I first heard Bill Van Dyke in the early 90's on an Easyrider Video.
Swap Meet Special was stuck in my head for a long time after that.
In 1999 I saw him perform at the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis.
I caught up with him later that week on main street.
I was checking out a Panhead with a cool set of saddle bags.
It turned out to be his ride. The bags were made by a brother of his
on the inside. We shot the shit for awhile. He has some good stories to tell.
Two months later I made it back to Florida.
Biketoberfest was going on and I went to see Charlie Daniels at the Broken Spoke.
The next afternoon I went to The Last Resort Bar.
Bill was playing there. He remembered me and gave me a shout out as a fellow
road Gypsy, at that time I guess I was.
We shared road tales for a few hours.
After Sturgis he want east and I had gone west to Montana
then south to Arizona.
I found these albums at Choppers on Main St. in Daytona years ago.
This year I dug them out of storage and played them for the last time.
As soon as I hung them at the Swap Meet, a father and son came by and purchased them.
They were stoked to find them. The last of my record collection found a home.
I still have a CD of his. See him if you get a chance. Country/biker/story teller/music definitely
Different.
"She's my swap meet special,
I build her on my own,
I rode her over from Texas,
Right through downtown San Antone,
She's the sweetest little Harley,
You will ever see,
She's my swap meet special"
Ride on Bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment