1973
Saturday, August 11, 2012
heavenly
to everything, turn, turn, turn.
there is a season, turn turn turn.
oil-crisped basil leaves
half olive oil, half butter, too much salt, crispy all delicious.
sliced New Jersey beefsteaks
lightly boiled corn
Tecate with lots of inexpensive, summer lime.
And a time to every purpose, under heaven.
Friday, August 10, 2012
french-fried, mashed, baked or boiled
I found a 2003 Harley “FireFighter” on the street the other day.
According to Harley, “the Harley-Davidson Firefighter Special Edition salutes the heroes who risk their lives everyday.”
There's more steel in this thing than a modern Toyota wagon.
Yup. This is the one. This is a sizable motorcycle, too. At 93.7 inches it’s just under eight feet long.
And it weighs a ton. Well nearly half, it weighs 723 pounds dry, but fully oiled, fueled and lubed? 759 unruly pounds. Then add passenger? Holy smokes. This bike is tough to handle in a sloped parking lot.
On the highway the Air-cooled Twin Cam 88® Engine cranks a meager 80 horsepower, so that rating isn’t often supplied.
Instead they list the torque. Why?
Because this bike pumps out an incredible 86.0 foot pounds of pure, tree-stump pulling torque @ 3500 rpm.
Nothing says potato-potato-potato like a Harley.
These bikes have always seemed more show than go to me with lights and horns, reflectors and noisy pipes so that everyone within earshot must take notice.
This FireFighter Edition is certainly consistent with all that.
So imagine...this red Harley can chuff quietly at midnight through a small country village at the speed limit and still get pulled over for a document check.
I’d rather zip so silently through town at twice the posted limit... the cop doesn’t even look up from his donut.
But that's just me.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
music on the half shell
Elkan Naumburg was a natural arts and music kinda guy.
Born in Germany in 1835, he lived in New York by the age of 18 and made his money on Wall Street. Then he turned to the arts.
The family parlor of his townhouse hosted a gilded age of classical and symphonic performances. He was well known for presenting live music in his home.
So just about the time our ClockTower was opening in the late 1880’s, Elkan got the idea of presenting free concerts in Central Park.
Problem was, there was no obvious place to do it.
No problem.
He offered the city $125,000 to build the Naumburg Bandshell. That’s about $2.8 million today.
His architect nephew designed it, it was built and opened in 1923 with a 60 piece orchestral gala under the stars.
They played selections from Aida and Carmen, the William Tell Overture, the Blue Danube Waltz and movements from Beethoven’s Fifth and Tchaikovsky’s 1812th overture.
Elkan Naumburg was 88 years old and in attendance that September night. How cool is that?
He died the following year. Here’s the 1812th overture, with real cannons:
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
aren't you?
three minutes of Sheryl Crow and cool, automotive-guy stuff. cope. lol
“Everybody’s looking for a way to get real gone”
a little bit'a nothin’
kyoto
“beautiful girls all over the world
I could be chasin’ but my time would be wasted
they got nothin' on you, baby."
nothin' on you!
#1 on the Billboard Hot 100 May 1, 2010,
and certified double-platinum on June 28, 2010.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
the familiar feel of the face
New Yorkers know and love La Caridad,
the Cuban/Chinese on the corner of 78th and Broadway.
A radical construction technique is right across Broadway, something I saw first in London a decade ago. American culture evolves!
Instead of taking an entire old building down, the familiar facade is kept during demo and supported on an I-beam scaffold and then a new building is built behind it. “The Larstrand” is going up 20 stories, with 181 new apartments and 40K feet of retail space.
These next two photos are from London. See how the building itself is gone but the facade on the right is still standing, stabilized by the steel?
Even with a new skyscraper above, the pedestrian still perceives the same walk-by feel they’ve enjoyed forever. The real estate is developed while sidewalk level keeps the familiar feel of the face.
It’s a lot of extra work and it means holes must be punched through the brick so the steel can reach inside.
But I’ll bet it’s worth the projected $135 million. More later as the building takes shape. Thank Prince Charles, by the way.
guardian.com
I’m serious. He first championed reuse in the UK.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)