In the video above our house is just beyond the trees on the golf course. This is a roundabout path to the Grove Park Inn.
The Obamas enjoy some fine dining at 12 Bones just down the street from my office downtown. I love how after he orders The President says “you’ll call our number or something?”
If I’d hung around the house a little later today I would have gotten to see the motorcade go down my street.
Around 6 PM tonight four patrol cars parked in front of my office building with their lights flashing. Our balcony overlooks Pritchard Park. I was SURE the boss was going to come check out the regular Friday night drum circle. I would have had a perfect view from the balcony, but alas, they eventually got back in their cars and drove off. Change of plans I guess.
My neighbor down the street, very nice home, has a large sign on their picket fence: “We weeded our garden for the Obamas. Welcome to Grove Park.” I’ll mow my grass tomorrow.
Went to a great show with my son last weekend: Mad Tea Party and Southern Culture on the Skids at the Grey Eagle in Asheville. More pics, videos and yapping after the jump. Check it out.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
My 12 year old son Mars has been itching to see a real rock show. It seems like most of the shows in town that we’re interested in are not all ages. He’s also been itching to visit a local record store near his school called Harvest Records. Recently he got his mom to take him by the store and he asked a guy there to recommend some local bands. He gave Mars a winner: Bandazian. Not only did Mars like their music he saw a flyer for a live show with them at The Grey Eagle in Asheville this past Friday. It was all he talked about for a week, and I was excited to take him to his first show. It didn’t hurt that I also dig their music.
We got there stupid early because I had to get the kid out of house, he couldn’t wait to leave. So we stood around for a good while until The Humbuckers, a solid country rock outfit came out. After they were done it was Bandazian time! Mars told me more than once “I’m nervous.” He had spent the week immersing himself in their music and playing his drum set along to their CD he bought, In Vacant Fields. (He even emailed the band manager to ask if he could use one of their songs in an animated Lego movie he’s making.) Then we saw the guys setting up. When he saw the drummer he said “I’m so jealous of that guy!” “Why?” “Because he’s really good drummer, he’s in my new favorite band, and he has red jeans!” I feel ya on the red jeans Mars man. I’ve always wanted a pair myself.
Mars brought the CD cover and a marker with him so he could get the drummer’s autograph. When the show was over the drummer and singer/guitarist were standing near us having a conversation. Mars was nervous big time now, but I told him I’ll just let them know we thought the show was great, because it was. He tagged along behind and when we introduced ourselves they could not have been cooler about it. They talked to Mars for a minute and when they found out he had their first album the drummer Kevin said he would grab a copy of the new one for Mars. Well, not only did he give Mars a copy of O Pioneer, he also gave him a hand screened Bandazian poster, numbered and signed by Andrew Findley. Soon to be framed. But wait, there’s more…
Mars with his Bandazian booty
After all this Mars was still nervous about asking Kevin for an autograph. I told Mars “he will think it’s the coolest thing ever if you ask him.” So he asked, and Kevin did act like he appreciated it. He even drew a beard on his picture, because he has big one now, “so you can recognize me.” Then singer Alex Keena walked up and signed it too. It was pretty much a perfect experience, for me as well. These guys have some great poignant songs and the combination of seeing and hearing them live, along with watching my son taking it all in for the first time got me a little choked up. We didn’t stay to see the “headline” band The Poles. There was no way the night was going to any better than it was right then.
Bandazian autographed CD
The video at the top is for the song “Crocodile Tears” and was made by a fan. I’d say that’s a quality fan. Check out Bandazian’s music with the links below.
We went to a great bonsai expo at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. (Don’t let that old school web site fool you, the Arboretum itself is stunning.) I have been interested in bonsai forever and decided to get this Mugu Pine from a vendor in the marketplace. I asked the seller “what kind of tomatoes are these?” but I don’t think she was amused. The truth is that joke is an accurate representation of my gardening and bonsai experience, but I had to get the little guy. Some of the big ones were thousands of dollars. The expo had exhibitions by numerous bonsai clubs from several states. Just as impressive is the permanent bonsai exhibit at the arboretum. I took a bunch of pics and you can check them out at Flickr. Hey, there is a sample below…
Want to know what it's like to have brain surgery? Well here's the long version of my experience. Complete with pictures and videos! Read all about the Brain Surgery Experience.
