Tag Archives: postaday

Skateboarding at night in the French Quarter

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Louisiana in September was like an obscene phone call from nature. The air–moist, sultry, secretive, and far from fresh–felt as if it were being exhaled into one’s face. Sometimes it even sounded like heavy breathing. Honeysuckle, swamp flowers, magnolia, and the mystery smell of the river scented the atmosphere, amplifying the intrusion of organic sleaze. It was aphrodisiac and repressive, soft and violent at the same time. In New Orleans, in the French Quarter, miles from the barking lungs of alligators, the air maintained this quality of breath, although here it acquired a tinge of metallic halitosis, due to fumes expelled by tourist buses, trucks delivering Dixie beer, and, on Decatur Street, a mass-transit motor coach named Desire.”

― Tom Robbins,

A cute couple.

On the way home from the store with a bag of Miller High Life.

Even a tattooed hipster wearing crazy clothes on a skateboard in one of the coolest spots on earth can have bad taste in beer.

Jenga

Posted on by Bill Chance

The Jenga Master

She spent a decade of deprivation, dedication, and study at a monastery in the mountains of Bhutan, high on the slopes of unclimbed Gangkhar Puensum, studying the game under the mysterious monks until she returned a Jenga Master.

Now she earns a meager living hustling the game in the city park.

The children are amazed at her skill, but they will never have the patience nor the passion to become a Jenga Master.

.

Rainy Day in New Orleans

Posted on by Bill Chance

New Orleans is over a hundred miles from the ocean, but it is barely dry. Rain comes quickly and unexpectedly… except it is always expected.

Luckily, there is a source of refuge in the Big Easy – whenever the skies open up, there is always a bar handy to seek shelter and good cheer.

Waiting for the St. Charles Streetcar, the rain came down, hard, so we ducked into The Avenue Pub (which happened to be right there).

The Avenue Pub is beer heaven. Open 24hrs. 7Days (never know when it’s going to rain). Their list of beers on tap is three pages long.

The Beer Buddha says:

“Honestly this category really isn’t fair; but why punish one bar because all the others can’t hold it’s jockstrap? We all know The Avenue Pub is THE beer bar in not only New Orleans but in Louisiana. Nothing against all the other bars in the state but you ALL know you have a long way to go to be mentioned in the same sentence with AP.”

Draft Magazine lists it as one of the 100 best beer bars in the country. They say:

“Only in New Orleans will you find a beer bar open 24/7. The staff is militant about clean beer lines and proper glassware, so even when you stumble in at 4 a.m. you get the best pint in the city. Choose from more than 47 rotating taps and about as many bottles, all focusing on American beer. Go for an exhaustive introduction to local NOLA Brewing or to people-watch from the balcony.”

The Complex City Guide has it at 12 in the 25 best Beer Bars in the country. They say,

“Louisiana may not be the first state you think of when you think of beer (sure, they’ve got Abita), but when you change state to city and beer to drunk, it’s no wonder that New Orleans has one of the best beer spots in the country. Avenue Pub features a rotating 47 taps on two floors (so you can get your exercise in between rounds) and once you mix that with some amazing Louisiana cuisine, you won’t be thinking about Bourbon Street no more. And the most important part, here in the land of to-go cups, the Avenue is open 24 hours a day. Yup.”

And all this is right there, right on the Streetcar Line, right when it starts to rain.

My only complaint – they don’t have Deep Ellum Brewing Company’s Pollinator on tap. Maybe I can send them an email.

The Avenue Pub, on St. Charles in New Orleans

  • Moleskine with Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen
  • Streetcar Fare
  • Beer list and food menu
  • NOLA Blonde Ale Beer
  • Fox Barrel Pear Cider (sorry, it wasn’t even noon yet and I was a little beer’d out – so I had a cider. It was good. So sue me)

A lot of taps.

No Orange Slices! No Muddling!

Michael Prysock

Posted on by Bill Chance

Michael Prysock, (facebook), with Mark Deffebach  Sunday afternoon concert in Klyde Warren Park, Dallas, Texas

I mean, the genuine roots of culture is folk music.

—-Johnny Rotton

Michael Prysock and Mark Deffebach the Mandolin Player

There are no bridges in folk songs because the peasants died building them.

—-Eugene Chadbourne

 

Michael Prysock

The late sixties and early seventies were kind of a breeding ground for exciting new sounds because easy listening and folk were kind of taking over the airwaves. I think it was a natural next step to take that blissful, easy-going sound and strangle the life out of it.

—-Alice Cooper

You have to open your mind. I like the ability to express myself in a deep way. It’s the closest music to our humanity – it’s like a folk music that rises up out of a culture.

—-Sonny Terry

 

Zoom

Posted on by Bill Chance

I was walking in the park and this guy waved at me. Then he said, ‘I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.’ I said, ‘I am.’

—-Demetri Martin

Clyde Warren Park, Dallas, Texas

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing – just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?

—-Ralph Marston

I went to the park and saw this kid flying a kite. The kid was really excited. I don’t know why, that’s what they’re supposed to do. Now if he had had a chair on the other end of that string, I would have been impressed.

—- Mitch Hedberg

Bad Veins

Posted on by Bill Chance

We left the Deep Ellum Brewing Company’s First Annual Party and walked over to Main street where the Deep Ellum Market was in full bloom. I’ve heard some good music at the Markets – the bands set up on the sidewalk outside a recording studio on Main. I’ve seen Ducado Vega and June Marieezy – they were all really good.

Today was a duo called Bad Veins – a guitar/singer/keyboardist and a drummer. They said they usually play with a backing tape deck (named Irene) but decided to be a little more laid back and simply play. They were pretty darn good. They had a little cadre of fans sitting in plastic chairs in the street. How cool.

Benjamin Davis – Bad Veins guitar player and singer.

The Bad Veins and their dedicated fans.

A fan.

Bad Veins playing on the sidewalk in Deep Ellum.

Turkey Trot 2012

Posted on by Bill Chance

Every Thanksgiving for about a decade now Nick and Lee have run in the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. I’d love to run the thing some day – but somebody has to drive the car and keep track of everybody’s stuff.

It’s a massive event – this year about 45,000 runners. There are two courses – the 5K fun run around downtown, and the eight mile timed course which goes from city hall into Deep Ellum then across the bridges into Oak Cliff and back. The kids run the eight mile course.

This makes for a very early morning on Thanksgiving – driving downtown, finding parking, walking to the start. It’s an amazing crowd – with that many runners it takes twenty minutes for everybody to get going. The fastest 5K runners are back before the end of the crowd starts the race.

Last year was cold and foggy, but the weather this time was gorgeous. We know the drill, I wait at the hill near the end to try and see the kids finish (I saw Lee, but missed Nick – with that big a crowd going by, it’s easy to miss a runner). You have to have a pre-planned meeting place (again, with that size of a crowd, cell phone service is very spotty) – most folks agree to meet at the giant inflatable turkey next to the Henry Moore sculpture… but that’s too popular – the crowd there was huge and everyone looked lost.

The crowd is massive, filling the area between City Hall and the Library, and stretching for blocks down the road.

Why is everyone looking at me? Oh, it’s the National Anthem and I’m standing under the flag.

Raise your hand if you have to use the porta-potty.

It’s a long wait at the start for everyone to get moving.

Lee took this shot on his cell phone camera of the race running out of downtown over the Trinity River Viaduct.

5K runners finishing.

Lee near the finish of the eight mile course. Mardi Gras shirt and Tulane Boxers – worn on the outside. Style is important at the Turkey Trot.

Mohawk

Posted on by Bill Chance

She asks me why, I’m just a hairy guy.
I’m hairy noon and night, hair that’s a fright.
I’m hairy high and low, don’t ask me why, don’t know.
It’s not for lack of bread, like the Greadful Death.
Darlin’
—Hair – lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni

Deep Ellum Market, Main Street, Dallas, Texas

 

“Stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you. I will find you!”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

F Hole Tattoo

Posted on by Bill Chance

 Logically, when you talkin’ about folk music and blues, you find out it’s music of just plain people.
—-Brownie McGhee

An F hole tattoo – A perfect back tattoo for a washtub string bass (sometimes called a gutbucket bass) player in a street band in the French Quarter.

Back Tattoo in a street band.

Playing the Gutbucket Bass and the Washboard.

My idea of heaven is a place where the Tyne meets the Delta, where folk music meets the blues
—-Mark Knopfler

Le Violon d’Ingres (Ingres’s Violin)

Man Ray
American, 1924
Gelatin silver print

“You know when I’m down to my socks it’s time for business

That’s why they’re called business socks

It’s business, it’s business time”

―— Flight of the Conchords

Swap Meet and Bicycle Porn

Posted on by Bill Chance

(Please excuse the title, but I have learned that the inclusion of the word “Porn” in a post title results in a lot more hits – a lot more)

Getting up before dawn on a Saturday off work to drive up to Frisco by 8AM is not something I usually do, unless I have to. But there was a big bicycle swap meet up on the infield of the Superdrome bike racing track and I wanted to give it a go. Since I had tickets to the Deep Ellum Brewery’s 1st Anniversary party downtown at noon – I knew I’d have to get the bicycle thing done quickly.

As I get back into riding after all these decades, I am working with two ancient bicycles. I have my Raleigh Technium road bike, which I bought around 1986, and my generic mountain bike, which I bought used a few years later. The technology used in these bikes is long out of date, but they still move when I push on the pedals, more or less.

I want a new bike, but they are so expensive. I have been thinking lately that I should be able to make do with what I’ve got. Still, I need some replacement parts and especially some accessories to help me make my way in the big city and get in the miles I want. New parts are not readily available for bikes that old and I don’t want to spend any more money than I have to – so a swap meet, where I can buy old, worn-out crap at stupid cheap prices is exactly what the doctor ordered. Since I’m now commuting to work and bumming around town – I need storage options on my bike – the more options, the more often I can work in a ride in my busy schedule.

It was cold as the sun peeked up over the steep bank of the Superdrome Track but once it did the day warmed quickly. I walked the circuit, looking at the tables, and slowly picking out what I wanted and what I could afford.

So what did I buy?

Vintage Raleigh Seat – $5
Cage Rocket Storage Pod – $5
Two matching silver bottle holders (my bike now has a pink and a purple one) – $5
Retro Profile for Speed Aero Bars (don’t need these – but always wanted a pair) – $10
New tiny cable lock (not extremely secure – but good for a quick trip into a store) – $5
Zefal Rack Pack (already finding this really useful) – $5
Bar ends (mine are all beat up from falls) – $5

Working now on getting this stuff cleaned up and installed. Now I need to get out there and ride.

Bicycle Swap Meet inside the steep walls of the Frisco Superdrome racing track.

(Click for a larger version on Flickr)

The bell for the last lap at the Frisco Superdrome racetrack.

Lots of buying and selling.

Bicycle Parts Porn

More bicycle parts porn

A beautiful bike is a work of art.

(Click for a larger version on Flickr)