Tilley Endurables

Alright, I know before I type this that most of you won't have a clue about what I am talking about, but if you have found your way to another blog linked to on our blog, by one of our dear friends Abbigayle, she has mentioned my story about The World Famous Tilley hats and how an Elephant could eat one, not digest it, poop it out and you could still wear it! "They're indestructible you know" my friend Dennis tells me.  Anyway, I met Dennis, who is into Tilleys, while covering hurricane Gustav for BGEA (Dennis is also a great audio engineer who did a lot of work for the BeeGee's, Skynard and many other famous acts), and below you will find some of our email trail since we met, he is the one who gave me the Elephant story only months ago, and last week I was able to confirm by mere chance while having lunch with a total stranger from the land down under.  His name is Ken Duncan a world class photographer and friend of Mel Gibson's, and was the photographer on set for Passion of the Christ.  A link to his sight is in the emails below, please check it out as well a the link to Tilley Endurables to see what all the fuss is about.

FROM DENNIS:  Click here: Tilley Endurables - The Finest Hats and Travel Clothing in the World 

   ...ONLY IF YOU WANT TO LOOK COOL.....LIKE ME.

FROM ME:  So, Me and my boys pull-up beside this man in a convertible on Sunday, and I look over and I say to my boys – that’s a nice Tilley he has on.

Have a great day,

Kent

FROM DENNIS:  LAST MONTH, I WAS WALKING THROUGH AN ALMOST EMPTY CORAL RIDGE CHURCH, ABOUT 45 MINUTES BEFORE THE BROADCAST OF THE EVENING SERVICE. A GENTLEMAN WAS SITTING OFF ON THE SIDE, READING HIS BIBLE. ON THE PEW BESIDE HIM WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY LOOKING HAT. I QUIETLY CAME UP TO HIM AND SAID,"EXCUSE ME, SIR, BUT IS THAT A TILLEY HAT?"

   IT WAS, OF COURSE. WE PROCEEDED TO HAVE A MOST ENERGETIC CONVERSATION ABOUT OUR HATS...AND OTHER THINGS.

    ....IT'S LIKE BEING A MEMBER IN AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB OF ETERNALLY COOL PEOPLE....

                                                            TAKE CARE,

                                                             DENNIS

FROM ME:  So I meet this Aussie fellow last week here at BGEA, check out his website www.kenduncan.com, turns out he is big time in the Photography world and was the set Photog for Passion of The Christ and is a close friend to Mel Gibson.

Enough of the intro.  We were having lunch and he is talking of a safari shoot he did in Africa, so, I think in that environment you would need a Tilley Hat right?  So I ask him if he had a Tilley on, he says no and he did not own one either, (READ ALL OF THIS SECTION IN A THICK AUSSIE ACCENT) BUT, he says “I have a great story about a Tilley”.  While shooting pics of the wildlife his famous African guide tells him that if an elephant should charge don’t run, just stand your ground.  You know where this is going right?  The elephant charges, Ken snaps away thinking if I am going to die I want pictures of it and just before the Elephant tramples them to death something flies by Kens face and right at the Elephant, A TILLEY, the guide threw his Tilley at the Elephant and it turns and runs off.  AMAZING right?

 It gets better, on another occasion an elephant had done the same thing but, this time it grabbed up the Tilley and ATE it, the guide tells Ken, “Took me a whole day to get it back after he pooped it out, changed the color a bit, but still good as new”.  This is a true story, and Ken says the guide wrote to Tilley to share the story.  Which when you told me that an Elephant could eat a Tilley and not destroy it I thought, what a bunch of Elephant Poop Dennis is feeding me.

Have a Great day!

Kent