One of the original Doobie Brothers is traveling cross country on a vintage 1929 Harley
Davidson motorcycle as part of the Cannonball Motorcycle Endurance Run.
Pat Simmons, 66, singer-songwriter-guitarist for the Doobie Brothers, is participating in that ride that stopped in Junction City on Thursday, and will spend Friday in the community before departing on west.
He said his bike is a 1929 JD Harley Davidson Twin 74 cubic inch motorcycle, nicknamed “Norge” because of the similar blue color to Norge refrigerators that were popular in the 1950’s. “I cruise about 50, 55, something like that.” He estimated a motorcycle like that could be purchased for $15,000 or $20,000. “We’ve probably got a lot more into it because we rebuilt the engine. We did a little bit of cosmetic stuff to it, not a lot. Nice tank anyway. I had to acquire quite a few parts for it because when we wanted to enter it, and I had started looking at it, it needed a lot of work…a lot more than I actually thought it was going to need.”
For Simmons this cross country motorcycle ride from Daytona Beach, Florida to Tacoma, Washington is a good time. “We’re having a ball out here, all the antique motorcycle nuts are out here.” Simmons’ wife Cristine is also riding in the Cannonball.
This is a tiring ride. “It is tiring, but it’s fun. That’s why we’re out here…to ride these old bikes. Kind of a security blanket world for us because we prepared for it. Every night we have a crew that meets us wherever the destination is. We’ll probably ride two hundred or three hundred miles, and then do all the repairs, tighten everything up again so we can ride the next day. Simmons added there was 16 days of riding, with a day off in Junction City on Friday. The riders will depart Junction City on Saturday.
Simmons was there from the beginning of the Doobie Brothers. “The band is still working. Myself and Tom Johnston from the original band that we formed in 1969, I think, Tommy and I got together. And we’re still working. We’re still out here playing. We just finished a new album ( Southbound ),a collaboration with a bunch of Nashville artists….Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Zach Brown and Band, to name a few. ” It’s an album of Doobie Brothers songs with Nashville artists.
Of course, the Doobie Brothers have left their mark on American music. “The two biggest songs we ever had….one was “Black Water” and the other was “What a Fool Believes.”
When asked if the mark they’ve made on American culture ever hit him Simmons replied, “You know we’re just folks. We’re just people like everybody else. If we did something good along the way we’re proud of that.”
Simmons was performing in a band called “Scratch” in 1969. When it broke up he accepted an invitation to join Tom Johnston, John Hartman, and Dave Shogren, a new band, and the Doobie Brothers were born.
