bigger picture

Two things today caught my eye and made me think. I was never really a Captain Beefheart fan, but reading this Byron Coley penned obit/appreciation, it is hard to imagine something nicer being written about yourself. Essentially Beefheart the shield that nerds could wield to protect themselves from the world.
"...they were more a way of creating
a bubble of madness to protect me
from the goddamn normals
who dogged my every sullen step"

Then I saw this little known fact about Gino Bartali. I never really took a side in the Bartali vs Coppi debate, but I leaned towards Bartali on principle-this seels the deal. What did you accomplish on your last training ride? How will your actions as a human be remembered?

So two different stories, but one theme-how will your words and actions be remembered when you are gone? As the new year approaches and goals and training plans are being laid out, a reflection on the bigger picture can't hurt.

best of 2010

These are some of my favorite records from 2010. I talked about them on here earlier in the year so I will just let the music do the talking. (apologies for that last hyper link) All of these are road tested good times.

ted leo -brutalist bricks. keep em coming. gets better with every listen.

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - "Bottled In Cork" (Official Video) from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Leatherface stormy petrel. Stubbs for Life. Sound on this is weak, but the footwork is excellent.

God is dead - Leatherface 2010-9-6 Tokyo@Kouenji HIGH from Spalding on Vimeo.

superchunk proof that bands don't have to suck as they grow older.

Superchunk - Digging For Something from Merge Records on Vimeo.

off! 1st ep. all 4 eps are good, but this one is perfect. more proof that old dudes can do it.


gaslight anthem-not original but I listened to it for most of the summer and fall. pretty good driving music


colesium -slowed down and pretty much one groove, but still a great record.

COLISEUM Blind In One Eye - Music Video from Coliseum on Vimeo.

daniel higgs-say god. double dose of higgs? yes please.

madball empire. road trip staple. sometimes dumb is just what you need.

castavet mound of ash-best record that I didn't listen too enough

dynamic truths- reissue of year and if they were still around, this would hands down be my record of the year. sadly can't track down any video.

A common thread amongst all these is the "veteran presence". I guess this was the year for the old bands and old dudes. Sorry new bands and young kids-maybe next year you can do it.

PS another absolute road trip staple was Brian Posehn "Fart and Weiner Jokes". classic. Slaaayyyyeeerrr!

signs you are over the season before the season is over

1. bike still dirty from last weekend
2. forgot that bike is in shop, not in basement
3. dirty kit is in car, I think....
4. ...hopefully everything else you need for the race is in your car
5. only openers you do the day before are on bottles and cans
6. fantasize about how fun a training ride to Harvard in the freezing rain would be
7. trainer covered in laundry
8. haven't checked points list on crossresults.com-or even looked at it all week
9. accepting wearing leg warmers cause you're too lazy to shave your legs
10.saturday night-did someone want to go out for a beer?

tombs fear is the weapon

If you read this blog, you should know I love Tombs. Fear is the Weapon is a 14 track collection of tracks from singles and splits with some demo tracks from the Winter Hours CD. Limited to 1000 and available from Relapse mailorder.
I have reviewed the Tombs/Plank split which was rad and the early singles. They are all still rad. Cheval Noir is a standout with the female vox. The last 4 tracks are demos. All killer songs from Winter Hours. Main difference to me is the vocals are a little more prominent. For "demos" these tracks all sound pretty fucking good-maybe better than a lot of the competitions A-game. These dudes are pretty much the perfect bridge between early 90s noise rock and what gets lumped in as metal or "extreme music" now a days. As a dork who has been listening to heavy music for a couple decades, these guys just get it and deliver the goods. Support it.

Artwork is rad and heavy on the hidden symbolism. Esoteric to say the least.

If that isn't enough David Cross loves them.
I kid, I kid.

gemco banks

at best a historical footnote in skateboarding, but clearly an awesome spot for a frontside boneless


some people want to see the grand canyon, I would like to see this spot

.....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.