The Windmills of My Mind

Miriam has some old friends in the Amsterdam area from her days at Tektronix. They were kind enough to drive us around to visit some more traditional features of Dutch culture. Here's Nico, Agnes, Miriam, Ineke, and Pim:


Our first stop was the village of Zaanse Schans (more double vowels), a restored area featuring a wooden shoe factory, a chocolate factory, a cheese factory, a Dutch pancake cafe, and working windmills for grains and oils, etc., etc.


Speaking of wooden shoes, Miriam was hot to buy a pair, so we spent way too much time in the shoe shop (I won't go into women and shoes, but...). So here are some pics of wooden shoes, more wooden shoes than you'll ever want to see again, including how to make them and violins made from wooden shoes...





And here's the pair she bought...


And a pic of part of the village and of the windmills acting like mills as well as water pumps for dikes (and I'm not referring to the women in the pic).



Then we were off to another, more rural area with a working windmill we could crawl around in.



Since Holland is essentially below sea level, the whole windmill and dike system is quite ingenious. A single windmill can only pump water to a limited level, so it's all done in stages. Of course now it's all big time electrical pumps. But the windmills are still fascinating. We could climb a series of ladders to the top to see all the gearing and braking mechanisms. The windmills also served as houses for the windmill tenders (continually adjusting the sails depending on wind strength, just like a sail boat). I could get behind living in one of these, except the beds are quite short... apparently sleeping somewhat upright was considered more healthy).


On the way back to dinner, Pim wanted to show off his church. As part of the tour, he asked if we wanted to climb the steeple. The kid in us immediately said yes, but the adult in us soon questioned this decision. Up we went, on steep, rickety ladders... two, three, four, five... and finally out the top. A quick pic of the area and then back down... too late, the automated mechanism rang the bell just as we descended past... my ears are still, well, ringing.

Amsterdam Part 2

As indicated before, Miriam and I made it into Amsterdam. KLM was kind, but no sleep til dawn, or something like that. After a brief tour of the Centrum, we had a great dinner then slept 12 hours.

Everything in Amsterdam seems to point to the Centraal Station (don't ask why the Dutch always have to double their vowels)... buses, trains, trams, canal boats, whatever.

(and, as usual, click on the pics for a bigger image)


This is actually a much bigger building, and behind it is all sorts of rail terminals, and underneath is more train stuff, and subway stuff (how can a country below sea level have subways!!! Boogles the mind!) and out front is trams and buses and BIKES! Holy shit, there are more bikes than people in this country (true!). But more on them later...

Thankfully, our hotel is basically across the street (and tram lines, and bus lanes, and bike lanes). The Victoria is very nice, if noisy for all the traffic and humans (it's a "central" point of the city, after all, crazy with people...).


Oh, and there was a transit strike going on (govt. cutbacks as opposed by the union). So at one point we were treated to a bus parade, complete with honking horns, streamers, police escort, etc. Pretty cool... a very tolerant country, and totally dependent on public transit. The buses were followed by a clown protest (!?!). A very, very tolerant country... here's the tail end...


Lots of construction going on in this area (yet another subway... how?). One cool thing I noticed immediately, the barriers surrounding construction sites become art museums. A way cool thing to do... let the artists provide some eye candy while the construction goes on behind. Here's some examples... the ones that caught my weird eye. (and, no, I have no idea what any of it represents or means...)




Right down the street is the sex museum. I'm headed there as soon as I finish this. Also, some other curious sites.



Yeah, I know, you were expecting museums and classic buildings and stuff like that. Well, here's my first canal.


A rather quiet, residential street followed this canal. As we walked along, well outside the "red light district", we did find our first "lady in the window". A nice blonde, a little older, but quite enticing in black lingerie... Experience counts... No pics, not proper form to take pics of the ladies... a little respect for the world's oldest profession.

Lots of spilfs on the street, and lots of "coffee shops". Nice to smell the hash again, always a favorite scent. No wonder we slept 12 hours...

Amsterdam Part 1

I'm in Amsterdam. Blogspot comes up in Dutch... Slow internet connection.

But, I've had sex with (8) women in the windows and smoked tons of hash in the cafes... And I have a bridge over the canal I'd like to sell you.

More when I get time and a faster connection.

Surfin' Sunday...

...at the Huntington Beach Pier. The International Surf Museum in HB does a series of concerts each summer featuring, well, surf music. There was a big event yesterday, so I went over and let the sun burn the hell out my skin and the music blast the hell out of my ears. But it was good...

I was quite pleased to see the return of John Blair, with his new band, the Trespassers. John Blair is a monumental figure in surf music, a leader of the second wave in the early '80s with Jon and the Nightriders. Also, he is the major discographer of the entire history of surf music. Most importantly, he still plays great.



Next up was Outer Wave. Surf music seems to attract older musicians, who grew up under the influence of the '60s surf sound. These guys could use more stage presence, but they know what they are doing with their instruments.


There's also a third wave of surf music going on, as the sound is now embraced by younger musicians, and often enhanced with more modern rock tendencies. The Tequila Worms, from Anaheim, are surprisingly good for their age. I really enjoyed their set.


Another newer group, the Volcanics, also are quite competent at the surf sound. However, they do suffer from being a trio. I have a thing about this, for great surf music, there must be two guitars... the rhythm guitar adds so much to the overall sound.


Another trio, from Las Vegas, is Thee Swank Bastards. They also could use a fourth player, but their stage act, and the wonderful Zandora, make up for any thinness in their sound. What a fun group! Zandora kept it clean for the "family" audience... but catch them at the Double Down if you ever get the chance.



The finale of the afternoon featured Slacktone, simply one of the best bands anywhere. Dusty Watson is such a great drummer, and Dave Wronski is a guitar monster, and Steve Ryan, filling in on Bass... well, they create surf music with attitude.


Quite an afternoon of surf music. It's been a couple years since I've heard it live, but now I have my fill, at least for a few months. Nothing like surf, sand, sun, bikini babes, and surf music for the perfect SoCal afternoon. (and I got it all recorded, sounds quite good using a Rode stereo mike... more on the sounds later).

So, a very full weekend in OC, I'm exhausted and haven't even left to Europe yet! (just hours away, now)

Audiophile Nirvana

OK, I'm supposed to be off to Europe. But I came down to Orange County for the weekend since some cool stuff is going on here, before putting my fate in the hands of KLM.

I spent Friday at T.H.E. Show, a big audiophile event at the Hilton across from John Wayne Airport. Never been to one of these before, but, what the hell, I'll never affort $15K speakers and $10K amplifiers, so I took the chance to at least listen to this stuff. But it was crazy, a zillion dudes trying to get their dicks wet in audio gear... so I only caught part of the show. I did hear some great music on gorgeous looking and sounding audio components, so it was fun. But now I can't listen to my own gear without going limp...

(As usual, click on the pics for a bigger image)

For the retro fans, here's a classic Tannoy speaker now reissued.


Tubes are big with audiophiles, as is chrome.


And everybody had to play records (sorry, vinyl...). And what a record player (turntable)...



Here's three of the many, many full on setups on display (way more than I could photograph, even if I could get a clear shot through the hot, sweaty bodies). Sorry about the last pic, out of focus, but an example of tube amps gone wild (and gorgeous!).




Having worked on amps and built kits, I'm always fascinated by the interiors as well as the exteriors. Sometimes parts placement and wiring can be quite artful.



Sorry there's not more detail, and more pics, but this was an overwhelming exhibit of audio porn... One of best exhibits for me was from Ogden. Very expensive and exotic gear, but of greater interest were the recordings. Minimalist, with no processing. Incredible sound quality... I bought their Joe McQueen CD.

Interestingly, not many women in attendance (and only a couple "booth babes), and I'd say 90% of attendees were over 50. The MP3 generation is taking its toll on good sound. On the other hand, I suspect only old, rich fucks can afford this stuff anyway. I sure screwed up on my IRA...

Utah Floods Spring 2011

Well, this wasn't a personal flooding disaster of huge consequences (like some people are experiencing around the state), but I did hope to do some camping and partying over the Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, it snowed, adding to serious flooding conditions in Utah. We usually meet up at the ranch, but...

First, the stream flows...




And the road up to the ranch would have been a real thrill...


So camping was out. But the girls hiked up to the ranch (without telling me... damn their eyes...), and took some pics of the ranch grounds.







Hopefully things will dry out by lagter in the month, or July 4th. But I don't know. Supposedly the full snowpack is still in the mountains, and only this week has the weather moderated with warmer temps. Could be August before peak runoff!

Thanks to Jane and Alejandra for the pics.