Living For The City

The big highlight of my week thus far (Sure, it’s only Wednesday, but I doubt it’ll get any better) was seeing Mariachi El Bronx alongside the Bats and The Bronx… as The Bronx.

As I’ve mentioned before; what I thought would be good for a couple of laughs turned into what was probably my favorite record of 2009. It’s amazing to have the exact same group of guys blow your mind twice in one nice… Pause. But for real, as far as I’m concerned The Bronx are one of the best punk bands going and when Mariachi El Bronx takes the stage you can’t help but one hand on your belly, the other up in the air a la Steve Martin and shake them hips, son!

Unfortunately I missed Hammell’s birthday get-together which I was a bumout… Happy birthday buddy!

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What else? Oh yeah, Absinthe is pretty cool.

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I finally got around to properly framing some old Doublenaut prints I’ve had kicking around for almost three years… Previously mounted on shitty paper in a cracked frame… Now beautifully fit between two sheets of glass.

Brings a little more life to my kitchen…

Lotta glare, though…

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Another big highlight from this week was that after 6 years (for me, the company has been there since it’s inception) we’ve moved office buildings. The new place is more than twice as big and it’s really, really nice… All fancy pants glass offices at the front, barnboard, birch trees and vintage medical posters in the open concept / production area aaaaaaand I now have my own little space in which to exist.

I’ll post up more pics once we get properly unpacked and settled… Right now we’re just trying desperately to get back to work! In the meantime, here is my little corner of the world…

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Edit: I’d be remiss not to mention the part that my good friends Nick, Ben along with Liam and their crew at Breadwinner played in making sure that this particular part of the office a) looks/feels awesome and b) got done in an extreeeeeemely tight timeline. Thanks fellas, we all love it.

Not entirely what this event is, if I had to guess without actually taking the time to read the blog I’d say it’s a bicycle based art show in the UK, but I thought that these images were worth posting – really pretty…

Keep them shits tight!

I’m pretty good at the internet so I’ve got lots of favorite things on the internet but in this exact moment, this is my favorite thing on the internet.

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Although… THIS is pretty fucking fantastic, as well.

I came home last night after work to a little zine by a guy in Massachusetts called Chris Piascik that I’d totally forgotten ordering… That’s my favorite type of package!

It’s a small graphic tribute to Marshall “Major” Taylor, who in his 1928 biography “describes his cardinal principles for success and accredits his achievements, both on and off the track, to these values:”

Don’t try to “gyp.” Don’t be a pie biter. Don’t keep late hours. Don’t use intoxicants. Don’t be a big bluffer. Don’t eat cheap candies. Don’t get a swelled head. Don’t use tobacco in any form. Don’t fail to live a clean life. Don’t forget to play the game fair. Don’t take in unfair advantage of an opponent. Don’t forget the practice of good sportsmanship. 8/13 ain’t bad, right?

There was a time in my life when I could have had a perfect score according to the good Major… last night was not one of those nights…

I blame Matty Matheson & the Oddfellows’ Winnebago.

Regardless of the fact that most of us were victims off the Winne; Robbie, Killer, Ben, Lambert & The Champ and I headed out to Bluffer’s Park which is a nice little ride… about 50k round trip, which as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before is my ideal distance for these types of rides… Juuuuuuust long enough to feel it, short enough to still be fun. All I’ll say is that it’s a lot more fun on a geared, freehubbed road bike… The hill into the bluffs, on a fixed gear, is terrifying and on the way back up is impossible.

We all expected that during the ride things would warm up as the forecast was calling for a high of 8 or 9 degrees… What did we get instead? Light flurries… No big deal, really, but the crosswinds were nuts, the headwinds were worse and between my knickers and my really old and mostly mesh shoes I was really, really happy to get back and start to feel my toes again.

Speaking of lighting shit on fire… Some of you might remember these (probably 40′s) truck flares that I picked up a few months ago… I tried to empty them out because, although Kerosine isn’t particularly volatile, I figured they’d be safer to keep around if they were empty… Getting all the Kerosine out was a real challenge but nothing in comparison to the challenge of getting the smell out of my house! Awful… I still couldn’t get rid of the smell or remaining Kerosine so I decided that I’d risk the explosion and just burn it all off…

Once they’re all cleaned up I’ll probably turn them into lamps… Shocking, I know…

Totally unrelated; Killer and I made like it was 2007* last night and went out for a little fixed boot out to the Beaches…

…except we got sidetracked and ended up on the Danforth for a little Nicky-Nicky on the Wong/Carlucci household before heading down south to finish out our ride before heading into the market and before having a nightcap at Ronnie’s before heading home.

You know… the good life. My disposition is changing so much as the weather improves and I know it’s going to get worse again before it gets better but you can’t even imagine how anxiously I am awaiting the summer. 2010 has been a bit of a bust so far and I intend to have an incredible summer to make up for it!

I used a healthy supply of your Tenacious Oil before I left for my ride last night, wouldn’t have been the same with out you.

…and I’m only one listen in but it’s pretty great thus far.

I’d been poking around on the forums and such trying to find a download link which was a solid reminder of why I don’t frequent message boards or anything like that anymore… People are retarded. The last thing that anyone, especially music nerds, should ever have is a convenient outlet for their retarded opinions… Except for me, of course. My retarded opinions are very important, clearly.

Anyway, there are all sorts of cry-baby “this is a big middle finger to everyone who loved Re-Inventing Axle Rose” type comments. It’s fine if you think it sucks but I seriously doubt they’re trying to give you, personally, the middle finger – it’s not about you, sorry. I mean, dude, do you want your favorite bands to just keep re-releasing the same record over and over again or do you want them to continue to grow and try new things? You wanna listen to Re-Inventing Axl Rose? Cool, listen to Re-Inventing Axl Rose.

Either way, works out fine for me because I didn’t really like any of those older records but I thought that New Wave was pretty incredible so if this is more like the natural progression of that record, I’ll take it…

Spanish Moss:

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I Was A Teenage Anarchist:

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Because Of The Shame:

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A couple years ago I went riding in Western New York and the highlight of the trip was staying in Bradford, PA and visiting the birthplace of the Zippo! I’m not sure why I thought this was so cool but for whatever reason it stuck with me. There is something so iconic about that little steel contraption that has changed so very little in the last 75 years.

I got talked out of buying one at the Bradford PA factory store (where they’re still made to this day) and I’ve been quietly resentful ever since! Hahaha… So, I then figured I’d find an old one that had survived a war and had some sort of cool engraving like “I love the fucking army and the army loves fucking me” or something along those lines but they can get a little pricey and I was broke so I’d forgotten all about it until I was watching Carnivale and Band Of Brothers, both old-timey jams which re-piqued my interest…

I found a bunch of WWII lighters that looked incredible but, again, a little pricey so I was pleased to find a 1978 with it’s original packaging for next to nothing… I figured, as much as I wanted a much older / well worn one I was born in ’78… this guy was born in ’78… we’ll get along just fine.

Should get here in the mail next week… I can’t wait to light shit on fire.

Chrome is giving away a free pair of their Kursk shoes to anyone who sends in a pair of their old, worn-out sneakers… Just make sure that it’s postmarked today or tomorrow (3/17, 3/18) and expect a free pair in the mail sometime in the near future…

A couple of things, you can suggest a colour but ultimately you’re going to get whatever you get and apparently they fit about a half size larger so if you’re an 11.5 in say…. chucks, you’re going to want to order an 11 in kursks… I’m glad I didn’t throw out my last pair of bruck-up sneakers because now I’ll get a pair for the cost of shipping them off to:

Chrome Industries
Attn: Turds for Gold/Sharkey
580 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

Giddy up.

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Update: I sent off an old pair of torn up chuck taylors a couple of minutes ago… we’ll see what comes of it!

Sooooo I haven’t updated in a while, mostly because I’ve been down with the Norwalk so outside of polishing off Rome, Carnivale and Band of Brothers courtesy of my lovely neighbor Lauren and an endless supply of bootleg movies courtesy of my lovely friend Aidan, I haven’t really done anything noteworthy…

Before I got wicked sick, though, I got up nice and early (nice and hungover, as well) to go out for a little rip on the road bike out to Port Credit, up through Streetsville and then back to Toronto. About 75k, all-in, a little much for my first ride of the season but we took it fairly easy which got me through handily… My knees the next day were not happy with me.

I really wish I’d brought my camera with me, it was a lot of fun and there was some really nice scenery along the lake with the sun shining and the ice starting to melt.

Lambert gave my new wheels the once over before we left and they’re super solid and it’s unbelievable how buttery smooth and QUIET the freehub body is. Any reviews that I’d read about this wheelset comment on how silent they were but I was surprised at just how quiet they actually were… Not like it matters, really, but I like ninjabikes.

Oh yeah, I’ve also still been neglecting many projects around the house but I did get to do some man stuff in the last week, regardless. Some of you may or may not know that my dear friend Spark aka THE SUN DOG aka Sparkles: Professional Male Model aka Sparky The Dragan aka Captain of the 6 time champion Dirtballs runs a pretty successful Canadian soccer website called Red Nation Online.

Every week, after the TFC games, Spark along with his lads (TOHC mainstay Stephe Perry & Brittish import Tim Vickers… you know… for footie legitimacy) get together to record a podcast for your listening pleasure… Anyway, the fellas are always seeking to improve the quality of their podcasts so in addition to getting a bunch of newer, nicer microphones Spark opted to build some collapsable / portable sound baffles to effectively build a makeshift studio in his home office and I happen to have tools so…

It took a little bit of trial and error to get the prototype built (we made 4 all in all) but it was fun figuring out how best to make them work and it’s amazing just how effective they are at blocking the sound…

Although I’m sure it’ll turn up at some point, earlier this week I managed to misplace my favorite watch (Hydepark) and then when I went to wind up my backup (Marc Favre) I managed to snap the crown clean off… It’s almost comical, these things survived the last 70 years but they couldn’t survive a couple of months with me!

Bummed as I may be, a new one is already on it’s way to me from somewhere in Oregon. I was drawn to it immediately because of the striking similarity to the one I lost…

Upon further inspection, I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy came out of the same factory!

Everything is coming up Rennick!

…according to my mouse.

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Update: What a full day looks like!