When I was in the service (late-seventies) I got every issue of Easyriders magazine. For motorcyclists stuck overseas, under the constrictions of military life, reading Easyriders was something to look forward to each month, and marked the passing of time, bringing us one month closer to going home and riding again. I wish I would have saved them. Todays version of Easyriders is nothing more than a comparatively crappy soft porn rag, with an occasional decent bike feature. Too bad.
One of the best features of the mag was the David Mann centerfold. He was the Norman Rockwell of outlaw biker Americana. Those centerfolds decorated the walls of my room in the barracks. Mann's paintings always told a story that captured the essence of the free-spirited biker lifestyle of that era.
R.I.P. Brother, your paintings live on.
You new the magazine had sold out when the models started to stand in front of instead of behind the bikes.
ReplyDeleteThat was about the time I was wrenching on choppers. There was always a copy of 'Easyriders' around the shop, usually pretty ragged, and a lot of times missing the David Mann artwork. I've still got a few from that era. Someday when I go through boxes of mags and books I've never unpacked I'll probably find a few more...if the rats and raccons haven't messed them up...or what usually happens, my stuff ends up being under the roof leak.The only bike I liked from that New York Chopper show was the David Mann tribute bike. Definitely the Norman Rockwell of the scene.
ReplyDeleteYep, Easyriders now reads like a magazine put out by magazine publishers instead of motorcycle people.
ReplyDeleteLarry, scan and post some of those old pics, adds and articles if the varmints haven't eaten them all up. I'd love to see them.