4 Months and 40 pounds later...

Rufus. Dude. Eating his Spinach.

yet again, my iphone camera skills are terrible and my zoom/crop job was crap, but you get the point. this dude is GROWING.

shave and a haircut

because sometimes....your face and head need some spring cleaning as well.....

and a full day of listening to Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

Born Free - the one by M.I.A.

Everyone needs to set aside 10 minutes and watch this music video directed by Romain-Gavras, the same director that brought you the amazing video for Stress by Justice.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

I've heard about the potential 'extinction' of this certain race, but the video puts it in a new perspective.

tonight's quick resto project

terrible picture, I know. I just wanted to post up something that has had a successful result as my other projects have all reached a standstill until I work some shit out. (aka, find more time, money, and make decisions)

This is my 1980's 14x5 Ludwig Acrolite snare drum. While the acrolite was originally sold as a student drum its got a great sound and is now used pretty widely for studio and live work. Its got the great 'black galaxy' finish and has a seamless aluminum shell.

Tonight's work was simple, but needed for years:

Remove the hoops and clean off the rust/oxidation

Replace the broken throw off mechanism with a vintage Ludwig repop version

Clean up the lugs

Replace the heads with Evans heads.

It will be a sweet sweet sound to get this snare back in the mix. While I do love the 68 maple Slingerland snare I've been using, this aluminum black beauty has such a nice natural ring and sustain for rock music. buzz rolls for days!

summer salads

I definitely love what Joseph Joseph does with kitchen wares. Just great designed stuff. Like their new salad bowl and tong set. Look, a place for the tongs to rest after serving up some salad.....

Great stuff as usual here.

ugh. I think I need a different frame.

I just can't get my shit together for this shovel build. Frame needs more work than it may be worth in the end. I won't get into the details, but right now, I'm not 100% stoked on it. Things could change with some work, but not right now.

so.........i'm just going to think happy thoughts for a little bit while I pause and reflect on it all. Here are some pictures of bikes that I think are done well and the owners have already figured out what frame they are using. (because they are done building the bikes)

While none of them are the direction I want to go with my bike, they are all just really nicely done.

KICK CAFE - Taipei

Every once in a while I'll get a free weekend during a work trip to do some exploring. I've been coming to Taiwan for quite some time now working on shiny metal mountain bike things that connect you to your bicycle, but I'm usually staying in the middle of the country in the city of Taichung.

This past weekend and the weekend before I had the chance to head up to Taipei and met some great people and got explore a coffee/bike shop that I had seen in a great local Taiwan mag called Free Biker.

I'm definitely not going to go into a career in photography, especially after viewing these pics I took. I swear this place is way cooler than I made it look. Imagine your favorite coffee shop from back in the day, except every magazine is motorcycle related, usually of the Japanese type of beautiful, simple, custom type stuff and awesome custom parts for sale all around you. Yes, this is the Kick Cafe.

It's great to see that the motorcycle scene is booming in Taiwan with awesome custom builds/mods like the ones below. 125cc engines and just perfect.

"the move"

I think he's a good actor, and yeah he's got lots of toys (motorcycles), but at least he rides them. It's not like he buys them and they just sit in his garage. And that definitely adds to the respect I already have for my buddy Brad.

This video shows 3 things:

1) when people are watching, sometimes finding neutral just doesn't happen on the first try

2) how crazy it must be for him to just get around hollywood with the paparazzi

3) most impressively, check out his move at the 1:11 part of this video.

that's just some baddass-ery. I want to be able to do that when people are in MY way. nobody gives him shit for it, they see the signal to move, and they move...done and done.

MOTOCOMPO

So my original mission up to Taipei was only partially successful. Located the shops I want to visit, but kept missing them. BUT I did find a Moto Compo.....

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Without a doubt the coolest thing Honda has brought the world since the CB 350 Twin.

Rufus, again? yes.

Got a little mini moto mission this weekend planned for Taipei, stay tuned for that. In the meantime, here's another great picture that Leigh Anne snapped of young Rufus wanting to play.

go fetch.