Lizzoch Raven

Beautiful weather, excellent conditions, it all adds up to a great ride. G Bryant (our resident goat lover) made it out for the first half of the evening, setting the pace good and fast. Totaled up about 11 miles, 1 crash for J-money and 3 for BS (all laughable as well) and a couple great hours on some of the tightest singletrack you'll get.

rare enough to kill, plain enough to laugh

My nights are filled with distaste, and my days with innumerable misfortunes.

Last night, in hopes of riding bikes with two friends (yes Jamie and Scotty , you both made the cut)in the morning, my hopes were to hit the sack at a reasonable hour in order to wake-up early enough (6:30) to get in the typical morning rituals i must go through, and off to our meeting place for a ride.

10:03pm My night began as mundane as usual, i started with a huge meal (turkey chili) a healthy glass of wine (Chianti that was way too young to be opened yet) and something somber on T.V. (more than probably a sub-par documentary on Asian Wombat Killers on Sundance)

10:27pm I then moved to the computer to post yesterday little post, download some music, and hit the usual suspects to satisfy my new craving for, well, see previous post for aforementioned newly acquired addiction.

11:47pm After fully exhausting my internet resources and feeling more awake than i was when i first attempted to 'calm' myself, i decided that moving to the bed would be a good idea. After a random search for music to sleep by, i fell on a likely candidate, Brian Eno's 'Here Come The Warm Jets'. I also searched for a xeroxed copy of a story a friend gave me to read, T.C. Boyle's 'Greasy Lake', turned the lights off, climbed into bed with the story and Eno humming in the background. Two things happened that i wasn't prepared for, the story turned out to be a well written, poignant tale of naive adolescent behavior which left me with much to think over after having read it, and a newly found passion for Brian Eno's post Roxy Music era discography. Shit.
'Needle In The Camel's Eye'

12:42am Back to the computer to search around for anything Eno i don't already have, as well as what my next book purchases would consist of. Found a few albums, plus some Roxy stuff i never bothered to check out, also searched out a collection of T.C. Boyle's short stories, then put on 'Before and After Science' to fall asleep to.

1:57am Climb back into bed for the second time. Roll around for a few minutes startled by how different this albums compares to the earlier one. After shaking those thoughts out of my head in hopes of clearing it for some sleep, the story comes back into focus and i begin to question each character's motive. Goddammit, back to something again, what i was after was the sweet nothingness of sleep.

2:15am Climb out of bed up to the kitchen for a snack of cookies and milk, turn down the stereo and up the fan on my way back to bed. Again i'm left restless, rolling around following allusions of teenage angst, death, and the consumerism of the American Dream, fuck you Boyle, you've got me thinkin' and i can't stop.

2:55am(ish) Finally doze off into the paper thin sleep in which you can see the ceiling tiles and decide to wake up every other minute just to make sure that you were asleep in the first place.

3:35am “FUCK” Flash. Red pain, foot cramp? Toes move, but heat, but hot, but stinging. BZZZZZZ. Who? Bzzzzzz, overhead? Now under...now over Bzzzzzzzz..lights on...Nothing. Foot in pain, swelling starts, stinger still in, still pumping poison. Fuck you wasp. Fuck you Brian for not killing it when you saw it earlier this week, making love to the lamp light as you counted your karma for letting this buzzard live. Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, no sleep now. I climb those stares again, grab a drink of water, and lay on the couch for a final weak attempt to sleep without the hindrance of flying machine guns and art-rock.

4:00am Still awake, still feeling the poison pump into my foot every time the last dose wears off. Decide it would be a good time to drink another healthy glass of that horrid chianti and count sheep as they stumble over the fence.

6:30am Definitely not waking up to ride my goddamn bike with those two clowns.

Well...i'd go onto my ride, but why don't i save that for tomorrow, given my usual mundane existence, i'd rather tease out any and all stories as long as i possibly can.

P.S. To contact those fine looking fellers up top, just run your little mouse over their names (Jamie - on the left, Scotty - on the right) and you will find their contact info. Men for them only, please.

life as normal as apple dumplings

So today proved to be a rather fun day. I woke up and things were looking quite gorgeous outside, so after a night of 9 hours of undisturbed sleep (and a few midnight snacks of muffins and cookies) it was a cup of coffee and out the door for a 25 mile jaunt around the usual suspects. I must say, i'm more of a cold weather rider when it comes to actually enjoying the ride itself, but there is something rather different about enjoying your surroundings when the weather starts to turn for the better.
After the ride it was off to work i went, where it was pleasantly busy with customers and repairs alike. I actually really enjoy working on bikes, contrary to the natural notion that given the mix of my stellar personality, drop-dead gorgeous good looks, and willingness to talk to anyone and everyone, i would rather be locked up in the back left to my own devices....but these things happen in nature :) So that made my day that much better, to knock out quite a few repairs, help the occasional customer, and fuck around the rest of the time with the other monkeys in the back.
Now at home i'm finally fixing the fixie after a broken seatpost collar. Which, of course, makes me happy on top of being happy already.
Oh, and in other news, while being confined to my house last week (see previous post of carnage to face) I managed to pick up a rather severe addiction to porn. Which is not all that horrible, considering as one friend pointed out, it's free, and i also managed to kick alcohol AND cigarettes for a whole week, while being down and out. Life is full of compromise i suppose.

Here a a little diddy of what i'm ACTUALLY talking about being addicted too, SpankRock:
XXX Speed It Up Pussy

nyquil doesn't work

BUT THAT SHIT WILL FUCK YOU UP

at home with my memories

I loveed this T.V and the white brick when i was growing up. It always meade me feel so out of place, like i was looking at something that belonged to a generation, 3 generations ago and i would just never get the joke. Well for the last 5 years i've called this part of the house, Home, including of course the wood paneling, toupe colored carpets, and muslin woven drapes.

A bit of the fun stuff from two bands who i admire greatly: Lighting Bolt w/ Sonic Youth:

Uno
Dos
Tres

Dundalk, you are my hero, Dundalk, Fuck You

So i was in Dundalk most of the day today, and i must say, a shithole you certainly are, but a shithole all unto your own. There is something to say for being some sort of lost nostalgia from the 50's, with the residents still caring about things like the neighbors (to the extreme), their front lawn being the thickest, painted sidewalks, corner stores, and drugs. It is also funny to see the dichotomy between the older Dundalkians like my Grandfather (whom i was visiting) and the generation which is holding onto the ideals i just mentioned, and the newer generation of whom are mostly only concerned with the last in the list of nostalgic ideals.
Easter is always a curious holiday as well, since i come from a rather religious family who are quite passionate in their personal christianity, but are rather awkward when it comes to sharing the passion with others. I, of course, am put at ease by this, given my tendancy to 'stray from the righteous path', so they tend to feel at ease by the mere notion that my parents have attended church within the last year (which of course accounts for all my 'sins' as well, given the general proximity in which i live to those whom have been saved) In other words, i aint gotta take no shit from no one.
Oh well..someday i will probably end up in both places, Dundalk and helplessly throwing myself toward some thought of a better place and a higher being.

Till that time enjoy some music from another band that will play in Baltimore within the next month: Ahleuchatistas: 'Remember Rumsfeld at Abu Ghraib'

Talking Head Club:
Sunday, April 23rd
Yukon, Ahleuchatistas, and The Alemeda
Prog/Math Happiness from the lot of 'em
GFY VELO REPRESENT!

blinding light, grinding noise

Got the new album from Mick Barr (Orthrelm fame) and Zach Hill (Hella - Nervous Cop fame) called Shred Earthship....and holy moley does this thing move. I think the best way to describe it would be if the guitarist from Orthrelm decided to get together and a make a great album with the drummer from Hella, you would get this. Point fucking blank.

booo ya

***Edit*** Stinking Lizeveta - Monday May 1st - Sidebar Baltimore :)

coffee jitters

Here's a short improv from Patrick and I.

hit it...now hold it

This makes me feel like Halloween...I feel a little halloweenish these days, as i have a bit of a built in mask going on! Oh, if only it meant free candy...i would believe in holy spirits.

On the music front i've found a few great albums lately:
+Cinemechanica - 'The Martial Arts' (Great math-rock done in the vein of Fugazi vocals/aggression meets the angularity of 90 day men or Drive Like Jehu)
+The Talking Heads - 'Remain In Light' (This was released in 1980 of course, but christ how good it is. Think Punk feel post punk..and it falls someplace between the two...brilliant, and i'm a bastard for just finding it now)
+Parts & Labor - 'Stay Afraid' (First album with vocals from these guys and it doesn't dissapoint. Very much noise but oh so poppy noise)
+HiM - 'Peoples' (Not quite yet released, for you sucka's who actually spend money on this stuff, but oh so goddamn Tortoisey good, without sucking their dick (too much) P.S. This is the post-rock/instrumental band not the shitty Goth outfit)


BS...anyway we can post some mp3's on here? That would be the neatness.

Superb eBay find

Who wants to go halfsies on it??

Titan -1 ICBM missle base

F.U.B.A.R.

FUCK shit FUCK

Bruises, Brews, and Bro's....GFY Velo forever

Elixir of gods

Yeaaah. Off for a night ride- Turnbar madness, this should be a good one.

Severn River Bridge

So it begins....

I've been putting this off for so long now. Keeping it short, I'll be posting nonsense pretty often- you'll probably be seeing a ton of photo posts from me, but I'd also like to ask you to join up and contribute as well.