Everybody’s a winner.

everybodysawinner

Now if I could find a race where the podium went another thirty deep, I could finally find my way back onto the steps.

Hello and good morning/afternoon/evening.

Today is a big day because after many starts and stops, my personal Swobo/Bicycle Times video feature has finally seen the light of day.

For those who might remember, it was a few weeks ago when that teaser was released.

As I said then, I initially watched this through my fingers, as I tend to not hold myself in very high regard. It felt disconcerting to not only watch, but to have someone put such effort into showcasing that which is from my perspective, a fairly mundane existence. However the damage was done, and all I could do was sit back and hope that I didn’t wind up looking like a total dick, which may or may not have been successful;

I credit it all to the wonders of movie magic.

Certainly, I want to thank both Swobo and the Bicycle times as well as everybody involved who invested time and energy into making this spot a reality.

Secondly, and on a somewhat related note, back when I was officially in Swobo’s employ, I did a drawing for a t-shirt, which aside from the use of it for my second Art Crank Poster, up until just a few months ago sat safely tucked away inside of a folder. Eventually El Jefe asked if they could bring it full circle and at long last put it on a shirt, which they did and that looks like this;
Print
If by chance, this graphic speaks to the suit wearing Luchador in you, they can be found for purchase here.

But circling around to that video again, I’d like to note that just a few weeks ago I finished a third run of the brandest newest zine in the AHTBM bike ‘zine douchebag (same diff) series, which has been heralded the world over as one of the greatest things short of Johnny the copy room guy’s ass, ever to come from a Zerox machine;
ahtbmnewzine3
I have a short stack of these left which I would very much like to send out to folks. If you might find yourself with a desire to procure one for your own back pocket, that can be done right here.

And circling around on that topic even tighter, I got an email from a fellow just a week and a half ago which kinda blew a part of my mind;

hey man,
while looking up old zines from my past, I came across your blog…I remember ‘Get Off My Wagon’…I was the singer/yelper in Ted Bundy’s Volkswagon… I had many a good conversations with Ashley during those days, played shows with Glazed Baby and all the usual noisy suspects on the East Coast… miss the old print days, and yes, I’m ordering that Divided Joy shirt, we bike in Kentucky too!

all the best,
tread

So to fill in some of the blanks, the Get Off My Wagon ‘zine was one I made when I was still in college;
gomw2
Ashley was my housemate, with whom I’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours buying and listening to records with, and his band Ted Bundy’s Volkswagon was one of the bands we put on the 7″ record that was released with this issue.

And they were awesome;

(scroll across, click, turn up the volume.)

Then last Wednesday, the rest of my mind was blown by a random exchange with a person named Nicky on the AHTBM Facebook page that started with them mentioning TBVW. Never one to let a coincidence go unrecognized, I pressed and they elaborated;

My older cousin was the drummer, he literally had to clean the blood off his yellow drums before he sold them. He turned me on to much good music. He lives in Kentucky and gave me a WWDD sticker he ordered from you.

If you ever send stuff to Lexington, it’s most likely him. I got him into bikecycles a few years back when he visited me in Tenn. If fanzine love was gold records they would be kings- From what I understand no band wanted to follow them back in the day.

And with that exchange the world became so small that I was sent sailing off into the abyss, and am now typing this while floating around in space.

As a last bit of news for today’s post, I will give you ample warning that I am about to reveal the winner for his year’s running of the Paris Roubaix (that happened three days ago). If you haven’t watched it by now, you’re probably not going to.

I’ve watched this race for years and years and years, and have loved every moment of it every single time.

This year was unreal. The lead group was made up of every single person favored to win, yet, as if someone had made a deal with the devil, the young gun called Niki Terpstra came kinda out of the wings and soloed himself a hell of a victory;
4-13-Terpstra-661x440
It was a beautiful thing indeed as were commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen’s transition from their sandwich analogies of two years ago, to a cascade of various ones relating to banks, and savings accounts.

Sometimes it’s like listening to your crazy grandpa and uncle bicker with each other.

Anyway, and though there’s about a thousand percent chance that he’s not reading these words right here, but from all of me to all of him, I’d like to offer Mr. Terpstra my most humble and sincere congratulations;

(Quality footage, but without Phil and and Paul.)
niki2014prb
Unless you were betting on any other horse, anyone, and most likely everyone watching his imminent victory ramp up into reality, truly was a winner.
newlittleskull

Spread this like it's sick

Leave a Reply to tread Click here to cancel reply.

21 Responses to “Everybody’s a winner.”

  1. Johnny Doe April 16, 2014 at 5:49 am #

    GodHead Silo? DAMN. Blast from the past. They played in the basement of a house I and 18 others lived in back in 90’s and killed it.

  2. One Eyed z April 16, 2014 at 6:19 am #

    Nice video. Its good to hear the sound of your voice. Its been a long time since I’ve heard it. Good to know it doesn’t really sound anything like the cartoon character voice I use in my head as I read AHTBM.

  3. Matt April 16, 2014 at 6:41 am #

    Mundane existence?

    Boy, have I got a pair of khakis, a chambray shirt, a 400 page land-use ordinance, and a stuffed phone inbox for you.

  4. shovelfoot April 16, 2014 at 7:56 am #

    Thanks for letting me into your little house in the village.

  5. Morgan Fletcher April 16, 2014 at 8:18 am #

    Stevil, you came off like a total dick, but in a good way. Nice video, nice life. And yeah, fucking Niki Terpstra!

    Read Fante yet?

  6. Double D All-Time April 16, 2014 at 9:40 am #

    Awesome post today. The vid is top-notch, as is the TBVW track and the shout-out to Terpstra.

    Regarding the aforementioned video – did you purposely crimp your derailleur cable to look like a penis?

    If so, that’s icing on the cake.

  7. Peakernp April 16, 2014 at 11:14 am #

    Tried commenting from my phone and this is what I got… “Your comment has been blocked because the blog owner has set their spam filter to no allow comments from users behind proxies.” What does that mean? Nevertheless… nice kitchen…

  8. I Heart Noise April 16, 2014 at 12:26 pm #

    Thanks for that Ted Bundy’s VW tip 🙂

  9. scooper April 16, 2014 at 2:43 pm #

    The video is cool. I like it much. I like to ride bikes and drink drinks with yous too. Congrats on your success and thanx for keepin it real all these days! keep on keepin on, yer fan, SCooper

    p.s. you to Swobo!

  10. Rick April 16, 2014 at 6:57 pm #

    Top notch post Stevil!

  11. Vaeringjar April 16, 2014 at 7:27 pm #

    Initially the vid made me down. Struck me as an expression of past times that are lost. Skateboarding is sanctioned by municipalities and the equivalent of the bukakke games, zines are are quaint, punk rock dead. But riding home drunk, insisting on a cigarette in my mouth as I was pummeled by ice, I thought, “All is well, Minneapolis is the fucking teacher, Stevil rules, and art isn’t that gay.” Thanks!

  12. sergio huerta April 16, 2014 at 9:54 pm #

    Very cool vid, Your village is a twisted place and yet, I stay in this town cause its good. Keep it goin, and show some more of your art please!

  13. Banjo Eric April 17, 2014 at 7:58 am #

    Was the name Ted Bundy’s VW a reference to Ed Gein’s Car, or just a purely coincidental [Serial Killer]’s [Vehicle] band name?

    • Stevil April 17, 2014 at 9:51 am #

      It sure was. With a tip of the hat to the fact that Debbie Harry almost got into said Volkswagen one time.

  14. tread April 17, 2014 at 9:37 am #

    Fantastic video and great peek into what looks like a fine rolling art existence. Simply stellar to see some of the motivation. Oh, and I’m the Tread guy from TBVW, thanks for the shout-out and tune-drop. Fun to hear and a trip for my kids to peek at. As for the bloody yellow drum kit. Yes, the drummer had one, a nice one, with no rack toms, it was a low slung, super-macho, blood-covered behemoth with the kick drum adorned with “chicks hate me” across the front. The blood was probably mine, maybe a “fan’s,” but definitely not from any missing person from anytown, USA…thanks again and keep on keeping on. and on.

  15. Jimbo April 17, 2014 at 9:43 am #

    Your art reminds me of Tim Root in PDX.
    If you don’t know him find him at stumptown next time you are there.
    check it out.
    http://timroot.tumblr.com/archive

  16. El Pirate Grande April 17, 2014 at 9:52 am #

    So I’m guessing there will be a second part to the video? Because I missed the part where you nap from 1-4.

  17. Grippy April 17, 2014 at 7:17 pm #

    I vote for a tutorial on your excellent sandwich making skills next video.

    However, this one is pretty gosh darn great.

  18. Loren April 18, 2014 at 4:15 pm #

    Keep doin what you’re doin cause it’s workin!