This Memorial Day, our toast to a genuine Real Deal American hero

Don Casey, returning to Utah Beach in Normandy, France, for the first time in almost 70 years, after landing there on D-Day, as part of the American forces helping to liberate Europe. We're deeply honored that one of our hats -- a pre-trip gift from his daughter and son-in-law -- was part of Don's visit!

This Memorial Day, we take our own hats off to a true American hero, a Real Deal of a guy if ever there was one.

Don Casey is one of those heroes it's almost too easy to forget about, his incredible valor and commitment to this country hidden amid the business of daily life. Soon to be 90, Don runs an independent hardware store in the little town of Grifton, here in eastern North Carolina.

But as a young man, Don helped rock the planet back into some kind of moral alignment. He served in five (yes, five) separate campaigns in World War II, from D-Day through to the Battle of the Bulge. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he was part of the wave of U.S. troops that landed on what Allied forces had dubbed Utah Beach in Normandy, France. The battle wasn't as bloody, and with ultimately such a profound loss of life, as that taking place on Omaha Beach to the west. Nonetheless, several of Don's best buddies didn't survive the fight to take that stretch of embattled coastline.

In April of this year, for the first time in 68 years, Don returned to Normandy, to Utah Beach. He'd had the opportunity often before then, notes his daughter, Karen Casey-Wooten, but he hadn't been emotionally prepared to handle such a visit.

This year, the timing was just right. Don was a guest lecturer at Howard Community College in Columbia, Md., sharing his personal wartime recollections with a study-abroad class focused on WWII. When they decided to make a trip to France to see firsthand some of the key historical battle sites, they invited Don to be their guest. Very, very cool, we think.

The visit to Utah Beach, though emotional, didn't have the profound impact on Don his daughter, or his other travel partners, had expected. Don was a little distracted, Karen says. "He was trying so hard to see and figure out exactly where he'd landed (back then)," she explains.

But when the group's tour ended in Colville Cemetery, that all changed. Colville, an American graveyard not far from Utah Beach, is kind of like the French version of Arlington National Cemetery, Karen notes. Three of Don's dear friends, who were killed during the Utah landing, are interred there. Their hasty burial following battle did not leave the opportunity to say any real goodbyes.

Don was utterly overcome with emotion upon visiting the cemetery. Not surprisingly, so were those people who witnessed his visit there.

"He got to finally get some closure with some of his buddies," Karen says.

In 2010, Don was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour, often simply called the French Legion of Honor, for the part he played in defending European freedom. For defending freedom, period.

Our own thanks seem pretty paltry by comparison. But they are sincere, Don, and great. Thank you, for everything you've done, for all of us.

Don at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

Real Deal Brazil Rides Along in Rally Dixie 2012

Thanks to Greg Bickford for these additional shots of the 2010 Ford Mustang GT that he and his brother Chris will be helming in Rally Dixie 2012, the 1,300-mile fundraising drive that this year supports the national nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis.

Now in its fourth year, Rally Dixie includes more than 80 teams of two or more folks in sports cars, muscle cars and various tricked-out and otherwise-unique rides. It takes in three racing events: autocross in Noblesville, Ind.; drag racing at the Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway; and a couple of laps at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. And along the way, it makes 36 stops at historic and/or scenic locations.

Rally Dixie 2012 kicks off June 18 in Noblesville, concluding with a big party June 21 in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., not too far from the Bickford brothers’ home base near Tallahassee.

Fittingly, the Bickfords call themselves Team Tallahassee. But the name’s a lot more to Greg than just a nice nod to home – he’s a self-described “avid fan of all things Zombieland.” So Tallahassee to him also means Woody Harrelson’s scene-stealing wildass Twinkie-lover in the very cool hat. The Real Deal Brazil recycled tarp hat.

Zombieland fans have likely already singled out the number 3 on the Mustang’s driver’s-side door, and the survival-rule quotes peppering the car’s back and sides. (Our fave: SURVIVAL RULE #17: DON’T BE A HERO. Except that in Team Tallahassee’s version, the word DON’T is marked out. As in: BE A HERO.)

The Bickford brothers are likewise huge fans of our Real Deal Brazil brand. That means not only will RDB hats be present on Greg and Chris’ heads throughout the long drive, but also: Check out that righteous decal on their iconic car’s driver’s-side rear!

Greg and Chris did that, by the way, completely unasked by us. They sent us a note inquiring if it was OK, and we said: What, are you kidding? Of course it is!

We’re a small company, and we’ve had to make it a standing policy that we cannot do cash donations; we simply can’t afford it. But we broke our rule this one time, and chipped in a little to their fundraising efforts. If you can, you should do the same. Great guys. Great event. A fight against a horrible disease. Beat that.

Visit their team site if you’d like to help: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/team-tallahassee/rally-north-america-dixie

Thanks, you Bickford boys! Go, car No. 3!

 

Real Dealicous!

OK, so this ranks right up there among the coolest pics we've ever received.

Which is to say whoah! As in wow! As in that's actually a cake, folks! A freakin' cake!

Accompanying this shot from Real Deal cake-maker Robert Cannon of Rescue, Calif., this note:

"I just finished culinary school for my Patisserie and Baking certification. My last class was advanced cake decorating techniques and for my final project I had to make a cake that looked like a hat. My obvious choice was my Real Deal Brazil hat. I thought you might like to see the end result. My chef instructors only criticism was that it looked too much like a real hat and not a cake!"

Dude, your talent is mighty, and your choice of subject is the, y'know, icing on the cake ...

The Real Deal Brazil: Truly tasty headwear!

Is It Hat in Here, or Is It Just Us?

 
When digital artist/professional photographer Dan Wampler wrote and said he was planning to take a few pics of his favorite hat (that is, an original Real Deal Brazil recycled-tarp hat!) with a model or two (that is, a couple purty ladies!), we liked everything about the idea (that is, we were like, hey, yeah, you go, dude!). We just didn't realize that our hat might, at times, be near about the only thing separating his models from being whatcha call, well ... wearing next to nothing besides our hat!

A couple of the artful pics Dan sent us were so, well, whew!, that we simply couldn't share them here. Sorry. You'll just have to trust us that our hat looked fierce, whenever we could remember to look at our hat.

That said, here's several more of Dan's RDB-inspired shots. Some are sassy.



Some are sexy.



Some are damn sexy.



And some are a lot damn sexier still.

 
 


Based in St. Louis, Dan mostly does infrared photography (http://danwampler.zenfolio.com/). He's actually the Official Prilosec OTC Infrared Photographer (no joke; the "purple pill" has an official infrared photographer).

This next shot, while really showing off the infrared, has nothing to do with that!

   
Also, some of Dan's images are included in a free Mac-device App called "Isla at Your Fingertips” (http://islaapps.com/fingertips/), which has, he says, more than 9,000 downloads from 47 countries. He's now working on a new app, to be called “Caribbean at Your Fingertips,” which will feature his photography exclusively.

So Dan travels quite a bit.

"And I have my standard wardrobe, which includes my 'Cool Hat,' your tarp hat," he noted in one of his e-mails to us. "I got it as a gift a couple of years ago, and I love it. It is the perfect travel hat and has saved my hide quite literally in areas where the sun is strong."

Our thanks, Dan, for the great vote of confidence, and for this extended glimpse into your vividly colored world.

Dear Real Deal Brazil: You’re All That and Then Some!

We’re suckers for a little Real Deal Brazil excitement. That said, we received this in an e-mail recently, utterly out of the blue:

“I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you that your hats are amazing!!!”

That’s right, amazing. With three exclamation points, !!!, and like that. As in triple wow, which is, of course, the very definition of awesome. At least in our own dictionary, it is.

So after getting our usual blushed up and stuff over such righteously boisterous praise, we read further into the e-mail … and then wound up even more impressed with ourselves still! See, those hella-pleasing props above come from a source we’re proud as a recycled-tarp peacock to be associated with: Matt Jarman, U.S. Army officer. Currently stationed somewhere along the East Coast, U.S.A., Matt is preparing very soon to go civilian – retiring, as he says, “from an illustrious career as a Drill Sergeant, a Paratrooper, and Air Assault.”

Whoa! Air Assault! We don’t even know exactly what that might mean beyond our “Call of Duty” fanboy fantasies, but it sure sounds wicked dangerous and cool. In fact, Matt signs-off all his e-mails with this: "Only 2 things fall from the sky......Bird sh*t and paratroopers, Airborne!!"

That’s Matt in the three pics you see here, putting his RDB through its paces in snowy off-road mountain-bike fun, a favorite downtime hobby of his.

And dude’s on our side, let’s not forget. So maybe don’t go messing with us is all we’re sayin’. Cuz Matt might jump out of an airplane in his RDB and land all up in your business. That’s just what Real Deal Air Assault heroes do, we figure.

Matt’s great note to us continues: 

“Being in the U.S. military I know how to push things to their breaking point and I am not easy on equipment by any stretch of the imagination. The hat that I got (from an authorized dealer) has survived rainstorms, hail, and even the washing machine (it was getting a little ripe with sweat). Whatever ‘hell’ I have found myself in, it has stood, or better yet, surpassed the test and still it comes out looking BETTER with age and abuse. Your slogan ‘Do not take care of it, it'll take care of you’ is dead on accurate!! Keep it up and thanks for a great product.”

If all that wasn’t enough, he adds:

“Thank you for making such a durable, reliable hat that will probably outlast me!!  All while using recycled material....Friggin' Genius!!!”

That’s right, genius. And the friggin’ variety, too. Not to mention three exclamation points, !!!, and like that. As in double friggin’ smart, plus one. As in Steven Hawking, eat your damn heart out.

And all this time we’d just thought we were uncommonly great looking. Now it turns out we’ve got a whole heap of brains, too! If we weren’t already in a serious long-term relationship with our fans, we’d seriously want to date us. Who wouldn’t, right?

But all goof-assing aside here: Thanks a million, Sgt. Matt! Having fans of your caliber tells us we’re getting it right. And that truly is the highest form of praise we can get.

Customer Tips: How to 'Zombify' Your RDB Tarp Hat

 

Pompton Plains, N.J., firefighter Ken Collucci happily came into possession of his second Real Deal Brazil recycled-tarp hat recently. A longtime RDB fan, Ken knew that Real Deal hats tend to vary, often dramatically, from batch to batch; yet as fate would have it, his own second hat turned out to be pretty close in color to his first.

Ken obviously liked that color just fine (that's him at left in his well-worn original RDB). Just not twice over.

"Two hats of the same color?" he joked in his note to us outlining the steps he took to refashion the look of his second RDB. "NONSENSE!!! Options ... I like options! :)"

Ken had decided to go all Hollywood on his second hat, aiming to convert it to something close to the rich, dark hue of the iconic RDB of zombie-killer kingpin Tallahassee in the 2009 movie blockbuster Zombieland. 

He was, he said simply, gonna "zombify" his newest hat. 

Ken recognized that dyeing the hat alone wouldn't achieve quite the look he was after; actor Woody Harrelson's own movie RDB has, after all, a slight dull sheen to it, a cool quality created by the movie costuming department. So how could Ken achieve something similar to that?

"I figured a darker (hat) would look better after it was waterproofed," he told us. But a sprayed liquid like Scotchgard wasn't going to provide that little-extra-something effect; Ken instead chose beeswax, that age-old military method of waterproofing canvas.

So here are Ken's explicit instructions on proper hat zombification:

Items you will need:
An RDB Tarp hat (DUH!), RIT Dark Brown Liquid Dye (or any color of your choice), Kiwi Camp Dry Beeswax Waterproofer, a hair dryer or heat gun, a cold frosty alcoholic beverage.

To dye your hat:
In a large stock pot full of hot water, pour in half a bottle of the RIT dye and mix thoroughly. Pre-soak your RDB hat and (then) add it to the stock pot, making sure to saturate every inch of (the hat). Let it sit in the pot for 20-30 minutes, or until you reach your desired shade. Remove the hat and rinse with cold water and let dry overnight."

Ken's original RDB, at left, now his summer hat, and newer "zombified" addition.

Now on to waterproofing, which is apparently a slightly more complicated process than dyeing, involving soaking yourself a bit (!) as well to, y'know, get in the proper spirit of things.

Ken's waterproofing steps, including aforementioned "cold frosty alcoholic beverage":


To make your hat water-repellent:
1. Lay your hat out on an old towel or rag (using the good towels is NOT recommended). Drink for 3 seconds.

2. Using your fingers, slather copious amounts of beeswax into the brim, under the brim, and on the top of your hat. You do not need to slather up the inside of the hat. Drink for 3 seconds.
 

3. Work the beeswax in by hand until you have a consistent color and no clumps of wax visible. Drink for 3 seconds.

4. On a low setting, use a hair dryer or heat gun to melt the wax until it soaks into the hat. The towel will absorb any wax that seeps through. Drink for 3 seconds.

 
Let your hat sit overnight. Test your hat's repellency by using a spray bottle. Water should bead up on it. It is does, you have succeeded. Go have a beer!

Success! Ken's "zombiefied" hat, waterproofed.

"So far the waterproofing has been put to the test and it is holding up very well," Ken notes. "I have had to re-wax the seams when I realized I missed a few spots, but other than that, it's fine. Water beads up and runs off."

Zombies! Everywhere, Zombies! So This Halloween, Go Zombie KILLER Instead!

Zombies.


They’re soooo right now. You can send zombie greeting cards between hits on your zombie bong, scarfing Zombie Mints and looking altogether dead-ly in your zombie boxer shorts, wife beater and slippers. It’s a brave new corpsed-up world.

How zombified have things gotten, really? Google “zombie” paired with pretty much any other word, from A to, well, Zed, and you’ll get a legion of legitimate hits. “Zombie apple?" Ripe for the pickin’! "Zombie zeitgeist?” Well, duh! Just be prepared to unearth a little zombie kinkiness/nastiness as well. Because one Haitian voodoo daddy’s zombie cucumber is another person’s, um ...

So what’s a thoughtful tricked-out treatster to do this Halloween to stand out from the inevitable ratty horde of would-be rotting meatbags? Simple: Go the opposite of zombie! Get your dress-up on as the world’s most kick-ass zombie killer instead.

.

Rule Halloween night like a redneck king! Strut the zombie-choked streets as Tallahassee, the Twinkie-obsessed undead-dispatcher from the 2009 Hollywood smash hit Zombieland. See our simple costuming tips, immediately below.

rule #1: badass hat. The essential bit. For true Tallahassee attitude, only the right hatitude will cut it: Duding up in country-singer cowboy headwear is gonna miss the mark, podnah. The real thing, in this case, is the Real Deal Brazil, our genuine handmade-in-Brazil recycled-truck-tarp hat, chosen by Columbia Pictures’ costume department to give Tallahassee his crazy-ass sense of comic s***kicker cool. And once Halloween has melted back into the shadows, we’re confident your RDB hat will still be making mucho guest appearances atop your own crazy-ass cabeza.

rule #2: shades ’n’ scruff. Try the sunglasses-tree at just about any dollar store for suitable NASCAR-country-boy eyewear. And if you can’t muster up some fast whisker growth for a sloppy goatee, then dot your cheeks and chin with an eyeliner pencil for a quick patch of 5 o’clock hair-face.

rule #3: he-man neckwear. Wood beads, heavy chains, metal or fake-bone pendants. Kind of a Cracker Jacks-prize approach to men’s jewelry, really. Here again, any available dollar store should get you there.

rule #4: v-neck shirt. There’s something about a lowcut T-shirt that just says you’re badass. (Unless, of course, you’re a real lardass, and wearing sweatpants. Then it kinda says 3 a.m. Wal-Mart shopper instead.) Maroon is Tallahassee’s color, but any dark V-neck T should do the trick.

rule #5: leathers. You could probably pull off a jean jacket in a pinch, but Tallahassee is all about classic heavy leather, when he’s not seriously rednecking it up in snakeskin. Just not leather with too much sheen to it, and more motorcycle-style than bomber.

rule #6: the belt. Something with a big ol’ metal buckle.

rule #7: weapon holder, or (fake) weapon. The average leather gun holster is too small, but a leather sheaf for a long fish-filleting knife would do it, strapped to your belt, and then tied at the bottom around your left thigh with yet another belt. In the absence of that, just get yourself a toy rifle, or a toy AK-47, if such a thing is available at, y’know, Toy Guns ’R Us. The key word here is “toy.” Halloween surprise + packing real heat = bang, bang, someone’s bad-dead, not just funny-undead.

rule #8: classic denim. No designer “holes,” acid-washed streaks or black thread; the simple workin’ man’s denim-jeans standard, Levi’s, is best. To achieve that I’ve-just-endured-the-apocalypse feel, rub charcoal on your hands and then smear them on your thighs. You dirty little zombie-killer, you!

rule #9: boots. Cowboy, not biker. Suede or natural says serious boot-wearer, but snakeskin lends kick-ass redneck cred in a red-hot second.

other fun props. Jack Daniels bottle, Hostess Twinkies, banjo, long-handled pruning shears.*

* Note of caution: Hard liquor, mystery-cream-filled snack-cakes, poorly played bluegrass music and sharp garden implements can cause serious harm to the still-living.