The Donut Man Speaks!

The man I speak of is Jim Locke, official roadie of seminal LA Punk legends The Dickies. When guitarist Stan Lee suggested that a character from the 'Donut Man' video be modeled after their dear friend Jim, I had never met the man personally. He did recently get in touch with me and answered a few questions I had:

How did you become acquainted with the band:
I first met Stan about 12 years ago when I was visiting L.A. from Ohio. My brother lived next door to a place where Stan occasionally hung out and I'd go in there to get a cup of coffee. We were just shooting the breeze when I asked him what he did. When he told me I just said I'd never heard of the Dickies but since I played guitar, too, I said "let's jam." Well, that didn't work so we went to the driving range and hit some golf balls. That worked.

After a move to Los Angeles. I called up Stan when I got to town and we met for coffee, had a few laughs, and started hanging around in the same crowd. Since I had a truck and lots of time he asked if I could take the equipment to a gig. Holy Shit! I had no idea they were that good! The Dickies are the tightest, funniest, calmest, and very much revered punk band going.

Any memorable moments on the road?
Oh there are a ton of stories, legends, and moments. It was my pleasure to go out on the road with the Dickies on a couple of trips. I went with them on their first ever visit to Japan, coast-to-coast opening for Offspring, from one end of California to the other and then some. One of the trips was a regional stint on the Warped Tour and the bands included the Donnas (before they went national), NoFX, and headliners Green Day. That's a pretty cool tour to be around and there are very few egos, just a bunch of hard-working guys making music. In fact, the production office gives everyone meal tickets for the common cafeteria tent. The first time we went in there I was impressed and amazed at the respect the Green Day guys gave Stan and Leonard! (Please forgive me for no stories of wild parties or orgies but they strictly adhere to a 9pm curfew when they don't play.)

Do you still run into Stan or Leonard, if so, how?
Leonard and I talk on the phone about once every six months and threaten to get together, but Stan and I still hang out every couple of weeks or so. Usually, there's food involved.

One more thing, James: I'm happy to report Stan has moved out of the garage!