30 F
Clarksville
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeCommentaryDodging the Roadkill: My Motorcycle, My Music, My Memories

Dodging the Roadkill: My Motorcycle, My Music, My Memories

Dodging the Roadkill - A Biker's JourneyClarksville, TN – I’ve posted many articles about how much I LOVE to ride alone.  I’m not anti-social, and I love riding with my “buds” but I ABSOLUTELY love the solitude of just me and the open road.

And deep down inside, so do you.

I’m an early morning rider.  I will get up and hit my favorite coffee shop, then take off for a couple of hours.  I’m also a HUGE music lover.  Forty years on the radio will do that to you.  I have a thumb drive filled with the music of my life.

I was living in Europe as a young man when the Beatles and the great British Invasion landed, so, my music is VERY important to me. Now my motorcycle and my music are helping me relive my life, one song at a time.

Hank and his Harley
Hank and his Harley

Rolling through the countryside with Jackson Brown or the Eagles, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt or any of that “California Cool” sound from the seventies, reminds me of my early start in the business.  Toto and Earth Wind and Fire remind me of how I got my foot in the door at the local Pop station. 

Southern Rock reminds me of my years in Nashville, where Ted Nugent and Ozzy were dominating the airwaves, along with Pink Floyd and Rush.  I hear them all on the back of my bike.

Billy Squire reminds me of the night he performed in Nashville.  We escorted him around town, including dinner at Jimmy Kellys.  Afterwards, in his suite that had a grand piano, we were interrupted by Alice Cooper’s drummer, looking for cocaine. We weren’t able to help the poor boy.

Dan Fogleberg, Hall and Oates, Credence Clearwater Revival and Roy Orbison, along with ELO and Tom Petty serve me memories of the music my wife and I always loved together, in the early years of our marriage, while struggling to pay bills.

Music by the Temptations and the Four Tops remind me of the night I hosted a show featuring them both at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Riding through the Rocky Mountains a couple of years ago, it was “Stairway to Heaven”, and “Do you feel like I do” by Peter Frampton I remember most.  I can attest to the fact that while the sites of those beautiful Colorado mountains were bathing my eyes, those songs were making love to my ears. 

Riding across Kansas while listening to “Dust in the Wind” was kind of crazy.  And you haven’t lived  until “Free Bird” and “Green Grass and High Times” is blowing out your speakers while you’re chasing those wind turbines down Interstate 70.

Songs that remind me of my children bring tears to my eyes.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Journey, Styx, 38 Special and Def Leopard would rewind those rock and roll years in Nashville, where Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll were the norm.  I lived it.  I loved it, and now my motorcycle and I share those memories.

How can I ever forget what the Beatles mean to me?  Reminding me of my youth, growing up in France as a military brat.  Traveling around Europe and having a childhood that only us “brats” can understand. 

Listening to Sgt Peppers, Abbey Road, and “Hey Jude” while cruising the Missouri Ozarks.  Memorable.  “Silent Lucidity” by Queensryche, while picking my way through the early morning fog along the Cherohala Skyway was special.   

There’s a reason I’m on this journey at this time of my life.  I don’t try to figure it out, I’m just leaning into it, wondering where it will lead me. I get to relive and remember all of the good AND the bad that my life has been about.  When you spend as much time on a motorcycle as I do, you go deep into yourself and try to make sense of it all. 

Each of us are making memories on the back of our motorcycles and each of us has a playlist. They belong to us, exclusively.

I love this journey I’m on and I thank you for being a part of it.  Find the Roadkill Nation on Facebook here.

Hank Bonecutter
Hank Bonecutterhttp://www.clarksvillesmotorcycle.com/
Hank Bonecutter is a retired broadcaster and media consultant based in Clarksville, Tennessee. His career includes stints at WKDA/WKDF and WKQB Rock 106FM, WLAC-AM in Nashville. He concluded his career as owner/talk show host at WJZM-AM in Clarksville. Currently the President of Bonehead Promotions, he's an advertising consultant and media strategist. An avid motorcyclist, Hank blogs about his travels exclusively at www.clarksvillemotorcycle.com and www.clarksvilleonline.com You can follow Hank on on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dodgintheroadkill/, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/?lang=en, and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dodgetheroadkill/?hl=en  
RELATED ARTICLES

Latest Articles