ROCKIN' on Saturday morning with the SoCal Road Devils at the Grand National

I first met the Road Devils (a car club with roots going back to 1946) in Ohio, through rock poster artist Mike Martin. We drove out to president Patrick Brown's house in rural Ohio and there I met Big Jon, Face, and Josh. It was a great hang, and I included photos from that day in ROCKIN' (page 204).

On Saturday at the Grand National I arrived kinda early. The problem with running a booth is that you see everything that comes in front of your booth, but sometimes not much else (especially not the cars in the other buildings). So Saturday morning was a chance for me to walk around outside before the buildings opened. That's when someone shouted, "Hey, Paul." It was one of the Road Devils, SoCal chapter, whom I met at the booksigning at the Petersen Museum in December with Mike Ness.

So for the next half hour or so I admired the rods and customs they brought and we talked about some of my adventures since the Petersen event. Spontaneously, I asked if they'd sign a special copy of ROCKIN' that I tote around. They very kindly did--so big thanks to Ray, Jason, Chuck & Robin, Aaron, Jimmy, George, Chris, Lefty, and John.

Along with the Devils on page right, note such signatures as Stanley Mouse's on page left, along with Big Slice's and a hundred others. Good mojo. Good juju. Reminds me everyday that the book is all about the people--the people who love cars and rock & roll equally, and with great passion.

also note: the chapter photo they lent me was taken at an earlier event.