dirt track

This was in the parking lot when I went to go buy Chinese Democracy:

See it larger on my Flickr page.

Guided By Voices’ Wished I Was a Giant

Check out a sound check from a Dayton show in 1996:

via Pop Zeus

Lyrics after jump.

Perfect CB450

Image Credit via Bubble Visor

Click the Image Credit to see it larger.

I love everything about this bike. Here’s the list of awesome:

1. Headlight tallest part of the bike. Removed speedo and tach give it a trackbike look.

2. Air Filters removed for stubbies attached right to the carbs. This gives room for:

3. Custom pipes. They used the space the air filter used to take up to snake some side pipes through. Short, sharp, and probably loud as hell.

4. Fenders removed. Gives the bike a shorter, more agressive stance. This, coupled with the cafe seat draws the eyes to the wheels.

5. Air holes drilled in rear drum – not too many and nice uniformity to them.

6. Stuck with the original tank. The only color on the bike, and it’s a nice one too.

7. Custom horn. No other info on it, but I can tell it isn’t stock.

8. Tiny bullet-style rear signals, although I’m not sure what the point is as the bike is clearly not street legal (Lack of front signals, no speedo, etc)

9. Custom rear pegs with linkage to rear brake and shifter.

10. Black hand levers.

With all the leaning out they did with the bike, I’m surprised they kept the electric start. It fills a nice spot on the front of the engine I suppose, and looks very clean.

I’d love to have a closer look at this bike. What a lean little bulldog of a bike. This is obviously a CB450 (dual overhead cam, front disk brake) and they did a really great job with it. Salut!

Brighten the Corners Deluxe Edition

Preorder Pavement’s “Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence” deluxe edition from Matador and you receive a free live concert LP and a poster. The release has bumped to December 9th, so you still have time. I ordered it, and I already feel brighter, healthier.

Nate: I downloaded “Time Fades Away.” Thoughts soon! Too early to think.

no test to what they amount

The The’s “Dogs of Lust”

Dusk deals with a lot things internal – love, lust, loneliness. The three L’s. The whole album has a really amazing early 90’s sound that you only find on certain REM albums, or all the bands from the “My So Called Life” soundtrack.

The video can’t be embedded, so here is the YouTube link.

From Dusk:

Here they come! The dogs of lust.
Out of my mind, into my life.
Somebody should be here to hold me
Somebody should be here to show me, show me!

When you’re lustful. When you’re lonely.
and the heat is rising slowly.

I got it blue. I got it bad.
I got the sweetest sadness I ever had.
As the hours pass before my eyes.
As the hours pass before me.

I keep reaching up
but they drag me back down
Wherever I try to hide
I will always be found

Rising slowly

If you dig this, ask me for the album. Or check out Slow Emotion Replay. Pretty poignant lyrics for the times, even if the album came out 16 years ago:

“Everybody knows what’s going on with the world, I don’t even know what’s going on in myself.”

Plus, Johnny Marr plays on it. Listen to it. If you want a version without the lame talking in it, email me.

Will I Buy?

Will I buy???? Will I buy? Will buy I?

Belle and Sebastian – The BBC Sessions

Yes I will buy, even though I have 3 bootlegs that cover these sessions already. So why would I buy this? Because they will sound better, I can get rid of some of the bootlegs that this album covers, and because I’m a completionist who obsesses over stupid little things. (However, when I bought “Push Barman to Open Old Wounds,” I decided I didn’t need to import the rest of the EPs that the collection covers. This did not stop me from buying a Pavement EP that is included on the deluxe version of Slanted and Enchanted though. Don’t get me started on Robert Pollard).

Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy

No. Because how can you? How can you buy this album and listen to it? I suppose sort of like how I listened to Brian Wilson’s “Smile” and named it my favorite record of the year. Or, I could buy it like I bought the last Smashing Pumpkins’ album and sold it a few months later. Maybe I’ll just go home and listen to Use Your Illusion 1+2, then go drink Whiskey over on Sunset. Just like Gn’R would want me to?

Ok who am I kidding, yes I’ll buy Chinese Democracy. I was 13 when the damn album was announced.

Jay Reatard – Everything he has recorded

Probably. Have you listened to this guy?

Pop Secret Negotiations

Last night I decided to stop by wrench night at my friend Tanktop’s. I drove up to Westchester, and ONE BLOCK away from his house, my throttle cable snapped. It was amazing, crazy luck. I pushed my bike to the garage, Tanktop had a spare cable, and I removed the old one and built a new one. This is fortunate because:

a. I don’t have any spare cables at the moment
b. If I were anywhere else, I would have had to call a tow truck
c. My new pipe allows access to both carbs, which is required to remove the cable slack on the 2:1
d. He has a well lit garage with a motorcycle lift

I got it done in a little less than an hour. Phew!

 

And oh yeah:

Man: I brought the briefcase, but why did you ask me to bring the season salt?

Other Man: Because these aren’t any regular negotiations, kid. 

 

Dear Random People,

I’m going to write you some letters, random people. Please read these if they apply to you.

Dear neighbor,

Welcome to the neighborhood! You are actually pretty attractive, but your roommate is even more attractive! Anyway – we totally invited you to our pumpkin carving party (arguably the largest in the neighborhood!) and you didn’t come. Not a big deal. However, it has come to my attention that you have started listening to some tapes in your room every night this week, starting at 11 p.m. and not ending until around midnight. I know this because my bedroom and your bedroom share a wall.

Now, this wouldn’t be so bad as I’m sure I have played my share of music (etc.) and you may have heard some of it, none as late as 11 p.m. mind you, but that’s apartment life. What makes this particular tape horrendous is it is not music, but a single overly sincere voice going on and on about bible study. An hour of bible study, played at volumes so loud that it sounds like it is coming from right outside my window. And the man’s voice is so annoying – sort of that over-dramatization and enunciation that is present in many a raconteur. Like a man talking in a mirror, but pretending that instead of the mirror there are 10,000 eager listeners.

Neighbor, I like you. You seem pleasant enough even though you snubbed our awesome party (we didn’t need you anyway, the apartment was packed. So take that). But please, please, please turn down your bible study. We all need hobbies, and I enjoy a good read every night in bed. I just don’t have a guy on my stereo turned up to 11 telling me how or why I should be reading my copy of Sock Monkey. Headphones, my dear.

Sincerely,
Your Neighbor

…

Dear girl working at motorcycle parts store,

Whoa! You are a girl, working at a motorcycle parts store. How’s it going? Do you ride motorcycles and stuff? You are actually pretty not bad looking. What’s the deal here? What do you do? Do you like old Hondas?

You know what? You are probably into those crotchrocket jocks, guys who wear bright green leathers to match their fruit loop looking bikes. You totally bum me out, girl worling at motorcycle parts store! I’ll just take two of those inline filters and be on my way.

Until next time,
Customer Robert

…

Dear Cocker Spaniels,

How did you come about? What sort of sick bastard hundreds of years ago bred YOU? How in the heck did you become desirable? Sure, I’m not a dog person. But I enjoy a good dog here and there, as long as I don’t live with them. Give me a nice lab, a good mutt, a frisky Dachsund, or a proud Husky! But a Cocker Spaniel? You are the worst of dogs! Quit howling everytime you hear a fire siren! Plus, you look like Linda Hamilton from the first Terminator movie. (Please see attached).

Eternally annoyed at your existence,
Spaniel kicker

The Rolls Royce of Motorcycles – The Brough Superior

Image Credit: The Brough Superior Club

I was watching “Lawrence of Arabia” and really, really dug the motorcycle Lawrence was riding at the very beginning of the movie. So I did some research on the real Lawrence of Arabia and discovered the fantastic Brough Superior! (Pronounced like the British – “Bruff” Superior).

From the wikipedia article:

Each motorcycle was assembled twice. The first assembly was for fitting of all components, then the motorcycle was disassembled and all parts were painted or plated as needed, then the finished parts were assembled a final time. Every motorcycle was test ridden to ensure that it performed to specification, and was personally certified by George Brough. The SS100 model was ridden at 100 mph or more prior to delivery. The SS80 model was ridden at 80 mph or more before delivery. If any motorcycle didn’t meet specification, it returned to the shop for rework until it performed properly. The fit and finish was comparable to a Rolls-Royce automobile, and were among the most expensive motorcycles.

And here is a clip from the “Greatest Motorcycles Ever,” where it places #7:

Of course now the Brough Superior is a major collector’s item, but wouldn’t it be amazing to find an original in some farmer’s barn? British bikes are so damn cool. Just give me a Norton Commando and I’ll be happy.

California is on fire

Limited Edition Night Post (c): The Daily Pint

I’m heading out to The Daily Pint for pool and chatter, and checked out their current list of craft ales and beers. Let’s see what I’ll be trying tonight!

Chimay Blonde – Hmm.. I didn’t know the Chimay Brewery made a blonde? Well, I’ve never tried a Chimay so here I go. Chimay is Belgian beer still brewed by Trappist monks. Read all about it here, or better yet watch it on the Belgium edition of Three Sheets, the best drinking show on the planet.

Old Speckled Hen – They have this at the Cock N’ Bull, but I always drink Newcastle there because it tastes so good. So I’ll try a pint here.

Young’s Double Chocolate – I’ve had this beer once in Eugene… and it is amazing. I can’t wait to have it on tap.

We’ll see how I feel after 3 pints… I am driving after all. Things could change and they might have new stuff up on the board, plus they have cask-aged ales.. the real thing. I’m going to have to try those. 

Rack ‘em!

Songs all exclaim: “GIRLS!”

On my ride to work, I was thinking about all the songs that are about GIRLS. I’m not talking about A girl, or THE girl, or an AMERICAN girl (oh yeah, all right, take it easy baby…). But songs that are about girls in general. Those songs that just exclaim “girls! Boy howdy, you know!” I thought of a few off the top of my head:

The Beach Boys – California Girls

Of course! The first to come to my head. While this song talks about girls all over the United States, they always come back to the girls of California. Well, actually, they wish they all could be California girls. And of course we would, especially those east coast girls.. I dig those styles they wear. Don’t let me forget how the southern girls knock me out when I’m down there! The mid-west farmer’s daughters (I heard) make you feel alright. But in the north, where it counts, the girls keep their boyfriends warm at night. Wouldn’t it be nice if all these girls could live in California? Be… California girls?

The Beastie Boys – Girls

From Beach to Beastie, from the complete adoration to the adolescent chauvinistic! The Beastie Boys love girls in the morning and in the evening. Two at a time they like girls. With new wave hair-dos they like girls. This song has a little narrative to it – at first they are singing how much they like the way they walk, and how it’s chill to hear them talk. But after MCA gets ditched by a girl (who later is jockin’ Mike D. to his dismay) he turns all hateful and says girls are good for dishes, laundry, cleaning the bathroom, etc. Damn, MCA! That cold.

T-Bone Burnett – Pretty Girls

Everywhere T-Bone Burnett goes, there’s pretty girls there. Yes, everywhere he goes, there’s pretty girls there. The only thing is: they don’t say nothing, they just stand and stare. This song is T-Bone Burnett’s answer to the California girls. Not happy with all southern girls being lumped together as knock-outs, T-Bone Burnett extolls the virtues of Texan women! And T-Bone has seem them all. He says: “There’s pretty girls in China, there’s pretty girls in France, there’s pretty girls in Israel, and Afghanistan. Down in Costa Rica, and up in Port O’ Call, but the pretty girls in Texas are the prettiest of all!” My man T-Bone Burnett goes international, and he comes back to the pretty Texas girls. Who can argue?

Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls

Excuse the lack of umlauts on the O and U above. Motley Crue loves them some girls, girls, girls! And they don’t pin it down just anywhere – these rockers get around even MORE than T-Bone Burnett. We’re talking the Sunset Strip, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta, Soho, Paris, the Tropicana! Unfortunately, a lot of these places are a tale of sorrow for our boys in the Crue. Vince Neil talks about not only getting his heart broken, but it was published in the freaking Soho Tribune! And remember the Tropicana? Lovely Las Vegas? Well the Tropicana’s “where I lost my heart!” Damn, Vince Neil. At least you can drop back on the ol’ chauvinism: “Yankee girls ya just can’t beat. But they’re the best when they’re off their feet.” Here’s the video.

Those are the four I could think of off the top of my head on the ride to work.

Some other honorable mentions:

52 Girls by the B-52’s (that song is just about naming girls)
The Girls of Wild Strawberries by Guided by Voices (a little abstract)
The Girls in their Summer Clothes by Bruce Springsteen (too new)
Morrissey – Some Girls are Bigger than Others (Oh, Moz!)

It’s funny, most of Bruce Springsteen’s songs about girls are about a single girl… usually named something like Marie or Rosie.

Can you think of any songs I’ve missed, dear readers? I know there are tons… help me out.

Actual quote from the TV show “Fringe”

Angry, bald secret operations director bursts into a room where a dead man sits in a trough full of ice, with electrodes leading from his head to a box, where more electrodes lead to a living man’s head. The mad scientist is giving the living man some sort of euphoric drug so he can listen to the dead man’s thoughts and they can give that information to the most beautiful girl on television who is in Berlin talking to some guy in a mental hospital.

Angry bald secret operations director takes this all in and says:

“This can’t possibly be scientific!”

…

Seriously.

More things that can’t possibly be scientific:

“This can’t possibly be scientific” is my new catchphrase.  Watch for it this weekend.

The first super motorcycle this a gem.

Here is the copy from a real craigslist ad for a 1976 CB 750 (the same bike I’m disassembling right now):

The first super motorcycle this a gem. It runs very nice if you want a ride test please feel free to come and ride it, jay lenon has the same bike. Kick start ur bike and save on gas. Great to avoid trafic. Call rene and text me to send u pictures.

No one told me kickstarting my bike saves gas!! And the same bike Jay Lenon has? I thought he died.

I’m tempted to call just to see how the conversation goes.