#weiland big doors

[eluascinnamon]

New York Exterior

An illustration of a large, two-story, stone exterior house with a shingle roof.

[poeticlifephoto]

Stone - Exterior

[yousaythatsooften]

If it really gets worse here, I will take as many with me as I can. I'm not joking. I'm not going to run, or hide. I'm going to fight and die. Or just die. I'm not living in a world that lets evil rule all.

This might be the why for all those beautiful minds that decided to exit the building by the side door. I kinda think so. Scott Weiland said why can't we all just get along. I'm not exactly suicidal; I have to gut me some big fish first.

[qwigoqwaga2]

Random GNR Fun Facts

@motley-queen Anyone please feel free to add to this and correct anything that's incorrect. -Slash really likes snakes. He had two named Clyde and Cranston that were mentioned on the Appetite for Destruction liner notes. -Axl gave Steven the nickname 'Popcorn' when introducing him at their concert at the Ritz in 1988 because of the way his hair bounced around while he played. -Steven loves pugs. -Axl recorded Appetite for Destruction line by line. -GNR used to be friends with Mötley Crüe and one of their first big tours was opening for them during their Girls, Girls, Girls tour. -Axl and Izzy are both kind of reclusive, so they didn't hang out with the Crüe much. I believe Steven and Nikki are still friends now. You may have noticed in the Dirt movie Slash and Steven were present at the gathering where Nikki died. -One time Steven got kicked out of a bar for being too drunk and he got mad an punched a light and broke his hand so he couldn't play and Fred Coury from Cinderella had to fill in for him for a while. -Axl was late to their label signing. The band spent a long time looking for him and eventually found him on the roof, meditating. -Axl's feud with Vince Neil happened because Izzy had made an inappropriate comment about Vince's wife, Sharise. Axl decided he had to get involved and defend his bandmate. Izzy apologized to Vince afterward, but Axl and Vince kept threatening to fight each other but never did. -An early friend of the band (maybe Barbie Von Grief) said that Axl talks a lot about people who've hurt him, which is why he spent so much time badmouthing Slash after Slash quit. -Axl and Izzy are actually country hicks from Indiana. -In the albume liner notes for Use Your Illusion they have "fuck you St. Louis" in reference to the St. Louis riot. During Rocket Queen, there was a guy with a camera who was taunting Axl and Axl told the security to take the camera and they didn't, so he launched himself into the crowd to take it himself. He then got back on stage and announced "thanks to the lameass security, I'm going home" and smashed the microphone on the ground and left. Fans rioted because the show was cut short and Axl was blamed and GNR was banned from playing St. Louis again. There's video of this incident. -All of them abused drugs, but Steven had the worst problem. It got to the point where the rest of the band wanted to kick him out because he couldn't clean up his act, but they didn't have an explicit reason to. The last concert they played together was Farm Aid in 1990. Steven tripped and fell while coming onstage. They did two songs, Civil War, which was new and they had only rehearsed it in the studio a few times, and a UK Subs cover Down On the Farm, which Steven had never heard before. Duff clapped the beat for him and Steven managed to play the song (well enough that I wouldn't have known he'd never heard it). He happened to be going through a period of trying to get clean (which, like Nikki Sixx he tried and failed many many times before finally getting clean in 2010) and he was super sick from withdrawal when they fired him. They made him come in to record Civil War and he could barely get through the song (the final version of his part had to be heavily edited to be a cohesive song) because he was so sick. They claimed it was evidence that he was too jacked up to be in the band and fired him. -Axl was married twice. Once to Erin Everly, who Sweet Child O' Mine is about, and once to Stephanie Seymour who appeared in the November Rain music video (I believe that's where they started dating) and likely many of the songs on Chinese Democracy are about her (and/or Slash). In both relationships, they were abusive to each other. -I believe it was Stephanie that Axl proposed to by threatening to shoot himself if she didn't marry him. -The bromance is strong in this band. Slash/Axl, Slash/Steven, Slash/Duff, Duff/Steven, and Axl/Izzy were all BFF pairs. -Axl and Izzy were actually BFFs from school. Steven and Slash were too. They met when Steven fell off his skateboard and Slash came and asked if he was ok. -Axl's singing career began as a child when he sang in the church choir. -Welcome to the Jungle was written about when Axl left home and went to New York City (it might have been LA, but I think it was NYC the first time) and got off the bus and as he tells it in the intro from the Ritz '88 concert "this little old black man comes up to me and my friend with our backpacks and about ten bucks between us and he goes, 'do you know where you are? you're in the jungle, baby, you're gonna die!" -Axl wanted real sex sounds for Rocket Queen, so that's him and Steven's girlfriend Adrianna (which Steven was pissed about). -Their first tour together was known as the Hell Tour. Duff had a band with some shows scheduled up in Seattle (where he's from) so they were going to play them but their car broke down and they had to hitchike there and leave all their equipment behind. -They at one point lived in what was essentially a garage with a loft. -Axl has bipolar disorder and is generally a very intense person. He's described as both a huge asshole and an incredibly sweet, caring guy. He's also actually very quiet and shy. -For example, one time when Steven overdosed and was in the hospital, Axl was the only one who came to visit him. -One time Axl was with some girls and wanted to go to one of Mötley Crüe's parties, but he was too shy to ask so he sent the girls and Nikki decided to let the girls in but not Axl just to be a dick. -The start of the whole "Axl is a control-freak dictator" thing is from when they toured with the Rolling Stones. Axl was so impressed with how the Stone's tour was such a well-oiled machine and he wanted GNR to be like that (I think it was GNR that Metallica said they learned everything what not to do from touring with GNR). Suposedly Axl forced Slash and Duff to sign away all the rights to everything GNR to Axl or else he refused to go on stage. They quit shortly after that. -Freddie Mercury and Elton John were Axl's idols (hence all the grandiose piano songs). -At Donington in 1988, two fans were killed during their set. That show is where some of the footage for the Paradise City music video comes from. The band didn't find out until afterward and they were devestated. The crowd had been rowdy and they could see people were getting injured and Axl had been trying to get the crowd to calm down, but the two bodies weren't found until after the show (it had been raining so much it was super muddy and they were partially buried in the mud). -Izzy is basically a recluse and no one knows where he is or what he's doing. But he does have a solo career. I don't think he ever wanted to be in a band as big as GNR became. -Slash and Duff founded Velvet Revolver together. Sebastian Bach auditioned, but they rejected him because they said they sounded like Skid Roses (so they went with Scott Weiland and sounded like Stone Temple Roses instead). -The first ideas for the music for November Rain came to Axl while he was on a bus in the early-mid 80s. -They didn't used to have a setlist. Axl would just pick songs based on the mood of the crowd. During the Use Your Illusion tour this meant that all the backing musicians and dancers had to be just waiting backstage for their song to be announced. -Axl threw ridiculously extravagant afterparties on the Use Your Illusion tour. -Slash proposed the original lyrics for Paradise City: "where the girls are cute and they've got big titties" -Right Next Door to Hell was written about Axl's neighbor who claimed that he attacked her with a wine bottle and there was a lengthy legal battle about it. -They were an overnight sensation basically. The Welcome to the Jungle music video was played on MTV at midnight or 3am or something ridiculous but fans loved it so much they kept calling in and asking for it to be played again. -They used to be glam in their early days. Steven argued against it became the makeup would run in his eyes while playing.

[localdstvinstaller]

8 local shows you’ll love this woman’s month

Spend an evening with Belinda, Thembisa and Liyana; see the good doctor making sure the papgeld goes where it should, and sing along with our Idols this week on DStv.

Idols S15 The blind auditions are now done and it’s off to theatre week for the contestants. New rules mean more pressure, with the coaches and the judges raising the bar. The singers are now grouped into teams and the first round of eliminations have the contestants in a panic.

Watch on Sundays on Mzansi Magic (161) at 17:30

Two Families and a Wedding Dress Every bride dreams of the perfect wedding dress for their big day. For most, that super-expensive designer gown is destined to remain a dream, but in this show, a dress fit for a princess, worth an astounding R30 000, could become a reality. The final choice will be made by the bride-to-be’s family and soon-to-be in-laws. The show is hosted by award-winning presenter Thembisa Mdoda, with narration by the spirited Moshe Ndiki.

Wednesdays on BET (129) at 21:30.

Grassroots Monwabisi and Asanda are at the mercy of the senior boys as hazing season gets underway at St Sebastian's. After arriving in Johannesburg to compete for a rugby scholarship, the two boys were initially rivals, both aiming for the same scholarship, but being the underdogs has brought them together.

Lui Maar Op, Belinda S3 This sitcom revolves around the staff at a general store in George, in the Southern Cape. Belinda (Brümilda van Rensburg), a former actress who daydreams about her once-glamorous life, finds naughty letters between Maggie’s things and reads them shamelessly, even while Frans cautions her to let sleeping dogs lie. Annetjie (Annelisa Weiland) tries to find a partner for Dirkie, but it’s not as easy as she thought.

Ster-status S1 Women’s empowerment project, Apprentesses SA, helps women between the ages of 20 and 35 realise their dreams of being in the spotlight. Whether the candidate hopes to become a model, singer, actress, businesswoman or journalist, the project’s brand-new reality competition show will help them get a foot in the door with mentoring and confidence-building as well as establishing contacts and gaining experience in the entertainment industry.

The Queen S4 Brutus, Shaka and Zodwa plan their ambush on Harriet after being left behind in jail while Harriet and her kids made bail. The Maake family suffer another loss and Mmabatho takes drastic steps to protect Baby Mzi.

Fridays on Mzansi Magic (161) at 21:00.

The Queen S4 Brutus, Shaka and Zodwa plan their ambush on Harriet after being left behind in jail while Harriet and her kids made bail. The Maake family suffer another loss and Mmabatho takes drastic steps to protect Baby Mzi.

Fridays on Mzansi Magic (161) at 21:00.

Visit https://localdstvinstaller.co.za/ for DSTV Installations Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

[itunesbooks]

The Writer's Guide to Beginnings - Paula Munier

The Writer's Guide to Beginnings How to Craft Story Openings That Sell Paula Munier Genre: Writing Price: $9.99 Publish Date: November 15, 2016 Publisher: F+W Media Seller: Perseus Books, LLC Give your story its best start! The best beginnings possess a magical quality that grabs readers from the first word and never lets them go. But beginnings aren't just the door into a fictional world. They are the gateway to the realm of publishing--one that could shut as quickly as it opens. In The Writer's Guide to Beginnings , author and literary agent Paula Munier shows you how to craft flawless beginnings that impress agents, engage editors, and captivate readers. You'll learn how to develop the big idea of your story and introduce it on page one, structure opening scenes that encompass their own story arc, kickstart your writing with effective brainstorming techniques, and introduce a compelling cast of characters that drive the plot. You'll also examine the best-selling novels from different genres to learn the secrets that experienced writers use to dive straight into a story. With thorough examinations of voice, point of view, setting, dialogue and conflict, The Writer's Guide to Beginnings is a must-have tool for luring your readers in with your opening pages--and convincing them to stick around for the ride. "Writing a book? Hard. Writing the beginning of a book? Rocket science! Strap on your spacesuit, because thanks to Munier's nuanced, actionable breakdown of every possible aspect of a gripping opening, authors everywhere can now take their books to the stars." -- K.M. Weiland http://bit.ly/2Xgykcl

[red-weiland]

Scott Weiland’s Top 10 Cover Songs [part 2]

5. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)

This is undoubtedly one of Weiland’s most emotional covers; you can feel his heart pouring out on this one. All of the tragedy, all of the bittersweet moments. This performance, which features great musicianship from the rest of Velvet Revolver that can’t go unnoticed, was recorded in 2007, the year Weiland’s brother passed away from cardiomyopathy.

4. But Not Tonight (Depeche Mode)

It’s hard to imagine the man responsible for the vocals in “Sex Type Thing” would be able to nail a Depeche Mode cover, but if anybody could do it, Weiland was that person. Originally covered for the soundtrack to Not Another Teen Movie, Weiland brought the track back with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel in 2011 to promote his autobiography. This is another great example of Weiland taking a song and making it his own. 

3. Time Of The Season (The Zombies)

Recorded for the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me with Big Blue Missile in 1999, this Zombies cover is another Weiland recreation that if anything enhances the original. Weiland was in his vocal prime during this era, and the power in his voice really shines on this cover. Weiland’s cover of Bowie’s “Ashes To Ashes” was recorded during this same session, but Big Blue Missile drummer Frank Reina commented that their take on the track “was a little too dark,” so they opted to go with this.

2. Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle (Nirvana)

Weiland introduced this cover in 2011 to promote his autobiography, and it is one of the best recordings Weiland did in his final years. His band (not yet known as The Wildabouts) definitely does the song justice and stays true to the Nirvana version, but it’s Weiland’s channeling of Kurt Cobain that steals the show here. This is simply an excellent cover of an underrated song, and I would argue that it is at least as good as the original. While I prefer his studio take slightly over the live version, it’s worth checking out the live version too, as it captures the raw energy that the studio version doesn’t.

1. Break On Through (The Doors)

This one doesn’t need an explanation. You can just feel the vibe from the members of The Doors; it’s like they have been transported back in time to the original days of the band with Jim Morrison. The look on Ray Manzarek’s face says it all. The Doors performed with several other guest vocalists in the last few decades, but no one ever came close to Weiland. This performance is simply incredible. Make sure to watch “Five To One” from this same show.

This list only scratches the surface of the many great covers Weiland recorded and performed throughout his career, as he paid tribute to everyone from Radiohead to Bing Crosby. Some of it just comes down to personal preference, but on certain songs Weiland would become a completely different singer – and that goes for his STP catalogue as well. Not many people could successfully segue from “First Kiss On Mars” to “Sex Type Thing” on a set list, but Weiland was a one of a kind singer.

[part 1]

[thereviewsarein]

Missing Canadian Music Week 2020 because of COVID-19 was a giant bummer. We’ve been fortunate to be at a lot of shows and do interviews and take photos and make memories over the last six years or so, and we’re thankful for that. So, in this edition of my live music memories, I’ve got three Canadian Music Week (CMW) shows that stand out for their own reasons.

Over the years we’ve been to big shows, packed with people and little showcases with a dozen fans and industry insiders looking to find the next big thing. We’ve seen pop, rock, country, hip-hop, folk, punk, and more from Canada, the US, Brazil, the UK, Australia, and all sorts of other places that are not Toronto. And we’ve loved it.

The experience is hectic and takes scheduling gymnastics, but it’s always worth it and we hope that 2021 brings some of that back to us.

Today, I’ve picked a show from 2015, 2016, and 2017. That wasn’t on purpose – those three shows/sets just stand out for me, so that’s what’s on the list.

Honourable mentions include Lindsay Ell, JJ Shiplett, The Used, Judah & the Lion, Matt & Kim, SATE / Julien Taylor Band / Bleeker / Poor Young Things, Aussie BBQ Showcases, and more.

Let’s go!

Scott Weiland

The Mod Club, May 7, 2015

https://www.thereviewsarein.com/2015/05/08/jim-beam-rock-and-roll-night-at-cmw-2015-ft-scott-weiland/

Scott Weiland being gone is still sad. Rock and roll misses him. But, I remember the night we saw him at The Mod Club at Canadian Music Week and it was great.

Leading up to the show there was a lot of talk about Weiland’s state as a performer and as a person. There was the show in Texas that had some real down moments and that had us wondering what we were going to get when Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts hit the stage in Toronto.

AND THEN THEY WERE AWESOME!

Scott Weiland was a hell of a performer throughout his career and we got to see it live that night in 2015. He strutted and was theatrical and sang. The place was packed. We got classic Stone Temple Pilot hits like Vasoline and Big Bang Baby.

I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

And then we got to meet him.

It was a wild, fun, exciting night that included my chance to meet a star for a photo and a smile.

I’d do it all over again tomorrow!

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Meghan Patrick

The Phoenix Concert Theatre, May 3, 2016

https://www.thereviewsarein.com/2016/05/04/cmw-2016-spotlight-meghan-patrick/

Meghan Patrick played as part of the Boots & Hearts showcase at CMW 2016 and owned the stage in a big way. We’d seen her before at Boots with The Stone Sparrows, I’d seen her in small songwriter circles, and just one before we saw her in the back room at the Supermarket playing a showcase that would lead to some great things for her.

At the May 2016 show, Meghan had the chance to play songs from her debut album, Grace & Grit that just been released a week before, and the crowd got into it just as much as she and the band were into it.

The stand out moment came when she played Bow Chicka Wow Wow, which had been released as a single earlier in the year. The crowd knew it. They loved it. Everyone got in with singing and dancing and stomping and energy. It was wonderful.

We’ve seen Meghan live a bunch in the years since that show but it is great to look back on her emergence as a Canadian country music star on her way to Female Artist of the Year trophies and finding the #1 spot on the charts!

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James Barker Band & Friends

Boots & Bourbon Saloon, April 21, 2017

https://www.thereviewsarein.com/2017/04/23/cmw-2017-game-on-james-barker-band-release-party-with-andrew-hyatt-dan-davidson-and-friends/

At Canadian Music Week 2017, James Barker Band took over Boots and Bourbon for their Juno award-winning Game On EP release party and it was one of the hottest tickets of the entire week. Even our media passes didn’t secure us a spot in the venue, and we ended up getting in the door as the music was getting started with Dani Strong.

The place was packed with fans and other artists (Jess Moskaluke, Washboard Union, Leah Daniels, Kris Barclay, Ben Hudson, Karli June, Vanessa Marie Carter) who came to see the show. Everyone was all-in on the Canadian country music party with JBB and friends.

The ‘and friends’ in this show matters for this memory because the whole thing was great. Dani Strong kicked things off to a big early crowd with songs and laughs and the crowd loved it all (including her Maple Leafs t-shirt). The Reklaws (pre-HUGE radio and industry breakthrough) were next and showed us a step forward we were very happy to see. Dan Davidson took the middle slot and was a ball of energy that we’ve seen on stages big and small more than once since then. Andrew Hyatt was next and put on the kind of show that left him dripping with sweat and the fans in a frenzy waiting for the headliners.

And then the James Barker Band hit the stage and everyone got what they came for.

The boys played tracks from their new (at the time) EP, they were entertaining and fired up. They knew this was special. We knew they were breaking through to another level. And all of that has stood up in the three years since then with more success and star power and songs from the band.

Chills had just gone to radio three weeks before the show and would go on to be the band’s first #1 (followed by Keep It Simple in 2019). Lawn Chair Lazy and Just Sayin’ were already favourite and had charted well, and it was great to see these rising stars getting brighter and brighter in front of our eyes.

This was a good night and a good show.

  View this post on Instagram

  Thank you to everyone who came out to the ‘Game On’ EP release party on Friday 🤘Such an amazing night @bootsbourbon celebrating with a crowd of family, friends and fans! Shoutout @danistrongmusic @thereklaws @itsdandavidson and @theandrewhyatt for rockin’ with us. Next stop, @DeanBrody’s #BeautifulFreakshowTour! #GameOn @canadianmusicweek // 📸 – @lifewithpedro

A post shared by James Barker Band (@jamesbarkerband) on Apr 23, 2017 at 11:46am PDT

Joshua’s Live Music Memories (part 3): Canadian Music Week Missing Canadian Music Week 2020 because of COVID-19 was a giant bummer. We've been fortunate to be at a lot of shows and do interviews and take photos and make memories over the last six years or so, and we're thankful for that.

[newssplashy]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser said Sunday that Trump had pulled out of a joint statement with allies at the Group of 7 meeting over the weekend because a “betrayal” by the Canadian prime minister had threatened to make Trump appear weak before his summit meeting Tuesday with North Korea’s leader.

The adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that Trump had no choice but to take the action after the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said in a news conference that Canada would not be bullied by the United States on trade.

Trump “is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around,” Kudlow said, adding, “He is not going to permit any show of weakness on a trip to negotiate with North Korea.”

Trudeau made his remarks, which were largely measured in tone, after the president had agreed to sign the joint statement and had left for his historic meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore. Negotiators had struggled to write a compromise communiqué addressing trade and other issues that the seven nations could agree on, but issued one Saturday believing that there would be consensus.

In his news conference, the prime minister made a vow to protect his country’s interests that was not unlike the promises Trump himself has made for the United States. But Kudlow said that the timing of the comments meant that Trudeau had “stabbed us in the back.”

“We joined the communiqué in good faith,” Kudlow said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “You just don’t behave that way, OK? It’s a betrayal.”

He added that Trump “had every right — every right — to push back on this amateurish Trudeau scheme.”

Peter Navarro, the president’s top trade adviser, echoed Kudlow’s criticism of Trudeau, though in even harsher terms.

“There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” Navarro said on “Fox News Sunday.”

On Sunday, Democrats expressed alarm at Trump’s decision to back away from the joint G-7 statement.

“This wasn’t just with Trudeau. This is with our best allies,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said on CNN. “Not to sign a statement of solidarity, which stands for everything that we stand for, is a big mistake.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., offered a message to foreign nations in a tweet.

“To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values,” he wrote Saturday. “Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t.”

On Saturday, Trudeau said Canada would retaliate against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum products. The president apparently heard Trudeau’s comments while flying on Air Force One and quickly lashed out on Twitter.

“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!” Trump wrote.

He added that Trudeau was “very dishonest and weak” and “acted so meek and mild.”

Trump’s response amounted to a declaration of political war on one of the country’s closest allies, and further isolated the United States after months of protectionist threats that have kept Trudeau on edge.

In a tweet Sunday, Trudeau chose to focus on what he said was the substance of the summit meeting.

“The historic and important agreement we all reached at #G7Charlevoix will help make our economies stronger & people more prosperous, protect our democracies, safeguard our environment and protect women & girls’ rights around the world,” he wrote. “That’s what matters.”

The Canadian foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said Sunday that “Canada does not believe that ad hominem attacks are a particularly appropriate or useful way to conduct our relations with other countries.”

She added, “We particularly refrain from ad hominem attacks when it comes to our allies.”

Canada was not the only target at the G-7 meeting. During closed-door sessions Friday, Trump went around the room, declaring ways that each of the nations had mistreated the United States, according to a European official. Trump has long maintained that his country has been duped by others into signing disastrous trade agreements.

His comments also came just hours after Trudeau had tried to paint a more civil picture of the summit meeting, which was held in a quiet resort town north of Quebec City.

Trudeau had said he was “inspired” by the talks between the seven international allies on economic and foreign policy questions. Trump had posed for pictures with the other world leaders, gripping and grinning amid talks that White House aides insisted were friendly.

Kudlow, a free-trader who joined the administration in March, said Sunday that the United States had in fact been near a substantive agreement with Canada on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been the subject of difficult negotiations.

“We were very close to making a deal with Canada on NAFTA, bilaterally perhaps,” he said on CNN, though he did not elaborate.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

NOAH WEILAND © 2018 The New York Times

via NewsSplashy - Latest Nigerian News Online

[drtanstravels]

I grew up in the small rural town of Traralgon, a community surrounded by farms and power stations, situated in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It’s a town where not a whole lot happens and it can also be difficult to find a job there, especially now that a lot of the industry in the area is dying. When I was younger, I never really wanted to stay in Traralgon, I just knew there was a lot more out there and I wanted to experience it. Some people love the simple life, but it isn’t for everyone so when the positions as cleaners or in pyramid selling in the town started to disappear, I had my chance to do the same. After a little bit of looking, I found a job in Melbourne and moved in with my old Traralgon mate, Owen, when I was 19. I stayed in Melbourne until I was almost 28, most of it spent in a cockroach-infested, six-bedroom share-house in North Melbourne, before I moved to Daejeon, Korea in 2007 to gain teaching experience for my eventual relocation to Singapore for Anna’s work at the beginning of the following year. As with living in Traralgon, not a lot happens in Singapore, despite being a significant international hub, with few major international events, particularly concerts. Very few groups worth seeing ever come to Singapore; in fact, I have only been to two shows in the 10 years I’ve lived here – Bob Dylan, who sounded just like Tom Waits doing Dylan covers, when he played at the Singapore Grand Prix in what I think was 2010, and Stone Temple Pilots when former lead singer Scott Weiland was still alive and in the group back in September of 2011. I definitely miss going to shows here, something I took for granted when I lived in Melbourne and then took even greater advantage of while we lived in New York a few years ago.

Hanging in Melbourne with Pat

A couple of months back I saw that the Dean Ween Group would be supporting Primus on their Australian tour, the Melbourne leg of which would be at the Palais Theatre in St. Kilda on April 15. I thought to myself that this would be a fun show, Ween is my favourite band and I don’t mind Primus either, having seen them several times over the years, so if I were still living in Melbourne, I’d definitely be going, but unfortunately I’d have to give this one a miss. “Hey, maybe they’ll be playing Europe when I’m over later in the year,” I thought, but it turned out I wouldn’t need to wait that long — I received a message off my old friend and fellow former Traralgonite, Pat Corrigan (left), asking me if I was going to be in Australia around April 15, a slightly odd question considering the fact that he knows I only ever go back about once every two years and that’s usually at Christmas, but I also knew what else was on so I asked if this had anything to do with the Dean Ween Group shows. Pat replied that he had bought tickets for himself, as well as for Anna and I if we were able to make it, otherwise he’d just sell them. I asked Anna and she knew how much I’d love to go to this show, plus she was also keen to go back and visit some friends so we booked some flights and made it a date.

Pat received his name because he was born on St. Patrick’s Day so he came and stayed with us in Singapore to party for his birthday in March and now a month later it was our turn to return the favour.

A slightly modified poster for a Comedy Festival show

Saturday, April 14, 2018 We arrived in Melbourne at around 10:00am and once we were out of the airport we jumped in a taxi and made our way to our hotel, City Limits Apartments on Lt. Bourke St. in the city. The weather was horrendous for the bulk of the day, typical of Melbourne, this time just wet and windy, the rain almost coming in horizontally several times. Still, that wasn’t going to spoil our plans. After we checked into the hotel, had a shower, and donned something a little more appropriate for the climate, we walked down and had a look at the Queen Victoria Market and then went and had brunch at a favourite old haunt of ours when we both used to live in North Melbourne and a place we always eat in at least once every time we come back, Hot Poppy on Errol St. After a damn fine brunch we did a bit more shopping, most of which was just stuff for the dog, then we met up with Pat and another old Traralgon friend of ours, Marc Dean, for what turned into a kind of pub crawl of sorts. We started out in the afternoon at the Imperial Hotel, just around the corner from where we were staying, made our way through a bunch of different places, just the small, dingy types of bars and pubs that I like going to, and eventually ended up at Cookie on Swanston Street until it was time for them to close. Anna had already gone home by that stage, but I don’t get back to see my friends a whole lot so we made the most of it.

It was surprising how many people in the bar tried to reenact this image of what looks like Demis Roussos cupping Lisa Kudrow

Hanging out at Cookie with Anna and Marc

Sunday, April 15, 2018 The day was finally here, but there would still be a few hours to wait. Anna went and caught up with some old college friends, Stan and I-Lynn Tay, as well as Dan Joyce, for lunch so I spent a large portion of the day just wandering around the city. Before long, Anna was done and it was time to make our way down to St. Kilda for the show. The doors at the Palais were to open at 7:00pm, the Dean Ween Group would come on at 8:00pm and do a 45-minute set, then Primus would play at approximately 9:15pm, meaning we had time to grab some dinner before the show. We opted for Claypots, a really good seafood restaurant on Barkly St. in St. Kilda that also gets some great live bands in. While there, I bumped into some old friends that Owen and myself used to hang out with a lot back in the day, Morag Milton and Gerry Donne, who just so happened to be going to the concert as well.

When dinner was done, we met pat at the Vine Yard and started walking down to the Palais. I was excited for this show because I had seen Ween live before when they reformed and it was easily the best concert I had ever been to. I had also managed to kind of see Gene Ween perform a solo show, but I hadn’t had a chance to see the Dean Ween Group play, so that had been on my to-do list for a while now. Primus always put on a brilliant show too, so this was going to be a great night, but I thought it was a bit weird that they were playing at the Palais. When I used to live in Melbourne, most of the concerts I went to were at the Palace, which was a massive live music venue and nightclub next to the Palais. It was an excellent band venue with a huge open floor space, but unfortunately the Palace was pretty much destroyed in a fire back in 2007. The Palais, on the other hand, is an odd location for a rock concert because it is an old theatre with built-in seating, not really conducive to getting the crowd into the show. Time would tell how it would all go. We arrived at the venue and I jumped in the extremely long line for merchandise, picking up a Dean Ween t-shirt, a signed gig poster, and signed records by both bands. I checked all of this into the cloakroom, then we went to find our seats. The two albums by the Dean Ween Group aren’t bad, but they’re not among my favourites either, however, live they were awesome, with Claude Coleman and Dave Dreiwitz, Ween’s drummer and bass player respectively, as members of the band. They played both Dean Ween Group stuff, as well as a few Ween tracks. Les Claypool from Primus and Dean Ween have been buddies for a long time, even filming a pilot years ago for a TV fishing show together, so it was a bit of a treat when he joined the Dean Ween Group on stage for the Ween tracks “The Mollusk” and “The Rift.” I obviously found it a little bit more exciting than Anna did, because she nodded off in her seat for a bit at one stage.

A few sights from the Dean Ween Group’s set:

The Dean Ween Group doing their thing

Our seats were actually pretty good

Les Claypool joining them on bass

Playing “The Mollusk”

Now doing “The Rift”

It wouldn’t be the last time we’d see Deaner and Les together on stage that night

Setlist:

This Heart of Palm

My Own Bare Hands (Ween cover)

Waste Station 9

The Ritz Carlton

Fingerbangin’

Mercedes Benz

The Mollusk (Ween cover) *feat. Les Claypool

The Rift (Ween cover) *feat. Les Claypool

I didn’t record any video from the Dean Ween Group’s set, instead opting to record the audio instead. You might hear a bit of us talking during parts, but they were a lot of fun:

https://drtanstravels.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/dean-ween-group-april-15-2018.m4a

Next up was Primus, who opened with “Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweekers.” After they had completed their first song, Claypool mentioned that he didn’t realise it was going to be a seated show and that he had written a heavier setlist, expecting everyone to be standing. This got everyone up and they put on a fantastic show, playing a bit of everything from over the years, despite having just recently released a new album, “The Desaturating Seven.” I got a few photos, but they came out a bit dark due to the stage being back-lit, however, you may be able to make out what’s going on:

“Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweekers”

Les doing his thing

“Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”

“Mr. Krinkle,” complete with the pig mask

Winding down

Primus’ set concluded and we waited for the encore which consisted solely of the track “Southbound Pachyderm,” but things got a little interesting when Dean Ween came out half-way through the song to do the guitar solo, something I had to get on video. Again, it may be a little hard to make out, but it’s worth a look if you’re a fan:

Setlist + Album

Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers (Sailing the Seas of Cheese)

Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver (Tales from the Punchbowl)

The Seven (The Desaturating Seven)

Moron TV (Green Naugahyde)

Too Many Puppies (Frizzle Fry)

Sgt. Baker + Too Many Puppies reprise (Sailing the Seas of Cheese)

Jilly’s on Smack (Green Naugahyde)

Mr. Krinkle (Pork Soda)

The Trek (The Desaturating Seven)

John the Fisherman (Frizzle Fry)

The Storm (The Desaturating Seven)

Welcome to this World (Pork Soda)

Mrs. Blaileen (Tales from the Punchbowl)

Jerry was a Race Car Driver (Sailing the Seas of Cheese)

My Name is Mud + Jerry Was a Race Car Driver reprise (Pork Soda)

Encore

Southbound Pachyderm (Tales from the Punchbowl) *feat. Dean Ween

It was a great concert and I later found out that the Dean Ween Group met and took pictures with people in the lobby between sets, but alas, I missed out. Oh well, I still had a blast. The show was over, as was the main reason for why we had come back to Australia, but our trip wasn’t done yet. Anna was flying out on Thursday afternoon and I was still around until Sunday, but how did we spend the remainder of our holiday? Quietly, so let’s go through the remaining days quickly in point form:

On Monday night Anna met up with I-Lynn again and their friend, Shyammi Gunatheesan, for dinner so I grabbed a bite to eat and a couple of drinks with Pat and some of his friends, with Anna meeting up with us later on in the night.

Tuesday through Thursday were to be spent just relaxing in Traralgon and hanging out with family so we checked out of the hotel, jumped on a V-Line train and went to the Valley, with my Dad saying they would drive us back to Melbourne on the Thursday and take Anna to the airport. We had dinner with my family on the Tuesday night and just sat around at home, chatting. When we went to bed, Anna and myself had both forgotten how quiet it was in the country; it was so silent we both broke into fits of laughter each time my stomach gurgled or Anna swallowed because it seemed insanely loud. We definitely had a tough time sleeping both nights.

Wednesday was spent just walking around the shops in Traralgon. When we came back to my parents’ place it dawned on Anna that we had left our passports in the safe back at the hotel in Melbourne. Oops, going to have to make a bit of a detour on the way to the airport.

My parents drove Anna and myself to the airport on Thursday, making two stops along the way; one to visit my grandmother and another at the hotel to get our passports. Anna made her flight without a hitch, then I got dropped off at the Ascot Vale Hotel, where Owen is the manager. I would be staying with him and his girlfriend, Rochelle, until I was to fly out on Sunday afternoon. Friday night was spent just sitting in the bar, drinking and chatting with Owen and the locals.

On Friday I just had a look around the city and went to the Ascot Vale Hotel again that night. I also found out that there was going to be a 60th birthday lunch the following day for my auntie, Gaye, about an hour-and-a-half away by train in Berwick.

This thing is pretty damn fast!

I caught a couple of trains and made it to Berwick for Gaye’s birthday lunch on Saturday, also getting to see some family members that I hadn’t seen in possibly over a decade. After lunch, I hung out at Gaye’s place with her and her friend, Gail, just sitting around, catching up. Before it was time to go, Gaye took me for a drive in her sweet new ride (right), lighting it up on the open road and then dropping me off again at the train station. On the way back, I went a little further and stopped off in Coburg to meet an old friend and former fellow Traralgonian, Mary-Anne Nieuwenhuizen, at her place for a quick catch up with her and her son, Iggy, before making my way back to Ascot Vale for my final night at Owen and Rochelle’s place.

I hung out with Owen and Rochelle in the morning on Sunday before Owen had to work and I had to fly out. I made the flight without a problem and it was all going smoothly, but I started to feel a little sleepy so I thought I’d take a nap. The next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor in the emergency row with a bunch of flight attendants leaning over me and a man telling me I had had a pretty bad seizure, but the strange thing was that I felt completely fine, no headache, no missing time, and no problem remembering any details when they quizzed me about the day, date, where I lived, and a few other details. Still, I was promptly upgraded to Business Class so I could lie down on a bed near the doctor who had initially helped out the staff, was given an oxygen tank and had my pulse and blood pressure taken every 20 minutes or so. Singapore Airlines is the best! When I got off the flight, I was given a few frightened looks by some of the other passengers, but probably the most terrified came from the person who had been in the next seat. As  I was coming out of the bathroom at Changi Airport, the Indian man and woman who had been in my row on the plane looked genuinely concerned for my wellbeing and asked if I was okay, if I needed any help or a ride to the hospital, that kind of thing, while their son, who was no older than about eight or nine years old and had been seated beside me, just stared at me blankly, mouth agape. I definitely scared the shit out of that kid, but there was nothing to worry about, all was fine, but I really appreciated the gesture from his parents.

Besides the seizure on the way home, it was a great week back in Australia. The Dean Ween Group and Primus were brilliant so I want to say a big thank you to Pat for the tickets. Also, thanks Mum and Dad for driving us back up to Melbourne, another big thank you to Owen and Rochelle for their hospitality and letting me crash for a couple of nights, I love your new apartment, by the way. A shout out to all the Singapore Airlines crew and other passengers who helped me out on the way back and lastly, thanks I-Lynn for Kermit’s Mötley Crüe t-shirt:

Crüe slut

A Week Back in Melbourne for the Dean Ween Group and Primus I grew up in the small rural town of Traralgon, a community surrounded by farms and power stations, situated in the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia.

[octanoband]

“Happy” in Galoshes is the second solo album by Scott Weiland. Weiland, known for his roles as the lead singer in Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, released his first album, 12 Bar Blues in 1998. Ten years later, “Happy” in Galoshes served as the official follow-up. Two versions have been released, a single disc and double disc deluxe version—the deluxe edition offers a second disc of 10 extra tracks.

The album was released November 25, 2008 on Weiland’s own Softdrive Records. Produced by Doug Grean and Scott Weiland, with select tracks recorded by Steve Albini, the album features guest appearances by Paul Oakenfold and No Doubt members Adrian Young, Tony Kanal, and Tom Dumont. Oakenfold appears on a cover of David Bowie’s “Fame.” Weiland has cited Bowie as one of his main influences.

In an interview with The Pulse of Radio regarding the album, Weiland stated: “It’ll definitely be a sonic journey like the first album was, a little bit more focused since I’m not on a narcotic journey like I was on the last one. But, you know, still sort of all over the map, because my influences are so wide and varied.” In an interview with MTV News, Weiland stated that the songs on “Happy” In Galoshes were inspired by the death of his brother, Michael (who also played drums on a song on the album), and Weiland’s separation from his wife of eight years, Mary Forsberg.

On September 17, 2008, Spin.com posted an exclusive stream of “Paralysis” and the track “Missing Cleveland” was posted on Weiland’s MySpace site. On October 24, Spin also posted another new song, “Crash”. On October 27, rockdirt.com released the video for “Paralysis”, which features actress Paz de la Huerta. On November 18, the album became available to preview on Scott Weiland’s MySpace page. A series of 4 webisodes directed by Rocco Guarino were released on scottweiland.com to promote the single “Crash”.

“Missing Cleveland” was the first single released from the album on November 11. On February 17, it was announced that fans could vote for the album’s second single. The candidates for the voting are “Paralysis”, “Blind Confusion”, and “Killing Me Sweetly.”

Deluxe edition – Disc one Missing Cleveland, Tangle with Your Mind, Blind Confusion, Paralysis, She Sold Her System, Blister on My Soul, Fame, Killing Me Sweetly, Big Black Monster, Beautiful Day.

Deluxe edition – Disc two Crash, Hyper-Fuzz-Funny-Car, The Man I Didn’t Know, Sometimes Chicken Soup, Somethings Must Go This Way, Pictures & Computers (I’m Not Superman), Sentimental Halos, Reel Around the Fountain, Arch Angel, Be Not Afraid, I Know It’s Too Late.

Ex-Girlfriend Mourns Scott Weiland: ‘He Was A Tender Lover’

Paz de la Huerta recently paid tribute to her ex-boyfriend Scott Weiland on Instagram following his death. Paz dated Weiland from 2008 to 2009, appearing in his “Paralysis” music video. At the time of their relationship Weiland was 40 years old, while Paz was 23.

“A true love of mine … A gift from God to this world … Tender … Loving … Resilient … Honorable … Integrity … His Love Boundless … I am shattered … This is beyond tragic on so many levels for so many people … Especially for his beautiful children … Love and prayers … Love and prayers … Love and Prayers …”

She also posted lyrics to the Stone Temple Pilots song “Atlanta” on her Instagram. “She lives by the wall and waits by the door … She walks in the sun to me … Memories of candles and incense and all of these things … Remember thee … She lives by the wall and waits by the door she walks in the sun to me …”

Paz was involved in a big controversy in May of 2008 during Stone Temple Pilots’ reunion tour in New Jersey when Scott and Paz reportedly wouldn’t leave Scott’s trailer leading to the band coming out 90 minutes late. Robert DeLeo yelled at Scott’s trailer calling him Axl according to Opie and Anthony. When Scott and Paz emerged Robert told Scott to “get your bitch off my tour.” Scott then promptly told her to leave.

Info: Wikipedia | AlternativeNation | MelodicArt

ALBUM REVIEW HAPPY IN GALOSHES "Happy" in Galoshes is the second solo album by Scott Weiland. Weiland, known for his roles as the lead singer in Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, released his first album, 12 Bar Blues in 1998.

[wintertuin]

Het fragment van Roos Vlogman

Deze rubriek bevat een boekentip aan de hand van een fragment dat de lezer altijd is bijgebleven. Dit keer bespreekt Roos Vlogman een fragment uit een gedicht van Martijn den Ouden, uit de bundel Een kogelvrije zomer (2017), p. 28-29.

Het fragment [...] paradijs 12  het afgebakend terrein waar zoogdieren en reptielen worden gedomesticeerd door een kettingrokende vrouw met haren van touw, een tuinbroek en een leren bh paradijs 13  het oerwoud met haar sirenen en oorverdovend regengeklater paradijs 14 de insectenvrije koepeltent in de schaduw van de bomen aan de rand van  het weiland en in de verte het geweergeknal van jagers die op kleiduiven schieten paradijs 15  de stille cabine van de uitgeschakelde tractor en de avondmaaltijd – een  lauwe Big Mac uit Lelystad – en het zicht op brandende vlasresten en een op komst zijnde storm waarvan de eerste dikke druppels op het dak  en de motorkap uiteenspatten [...] Het geheel Als ik terugkom van een reis door Zuid-Afrika heb ik zoveel poëziebundels bij me dat mijn tas acht kilo zwaarder is dan op de heenweg. Ik heb ze gekocht en gekregen en thuis kan ik er een hele boekenplank mee vullen. Ik besluit een aantal bundels cadeau te doen aan vrienden, en stuur ze per post naar ze op.

Afgelopen woensdag komt een van die lievelingsvrienden eten. Ik kan hem niet vaak zien, omdat we een leven leiden in een compleet andere stad, in een compleet ander gedeelte van het land, met compleet andere mensen. Maar als ik hem zie, is het goed. We praten over hoe we vandaag weer de wereld gaan veranderen, maar tegelijkertijd onze inbox niet durven te openen. We willen alles en niets is genoeg. Als we het over literatuur hebben, vraagt hij heel voorzichtig of het oké is dat hij de bundel die ik hem stuurde nog niet uit heeft. Of het mag: elke keer maar één pagina lezen. Ik vind dat heel lief: dat ik hem iets gegeven heb waarvan hij denkt dat hij het mooi moet vinden, maar niet precies weet hoe. Als een voorwerp waarvan hij niet weet hoe hij het moet gebruiken; iemand die voor het eerst een vork ziet, maar niet weet dat je ermee kunt eten.

Ik pak de bundel Een kogelvrije zomer uit de kast en lees het bovenstaande fragment voor. We merken de standvastigheid van de vrouw in de leren bh op, we voelen de warmte van de insectenvrije tent, en ruiken de muffe, kleverige geur van een Big Mac (en voelen hoe verdrietig het is dat die nou juist uit Lelystad moet komen). Den Oudens poëzie helpt ons om zelf de poëzie te benoemen die we tegenkomen op straat: een man die hardloopt in een kogelvrij vest; de rij synthetische kindervoetbalshirts aan de waslijn; de wielrenner die zijn hand tegen zijn stuitje legt om zijn billen te beschermen tegen opspattend regenwater.

Als toetje lees ik hem voor uit Melktanden (een eerdere bundel van Martijn den Ouden):

ik mag geen schoten lossen op een gezond gezin. ik mag geen schoten lossen op een gezond gezin.

De zin herhaalt zich 85 keer en mijn vriend kijkt triomfantelijk; alsof ik hem heb uitgelegd dat je een vork gebruikt om flinterdunne plakjes gebakken aardappels mee vast te prikken (tijdens een diner ‘waar grootvader zich met het broodmes de keel doorsnijdt na zijn bekentenis de kinderen te hebben misbruikt’*). *p. 27, Een kogelvrije zomer. Roos Vlogman is afgestudeerd aan de opleiding Creative Writing. In 2016 won ze de juryprijs bij de schrijfwedstrijd Write Now!. Ze schrijft columns, verhalen en gedichten voor o.a. Trouw, De Gids, Tirade en Hard//hoofd. In 2015-2016 nam ze deel aan de eerste lichting van het Slow Writing Lab, waardoor ze in november 2016 in Zuid-Afrika aan haar poëziedebuut kon werken.

[artsychica2012]

*Initiating first draft mindset…*

1. I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles. Shannon Hale

2. Your first draft is your imagination’s private journal. MJ Bush, The Perfection Intervention

3. We begin to judge our work too early and think we need to achieve perfection. Inevitably writer’s block will come knocking because we can’t meet those expectations. We need to give ourselves permission to fail so we have the freedom to explore, experiment and improve. Lynda R Young, 5 Reasons to Shed the Genius Within

4. Creativity takes courage. Henri Matisse

5. Most of all, I remember: the purpose of the first draft is to figure out what story you are telling. Darcy Pattison, Awful First Draft: It’s Hard to Trust the Process

6. Making writing a big deal tends to make writing difficult. Julia Cameron, The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life (affiliate link, no expense added)

7. The first draft is the fastest, and invariably the most important. In the first draft, I write for myself, and always with the door closed. No one ever sees those words. Mary Jaksch, How To Start A Novel

8. No one will read what you don’t give them, so the only judge in the first draft is you. Allison Beckert, What to Expect From A First Draft

9. People mistakenly expect to hit the bulls-eye on the first pass. Abandon the idea that your first draft should be anything but exploration. Gregory Ciotti, How to Write with Substance

10. If you are willing to do something that might not work, you’re closer to being an artist. Seth Godin

11. Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Andy Warhol

12. As soon as I stopped over-thinking my process, my infernal internal editor shut up, my characters started talking to me again, and my writing improved vastly. Turned out the very thing I thought was helping me be a good writer was holding me back. K.M. Weiland, Are You Over-Thinking Your First Draft?

13. It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly. C. J. Cherryh

14. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. Sylvia Plath

15. One of the big lessons for me was realizing that whether I took 7 months or 7 days, my first drafts would essentially have the same weaknesses and strengths so…I could quit worrying about it. April Kihlstrom, How Writers Write – An interview with April Kihlstrom

more @ the link

[itsworn]

Evolution of Circle Track Technology

35 Years of CT Ads: Documentation of Evolution of Technology

When the first issue of Circle Track came on the scene, short track racing was in a major transition. Racing as an industry that we now know was being formed then and had only been around for several years. Prior to that time, most race cars of the 1960’s and up to the mid-1970’s were home built with parts scavenged from the junk yard. Soon after that, some enterprising individuals began what we commonly know as members of the Performance Racing Industry.

For the chassis, parts like brakes, rear ends, hubs and wheels were usually components found on production trucks. These were stronger than those that came on production automobiles and could withstand the rigors of racing.

This is the cover of the very first issue of CT that came out sometime in 1982. This SIP (special issue publication) did not have a month or year marking anywhere in the issue. The first news-stand issue came out in October, 1982. Some of the first advertisers in those initial issues are still in business and advertising with CT. As we look through the years, the ads and articles tell a story about the advancement of racing technology.

For the engines, there were truck clutches, truck intake manifolds, truck cams and heads that produced more horsepower than stock parts, etc. But, the racing was becoming more sophisticated and so the suppliers became more innovative. You would be surprised to know what was available then, in 1982 in comparison to what is used today. Here is a review that you might find interesting.

Brake Systems – Up until the mid-1970’s, brakes systems in circle track race cars were usually borrowed from trucks where stopping heavy loads was necessary. The friction material was a shoe rubbing against a steel drum. Somewhere along the way, probably as a result of Indy car racing and aircraft design needs, the disc brake system was made available to the general racing public.

In the summer of 1982, a racer had access to four-wheel disc brake systems offered by several companies, some of which are still around. Wilwood brakes was an advertiser in that first issue and still provides the best in brake systems for short track racers, along with PFC Brakes and many other companies that were spinoffs.

  The system consisted of a disc of varying thicknesses and aluminum or steel calipers bolted to the spindle or rear axle tubing, just like today. In fact, other than significant improvements in friction materials and disc designs, the two are the same. And what that did for us was eliminate brake fade that was common before the disc brakes became available.

Custom designed calipers, rotors and brake pads can be used to enhance any setup on dirt or asphalt. With the use of brakes becoming more prevalent and the racing conditions being more intense than ever, brake systems have become more and more a tuning tool to take a team to the next level.

Springs and Shocks – Back in the day, we were starting to see dedicated spring manufacturers and shocks built for racing applications. The use of coil-over shocks meant we needed good, quality springs in a variety of rates to use to setup our cars.

From those early companies came quality spring makers like Landrum Springs who advertise with CT today. And racing shocks have come a long way too. Gone are the days of the twin tube shocks. Now, almost every shock used on a wide variety of race cars is a gas pressure variety of varying pressures.

We have dedicated shock companies who can build any shock combination you need. Current advertisers Keyser Manufacturing, QA1 and RE Suspension are some of the many who offer full service shock sales of their own brands plus Penske shocks for a custom build. The modern shock dyno makes possible the designs that enhance the current setup arrangements.

Coil-over force rigs are used by racers to know the distribution of forced in their cars when going through the turns. These are offered by Gale Force Suspension, Intercomp and Longacre while we also have specially designed pull-down rigs by Mittler Brothers and DRP Performance.

Driveline – In 1982, we were starting to see quick change rear ends made of aluminum and even magnesium alloys. Quick change gears were offered by several companies to keep up with the high demand associated with the switch from the common 9 inch Ford types to quick-change. Winters Performance offers low friction quick-change rear ends and Quick Performance is the supplier for a variety of rear ends and parts based on the 9 inch Ford design.

At the other end of the driveshaft, the multi-disk clutch was making a lot of waves. Way back in the mid-1960’s a drag racer running a regional race in NHRA competition decided to build a clutch with multi disks to see how that would work. He wanted to slip the clutch rather than the tires.

He broke, or shattered would be a better description, the world record for AA Fuel dragsters on his first trip to the track with that invention. In doing so, he changed the way racers transmitted power from the engine to the transmission. And in 1982, Ram Clutches was offering three disk clutch systems.

Ram Clutches was among the first companies to capitalize on the multi-clutch systems used by racers. The invention happened in the mid-1960’s, by “accident”. A regional NHRA racer somewhere in the mid-west decided to try building a clutch with several disc to see if slipping the clutch instead of the tires would help improve the speed of his AA fuel dragster. The first time he ran his contraption, he shattered the world record for that class and backed it up on another run to make it official. A new age in racing clutches had begun. Here we compare Ram’s 1982 ad with a new one in 2017.

Engine Components – Wow, where do I start? Just about every part of the engine was undergoing modifications, re-design and improvement over the stock components. From high compression pistons connected to aluminum rods to heads and valve train parts that get their fuel mixture through redesigned carburetors and intake manifolds, the old V8 motor had never been dressed so well.

I can remember back in the 1970’s when Lunati was one of the most respected brands of racing cams. Their participation in CT started with our first issue and continues today. The ads have only gotten better.

The ignition systems that were being introduced in ads gracing the pages of CT were high capacity capacitive discharge types and multiple spark discharge, by MSD. The older points-in-the-distributor ignitions had gone by the wayside and racing engines were burning much more efficiently than ever before.

In 1982, racing ignition systems were in transition and racers were getting away from the “points” mechanisms and opting for the electronic ignitions which movement MSD was a big part of. They have continued to grow and offer still some of the best ignition parts on the market. Their ads have gotten spiffier too.

All of that fuel/air was being mixed in a Holley carburetor, flowing through a Weiland manifold bolted to Brodix heads, around valves lifted by a Lunati cam and ignited by an MSD spark that drove down that Mahle piston. It then flowed out of the engine through a tuned exhaust header system. In short, the “modern” 1982 racing engine components were far superior to any of the production automotive engines of the day.

Safety Items – Safety had come a long way, but not nearly as far as we see today. Still, with the help of Bill Simpson efforts in the mid-1960’s, drivers now wore fire resistant suits, gloves and shoes. The helmets were being made better and soon, more drivers would be wearing full face types.

We saw six-point seat belts being offered in that first issue too. Longacre, who had advertised in 1982, sold a specially designed roll bar padding to adsorb the impacts of arms and legs against the roll bars. There were quick release steering wheel hubs available and surround racing seats were starting to become popular too.

As I looked through the early issues of CT, there were very few dedicated safety companies advertising. RaceQuip, started in 1975, was an early client and here we see a 1988 ad. Their participation in the sport has grown through the efforts of the present owner Patrick Utt, a previous publisher of CT and they continue to see the benefits of advertising in the pages of CT.

One of the deadliest safety items of the day was fire. In the pages of CT in 1982, ATL had already worked to help solve that problem by offering crash resistant fuel cells, anti-spill “dump tanks” as well as Nomex fire suits for the driver and fueler.

ATL was one of the first dedicated fuel cell and safety oriented companies for all racing including short track racers. The advent of the fuel cell saved many racers then and now from injury due to fire. Here we see the ad run in the first 1982 issue of CT against the current 2017 ad.

Speedway Motors offered the seat belts, fire resistant “Heavy Nomex” driver suits and the “high back” fiberglass seat with rib and leg support. And all of the cars featured in CT in 1982 had the latest designed roll cages and door-bar layouts.

Parts Suppliers – In that day, by evidence of the ads we see in the first three issues of CT, few parts suppliers were in the business of short track racing. Most of the existing suppliers were basic automotive and hot rod suppliers who either changed to racing suppliers or were replaced by others who saw opportunity.

Speedway Motors out of Lincoln, Nebraska was an original advertiser in CT in 1982 and grew its business into one of the largest racing and hot rod retailers in the country. Many more would come, and go, and today we see both store front and online retailers vying for a piece of the racers marketplace.

Speedway Motors was maybe the first racer focused parts supplier for the circle track industry. There were a few other automotive parts houses around at the time of our beginning, but none that serviced the short track racers like Speedway did. They have grown tremendously and were the template for many others to come. They were there in ’82 with a simple but effective ad. And they are still with us and going strong in our 35th year.

Longacre was another supplier that was there with us in 1982 and has been there ever since. They are dedicated to the racer and also manufactured their own line of parts including scales, dash gauges, tire pressure gauge and tire pyrometers, even back then.

Longacre not only placed ads in the first issues of CT, they continued through the years to promote their products in our magazine. They have always been on the cutting edge for new and useful products that racers need and use on a daily basis. Here are the 1982 vs. 2017 ads.

Chassis Parts – By 1982, you could buy aftermarket upper and lower control arms. The fabricated front clips were becoming popular too. There weren’t many chassis parts advertised in CT in that year, but from looking closely at the various articles, we could see different suspension types.

The leaf spring rear was popular, but we did see a Z-link already in use as well as a three link economy chassis and an X-ray view of a “modern” 1982 Grand National race car. That GN car was the precursor to the present day Nascar Cup cars, except that the basic design has not changed one bit from then. It was/is a rear truck arm system with springs mounted on the arms and a double A-arm system at the front.

The bodies on the race cars were original OEM fenders, doors and roofs, but fiberglass was quickly becoming very popular and cheaper to produce. Looking through past issues we see where Five Star Bodies was advertising in 1988 and later on came AR Bodies.

Plastic replaced fiberglass at the front and rear to adsorb and survive the impacts that come so often. As time went on, body rules became more uniform and the body kits were made easier to assemble.

Conclusion – I encourage you to take a look at the ads we present from the 1982 era and compare them to today’s ads. What you will find is that short track racing was fairly sophisticates back in that day and time. And, some systems in use twenty or thirty years ago might just work well in today’s technical climate.

I wanted to note a special advertiser who was a part of the first issue. Steve Smith built a company whose focus was providing educational material to the racer. Over the years, SS stayed with us and continued to offer great books and videos to help our readers get started. He had almost no competition for all of those years. Thanks Steve.

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