More handbuilt bike show pitcures

How to Avoid the Bummer Life had a post full of good photos from the handbuilt bike show. The Rick Hunter mountain bikes look rad.
If you love the bike life HTATBL is a mandatory reading.

Bicycle Race 45

There is really no other reason to post this 45 as part of the cycling music series except for the cover which is a perfect visual representation of both songs on the 45. Tour of Flanders is a hell of a race so this is in tribute to that.
I have no real opinion of Queen. Don't mind hearing them on the radio, but I don't go out of my way to listen to them.

A Flanders quote from Boonen
Cyclingnews asked Boonen who else might bother him in his quest for a third Flanders title. "There's nobody really on top of the rest," he said. "Ballan, Paolini, Flecha, Pozzato, O'Grady, Cancellara ... they will all be there in the finale; we have to watch out as there a couple of strong duo's among them."

Koro 12" on Sorrry State

Koro put out the hard to get 700 Club 7" in 1983 and were pretty standard early 80s hardcore. I think the legend of the single is greater than the music. You would see this on every one's want lists back in the early 90s (along with other "better in theory" rarities like Sons of Ishmael Hayseed Hardcore) Where are all the record trade list's now a days? How many of the same records are still on there?
There was bootleg of the 7" that came out in the 90s. This is 11 tracks recorded back in 82 but remastered and released in 2006. Excellent packaging with a good interview with guitarist Carl Snow.
The band was tight and fast, but not quite as aggressive as the DC or Detroit bands of the same era. They have a slight Cali or Midwestern feel to me. Lyrics are more in the fucked up suburbia vein than raging politics. This record isn't going to unseat bands like No Labels or Neon Christ from my top ten 80s hardcore bands, but it is still well done generic 80s hardcore and that is what makes it good.

Sorry State put a lot of effort into this. Cover and inserts are all killer.

Koppenberg Climb a human perspective

This is what it looks like when regular humans climb it.
Good job by the cameraman to dodge all the walkers and make it to the top

Koppenberg 2006

Outside of the shithead heckling this is some crazy footage....
Boonen looks possessed trying to bridge

Flanders Odds for the betting types

Unibet.com Odds
Wait, is it legal to mention the name? I just want to make sure, because it would be a shame to break the law in France, what with the mention of Unibet.com and, yeah, the Unibet 'situation' needs to be mentioned as much as possible - but hey, at least they're at De Ronde. Anyhow: the odds.

Boonen: 3.50 (whoda thunk it)
Bettini: 6.00
Cancellara: 10.00
Pozzato: 13.00
O'Grady: 20.00
PVP: 20.00
Ballan: 20.00
Hoste: 22.00
Freire: 25.00
Burghardt: 25.00
Steegmans: 25.00
Nuyens: 28.00
Paolini: 28.00
Gusev: 30.00
Hushovd: 35.00
Devolder: 35.00
Bennati: 35.00
Gilbert: 40.00
Zabel: 50.00
Boogerd: 50.00

Thanks Pezcyclingnews!

Black Cobra Bestial CD

Black Cobra "Bestial" cd. If you missed the glory days of amrep style noise bands, this in one you'll enjoy. Ex Cavity and 16 dudes rock a mix of those bands sludgey groove with a little more harsh rock(unsane,drunktank, black tail). Buzzoven are an obvious influence. Vocals manage to avoid the generic production that makes so many heavier bands sound the same. Good grooves and memorable riffs. 11 songs on At a Loss recordings. "Broken on the Wheel" is hopefully a Conan reference. Terrifying cover art of the might kraken is a bonus. A whole lot of fucking noise for a two piece band.
The worst thing about reviewing records is when they're good there isn't much to say except buy it, but when they suck, there isn't much point in saying all the mean shit that is fun to write.

Tour of Flandes Predictions

Podium: Boonen, Ballan, O'Grady

Bettini,Zabel,Devolder, Cancellara, Pozzato, Flecha and Nuyens round out the top ten.

Rabobank is sending pretty much the same team they did to Milan San Remo which was strong. Gotta keep an eye on them.

Progress Busy Making Progress LP Krsna Rock 12

Another record from the Sudarshan label. 10 tracks from 1978. This group has the same singer/writer and producer as Golden Avatar. 1st track has kind of a Chicago feel. 2nd track "There is a Light" mixes in some sitar and Indian percussion. Tracks meander around some Cat Stevens meets Godspell type territory. "Busy Making Progress" brings in a heavier funky white boy groove and nice keyboard solo. "when you go" has the boys trying their hardest to channel some Stonish "Let it Bleed" country with the killer chorus of "as a matter of fact girl/death is a fact girl" then it shifts gear gets all uptempo blues rocker and then jumps into some swinging jazz type move-complete with trumpet solo?? Not as bad as it sounds.
Side 2 opens up with the existential "Protoplasmic Crud" which is some proggy meanderings with horns and strings. Some more uptempo horn driven rock is up next with "Stop and Think". Something was sounding familiar here and after a quick check I realized both these songs originally appeared on Hansadutta's "the vision" lp. It would be hard to duplicate his demented delivery and the songs fair better with some better musicians. Small world and very curious. Thankfully my extensive research in this area allowed me to connect the dots.
The record finishes off with "Changing the face of the World" which is a Indian Prog epic which is in the vein of Kansas, but never launches to those Dust in the Wind heights.... They bring it to close with a MahaMantra chant over the tracks final minutes -competing with some wanna be Clapton guitar pyrotechnics Nice.
The cover art has some freshman in art school unhinged meets 5th Grade Greenpeace poster that is fitting with the musical themes
The catalog number on the spine is BBT11 which makes me think the Bahktivendanta Book Trust put this out. Hard to tell if these guys were devotees trying to reach out to non-krsnas or krsna fans trying to let people know what is up. It strikes me as a record designed to come in under the radar as a "rock" record and then draw you into the HK philosophy after you bath in their sick hooks and chops.
After realizing the Michael Cassidy common denominator of these records, I was able to track down a solo record by him that should be arriving shortly. He also turns up on an Australian Krishna site under the name Mangalananda das. The plot really thickens. It was pretty wild to see all these what I though to be isolated records come together on this one which might be the best of the series so far. Best in the US for sure. Benediction Moon may still be hanging on to the top spot for now.

Tour of Flanders.... Anticipation!!!

Tour of Flanders is an amazing race cobbles, climbs, long distance.Only the strong survive. No matter what the conditions, Flanders is an epic race. The last few years have been fantastic. This year is sizing up to be exciting as maybe some new names will bolt onto the podium . Quickstep are the obvious favorite with Boonen and Bettini followed by a small army of Belgian Hardmen. When PVP is riding in a support role, you know you have a strong team. Lampre and Liquigas both have strong podium contenders in Ballan,Bennati, Pozatto, and Paolini(longshot). CSC also are strong with Cancellara nd O'Grady. Discovery will not be repeating their podium appearance this year without Hincapie and Hoste they are left with Devolder who has been quiet, but won't have a strong team around him. It would be nice to see the revamped Telekom do something they have a number of riders who could animate the race, but no clear potential winner (Hammond,Knaven, etc) Other Belgians like Nick Nuyens and Philip GIlbert will be in the hunt but again without a strong team luck will have to play a big part for them to succeed.

If you look at last years top 20. it is likely that this years winner is lurking somewhere in places 5-20........ No predictions until I see the official start list later this week. And even with back problems and bike problems, it is hard not to put Boonen somewhere on the podium.

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Innergetic 6.24.26 (40.423 km/h)
2 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
3 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.17
4 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
5 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC
7 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step-Innergetic 1.50
8 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC
9 Andreas Klier (Ger) T-Mobile Team
10 Roberto Petito (Ita) Team Tenax Salmilano
11 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 3.29
12 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank
13 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick Step-Innergetic 4.21
14 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
15 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Française Des Jeux 8.03
16 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner
17 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick Step-Innergetic
18 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
19 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner
20 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC


At 3 days of depanne Steegmans, Paolini, and Bennati all look good. This race is more of a tune up for the winner of Flanders, but it let's you know what teams are going strong. Rabobank youngbuck Joost Posthuma is looking strong in 4th overall. Race finishes today with a split stage.
For the stage racers Pais Vasco starts next week in Spain and should give the climbers some time to shine. Circuit de la Sarthe is up next week to as well as Gent - Wevelgem. Only 10 days until Paris-Roubaix!

Keith

Keith Richards: 'I snorted my father'
April 4, 2007

LONDON --Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.

Richards, one of rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he was quoted as saying.

"I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky.

"I was No. 1 on the `who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list," Richards said.

Otis Clay "she's about mover" 45

Is this really a Sir Douglas Quintet original? Countless versions of this have been recorded. Basic up tempo blues rocker. Otis Clay takes it on for the "plug" Side to this Cotillion 45. Not quite as over the top frat rock as other versions, but it stands up nicely. Good horn section and organ interplay. The flip is a pretty standard "cry in you beer" type tune by William Bell "You Don't miss your Water" til the well runs dry. No you don't.

LSD comp LP on Schizophrenic Records

Schizophrenic Records complies a bunch of hard to get(if not impossible to get) Japanese Hardcore from LSD. 83-86. Limited to 100 on Green Vinyl, this will probably disappear fast. 20 tracks. Japanese Hardcore is a love it or leave it proposition. These guys have a twisted take on the hardcore formula. Not as metal as Gism and not as fast as later bands like Lip Cream. Harsh vocals and a fast and furious delivery is what they are bringing. Negative Approach kind of thing heading towards some Motorheady Swedish crusty type sound. Production has that not quite right feel of other older Japanese records I have heard which can add to the fucked brilliance of the compositions. I will not claim to be an expert on Japanese Hardcore(remember that killer zine from Providence of that name? Drummer for Drop Dead did it if I remember correctly), but this is a killer record/reissue, Side one is studio. Side 2 is live.

Redudant Doom

What do yo do when the graphics and packaging are more compelling than the music? The doom genre has been pushed well passed it's logical conclusion, subdivided into micro-doom genres and then those have been pushed to the end of the cul de sac. Footnotes on footnotes, Styles based on fragments or single songs from other bands. Several bands catering to each micro-niches. If you have heard Sleep, Burning Witch, Corrupted, Electric Wizard etc how many more variations do you need? Sabbathy, Glacial, Harsh, Drone, Funeral, etc, Never mind if you have checked out doom fore fathers like Pentagram and Black Widow or Cathedral and Trouble depending on your age. Outside of increasingly lavish packaging and limited runs, what is the motivator to keep going? You can keep adding O's and M's to the reviews but its still the same DOOMMMM.
And then there's black metal. On most releases the band photos and graphics are more exciting than the music. Mirco-genres are created and duplicated at a dizzying pace with very little worth listening to twice. If there is always a need for opening bands for Tuesday nights in shitholes across america, it makes sense for the redundancy, but do they all need to make records?
So the labels seem to push the envelope on packaging and collectabilty, but who will want these things in a few years when everyone is selling them? "Limited" only matters when demand exceeds supply. If the goal was to make good music instead of genre music, maybe their would be more memorable records.
And if you want to be the best "in the style of..." band why not just play shows and not waste people's time with records that don't cover any new ground?

Klunkerz History of Mountain biking - Trailer

As mentioned before

Weekend Cycling wrap up . Jens!!

So SC Coppi-Bartali, Riccardo Ricco wins the last stage and Scarponi jumps up to take the overall from poor Luca Pierfelici who fell to 15th. Another good stage race for Suanier Duval who must be stoked on Ricco and Ventosso.
E3 race in Belgium goes to Tom Boonen for the 4th time!! Cancellara second which bodes well for the upcoming classics. Bettini had a bike malfunction near the end and was out of contention.
Criterium Internatinoal stage winners were Olaf Pollack, Jens Voigt (who bested Valverde by 48 seconds!), and Thomas Lövkvist in the TT. Final overall was Jens, Lovkvist, and Valverde. My picks were in 5th,10th, and 16th. Cunego in 7th was active in the race, maybe getting prepped for the Giro. Jens won the race with a solo breakaway on stage 2 that took 48 seconds out of all the contenders. Jens is a monster. Jens 3rd victory at CI brings him even with Sean Kelly who also won this race 3 times. Nice,
Friere is on fire and won Brabantse Pijl in Belgium. Nick Nuyens shows he is ready for the classics grabbing 2nd

This week we have 3 days of DePanne, GP Miguel Indurian, and on Sunday TOUR OF FLANDERS!!!!!

Raleigh bikes got the cover of the new issues of Mountain Bike with their single speed 29" mountain bike. Rigid fork and eccentric bottom bracket all for $750. Cool looking ride. I don't know why but super specialized niche bikes like this really get my attention and it is interesting how some of the smaller companies really focus on the niche and the pricepoint to put together some fun bikes.

There is a documentary coming out about the early mountain bike scene (a la Dogtown) called Klunkerz. Check out the trailer.