Conte Rock (1 results)

First edition. Garrulously inscribed first edition of this scarce self-published first-person account of life on the road with the Chicago Outlaws. Unassuming factory worker George "Rock Conte" Mitchell falls in with the notorious Chicago Outlaws, seemingly out of nothing but curiosity: "I had never met or encountered anything which split my imagination as this group did." He published this account with Vantage Press at his own expense, reporting credulously and forgivingly on the gang ("many of the stunts they pulled off just didn't seem to make any sense [.] I had seen only one member smoke marijuana"), some of whom were also seen and heard from in Danny Lyon's THE BIKERIDERS. Inscribing the book six years after publication, Conte echoes the (also presumably self-penned) jacket copy in comparing his mission to that of John Howard Griffin in BLACK LIKE ME, but OUTLAWS FOREVER brought no publicity to the divide between the straight world and that of the riders. (Perhaps because HELL'S ANGELS had already claimed it all for Hunter S. Thompson several years before.) OCLC locates just six scattered holdings. 8'' x 5.5''. Original black cloth boards, silver stamped spine. In original unclipped ($4.50) pictorial jacket. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs. 216 pages. Inscribed to front free endpaper: "To / Rob & Sue: / I feel like 'John / Howard Griffin,' author of, / 'Black Like Me'. There is / always another side to a story. / Sometimes, one may pay a / dear price & suffer, but one / should never give up. / I wish the two of you the best of everything and hope / your dearest dreams come true. / Sincerely Your friend / Always / Rock Conte / 5-24th-75." Jacket lightly toned, with minor soil, and few small chips. Faint toning to text block. Bit of pushing to spine tail. Overall, sound and clean. Very good plus in a very good jacket. Signed.…