the club

the clutch cable on my bike broke again recently which gave me opportunity to go down to the local dealership. going to a dealer can be an interesting experience. they can either make you feel really welcome or give you that unexplainable urge to go running and screaming. ours i think falls in the former.

in fact whenever i go in there it feels a little like an old and established gentleman's club. you know, the kind you see in old movies where men sit in soft leather highback chairs puffing on cigars and reading a newspaper while a balding man in coat and tails walks around holding a silver serving tray with brandy snifters?
well, no brandy snifters at the dealership, but they do have a pool table. and not too far from it sits an old "hang on" ride on arcade game from the 80's. on the opposite side of the room there's a great old evel kneivel pinball machine and they've got the speed channel on in a lounge area just in case you're going to be there a while.
in addition they have a fantastic showcase of older bikes throughout the showroom. i guess mine would probably fit into that category. in fact when i pull up there and walk past all of the new machinery, drinking my complimentary coffee while eating my complimentary cheez-its and pretzels i begin to feel like one of the older members of the club.
like the aged white haired member who snoozes quietly in a corner and has to be occasionally roused, whereby he will begin to regale anyone within earshot of his exploits. "i've been a member of this club for over 40 years!" he says as he shakes his bony finger.
anyway, i did get my clutch cable and put the bike to rights again. and it's nice to know that a man still has a place where he can go to get away from the daily pressures of life. (except now my kids are always asking to tag along so they can play "hang on")
yeah, it's a pretty good club. and should you find yourself in the neighborhood, come check 'em out. they're always a part of some of the local mc events around here. and a great chance to meet some of the other (less stodgy) members.

i stare at the source
an uninterrupted flow
that will never end

living in these star wars

1977 was a seminole year. elvis died. a new elvis was born. the first apple 2 computers went on sale. the clash released their first album, and a little science fiction/fantasy film was released in may of that year which would go on to become the stuff of myth. yeah, i'm talking about star wars.
i suppose i could write a book about my relationship with this film (maybe i should) or at least a screenplay. anyway, central to my story with it is that i never really got a chance to actually see star wars until much later. and so, as a frustrated devotee with much time and little resource i began to assimilate a collection of ephemera to piece the details of the story together for me. books and comics, posters, trading cards and of course records.
in berkeley, not far from where i grew up there was a little shop on telegraph avenue called "the federation trading post" dedicated then to all things geekery. only we didn't know it then. i spent many hard earned credits there and once met david prowse, the actor who played darth vader (well, at least the body of darth vader) one day while looking for something new i spotted this little gem in one the racks. it is titled "living in these star wars" or "star warz" i was never sure.
at first look, the cover seems to indicate these guys are part of the rebel force and that they are rockin' the death star, and indeed they are called "the rebel force band". when i got this baby home, opened it up and put it on the turntable nothing could have prepared me for what came next. this was not an "official" star wars item released with the blessing of george lucas. no, these were just four guys who apparently had fallen in love with the film and taken up the cause. with songs like "you'll be a warrior in the star wars", "chewie the rookie wookie" and "a respirator for darth vader" these cats were bringing the funk.
i honestly have to say, of all my vinyl this has to be my favorite. it's a very personal item from a very formative time. and in fact my copy had gotten a bit dodgy as i'd left it in the back window of my parents car one sunday morning and it forever became a shallow cereal bowl. so i must give a shout out to "brainwerk" from "check the cool wax" for helping me distribute the love today.
as you're listening, picture these guys, adult guys, with their full on boston rock moustaches and flowing hair. and then listen to the "leia" track. and i want you to picture a slightly blurred image of a classy 70's custom van with an x-wing/death star airbrush motif on the side rolling down a coastal highway. and then let it drift from there.
if the force is with you and you are ready to become a warrior in these star wars, simply close your eyes, let go and click here.

stop for a moment
to rest from troubles of life
touch fragrance today

favorite things 10

i recently came across some fantastic sites for lego enthusiasts. brickset is a database featuring most of the models sold and/or given away as promotional items for the last 50 years. you can browse by year or theme, and it's a great nostaligia trip for anyone who's ever tried sorting through an enormous pile of plastic bricks looking for a specific part.
and should you find a set from your childhood there, but can't remember how to put it back together, peeron may be able to help. all you need is the model number (like the one in the upper left hand corner of this picture) and peeron will give you an inventory list, instructions sheet or both. and they are always adding to the database and accepting additional information. so if you have some old lego sets with instructions they may need your help.
both these sites were a great resource for me as i went looking for the first lego set i ever had with a minifigure in it. although the pieces were long intermixed with all my kids pieces, i was able to find them and restore something that hadn't been built in years. and that is really the genius of lego. the set i'd had from 20 years ago, now mixed in with their parts, had perhaps been a part of countless other models or lay dormant and now returned to life. and those pieces from 20 or more years ago fit perfectly with those they make today. amazing. a virtually seamless cross-generational toy experience.
and although at times i may have balked at the prices for some of these new models as birthdays and Christmas' passed, one has always been able to buy a very simple version (like the one pictured above) for less than a fiver in an auntie's birthday card. and that gives everyone a level playing field. because for all those kids whose parents showered them with whatever they asked for, there were always the ones with less making up for it with imagination. my lonely rocket man roamed the craters and humps of couches and carpets and always met great adventure.
the little model above is from a theme called "space" which began in 1978 and has continued nearly uninterrupted in some form to today. and if you'd like to delve a little deeper today into the "lego space" mythology continue reading here.

the miles behind me
now greater than those ahead
so i rest a while

bootblacks

i love this picture. i can't remember where it came from, but it's always reminded me of me and my friend jess. maybe i associate it with the period we were roommates. i don't know, but i feel a kinship to it. the two wiley bootblacks making their way by grace and wit. the more i look too, the more i see. the one on the left is clearly wearing oversized shoes compared to his partner and i love that they both have vests. they also remind me a little of characters in upton sinclair's "the jungle"
"It was too bad that the boys should have to sell papers at their age. It was utterly useless to caution them and plead with them; quite without knowing it, they were taking on the tone of their new environment. They were learning to swear in voluble English; they were learning to pick up cigar stumps and smoke them, to pass hours of their time gambling with pennies and dice and cigarette cards; they were learning the location of all the houses of prostitution on the "Levee," and the names of the "madames" who kept them, and the days when they gave their state banquets, which the police captains and the big politicians all attended. If a visiting "country customer" were to ask them, they could show him which was "Hinkydink's" famous saloon, and could even point out to him by name the different gamblers and thugs and "hold-up men" who made the place their headquarters. And worse yet, the boys were getting out of the habit of coming home at night. What was the use, they would ask, of wasting time and energy and a possible carfare riding out to the stockyards every night when the weather was pleasant and they could crawl under a truck or into an empty doorway and sleep exactly as well? So long as they brought home a half dollar for each day, what mattered it when they brought it?"
in that vein i have enjoyed taking a peek through another looking glass recently. shorpy is a wonderful photo site featuring images, many from over 100 years ago. it's a little like a time machine really, and as technology propels us ever further into the future these images have a growing archaic quality which makes me ache just a little bit.

i tell you the truth
if they did not give Me praise
the rocks would cry out

abandoned

digable planets once said "new york is a museum with its posters and graffiti". if that is true then certainly abandoned bicycles would have to count as part of the museum's sculpture. and in fact if you take a closer look at most big cities you will find similar exhibitions. but as with most other things, new york must certainly do it in volume.
this is why i love abandoned bicycles of new york, a part of j schumacher's very enjoyable blog. if you have ever spent any time in the city, no doubt you've seen one of these. it's difficult i think to figure out how these came to be here. i suppose one could spend many hours spinning an imagined tale for each one. perhaps some are left temporarily at first. the well meaning bicyclist secures his mount to a parking meter or sign post overnight, visiting the neighborhood of a friend, only to come out the following morning and see the transport mutilated or vandalized in such a fashion as to be now unrideable. shocked and distressed, our hero, without resource or assistance leaves his faithful companion to now die a slow death on public display.
that is a grim tale and i know i have seen evidence that would support such a tale. and in fact as time goes by many of these become a whipping post for passers by. a sort of a psychic post war mussolini. and still others remain intact and even preserved, as if the rider was going off on another kind of journey, but hoped to return one day and free his steed from its suspended state, give it new life and ride the city streets once again!

we group together
our character on display
under tests of time

the dead are all gathered. they stand all around me.
some stare out on the water holding hands, thinking of their comrades and loved ones.
the great deep holds a grave for so many.
some do not see death yet coming, and so they play on green fields and laugh thinking only about today.
but it will soon take them all.
many are silently aware of their own mortality, sitting quietly as if waiting for some direction or confirmation.
we are all of us God's creation, built and designed for His glory, though we all may not realize it.
this time so short.
so many of us, more than ever.
but soon to the war.
i hear the guns of battle in the distance...

yippy-ky-ay

i stare from my back
all is illuminated
on sidewalk below

baby bird

the other day i came home from work and everybody was outside staring at the ground. a little birdy had fallen from its nest and nobody knew quite what to do. around our place the birds have been busy all spring and summer building nests that will protect their little guys. these mommas are pretty good at it too. many have opted for leaving the traditional tree branches where predators can still climb and have picked out more creative spots.
last year a momma bird built a nest right outside our front door under the stairwell above us. there was no way anything without a ladder was getting up there. this little guy's mom built her nest in the corner of a carport roof frame where it sat perched on a piece of electrical conduit. (maybe that kept it warmer) as i inspected the little home i couldn't believe how small it was. and there were still 3 other baby birds up there. this little guy must have gotten pushed out.
well i didn't want to just stuff him back up there without knowing he was ok and i also wasn't sure if the old stories i've heard over the years about the mother abandoning the nest because the scent of man is now there were true also. so i carefully cradled him into a dishtowel nest, stuck him in a soda can box and took him over to the local animal rescue. apparently they'd been seeing a few of these incidents that day as i heard someone say "oh, another one"
i don't know what happened to our little lost birdy. they don't really do follow ups. if he checked out ok i was told he'd be released in a little preserve with all the other fallen angels. it's a funny thing. i'm not really sure if i did a good deed or just screwed up the whole survival of the fittest deal. either way i do hope this little guy gets a chance to fly someday.

painfully in love
without full understanding
exquisite love pain

right hand drive

i got my first taste today of driving on the other side. i went to see my friend joe (everybody goes to joe's) and he let me take this sweet little 68 for a ride. got it from a little old lady from japan where it was imported and lived for a while before coming to the states. it was very strange at first to sit in the passenger seat on the left side and it took me a minute to orient my self once i slid over to the other side. pedals are still arranged the same, and the shift pattern is the same too, except now i'm reaching with the left hand and that feels a little weird too. when i parked it on a right hand curb it was so easy because all i had to do was stick my head out the window and line it up. i have to say, overall i really had fun and am now ready to tackle the streets of london!

take a little sunday nap today and park your shoes in front of the davenport...

ride

i was looking for something related to my post from yesterday and came across my new favorite site. it is called "ride the machine" and it is a tribute to all things on two and three wheels, a single wheel or even fantastic otherworldly machines and the relationship of riding them.
i am very impressed at this visual collection which is gathered from all manner of places. to me it also represents a kind of ongoing extension of the "art of the motorcycle" exhibit that first showed at the guggenheim some years ago and then ended up in las vegas. we are all or have been riders at different times in our lives and it is great fun to go through this collection and see all of these examples of the "riding" machine and their influence on our dreams.

head down we slide the
rail through fog and blues and go
screaming through the night

nother day at work dreaming of the road less travelled...

from the dust we came
on inevitable paths
we have come to rock

a/v geeks

as a kid growing up in public schools film was an integral part of my learning experience. in fact for many of us when that 16mm projector rolled into the classroom there was suddenly a great sense of joy. a break from the "desk" learning and a chance to just sit and watch. sometimes these films were vacuous and dead and offered nothing more than a chance to lay our heads down and go to sleep for a while. but occasionally one of these films would reach beyond the walls of our institution and take us on a special journey. they might tell an ancient folktale or take us into the human body with an animated cartoon character as our guide. we might climb a mountain or cheer for a boy trying to protect a balloon.
for a time there was a group in the bay area dedicated to showcasing many of these old academic films. they leased space in the basement and former speakeasy of a downtown hotel in san jose and ran twin bell and howell 16mm projectors for anybody who wanted to show up. i guess people stopped showing up because they stopped doing it. but as i perused the internet recently i was pleased to discover that they along with a number of other organizations have archived many of these old films for any of us kids who don't want to lay our heads down on the desk and take a nap. they are a treasure trove to all of the a/v geeks like me who never get tired of loading the projector in hope that the next film may just be one of those magical journeys. so if you'd like a hall pass to roam freely and head over to the a/v room, simply click this link. (the browse by keyword is probably the best way to navigate) enjoy!

the season in bloom
we all wilt under the sun
and wait for the rain

the troubleshooting
pathway seeks common ground to
complete the circuit

aggies and oxbloods

some years ago we were visiting my wife's grandparents and she spotted a jar of marbles. now, my wife loves colorful objects and proceeded to fall in love with her grandfather's marble collection. it didn't take long before he had rummaged through his garage for the rest of his collection and presented them as a gift to her.
you might say it was the day he lost all his marbles. (wait for it) anyhow, these are the real deal. sure, you may be saying "marbles is marbles" but these were born here in america in the 1920's when kids still ran free in the kid world. in this subterranean world the coin of the realm for a young boy was these. how many dirty tears were wiped as they rose from their knees in defeat, faced with the lonely task of walking home with an empty bag?

now as they sit graciously adorning our little home they are a fit reminder of that time before the world of hand-held digital entertainment was even a thought. and as i wait for unbridled games of ringer to break out once again across the dirt paths of the land i'm knuckling down on the living room floor with my own little guys in hopes of preserving a little of the vanishing legacy that is making magic with the glass spheres.

short list

i went to the store to get a few things for dinner tonight and took this list my wife had made. as i stood in line i took one final look at it to make sure i hadn't missed anything. i noticed the lines on the paper and wondered what this scrap of paper was. so i flipped it over and discovered it was a little packaging for some index guides.
this simple little graphic is so appealing to me. the color and typestyles seem very vintage. like something from the 30's. and then i remembered someone telling me about a website of collected shopping lists. apparently somebody is looking for all these discarded memos and records of our shopping habits. and so i thought before this one goes in the trash today, that i would share it. (now try to guess what we're having for dinner)

this is a warning
perception's door is unlocked
enter at your risk

feeling hungry today. what to do. what to do...

you feel out of place
long to be back with your kind
your signal is strong

prize your independence

blow up

keep it safe and sane, hear?

wait a minute where'd
she go bring her back play back
the entire message

swingin' man

i remember when it all changed for me. i was seven years old and i'd just bought a reprint of an old amazing spider man. the opening page drew me in. peter parker is sitting in his apartment head in hand as his sickly aunt may lay in a bed in the next room. above his head are thought bubbles of all the people he loves, his enemies and other problems. i had never seen anything like it. up to that point superheroes were plastic, unflappable and without much depth. suddenly here was peter parker aka spider-man with real hang ups. i was hooked.
spider-man has always been my guy. yeah, i know, me and three-hundred million other people. it's funny though, when i was a kid i felt like i understood him better than most. now as marvel continues to rake in the dough on the new feature films and questions are in the air about the future of the franchise, i want to take you back to a simpler time.
1967 is the year of my birth. it's also the year the animated version of spider-man first hit the airwaves. they released it on dvd a few years back and it was as good (or bad depending) as i remember it. sure, the storylines may lack the depth of stan lee's early writing and the repeated use of the stock footage of spider-man swinging all over nyc may have gotten a little annoying. still, it's all we knew. and as much as the imagery is forever a part of my consciousness, perhaps an even stronger impression was made by the music.
we all know the catchy opening theme (listen bud he's got radioactive blood) but that is only the beginning. watching some of those episodes again on dvd, i found myself often humming the hooks and tapping out the rhythms while i was alone. i looked everywhere for some of the background music without success. finally an exhaustive web search took me to a college station blog where they had done an entire show dedicated to spider-man background music. sadly it seems the entire first season has been lost forever, so these selections are from the second and third season which got a little darker and more psychedelic. it's still pretty great though. if you're interested in hearing their entire podcast check it out here.
admittedly the stereo quality is a bit lo-fi on these, but if you dig spidey and you want to like wail man, then load your web shooter and give it a shot here.

gaze on me a while
and count the marks of my life
groan against pressure

bye-bye

it's tough times for atari around our house lately. after keeping all my games boxed up for months i finally decided to pull the trigger and sell my entire atari collection.
as a kid i never owned atari. my best friend had it and i spent hours in his living room honing my skills. later we got intellivision which boasted better graphics and the first voice card (intellivoice) for home video games. but i always felt that the game design and sheer volume of titles made atari the overall winner. so as nintendo replaced atari as the preferred platform, then outdone by super nintendo and sega into the 90's i began seeing more and more of the old atari games and systems showing up in thrift stores and bargain boxes in video game stores. i don't think i ever spent more than about fifteen bucks for one of these used consoles and about a dollar per cartridge. and then one day i realized i had collected 4 consoles and over 70 games!
it was great to be able to go back and be that kid with the big atari collection. sadly though, as time went by i rarely had anyone to play them with. and so i decided i've had my fun and am now ready to let somebody else enjoy a little of the 8 bit magic. so if you're curious, while the bidding is still hot, check out my stuff.

the weekend reflects
that feeling we have inside
as we face the wall

time to get caught up on that laundry pile...

walk along huck paths
dip your feet into muddy
and float on downstream

citroen ds

my little guy is sick today, and as is the custom i try to get the sick ones a little something to help ease the illness. i just happened to remember that i had stuck a matchbox car in my dresser drawer for such an event. it's a 1968 citroen ds. i've always been a fan of the citroens. the 2cv is the french equivalent of a vw bug, fiat 500 or ford model t. but the ds, now that's a style machine. and not only good looking, but well engineered too. with variable ground clearance (yes, in 1968) and its special oil-air mix suspension, the ds not only looked cool, but appealed to the engineering folk as well.
perhaps that's why the matchbox people placed the following little blurb on the back of its package. "you just received an urgent call! the lift is broken in the eiffel tower and 20 tourists are trapped. your citroen ds with its hydro suspension can take sharp corners on the winding paris streets and get you to the scene in no time. as the city's top engineer, when you're onsite consider the problem solved." i guess this little scenario is meant to inspire all the math kids to keep doing well in school so that someday they too will get to drive a citroen company car.
but what about all the non-engineer types? maybe i could formulate my own scenario. "it's may, 1968 and you and all your non-conformist bohemian friends have been up all night planning the big confrontation with police at the sorbonne. your citroen ds with ample room for radicals and all the flags and signs they'll carry is the perfect mode of transport. and should things go bad at the demonstration you'll know the airstreamed design and oleo-pneumatic suspension will help you and your team escape the oppression of de gaulle's goons and live to fight another day!"

nut tree

last week we went down to the big six flags in vallejo to meet old friends for a day of fun and frolic. of course when you have kids in the car you inevitably have to stop for bathroom breaks along the way. as annoying as this can be when determined to set autobahn-like schedules, now and again it does pay off. as the call was made for the pit stop i spied this baby off the highway. in vacaville, roughly halfway between sacramento and san francisco is the nut tree.
the nut tree is a storied place. the tales of family stops here over the years would certainly fill volumes. as we pulled in to this new nut tree plaza and stopped for a pee break i must say i was impressed. although it may not have the majesty and grandeur of its former incarnation, it still retains the spirit of what it was, a fun little roadstop and a place to idle away some time while the kids
run free.

we were able to extend our time a little here too as my friends were running late. and though we did finally make it to the six flags, which was the real highlight, the day got off to a pretty good start here as well.

golden location
now open for busy-ness
at the water's edge

on chairs

on the subject of furniture i am admittedly no expert, but i've had the great fortune of being tutored by some experts in the field. before that i didn’t really consider furniture. i mean, i knew what i liked, and realized as with all other objects there was a history and a style, but i spent no time learning these things. it just was. i suppose that’s the way it is with all objects until something or someone makes it more personal. i know there are a great many people who own and drive cars and have little interest in their attributes beyond taking them from a to b. this is a great shock and outrage to automobile enthusiasts who froth and gnash at the opportunity to explain every unique detail and difference not only between comparative car models but even in the same model from one year to the next. and so it is with furniture. if you’ve ever sat down and watched antiques roadshow on pbs, you’ve probably appreciated the sensibility that comes with understanding that a federalist period end table is worth far more than a french provincial dining table reproduction at your local garage sale. now in the realm of furniture obviously everyone has a different taste in what they like, not only in style and design, but also in a particular piece over another. some people fancy tables, others like dressers or cabinetry. if you’ve ever visited someone’s house for the first time, chances are you’ve been formally introduced. “...and this is our china hutch. 19th century Irish oak. isn’t she a beauty?” now me, i like chairs. when i first began learning the history of modern furniture, it was chairs that attracted me. first in seeing through the world of the eames’ and tracing their influence in my own life. as a kid i had no doubt sat on eames chairs in school, restaurants, libraries and airports without notice. only later as an adult going back over these designs and realizing their democratizing influence did i truly begin to appreciate the role of chairs.
if we spend roughly a third of our lives in a bed, many of us certainly spend another equal third in a chair. even if we don’t work at a desk job, we’re driving to one in a chair, and when many of us get home the first place we head for is our favorite one. and men get a reputation of never getting out of one on sundays during football season. now as a collector i’m no great threat. i’ve never spent more than a night at the movies for one, but somehow they seem to find adoption. right now we have an old sectional piece found at an estate sale for less than $10 waiting to be re-covered. we’ve got a couple eames fiberglass shell chairs that I love. in our living room is one that looks like an early 1960’s finn juhl knock off that i saved from destruction at my old job. and just the other day my wife pulled a little wooden flared back dining room chair (which I am now sitting on) from the clutches of the dumpster. she likes chairs too, and they seem to find their way into our home like stray cats to a lady who keeps leaving a bowl of milk on the front porch. in the dining room we have some red vinyl diner chairs and a pair of those metal navy office chairs so popular a few years ago. outside our front door are some crate and barrel repro motel chairs that are developing fine patina alongside an italian fiberglass tub chair that i somehow acquired from an old friend when he moved.
i read somewhere that in some of the old art and design schools a party would often be held where each of the guests was encouraged to bring a chair of his or her design. i like this idea, not because i think i could put together something that would actually be comfortable and hold me for an entire night, but I do like the idea of expressing your sensibility through a chair. tables and sofas are communal, but a chair is personal. It sits alone and waits for someone to form a relationship with it. “hey, yeah you. what do you say? you want to try me out for a little while?” and a chair has personality too. i’d love to assemble a party where rooms were filled with nothing but chairs. big and small, plush and firm, regal and stately and primitive and spare. and see who ends up where and then try and figure out why. a great exercise for psychologists and students of social behavior. i guess each of us just wants to feel like a king sometimes. and this must be why over the years i’ve ended up collecting so many old thrones.

morning new season
the day stretches like taffy
and pulls back slowly