Remembering Matt and Kristy

The cycling community has really pulled together over this horrible incident. Joey did the Tuesday night Golden Gate Park ride with the Roaring Mouse team, and it was good to see our friends from that team. There are all sorts of events and memorial sites up.

Remembering Kristy

Remembering Matt

We'll miss the memorial ride on Sunday, but here's info:

Team Roaring Mouse Cycles and Third Pillar Racing Team are holding a joint memorial ride this Saturday March 15th, to honor the lives of Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson, our two teammates killed on Steven's Creek Canyon last Sunday while on a training ride. We welcome friends, family, fellow cyclists and all those whose lives have been touched by Matt and Kristy. Our ride will include a visit to the site of the crash site for those to share their memories.

When: Saturday, March 15th

Where: Leaving from Foothill College
12345 El Monte Road,
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

Google map to location: http://tinyurl.com/2b6qvb

**We kindly request you do NOT drive out to the crash site during this time, as we need to keep cars to a minimum in the area, given the road conditions.

Time: Meet at 2:30pm, ride by 3pm

Length: 30-45 minutes to the crash site. Base pace (ie, mellow). No drop.

Route:
Start @ Foothill College (Parking Lot #1, near the football stadium; see link above for map)

- Left on El Monte
- Right on Foothill Expressway
- Continue on Steven's Creek Canyon
- Return

Route directions via Google: http://tinyurl.com/2pc8pf

**Press are welcome to attend, however we request respect during our ride. It would mean the most to us if press were to accompany us on their bikes, as we are all cyclists this week.

A Tragic Loss

The Bay Area Cycling community is in shock from the loss of two of its own yesterday. From the SF Chronicle:

Sheriff's deputy hits cyclists, killing 2

(03-09) 20:42 PDT Cupertino -- A rookie Santa Clara County deputy sheriff patrolling a winding Cupertino road Sunday morning veered into the opposite lane of traffic and struck three bicyclists, killing two, including a rising star in the Bay Area cycling community, authorities said.

Authorities did not release the names of the riders who were killed, but friends identified them as Kristy Gough, 30, of San Leandro and Matt Peterson, 29, of San Francisco. The third cyclist, whose name was not released, was listed in critical condition Sunday night at Stanford University Medical Center.

Gough was a professional triathlete who recently took up road racing and who friends said won every race she entered this year. She and Peterson, also an amateur road racing cyclist, both won their divisions in a March 1 road racing event in downtown Merced.

My condolences to all who knew Kristy and Matt and best wishes to the unidentified cyclist still in the hospital. As they say, be careful out there people.


I didn't know Matt or Kristy, but I'd been hearing about Kristy, and I know a few of Matt's temmates. It turns out their teams met for a training ride at the same spot Joey and I went for a training ride yesterday--Canada Rd. But Joey had been sick for a couple days and we did an easy and shortish ride, not venturing up into the hills. Matt had just won his first race--the Merco Criterium, and Kristy, a champion triathlete, just started racing this year. Here are her USACycling results--8 races, 8 wins.

03/02/2008 - Merco Credit Union Foothills Road Race - Road Race - Cat 3/4
1	Kristy Gough	274487	00:00.0	649	Third Pillar
03/01/2008 - Merco Credit Union Cycling Classic Downtown GP - Criterium - Cat 3/4
1	Kristy Gough	274487	00:00.0	862	Third Pillar
02/24/2008 - Original Merced Criterium - Criterium - Cat 3
1	Kristy Gough	274487	00:00:00.00	804	Third Pillar
02/17/2008 - Pine Flat Road Race - Road Race - Cat 4
1	Kristy Gough	274487
02/16/2008 - Cantua Creek Road Race - Road Race - Cat 4
1	Kristy Gough	274487	00:00:00.00	905	Third Pillar
02/16/2008 - Snelling Road Race - Road Race - Cat 3
1	Kristy Gough	274487	00:00.0	906	Third Pillar
02/10/2008 - Cherry Pie Criterium - Criterium - Cat 4
1	Kristy Gough	274487			3rd Pillar
01/26/2008 - Early Bird Road Race - Road Race - Cat 4
1	Kristy Gough	0			Unattached

Finally!

Yikes, it's been almost 3 months since my last blog! This part-time editing job and raft of gigs with various folks has kept me pretty busy. Plus I just got out of the habit, I guess. I could go on and on about all the things I've been doing, but--boring. So I'll just mention a couple cool albums I've heard recently.

First off, Petri Hakala's Trad. Petri is an amazing mandolin player from Finland, and on this solo CD he plays, you guessed it, traditional Finnish tunes, on mandolins, mandola, mandocello, and guitar. I've had the pleasure of playing with Petri in the past and he's right up there with the best American mando players. His tone and fluidity are fantastic and he even plays a Gilchrist, which most players seem to regard as the best newly made mandolins. The CD is solo in that nobody else plays on it, but Petri overdubs other parts for a very nice sound that doesn't stray too far from the traditional polskas and waltzes. His guitar playing is a revelation for me--I didn't even know he played guitar--but it's his clean and crisp mando playing that is the main attraction.
David Grier has also released a solo CD recently--Live at the Linda. In David's case, it is entirely solo, just David and his 1946 Martin D-28. It will come as no surprise to anyone who's heard David that this is a phenomenal guitar record. There's no one who can do what David does with such taste and ease. What I love about this CD is the tone of David's guitar, which is difficult to render in a live setting. It may be due to the fact that David is playing a D-28, rather than his previously favored D-18, but David's tone on this CD is the best I've heard, remarkably lush and rich. It's enough to excuse the covers of "Killing Me Softly" and "America the Beautiful" and the bad jokes told between songs. Actually the "Glass Eye" joke is a good one.

Acoustic Guitar

I've got three articles in the latest issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine: a feature on Steve Earle, a lesson with Nina Gerber, and a review of a cool little Collings 0-1A.

And speaking of Acoustic Guitar, I'll be back in the office on a part-time basis starting in January. And I'm hoping my new title of Senior Editor isn't just a reflection of my age.

Clive and Christine

I've been trying to post a couple of YouTube videos but it doesn't seem to be working, so I'll have to resort to the old style--posting links.

The CD player in my home stereo has developed an annoying and apparently incurable case of the hiccups, so I've been spinning a lot of LPS, you know, vinyl? One gem I dug out was this:


I remember the night I got it. It was at a Michelle Shocked concert, actually--her first tour. I didn't much like Michelle's show--I'd been dragged to it by a friend--but she was on the same record company as Clive and Christine (Cooking Vinyl), and this LP was for sale at their record table. I had seen them in Richard Thompson's band a couple months earlier, so I bought it and stayed up half the night listening to it, over and over.

Listening to it again inspired a YouTube search that turned up this amazing performance, reminding me what an incredible musical partnership this was.

Clive and Christine Live

And definitely check out this relic of the '80s--Clive with Christine singing harmony (nice go-go boots) and Richard Thompson on lead guitar.

Clive with RT and CC

Dwelling in the past is never recommended for too long. Here's Amazing Christine singing "Amazing Grace" last year.

Amazing Grace

NIYAZ

The amazing Azam Ali singing. But what the heck kinda cello/oud thingy is Loga Ramin Torkian playing?

2-Mile Challenge

Clif Bar's 2-Mile Challenge site is pretty cool, if only to remind you how close you are to things you might still think about driving to. Of course, in San Francisco, there might be a couple hundred feet of climbing or urban traffic nightmare involved in any 2-mile ride, but . . .

"Take some time, and learn how to play"

There's a great review of the video games Rock Star and Guitar Hero in today's Chronicle. Sample:

"If this were strictly a review, Rock Band from Electronic Arts - and its first cousin Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock from Activision - would probably both have the Little Man jumping out of his chair. In terms of entertainment value, it doesn't get much better than these two titles.
But something still seems fundamentally wrong when you pick up the video games, which both require that you press an ever-changing sequence of colored buttons to simulate playing the guitar and bass. (Rock Band also has a microphone for karaoke and a small drum kit.) What kid will ever want to pick up a real guitar, when learning to play a fake one is so easy? If Rock Band had been available in the late 1980s, would we even have a Green Day - or just three more no-name slackers killing a lot of time in their parents' basement?"

Sample #2:

"I don't think the makers of Rock Band have to be banned, boycotted or even need to apologize. But both games should definitely be accompanied by the following disclaimer:
1. No matter how good you get at Rock Band, you will never play the Coachella festival.
2. Nobody ever won his soul back from the real devil playing the ax that came with Guitar Hero III.
3. Playing a Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitar is a fairly effective form of birth control. Seriously, look at yourself in the mirror. No one who sees you playing this thing will want to have sex with you.
4. The plastic Guitar Hero guitar is pretty much useless around the campfire. (Even as kindling.)
5. If you get "Mississippi Queen" stuck in your head for more than two hours, consult a physician immediately.

Devon Sproule

The January issue of Acoustic Guitar is out, with my feature on Clarence White and profile of Devon Sproule. Unfortunately there's a typo in the article on Devon. The flat symbol (b) got deleted from the Eb in the following sentence, making it appear as if I think that Bb is a good chord for modulating to the key of E and forever tarnishing my reputation as a theory nerd.

"After four repetitions of that progression, the Bb/D lets Sproule modulate neatly into Eb for the soaring (I–vi–IV–V) chorus."

Ah well, I'll live. And as with all these short profiles, there are usually nice moments from the interview that don't make it into print, because of word limitations. So here's an excerpt from my interview with Devon:

Do you usually write with the guitar in hand?
I’ve started writing more around refrains—coming up with a one- or two-sentence refrain for a song. Those things usually take the longest, of the process. After that, the mystery or intimidating part is gone, and I can fill in the puzzle around it.

Is there an example of that on the new record?
Yeah, there’s a few—“Let’s Go Out,” “Stop By Any Time,” even “Old Virginia Block” is that way. I knew what I was aiming for at the end of each verse. Some of those are a little more stream-of-consciousness writing, and then it's a matter of going through the thesaurus and the rhyme dictionary and tightening up the stream-of-consciousness thing. There are a few other ones—“Does the Day Feel Long” is kind of experimenting with having a refrain that comes in not at the end of each verse or at the beginning of each chorus but that just pokes its head up once in awhile. Yeah, mostly the sort of jazz or swing-structured songs—the “Great American Songbook” songs. That’s what I wrote in my press release at least.

Well, you’re American, or Canadian—North American.
I pretty much identify myself as a Virginian, until I’m applying for a Canadian Arts Council grant, and then I’m all Canada—another Joni Mitchell.

The new album almost paints a portrait of a social scene—a neighborhood or group of friends. How much of this is observation and how much is invented?
It’s mostly personal. I got married a couple years ago, and I was writing most of these songs during and about that time. I was kind of digging having my own space. When one gets married, because you’ve chosen this person to spend all your time with, your social life really gets down to the important stuff. So I just have a few friends, but they’re really awesome. They’re all older than me, and smarter than me, and have these amazing vocabularies. They’re either great songwriters or doctoral candidates in the English department at U VA or whatever. That’s so fun having that kind of family.

And my husband and I we like to drink [laughs]. My girlfriend Danielle got the roughs for the record and she said, “I love it so much, but I’m worried because you mention drinking in almost every song.” And I realize that it is kind of a big part of my life, but there’s this beautiful language that works with it—that comes with it. I feel like there’s always a way to say something nice about drinking or the social stuff around it, or the problems with it, which I’ve started to encounter [laughs].

Do you keep a journal or ever put yourself in a place and try to imagine yourself there?
It’s a little bit of both. When I’m having long drives, I’ll turn off the book on tape and try to comb through my recent experiences and see if there are any interesting snapshots. I’ll try to think of the most interesting way to word them and then write those down. Actually my friend just gave me a little hand recorder thing. I haven’t used it yet, but I’m excited about becoming a safer driver with that.

Uncle Earl - Streak O' Lean, Streak O'Fat

The brilliant g'earls of Uncle Earl.