!!!

An overdue, late post, please forgive me.

First: I'm finally carrying out one of my lifelong ambitions....that of the fabled "Internet Cash" you've heard mentioned so often on this blog before. See the ads on right? Do you?! Well, friends, that's *Internet Cash* (asteriks, baby, no "" here) in its purest form. I make something like $0.000005 per click or page view or something, I'm not sure, honestly, but hey: The dream was to make Internet Cash. Not to make "lots" of it. Maybe that'll be the new dream? Honestly though, it isn't too bad or obtrusive, I don't think, so it'll stay there. Unless someone's real upset by it? At this rate, it'll provide an inflation-exempt quality burrito with every passing decade.

Again. I've got two new training tools I'd like to share with you all:

On the left, we have the new Ipod Nano. 2Gb. $150. I don't remember how I put together enough cash to get it, but it's good one, for sure. It's way more scratch resistant than the old one, more style points, wayyy more battery life (and the old one was already excessive...this one has "24 hours" though I think it's even more), newer softer headphones, and the best new feature: a recessed centre button! Great for riding.

On the right...the new Ben Kweller album! I've already mentioned it, but seriously! It's a nice piece of work. Perfect off-season music. I think the play-count has reached into the 40s. My love for it may be slightly skewed, 'cause the show was so much fun, but if ONE reader picks it up/borrows it/whichever, and sees what i'm talking about, i'd be psyched.

More music...less bikes. Saturday: This day will go down as one of the busiest of my life. But amazingly, every little task I had to complete, was completed. The stats from the night (sorta in chronological order, but not entirely):

# of Miles Ridden: 85
# of Bike Rides: 7 (1 for the sake of riding, 6 for transport)
# of Bikes Used: 2
# of Subways Taken: 4
# of Times I listened to the BK Album While In Transit: 3
# of Bands seen: 5
# of Psychadelicly Juiced Up Incredible Bands Seen: 1!!!
# of Conversations I had With John Frusciante: 1
# of Bass Players I Became Infatuated with: 1
# of Rehearsals Attended: 1
# of Photo Shoots Attended: 1
# of Burritos Consumed: sadly, nil

Okay. That's the list. I'm CERTAIN there are more stats, but I'm a bum, and didn't write this 'till 4 days passed. Based on the aforementioned stats and my penchant for writing agonizingly long and descriptive blog entries, you might fear that I'll write an entry of colossal proportions....fear not! It will be brief. A bit of a misunderstanding triggered all the [controlled] madness. This is where I was:


This is the bassist I fell for:



She plays with The Like. Crafty band name, I realize. She's not a world-class bassist, and the band's music is kinda rehashed Pixies stuff (though they played a terrific cover of the Sex Pistols' "Submission"). But what mad-cool style! Such presence! She wins! Gahh...i'll check 'em out again, they're from Los Angeles, and so am I, apparently.

So the reason for the misunderstanding is that !!! (chk chk chk), we thought, was going on at 6:30. No, they were going on at 9:35 (nice work, Mick). So, I had to leave the festival and come back, as I had comittments with my band (the photo shoot and rehearsal). That's the reason for all the madness. So I went, did the band stuff without a hitch. Got back right in time to see part of Beck's set, and most importantly, in time for !!! They were friggin charged and juiced up as hell. Had they been riding Le Tour, they might have been declared "unfit to start", but hey. Doesn't take away from the amazingness. They rocked out, I followed suit, and before long, it was over. I waited around for maybe an encore, but nothing. Then, while the lights were on, and the place was clearing out, I see John Frusciante...alone...just wandering about. I approach. "Hey John, didn't know you were a fan of !!!" "yeah dude, the things they do with the synched 2-guitars is amazing" We talked it up for a good bit, and then I said "I have to go" or something lame like that. I didn't want to hassle him too much. I've met him twice before. Awesome guy, and in my opinion, the best rock guitarist ever. ever ever.

And that's that. I've been checking out the map of Europe on google earth lately. It's a lot smaller than I thought. I used to think it's "as big as the US" but it's way smaller. Ah well, they didn't teach us these things in 5th grade geography.

And a photo...cause photos are better than words:

(L-R) Me with the best shirt ever (Thanks Cat!), DJ Janet, and Serk: Rising SoCal Cycling Star