-To Prospective Pinstripers-

S What is the sudden rise in prospective pinstripers these days? W I know. S I wonder what's feeding them? W Pinstriping is one of those "looks easy" things. That's why. S Do you have any advice for them? W I get phone conplaints all the time. S Oh really? W I would love to help but can't

explain in words. S What's a simple one? W Try and practice drawing an even straight line. S Staight? W Stright, Curved whatever. Just try not to do anything that looks too hard at first. S I tend to power glide when I curve. W Practice makes perfect.

K I was drawing, and I drew on my wall by mistake. S Didn't you erase it? K It's still there. W Back of calendars or something. S Can you get white gasoline somewhere? W Yeh, go to a gas stand. S You don't need so much though. W Thinner's just as good.

-Listen to KISS-
S You say you gotta think when you stripe. Could you elaborate?
W You gotta plan things ahead of time.
K Like how am I gonna take things from here.
W One thing is to think first of what kind of shape you would want.
S If you make a mistake?
W Use it, and bluff it. Bluff is a big key here.
K It all depends if you can bluff or not.
W That is, I repeat, a very important point.
S Right turns, Left turns, which do you like better?
W I can do either one, but we're all human, we got our "can't do's"
S Are you right handed.
W Yep I am.
S If you're right handed, then it must be nice to do right turns.
W Basically, most likely so.
K I've never seen a lefty.
W In the states, there are a lot, but not as many in Japan.
S Any other trains of thought?
W Listen to KISS.
S I guess KISS is the key then.
K Woody Kobayashi told me to smoke to get better in pinstriping.
W You got to enjoy it, to get better at it.
S There must be likes and dislikes though.
W I just love striping on cars. That's my thing, and just realized it too.
S Do you ponder that often?
W Striping Cars is the Thing. Striping here and there sucks.
K I thought you said...
W That's my hobby. That's what I like to do.
S,K (Laugh)
W You Don't get it do you?

-No Brushes in the House-

S Do you have any pinstripe goods at home? W Nope, maybe a name plate. S So you never draw at home? W It's my rule not to do so. S Not even one Mack brush? W Nope. S Really? W I'll do it here if I have to. S Oh yeh, you live pretty close. W I can't do it in the house! S 'Cause you'll start thinking about KISS? W (Laugh)That too, but I just can't concentrate at home. S I guess you switch to home mode then. W Yep I try to switch back and forth. K That's cool, I can't do that. W That's cool too though. Open 24/7, I just can't to that.

-Love Cars-
S Do you have any goals in life ahead?
W Goals? GOALS? I want to be known for how I draw.
S I think you've already achieved that goal.
W No no, I've only been doing this for 13 years, and I'd love to get better and better.
S If anyone was going to be a pistriper now, then you'd tell him to love cars then?
W That's a lil' extreme but if you don't like'em how are you going to be able to paint'em?
S I see. W If you don't have the interest, you can't do what I do.

-Wildman has been born!-

S When did you first go to Ed Roth's place? W This is when I went to Vegas with some guys, and they left me with Ed. S You drove to Ed's house? Where? W Utah. S Oh, Mormons. W He took me to his church.

S To the Church....
W Gave me the book.
S He gave you the name Wildman right?
W Yeh when I went to Vegas. He told me to drive. Never have driven in the states until then.
S Ever been to the states at the time? W First time. And so I said yeh sure.
S Did you have an Int'l Driver's Permit?
W Yep.
S You didn't know the roads though.
W No I didn't. He gave me directions, and went down the freeway to Utah.
S Was he awake?
W At first he was, but towards the end, he was getting his ZZZs.
S (Laugh)
W ZZZ and I drove too far.
S (Laugh)
W We did go too far. And so drove back.
S How far?
W Maybe about 10 miles or so.
S Oh, and you were homestaying or something?
W First few days in the states, drive, and went to Utah, and called me the WILDMAN.
S He must of thought you were crazy, he told you to do so though.
W He cooked me rice everyday I was there.
S I had an image that he would eat soup all the time.
W Potatoes, Fish, like stewed, and like not like cook cook, but just prepared me meals everyday.

-The teachings of Ed Roth-
S So did he teach you stuff from the first day?
W The day we got there, it was midnight so from the next day, he taught me.

S What did he teach you. W Told me to write ABCDs. S From Lettering then? W Yep, from lettering. S All day? W Pretty much, and we were talking too so. S Oh really? W Do you have baseball in Japan? How about prowrestling? That kind of talk. S Wrestling? W He seemed to like it a lot. He sure watched a lot on TV. S How long were you there? W I think about a week. S One week?

W Yeh, something like that.
S So you lettered on the first day, what was next?
W Pinstriped, lettered, vis a vis. He went out once in a while.
S Left you alone in the house?
W Played with the cats while he was gone.
S (Laugh)
W Sunday we went to church.
S Did you learn anything from going to church?
W Something clicked in my head about lettering. I think it was the air.
S Something changed before and after eh?
W Maybe like a spiritual experience.
S Was Ed Roth good at lettering?
W Shige san loves Ed's writing, his letters.
S Oh really?
W That's why he wanted me to start pinstriping.

S Shige san told you to go to Ed Roth's place? W Shige san knew Ed and I wasn't just starting out either. S How long had you worked? W Maybe a year or so. S Didn't learn too much about pinstriping over there then? W Yes I actually did, but it is very hard to explain in words.

S What did you learn the most from Ed?
W Not to stand out more than the host car.
S Hmmm...
W Pinstriping is just the side dish. The Car is the entree.
S Oh ok.
W Until then, I was deliberately making it the main dish.

-Ed "Big Daddy" Roth-

S Is this Ed Roth's house? (pointing at photo) W Yep, this cute little house. S Was he living alone? W He just got divorced back then, but he told me she was on vacation. S Brick, and I see nothing surrounding it. W Yeh I know, it's in the middle of no where. S How close was the nearest shop?

W The main street was only a few 100 yards long.
S Oh, but there is a store nearby.
W Like a little shopping street.
S Can you walk there?
W A few minutes on car. Less than 10 but at least 5,6 minutes.
S Must be a nice place.
W Lots of turkeys. They've got a lot of turkey farms there.
S Were all the show cars made there?
W Show cars were made here but most of them in his California days when he was young.
S He used to live there didn't he?
W But as a Mormon, he moved to Utah once he aged.
S Is there one thing other than pinstriping that caught your eye about Ed?
W He took ultra quick showers. 1 minute showers.
S 1 minute!
W 1 minute.
S (Laugh)
W When we met in Vegas, we stayed in the same room for a night, and he took a shower before me, turned it on, ... Then off. Came out with a satisfied face, and was done.
S (Laugh)
W He was always like that.
S He must of washed really quick.
W He eats a whole lot too.
S I hear he stained his shirt day after day.
W Slowly but surely he ate huge quantities of food.
S And you followed right?
W Lots of ice cream. Like this one time he had a sundae this(gestures) big.
S So he is an ultra fast shower taker but a slow eater.
W Yep something like that.

-Master of the Mind -

S There must of been a huge influence on you. W I was the most influenced on the 3rd SCN when... S The 3rd Street Car Nationals? W Yes when I saw the demo he did. S You weren't into pinstriping at the time? W I was part timing with Shige san, but not until them did I get a shock.

S What was so shocking?
W It's normal not to do a draft but . ... But. But. But...
S It was entertainment I had never seen before.
W I've had people watching at the paint shop but not at such a show!
S And that when you wanted to do this as a job?
W Yes that's when I knew.
S I guess that was a cool shock then.
W That's just the thing I will never forget about Ed Roth.
S No matter how much you knew him, he was always above you.

W But not only that, when I went over to the US with him and watched Pink Panther, I almost died laughing. S You like cartoons? W I like comics, and I was just having such a good time on the plane. S Back to track, would you say Ed was kind of a master to you? W Yes I would S Master. W Yes, of the mind. S Master of the Mind! W He will always be one for me.

-Ed Roth for ever...-
S How did you hear the news?
W Shige san emailed me out of no where.
S Were you surprised?
W Yes I was!
S Did you notice him being sick beforehand?
W I was just that every year he came, he got slower and slower and I thought that he was getting older and older, and suddenly, died. I drank over it, and shed some tears.
S Did you put that picture there(pointing to it) after his death?
W No, 'twas after the HCS in '99, he came down here, and right before taking him to the Airport.
S I was there before he came here then?
W I wanted an autograph, and couldn't find anything else, so I got it on it.
S No one ever speaks bad about him do they?
W I hear he was a radical guy when he was young though.
S (Laugh)
W In his latter years, he was like Uncle Rat Fink, but he must of rocked the boat in the 60s!