Monday, May 31, 2010

Bike Date


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Originally uploaded by legally_beaumont
Sierra and I went on our Memorial Day Bike Date today. First we went out to Cuttings Wharf and rode around there for the morning. We unloaded out by Slack's Ranch and I realized I forgot my water bottle. We had to survive on the one Camelbak for the both of us.

It was a good morning, we had to stop out by the train bridge to do some repairs on Sierra's bike. She's been having trouble with her bottom bracket, it keeps coming loose and the whole drive train gets thrown out of whack. I used a questionable technique to hold the nut and space in place, but for the rest of the day it held tight.

After riding in Cuttings Wharf, we went out to Sonoma to get some lunch. I stopped by the office and said hi to Dan. He's going off to Haiti in three weeks to be a part of the relief effort.

After lunch we rode around on the Sonoma bike trail, it was pretty cool, kind of crowded though but still a lot of fun. There were a lot of people in the plaza and around town in general. A ton of bikes.

It was a pretty good day, we're looking forward to our next ride together!




Sierra and I are trying to get in on some of the prizes for this year's Bicycle Summer Games, check it out!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Group Bike Ride


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Originally uploaded by legally_beaumont
Sierra and I put together a group bicycle ride for today and I couldn't be happier with the results!

We got a good group together, two newcomers who I hadn't really formally met but they turned out to be pretty cool.

We started our group ride at Veterans Memorial Park in Napa and took off North towards the Napa Valley Creamery on the corner of Pueblo and Jefferson. We decided against riding on Jefferson in order to avoid crazy car traffic, so we rode up Main through some mellow residential blocks.

After a stop at the ice cream parlor to have a few scoops, and a stop at Safeway to get some food, we ended the first part of the ride at Fuller Park. We had our picnic and bid farewell to a couple of our riders along the way.

Julio ended up catching up to us at the park and we weren't satisfied to not have rode with him as well. So, we ended up making another trip to the ice cream shop along Napa's Bike Blvd. It was a ton of fun and it was a great day to go for a ride.

Kristine suggested we make this a monthly event which I am all for. From now on, the last Saturday of the week is Cycle Saturday! I want the full Wandering Rose crew to represent next time around.






We'd really like to win some swag in the Summer Bicycle Games competition. Go to the address on the banner for more info!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

InDIYpendent Culture Faire


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Originally uploaded by legally_beaumont
This past Saturday was the InDIYpendent Culture Faire at the old JV warehouse.

Sierra and I were able to peddle a lot of books that day. We completely ran out of our latest issue of the zine as well as a good deal of the back issues that we brought out. We have nine people signed up for our subscription services and I even sold some of my Mexican Portrait books.

I got to meet Comfort Slacks (pictured here) as well as John Thill, who I had talked to online before but never met in person. I'm working on setting up our second zine release show with these two bands on the bill. Buttercream were a big hit last time and Pete says he's down to play again this time around too.

Sunday was our one year anniversary. Our original plan was to go to the Academy of Sciences, but we decided against that at the last minute in favor of doing one of the museums "date nights" on a Thursday. We can't do this Thursday because Sierra has her scholarship awards ceremony. I'm excited to go to a cool museum with my girlfriend, without kids! Sorry, but sometimes kids are the last thing I want to see when I'm out trying to relax.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Slack Ranch Show


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Originally uploaded by legally_beaumont
Hey,

I'm just coming off of a great show at Slack Ranch. It's the first show we've put together and I couldn't be happier.

Buttercream Gang really played a good set, they even had some guest horn players come on during my favorite song of theirs.

Next up is the Independent Culture Fair. We've got a booth/table and I'm trying to round up some new shit to peddle off to people. You can expect new stickers, and the beginning of our mail/subscription service.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Talking shit about a pretty sunset.


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Originally uploaded by legally_beaumont
Back in March I was interviewed by Ozcat Radio from Vallejo. I got to go on air and answer some questions about The Spinning Compass and Wandering Rose stuff.

It was fun and getting these questions directed towards me for the first time really forced me to think about what the zine is and what our goals have been and should be.

The zine is topic that has been coming up lately in our Wandering Rose meetings and again I am a little bit flustered thinking about what the future may hold for it.

Sierra and I have really made this our baby and we have built it into something we like. While I am excited of the possibility to work more steadily with other, new, people I am also a little bit wary of what that really might mean.

I want us to push towards something that really represents our ideals and aesthetic while also supporting the local scene. I want people to associate the Spinning Compass with something slightly different than what I think they associate to Wandering Rose.

I like the idea that more contributors can lead to a more genuine sense of safety when it comes to being blunt and honest about what we see. Today, if we were to publish a story about how shitty a local band is, we wouldn't be able to live it down, people would single us out and want to start shit. This town is small, and the staff of our zine is even smaller. I think a lot of us are afraid to speak critically of our peers and those in the music and art scene because of it.

Here's the interview: