Tin Hats on the Street of Croccodiles

just off the wires from the Tin Hat Trio:

In January we'll be recording a new CD dedicated to the art and writings of Bruno Schulz. Check back for more information and a release date.

That's magic right there. Bruno Schulz's brief literary output contains some of the most beautiful, delicate, phantasmagorical narratives ever put on paper. They inspire a host of artists I admire, most notably The Brothers Quay whose short fim Street of Croccodiles is nothing short of amazing. Tin Hat Trio's sound is so evocative of Shulz's mysterious, playful and menacing vignettes that it's hard to believe that they haven't been making music about him all along.

In other musical news, I recently picked up the Anthology of American Folk Music. It's a scratchy, dustry trip to America's dark heart. It's a refutation of Laura Bush's fairy tales about those who settled this land. A simpler time? Hardly so. It's difficult to listen to those songs (murder, drunkneness, fear, redemption) and reconcile them with our lives today. After putting the whole collection on my iPod I went to the folkways website and pulled down the rather extensive collection of notes (not Harry Smith's but the more recent ones) and put them in a twiki for easy viewing via the iPod's notes function. So if anyone has been wishing for a more portable version of the liner notes, let me know...

My head's spinning like bicycle wheel these days. I do all my riding up there.

More devil, loss blogs

I've not written on here much, and I think it's time to admit to myself that it's time for a break. Since returning from Germany I've been focusing more and more on art, less on Cycling (with a capital C). Sure I still use it to get from here to there, but increasingly I wonder if I need to write about it.

For the moment, I don't. I love cycling. I really like blogging. But there's a part of me that feels a little sad about my need to transfer the one to the other. Which is not to devalue anyone else's blog. But right now I feel a little less activist than I did before.

Dusseldorf Bike Shop

Tour de France laughs

The Daily Show has some fun with the Tower de France.

I missed the tour. In fact, since I was in the correct time zone I had the opportunity to watch it "live." But I didn't. Why?

The Tour is a tough ride, obviously. I can't take that away from those who ride it. But I want to see a Tour without the cars. I want to see riders fix their own flats. It's bicycling, after all. I want to see individuals, not teams, out there, riding their hearts out. The beauty of the bicycle and the rider. Not pace cars.

High MPG Hummer!

Artist in Residence



Well, it has no MPG to speak of, because it's made of styrofoam.

old town bike

One thing that was so refreshing about Germany was not just the number of bicycles, but the range of people riding them. Not just students and messengers but businessmen in suits, seniors running errands, middle-aged tourists.

With gas at the equivelent of $5.50 a gallon, it's no wonder. The reason gas is so high has little to do with import costs, or even the costs of motor vehicles. The German government is fond of attaching all kinds of taxes to fuel.

Getting up to speed...

...after two weeks in Germany. I saw a lot of great old bikes, including this one. It has a single rod brake in the front. When the brake lever is pulled the brake pad hits the top of the tire.

Which must have been murder on your tires. Makes you glad for cantilever brakes.