reasons to wake up

seasonal depression be damned, i can guarantee that i am looking forward to what little spring we get here in new england as much as anyone else out there, or, more likely, inside there...

snow, ice, subzero temperatures and plows can go to hell and melt for all i give a fuck, but there are more than a few reasons to suffer through these puritanical and tyrannical winters...

coke in a glass bottle.  much cheaper, and dare i say more refreshing, than beer.

thin lizzy records!

new drivetrains.  salty roads, say hello to stainless steel chainrings.

days off from work and wild weather to learn new tunes!

Doomriders and Ramming Speed

come on out and get gnarly!

this blizzard goes to eleven

this was the view out of my window on wednesday morning, about 715am, as i was stretching and drinking coffee.  the weather report stated that the worst of the blizzard was to happen between the hours of 6am and 8am.  since i have to be at the downtown office every morning at 8am, i was literally riding into the heart of the storm, the worst of the beast.

lucky, or maybe unlucky, for me, i have been doing this long enough to have proper bad weather gear.  i just got some new "waterproof" boots at tent city i was really excited to test out.

trees were fallen on cars all down my street and through my neighborhood as i walked my bike towards the intersection of columbia and mass ave.

here's the road warrior taking a quick break outside 311 summer street.  the good thing about working in a blizzard is no traffic, and no need to lock your bike anywhere.  if anyone is brave enough to go steal bikes in a snowstorm, and dumb enough to try and ride off, i guess they earned it.

snowy scene in city square, charlestown.  i walked over the north washington bridge to deliver two pieces to chucktown, and both offices were closed.  bummer.

a shot of the north washington bridge leading back into boston.  i rode over the icy grates coming back, tempting fate and recklessly defying safety as i sketchily slid my way back into town.

these guys at 50 staniford street were working harder than me, and had better storm gear too.  i think my jobs more fun, and they and everybody else looked at me like i was some kind of mental case all day long.  some real nice guy in a pickup truck even slowed down to tell me i was "a real fuckin asshole" for riding my bike in the snow.

you know, that famous building where old guys with wigs that are long dead now did important stuff that nobody remembers or cares about.

after work i had to go to allston rock city and help the lads shovel our van out of the snow so we could play our gig that night.  heres kal watching some heavy machinery clear the street for us.

i saved our parking spot southie style with a wicker basket and a cardboard box that i filled with snow so it wouldnt blow away.  it was pretty needless, as the entire band got too drunk to drive and we left the van stuck in the driveway of a friends apartment by ringer park.  i missed the last train back home and went to sleep on my buddies couch.

new tail

recently i have been trying to fix up this old tenor banjo i bought last year, about 4 days before my session at the banshee got canned.  its a slow going process.  so far i have put new tuning machines on. for that i had to drill out the existing holes and then hammer the pegs into place using makeshift tools.  im lucky i didn't break it.  i got this sexy little scalloped tailpiece for my mandolin in one of my banjo part orders, and it went on easily, looks great, and is an improvement on the original tailpiece.

brooklyn blizzard of twenty-aught-ten

these are a coupla shots from this week's epic blizzard in brooklyn, new york.  about two feet of snow fell in a span of a few hours, with high winds and brutal white out conditions.  streets were unplowed for days and buses, plows, taxi cabs, police cars and civilian cars were all stuck in the snow, blocking streets, intersections and traffic.  jenny lost her phone in the snow, and it took me personally two extra days to get home to boston as buses were not running during and after the storm, and even when i did get to the bus station on tuesday i had to wait for 4 hours outside in the cold with wet feet to get a ticket and get on a bus.  go unlucky star and no-fun-wah!  anyway, bars remained opened for the most part during the storm, and if you get the chance, i highly recommend a hot buttered rum from quarter bar in gowanus...

get sharp

in this weeks edition of "black metal kitchen" we listened to the new darkthrone record called circle the wagons, and made spaghetti, sauce, and cheesy garlic and onion bread while drinking delicious american beer.  thanks to all the wonderful women in my life for contributing these dangerous and beautiful finely edged instruments to my collection.  the real mean looking knife to the left of this picture is so fucking sharp its terrifyingly awesome.  i minced some garlic like a vampire's life depended on it.  hopefully i wont tommy iommi my fingers off...
listen to black metal, and play with knives!

coffee paradise

The nederlands sure are something boy, let me tell ya what. Walkin around in the snow, eatin doner kebaps, dodgin cruiser bikes, strollin into a coffee shop pool hall and countin change out of my not warm enough canvas jacket's pockets to legally purchase a couple of hog legs for some post show weirdness and a good nights sleep after not sleeping the night before partying in London at some terrible bar called big red that I strongly recommend avoiding at all costs.
Two more shows, two more drives, two more flights and this crazy trip will be nothin but a hazy memory, more pages in more books ...
See ya in the good ol' usa!!!