When I was Editor of Motocross Journal I got an envelope packed with stickers, a zine titled Motorcycho and a cassette tape of a radio show that only played motorcycle songs. The sender’s name was Norman (a pseudonym for Kenneth Anderson) who turned out to be Motorcycho’s Editor, the radio show’s DJ and the stickers’ creator.
I wrote back to tell the guy how much I enjoyed the care package. Little did I know that this was the beginning of a 20-plus-year friendship. Norman and I have met at motorcycle shows, gone to races, ridden motorcycles together in Canada and California, visited motorcycle shops all over the place and this summer we are doing a dual-sport ride in Canada.
Today is Norman’s 60th birthday so I’m posting some photos from when Norman and I had the chance to hang out (he lives 1,274 miles north so I don’t get to hang out with him all that often).
Happy Birthday, Norman. Thanks for that care package and for your friendship all these years.
Norman outside the old location of the Garage Company. I still wish I had purchased that Harley in the window.Norman was like a kid in a candy store on his visit to the Garage Company. The place is part motorcycle shop, part motorcycle museum.Hanging out on the infield of the Costa Mesa Speedway races and rocking his Scorpions Club vest.Norman and famed artist Dirty Donnie.Before joining the Vicious Cycles band, Norman had a weekly radio show that only played songs about motorcycles.Norman with his crew from the Big Knobbies motorcycle club at the Seattle Supercross.Norman checking out the old Pasadena location of Johnson Motors, a company that sells $50 t-shirts. Ten years later, Norman and the Vicious Cycles would play a show just a few blocks away.Norman with the late Tom White at Tom’s museum, The Early Years of Motocross.Norman, on the keyboard, and the rest of the Vicious Cycles playing at The One Moto Show in 2019.Hanging out in front of San Pedro’s legendary Century Motorcycles.This Motorcycho fan recognized Norman and showed him a tattoo that was based on a cartoon in Norman’s magazine. That is what you call a dedicated reader.Robert Williams tells Norman how much he likes selling his paintings to Canadians.If you have never seen an issue of Motorcycho, you need to e-mail ([email protected]) Norman and he will tell you how to get some. They are all very different but always entertaining. If you dig sickles, you’ll dig Motorcycho. Norman might send a few stickers along with your order.Norman’s stickers are so cool that you hate to stick them on anything. Ask him for two of each so you can keep one in your Motorcycho scrapbook.Happy 60th to Norman. Long may you ride.
