Fuck the haters- I want to go.

The Control OF Nature

Is it crazy to think that this whole collapsing post-apocalyptic Detroit might be an incredibly interesting and cheap place to live?

Yes.

Finally.

I don't know about you but this is going to be a big help.

Dream Bomb

If you look closely you can see the 30 ft tall tank treads this majickal contraption rides upon. Take that, Hummer!

This is so beautiful it makes me emotional.

!

Strange and wacky creatures on the clickthru.

Morans!

Really?

Jimmy the Fingers

I love this song and this video. It feels like the work of a sympathetic mind.

Newest in New

After a dog's age of absence, feels like it might be about time to come back to this project. I'm not really sure how to use this format yet, but as I look back over what is here already it seems to have been worth it thus far, and that with some commitment to it and to giving it depth it might just be an interesting outlet. Or maybe the trick is to not think about it at all and just let it be what it wants to be- see what happens. Hopefully there will be more to it as time progresses. Cheers.

!

This seems to date low 80s. I wonder if this is where they got the idea. Terribly odd.

Incredible

This magical creation, made by Ron de Jong, may be the most inspiring thing I've come across lately. The fact that one can switch between recumbent and standard on the fly is absolutely mind-blowing.

The Country Squire

The Country Squire was constructed over a frantic two-day period in August at Chunkstation Zebra in S.E. Portland. Big B. has been delving deeply into no-welds bike architecture, and I found this inspiring, as it's been some time now that I've no welder at my disposal. And a well-placed bolt is actually going to be stronger than a shitty, awkward weld; many times in bike-building, you find yourself making this very choice. I had formerly thought of metal drilling as something requiring a drill press, but no.
I wanted to make something I could take on the plane home.
I wanted to do a rack-and-pinion steering assemblage out to a projected fork, and
I wanted to make something that could be mounted to any bicycle.
As in, a universal (providing one brings a 5/16 metal bit and a drill) chopper front-assemblage, for all those times when you want to bring a chvnk bike somewhere far away. Below is a detail of the steering linkage. I particularly feel good about the front fork: weld-free, made of two front forks and an old 70s rear end.

More Alvord.

These flats spread approximately 15 miles in all directions.

Yrs trly.

The "Willamaconda." Most successfull of the sailchops, Big B.'s modified co-operator carried two sailors (or more properly a Cptn. and a 1st Mate), went about 15 knots, and handled rougher terrain than the two-wheelers.
This year's trip, while fun as hell, mostly laid the groundwork for a much more successful go next year; a lot of the ins and outs only revealed themselves in the testing stages. For instance, as the Willamaconda illustrates, bigger, heavier bikes with larger sails and more than two-wheels (I personally think 3 is ideal) work much better. I'll post a design for next year's entry shortly.

Lefsetz Letter

Bob Lefsetz used to or still does work in the music business. I think he was once a big shot entertainment lawyer. Strikingly, he has an array of very salient and interesting observations on music and the very broad changes currently taking place in how music is dispersed. His blog is here.

Alvord Desert, 29 Sep 07

Recently, we made a trip to southeasternmost Oregon, for "sailchop". We had, as you can see, quite a time. More photos shortly.

Polack Banghra is Back!

Lovely and Amazing

A fashion show by designer Hussein Chalayan. (via boing boing gadgets.)

Iraq and Colonial Legacy

I came across this letter in today's Times.

"To the Editor:

Roger Cohen (column, Sept. 13) considers an Iraq breakup “unthinkable.” Why? What is so sacred about the artificial colonial borders? Why is “democracy” in conflict with self-determination?

Why should the Sunnis and Kurds be ruled by the Shiites? Or in Kosovo, what is so wrong with a referendum, which might result in the Serb-populated areas voting to return to Serbia?

Who are we to set the borders of other nations? How would we feel if they did it to us?"

I think this about sums it up. I would add that all these borders within the former Ottoman Empire were drawn by the British following the defeat of the Turks in the Great War, and that the fallout is still with us.

The Dream Is Over

I have thus far eschewed the blog-as-confessional-diary and I plan to keep it that way in the future. But.
It was a strange day yesterday. We played the biggest show we'd ever played, and then it was over, and now it is done. I went to work. In an odd twist, the trailer hitch broke off three blocks from Big Orange on the way home. Spooky and perfect.

I don't feel sad. It's just so incredibly strange to now look back on all this in hindsight.
We really had a great run, though I'm not sure if outsiders realize this. I got to do so many amazing things.
I saw this beautiful fucked up country of ours more completely than I had ever thought to. I swam in every river between San Francisco and Minneapolis. I saw the Rosetta Stone, and the Elgin Marbles, and climbed up the cliffs of Edinburgh Castle. I had a moment with David Bowie (he smelled like freshly baked cookies) whilst watching Arcade Fire destroy Central Park from the side of the stage. I listened to the masters of the original Smile (which nobody will ever hear) and toured the Reverb Chambers underneath the Capitol building. I was introduced by David Bailey to Julian Schnabel, who was wearing a bathrobe on the corner of 8th Avenue and 23rd st, and I stood on top of a hidden missile silo in North Dakota at sunset.

I made many beautiful talented friends, and we had a lot of laughs.

I grew up and learned who I really was and to believe in that.
I became a real musician, for which I will always be grateful.

I joined a most amazing group of friends and we chased our dreams and wrestled them down out of the ether and were in turn chased and wrestled by them. Some of those wrestling matches are still going on.
I was incredibly lucky, and I am very grateful for all the lovely and even some of the not-so-lovely people that helped to make it happen. Thanks to all.

Old vs. Young

Yet another gem culled from excessive attention to boing boing: man on the street interviews (it's got to be NY) regarding young people's attitude towards old people, vice versa, with lots of fun topics like the N word, rap music, and B.O. Sample city.