247 Ink Magazine (August/September) 2017 Issue#16 | Page 163

try, helped me out a lot early on. When we met we just got to be friends. We partnered up and started doing conven- tions together, doing Sturgis (ND) together and even Daytona. I happened to know the promoters of the bike week. What happened was, they would rent the convention center for the whole weekend of the bike rally. But they don’t use the inside because the bike rally is outside in the parking lot; they rented to grounds. I knew the convention center was available, at least it was empty. So they just sub-rented the inside to me and we tried it. It didn’t work. Tony had some health issues after our second year. He was in the hospital for three months. I couldn’t get to him to talk to him or consult with him. He couldn’t do the promotional part of it; and normally he would do more shows a year the I would. He was the one who was out and about telling people about it; trying to get people familiar with the show. I had a little bit of a health issue myself that year to the point where I lost some energy and was down and out. I didn’t have the passion to do it but I saw the potential in it. I knew what I 161