Spider John Koerner

Noo, he really is from Wisconsin. Out late with house-guests on Friday night to see Spider John Koerner at Jalopy. Great fun. Great guitar playing on his self-modded (with a floating bridge) early 70's (late 60's?) 12 string Epi. Go north! Official or Myspace or Dirty Linen article by Tom Nelligan (which is where the photo here came from).

Brooklyn Machine Works

Hey, Tchochkie, the latest installment of Made In N.Y.C. at the Times is about Brooklyn Machine Works. Seriously, drill down on the bike index page until you get to the choco-brown and gold trimmed gangsta. Does your heart skip a beat? Juju, are you looking at this down in EPT? Doesn't make you want to get yourself up here?

Brooklyn Bike Jumble

"On May 31st, JJ Byrne Park and the Old Stone House will host the 1st Brooklyn Bicycle Jumble, New York's only outdoor bicycle flea market and celebration of New York City bike culture."

Yes, I ate the marshmellow, but I lived to tell the tale

I had heard about these studies, but to hear and see this video presentation by Joachim de Posada is a joy.

And, I have a story of my own to tell, which I remember whenever these kinds of issues come up (see video). I was spending a summer on campus, and it was hot. A philosophy nerd who was also there had a cantaloupe. I offered to trade an LP I had for the cantaloupe, which he though was absurd and kind of primitive and (immediate gratification and all that). We made the trade, and I was very happy. And the the philosophy guy never really took it in that I didn't like the LP.

Cocaine test prompts Red Bull removal in Germany

Yow. AP blurb, and Slashdot thread. (The targeted ad that popped for me when I went to the /. thread was Lance Armstrong advertising FRS. Giggles.)

Memorial day in the land of wild pansies

Happy Memorial Day, folks.
Here in the land where the weak are eaten, Fleet Week in full force (daily emergency emails alerting us to flyovers and warships in the harbor and just chill out and DO NOT EVACUATE), I'm photographing the pansies that wildly seeded themselves in the cracks of our patio and various pots and garden nooks. And I'm defrosting the last of the berries and peaches we put up last summer so we can have them after the BBQ burgers. Gonna grill those burgers over crab apple branches that died off over the last year or two.

By the by, I ran a few errands this morning and when I emptied my pockets just now a 1944 penny turned up. 1944. On Memorial Day. Kind of spooky, no?

ju ju's heading to the desert southwest...

& before departing, he wants to share some interesting linky bits:
the esteemed columnist for the local fishwrap, Jon Carroll, on the Golden Hour;
via the online NYRB, The Crisis and How to Deal With It;
two chunky, chewy bits of linky goodness courtesy that Kottke guy, Infinite Summer & RunPee.com;
leave you with a really good question posited by the wizard behind the scenes at Ethel the Blog, S. Baum...

senor pongo intends to try to keep his hand in here on occasion whilst sunning himself poolside, imbibing his favorite chilled cocktails and noshing on many south of the border style comestibles...

8th Annual NYC Commuter Race

The money quote from the Gothamist: "And every year the cyclist wins. When will the gaming commission investigate T.A.?". Also at TransAlt.

(OK, really, how many librarians have spoke cards? What? They all do now! Begorrah!)

Foreedge painting

Foreedge painting, at Boston Public Library, via Internet Scout. Called a hidden art. Imagine how much more hidden if one replaced edge with skin.

Which reminds me of a joke I loved as a teenager. You know this one? The punch line is, The old man says, "Wait", and starts clapping his hands, "Bump di-di-bump-bump, Bump di-di-bump..."

Bridge of Sighs

Hey, we only knew Douglas Gillespie as a sassy guy, and our connection was all about food and drink. (Hell, until last night we didn't even know he had a last name.) Turns out he's a pretty stunning dancer, with the Kate Weare Company. Yowza.

More boast, Ab Ob, Ron English, Cuz Kev (Chapados)

Nice interview of Ron English on the FlavorWire.

as timely a list as you will ever see...

by way of the estimable m. woods & his wood s lot, courtesy of Salon
(once you get past that ad blip thingie),
The 13 people who made torture possible

Lock me, Dr. Memory

Hal critiques your lock-up.
In a nice piece of theater, we saw Hal steal David Byrne's bike, last year? Year before? While David Byrne watched.

Me, these days, I use an OK Kryptonite U lock for the back wheel and frame, and I have anti-theft spindles and bolts on the front wheel and seat post. I used to carry a cable, too, for the front wheel. Maybe I'll start again - doesn't add much weight. And lock down my Brookes saddle. Sigh. When I ride itty ikey I wear a motorcycle style cable lock and thread it through all the nooks and crannies.

The Antiques

The old guy likes The Antiques.

The Antiques

methinks we all have wondered why it seems so...

obvious, the incredible amount of idiocy and non-critical thought that permeates our culture of late. By way of Phayrngula (via Akkam's Razor) an introduction to Charles Pierce's Idiot America.

an Immediate Moment Edit:
link to original essay here

mebbe mo' later...

Yea, Verily! as threatened (!) earlier,
this next via the wily codger behind the curtain
at G. Coale's weblog thingie,
Joe Bageant's Escape from the Zombie Food Court

Hee hee, ha ha, ho ho - Funy Business, tonight at the Morgan Library

Hey, kids, we're going to see Lyda Ely's film, Funny Business, tonight, at the Morgan Library, where one of the current shows is On the Money: Cartoons for The New Yorker. There's a cocktail doo before the film, and I'm hoping to meet Roz Chast (images), though I can't imagine what I'll say except hummana hummana hummana.

Abraham Obama, tonight, 8 PM 92nd St. Y Tribeca

Oy, yo yo yo, doing anything tonight? Cuz Kev (Kevin Chapados) directed Ron English's Abraham Obama, screening tonight at the Tribeca Branch of the 92nd Street Y.

some miscellaneous linkage from ju ju's desktop...

long been a fan of Chronicle columnist J. Carroll who delivered this to us yesterday and revisits the topic today;
then, there's an interesting story on the topic of self control provided us via the New Yorker's Jonah Lehrer entitled Don't!;
then, ya already know we pointed ye in the direction of the Morning News in yesterday's post, and that's where we found this piece on our (well, most of us in this category these days) penchant for collecting one thing or another;
and wrapping this up, something interesting and, mmmmmmmmm, well, hard to describe going on at Clusterflock today...
tiny wee bit of clarification necessary here:
today refers to the clusterflock posts of the 14th of May

p.s. ju ju's alter id jaypea be seriously considering resurrecting l'marquis d'monquis effort, currently in hiatus. Dis be sorta inspired by dinner conversation with friend last night 'bout all the hot air currently being expended on the topic of bush cadministration's torture policies,etc. without nary a word of the School of the Americas, and no, we not gonna get started on it here, but consider yerselves forewarned...

Homeland Security officials attacked and held hostage

A group of Mexican youths attacked a busload of DHS employees and middle level officials, and are holding 17 hostage. They've sealed the bus and flooded it with dope smoke and won't let anyone out to go to the bathroom. Or maybe not. The NY Times says the image is Boy Scouts training to protect their country from terrorists. Who you gonna believe? Actually, I haven't read the article, I just like the photo (Todd Krainin for The New York Times).

Yo Stumpy! Yo Dante! Yo Esteban!

lookee here!

con muchos besos y abrazos a todos ustedes,
Ju Ju

and then,
later that same day:
ju ju sharing The Morning News with ye...

Oh NO!
another website to add to all the others I'm trying to keep up with!"

be sure to check out this edition's gallery, White Space.

Hecho en Nueva York

Some things still are.
(Me loves Tom Cat. The bread and their trucks.)

algo para la cocina de Ju Ju...

courtesy the NYT online,
something yummy (and so economical too!)

later that same morning:
why Ju Ju loves Clusterflock reason #131,
Leave me the F__k alone
me luvin dat conversation takin' place in de comments...

where ju ju spent his saddidey...

amongst good friends and many fellow guitarists,
an afternoon of music, the pause that refresheth, yummy munchies,
lots of beer and wine, and more music, music, music...

be forewarned, there will be video w/Audio;
let the caterwauling ensue!

May is back to bike commute month!

We flew home last night. Today's forecast called for sunny 60's, so after I put on the suit I thought, what the heck, and got on the bike. Nice chat at Smith and Atlantic with a bearded dude in long shorts and arm warmers all about the perfect weather and sweat and keeping clean clothes at the office. Got to Boro Hall and was happy to see they'd tripled the number of bike racks (thanks, Marty), happy to see the same coffee vendor in the shack, and bummed (but not surprised) to be having a little asthmatic gaspola. Maybe will squirt before the ride home.

Anyway, heaven.
Sent via thingy.

donde esta el 'amburguesa mas sabroso en Nueva York?

pos, quien sabe?
hmmmmmmm?

stumpy?
MellieMel?
anybody?

forty year anniversary of Easy Rider...

wow...

caught sight of that news at some blog or another, you can look up your own item regarding this news via this googled link.
Just an aside here, recently viewed a film titled Elegy w/Ben Kingsley and Dennis Hopper, a long way from his role as Billy in Easy Rider.

manohman, was just an impressionable young buck of sixteen when I saw easy rider, the northgate theatre in ol' EPT...

Later that same day...
two wonderful pieces from two different sources, both worthy of thy studied perusal:
The Things That Carried Him by Chris Jones, courtesy Esquire Magazine online;
How David Beats Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell, via the online New Yorker.

The search for the zozo

Streetfilms.

Toilet paper tube faces

At Make. (#1 and #2, nyuk nyuk)
By Junior Jacquet.

Seeing large numbers

Check out Chris Jordan's work - Running the Numbers.

Paper, scissors, rock

Posted while spending an hour reading my book and twiddling my smart phone. Hmmm.

Kid's rocket MNIDOAILY logo

The rocket and stars in the current MNIDOAILY logo comes from Picture Book of Astronomy, by Jerome S. Meyer and Richard Floethe, 1945. Lookee here!

It wasn't as good as it used to be, and I decided to lose the hat

We went to a restaurant last night that we used to be regulars at, but haven't been to in maybe a year or two, during which time it had ups and downs, closed and reopened. We sat at the bar and the tender got our drinks wrong, then forgot to put in our apps order, then took forever to take our dinner order, which took what seemed like an hour to emerge from the kitchen. The owner, who always used to greet us, both in the restaurant and when we bumped into him now and then on the street, saw us, but didn't come over.

When we left and were a block away, I realized I didn't have my hat. I decided not to go back for it.
Sent via thingy.

Mister Lucky

Isaac Chotiner review of Outliers, in The New Republic

Gladwell's overarching thesis in Outliers is so obviously correct that it hardly merits discussion. "The people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are." Also, tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your life. Gladwell writes as if he is the only person in the world in possession of this platitudinous wisdom.

And,

It is Gladwell's discussion of IQ that gives the clearest window into his thinking, and also most acutely exposes the problems with this shallow and irritating book.

Really, thank you.

The bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar

“My birth, is the subject of the most humiliating criticism."

Eine kleine Mayday sonic mayhem

1995, Craig Baldwin, Sonic Outlaws. Via rhizome.

Brooklyn Food Conference

Tomorrow, just down the Ave, at John Jay.