Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Neil Produces Another Beauty!

For Christmas I received the latest Neil Young and Crazy Horse release, Live at the Fillmore East. While this is a new release, it was recorded in 1970 and shows the power of the Horse before the death of guitarist Danny Whitten. It's well worth it for the versions of "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" alone (over 12 minutes and 16 minutes respectively). Steve Miller and Miles Davis were also on the Fillmore stage that weekend (but not on the record). The Fillmore marquee shown on the cover indicates that the following weekends would feature John Mayall, the Moody Blues, and Joe Cocker. Not a bad line-up.


Now back to the shop . . .

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Heron Randonneur on eBay

I've listed a used 59 cm Heron Randonneur frame and fork for sale on eBay. Details are here.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

More Carradice Stuff Has Arrived!

I just received a shipment from Carradice and have a number of things back in stock! Check out the Carradice page on the Tullio's site for all the details. Highlights include the new green and tan Nelson Longflap saddlebags, more Super C rear panniers, Bagman QR racks, saddlebag clamps, Super C saddlebags, Zipped Rolls, Cape Rolls, and Barley saddlebags.

Also, I received some extra rubber tips for the Bagman QR racks. An earlier shipment of these racks came without the tips. If you bought one of these racks and would like a pair of tips, let me know.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Betrayal of the Brain and Revisiting Lebowski

I didn’t get to 50,000 words during National Novel Writing Month this year. I have lots of excuses, but it’s mostly my brain’s fault. I am typically betrayed by my brain in one of three ways. First is the migraine headache. My headaches can put me out of action for a couple of days, and I had two doozies in November.

The second form of betrayal is obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is when my brain decides that, rather than write, I should be looking up every punk band of the 1980s who might have recorded a cover of Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film” and/or “Rio.” Sometimes, my brain also decides to watch The Big Lebowski until 1 AM. If you’ve never suffered from OCD, it can be difficult to explain. Just imagine that your brain is engaged in one gear and refuses to shift to another.

The third form of betrayal is not technically the brain’s fault. It occurs whenever I get sick and my many prescription medications are supplemented by over-the-counter cold medicines. This inevitably creates a brain haze that prevents any sort of clear thinking. In the past month, I’ve taken Axert, Imitrex, Zoloft, Tylenol, Tylenol Cold, Vicodin, Prilosec, riboflavin, magnesium, Cold-Eeze, Alpha CF, Promethazine, Nyquil, Vicks VapoRub, Pepto Bismol, and Rolaids. I still have the cold, but I can now cut through steel with powerful rays that I emit from my eyeballs.

By the way, I have tried the injectable version of Imitrex for headaches. This comes in an injection “pen” with a spring-loaded needle. The injection is typically given in the thigh. I’m not sure how it well it works long-term, but in the short-term, you forget about your headache to focus on the new, searing pain in your thigh.

During my obsession with The Big Lebowski, I came to revisit an earlier blog entry in which I listed O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Fargo as the two best Coen brothers films. Someone questioned me on it at the time, and I have to question myself now. Lebowski is pretty darned good and gets better with each viewing. How about if I just call them the top three and leave it at that?