Wet and Nasty

First a Bang, then a Whimper…

The Great American Race, the Daytona 500, ended prematurely a couple of Sunday’s ago on account of a series of thunderstorms that rolled across the ironically nick-named sunshine state of Florida. Matt Kenseth won Nascar’s greatest prize but the stage was set for him by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers, whose tangling resulted in a vicious 10-car wreck that sent a series of top contenders to the garage. Until that point it looked like ultra-talented Kyle Busch was poised for victory – he’d lead the most laps of any driver and, picking up from right where he left off last season, his car was fast. The funny thing about that was that both Earnhardt Jr. and Vickers were no where near the lead. In fact they’d both been lapped by the pack and were battling one another to try and stay on the lead lap.

Nascar experts agree that winning Daytona is the biggest thrill of a racer’s career – but I can’t help thinking that winning because the race was called for rain can’t quite match the thrill of winning under green-flag racing conditions and screaming across the finish line at 190 miles per hour with the pack snarling behind you and the fans on their feet.

A lot of people don’t understand how I can sit around watching the cars go around in a circle for three or four hours on a Sunday afternoon – I’ll tell you though, if you catch the right race, and you’re following the right driver, and it turns out to be one of those incredible finishes where everyone is gunning for that checkered flag and your guy gets their first, you’ll be hooked.

There is nothing like a close race to get the blood pumping. It is one of the truest forms of competition.

Politics, What Politics?

What’s to talk about? The economy is in the crapper and it looks like it is going to stay there for awhile. Now we just have to grit our teeth and live with the fear until this thing gets back on track, assuming it ever does.

In the mean-time we might want to start preparing for whatever new paradigms and systems may start to emerge from the smoking rubble of corporate capitalism. It has kind of been making me laugh because all these politicians and pundits keep saying that these assorted bail-outs and stimulus packages are comprised of “our money.” First off, it isn’t our money – its borrowed money. No, scratch that, it isn’t even borrowed – it is printed money. But second, the money that the banks pissed away on bad investments – that was “our money.” That was my 401k and your savings account. Banks only operate on other people’s money, that’s how they are designed to work. So all this talk of “our money” being spent misses the point and should have been discussed years ago when the bankers all decided it would make more sense to act like gamblers. You would’ve thought all those brains on Wall Street could’ve seen this coming. Let’s see – no one has any money, everyone has debt, all the “wealth” most people have is based on home equity, and the housing market has been going up at an artificially high rate for the last decade. What could possibly go wrong? Oh yeah, that.

Music for the Soul

Well whatever. Maybe you have a job, maybe you don’t. Soon enough I think we’ll all be selling pencils on the street corner and making bath-tub gin just for kicks. Until then though there are still a few legitimate establishments that are serving spirits and also hosting live music. Happily enough for me the Maltese (on the corner of 16th Street and Park Ave., uptown Chico) is now having regular live music. They seem to have teamed up with promoter extraordinaire and all-around wonderful person Katie Perry to bring entertainment-starved Chicoans the good stuff. In addition to the periodic shows, the Maltese is also hosting Honky Tonk night on Monday’s. Not exactly an open mic, this is for true appreciators of music that is maybe a little rough around the edges – think barbed-wire, bloody knuckles and whiskey stains. I may just have to mosey on down there and see if my own country jingles are honky-tonk enough for this crowd of hardcore troubadours. For more information check out: www.myspace.com/honkytonknite.

Trade is the New Buy

I have been thinking a lot about trading lately. I am thinking there must be something like a flea market where people can get together and trade with one another for the things they make or need. Anyone out there able to enlighten me on local trading networks?

e-mail: madbob@madbob.com