Arnold Classic 2004

As you know, Dave and I get our kicks at the Expo and surrounding activities. You've probably already read Dave's deeper report; I go for the surface-level name-dropper snippets. Here goes, everything I can think of without taking notes.

Dave and I met John Brookfield on Sunday, very cool guy; I like him a lot. We've sold his books for years, but this is the first time he's been to an outing we've attended. Since I had Dave nearby, I got to carry home an original Brookfield bent-nail praying man sculpture. Big score.

I also got to meet John D. Fair, who wrote Muscletown USA, the York story, and who's working on a new book, a history of the Mr. America, and will interview Dave next month. Talked with the opinionated Kim Wood, famous as the Cincinnati Bengals strength coach, whom we know through Dr. Ken but had never met -- he and Ken met years and years ago at the original Arthur Jones Nautilus plant.

Spent quite a bit of time with Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell, another guy neither of us had met before. The Arnold Classic has expanded so much in terms of competitors that more of the non-bodybuilding iron heroes are either appearing at expo booths or spending time at the powerlifting, Olympic lifting and strongman competitive venues.

Scott Sonnon is a gem for sure. Dave shared the Torque Athletic booth with him last year, but other than phone and email, this is was a first for me. He and his team are first class guys and I really like them a lot. Joining us at Torque (aside from the Torque staff, lead by Odis Meredith) were Paul Smith, Jeff Martone and Jamie Hale. I didn't spend much time with Jamie and didn't get a chance to talk with Jeff at all, but I did get to climb all over that brute Smith, who backed up Dave when the Universal Animal puke guys (their slogan is "squat until you puke," lest you think I'm being unfriendly) the next booth over started the weekend by cussing into a [loud] microphone early Friday morning. Dave and Paul crossed the aisle to shut that down after about five minutes. Worked, too, amazingly enough.

First day, hadn't even checked in with exhibitor's services, as we stood around with Bob Bonham, an IFBB judge among other things iron, Tommy Kono and Ike Berger came scooting by. Big grins and hugs all around, and as you can imagine, they LOVED West Coast Bodybuilding Scene. In fact, this was a WCBS weekend, with countless people telling me they heard about it from one hero or another.

My name badge and the fact that I sent a copy of WCBS recently snagged me a monstrous hug from Sergio Oliva. I'd never met him, but seeing him un-occupied, I went over and introduced myself with an outstretched hand. That didn't last but a second, when he pulled me in and held on, saying "I love Dave, I love Dave, where is he?" 'Course I hauled Dave through the crowds a bit later and got to watch the hugging again -- then watched a few people rush over with cameras wanting photos of the two together.

That reminds me of another highlight of the Expo weekends for me: catching a glimpse of our heroes, heads together sharing a story or a laugh. Examples would be Dave and friends like Lou Ferrigno, of course, but also shots of Randy Strossen and Pavel Tsatsouline, Joe Roark and Roger LaPointe, and surely others I've forgotten because I didn't think to take notes.

We tagged a few minutes with Frank Zane and Bill Grant -- you don't talk much with Bill, you listen... and laugh... Bill Pearl and his wife, Judy, dropped by mid-trip to his duties at LifeFitness. We didn't go to the contest on Saturday night, but from all accounts the Lifetime Achievement Award Arnold gave to Bill was the highlight of the evening. A couple people told me they had unstoppable tears for a few minutes. I would have liked to have seen that segment.

We saw a bunch of media guys, some we've known for ages, some only via email. John Balik, Jonathan Lawson and Lonnie Tepper from IronMan magazine dropped by for a chat, but we missed our loosely planned dinner arrangements with them. Spent quite a bit of time with John Koenig of T-Mag, who's become a great friend. Heard Bob Kennedy of MuscleMag International was there, didn't seen him this trip, though. David Webster, Scottish Highland Games authority and iron game historian, trotted by on an urgent mission, screeched to a halt and back-tracked to tell a couple of tall stories about the good-old days bouncing around his memory.

Met Flex Magazine's Shawn Perine of IronAge for the first time, when he popped by with a few other IronAgers (Jeff Preston, John Hansen, Tamas -- who drove down from Canada!) and a couple of Flex Magazine staffers, writer Greg Merritt and managing editor George De Pirro. Saturday afternoon Jeff O'Connell from Muscle & Fitness came by to grab Dave for a photo shoot with world-famous photographer Harry Benson, and we hung for a while Saturday night with KO's beau, Jim Schmaltz, the new Editor-in-Chief of Physical, and our old pal Julian Schmidt, also of Flex. In fact, we ditched Rockin Ken and Jean with them in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza, left 'em analyzing the Arnold Classic Men's judging sheets.

After all this, it will probably be hard to believe, but I didn't get the opportunity to leave the booth much. People came by with stories of visuals of Larry Scott (didn't see him at all), Arnold and Stallone, both of whom we saw as their security teams zoomed them down an aisle, Jeff Everson -- I heard about him from Jay Jacobson of Optimum Nutrition, who told me Jeff was telling him about West Coast Bodybuilding Scene, haha, isn't it great?! Didn't see Shawn Ray or Lee Labrada, although I know they were there. Missed Kaz this time, and only saw from a distance the Strongman competition he was officiating. Could barely see the bench press challenge and didn't hear if Scot Mendelson got his 1,000-pound bench, although I assume the ceiling would have been lifted if he had.

Dorian Yates was nearby, I know, but we missed him also, and only saw Rich Gaspari as he passed by on a busy Saturday afternoon. Reg Park was at the contest, but as far as I know, didn't visit the expo hall. Vince Taylor was there, and Kevin Lavrone, natch, and Skip LaCour; I was told Danny Padilla was heading to Ohio, never heard from anyone who saw him.

'Course all the current competitors were there, but I don't know any of them and can't tell them apart even if I did. (oh. sorry.) Dave Palumbo dropped by to say thanks for the review copy of WCBS -- he's got a new magazine, if you didn't know, RX Muscle. Toney Freeman seems like a terrific guy; he's got a big smile that makes a person feel great.

Mark Pittroff from Advanced Fitness -- makes the Manta Ray and Sting Ray -- always give me the great insight. Ditto Roger and Sandy Riedinger, owners of Beverly International, who were swearing late Thursday afternoon they'd "never do this again," yet by Friday morning were having a high time of it after fixing whatever was broken in transit. Motto of that story: Always take a toolbox and some duct tape.

On a personal note, my truly favorite times were spent with my friends of IOL. The best part is getting to know each other and becoming true friends. Absolute highlight of the long weekend? The IOL dinner at Buca di Beppo. HA, what a kick! We'll have to do that again! Highly recommended for a group outing.

Laree
PS: I can't imagine how, but I missed the Hummer deadlift.

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