we just won't be defeated

america's most beautiful bike ride

Emerald Bay

i'll be spending most of tomorrow flying over the, um, fly-over states en route to nevada for my annual trip around the pond.  i'm betting i'll have neither the time nor the inclination to be online a whole lot over the following three days either.  try not to miss me too much.  if you like, you can while away the long hours until my return by trying to locate me in the photo above.  it's from last year, so theoretically i'm in there somewhere.

not guilty: they might be giants

we'd be willing to bet that, if asked, you wouldn't have guessed that our very first musically related post here at hotrod.vox.com was about they might be giants.  hell, even we wouldn't have guessed and we wrote the thing, but there you go.  it's kind of funny, now that we think back: we had seen the video to the song in question on TMBG's website, which had since been updated.  if only there was an online database for searching and viewing random videos....

so yeah, they might be giants probably don't belong here, but we - like most self-respecting indie rockers - take our music seriously, which typically doesn't leave a whole lot of room for jokes.  we do enjoy this song, however, and it seems somehow appropriate for our final regular installment of our "not guilty" feature to tie back to our first post tagged with the initials of the High Church of the Indie Rock Orthodoxy (DC Chapter).  it's like the circle of life.  or something.

They Might Be Giants - Albany

as we mentioned, this will, in fact, mark the end of our regular "not guilty" posts.  we'd like to claim that now that cappy's following our lead the whole endeavor has jumped the shark, but truth be told, we've been planning on retiring this feature at this juncture for some time.  it's possible we may revisit the topic occasionally in the future to feature a few of the artists we never got around to discussing (dwight yoakam and kid rock and everclear and the clash, for example) but based on our track record with "new and improved," we wouldn't hold our breaths.  it's been fun, though.  we never realized gwen stefani was such a polarizing figure.

punch the clock

so let's recap: monday was a holiday.  i had already scheduled a day off on friday for my annual trip out to nevada.  and this morning, literally on my way out the door, i got a call from my boss saying the power is out at the lab.  recent updates say it might be restored by "late afternoon."  i realize i may be jinxing myself here, but this could shape up to be a very nice work week for your friendly neighborhood hotrod.

a new hope

a long time ago in a studio far, far away....

from the late 1960's through the mid-1970's, the hollywood studios were hijacked by a group of fruity screenwriters, actors, and directors who made deeply personal and complex films about feelings and stuff.  very few movies were made about blowing shit up, and those that were were quickly shunted to the periphery of public consciousness.  they were dark times.  thirty years ago today, however, a brash young filmmaker named george lucas released a masterpiece of bad acting, dogfights, and explosions which effectively put an end to that ponderous era of carefully crafted story and character development.  the modest special effects may seem dated to the modern eye but they were no small part of the film's overwhelming success, which was instrumental to the ushering in of the gloriously bloated and orgiastic summer blockbuster season we enjoy to this day.

so yeah: thirty years ago today saw the release of "star wars" - for better or for worse the most important film in the history of film since the very first "talkie."  in honor of this historic occasion, we humbly present the failed screen tests of some of hollywood's (once and future) biggest stars, which never fail to entertain.  neither, for that matter, does the great film itself, despite what seems like a hundred screenings.  tonight's agenda: screening number one hundred and one.

Star Wars - Walken, Dreyfus, Matthau

Star Wars - Reynolds, Streisand, Lemmon

not guilty: no doubt

i don't have much to add here, given that i've mentioned my affinity for this particular song at least twice before.  i will say, though, that the video isn't quite as pleasingly midriff-y as memory serves.  no matter.  the song is still good.

No Doubt - Spiderwebs

the weather is here, wish you were beautiful

i was supposed to be writing about my ride last saturday a couple of days ago when i was pre-occupied with other things.  here's the abridged version:

i hate that ride.  it really sucked.  we rode by an undisclosed location.  it was really difficult.  that it was windy sure didn't help any.  riding ninety miles on a bicycle is insane.  ydnar can suck my balls.  i'm STILL sore.  i'm glad i did it.  but i'm much more glad it's over.  look, see how tough it was (below).

Mt. Weather elevation chart

for more thorough coverage, you can check out my previous recaps.  i felt the same then that i feel now.  i don't ever want to do the mount weather ride again.  but i know i will.

globetrotter

never let it be said that i am not an impulse shopper.  i got to thinking about an hour ago about my post of nearly a week ago, and decided - you know?  i really DO need a vacation.  so long story short, i looked up some flights, cashed in some frequent flyer miles, and booked a trip.  all since eight o'clock; and all without thinking about any of it.

on august 30 of this year, i'll be heading just up the road to national airport, and i won't be leaving airports until i am in south america.  and after one glorious day in santiago, i'll be boarding another plane for easter island.  that's right - easter island.  i've got three full days there, and then another five when i get back to dry land.

i need to move around some pre-existing plans, but i'm sure mehaffey will understand.  i've been ready for a real vacation since, like, yesterday.  or before.  much, much before.

[UPDATE: as vanna and akai have pointed out, i had been planning/talking about a trip to chile for some time before yesterday.  the impulse here was that at no point before eight o'clock had it occurred to me to make plans to travel halfway around the world.  and that once i found a suitable itinerary, i purchased the tickets on the spot without thinking it over for a day or two.  but strictly speaking, this purchase can hardly be called an impulse buy.  thanks, ladies, for keeping me honest.]

no more rides

Preakness Stakes

curlin wins in an upset at the preakness.  street sense places.  the dream is over.

free bird!

so, jodi, this yet another reason we continue to check in with pitchfork....

it's been a dozen years now since will oldham entered the wheelhouse.� the brilliance of offering the world the "hope" EP, "days in the wake," and "arise, therefore" (not to mention "matewan") and only then releasing a masterpiece on the level of "i see a darkness" earns you that sort of respect in our book.� singing back-up on the man in black's cover of the title track of the aforementioned masterpiece doesn't hurt either.� and when you're in the wheelhouse, you have the luxury to do whatever you want.

we've written about "free bird" before.� it is, simply put, one of the ten best rock songs ever recorded.� one wouldn't expect a version by pat metheny, joe satriani, and one of the guys from the gipsy kings to be any good.� [editors' note: those might not be the same guys who are in the california guitar trio.]� but then, one also wouldn't expect them to recruit the bonnie prince to sing the lead on the road in louisville.� we wouldn't rank it up there with the BPB's cover of AC/DC's "big balls," but it's still better than everything pete doherty has ever done.� combined.

not guilty: wilco

the second best thing that ever happened to john lennon's career was being shot only weeks after the release of his first new album in five years.  his untimely death then - and continuing to this day - overshadowed that there's very little "rock and roll" in songs about giving your infant son a bath.  it's understandable why jeff tweedy wants to be linked, musically, with lennon.  what's less clear is why he's also emulating his idol's mistakes.

wilco's latest - "sky blue sky" - dropped only a couple of days ago, but my vast network of spies and minions managed to procure me a copy well in advance of its official release.  so i've had some time to spend with the record already.  my initial reaction was that tweedy was taking the obsession which began on "a ghost is born" to new extremes.  more than a few songs wouldn't be the least bit out of place on "double fantasy."  but as i listened more closely, i heard other influences and none of them were particularly what one who is not robert christgau might call "good."

many of the reviews of "sky blue sky" mention those influences, but - curiously - in an overall positive context.  entertainment weekly says it's "... the best eagles album the eagles never made" seemingly unironically.  slant magazine says it sounds "...at least 30 years old" seemingly unironically.  rolling stone name-checks both steely dan and the allman brothers seemingly unironically.  and i am left wondering how this record can be the product of the same guy who gave us "gun."  (dabysan will attest, i am sure - and probably with no small amount of glee, to a dismayed instant message several weeks ago comparing the record to steely dan.  he even posted about it, sort of, not long afterward.)  the good folks at pitchfork however, ever the contrarians, thankfully recognize the emperor has no clothes, stating that the record, um, "...nakedly exposes the dad-rock gene wilco has always carried but courageously attempted to disguise."  heh.  "dad-rock."  that's rough, right?  right?

make no mistake: i'm going to buy "sky blue sky."  but only because i've had a bootleg copy since march and i'm anal about actually paying for records.  (music "sharing" IS stealing, and though jeff tweedy probably doesn't need the small stipend he'll get from my purchase, i listen to plenty of bands that could use whatever they get from my sixteen bucks.)  i'm not going to feel especially good about it, though.  one might even say i might feel "guilty."  my plan to assuage my guilt is to sit back and enjoy a double-shot of wilco's debut to remind myself of when they were, you know... cool.

incidentally, "AM" was the first record i bought after my move to virginia.  june 6, 1995: i had just finished my first shift back at kofi hous and decided i needed new music to celebrate.  i've no idea how or why i remember that.