Turning Back Time to WPPI in 2004

By Skip Cohen

It's my favorite day of the week, Throwback Thursday. I've set the time machine for 2004 and WPPI. Thanks to Alan Karlin and two albums he put together back then, it's a fun look in the rearview mirror.

That's David Bentley, Bill Hurter, and Clay Blackmore in the first photo; Brian and Andy Marcus are in the second. And that's Big Daddy Blair on his electric scooter to the right. Click on any image to enlarge it in the SCU Lightbox.

While they're all fun images to bring back memories, I actually started laughing out loud, looking at Don Blair. In 2004 he was slowing down a little, and we rented a scooter for him to get around the convention. He had left the scooter with the bell desk before leaving the building earlier in the day. When he came back, they gave him a scooter, and off he went.  

It was around 9:00 pm when a bellman chased me down, wanting to know if I could locate Mr. Blair. The bell desk had given him the wrong scooter. It was a privately owned model, fully loaded with extra power, side mirrors, and a beautiful black finish - hardly the normal rental.

They found Big Daddy and switched out the scooter for his rental. I watched all the blood drain from the face of the bellman who had made the mistake. Unfortunately, Don had taken a few turns a little tight, knocked off one of the side mirrors, and put a few scratches in the scooter. There are no words to describe how hard it was to keep a straight face - Don turned the Porsche of scooters into what looked like a demolition derby winner!

Make time if you haven't searched out a few throwbacks today. Old photographs bring back memories, and they're a perfect reminder of how important imaging is in all our lives.

Happy Throwback Thursday!

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