Showing up for a local timetrial with full TDF tech level? WTF? This seems like such a pissy rich kid move. If you are on a pro tour team, you should be showing up to the local time trial on a rusty mountain bike and kicking everyone's ass.
Maybe he is trying to throw the gauntlet down for the tour of california or do some last minute testing of his race equipment. but it seems like a punk move to me.
Tommy D seems like another Hincapie in the making.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
thrift shop score
Right off the bat, thanks go out to the person that gave me the tip about this. A bunch of punk records in the bins at the Saugus Salvation Army. Something to do on a Friday night. Jump in the car and race home to walk the dog. Then the dog and I head for RT1. Not disappointed. Big Boys Lullabies and Wreck Collection. Dr. Know and Raw Power (later cross over records by both)Then some odd stuff on Kranky who knew that Labradford came on colored wax or that "limited" colored wax Sonora Pine lps would end up in an SA. I guess the "limited" refered to the demand more than the supply! Definitely has the feel of someones parents dropping of a box they shouldn't have. Too bad. Keep digging and grab a few other things. There is a Gatefold LP called Construction from a band called Ten Wheel Drive on Polydor. Could be country rock, could be psych could be anything, but I am feeling lucky so I grab it. James Brown had just died and I read in an obituary that his favorite hymn was "his eye is on the Sparrow". See a gospel LP with that title by Ethel Waters. Thanks to Wax Poetics I snatch up a couple Salsoul and Cuban records that I would have passed on a few months ago. Not bad. Then the excitement. A test pressing. Looks like a 12" or an lp of 4 long songs. No speed. Just a catalog number that starts with "RR" which because of the crossover hardcore makes me think. RoadRunner. Excitement. What could it be? A Sepultura testpress? Obituary?? 13 records 13 bucks and I'm out the door.
Fast ride home to start to checking it all out. Unmarked test press goes on 1st. The 12" was a 12" unidentified hip hop. The mystery continues-didn't recognize it right off the bat so it is sitting in a box awaiting further research. The Ten Wheel Drive is passable boogie rock with female vocals. The kind of band that could splinter into 12 different sounds (psych, fusion ,etc)
Now of course some of this got sold on Ebay(mainly to fund my Krishna Psych Music research project-which will be up for discussion next week) but it had been a long time since my last memorable thrift store find and this definitely rekindled the fires. Thanks Patty-who walked away with an autographed copy of Blast Its in my Blood!! What? in a Salvation Army in Saugus? Now that is a score worth bragging about!
Fast ride home to start to checking it all out. Unmarked test press goes on 1st. The 12" was a 12" unidentified hip hop. The mystery continues-didn't recognize it right off the bat so it is sitting in a box awaiting further research. The Ten Wheel Drive is passable boogie rock with female vocals. The kind of band that could splinter into 12 different sounds (psych, fusion ,etc)
Now of course some of this got sold on Ebay(mainly to fund my Krishna Psych Music research project-which will be up for discussion next week) but it had been a long time since my last memorable thrift store find and this definitely rekindled the fires. Thanks Patty-who walked away with an autographed copy of Blast Its in my Blood!! What? in a Salvation Army in Saugus? Now that is a score worth bragging about!
Monday, February 12, 2007
cost of goods
I want to buy some duffle bags for my kids. Nothing fancy, just big bags to pack for vacation. Because I am a cycling geek and gear connoisseurs, I am of course aware that BailyBag Works in Portsmouth NH, makes duffle bags. So I check the site and do a double take at the price a $100 bucks? I'd pay that for a backpack or messenger bag for me, but for some rarely used items that my kids will probably lose, a $100 is beyond my price range.
I can get a similar appearing bag at target or walmart for $20.
How much better can one bag be than the other? How much do you really want to support independent business? The whole "vote with your dollar" debate is now encapsulated in front of you with one purchase.
Buying a Bailey Bag you support a local small business. You also shoulder a larger chunk of the true cost of the goods purchased. The bag from the giant retailer, comes from oversees where corporations get gov'ts to bear huge chunks of operating costs, where employees wages and opportunities are ??(I can't pretend to know but I can guess a lot worse than here) The bag gets sold in a store where any operating cost (health insurance, retirement benefits, etc) are being driven down or passed onto the state gov't to handle.
But this also highlights a huge issues with economics in America. Only the wealthy can make a choice not based on the bottom line. If you have a family and a normal paycheck you are struggling to cover all the costs of everyday life, never mind save for college, new car, vacation, etc. So cost is always the overriding factor. Quality 2nd. Ethics or Style distant stragglers for 3 or 4th. But it appears that small business is forced to shoulder a larger share of the cost of goods that the large mega-retailers. In many cases a mega-retailer is selling products for the price small business has to pay wholesale. This is not so much economies of scale as it is the economics of monopoly. Check this story from a while back in Fast Company to see what I meanThese choices also have the Darwinian effect of limiting your future choices. You are short on cash and go to Walmart. Money goes out of your community-away from small business. Small businesses close, and you have no choice but to go to the last man standing.
There used to be 2 small grocery stores within walking distance of the house I grew up in plus 2 other stores that had a more limited supply of groceries. 30 years later one is left and it sells mainly booze. You are getting in your car to food shop. Same formula for a lot of retailers.
Think about furniture? It went from something made by craftsmen meant to last a lifetime or more to disposable particle board shit that barely outlasts a 2 year lease? Run down a list of main street retailers from book stores to hardware stores and they are no replaced by strip mall box retailers. Main Street is history.
Why is there a penalty for trying to support local business? and how long can the average person pay it?
Think about non-essential goods like bikes or skateboards. It would be great to buy your kids Independent Fabrication or A.N.T. bikes, but who can afford that? Even if 4 bikes from Walmart get thrown in the trash in a year you are still $1000 ahead of buying one indy-crafted bike or even reputable bikes from an indy bike shop.
It was supposed to be the invisible hand, but it seems more like the invisible subsidy that helps these mega-retailers succeed. You cannot have fair competition in when goods of similar value compete with such an uneven playing field.
The economic divide in this country which seems to encourage small boutique business that survives on the super rich and the rest of us who get what we can afford at target or walmart, is only growing and appears to undermine the essential concepts of independence and opportunity that made this country.
And to summarize. Bailey Bags are not too expensive. Their cost represents the true cost of producing goods in America in a small business. Bailey is good. Do not get it confused. My point is it is fucked that companies that are fucking up life for working people get endless local, national, and international subsidies and handouts. My second point is it pisses me off to be put in situations where for financial reasons, I support companies that I would prefer not to.
Another perspective on this was coined "conflicted consumers" by Harvard Business Review last month.
I can get a similar appearing bag at target or walmart for $20.
How much better can one bag be than the other? How much do you really want to support independent business? The whole "vote with your dollar" debate is now encapsulated in front of you with one purchase.
Buying a Bailey Bag you support a local small business. You also shoulder a larger chunk of the true cost of the goods purchased. The bag from the giant retailer, comes from oversees where corporations get gov'ts to bear huge chunks of operating costs, where employees wages and opportunities are ??(I can't pretend to know but I can guess a lot worse than here) The bag gets sold in a store where any operating cost (health insurance, retirement benefits, etc) are being driven down or passed onto the state gov't to handle.
But this also highlights a huge issues with economics in America. Only the wealthy can make a choice not based on the bottom line. If you have a family and a normal paycheck you are struggling to cover all the costs of everyday life, never mind save for college, new car, vacation, etc. So cost is always the overriding factor. Quality 2nd. Ethics or Style distant stragglers for 3 or 4th. But it appears that small business is forced to shoulder a larger share of the cost of goods that the large mega-retailers. In many cases a mega-retailer is selling products for the price small business has to pay wholesale. This is not so much economies of scale as it is the economics of monopoly. Check this story from a while back in Fast Company to see what I meanThese choices also have the Darwinian effect of limiting your future choices. You are short on cash and go to Walmart. Money goes out of your community-away from small business. Small businesses close, and you have no choice but to go to the last man standing.
There used to be 2 small grocery stores within walking distance of the house I grew up in plus 2 other stores that had a more limited supply of groceries. 30 years later one is left and it sells mainly booze. You are getting in your car to food shop. Same formula for a lot of retailers.
Think about furniture? It went from something made by craftsmen meant to last a lifetime or more to disposable particle board shit that barely outlasts a 2 year lease? Run down a list of main street retailers from book stores to hardware stores and they are no replaced by strip mall box retailers. Main Street is history.
Why is there a penalty for trying to support local business? and how long can the average person pay it?
Think about non-essential goods like bikes or skateboards. It would be great to buy your kids Independent Fabrication or A.N.T. bikes, but who can afford that? Even if 4 bikes from Walmart get thrown in the trash in a year you are still $1000 ahead of buying one indy-crafted bike or even reputable bikes from an indy bike shop.
It was supposed to be the invisible hand, but it seems more like the invisible subsidy that helps these mega-retailers succeed. You cannot have fair competition in when goods of similar value compete with such an uneven playing field.
The economic divide in this country which seems to encourage small boutique business that survives on the super rich and the rest of us who get what we can afford at target or walmart, is only growing and appears to undermine the essential concepts of independence and opportunity that made this country.
And to summarize. Bailey Bags are not too expensive. Their cost represents the true cost of producing goods in America in a small business. Bailey is good. Do not get it confused. My point is it is fucked that companies that are fucking up life for working people get endless local, national, and international subsidies and handouts. My second point is it pisses me off to be put in situations where for financial reasons, I support companies that I would prefer not to.
Another perspective on this was coined "conflicted consumers" by Harvard Business Review last month.
Action Speaks Louder than Words -SSS records
action speaks louder than words comp sss records
Vampi-Soul drops another classic comp. 24 tracks focused on the muisical emprie of Shelby S Singleton. Under a variety of labels he dropped southern soul and funk classics, unitil he hit gold with the song "Harper Valley PTA". He used the cash he got from that to buy the Sun Records catalog. At the point he seemed to stop putting out records and started collecting checks. Independent business man. Nice.Sam Dees and Gloria Taylor have the stand out tracks, but all in all its got some stand out shouter, instramentals, funk, soul, etc. Vampi-Soul has been stringing together a solid run of comps and reissues. All well done with good liner notes (especially that new Andre Williams collection. Worth the money alone for his stories about hating on Stevie Wonder at Motown. Come on? Hating on Stevie?)
Tommy Guerrero - Future Primitive - 1985
This part stands the test of time as the best ofthe early street skating parts (lance in BB video show is a runner up or maybe the Gonz and Rocco in Skate-Rock). Watching this will bring a smile to my face no matter what is going on. Even with the white gloves Tommy G sets the standard for skate fashion.
Can't think of many other 80s "street" parts that give it a run for its money-maybe Danforth in NHS Oceanside?
I walked past that red curb he boardslides on my second trip to SF and was bugging out when I realized why it was so familiar looking.
Footnote: TG recreated parts of this for a new(er?) Krooked video which I have not seen yet, but am going to track down.
Satyricon - Mother North
2nd of my current favorite videos. What else do you need fire, axes, sacrifices.
MAC 10 HANDLE (OFF THE NEW
1 of my 2 current favorite videos. This has got the audio and visual feel of the geto boys on lock
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