Give ‘Em What For
Today marks the official opening of Sam James Coffee Bar so Sparkles, Killen & I rolled up there for the finest cup found this side of anywhere.
Congratulations, Sam, it’s been a long time coming and it’s going to be incredible! Right next door is my old friend Lizzie’s newly opened shop, Speakeasy Tattoo, so go get your self a hot cup of the dark stuff and then slip next door for some sick tatters… Book a few months in advance, though. Congratulations Lizzie & Hayden, the place looks awesome. I’ll be seeing you soon enough.
Shout out to my man Louis; it’s ok little buddy, we all get beat up by a girl at some point.
Little by little, the new place is feeling more like home every day.
I’ve been chipping away at the bad duo-tone paneled doors and tacky brass knobs…
That’s more like it! She’s a comin’
Youuuu will be miiii-e-ine!
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Update: Scored the Favre but missed out on this guy by $1.
I accidentally bought this guy today (forgot I had a sniper set) and I think it’s nice enough but don’t think I like the band…
…so I got this old fella to go with it.
I like stuff.
Protection Spell
W: Do you want Mary & Jesus to watch over you?
M: You know, I don’t believe in all that…
W: Yeah, but I do!
M: Ok then, well then give ‘er here!
Mike Wong; a king of kings, always lookin’ out.
Magnolia Electric Co, Protection Spell:
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And while we’re at it…
Magnolia Electric Co, Farewell Transmission:
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Worn Down But Not Out
50% off at The Public Butter. Do it.
Another Two Bite The Dust
What are the chances? Two busted clips on two different bikes in the same week! Off to that great big MKS graveyard in the sky…
Outside of the many a BBQ that will be held on this new rooftop deck; I love having a handy outdoor space to tinker with bikes, once again.
That, and I get to hang out with Gussy, of course.
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Last week my company took us all out to the RCYC for our year-end meeting. Unless I work with you none of the pictures I took would be of interest to you but I thought these two were pretty.
As an aside; while the cabs gathered outside to shuttle us all to the ferry dock I had a rather unfortunate incident. I bent over to dig a cable lock out of my bag for a coworker and riiiiiiiiiiiiip.
A silence fell upon the office, followed by a chorus of “oooooohhhhhh…” Jesus.
“Just tie a sweater around your waist” they say? I’m going to the Yacht Club not a god damned Pearl Jam concert! The sweater gets tied around my fucking shoulders!
Fortunately there are lots of shops close by and I had some Khakis on hold already up on Queen so I made the cabbie make an emergency pitstop and the great pant crisis of ’09 was narrowly avoided.
Summertime Rennick is now in full effect – just in time for Autumn!
Meet The Futuretons
How is this for an incredible wedding idea? Go into a place where you’re not allowed to have a wedding, say… the AGO? Then get all dressed up in your Sunday’s best (or Saturday’s best as the case may be) and go there and just have your wedding anyway… Best, right? Well, that’s exactly what my good friend Ryan and his beautiful girlfriend wife Amber did this afternoon.
Unfortunately, I missed the ceremony because Killer, Wonger and I were waiting outside with an old school rickshaw, straight from mother India, to take the bride and groom home.
Congratulations Amber & Ryan – you’re wonderful people and you deserve all the best that life has to offer. See you tonight at the reception!
How sweet are those cufflinks? Serious Futureton style.
As an added bonus; as we were riding back to Kensington a dude in Cabbagetown asked if we’d give him a ride. At first I said no but then noticed that he had a banjo… Well, how could I say no to a dude walking around with a banjo so it was agreed that I’d give him a lift into the market and he’d play the whole way… and play he did. Incredible.
Carts Of Darkness
I’ve always really liked the look of those old Factory Carts, especially those fancy jammers that Restoration Hardware sells but the $1000 price tag that they command (the RH ones, anyway) will always be a little a lot out of my pay grade. I mean, if you’ve got it, whatever… but I don’t.
So, I’m always stoked when little numbers like this come up that I can get for a tiny fraction of the cost, put a little elbow grease into, and end up with something that fits the bill but doesn’t totally clean me out. Naw ‘m sayin’?
The guy threw in some older, more period correct castors for the ends that he found around the factory as the originals had been replaced with modern, rubber jobbies at some point. The cart that I got is probably more mid-century than turn of the century (which tend to be much nicer) but I’m not complaining. Apparently it came out of a foundry in Kitchener, Ontario but I don’t know anything beyond that – we’ll see what I can see once I start taking it apart / restoring it. I’m half-debating leaving it painted red and just cleaning it up but in the end I think that stripping and then either staining it or leaving it raw is going to look much better. Thoughts?
Like I don’t have enough projects on the go, right? Sheeeeeit.
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Also, my room isn’t a boiler room any more. I may still be a fiery furnace, but at least I’m the only roaster in the room now.
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Also, the summer months may be winding down as the summer weather actually starts, which is a major buzz-kill, but at least I’ll be able to ride the summer out on my roof with BBQs, brewskis and budz. Big time!
Pre-Bicycle Film Festival BBQ at 138 this weekend?
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Update: Noticing that I had a penchant for old things, John (in the purple shirt above) left this beautiful old Singer at the house for me yesterday.
Even had my initials put on it for me… What a guy!
Everything is coming up Rennick!
BFF 2009
My bike nerdery is about to kick back into overdrive as the dawn of the 2009 Bicycle Film Festival fast approaches. I’ve had enough things going on lately that this really crept up on me but I’ve been looking over the list of films and I’m starting to get pretty excited!
The Festival kicks off tonight with Do Make Say Think, tomorrow night is the Art Bike Party and then the picture shows take center stage (see what I did there?) with 4 amazing programs.
I’m pretty stoked to see; Urban Repair Squad – Le Depart (The Beginning), Made In Queens, The Scraper Bike King, Anima D’acciaio (Soul Of Steel), Broadway Bomber/Bridge Battle (Lucas Brunelle so you know it’ll be fucking crazy) & Where Are You Go to name a few…
My old friend Sean, Benny and everyone else (of course) have done a really great job for the last couple of years with the Toronto festival and it just keeps getting better and better so please let them know what a good job they’re doing by showing up and having an amazing time!
Check out the site for a full listing of films, events and to buy tickets. Hopefully I’ll see you all there!
A Girl Needs Her Sleep
Well, it appears as if half-way through August we’re finally getting a little bit of a taste of summer and I’m doing my best to take full advantage! There are always a ton of projects on the go at the house but it’s hard to want to stay in and work on them when we’ve had such garbage weather and the sun is finally shining…
Every year my company takes us all up to my boss’ cottage on Honey Harbor for a little R&R and a little “team building” which sounds super bad in that Michael Scott kind of way but it’s always super fun. Go figure!
I complain about my job, like anyone else, but the truth is that I have a really great job and I’m extremely fortunate to work alongside the folks that I work with and be able to do things like this with them. They’ve kept me around for the last 5 years or so, so I guess they like me enough. Go figure!
Somehow when I was gettin’ pitted on the butter board, I think perhaps from the tow rope, I managed to get a pretty gnarly little gash on my poor little finger. I need someone to kiss it better, any takers?
For the lads; Jon Roth’s barber shop is open for business – now brother approved!
Bellwoods & Budz – as per usual!
Who’s that?
…oh, it’s just Future Rob! I seriously wish we’d done a side-by-side shot of these two!
All we do is BBQ!
Beach Bumz 4 Lyfe!
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On an unrelated note; when I was in Chicago a few weeks back I picked up this soy cheese product made by the Chicago Soy Dairy and I finally had an opportunity to test it out on a nice little artichoke and roasted red pepper pizza.
It melts wonderfully, in fact, it melts so much that it ends up a little on the soupy side but congeals as it cools… Definitely one of the best vegan cheese options available! Real talk. They are also the makers of the vegan marshmallows I posted about a couple weeks ago and the mint chocolate chip ice cream that I consumed wholesale while stateside…
Get fat!
Freezing Process
I still remember the day I was sitting in my room watching the Pepsi Power Hour on the TV and on came the Canadian premiere of the new Quicksand video. I was probably 14 years old and had nothing in the way of disposable income so I marched into my sister’s room and asked what it would take to get her to buy it for me. I had this fancy pants limited edition Aerosmith CD (yeah, that’s right) that was probably worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 at the time so I offered to give it to her if she bought me Slip. I don’t know why I didn’t just sell the thing for what it was going for and then buy that record and a bunch of other stuff with the surplus but it didn’t matter then and it still doesn’t matter now… It’s still one of the best trades I’ve ever made.
Yesterday my bud Sarah Bolen helped me commit to flesh that memory and thousand others that go along with it – like the time I insisted that Sergio Vega take my band’s shirt off my back and asked if we could open for them… he took the shirt but we never opened for Quicksand. Bummer.
I tend to get little tattoos in times of change in my life and this is no exception; here’s to throwing yourself off something really high and hoping that you don’t break your neck when you land.
As it turns out – Sarah, herself, was on Team Canada as a youngster for diving so I couldn’t have picked a more appropriate artist! She was also kind enough to donate some work for a little art collage wall that I want to do featuring doodles and sketches from buds that make cool art…
Salad Tiger? Huge.
Gaslight Anthem
I recognize that this time last year I pretty much posted exclusively about bikes and things of that nature. At least for now, the things that I get most excited about tinkering with are just a little bit different*. Don’t me me wrong, I spent a few hours yesterday making a friend’s bike roadworthy but I guess I just don’t need to document every cog I change and brake I install…
These days; this is what turns my crank! A couple of weeks ago I scored an old Italian gaslight for the 40s (I believe) that was retrofitted to take electricity sometime in the 70s. Unfortunately for me – it came with a 6″ cord and I needed to suspend it about 8 or 9 feet from the ceiling.
Fortunately for me – the new pendants that I hung in the kitchen came with a good deal extra of this really beautiful cord with a braided fabric outer layer and I had three of those so I had more than enough to hang my gaslight.
I’m not sure why, but for some reason my electrician was really insistent that I couldn’t properly rewire and properly hang this thing…
…but I’m no dummy! Rewired she got and hung her I did.
It’s all about the Edisons, baby!
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*Hey, there’s still a lot of overlap…
You gotta oil up a Brooks if you want to protect your privates.
You gotta oil up butcher block if you want to protect hers, if you’re pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down.
Start ‘Em Young
With a new dirtjumper in progress, a new BMX courtesy of The Tobra Snake and his new fixed gear, Braeden is going to make a mighty fine bikester. With The K Dog & The Rennick at the helm, Braeden is poised to be the coolest kid in the universe. Church.
