From Behind the Lens
November 2006
Colleen Swartz
Redefining the “Love Seat”
My buddy Dave Cook lives with a wild hair up his ass. Sometimes it manifests itself as a completely new and cool frame, sometimes it comes out as a new way to brake a bike with style, sometimes it is an impulsive road trip to God-knows-where and last winter it reared its ugly head in the form of a motorized loveseat.
I have to admit, I didn’t get it at first. When I first met Dave he had built a couple of motorized La-z-boys which were fun at rallies, but to put so much effort into building a frame, tearing apart an old Honda ATV, building a table and lamp… just seemed like a waste of time to me. Now I get it.
Dave and his friend (and my photo assistant) Matt have dedicated much of their time and talents to this Love Seat. They actually have built 2 of them, one which incorporated the love seat from my living room set, is now in the happy hands of a new owner; and the one that is pictured here has a bigger and badder engine (from a 175 Honda ATV, 5 speed) and does about 50 if you dare. They purchased green velvet to cover it for the St. Patty’s Day parade last spring and have re-welded the axel I don’t know how many times following drunken stunts.
The key to the loveseat versus the La-Z-Boy is size. Big enough to give rides to 1 or 2 passengers and small enough to still pilot on a sidewalk. I now understand the effort put into this project because from it Dave and Matt have garnered a television spot on the Fox Network, Matt has a permanent girlfriend that he met on the loveseat, Dave has met and kept a book filled with girl’s phone numbers and the two of them have had a positive “return on investment” of approximately 10 fold from all of the free drinks that bar owners and patrons have bought them while bar hopping on the love seat.
People flock to it, bar owners love them stopping by and the cops turn an uneasy head when they see Dave and Matt piloting the love seat through alleys and down sidewalks to get to the hundreds of bars that call our “East Side” enclave home.
When we go across country to a rally, the constant question is “will we be able to fit the love seat in the trailer with all of the bikes?” and now you begin to see why. Nothing beats the ability to visit your friends and neighbors at the campsites with this contraption.
This love seat has been on the Crandon Offroad raceway (where it unfortunately crashed leaving the owner of the racetrack with a broken nose and it’s passenger with serious road-rash); it has been to Sturgis where it enjoyed a front-row seat at all of the concerts; it has been to Sabula Iowa where at “The Horse Rally” it was sitting quietly outside of the shower house with Matt on it waiting for Dave to come out when a couple approached Matt asking if the woman could pose nude on it. When Matt agreed and began to get off of the loveseat so the woman could have her photo shoot her husband stopped him and told Matt that she wanted him to stay on the loveseat while she posed. Matt agreed, I’d love to see those pictures!
The other day I walked into Dave’s shop and found a newly-discarded loveseat with a tear in the arm perched atop a new steel frame with a trailer-like tongue coming from it. When I asked what he was doing, Dave matter-of-factly stated that it was the loveseat that was to be pulled by the loveseat. Of course, what was I thinking? Obviously, one loveseat isn’t enough! Dave hopes to have the “Rickshaw Ride” ready in a week. Maybe they will take me along with them now that there is room for even more girls.
And this is my life, from behind the lens. Your questions, comments and story ideas are always welcome at bigshotphoto@aol.com. You can see more of my work at www.digitalmagicbigshots.com and more on “the couch” and video of it in action at www.cookcustomchoppers.com.
