Are You Talking to Me?

Some have asked me about my header photo. It is pretty funny and something that I've had a lot of fun with over the years since 2001 when it was taken.

To start with I didn't even know Gregory Wilcox, the gentleman who took the photo. That is who I'm looking at in the photo. This was my friends wedding and the guy yelling at me is "Daddy Dave" who is the father of the groom. We are lining up to escort the limo to the reception, Dave is yelling at me to go slow so as not to loose anyone along the way. I had to tell Dave that this wasn't my first rodeo and that I knew how to lead a pack. Gregory is an armature photographer who just happen to be going by as we are all getting in line. He walks out in the middle of the street sets up his tripod and clicks away. After a few minutes he picks up his stuff and off he goes and I never think of it again.

Months pass with never a thought of this again when on one of our Wednesday evening gathering at the local watering hole this lady walks in with a surprise. She is a friend of Gregory and tells me she has this photo and wants to know if I want a copy. Of course I do and in a few days she brings a copy by my shop. Needless to say I'm floored at the sight of the picture and how funny and good it is. Several more weeks go by when Gregory himself walks in wanting to sell me some prints. Since many friends wanted a copy I buy a few prints from him. Then he drops the bomb on me. He tells me he submitted this photo to Jones Soda and they've pick it for one of their labels to go on a bottle (Nov. 2001) of pop... that is a soda everywhere else but here in the mid-west. I'm floored.

Now I've got to find one of these bottles and have it. Every time I go to the grocery store I rifle through all of the Jones Soda they have never finding any. After months with everyone I know looking we give up since they only run the label for a month then switch to other photos.

Gregory isn't done with this picture yet. Little do I know he has set up a show of his work in a little gallery here in town. For months during the summer of 2002 people I don't even know come up to me and tell me they have seen this photo at the show. Lord only knows who all the people are that have purchased this photo but I do know the president of my bank had bought one from Gregory and has it framed hanging on his office wall. Again I'm floored!

Imagine my surprise when I get a call from a friend many months later telling me she found a 4 pack of the soda in the Twin Cities of all places. Months go by before we can find the time to get together. When we finally do manage to make time to meet she tells me her baby sitter found them in the pantry and drank them all and threw the bottles away. I'm crushed!

Determined more then ever to have one of these bottles I contact Jones Soda via the web. The very nice lady gets back to me to tell me there is no way of knowing when, where or if these are even still around. But she tells me they archive all of their labels and if I can find it in their archives they can make me a case of this pop but with no guarantee it will have the same flavor it had at time of release since they change flavors all the time also. Managing to find it I order a case and luck is with me, one of the flavors they are making is the same Strawberry Lime. And you know what? It taste pretty damn good to boot.

So that is the story of this funny picture. It goes without saying I've had a lot of fun with this photo.

fasthair

update: Sadly Gregory has quit his photo hobby. The worst part is he burned all of his film and he had some very good stuff and real talent. Such a waste.