Kickin' It With The Doc

Heck, where else would be a good starting point but this subject, right, amigas and amigos??? As I recall my gradual transformation from a “new wavy” guy in 1984 to a much serious harder noise industrialist in 1985 during my tenure at thee Olde University of Michigan (Red Berenson-best coach ever!!!), I did high tail it to the nearest Army Surplus store in Ann Arbor to purchase a pair of de riguer combat boots in order to somehow compensate for my lack of altitude which had dogged me from the ripe old age of 12. Naturally they were quite used and gnarly but I recall only being set back about two sawbucks ($20 for you youngsters out there as well as those not fortunate enough to be simmered in Midwest cultura as an “enfant terrible”).

They served me well for a number of years into marriage and into the early 90s despite not being well insulated (remember, we are talking Michigan winters here) nor all that comfortable. Alas, after cashing in on the “go to Japan, teach English, make some serious cash and retreat from that humid concrete hellhole” event of 92-93, the future ex-Mrs. Williams and I returned for a brief rendezvous in Royal Oak (Joke) Michigan, the emerging hipster suburb just north of the humid concrete hellhole belovedly known as my hometown-Detroit, where I previously had acquired most of my obscure vinyl, to purchase a real pair of combat boots, better know as Doc Martens.

Now, even for that time, $110 was quite an outlay of cash for one as frugal as I. But I tell you what, those suckers are still with me today, better than even pictured here. Yes, a little world weary for sure (six continents and counting including favela retreats, natch) but dang, despite some wear and minor scuffs, they are like the day they were new and still so damn comfortable (and sexy, to “boot”). In short, I like rugged, well tailored things, so Doc Martens-you are the best and I bow to your creator-a real man and not some dude in the sky. And here's the “kicker”-I even have a back up pair-a pair of shiny bronze colored ones for special “kick ass” occasions (not pictured here). The best part of this pair is that I picked them up at a Big 5 Sports Store sales event in Portland at the turn of the century for about $60. WHAT A STEAL!!! But unlike that hippy Abby Hoffman, I will never, ever say, “Steal these boots”. In fact, if you try to steal my boots or any man's boots for that matter, I will get all nasty on you like Blondie (Clint) in “The Good, The Bad And The Ugly” to the soundtrack of Ennio Morricone in my head...”I've never seen so many men wasted so badly”.