We all have one, right? Right?

That one picture from the past that you should take out behind the woodshed and burn. Bury. Deny it ever existed.

Well, I have been blessed with several of those kinds of pictures. The one's that, at the time, I thought 'OK, this is cool'. And now think, 'OK, I wasn't thinking'. I have no defense for it, but I do have an explanation for this hideous picture.

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Isn't that a beauty? No, that isn't Brad Pitt or George Clooney. That's me.

That photo was taken back in 1979. I was working at KKAA in Aberdeen, South Dakota. A great country station at the time, it was located a couple miles outside of Aberdeen on the worst gravel road in the state. A real joy to drive, especially in the winter.

You will notice the super cool bandana I was wearing. See 'Hag' on that bandana? Well, by1979 I was already the biggest Merle Haggard fan in the world, and Mr. Merle had just released the song 'Red Bandana', one of his many Number One hits. Along with the record (yes, a 45...if you're young and don't know what that is, ask your grandparents), the record company sent along red bandana's with 'Hag' on them. So of course I put it on and probably kept it on for several months.

Why not? It looked great.

And I could grow a beard in those days. Not just a beard, but a great ugly beard. No trimming for me, so sir. I'm going to let that baby grow wild and free. Is it awful? Why yes. Yes, as you can plainly see, it is.

And of course, all those 43 years ago I could still grow some hair. Not much, but some. So here's an idea...why not let that thinning hair grow. And grow. And grow.  It's sticking out from my cool red bandana here and there, like weeds in a mostly barren parking lot.

Yeah, that's the look. That's what I was going for.

Oh, and the cigarette. Ahem. Yes, in these days of not being able to smoke pretty much anywhere (thank goodness), in those days you could smoke pretty much anywhere (unfortunately). So the guy in that picture, the one with the terrible beard and the sporadic hair? He probably thought it was cool to add the cigarette look.

I have more pictures from 'back in the day'. My kids think they are hilarious. My grandkids think they're ancient. And I think 'What the...'

 

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