What SF Weather Does to Chrome

My friend's Genuine Buddy is a riding scooter that waits at the curb for its master.



-- Post from my iPhone, out-n-about...

Title IX catalog: equal opportunity scootin' for the ladies

The Title IX catalog features a photo of a woman on a pink Genuine Buddy, packed up for a scootin' adventure. Thanks to Cindy for letting me know.

Title IX sells sporty clothing for women, and is named after the legislation that gave women equal access to sports. 

Tom Hanks/ Julia Roberts film with scooters?

In a story on Julia Roberts' career, the Los Angeles Times included this tidbit of info:

...Now comes word that Roberts is taking on another lead role, with 'Charlie Wilson’s War' buddy Tom Hanks writing and directing a movie for the two of them about a man re-inventing his life at middle age. The man endures a midlife crisis and joins a kids' Vespa gang; Roberts plays an instructor at a school that Hanks' character enrolls in...

This must be one of the reasons that Tom Hanks bought a new Genuine Buddy from Route 66 Modern Classics last year.  My guess is that like most mainstream media, the scooters are not actually Vespa(r) scooters but the generic "vespa" scooter which is much like Kleenex and Xerox. But we'll have to see.

Internet Movie Database has 8 films listed in development for Roberts. Wanna guess which one you think it is?

1. Happiness Sold Separately
   
2. Youngblood 
3. Hothouse Flowers 
4. In the Neighborhood
   
5. Monte Carlo 
6. A Flowering Evil 
7. The Friday Night Knitting Club 
8. Birds in Fall 

My money (which is Monopoly money by the way ) is on #1.

Genuine Scooter Co. on TheStreet

The Street.Com profiled Genuine Scooter Co. and head honcho Phil McCaleb, today.
Read the article here.

Sew News has scooter on cover

The hobbyist magazine Sew News has a woman riding a scooter with a fun scarf blowing in the wind. Looks like the super-cute Buddy scores another mag cover!

LA Times Review of Buddy

Susan Carpenter is the motorcycling columnist for the LA Times. She is a fair reviewer, so when she gives a favorable review of the Genuine Buddy, folks will take notice. For us "old-timey"scooterists the beginning of the review may solicit some chuckles, since she seems to have a "Vespa is it" bias that many people have when they approach scooters: "The Buddy may be the best Vespa knockoff on the market." she says. But this attention can only do great things for Genuine which already can't keep their great product in stock.

Alix's PeaceScooter Update

IN our last issue, we ran out of space and moved Alix's Peace Scooter Update to our web as an online article. If you haven't had a chance to read it, check it out.

Alix is a courageous person on many fronts and I wish her the best on her future endeavors to wake up the country to the possibility of peace. She's about to go back on the road, so if you can meet up with her, offer her some floor space or buy her a meal. I had a great time visiting with her.

PEACE Scooter rolls into town

On Thursday, I met up with Alix of the P.E.A.C.E.Scooter Ride. She has been on the road since July, bringing her examination of peace to the US. Alix has a great attitude (and would have to, in order to do this ride)as she has her own ideas, but is very respectful of others. Sure she is idealistic and very ambitious with her project, but she is trying to wake up and make up for those of us who are lulled into complacency by the government, the media and our own mundane lives.

We chatted over dinner for about 2-3 hours and she talked of how she was motivated to take on this trip. She actually took out a loan for it, so if you've got some spare dollars to send her, you can do so at her site through PayPal. Her Buddy scooter was generously donated by Genuine Scooters, and she has received great service and assistance from shops all along the way. Wherever she goes, people open up to her and talk about what peace means to them. I admire her ability to give up her home comforts for a road trip with a mission. Check out The PEACE Scooter site for her upcoming itinerary and read her adventures. Perhaps you can ride-out with her if she comes through your town. She's ending up at Crawford, Texas. We'll see what happens....


Alix in Santa Cruz.