On the Road with Jimmy Lewis :Standup Journal | Page 3

On the Road with Jimmy Lewis th
During His 45 Anniversary of Shaping Tour
By Ken Russell
If you ever have the chance to ride in a van with legendary shaper Jimmy Lewis for a couple weeks, I highly recommend it. You’ll get to know a unique character from a bygone era—and I don’t mean a bygone era like Driving Miss Daisy. Riding with Jimmy is more like taking a road trip with the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra. He certainly has the confidence and swagger of Jagger, as well as Sinatra’s wit and charm. If you do get the chance to take this ride with Jimmy, you’ll learn some dirty jokes and get an education on the music of the ‘60s. You’ll hear some amazing stories. And you may observe a philosophy that makes you want to be more honest and direct about everything in life. I’ve never met someone more straightforward and truthful than Jimmy, even when he’s dealing with his competitors. He has nothing to hide and doesn’t care what you may think about his choices and motivations. In a world of tiptoeing and political correctness, Jimmy reminds us what it’s like to have a pair, to tell the truth, and to be very generous. I had the pleasure of riding with him on the California leg of the 45th-Anniversary 10,000 mile Jimmy Lewis Tour. The tour made 55 stops while circumnavigating the country and letting people try out all of Jimmy’s shapes. Sing Like No One’s Listening (But Everyone Is!) As the Sprinter Van wound along the Pacific Coast Highway in the fog, the three of us sat shoulder-toshoulder across the cockpit. Twenty-five boards were snugly strapped in behind us, just itching to be ridden. I was sitting shotgun and working the radio. I’ve been Jimmy’s U.S. distributor for the past four years. My official job on the tour was to set up the logistics of each stop. Some of the stops were planned months in advance. Some were spur of the moment as we passed a beach that happened to be breaking.

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GLENN DUBOCK (Spread) Let the tour begin! The JL bus rolls into Santa Barbara's Ledbetter Beach with 25 demo boards in tow. (Inset) 1966: Jimmy and friends drove 90 miles every weekend to surf Cardiff Reef.

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