One of Those Days?

Did you ever have one of those days when the entire universe seemed to be in harmony? When each breath seemed sacred, and every soul holy? When every moment seemed freighted with meaning? When life became unrushed enough that you were able to slow down and actually smell the goodness of the earth? When compassion for creation gushed out from your heart unbidden, and in the splendid silences, you fancied you could hear angels and mermaids sing?

Me neither.

Dave Ramsey

Man, I am really liking The Dave Ramsey Show.

Too bad that I was not receptive to this type of message 25 years ago. I'd be in a whole different place these days, financially. Now, I'm just in a hole, financially.

God tried to get through to me way earlier, via my wife and a close college buddy.  But I wasn't ready to listen until I had fully ruined my finances.

But it may not be too late for you, dear reader!  Tune into Dave's show, or read his excellent book:  The Total Money Makeover.  Just excellent stuff.  Your bank account will thank you.

The Persistence of Memory (Part 1 - Driving Ace)

It is interesting to me how powerful the human memory is.  The "touch point" might be a remembered image, sound, or smell.  When our senses, even after an interval of decades since the initial encounter, is confronted with one of these touch points, a flood of memories rushes upon us like a tsunami previously held back only by forgetfulness.

I mean to bring you a series, then, on some of my personal touch points: those images, songs, aromas that still move me powerfully, no matter how long ago they were planted within me.

As I was commuting to work this morning, this image came to mind:

It is, of course, one of the "Safety" cards from the popular card game, Mille Bornes.  At least, it was popular with my family back in the 1960s.  The Safety cards were special, and could give you either 100 or 400 extra miles, depending upon the circumstances under which they were played.  There are four Safety cards in Mille Bornes:  Extra Tank, Puncture Proof, Right of Way, and Driving Ace. 

But my favourite was always the Driving Ace.  My heart skipped a beat whenever I was dealt this card.

And, because of the persistence of memory, my heart still skips a beat whenever I see or think about the Driving Ace card.  It seems fraught with possibility.  It is like a superpower, only one that is perhaps humanly achievable ... or, at least, dispensed to a few individuals such as Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, or John Force.  It is one superpower to which I aspire.

And I needed it this morning.  A seasoned citizen, obliviously ran a red light directly in front of me on my way to work this morning. 

I would have T-boned this frail individual, ending his/her (for with extreme age, sex becomes difficult to determine infallibly) frail existence.  But I did not hit the car, because I played my Driving Ace card.

Coup-fourré!

SHIFT!

I just know this is going to be a great movie.  I mean, there probably isn't any bad movie about drag racing, from my point of view.

But, looking at this teaser video on YouTube, I get the feeling this movie will be something extra special.  I love the slow motion video of the drag cars.



I also love the use of the Foo Fighters' song Wheels in this context.  I'm pretty sure that the song was not written about drag racing.  But what a perfect song for those vintage cars as they come down from wheelstands!



Can't wait to see this one when it comes out! 

Website for the film is here.

1963 Olds F-85 Wagon - After the Muffler Repair.

We are still working on getting this beast roadworthy.  Today we tackled the "holy" muffler.  This photo explains the sound in the last video we posted:

And here is the new, improved sound, thanks to a new Thrush muffler on the passenger side.  The nice sound at idle is partly due to a mild street/strip cam from Iskenderian.

The Vinyl Killer!

I learned about this Japanese toy from the 1970s on the American Pickers show.

Apparently, the actual name of this device is the "Soundwagon", but its fans have dubbed it the "Vinyl Killer" because of its effects on the vinyl records it plays.

I admire this for so many reasons.

I love the genius of this type of out-of-the-box thinking.  To be able to think outside the norm of placing a vinyl record inside the "box" of a stereo system, to find the wild and zany freedom of the record player actually scooting around on the record as if it were an asphalt skid circle ... well, I just don't have words to describe the genius of that!  I can't believe I didn't hear about these when they first came out.  Enjoy!

Devo: Bastardizing the Blues (Interview from PremierGuitar)

I REALLY enjoyed this interview with Bob Mothersbaugh of DEVO fame!

Among other guitars, Bob plays a G&L SC-2, much like the SC-3 I used to own.  He is absolutely right about that tremelo never going out of tune!

Here is one funny passage from the interview:

Are you picky when it comes to cables and picks?

Well, I like coiled cords but they get all tangled up onstage, so I use a wireless system. I use Dunlop Gator Grip picks, because the outfits we wear onstage make me sweat profusely. The picks have a powder on them that gets sticky when they come into contact with sweat, so I don’t drop many picks.


You wouldn’t want to bend down to retrieve a pick, only to have your Energy Dome fall off.

Exactly, it would spoil the illusion!

 

A couple of Bob's cool guitars have been featured on the Guitarz blog:

Les Paul with droopy lower horn!

The Blue Potato Guitar!