Article And Photos By: Chris Callen and Milwaukee Mike
Originally Published In The May 2012 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
Over this past winter, Cycle Source was invited to play an integral part in the Northeast Bike Expo put on by Kev-Marv Productions out of Boston, and man what a bunch of shows they were! Chris got to attend 5 different shows and I had the honor of representing at 2 of them. We were asked to judge the bike shows at each of the events and it was no easy task as the bikes that showed up in Boston were of very high quality and very diverse. The fact is, that we did photo shoots on four different bikes that we literally plucked right out of the show, stuck them at the end of a pier on the ocean and shot them with a working harbor as our backdrop. Well, two of them anyway, as the harbor cops showed up and squashed our ability to shoot the remaining two. We ended up having to make alternate arrangements, all in the name of homeland security. Now I realize these are trying times and people get tweaky about terrorism, but really guys? Six white guys with more tattoos than brains are now a threat to the Boston harbor? Come on man! Let’s talk to people and use some common sense and not be complete robots!
Besides that little incident, the Boston show went off well and it was a great time to see a lot of familiar faces and make some new friends as well. Friday night we were treated to an unbelievable Italian dinner at what I believe may be the original Maggiano’s Little Italy: great food, great company. Not only did Kevin Clement (show promoter), his wife Lou-Ann and their kids join us, but we had a chance to hang with a few celebrities, too. There was Mark Boone Junior and Kim Coates of Sons of Anarchy fame, Glenn Hughes, bona fide rock god from Deep Purple and Black Country Communion, O Article And Photos By: Chris Callen and Milwaukee Mike as well as Doug and Misty from Sick Boy. There was also a whole mess of the Hamsters USA guys that included the Shadley brothers, Dave Perewitz and Donnie Smith, amongst others. I can say that they were all great, down to earth people with amazing stories to tell, and I was happy to hear them. Saturday brought a whole day of work as Chris and I had a time checking out the approximately 120 bikes that were entered in the show since we were the judges. Boston, being the largest of the 5 events, brought out some incredible bikes as the pictures will show. Right away it became clear that we would have to extend the job of picking the bestof- the-best into Sunday before any decisions on who was winning could be decided. The one thing I noticed about this part of the country is that there was a really strong showing of old English iron, particularly Triumph chops. There were many to choose from with about four different styles. Maybe it was because Choppahead Kustoms, famous for their Triumph builds, was in attendance and they tend to make great things out of those little bikes. Everyone wanted to give them a run for their money!
As I said earlier, the show had some really cool stuff on display. I mean, it’s not often we get the chance to do features on 4 different bikes, in one day, from one show unless you are at a great big bike rally like Sturgis. We also managed to get some oneon- one time with famous bassist, Glenn Hughes. He was pitching his new book, Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography, (which is an excellent read) in the Sick Boy booth .
I look forward to seeing him again soon, this time playing I hope! Some other highlights from the Boston show included visiting the Black Frame booth which had amongst its various cool bikes an ex-Wall of Death bike. Ted Tine brought out an amazing Indian hillclimber that was campaigned by an independent team that used to regularly beat the factory team. Jody Perewitz had her land speed bike on hand, the one she piloted into the record books as the fastest woman on a Harley. It’s been amazing watching her grow into such a great racer and ambassador for the sport. She never got tired of taking pictures with friends and fans for the entire show series. Acme had two of their amazing creations there as well, on of which is on this very cover. It was a wild weekend that I will have a hard time remembering all the details of, but those memories I do have will stick like glue. Thanks guys! At the end of Feb., I got a call from Chris asking me if I could go back to MA. in March for the last of the Kev- Marv shows for 2012 as he would be in Daytona and could not make it. This one would be held in Wilmington, and of course I was happy to go because I really liked the vibe in Boston; going back was a no-brainer.
I was right; the show had the same energy as the earlier one but just on a smaller scale, which was good. The other cool thing was that even though there were not as many bikes, they were, for the most part, different form the ones I saw in Boston. This made the judging more exciting but also more difficult as I had to scrutinize all the bikes and got very few breaks because I had already seen it a month earlier. Again, it was another big showing from the Triumph world with great bikes from Downtown Don and Joe Roy which made me happy since I like Triumph chops. There were also some great choppers that will make their way to the blog and the pages of this very mag in the near future. The schedule in Wilmington was more relaxed so it allowed me the time to have dinner with the whole Clement gang which was so nice. It was like Sunday dinner with a big, extended family. A lot of ball breaking and story telling was going on and if I haven’t mentioned it before, I kinda like that! Sunday gave me the opportunity to have breakfast with Mark Boone Junior who was at the show again as well and we found a killa greasy spoon called Charlie’s. I got to see first hand how much of a hit SOA is by the customers’ reactions to Boone as we came into the place: crazy but cool!
After breakfast, it was back to reality as I had 12 bike categories to fill with winners from the show. It made for a busy day but with plenty of smiles from a lot of people. So watch in the next couple of months as I will be doing some features on a few bikes from this show as well! I also had the chance to speak with the guys from Iron Tails Saloon and I am trying to put together a ride in Laconia that will go from the Broken Spoke to Iron Tails. If we manage to get it together, keep reading the magazine and our blog for more info. I would like to give special thanks to Kevin Clement and his entire family for all the hospitality and making us all feel welcomed! So, the only thing I can add to this article by Mike is to say that Kevin, Lou-Ann and their whole family and crew are amazing people. Everyone from his mother, who wears her support shirts to certain shows, to their kids who turn the gears behind the scenes, this family rocks and for 16 years they have brought this part of the country together in celebration of the motorcycle. It’s a group we are proud to know and be a part of. They have asked us to return in 2013 and we are planning some cool things for the shows so stay tuned! Thanks to all the Clement gang and Doug and Misty from Sick Boy for convincing them we’d be an okay addition for this year!
