Amygdala Hijacking

I love this video, and it’s right on time. Feel like the “tiger” is out to get me! Run!

Hot Rods Make Me Happy, Mountaineer Antique Auto Show in Asheville

Hot Rod Roadster Pickup brings a tear to my eye.

Yes, I love this stuff. No, (almost) none of my friends do. What’s wrong with you people?!?

The roadster pickup, or RPU, above is the real deal. This hot rod beauty was built out West in the 1950s. At least that’s what I remember from my conversation with the owner a couple years. He said he attends Bonneville regularly. Awesome.

Now for something completely different…

Hot Rod Model A Phaeton - Perfect for the famliy man.

Next to an RPU a Model A Phaeton is my favorite model to hot rod. This is a rather extreme modern retro monster, it was my favorite at this year’s show, but I would like one someday that is a more conservative rod, late ’40s or ’50s style.

No more typing for me. There are more hot rod pictures over at my Flickr account. Check ’em out.

Dry Falls Waterfall in Highlands, NC

Another pass from the other side.

We took a trip to Highlands, NC today to visit some friends. On the way back we stopped at this great waterfall called “Dry Falls.” Dry, because you can walk behind the actual waterfall.

Chillaxin' with my crew. Getting wet at Dry Falls.

You can see the path winds behind the waterfall.

Taken from the back side of Dry Walls. Yes, the path goes right under it.

NC Waterfalls has a bunch of great info about Dry Falls.

Bicycle Jousting a LAAFF in Asheville

This is definitely not the highest and best use for bicycles. But it was pretty fun to watch! We saw this yesterday at the Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival in Asheville. And this was hardly the freakiest site at the festival.

Check out how the hub of the rear wheel on these “bikes” is eccentric, i.e. it’s not in the center, and it makes the bike and rider bounce up and down. I’m sure these things were hard to ride, and they were plenty people who fell off before they even made it to the center.

This festival is “all local, all original.” I love living in Asheville.

Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival

Jane (Sigler) Burckard – Memory Jug

Jane (Sigler) Burckard - Memory Jug / Memory Jar

Today’s featured artist also happens to be my aunt Jane. And, it just happens to be her birthday! Together, let us celebrate aunt Jane and her foray into terracotta modication, or should I say “beautification.” This artifact is what paleontologists call a “memory jug” or “memory jar.” On the Mill Creek reservation the natives call this rather large and heavy, but delicate piece the “Juggernaut” or possibly “Jug-or-not.” As all history of this memory jar has been passed from one generation to the next through the oral tradition, and no documentation, save for these photographs, is known to exist, the exact spelling remains a mystery.

The enigmatic artist, who is a particularly social being and yet camera shy, declined to be filmed in our interview about her memory jug magnum opus. If you have any questions about the process involved in producing this jug please post them in the comments section. Jane is known to be a regular reader of this site. On behalf of my aunt who couldn’t appear on video I would like to thank all the little people who contributed to the making of this memory jug.

See detailed close ups of Jane’s memory jug.

Read more about the folk art tradition of memory jugs.

Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch (MCA) has Cancer

From the sound of it he’s going to be fine, which is great to hear. But the band does have to put some things on hold, show dates, album release, etc. In my last note I described getting to see the band, for the first time, only a few weeks ago. Here’s hoping the guys and the Beastie Boys are around for long long time.

Beastie Boys, Biz Markie, and Money Mark at the Orange Peel!

All together under one (small) roof at the Orange Peel in Asheville…

"One Two (tickets) Oh My God!" We got in to see the Beastie Boys.

How ridiculously lucky can you get? This show was at a club that only holds a little over 900 people. It was announced only a day before tickets went on sale, and week before the show. I started loading the ticket page on a couple different computers right before 4 PM, along with a lot of other people. For the most part the site would not load at all after 4. Then, when it did I would get an error when I tried to buy tickets. About 10 minutes later it started saying “SOLD OUT.” I could not believe it. Took a minute to complain/tweet about it. Then, went back at it. Finally, I got through! And it was NOT sold out. Yes!

I wanted to go pretty bad, and my son Mars even more so. Mary said he got so nervous when I was trying to score tickets he couldn’t watch. He went to play his drums for a bit. That didn’t help my concentration.

I got the tickets. You want a shirt, bring money.

We got there over an hour in advance, and the line was already long. The cool thing is it appears the promoters and club did everything they could to keep it fair, and minimize ticket scalping. You could only buy two. Everybody’s tickets were “will call,” even if you got the few they had at the box office. You had to bring the card you used for the purchase and another picture ID. Once you got your tickets you had to go straight into the club. Despite all that I heard people in line with an extra ticket were getting offered crazy money.

I had no idea Biz Markie was going to be there. He DJ’d for about 20 minutes and it was awesome! He totally owned the crowd. His set went through a ton of old school hip hop from the ’80s and ’90s. And somewhat to my surprise the crowd was extra hip hop literate. The Biz kept fading the mix to let the crowd a capella through lines of Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, even some Bob Marley, and bunch of other stuff I can’t remember. Massively entertaining. “If you remember that one, I know you’ll remember this…”

Of course, he couldn’t finish without giving us a little from “Just a Friend.” Make SURE to watch this video again.

When the Beastie Boys finally came out it was to Biz Markie doing “The Biz vs. The Nuge” (Check Your Head). Perfect.

And I couldn’t believe they had Money Mark with them. Money Mark’s records get played as much as anything in my collection. He’s been a hero of mine for years. Later in the set Mike D asked Mark to come out from behind the keyboards to play “Mark on the Bus.” Brilliant. (Clip from a different show.)

And what about the Beastie Boys? Well, I don’t how it could have been any better. They were fun, funny and funky. They played everything from their earliest punk stuff to a couple brand new songs with something from just about every record, save for License to Ill. I loved every bit of it, but I was especially glad they did a bunch of their instrumentals like “Pow” and “Ricky’s Theme.”

Mix Master Mike put on an impressive show and really turned it out with a scratching solo to open the encore. They finished strong with “Sabotage” and it was time to go home.

A couple other highlights include AdRock giving the crowd dance lessons for the “Jerry Lewis” and the “Funky Penguin.” He’s got skills. And I’ll never forget Biz Markie joining the band to sing Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets.” The Biz took his shirt off and every person in the house pulled out their camera phone to capture the big man going natural.

But wait! There’s more. Thank you Flip owners.

“Sure Shot”

Tracy Does the Town Mountain Time Trial

Town Mountain Time Trial in Asheville

This was a painfully fun 24 minutes and 11 seconds. About 60-70 folks participated. My time put me pretty much in the middle of pack for the Men’s Masters class. Like a moron I rode it the night before in about 25 minutes just to get a feel for it. (Amazing how much harder I had to push to shave a minute.) I ride the upper section of this course a couple times a week on my way up the mountain, but I never ride the steep part at the beginning because it’s out of the way. I’ll plan better next year.

Big thanks to the Asheville Women’s Cycling Club for putting on this event. Also thanks to all the volunteers!

Here’s a nice video of the 5 mile Town Mountain Time Trial Hill Climb. It’s hard to get a feel for how steep it is though.

French Broad Cycling Classic 2009 Flyer

I made this flyer recently for my club’s (Asheville Bicycle Racing Club) big annual race: French Broad Cycling Classic. It’s called an “Omnium” because over the three day event there are time trials, road races and criteriums.

You can get the full size flyer (PDF) and more info about this great bike race FrenchBroadCyclingClassic.com. The site is still being updated. Come out and watch the crits if nothing else. More on that later…

Mars Masters Lindy Hop for School Gig

Go, Mars, go! He’s in the t-shirt with black and white circles. Every year the middle school kids at Rainbow Mountain Children’s School put on a show. This year’s show has a USO theme, and for part of the show the kids needed to learn the Lindy Hop. Show time tomorrow night! I think they’re ready. The kids seen here are actually the entire middle school. Crazy man.