Mother's aluminum polish and a ton of hand buffing, has turned out surprisingly nice looking, and I'm sure that when viewed at a few yards distance will appear to be a functional instrument....which, of course, it isn't, but for MY silly purposes at the Sturgis Rally, it definitely is.

If the rain stops, and the roads dry out by 6:00AM tomorrow morning, I'll 'gear up' with my special Sturgis Rally outfit, sling my resurrected trombone onto my back, mount my Vespa, and head out to Deadwood for my coffee and scone, then probably zip the eleven miles over to the town of Sturgis and take some photos.

That trombone does look functional - did they give you a mouthpiece?

No, but I might go back to the store and see if I can get one for it.... hopefully, damn cheap.

To coordinate 'the look' with the white button shirt, white socks, black suspenders and black pants, I will use my black and checkerboard classic half helmet and goggles, with a checkerboard face mask to somewhat soften the impact of flying insect collisions. And also my semi-retired black and white sneakers.

The only item I'll be wearing of any color will be the slightly oversized red bowtie, I see it as sort of an understated homage to Paul Reubens character, 'Pee Wee Herman'.

The idea is to present myself visually as bright, clean, relatively conservative, and perhaps more than a bit 'nerdy', with a confusing dollop of absurdity thrown in by the nonsensical inclusion of the trombone.

Of course, the crown jewel supporting all of this will be my sparkly, deep blue, white-walled, Vespa GTS300, it is the foundation onto which this whole gig is built upon. It definitely wouldn't work with my Triumph Rocket.

The Sturgis Rally is, among other things, a giant dress-up party, and for the first time in thirty years of having the rally annually dropped into our laps, I'm going to participate, but not as a weekend badass or rolling pirate, I'm going to be something they don't usually see around here during the rally...as Pee Wee told Dottie at the bike shop...."I'm a loner, Dottie....a rebel!".

It's great that you can just drop in like that, you qualify for an "I rode mine" patch. A lot of people are going to want a picture with you.

Yes, living where we do, I can just drop in to Main Street Sturgis anytime on twenty-five minutes notice, watch the mayhem, and when I've had enough, run back home,
garage the bike, close the curtains and hide out in peace until I recover enough to go back out.

Maybe!.......then drag me into an alley and beat me up....but I might be able to save myself by hopping on a bar and doing the famous Tequila dance.

Just a boy, a Vespa, a trombone, and a dream....

Excellent! But I'd put the mask on the trombone.

Reminded me of this, one of my favs...

Yo, yo.. you just gotta put 3,4 or 5 of those "Loud pipes save lives" stickers on the bell of the Trombone.

Well done!

Your mask is "Born to be Tiled" and you are literally "Bad to the 'Bone"!

No more drinks for me!

At the Deadwood coffee shop this morning, in full regalia...heading over to main street Sturgis for a few photo-ops.

My official Sturgis Rally photo...

Main Street Sturgis this morning...

Subversive!

I went back to the store yesterday, and they gave me a free mouthpiece for the trombone..

I applaud the brass of both the instrument and the balls

ditto!! I love the photo of you, your vespa & trombone at Sturgis!!!

#1...Seven years ago at the Sturgis Rally, and #2...This year at the Sturgis Rally.

Still sport'n whitewalls (for now), but the bikes are definitely a little different.

Hang on to that outfit for the Distinguished Gentleman's ride, too!

I was thinking of possibly doing that the other day when I was assembling all these things.

I'm probably going to swap out my trombone for this crazy accordion on a couple of upcoming Sturgis runs, it's not overly large, but the damn thing IS pretty heavy to be wearing as a backpack...

For tomorrow morning's Sturgis 'experience', I will be giving my trombone the day off, and will substitute my accordion. It should be almost as visually absurd as the horn, and packs onto the back of the Vespa seat quite well, with a tidy appearance while using a pile of mini bungee cords to secure it by the accordion's two strap mounts and the Vespa's rear seat rail.

It's not actually as large as it appears to be in my first photo, which is a distortion of perspective. The second photo shows it much closer to it's actual relative size.

Sturgis Main Street this morning...

I get a lot of this at the Sturgis rally...

The mere fact that you HAVE an accordion adds to your bona fides.

I'm not sure you have an adequate number of bungee cords to hold it down. One can't be too careful.

I had about sixteen or more mini-bungee cords holding that thing on, and it was pretty solid.

Early evening last night, Main Street Sturgis...