Paul Letlow's Unique Dukes of Hazzard Items

One thing I love about running this blog is the interaction I get to have with fellow Dukes fans and collectors.  Before the blog, I only interacted with a small group of fans, but these days I meet new people every day.  I've met many collectors who love showing off their Dukes items as much as I do.  I love letting fellow fans write about their collections and featuring them here.  

I first started talking to collector Paul Letlow after the Kickstarter concerts.  He attended the Lousiania concert and sent me some info on it.  Paul collects all kinds of "stuff," including sports memorabilia and Dukes of Hazzard items. He lives in Louisiana. Take it away Paul.  

"As a sports memorabilia collector and a Dukes of Hazzard collector, I wanted to create a custom item that blended the two interests.

My sports stockpile includes a number of autographed football mini helmets, so I decided to make my own “General Lee” edition.

I purchased everything I’d need on eBay, starting with a blank orange helmet shell. These are usually priced around 10-15 bucks.  I found a sheet of 1:10 scale decals ($7) that worked perfectly, and I already owned a spare black facemask to give me what I’d use to complete the project.

Before the decals arrived though, I had the chance to attend a Dukes of Hazzard event in Livingston, La. There I was able to get autographs on the helmet from both John Schneider and Tom Wopat. Schneider got into the spirit of things too, signing his name along with the inscription “Bo - 1,” like a sports figure would add his jersey number. Both were kind enough to sign along the top ridge of the helmet, so affixing the decals was no problem once they came in about a week later.

I opted for the “01” on both sides and used the license plate decal and another small racing decal on the back. The flag decal fit perfectly on the front “bumper.” I considered using a gray facemask, but think black works better. The only change I might make is using a two-bar mask to give it more of a throwback look. Still, I was pleased with how it turned out.

 Keeping with the sports theme, my eclectic collection also includes an autographed baseball by the Boss himself, “Sorrell Booke.” Another eBay purchase, I can’t 100 percent vouch for its authenticity but it certainly appears legit based on other signatures I compared it to online.

 Finally, I was able to get my large Coleco General Lee pedal car signed by the boys when I attended their December Kickstarter concert in Livingston, La., at the John Schneider Studios property. When Wopat saw me carrying the car in, he laughed and said “Well ain’t that cute!” Both were happy to autograph it during the meet-and-greet part of the program.  

Thanks to Larry for his invitation to write a guest blog. As I told him in an e-mail, looking at his collection online is a lot cheaper than buying it all myself!"

Thanks Paul for sharing your very cool items.  I'm pretty certain that baseball is legit as well.  

Paul also sent this very cool picture of another fan's autograph collection he was looking through at the Louisiana event.  Would you look at that, I'm in the background on a John Schneider autographed picture!  I'd be glad to sign that picture as well!  Ha!  I'd love to find out who has the picture and get a copy.  

John Schneider and Tom Wopat at Barnes & Noble December 3, 2014

The night after the big Kickstarter concert, John and Tom performed a small concert in the Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side in New York City.  It was another magical night.

Getting to see two small venue Bo and Luke Concerts in two nights would be great enough, but I got to see two sound checks on top of that.  Each sound check was like a personal concert.  Man, sometimes I wonder how I get so lucky.  Before the show started, I was just hanging around the store when John walked in.  He called me over, and we hung out in B&N for quite a while.  We talked about Nooks and cell phones, you know, normal tech talk.  It was pretty awesome.  I'm glad to report that John is an Android guy, and not an Apple guy.  It's the little things that make me happy.  I also showed him a picture of my Dukes of Hazzard swimming pool and he was quite impressed.  Man, did I have a great time!

The Barnes & Noble store had several levels.  The small event center was on the bottom floor.  John was pleasantly surprised at how nice the venue was.  He said he expected to be playing at the top of the escalator.  Tom knew what he was doing when he set this gig up.

It was a smaller musical ensemble than the night before, and Tom's musicians sure are talented.  He had his bass player, drummer, and  piano player, all fabulous.

The boys took some press shots before the show.

The photographers told Tom to do Zoolander, and he did.  He said he knew someone would use the picture.  

 The room sat around 75 people.

It filled up pretty quickly.  I was surprised that only Eric Kabakoff and I made it to both shows.We figured a lot of the Kickstarter backers had probably traveled for the show and then just went back home.  Or they just didn't know about this one.  I tried to let everyone know.  Eric is a new friend of the blog who  lives in NYC.  He is a baseball fanatic and has written several books on the sport. which were on sale in B&N. Cool.  Very glad I met Eric.  

John and Tom only sang five songs, but they were good ones.  They really brought the house down.

It is obvious that they really enjoy performing together.

The crowd loved the show.

Tom closed the show with his solo of "Home For Christmas."  It is a wonderful rendition filled with emotion.  An easy choice for the title track of the album.

After the show, the Dukes Boys hung around and signed a bunch of stuff, especially the Christmas album.

Everyone was very excited to get their autographs.

The family that loves the Dukes together, stays together.

There were a lot of great Dukes collectibles floating around.  You know I love talking to fellow collectors.

John mentioned that he enjoys signing records because they still play perfectly even if signed.  I never thought of that.  Good point John.

John even got Tom's autograph for his mother, Shirley.  John had a few other family members there and they all seemed to really enjoy the event.

I had to grab one more picture with my heroes.  It was another very successful event to promote "Home For Christmas."  With only a week before Christmas, you really should get the album if you haven't yet.  It is great.  I had so much fun hanging with John and Tom in New York.  Christmas came early for this Dukes Collector.  

John Schneider and Tom Wopat's Kickstarter Concert at Joe's Pub in NYC 12/12/14

Did I mention that I had the time of my life last week in New York City?  Let's look back at that great day.

The concert took place at Joe's Pub near the campus of NYU.  It was great for me because it was within walking distance of my friend's apartment where I was staying.

I was invited to the sound check early in the day and was really surprised by how small and intimate the venue was.

This had the makings for a great show.

Being in the room with about three other people for a Bo and Luke concert was just the start of my awesome day.

They practiced their performance and I was just loving it.  It was really cool to see their preparations and hear their banter.

After the sound check we went backstage!



If you haven't seen my interview with John and Tom yet, I'll post it again here.  I've gotten great feedback.  A lot of fellow Dukes fans were happy to hear about the Autotrader commercial, the belt buckle discussion, and The Duke Boys talk about Dukes.  Did you catch the part at the end where Tom totally understands what I'm going for with my outfit?

Are we just three good ol' boys, or what?

The Kickstarter backer VIP package included a really nice VIP pass and up front seats to the show.  We were even treated to a great dinner.  I had shrimp tacos (of course) and veal spaghetti.  Yum.

The meet and greet took place in the mezzanine,  It was a very nice space above the lobby of the building.

The fans started to make their way up there, the only way they knew how.

Before John and Tom came out, there was some time to meet the other fans.  I made quite a few new friends.

Nearly everyone brought some items to get signed.  I loved talking to everyone about Dukes and Dukes collecting.

I really enjoyed meeting these younger fans.  It's great to see a younger generation loving the Dukes!

What a haul!

This awesome gurtair has made its rounds.  Only Tom's autograph left to get.

Awesome.

This was a very cool picture printed on a metal sheet.  I loved it.

Tom and John came in and  really enjoyed meeting their fans.

They took pictures with everyone there and then started signing.

I don't think I've ever been to a Dukes event where there was not at least one General Lee part to be signed.

You know I took as many pictures with the Boys as I could.

John and Tom told me this was the first time they signed the Figures Toy Company action figures. Glad they were mine.  I love that Tom is giving John bunny ears.

Leading up to the event, I couldn't really decide what to get signed.  I didn't want to have to haul big items around New York City and on the plane.  I decided to go with the 8 inch new figures and the new Auto World 1/43 General Lee.  I think I made good choices because neither John nor Tom had seen either piece.  So I got some pretty unique signed items.

The meet and greet was a blast.  It was then time for the show.

They packed in a surprising number of people into the small venue, but it didn't seem over crowded. All of us KS backers had great seats.

John and Tom came out to a huge ovation.  They seemed to have a lot of fun performing.

They are both born performers and really captured the crowd.



A semi-original song on the album is "Johnny, It's Cold Outside" which is a take on the classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside."  They have a lot of fun with the lyrics.  There are some Dukes references in the song as well.  I'm really glad I was given permission to share the song on the blog.  Enjoy.

I really love a John and Tom concert!



They closed the show just the way I'd hoped, with the Dukes theme.  Hearing John Schneider and Tom Wopat sing Waylon's Good Ol' Boys is always great.  The crowd loved it.  So did I.

After the show, they stuck around and signed some more autographs.  It was a great day.  I really want to thank Cyndi Lynott for organizing the event and including me.  I had so much fun.

In my next post (I gotta split 'em up somewhere) I will share the next night's concert at Barnes & Noble. Stay tuned.