I'm not sure whether Chuck meant to discuss the first article about the artist Dragonetti, or the long article about Mario Confente or something else at the link: http://www.ebykr.com/ I found the article about Dragonetti interesting, but it was the article about Mario Confente that caught my attention. I'm still looking for that mystery frame that disappeared from Jonathan's garage on 1 April...., so I've become a bit of a Confente fan lately. The article had a few bits of information I had not heard before, but most of it has been published. We've witnessed on this list disputes between people who once worked for Mario about the "truth" of those days in the mid-70s when Mario ran the Masi shop. Sometimes people have selective memories, particularly when the truth might not show them in the best of light. I wasn't there, so I don't know what is true and what isn't. I'm such a bullshit artist that I'm not sure anyone would believe me if I did have a story. Plus, I'm not sure I could relate the truth about something that happened yesterday, let alone 30 years ago. History is replete with similar examples, where the events as we think we know them from articles and accounts, are merely one person's attempt to build a story that was or wasn't there. The military reports from Gettysburg come to mind for those of you who are civil war history buffs, but enough of that. The general story of Mario Confente is both happy and sad. His art survives (oh crap, there I go again referring to bicycles as art, sorry) and that, in my opinion, provides the merit of his legacy. Now, if Angel Garcia can find some interesting tidbits while he is living in Verona.... We only have two months until Cirque. You never know, perhaps one of the guys who worked at Masi will come forth and tell us something new to chew on as we approach the magic of the great Rendezvous in Greensboro. Shoot, we may even have a little fistacuffs again. That would really spice things up! Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ... I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing." - At the entrance to an old SR-71 operating base, Japan