jeff conlin - summer '02 archives

07-30-02, 7:34pm (BRP, quakers, flying cars, motor cats)
Back from Bele Chere. We tore it up. Fun time, much-needed break from life. We stayed in the same hotel as Foghat. How cool is that? FOGHAT, DUDE! Maybe some MP3s or video coming soon. Had the sound guys record a CD of the set, but the morons forgot to close the session and write the TOC, so I think the disc is worthless. Anyone know how to read raw data off of a CD-R? Anyway, took the BRP to US-221 home. Very sweet ride.

What's your faith? I always considered myself a liberal Christian... or generic humanist protestant... or something like that. Turns out I'm actually best suited to be a liberal Quaker. Interesting little site if you're lacking in a spiritul identity. Off to join the Society of Friends now...

Best quote ever written... on the subject of the Bay Bridge... an often-overlooked entity that has without a doubt transformed the state of Maryland with greater force than anything else imaginable. As Washington and Baltimore were suburbanizing, the Eastern Shore was pure and untouched. Until 1952. And that was far longer than the proponents had hoped. Said one "philosophical observer" in the Baltimore Sun in 1947, "If they wait another forty years . . . people will have flymobiles and won't need bridges to cross the bay."

Also in today's news... Motorcat has passed away. I only saw Motorcat once, and barely even completed the necessary thought processes to figure out what the hell it was that I just saw by the time it was well past me. Now I know. In this tragic summer of more motorcycle deaths and injuries than anyone has seen before... this is a strangely heartwarming story. Through all the people who are falling victim to their own poor judgment, or more likely to poor drivers not paying any attention on the road... Motorcat came out on top.

Ride on, kitty.

(o, techno, where art thou?)
Have been digging through the ol' CD collection and came across some beautiful early-mid 90s trancey stuff (Cygnus X, Hardfloor, Sven Vath... anything from Eye-Q/Harthouse records). Recalled the late nights in front of the computer during high school doing work that was far more challenging than anything I ever had to do in college. What ever happened to simple, elegant techno? Long before "electronica"... long before the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy ruined the genre... back when no one gave a damn about the DJ and actually loved the people making the music.

Yikes. I've become a techno curmudgeon.

So I fired up the JX-305 and threw something together real quick (that's what you do with a Roland synth... you never make a song, you throw something together). I keep thinking I need to get a new workstation, but then the JX reminds me that it cost only $400 and can do some pretty impressive stuff considering the next option up is $2000.

(looking at life)
Well this month has been quite awful. So many deaths. Some understandable, some tragic beyond words. But it makes you stop and recognize the precious gift we all have... to simply exist for a little while.

After a local wake (and a Muv-inspired dinner of Ledo's Pizza and pitchers of St. Louis' own Budweiser), we went to St. Louis to bury Muv next to Fado. We were also able to see the Rockwellian suburb of Webster Groves where my grandparents and parents grew up, in addition to Mel and Karl Wolfsberger... my grandparents' neighbors all through the 50s and 60s. They're fast approaching 100 years old, and still have a zest for life that I don't even think I have. It was humbling, fascinating, and very entertaining to just be able to sit in their Smithsonian-style home (could have been an exhibit for The American Kitchen circa 1958) and hear their stories. Karl was a semi-pro baseball player, dairy farmer, and WWII veteran. Mel was Miss Minnesota, and ran her own beauty salon. Just amazing.

After such a heartwarming time, we headed to Jefferson Barracks for a veteran's service for Muv (who was a Navy Wave in WWII, and was so incredibly honored to be able to call herself a veteran - she is also buried beside her late husband, also a veteran, rather than on top of as is usually the case for non-veteran spouses). Veteran's funerals are probably the most honorable, most patriotic experiences ever. Sadly, we arrived at the gravesite just as they were literally dumping the casket in. Somewhat jarring reality check after being in such a dreamlike state for the previous 48 hours.

Corinne, Ken, and David are all together now, somewhere. They've left us essentially family-less, but we'll be there soon enough. What's important is that they touched our lives in a way that made us all better people. And that's what it's all about.

Pictures

(the loss of my Muv)
Corinne Coggeshall... easily the most beautiful woman I've ever loved. They're pretty sure she passed away in her sleep. At this stage in her life, I think it's probably the best case scenario... but that doesn't make it easy for us. Luckily, unlike when her husband (my Fado) passed away and my last rolls of undeveloped film of him were stolen, I have some pretty good pix of her with us. We've always been a small family. Now we don't really have any family besides ourselves.

Pictures from last Christmas

(dark week)
The last couple of days have really been a mixed barrage of emotions and experiences. Setting the tone for it all has been a haze of grey smoke that appeared some time Friday and has stuck around since. Puzzling, because the forecast was for bright, clear days and star-filled nights. Wildfires brought on by droughts in eastern Canada are to blame. Amazing that they're affecting the climate and visibility almost one thousand miles south. Depressing, really.

Also depressing is my roommate's wedding. She and her new husband are constantly at eachother's throat. Anytime I've seen them together, they've never smiled simultaneously. Apparently most of her bridal party, family, and friends have all encouraged her to call off or postpone the wedding, yet she went through with it, sometimes reportedly saying that "it was too late to back out anyway".

On top of that, she let her husband's entire family stay in our tiny 2-story, 2.5 bedroom townhouse. While that's rude enough, it's amplified by the fact that at no point did they really say thanks to the rest of us living there, or acknowledge that it was damn crowded. If I were in their shoes I'd kindly turn down the offer and get a hotel room. One night, she also was going to let all of the drunken Marine groomsmen to stay over as well, but luckily my other roommate stepped in to prevent that, and wound up essentially pinning a giant red "B" to her dress for the rest of the week.

To compound the already depressing sky and events, Kim was very sick and our 2nd set of plans for the weekend (our first ones already fell through) also fell through. We managed to get some hiking in (south of Great Falls on Fri, then in the smoky Appalachians on Sun), but that brought about more sickness.

Then today I find out that another motorcyclist friend from the Sabmag has passed on, in addition to a number of local riders on the DC-Cycles list. Most by idiot drivers who simply "didn't see them, officer!"

Luckily I know criminal charges are pending in one case. I hasten to call it justice, but it's about all that can be done.

There are risks inherent in motorcycling. Hell, there are just as many risks inherent in getting out of bed every morning. The real issue at hand seems to be a gradual decline in driving ability by the general public. Blame is often placed on everything from SUVs to cell phones to old people... but whatever the cause, it's hard to ignore the frighteningly high number of poor drivers on the road now. And despite the higher number of accidents, it's not a self-correcting problem. For every moron driver that dies, they usually take out a good driver. There are potential ways to fix this... but they're not the most libertarian of ideas. Not that MD or DC are the most libertarian of places right now to begin with. Grr.

(ride on, Pete)
There are some people in life who just make you smile. Pete Leahy was one of them, and despite tons of e-mail I never got to meet him face to face... he'll be sorely missed.

(stardom)
Life's getting back to normal after a week of incredibly hard work (and fun) moto-crewing for the AIDSride. Sort of hard to define the experience if you're not familiar with it, so I won't really try here. But if you were there, you know how incredible it was.

So every time Kim and I go get dinner in Laurel, cool things happen. Last week it was the fire resulting in a free meal and full rainbow. This week, we became TV stars. Nothing like seeing a picture of you and your girlfriend, with the words "DATE RAPE CRISIS" plastered on the screen just before the 11pm news.

While flattered that we were deemed attractive enough to be the poster-children for the lead story of the evening... it IS Laurel we're talking about.

(rollin')

Q : What's the opposite of this?

Kim and I were having a nice dinner at Don Pablo's when suddenly the Fire Brigade bumrushes the joint and demands everyone get out... something about a major electrical fire. Well, it was pouring outside, and we only started to eat... but since they shut off the electricity, no one could pay their bills. So we got free margaritas, about 1/3 of a free meal... and Kim got to go outside and play in a rainbow.

I have officially owned this Kawasaki GPz1100 for 3 days and have already put upwards of 2000 miles on it. Blasted through Kentucky this past weekend for some guerilla touring. Another 800 or so is coming tomorrow as I head out for AIDSride moto crew duty.