Deathtrap opening party

Deathtrap cycles, Austin's foremost experts on all things two wheeled and British, had a get together last weekend. Deathtrap had bands, food, booze and plenty of bikes to gawk at. Best of all, it was far enough away from the madness of SXSW to take a breath and relax. Most conversation centered around the F1 track opening soon here in Austin. Specifically, the lovely idea of getting some track time in during the off season. The plan is to get a bunch of folks to buy single cylinder bikes under 500 cc's with leathers and try to keep the budget around 3000 bucks per racer. Real racing on a real track with real motorcycle fans. Awesome. Keep in mind this is a long term goal, but I'll keep you posted.

Honorable mentions...

SXSW wasn't all bad though... Peelander Z from Japan was totally crazy. Costumes, synchronised dances, crowd participation and a less than stellar grasp of the english language made them one of the coolest bands to see. Deer Tick sounded great as well. When bands sound as good, if not better live than they do on their albums, you know you've got something special.

SXSW is over...thank goodness.

That's right, another sxsw has come and gone, leaving behind the usual mountains of garbage all over Austin. It's funny that now as a local, I find that the festival has lost a bit of it's luster. Perhaps sxsw has in some ways outgrown Austin, but years ago, it seemed to be less congested, less expensive and more fun. I at least remember being able to pay cash to get into a show or two. Also, the drunken show goers that in the past only made me laugh, have now become truly irritating. Specifically, because one of them either kicked over or backed their truck into my beautiful cb750 on saturday night. The mighty 750 fell sometime between 2 and 9 am without a single witness having seen the tragedy. After questioning my neighbors at the apartment complex, one thing all of the stoners can agree on, it was a total drag man. Miraculously, the bike came out of this mess with relatively no damage; slightly bent bars, a few scrapes on the exhaust, a destroyed stock rear blinker, a tweaked rear brake lever and a mutilated foot peg. It could have been a lot worse, but boy does it sting.