.....ruined my life

I am pretty sure that Consolidated was the first team to make this slogan popular. Wasn't really a fan of the idea. I don't have a stick up my ass and I get irony, but skateboarding pretty much opened up the world to me-from art to music to you name it. Skateboarding was the gateway to it all. So that shirt was funny, but just not an attitude I could get with even as a joke.
Skateboarding and cross seem to have a lot of people in common, so I shouldn't have been surprised to see a "cyclocross ruined my life" shirt pop up. But of course I was.
Not surprisingly, I had a similar reaction. I just can't get down with that attitude and even as a joke it rubs me the wrong way. Cross has done a lot for me, but one thing it hasn't, is ruined my life. It has cost me time,money, and sleep, but for everything I have put in, I have gotten back way more than expected.
PMA

Dynamic Truths Understanding is Overated.

This record has it all some post-punk Wire/Fallishness, some mission of burma melodicism, the whole gamut of domestic post-hardcore cred. Honor Role were a pretty amazing and timeless band-while being out of place in their own time. This is a band for record nerds, that just transcends that boundary and is amazing. There are a select few bands that sound completely unique and totally familiar at the same time-almost like you had this music in you head and were waiting for someone to make it.
If Lungfish has been writing the same song for 7 albums, you can easily see the straight line from "Listening to Sally" to "Headed to the Halfway House". And that is not an issue, since it is a good fucking song. Schick has this ability to write these really vivid almost short story like stories in his lyrics. They transmit such a sense of unease and awareness of how bogus "regular" life can be. A skill he has had since Honor Role and Coral and now with the Dynamic Truths.
"Bustop" unleashes the wicked anglo-funk and makes for 2 minutes you will want to listen to again and again. Atonal, bass driven, melodic -perfect.
I threw this on unheard before a drive down to the Cape and I was absolutely ecstatic the entire time. Reminded me of bands, I would lose sleep over night after night in the mid 90s upstairs at the middle east with a dozen other nerds.
Little Black Cloud is the label that put it together. Essential and easily reissue of the year.

Some shots from Shedd Park

A few of the better photos I got from Shedd Park. This was a really fun day on the bike.