Go!!!!!! then fall down

While you guys are off having babies and making money, I’ll be keeping an eye on the 2006 MotoGP schedule (which you can now find in my coveted links section.)

The first race of the season was last Sunday and only two things really stood out: Rossi fell down in the first five seconds (also fell the day before in qualifying) and Capirossi took his Ducati (see picture) to first. Nicky Haydn is fast climbing the ranks, which is great, but I like listening to the Italian accents over the Southern ones during the post-race interviews. I mean, those interviews are ridiculous, as they are in all sports coverage. They’re unintelligible in any language. “Why do you think you won?” “Because I kept going faster and stayed ahead of everyone else.”

Race Classification MotoGP – Round: 1 – Jerez

Lap Record: 1′ 40.596 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1′ 39.064 (Loris Capirossi, 2006)

Race: 27 Laps

Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. Total Time

1 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 45′ 57.733

DATE	CIRCUIT	GRAND PRIX	RESULTS
March 26	Jerez	Spain	Capirossi
April 8	Losail	Qatar	Rossi
April 30	Istanbul	Turkey
May 14	Shanghai	China
May 21	Le Mans	France
June 4	Mugello	Italy
June 18	Catalunya	Spain
June 24	Assen	Holland
July 2	Donington	UK
July 16	Sachsenring	Germany
July 23	Laguna Seca	USA
August 20	Brno	Czech Republic
September 10	Sepang	Malaysia
September 17	Philip Island	Australia
September 24	Motegi	Japan
October 15	Estoril	Portugal
October 29	Valencia	Spain

Song Of The Week (The Heuristics Of The Mystics)

Not only am I posting a song which I’ve memorized more deeply than a lullabye, I am posting the lyrics. Brian Eno and Frank Black are my favorite songwriters, just for the sheer meandering puzzle of their lyrics. Plus, once you’ve got them memorized, the songs are great for loud singing alonging.

I’ve reached that tipping point age where I don’t want to hear any more new music and I just want to replay all the records from that one period in my life when the Best Music of All Time was being made: Brian Eno, Roxy Music, Stranglers, PiL, Killing Joke, Throbbing Gristle, etc., etc.

So, anyhoosgow (as my friend Jim likes to say), Brian Eno is my friend. I even got to see him lecture once at UC Berkeley and had a short conversation with him. (I wonder if it’s significant that my grandfather interviewed Alexander Kerensky, president of Russia’s interim government after the Revolution. The interview was broadcast on KPFA, the UC-Berkeley station and recorded on vinyl. I suppose the significance is purely hypothetical. But this is a good example of why it’s taking me so damn long to write this book. And why you, kids, should never take acid. Coincidence and acid make the baby Jesus cry.)

Backwater
We’re sailing at the edges of time
Backwater
We’re drifting at the waterline
Oh we’re floating in the coastal waters
You and me and the porter’s daughters
Ooh what to do not a sausage to do
And the shorter of the porter’s daughters
Dips her hand in the deadly waters
Ooh what to do in a tiny canoe

Black water
There were six of us but now we are five
We’re all talking
To keep the conversation alive
There was a senator from ecuador
Who talked about a meteor
That crashed on a hill in the south of peru
And was found by a conquistador
Who took it to the emperor
And he passed it on to a turkish guru.

His daughter
Was slated for becoming divine
He taught her
He taught her how to split and define
But if you study the logistics
And heuristics of the mystics
You will find that their minds rarely move in a line
So it’s much more realistic
To abandon such ballistics
And resign to be trapped on a leaf in a vine.

Right-click and select “save as,” please.

Face east, get down!

As my friend Gail says, take a scoop of James Brown, a cup of Elton John and a whole heapin’ helpin’ of Egyptian wisdom and you get (what I say is) the best video ever.

Be here now

MarchInside 051

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MarchInside 051,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

Gee, I’d love to catch that staff meeting, but…

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03-13-06_0806.jpg,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

So last Friday? 58 degrees and riding? Now it’s Monday morning, 8:00 am and I have never been so happy to work from home.

March 10 ride

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March 10 ride,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

Last Friday afternoon. My maiden voyage. Two hours on the river road between Prescott and Hager City. My usual route, but the temperature is normally 17 and it was about 58. Pure, unadulterated joy. Except the turn signal switch busting off on the first mile.

Belle + Sebastian March 12

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Belle + Sebastian March 12,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

Belle + Sebastian March 12

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Belle + Sebastian March 12,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

Belle + Sebastian March 12

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Belle + Sebastian March 12,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

Belle + Sebastian March 12

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Belle + Sebastian March 12,
originally uploaded by sglpix.

Oh my god, I left the house.