RIP Michael Parks

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CGDustDevil

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I never saw Michael Parks in much other than "Then Came Bronson" which I confess to have violated my ban on television for a few hours intermittently in 1969. (I swore off TV in 1968!)

I'd see him on an occasional horror or jailhouse movie in dingy hotel rooms back in the early 90s when I was traveling extensively for work.

But I heard him on several interviews on the radio over the years, and the guy (when sober) was a real character! Pretty hardline right guy who felt uncomfortable in the left wing Hollyweird cesspool... But he was fun to listen to.

Most of all I loved his (to my knowledge) one and only album called "Long Lonesome Highway that I flat wore out on 8 track while traveling around the countryside in my wild youthful days. I've hunted for a copy of that record or tape for years, but have never found one. Maybe something will crop up on ebay now that he's gone. (At desert prices of course)

So long Michael... I LOVED that Harley Sportster ya rode for one season... Loved the record. I only wish there was much more.

Best regards, Pete
 
I think one of the best scenes in a movie is when Uma Thurmond is laying there presumed dead and Parks leans over to look at her and she coughs and spits in his face.... Kill Bill #1.

edit: CGDustdevil... looks like that album is available on digital... mp3 for next to nothing... I might try and down load it for you and see .... look for it on Amazon.
 
CGDustDevil said:
I never saw Michael Parks in much other than "Then Came Bronson" which I confess to have violated my ban on television for a few hours intermittently in 1969. (I swore off TV in 1968!)

I'd see him on an occasional horror or jailhouse movie in dingy hotel rooms back in the early 90s when I was traveling extensively for work.

But I heard him on several interviews on the radio over the years, and the guy (when sober) was a real character! Pretty hardline right guy who felt uncomfortable in the left wing Hollyweird cesspool... But he was fun to listen to.

Most of all I loved his (to my knowledge) one and only album called "Long Lonesome Highway that I flat wore out on 8 track while traveling around the countryside in my wild youthful days. I've hunted for a copy of that record or tape for years, but have never found one. Maybe something will crop up on ebay now that he's gone. (At desert prices of course)

So long Michael... I LOVED that Harley Sportster ya rode for one season... Loved the record. I only wish there was much more.

Best regards, Pete
Click to expand...

RIP "Bronson".
Here ya go Pete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKQ3fwNb0c

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Lonesome-Highway-Michael-Parks/dp/B00154RIIC

Great show. It probably helped keep the wanderlust I had, alive. :mrgreen:

edit to fix link.
 
Michael rode a Sportster in that show. At start of show is a 1967 Camaro, he rides along side of. I watched every episode in Black and White! Remember he wore a black sock cap
 
.

R.I.P. . :(


d90d124e71c873329441a5db46bc7f50.jpg



.
 
I remember the show well. In high school, I rode a 350 Honda. When I'd watch the TV show, I'd then have to go jump on my bike and be cool like Bronson.

I remember too, the jump or chase scenes. Sometimes he'd be riding a Harley 350, and sometimes a two-stroke of some kind. Guess they figured most Americans wouldn't know the difference.

In later years, he played really slimy parts, but he played them well. It had to have been difficult for him to over come his being type cast as Bronson.

May He Rest in Peace.


WAYNO.
 
daveg.inkc said:
In 1969, a Sportster XLCH was a hot rod of a motorcycle. "Stop light Bandits!"
Click to expand...

I had one ... It was an animal. (When it ran) I towed a '65 Chevy Malibu about 50 miles from Milo Maine to Bangor Maine with that 'hot rod'. Didn't do the machine much good. The rear sprocket came apart (Rivets backed out) on a dirt road a week later and locked the back wheel up at about 60. That was a wild ride! She ended up in the back of a pickup truck for a visit to Adrian out at Maine Motorcycle Sales. He said "Never saw one do that before...". I explained my trip to Milo, and Adrian said he thought he needed to kick the price up to 'teach me' not to abuse my motorcycle...

Then I noticed the engine was shaking a few weeks later... Turns out the bracket that attached to the two cylinder heads and tied them to the frame up under the gas tank had broken. I didn't figure it out 'till the front cylinder pulled the studs and unseated itself one night doing the 'stop light bandit' thing you mentioned! ;) Back to Adrian's Harley Shop it went... :roll:

She was a good machine... Sure wish I had it back now. At 66, I'd probably be apt to be a little easier on it now!

Best regards, Pete
 
Poco Oso said:
CGDustDevil said:
I never saw Michael Parks in much other than "Then Came Bronson" which I confess to have violated my ban on television for a few hours intermittently in 1969. (I swore off TV in 1968!)

I'd see him on an occasional horror or jailhouse movie in dingy hotel rooms back in the early 90s when I was traveling extensively for work.

But I heard him on several interviews on the radio over the years, and the guy (when sober) was a real character! Pretty hardline right guy who felt uncomfortable in the left wing Hollyweird cesspool... But he was fun to listen to.

Most of all I loved his (to my knowledge) one and only album called "Long Lonesome Highway that I flat wore out on 8 track while traveling around the countryside in my wild youthful days. I've hunted for a copy of that record or tape for years, but have never found one. Maybe something will crop up on ebay now that he's gone. (At desert prices of course)

So long Michael... I LOVED that Harley Sportster ya rode for one season... Loved the record. I only wish there was much more.

Best regards, Pete
Click to expand...

RIP "Bronson".
Here ya go Pete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYKQ3fwNb0c

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Lonesome-Highway-Michael-Parks/dp/B00154RIIC

Great show. It probably helped keep the wanderlust I had, alive. :mrgreen:

edit to fix link.
Click to expand...

Steve, Blume357, Thanks guys! You've made my day. I could swear I'd looked for that album on Amazon and didn't find it. I wasn't aware he had all the other albums either. I did recall hearing about "Coolin' Soup", but never found it anywhere. But that first album was an absolute gem as I remember it!
 
I have to say, I've listened to the first song on the album and his rendition of "Long Lonesome Highway" is a little too 'white bread' for me.... but then to each his own... and now it is part of my music collection I guess I'll listen to all of it.
Now I'm on the 2nd song and it is even more so.... not what I expected from 'Bronson'... but '69 was a different time.
 
Loved that show and Parks as an actor ,a little like James Dean i gave that album to my sister out in AZ still have the 72 Sportster i bought because of that show mine is blue and a kick start Bronson's was electric and kick they cold be ordered that way back then ,wish i had ordered mine that way $2027.00 brand new . R I P Michael . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsztoaU9Ls
 
I remember him from his TV show like many others " Then Came Bronson". I had just been riding for a couple years at that time and I always dreamed of touring the country on 2 wheels.
RIP Michael
 
daveg.inkc said:
In 1969, a Sportster XLCH was a hot rod of a motorcycle. "Stop light Bandits!"
Click to expand...

Back in '65 I had a bad case of the hots for a new XLCH. It had to be unrequitted love, I was a PFC at Ft. Wainwright at the time. My monthly pay wouldn't have make a payment for such a machine. Oh well, the riding season in Fairbanks was short. Sure liked the looks and sound of that bike though.
 
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