yesterday & today & Didjits

Sept 15 --
Both trips yesterday were largely uneventful. In the morning there was a mother-son combo taking photos of Ground Zero near a loading dock checkpoint at the Deloitte building. (A) they were standing in a terrible spot as that's the only spot for joggers, cyclists, pedestrians, and runnists (that's right, I made up another pricelarious word) to pass through; (B) as far as I'm concerned they are being disrespectful. So I stopped and stood right in front of both of them. I hope I was a major disturbance and that their photos came out lousily.

Playlist:
Soundgarden: "My Wave" and "Superunknown"
Airbourne: "Born To Kill"
Living Colour: "New Jack Theme"
Biohazard: "Pride"

On the ride home the 2nd gear was giving me some problems so I was forced to ride in the 3rd gear to keep the chain in line -- this is the gear that has the most resistance. That was acceptable since I had extra time as I was making a later train than usual. Still I was not moving very quickly and it alarmed me.

Sept 16 (morning) --

I'm moving pretty quickly today. My stomach was giving me problems this morning and I think I'm moving faster today because I'm lighter thanks to about an hour of evacuation rituals this morning. Second gear is fine once again I think I was just pedaling with too much force yesterday evening. I am once again waking up way before my alarm and even Gilly's alarm, so who knows how I'll fare today.

I'm about 40 pgs deep into Into The Wild by John Krakauer. Fascinating read, thus far. Chris aka Alex reminds me of an old friend who is unfortunately a friend now only in "facebook" theory, and on a deeper level I can relate to Alex now. The longing for some sort of transcendence is a pretty universal theme and this guy went for it, too bad he didn't make it out alive. I'm not ruining the book with this knowledge as it's detailed on the cover that he's dead. I don't know if I could hack it being a nomad, vagabond, call it what you will. I will have more to say about the book as the next few days progress, as it's only about 200 pages.

I didn't have to wait very long at the Highway intersection and a Postal trucker of Asian descent saw me making the left and let me dart out ahead of him. I waved back to him once on the highway as a thank-you and he seemed genuinely concerned for me.

I decided to play the Didjits' final album, Que Sirhan Sirhan for the duration of the ride since it cannot be more than 28 minutes. This was my favorite of their albums, though I only owned one other which I sold to a used record store. On this one, however, the sound quality is light years beyond Hornet Pinata and it's faster, heavier and more fun.

So the story behind this album:

When I was about 14, I became a fan of the Supersuckers and the first album I bought of their's was Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers. Their lead guitarist at the time was Rick Sims. That partnership, while artistically successful, was a one-shot deal. Sims did sing on one track and had backing vocal duties on a lot of songs. Upon learning he had left a previous band, the Didjits, I picked up the two aforementioned albums under the radar of my parents, who at th time were slightly dismayed at the amount of money I was shelling out for music. (To this day, not a whole hell of a lot has changed, though I'm far more cost-conscious and with the advent of the internet, I get much better deals.)

Que Sirhan Sirhan has a tranquilized pig floating in clouds on its cover and the insert is a single fold but contains every lyric. These songs are all just fast, fun, furious and all about rocking out, girls, booze, energy and "Get Smart." The opening track is "Agent 99" which, at the time, I didn't realize was a nod to the old television show. I was 14, and only knew "Beavis & Butt-Head" and "Married With Children."

The guitar work is the draw of the album, as it's pretty complex for garage/punk and more than once he makes sounds similar to a chainsaw. While Sims' voice is a falsetto acquired taste, he at least hits his notes. I remember my old best friend, with whom I fronted a garage trio, hated Sims' voice, which was funny because I always thought they sounded similar.

Fast forward to post-college and the CD was in a green carry-pack, which I thought I'd left & lost at my gym. I'd scoured my room to no avail. About a year after I abandoned the search, I looked in the same spot (under the pull-out drawer on the right side of my computer desk) and behold, the green carry-pack, with all contents accounted for. I immediately took the CD to work, burned it, loaded it to ITunes and then kept the disc in the car for short drives, where it has mostly remained. I figure if I ever lose the CD again, it'd be alright, as I now have it preserved digitally (didjitally) in a couple of places.

It's a good rock CD and perfect for my bike rides. Though the songs are adult-themed, the music itself brings me back to a time when the worst thing I could do was buy a CD from The Wall, and when Fridays meant jamming in my drummer's basement. Que Sirhan Sirhan hey, whatever, man.

Thank you for reading.