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• I’m editing the two-cam of El Ten ElevenI did with Steve Robinson at El Corazon. I’ll put up a preview on Vimeo this week. #

I had the opportunity to record Bronze Fawn at the Cumulus Festival last weekend so I did that. Yeah. Me.

I actually didn’t even realize that the Cumulus Festival was going on or that it was hosting Earth, This is a Process of a Still Life, Joy Wants Eternity and a few others I’d totally be into hearing in a live music setting. Sadly, I’m uninformed so that didn’t happen. I did, however see Snowman Plan, You.May.Die.In.The.Desert, and Bronze Fawn.

A buddy of mine tackled a three-cam for Bronze Fawn and the jury is still out on the final product. One of our cameras randomly started zooming partway into the set. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take to edit the video down since we were using two AVCHD cameras and one HDV camera and I’m sort of letting Dan deal with the editing situation since he works for Adobe and probably has that crap locked down.

Additionally, the soundboard feed sounds just awful. Thankfully the microphone feed is not awful so that will be something you can listen to right about now:

Bronze Fawn – 2009-01-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: bf2009-01-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: bf2009-01-25sample.mp3

You.May.Die.In.The.Desert – 2009-01-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: ymditd2009-01-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ymditd2009-01-25sample.mp3

Snowman Plan – 2009-01-25 The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
Download: sp2009-01-25.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: sp2009-01-25sample.mp3

• Here is a preview of the video recording from El Corazon: http://www.vimeo.com/2272462 #

Here is the full performance from The Sunset back in June of this year. Sorry for the delay:

El Ten Eleven – Live @ Sunset Tavern

Download:
SD FLV (530MB): L10112008-06-05.flv
HD MP4 (1.69GB): L10112008-06-05.mp4

And here is the audio from 2008-11-10 with the opener’s set:

El Ten Eleven – 2008-11-10 El Corazon – Seattle, WA:
FLAC: ete2008-11-10.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: ete2008-11-10sample.mp3

The Whispertown 2000 – 2008-11-10 El Corazon – Seattle, WA:
FLAC: whispertown2008-11-10.akgc1000s.flac16.zip
MP3 Sample: whispertown2008-11-10sample.mp3

Coming Soon:
-Multi-cam video from 2008-11-10 (hopefully four cameras)
–Audio from 2008-11-10
-DVD cover for 2008-06-05
-All of my back catalog of videos re-authored and converted to FLV for downloading. Any video that I’ve recorded in HD will be available in SD and 720p.

• I’m going to start ramping up content for this site soon. The neglect has gone on far too long. #

El Ten Eleven kicks off their semi-national tour tonight (sorry East Coast… or should I say LEAST COAST! HA!).

If you’re interested in taping a show, I highly suggest busting out those microphones and camcorders because these dudes are cool as hell about it. They want you to be up in their grill with all sorts of recording equipment. Polaroid cameras, mimeographs… chisel and a goddamn tablet of slate. Just get up in that piece.

Personally I’m definitely going to the Seattle show and I’m heavily contemplating going down to Portland for the show the next night. Limiting factors include: 1) whether or not I can borrow m’lady’s car 2) whether or not I actually want to drive to Portland and back in one day.

If someone in Portland wants to pick up taping duty on this one that that’s awesome. The Someday Lounge is a great venue with two balcony areas from which to tape. They also have a Canon XL-1 off of which you might be able to snag an auxiliary video source.

11.05.08 | Monterey, CA | Monterey Live

11.06.08 | Oakland, CA | Stork Club

11.07.08 | San Francisco, CA | Make Out Room (early show, ete on at 8:45)

11.08.08 | Arcata, CA | The Alibi

11.10.08 | Seattle, WA | El Corazon

11.11.08 | Portland, OR | Someday Lounge

11.12.08 | Boise, ID | Neurolux

11.14.08 | SLC, UT | Burt’s Tiki Lounge

11.15.08 | Denver, CO | Larimer Lounge

11.17.08 | Kansas City, MO | Record Bar

11.18.08 | Columbia, MO | Mojo’s

11.19.08 | Urbana, IL | Canopy Club

11.20.08 | Grand Rapids, MI | Founders Brewing

11.21.08 | Cleveland, OH | Beachland Tavern

11.22.08 | Athens, OH | TBA

11.23.08 | Rochester, NY | Bug Jar

11.25.08 | New Haven, CT | Cafe 9

11.26.08 | Brooklyn, NY | The Bell House

11.28.08 | New York, NY | 92Y Tribeca

11.29.08 | Pittsburgh, PA | Brillobox

12.01.08 | Fort Wayne, IN | 816 Pint and Slice

12.02.08 | Chicago, IL | Schubas

12.03.08 | St. Louis, MO | TBA

12.04.08 | Norman, OK | Opolis

12.05.08 | Dallas, TX | The Cavern

12.06.08 | Austin, TX | Beauty Bar

12.10.08 | Hollywood, CA | Hotel Cafe

12.19.08 | Flagstaff, AZ | Hotel Monte Vista

12.20.08 | Tucson, AZ | Plush

About a year ago I bought a bike from a friend for $40. Here is the bike:

After I cleaned it up it started to look pretty ok.

Then I decided to strip everything off of it and make it into a fixed gear bike. Here is what it looked like after that happened:

I took off the brake and shifter cables, chopped and flopped the handlebars, replaced the wheels with a set of track wheels, took off the extra chainrings, replaced the chainring bolts and bought some new pedals. I did all of this at 2020 Cycles where they let me use their tools and their time as I figured out all of this stuff. Bikes are complicated pieces of machinery.

I thought it looked pretty ok but after I spent a few weeks browsing Fixed Gear Gallery and Velospace I realized that I had some work to do.

The first thing I did was to take my bike to Seattle Powder Coat to have the frame and fork refinished. I went with an off-white with a 50% gloss finish. Powdercoating is actually fairly affordable at this scale and is better for the environment than traditional painting methods. I also lack any sort of space to be able to spray paint everywhere so this was really my only option.

After I got the frame back, I took it to another local bike shop: Wright Bros. Cycle Works in Fremont. What this place lacks in curb appeal it makes up for in overall helpfulness and availability. They can do anything for your bike or get you any part you need. The guy who owns this shop is crazy about track and fixed gear bikes. Seriously. Check out the website for some photos of him in full vintage Masi track gear.

For what I consider to be minimal labor fees, he installed a new Shimano bottom bracket (also re-installed the crank) and a new Tange headset. He installed a new chain and re-greased and tightened the rear cog and lock ring as well.

Finally, I bought some blue Fizik bar tape with which to wrap the bullhorns and create a top tube protector. After swapping out the stock seat for a Brooks B17 I snagged off of Craigslist for $40, the bike is looking good:

To finish this project all I have to do is put on the set of Whitewall Weinmann DP18 wheels I bought. I have some 700×23 Blue Speedium tires to put on them, too. Just gotta get some tubes first. I’m also going to get a die-cut vinyl sticker for the frame but I haven’t yet decided what I want it to be.

So that’s the journey of my bike. That is how it came to be as awesome as it is today.

UPDATE:
I went back to Wright Bros. today and had the guy there help me put the tires and tubes on my wheels. Here is the bike now.

• Does anyone know of an easy or cheap way to make a die cut sticker? #

• I taped Iron and Wine (solo) in Eugene last weekend. I’ll put it up soon. Or maybe I just told a bald faced lie. #

• See the Flickr feed? I’m gonna start using that. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianconnolly #