Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A Rare-it-"T" and the "Z" Man

When Bruce Parrish told me he still had a Dick Allen T-shirt, I told him he had to send some photos.

This may be the Holy Grail of vintage chopper T-shirts. I find it interesting that it says California. Perhaps, so Dick could use the same design no matter what city his shop might move to.

I'm not sure if this is a dark photo of the same shirt or a black one. Bruce designed Dick's lettering and drew the art. Joe Hurst said Dick looked like the Zig-Zag man and says he suggested using his head on the art, but Bruce said it was from a cigarette (I never heard of and can't recall the name), that Dick like to smoke. I have to admit, it looks like the Zig-Zag Man to me. Bruce, send me the name if you get a chance.

I don't know about the T-shirt art, but....

Update: Joe called and said the cigarettes that Dick smoked were (sounds like), Shebeedees or Zabedees). That's what Bruce had mentioned. When Bruce told me I did a search, but came up empty. I now found Azadbidi, a brand of bidi cigarettes. That's likely it. Bidis (pronounced bee-dees) are small hand-rolled cigarettes manufactured in India and other southeast Asian countries.

These are not Azadbibi, but show the type. Azad's usually have an elephant on the pack. Bidis are tobacco wrapped in tendu or temburni leaf . Traditionally they are tied with string and come in flavors, like chocolate, mango, vanilla, lemon-lime, mint, pineapple and cherry.