Bolus

Friday the 13th at Sara Winchester's Llanada Villa

 

What better to do at midnight on Friday the 13th than to walk around Sara Winchester's (1839-1922) old mansion, Llanada Villa, in the dark and spook yourself out?

wish i had a tripod, as these slow exposure shots without flash produced the look i wanted but was hard to keep steady by hand.

Sara's bedroom.  Get got depressed when her first born and only child died two weeks after birth in 1866.  Went a little further crazy when her husband died in 1881 and soon believed she was being haunted by the ghosts of people killed by Winchester Rifles.  When the 1906 SF Quake trapped her for hours, she went mad, kept building until her death and held midnight seances every night.  Tonight, we stood in her seance room at midnight.

Wonder what happened to the 1917 Pierce Arrow Limousine and 1916 Buick truck that were left at the house when she died?

Door knobs and misc details:

Some wood laying around the only shop.  All this old growth quality woods still looks like new.

I could have swore that from the corner of my eye i saw somebody walking around the back of the place in the garden area that was dressed and looked like one of these guys...

and, of coure, yep-- when i turned to check him out there was nothing....

To continue the tradition of Sara's obsession-- there are 13 photographs in this posting...

Nice evening to feel some Friday the 13th chill.

-scott noteboom

Trouble in March

Because no one has posted for a while...

I love Erskine Caldwell. I have numerous first edition hard covers and lurid paperbacks of his work -- he has the best paperbacks. The Southern writer should be read my every American. And though John Ford tried, no one has made a proper movie version of Tobacco Road. Craig Brewer? Could you get on that?

Read more at Sunset Gun.

For The Love Of Lux Interior: 1946-2009

13 Reasons "She Said" The Cramps

1. Lux Interior in his growling, yowling, screaming, microphone sucking, high heel wearing glory was the ultimate macho fey and the Pied Piper of kink. No longer would I want just a rocker, I'd want a freaky, sleazy, degenerate rocker who could holler Hasil Adkins, borrow your pumps and quite possibly make out with both your sister and your brother when you weren't looking.

2. Poison Ivy remains one of my rock goddess Idols. The quintessence of too-cool-for-school, she'd stalk across the stage like a disinterested kitty cat --  slinky, sexy, unapproachable, perfect.

3. The Cramps blasted rockabilly out of the tired retro affectations of the perfectly coiffed, Eisenhower youth, rock-and-roll-at-the-hop-hop-hop-hop tedium. They knew Link Wray was a bad-ass. They worshipped crazy man Hasil Adkins. They dug the Sonics, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Ventures and they brought bump and grind to Jimmie Rogers.  Fuck Fonzie. Long live Lux. 

4. Poison Ivy got me into her idol, Bo Diddley's brilliant The Duchess. I bow down to her for this.

5. I didn't need to take drugs or get drunk to get high at a Cramps show (though that's fun too). They were also the perfect first date show. My longest relationship (now kaput) was aided by The Cramps (with Famous Monsters). A night of a new kind of kick indeed.

6. For some reason, The Cramps always make me think of what Christmas should really be like. I always wanted to spend Christmas with The Cramps.

7. Poison Ivy inspired one of the greatest songs by one of my favorite bands, The Gun Club, aptly titled, "For the love of Ivy." It features the sublimely violent erotic line: "I'm gonna buy me a gun just as long as my arm."

8. Lux and Ivy actually make marriage seem like a good idea.  They were the surprisingly clean living Charles and Morticia Adams of rock.

9. "Bend over, I'll drive, bend over I'll drive. Is this the way Ernie Kovacs died? Bend over, I'll drive."

10. The Cramps had great taste. Lux found rockabilly singers like Charlie Feathers, Sonny Burgess and Malcolm Yelvington as kindred spirits to his other major influence: the Surrealists. In an interview Lux stated: "Marcel Duchamp is quite an inspiration... Because he kind of single-handedly demolished all that had gone before, and made a brand-new art. Man Ray was great too... We're just people who remain ever-curious. We're just attracted to whatever comes in handy. Again, like the Surrealists, anything you run across is actually beautiful; within a single city block, you find miraculous things. It's a good planet -- and good things can happen." Beautiful.

11. Garage Punk, Psychobilly, whatever-the-hell. They were The Cramps.

12. The Cramps make you believe that sexy almost always has to be sleazy.

13. Lux Interior was Louis Prima to Poison Ivy's Keely Smith. He was speed to her heroin. The living to her dead. They were sickness, health, young and old. He's can't possibly be gone.

Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun and Pretty Poison.

The Desert Carnival Is Over

I can’t stop thinking about my desert carnival experience in late November. As The Seekers and Nick Cave so eloquently sang, the carnival is over, but man do I miss it. There’s nothing like all of those rigged games, scary cracked up rides, cheap stuffed animals, bright colors, and that whooshing sound of so many contraptions beckoning you in a methamphetamine haze. Smack in the middle of nowhere-ville, Yucca Valley, made the adventure even more surreal.  And I love the carnies. If there is ever a carnival in your area, go. Who cares if you're cheated or don't trust the rides or can't stand pot smoking teenagers (and really, you should get over that, because we all smoked pot out of coke cans at one point in our lives). Anyway, keep this world in business, no matter how crooked it is.

And the above charming, fascinating older fella (and prince) with the greatest rings I'd ever seen became my fast friend after we talked for nearly an hour. His name (for real) is Andy Hardy, and not only had he met Mickey Rooney ("nice man") but he voted for Obama (he didn't think he was a Muslim -- and he hoped he could turn the economy around, it's been hard on Carnies). An 80-year-old carny voted. No matter how you feel about our new president, see why Obama won?

Here's my experience, in under eight minutes. And yes, I missed that last ballon (hey, I'd taken a xanax that night) but I love that stuffed dog playing poker...

See all my Desert Carnival pictures here.

Georgia Brown is Still Sweet

As we drove to the game, i had two questions thrown at me with 12 year old pre-teen attitude:  1) I didn't know you liked sports teams? and 2) why do you keep whistling that song?  I was about 7 years old back in Michigan when my grandpa whistled that same song on our way to Cobo Arena.  Unlike my daughter today, back then I knew exactly what it meant...

brother bones

While "that song" had been sung before (by anyone from Bing Crosby to Louis Armstrong,) ol' Brother Bones taught us long ago that Georgia Brown was sweet enough that you only had to whistle it  Served Bones well as his nickname back in the day, when he was a Long Beach CA shoeshine boy, was "Whistling Sam" because he whistled while he worked.  Since then, the Harlem Globetrotters claimed Georgia as their mascot / theme song and have brought the sweetness of Miss Brown to over 120 countries and 20,000 games.  Oh, and they've won more than a couple of them too....

I bet my daughter a dollar (and i'd give her ten dollars if i lost) that my team, the Globetrotters, would win.  "You really don't know about sports," she taunted back at me with a grin as she agreed to the bet.  I just whistled some more as we pulled into the San Jose Pavilion.

1968 program

By the time I made it to my first game, the Globetrotters were well known stars that everyone knew. Curly and team were all over the airwaves when i was a kid, helping Scobby Doo and crew solve mysteries, getting trapped on Gilligans Island, and  showboating prime time in the "Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine" variety show (that had players like Fred "Curly" Neal and "Geese" Ausbie singing, dancing and acting along stars like Bill Cosby, Sally Struthers and Dom DeLuise.)  In the 70's, you could clearly identify a star by who they hung out with and the way they dressed....

scooby doo

gilligans island

70's Ballers- Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine!

Tonight at the game i got a chance to meet "Curly," as he was attending as a special guest.  Even got him to sign my daughters ball-- even though she wondered why i wanted the old guy to sign it.  (Jeez, kids these days...)

chicago's savoy ballroom, 1927

first game as the "New York Globetrotters," 1927

The Globetrotters didn't even come from Harlem. In reality they started in Chicago playing at the Savoy Ballroom in 1927.  The teams owner, Abe Saperstein, first called them the New York Globetrotters because he wanted them to seem as a world traveling team from the city.  He then went with Harlem Globetrotters so that everyone would know they were coming to watch a black team (i guess not to disappoint rednecks who wanted to come see a serious basketball game-- which i'm sure they thought only white boys could play...... lol, im picturing a white boy layup in my head.)  After initial success locally, the Globetrotters packed into Saberstein's old Ford Tin Lizzie and traveled the country.... and soon the world.

germany, 1955

As the game started in San Jose, my daughter thought she caught on and thus just knew that the bet wasnt fair and the game was fake.  I had told her that the Globetrotters won the game my grandpa first brought me to, and that's why i thought they might win this one too. Well, and also because they've won over 22,000 games in 120+ countries over the years-- with a win ratio exceeding 98%.  Those poor Washington Generals never have a chance.... Maybe it's time to replace that sneaky old coach they have?

In the end, I won the bet....

We had a great time...

And the tradition of Georgia Brown continues.  My daughter was whistling it as we got out of the car back at home.

-scott noteboom

Running fast from the world out there.

New Years (especially this one) seemed like a good  time to go on a long walk (we went camping in the Santa Cruz Mountains,) kick some cans, and shoot some bb's with the old Red Ryder. As i look at this picture, I think of Stand by Me. Yep, just like in the movie, i was on a journey to get shit figured out-- i guess you could call it sorting out my New Years resolutions.  And, just like the movie, we even (really) found a body (kinda) out there on our journey...

2008 was a tougher year for me.  Couple rounds of layoffs at work.  Some health problems that put me in the hospital. Struggled with some demons. Our country is in a tough spot.  I say FUCK 2008, and the best way for me to fuck it is to shake things up differently for 2009...

OK, New Years resolutions may be lame to many-- but for questionable nuts like myself, I actually need any opportunity I can get to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL on myself.   Part of my routine has to be shaking up my routine, or else i get depressed, go stir crazy and feel like rinsing my mouth out with a pistol.  What can I say, my parents should have just gotten me a Pepsi, like Mikey wanted in the song, because it doesn't seem like those trips to the psychologist during my youth ever worked.  Don't worry though,  I'll be ok-- I've always done pretty damn good at figuring it out myself.

What better way to shake up life, than to shake up where you live?  I've had the pleasure of living in a gamete of places through the years-- in the city like East Hollywood/Los Feliz, in Michigan rural farm country, up in the mountains in Big Bear, and currently in suburbs of San Jose.  Right now, I'm sick of the suburbs. I'm sick of living in my cookie cutter box of a house there.  This house was our first home purchase and, even so, there is really nothing about it that excites me.... it's really just got no soul, brother. So, it can just kiss my black ass goodbye.

With the economy fucked and common sense suggesting one save their money to avoid potential disaster, I've decided to do the opposite and spend it.  Housing is cheaper now, i've always wanted an older house, and the devil on my shoulder is telling me that i gotta move. Thus, we've been working on buying a "new" house:

This baby is an un-restored 1890 built Queen Anne Victorian Cottage in downtown San Jose.   Right now it's uninhabitable and about everything needs to be redone. That said, it has the best attribute to find in a project-- it's neat and nobody has fucked with it, so it's a mostly original lost soul (bank repo) that i think is a good match for us.  The wheeling and dealing is done, offer accepted and i'm in escrow.  If this beast isn't haunted, I surely will be after working all nighters fixing it up.  I'm stoked about it.

In addition to how and where you live, I also like shaking up  the "how you get there" part... During some time off recently, I also finished up some rides that are slightly different than the cars i normally work on:

END OF YEAR PROJECT #1: My wife wanted "an old bike" for Christmas.  After some hunting, i found a good starter that needed a bit of work that i got done-- it's a 1948 BF Goodrich Schwinn ladies cruiser (Schwinn invented the fat tire cruiser in the 30's and 1948 was the same year that the founder, Ignaz Schwinn, died:)

Yeah, i know that i've got the wrong era seat on it, but someday i'll find one that matches right.  And no, i'm not that gay-- it's a coincidence that the colors match the new house project.

END OF YEAR PROJECT #2- My daughter had been begging me all year to "fix the scooter" because she loves for me to take her out on rides w/ it.  Being that the old motor died a long painful death, i pulled it and put in a brand new LML 150 engine so that i won't have mess with it much-- kinda like slapping a crate motor in a Chevy. Also put on some whitewalls, a white faced gauge, rebuilt the brakes and redid all the wiring & cables.  Now it rides like new and hauls ass compared to before:

The above resolutions demonstrate the best two ways to run away from my problems:

1) Run from them like you're trying to ditch the cops.  Run fast, hop some walls and change up direction quite a bit. Move from what's comfortable and routine-- to a new, better hideout.

2) Build car, motorcycle, scooter or bike type projects and just haul ass, leaving the problems in the proverbial rear view mirror (or lack thereof because mirrors don't help you go fast, so they should be taken off.)

Fight or flight, baby.  Yep, many times i take the latter and run from my problems that i don't think i can't beat in a fight.

Happy New Year.  I'm back from my blog break.

-scott noteboom

New Year in the Bamboo

I must respectfully disagree with the previous post by Kim Morgan: while New Year on the train might be swell, nothing sez "party time" like a swank subterranean space chockablock with incandescent Easter Island heads and panther lamps. Consider the tiki-riffic Chicagoland basement of our new friends Joe and Kathleen, where we rang in in the New Year a few nights back:

Joe and Kathleen started collecting tiki accouterments years ago. They hit the motherlode when Joe's brother spied a heap of vintage 40's rattan furniture (with its original Hawaiian upholstery) waiting for curbside traffic pickup; it was being thrown out of a house whose 50-year old basement tiki room was being remodeled as a wine cellar. One man's trash, as they say. Three pickup loads later and that room now lives on.

Why are these Shrineresque bottles smiling? Because when you turn on the hula girl lamp, she shimmies!

Tunes courtesy this vintage AMI jukebox:

One bit that wasn't vintage: This Philco Predicta TV set. It's actually a very clever custom reproduction made from vintage and modern parts. In fact, it was made by two of the other party guests, Dan and Mike, who have a thriving business in Wisconsin making Philco Predictas -- check out their bitchin' website. I'll have much more on these later.

Joe and Kathleen don't contain their love for vintage 50s to the basement. Upstairs at their vintage suburban ranch house is full boomerang-googie modern, and even the garage gets into the act.

Happy 1959! More photos here.

New Year On The Train

New Year's Eve is better on the train.

Forget parties. And Forget 2009. I'd rather be on the train, not knowing where I am or what time it is.

View all  New Year's Eve Train pictures here.  And Happy New Year, I guess.

Ball of the Day

What else? The Times Square countdown ball.

Merry Mal

Merry Christmas and...

 

Hail Satan!

Read my review of this movie featuring two beautiful brilliant baby brides of Satan here. 

Ball of the Day

Chief Science Officer Steve Carlson sends this composite picture from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing Jupiter and 4 of its moons.

Ball of the Day Christmas Week Special

Some hyper-cool ball toys for your Christmas morning. Submitter Chris Glick in Japan explains:

"There's a Japanese kids' show called 'Pythagoras Switch,' which usually ends/ended with a Rube Goldberg device that concludes with the show's name. Nearly every device contains marbles or balls in motion as a step. The following video is about 10 minutes' worth of largely ball-heavy Rube Goldberg machines. There is no AC/DC soundtrack, however."

Pitagora
by SaeHime

Ball of the Day Christmas Week Special

Jingle Balls

Ball of the Day Christmas Week Special

Via Harry Bergeron: Christmas rum balls

Ball of the Day Christmas Week Special

Delicious Schweddy Balls!

Ball of the Day Christmas Week Special

Happy Solstice! In honor of this celestial-terrestrial holiday, a neato picture from Bolus Chief Science Officer Steve Carlson -- the ceremonial sphere marking the South Pole, where Steve's son works at an Antarctic research station, and where it's the first day of Summer. 

I would also note that (a) this is Santa's logical final stop, and (b) from this exact point you can only travel in one direction -- North. So, as they say, it's all uphill from here.

UPDATE: Steve emails this addendum:

"Right now, it's 28F at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, 23F here in Portland,
and -4F (as I'm sure you are painfully aware) in Chicagoland." 

Very painfully aware. I was originally going to feature my brass monkey in today's Ball of the Day, but something went dreadfully wrong.

 

Ball of the Day

Via Harry Bergeron: Sputnik, baby!

Fear and Loathing in the Bundesliga

A reader at my other blog forwards this video found on With Leather. I don't think I can add to the With Leather explanation:

"If you have any drugs nearby, I recommend doing them before watching this video. It’s some sort of introduction to 1970s-era soccer uniforms (”kits” for the purists out there) for Germany’s Bundesliga, and it’s gonna take you on an eye-opening ride.

The only way I can describe this is that it’s equal parts Soul Train, Diego Maradona coke party, Brazilian children’s TV show, SNL “Sprockets” sketch, and malaria fever dream. Like I said, it’s best viewed with drugs. Mix yourself the Winehouse Special before clicking Play."

Ball of the Day

Another image from the Nikon Small World photo contest nominated by Bolus Chief Science Dude Steve Carlson: Dr. Eric Hwang's photo of a "Retinoic acid-induced P19 neuronal aggregate (400x)."

Joshua Tree House: Carpet, Curtains, Fireplace

It snowed here in the desert.  It's gorgeous, especially all of those alien-looking Joshua Trees flocked with white powder, but after a particularly freezing Monday driving around, taking in the cool beauty of the mountains and the cozy little snow capped cabins, and then lingering far too long on sad/strangely impressive Christmas decorations adorning western themed real estate offices and tiny medical centers, I wanted to stay inside.  Now that today, Joshua Tree is entirely covered with the white stuff, I'm definitely not leaving.

Driving the frigid Z through the muck or doing cookies at the Park and Ride wasn't as appealing (or possible -- I can't get down the hill) -- as  imbibing, watching cable (Investigation Discovery -- waiting for Dr. Stone to tell me who is "Most Evil," according to his scale)  and sleeping on the floor.

By the way, I'm currently snowed in and without any food save for a box of white rice (I wasn't expecting this much snow). Any desert denizens with a bitchin' all terrain vehicle want to take me to the market? I'm starving. But no matter how hungry I get, I wish I could stay here forever. Forget Los Angeles. But again, food...?

Pictures of the snow will be coming, if I can make it outside to snap some decent shots. As for now, look at more snowblind friend carpet, curtains and fireplace pics here.