BOBBLE TIKI: STEVE MCQUEEN’S WIDOW WILL VISIT TACOMA >>>

When Bobble Tiki was a little tiki he’d pretend to be badass Steve McQueen â€" the McQueen who motorcycle raced behind the Iron Curtain in the 1964 International Six Day Trials! Bobble Tiki would ride his bike over empty soda cans so they caught on the tops of the tires, making a buzzing noise nothing at all like a motorcycle, but to a 10-year-old, Bobble Tiki might as well have put glasspacks on his Huffy. 

Saturday, Aug. 15, Bobble Tiki will drag out that special Huffy and pedal his old ass down to the Tacoma waterfront to catch the Steve McQueen: The Last Mile book signing extravaganza. It’s a book signing pumped with McQueen adrenaline.

Let Bobble Tiki explain: Miki Keogh, who owns and operates Miki Spa Salon in Tacoma's waterfront area is a personal friend of Barbara McQueen, the actor’s widow. She wrote the book, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile, a behind-the-scenes look at the personal pleasures McQueen enjoyed near the end his life - taken from the time they met in 1977 through the end of McQueen's life in 1980, the same year they married. Barbara, who obviously shares Steve’s passion for the living life large, will inject her book-signing event on Aug. 15 with a photograph exhibition, cars including a 2009 limited edition Bullitt car, custom bikes provided by Tacoma-based Destination Harley-Davidson and music.

“The idea of a routine book signing sounds awfully boring to me,” said Barbara McQueen in a press release.  “I can't think of anything more boring than sitting at a desk and signing books. I like rock 'n' roll music, classic cars and a fun atmosphere. I like meeting people, conversing with them and getting to know them personally. When I do these shows, it has to mean more than shaking someone's hand, taking a picture and signing a book. I want everyone to go home with a smile on their face.”

Oh, Bobble Tiki will be smiling.

[Miki Spa Salon, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2-6 p.m., 3102 Ruston Way, Tacoma, 253.752.5299]