Oh yes...It friggin woked. Big Time.

The trailer is made from a repurposed and stripped down Burley D'light 2 child carrier. It's an older one, but I got a sweet hitch from a Canadian company called Chariot Cycles or something like that. I took all the child carrying parts off, stripped it down to the frame, and put a beautiful slab of birch plywood on it. Used some polyurethane sealer finisher to protect and further beautify that wood. Used some bolts to tighten it down. Hell yeah. I put an old inner tube around the perimeter to protect the sides from bumps and water. I found some rubber sheeting in the practice space at Utopia Studios hanging on a wall (thanks Amy...heheh), and cut it into strips and stapled and Gorilla Glued those stinkies down for grippiness. I then installed four pick-up truck cargo holds on the corners--solid as hale! This is what it looks like:


Here is what it looks like loaded up:


Here is a video of me pushing up the hill on the beginning of the first trial run:


I took the drums back to the practice space about four miles away. It took about 35 or 40 minutes to get there. It was actually surprisingly easy to move the trailer even with all the weight, but I could only go very slowly. My trusty friend Joel followed me to the space in case of any catastrophic failures and for support. He also showed me a badass short-cut to the space. Thank you Joel.

All in all, first trial run was a complete success. The tom-tom had to be moved halfway to the destination, but it was tighty after that. So, yeah...just gotta add lights and license plate that says, "Big Ringin' It". I owe thanks to the bazillion instructables I looked at while figuring out how to build this beast. I figure the furthest I'll have to take the trailer is 5 or 6 miles each way, any more than 10 each way and I think I'll drive it. It isn't super hard to move, but it still takes forever and I think even 10 miles would easily take 1.5-2 hours. That would be ridiculous to take 4 hours travel time to get to a show...especially considering the fact that I don't leave shows until they are over, so like 1.30 or 2 am sometimes. That would put me back home at like 4 am. Which would suck ass...especially if I drank anything at the show, which is fun to do after I play.

Whatever, can't think about the obvious negatives, because bicycling isn't about getting to places quickly. It is about taking the long way, the harder way. The way that makes people look at you and think, "man what an idiot." I don't care...no...yes I do care. I love being that guy who is doing something ridiculous with his bicycle. I love telling people I play drums. As Ricky says, "it's gettin' two birds stoned at once."

But I don't really care if it seems stupid. It's fun for me. There's a great feeling of accomplishment in building and successfully testing something like this trailer. Even if I have to go really slow, I'll still love it. I think I'll always bring paint. I have a new idea thanks to the city of Portland. I'll tell you about it later...

I hope this works....Nah-I'm sure it's going to work!

I decided to ditch the Nomad (sorry Burley-it's a great trailer) because it has some issues with carrying drums. The more I thought about it, the more disconcerting it became that the floor of the trailer is made of canvas, and there is but one measly crossbeam underneath it. I imagined myself on Grand or something, trailer ripped to shreds, drums everywhere on the street, no way of getting to the venue on time. Shitty!

So, I have built a totally kick ass trailer! Oh man is it ever awesome. I am waiting to unveil pictures and writing about it completely until after work today...but suffice to say: This trailer wins.

Stay tuned....

Nazi Losers Ruin Graffiti Walls, but I Ruin Nazis!

Recently a bunch of friends and I re-took up skateboarding. I dusted off the old World Industries board and I am hooked again! I forgot how much of a workout skating is--really all you're doing is hopping around for a couple hours. Fun. I can still even kickflip like one out of five or so.

Anyway, I was on my bike searching around for dope-ass skate spots one Saturday morning when I spotted a tight graffiti wall next to a commercial train track.

There isn't a ton of awesome stuff on it, but still some decent writing. But then, I spotted a goddamn swastika on a corner of the wall. (for some reason I didn't photo it) I didn't have any paint on me, otherwise I would have defaced it or just covered it up right there. I am all for free speech, but not for white supremacists on what would otherwise be an artful and cool looking wall. Know what I mean? I was thinking, "how can I deface/alter the symbol without just covering it up?" I wanted the nazis to know that I had messed up their little tag, but to a passer-by it would just look like something else entirely.

Friends and I met on my front porch that night and began thinking about it. After a while, friend Emma was like, "what about the pinwheel? It basically has a swastika in the center...just embellish the one on the wall to look like a pinwheel." Awesome idea Emma! Idea achieved. So, here is what I did today, when no one was looking:

I did this first......


Then I added shading.

A perfect pinwheel to alter the shitty intentions of neo-nazi jerks. Easily replicable. I recommend everyone take the time to deface any local swastikas in this manner. It would look even nicer with color.