Too coincidental

I have to admit I harbor a loathesome contempt for Pearl Jam. Despite being from my hometown, I could never get past Eddie's mouth-full-of-shit vocals. When he did the soundtrack for 'Into the Wild' a couple years ago and actually started singing, well, I relented a bit. And maybe I've grown a little less snobbish about things--but probably not...I still can't listen to 'Ten' without wretching.

Anyway, he covered an obscure song called "Big Hard Sun" by Indio for 'Into the Wild' that I'd come to like back in my college DJ days...so I had to give him props for that...and the rest of that album is pretty OK too. On his (or Pearl Jam's) latest vinyl 7" release--a 2008 Christmastime single that shipped out this week--he covers John Doe's "The Golden State" with Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney--the original of which I just put on a mix for a friend a couple weeks ago, which seems too much of a coincidence, particularly on the flipside of a song called 'Santa Cruz'...which would make a perfect soundtrack for my thoughts as I pedaled my bike over the hill from San Jose this morning on Bike to Work Day. Add to that blog mistress Heather Browne's musings on coming over the Hill (I know, I know--Valley Go Home) and it all seems too much of a coincidence. Not to mention the fact that half the Santa Cruz Skateboards logo is on the record sleeve.

But blah, blah, blah....you can listen to both songs here on Heather's excellent music blog I am Fuel, You Are Friends which takes its title, incidentally, from a Pearl Jam lyric.

Racking up Blackie Onassis

My good friends at Electra Bikes were kind enough to hook me up with some new accessories for my trusty cruiser bike recently. Named Blackie Onassis--for the Urge Overkill drummer whose stage name is presumably an homage to the former first lady--my cruiser was at one time a bare-bones exercise--a coaster brake single speed in flat black aluminum. Cargo demands led me to add a basket to her, which while functional, never looked nor felt quite right.

Now with the addition of the alloy and wood front cargo tray and the matching wide rear rack, Blackie has been made cargo-worthy, while still retaining it's lo-profile black sleekness. And while my initial cargo hauls have been modest, I'm thinking I can carry three or four six-packs...a paltry capacity by Dutch standards perhaps, but not bad for the U-S-of-A. I'm sure it will be more than adequate for my forays to the library, hardware store, bagel shop and Walgreens.

Big thanks to Chris and Justin and those guys with the funny names down there in Vista, CA making some of the coolest bikes on the planet.

A fino salvo from North Holland

One of the coolest things I've ever done on a bike. Seriously.


Blue river, red lights.

Yours truly peeing al fresco. Photo by Warren.

Imagine how big this would have to be to house that many cars.

Detouring Amsterdam on Bikes

The things we pass off as work some days...

Randamsterdam Photos

They have alot of __________ in Amsterdam

CATS...this one is as large as a bull.


CHEESE - Ummm cheese.


PROSTITUTES - Note the red lights.


GANJA - For the whitest Rastas you've ever seen.


BIKES - Though I've not seen one with a helmeted rider.

Amsterdammmit!

The buildings in Amsterdam list every which way.


We had Warren cloned and made into an army of supermodels.


A barge-o-bikes!


A wary Eli shields his cappuccino from a Dutch cat probably named Cappuccino.


Well the sign does sort of indicate that's how a bike should be stowed.


It's just a little simpler than "Netherlanders."

Molly Wins

It's official. Molly F now has the coolest bike in the office. Trumped are all the nanosquidnology carbon race bikes, superelastic boinger sleds, way-too-dandy fixies and that rust pile of a BMX bike Baker is working on. Her custom Superhero bike is art in motion...comic book art, painstakingly culled by Molly herself—an artist she, with an artist’s eye and temperament to boot—from volumes upon volumes of source material. Scanned, tweaked, outputted, remixed and arranged over the course of a month or two, Miss Molly sent off the art and a sketch to John Slawta, proprietor/builder/craftsman of Land Shark Bikes. He crafted her a stunning, lightweight steel cross bike...painted it with a sparkly white basecoat and applied the graphics all over, the covered it with a durable clear coat. As you can see the results are awesome. The coolest hero shot? The pic of her dad on the top tube riding his bike as a kid!