Ah...

Today I was driving behind a biker and I really had to chuckle to myself. Every year we used to have something called the Buffalo Ralley where bikers around South Africa met in PE and have a raucous weekend somewhere on the outskirts of town. Countless bikers fight a losing battle trying to declare the innocence of bikers and their intentions. After all, we can't paint everyone with the same brush is their argument. Not all bikers are rough looking, rough mouthed and rough mannered. Well, this biker went and tarnished their fragile argument in one foul swoop. I don't believe he was actually South African - the number plate was completely foreign and his dress didn't smack of the local leather supplier... The obscenity on his jacket wasn't enough to stop me smiling at a flood of memories from the 80's. His hair was long and spiral permed (or maybe that was natural??) and it reminded me of my dad and my brother listening to Iron Maiden, Kiss and some German named Ingve Malmsteen. I preferred Joe Satriani, but my dad only acquired that taste a couple of years before his death - better late than never, I guess. I never got the whole heavy metal thing - and waking up to a screeching Australian on a Saturday morning didn't do much for my liking of ACDC. (Although, I have to confess, I did know the lyrics to "Sink the Pink" and I confess I actually did sing along) But one thing was synonomous with these characters - the long spiral permed hair that was essential for throwing your head back and forth jerkily enough to make all chiropractors grin gleefully at the potential fortune to be made from these old men desperate to cling to the last glimmers of youth and infamy.

If anyone remembers Iron Maiden, you'll remember the posters with Eddie - how on earth Wayne managed to sleep peacefully amongst all those posters is still completely beyond me. Anyway, so the biker has this clash of 80's and modern biker gear. Not knowing anything at all about motorbikes (except how to ride a scrambler) I couldn't say anything about the bike apart from the fact that it was bright yellow. His pants and boots caught my attention, thought. He had bright red pants - so the overall impression was of a primary coloured heavy metal freak... His pants were multi zipped which had me wondering if he had a MacGyver kind of supply in his pants, you know, nuts and bolts in this pocket, leatherman in the other... Then I thought that would probably make his pants too heavy and as odd as it might seem to me, this guy was seriously about image. His boots reminded me of a very strange boy named Jacques in my 2nd year of art studies. Jacques was very quiet and always dressed in black and he sort of slinked around the art studio tentatively making as though he was stalking you and about to act out the shower scene of psycho... Actually, I think he was acting out psycho... He was a brilliant artist though. He was focused and had direction and produced the most amazing stream of work that linked together with real professional integrity. He produced photographs, prints and paintings of industrial scenes and derelict buildings. Jacques wore boots like the biker. I wonder what happened to Jacques...

Anyway, here are some more doodles.