Category: Multimedia

Mods vs. Rockers 2007 photos

I think his timing is off

As someone on scoot.net chat said the other day, “In the future, all rallies will be called ‘Mods vs. Rockers.'” Although there were six or eight similarly-named rallies in the last few weeks, we’re talking about the Chicago version, which is beginning to rival Milwaukee’s fantastic Rockerbox, in terms of quantity, variety, and quality. (Nary a Harley was to be seen!) Silent Ron’s 200-or-so photos (one is above) sum up the event much better than I could , and if those aren’t enough, here are a few dozen more from Jordan.

Woke up this morning…

I’m really freaking sick of hearing about the Sopranos (even NPR wouldn’t shut up about it this morning). I didn’t watch it and I don’t care what happened, but I noticed this got a lot of hits this morning, so I’m relinking it out of civic duty. Also, remember when James Gandowhatever crashed a Vespa last May? And it was national news for a week? It always amazes me what passes for news, that every media outlet has basically decided to cover American Idol, the Sopranos and P– H– (I won’t say her name) 24/7, when we have this evil lying fascist regime screwing over our country. Oh, by the way, the Lake Erie Loop didn’t go quite as planned, details at 11.

Can an Adly pull a pop-up camper?

pathecaravan.jpg

If the Lambretta tent video we posted a few months ago was inspiring, but a tent just isn’t “all-mod-cons” enough for you, check out this video from the same source (Britsh Pathe Archives): a Lambretta towing a pop-up camper. I can’t imagine that it was wise to load a 150 or 175cc engine, even when factory-fresh, with a pop-up camper AND a boat AND gear AND a pillion passenger AND a sidecar with a child. (Thanks, Dan Epstein, who sent this so long ago he surely forgot about it.)

Julie Plug’s “Blue Sky Propeller”

Julie Plug

Once again, YouTube (via John Rana) serves up a great music video that slipped by unnoticed (to us anyway) a few years ago. Julie Plug (on MySpace) is a Bay Area band influenced by Britpop and the Sundays. Their 2003 “Blue Sky Propeller” video is pretty much the Filipino-American “Lloyd, I’m ready to be Heartbroken”, only a few years older and more scooter-ific. Read John’s post for more about the band.

Vicious Cycles

Vicious Cycles

Dave McCabe has long been searching for a short film he remembers seeing before Star Wars or Indiana Jones at the Polar Theater in Anchorage. He finally found it on good ol’ YouTube. Despite a resurgence in popularity in the 80s, Vicious Cycles was actually made in 1969. It’s a goofy live-action stop-motion animated film featuring the grungy Vicious Cycles MC facing off against the bowler-hat-clad Mild Ones Scooter Club. If nothing else, it proves the go-to newspaper headline “Mild Ones” (drink!) was already an old joke in 1969. It’s fantastic and authentic, right down to the squeaky Vespa drum brake sound. Stick around ’til the end for a Coke ad featuring vintage motorcycles and a public service announcement about loud pipes.

2sb on SCTRCST

I was so busy last week, I forgot to mention that I was interviewed on Episode 9 of Dave Mangano’s “SCTRCST” podcast. Being a chronic mumbler, I was careful to enunciate, but something went awry with the audio so it’s pretty hard to understand me anyway (transcript coming soon). Don’t let that prevent you from listening to SCTRCST regularly, it’s a great show, and usually the guests are much more interesting and easier to understand. : )