Then and Now: It's Not Just for Rockers

This is moi 1971, new in Roanoke,sitting on the Victory Stadium fountain.

Pampa today: Fat and happy.

Just saw this piece on what dead rockers would look like today if they'd lived. The ones featured would be just about all my age, so I thought I'd throw out a comparison of myself (hot young jock vs. Pampa). Here you go.

The shot at the top is of me as a young sports writer (25) at the local daily in Roanoke, still living the life of a would-be football player (and having the body for it at the time). I had just moved here from Asheville, where I was the sports editor of the afternoon paper.

At the right is a shot Liv Kiser took of me for my new book CLOG! I'm 67 here, pudgy, salt and paprika beard and thoroughly enjoying life. Youth didn't kill me, as it did the rockers, but that's not because it didn't try (read my memoir for examples: Burning the Furniture; you can click on it in the right margin of the blog).