Well, this year's experience was quite different than the previous year. My time at the show was divided between two aspects of the event; the " big rock show", and the framebuilders show itself. The framebuilders sho w I was not at a nervous about, for me, what is there to be nervious abo ut? The show is a time for me to get out of the shop, see other peoples work, and most importantly establish a bond with my fellow framebuilders . Almost without exception (there was a time when I was not too fond of Dave Tesch), but overall I get along with everybody and enjoy and apprec iate what everyone does and who they are as people. This year I got a VE RY special opportunity to spend some time with Paul sadhoff from Rock Lo bster Cycles in Santa Cruz, cA (my favorite town in the U.S. other than San Diego where I reside). I insisted upon at least a rehersal before we went up on stage in front of some of our best friends in the world and people we will probably know for the rest of our lives. Paul was glad to accomodate me, although the non bike guy bassist was a little pissed to spend 1 1/2 hours playing each of 12 songs over one time. I just feel b etter if I at least have a chance to get some of it right. I'm a well kn own SPAZZ on the drums, which I prooved convinceingly on Friday I believ e; voted "Most likely to poke his eye out with a drumstick" four years i n a row in High School. A record that still stands today, I think. ;-)
Anyway, since rehersal was set for the evening, I got to spend the day w ith Paul, who I've admired since I saw his band play at the Salsa Partie s back in the 90's. I was here to fulfil my fantasy of jamming and playi ng surf music with Mr. Rock Lobster himself, giving me the opportunity t o get to know him as a person and a framebuilder. Priceless are these ti mes when we can visit one another, see the other persons workspace and t ooling and memoribilia and everything. Just being in Santa Cruz is a gif t. A perfect location for both road and mountain bike riding, plenty of local riders and racers, a wonderful local cycling counterculture where Rock Lobster is the king of top quality true handmade workingman's racin g bikes made from the ideal shape of scandium tubing for ultimate racing performance. To be perfectly honest builders like Paul who have years o f experience and as riders have found and tested the best materials for their type of machine, and then build it effeciently and affordably whil e being the handmade custom product of a one or two person workshop. The se people are easily and commonly overlooked, but are far truer to the p urpose and the beauty of the bicycle that what I am going to label "Art Bikes". I think they should occupy a seperate catagory, as should "novel ity" bikes. More about this later. I got to know Pauls helper, Simon, a local racer and fine young man. Framebuilders helpers or people who have previously are also special people; because it takes a special talent a nd so on to get the "position of honor". I have noticed that among the g uys I know that have sidekicks presently or a special one from the past, they so far seem to be a special breed and we all like each others side kicks. I found that interesting amongst myself, Paul, and Bruce.
Anyway, we spent the day in a real racingmans workshop loaded with local bike history, dirty race numbers (paul rides cyclcross at the Nationals along with Richie, amongst other things), cool old bikes of all sorts h anging from the rafters, jerseys, and of course the large collection of "Lobstermobilia" on the planet. But the bulb horn collection stold my he art. Turns out Paul and I both have a horn fetish. Had I known, I would have brought my horn to the show like Paul did and we could have sent Mo rse code across the exhibit hall. I heard a blast every now and then dur ing the weekend and it warmed my heart every time.
I was then honored to be the first guest to occupy their newly rennovate d garage/ office/ guest room; which was a cubbyhole like upstairs sleepi ng loft that was to die for! I was comfortable and warm, slept well, and awoke to a view from upstairs of the quaint Santa Cruz neighborhood and clearing weather and warmer temperatures. We went to the shop where Pau l has the warm side of the building thankfully. Paul had to prepare to m eet some photographer/interviewer from a UK mountain bike magazine. I sa w them later at the show as they covered the event. I left them to their business and I headed to San Jose a day early to establish a base of op erations at the Clarion hotel and do some last minute shopping for thing s needed for the show. I actually got some extra sleep during the day, k nowing I would need it.
Thursday people started to show up at the hotel late in the day and the set up time arrived, marking the "beginning" of the event for me; the fi rst time you walk in and see whoever's there for the first time. Bruce a nd Dave are there setting up already and I get a big hug from Richie as we meet for the first time since last year's Cirque. The vibes are exce llent and I believe we were anticipating a great event. Overall, I at le ast was not disappointed in any way. Everything went pretty much as I ex pected, with a few surprises at the end.
My focus was really on the gig Friday. I wasn't feeling all that confide nt after the rehersal. We just didn't have much time and by Friday much was already forgotten. I'd been studying the tape Paul sent me since it arrived a few weeks ago. But then I discovered that their band is one of those highly improvisational groups who plays the songs slightly differ ently each time. I'm OK with that too, but it sort of undoes some of the studying. During rehersal I can't do a drum solo of any value because I 'm too nervious under those conditions until I really know the guys. Luc kily Paul and Bill have played together since 1988 and know what to do; all I had to do is follow along and try to keep up with the changes. But for me when it comes time for the improvisational drum solo in the song "the Toad", by Cream, it would all come down to what kind of "lead out" those guys gave me into the solo. It didn't go too well at rehersal, to which I responded, "we'll work it out when we get there". It has always worked out in the past for me so time to have faith again.
The first day, the slow day, passed at the show without any problems and finally the time to play was upon us. I was also concerned about our vo lume in the room and wheather we could even get away with this. The band the previous night with the female singer was going to sound like a tra nsistor radio compared to what we had in mind. But as the room began to pack, I knew we might get away with it. The more people absorb the volum e. As we began to set up, it became apparent that the large drumkit I ha d with me was too big for the stage. So I abandoned one of the bass drum s and some cymbals to make room. I have been trying to keep up my chops for the past 6 mos. in preparation using the "bike I was planning to rac e", so I was used to it and familier with the locations of the drums. Wh en you move drums around you start missing things and dropping drumstick s on account of the new positions. So, right before the race I changed b ikes after riding the same one for the last 6 mos. on purpose. Oh well, have to deal with it.
We were finally set up and I guess I further upset the bassist by being a stagehog and sort of squeezing him into a corner. When we were finally ready paul asked Bill what we should play first. Since no one had a cop y of the songlist we rehersed, it took a minute to decide what to warm u p with. A band needs a warmup just like a cyclist and the warmup is easy and meant to work into the more complicated pieces. The bassists respon ds to Paul, with an evil twinkle in his eye "Let's play The Toad". I'm t hinkin', ouch, he's still pissed off. Well, maybe we need to work of som e of this anger. I don't remember what we opened with, but we got throug h it, and a few more without any trainwrecks, and soon Bill began to loo sen up and start to have fun. I began to relax. We played quite a few th ings that we had never played together and played for the first time on stage that night. We played more unrehersed material than rehersed in th e end. From the concenses from the crowd the unrehersed material was bet ter apparently, especially "Red House" from Hendrix from what I heard. T he room was too small to really open it up, but as a rehersed bad and th e right location, we could really rip. I play better when I am confident I know the material. But when you play with players as good as Paul and Bill it's possible to get the job done.
My moment finally arrived somewhere near the end of the first set (where it should be) and Paul and Bill skillfully worked me to the front of th e pack in good position to lead me into a drum solo. The dropoff worked and the strokes flowed and I was starting to feel my way around until I found a pattern and basic theme I could work around to build a solo. It usually takes at least several minutes to get over the nervous part and into relaxed improvisation that will eventually just begin to flow effor tlessly and naturally. I was just about there when Paul and Bill arrived on stage again to make sure they were there when I was ready. They were thinking the studio version of The Toad; I generally like the live 20 m inute version. I was thinking maybe 10 minutes or so depending on how th ings went. Maybe next time. A solo like that will go through several pha ses that take time to develop and build upon as you play. But whatever d id come out was well recieved by at least one member of the audience. As we finished the piece someone near the front jumped up and yelled "that was Bad Ass, dude!" It was my lifetime good buddy JB! That was really funny. Another funny part came during the solo, but I didn't really unde rstand the reference completely until someone explained it to me later. I was playing along, administering a beating to my drumkit like always a nd someone in the crowd walked past and yelled out something like " what we need here is MORE cowbell!). So I started working around the cowbell in a somewhat humurous fashion for a while and everyone thought it was hilarious. Turns out the line is from a movie or SNL skit or something. That's the wonderful thing about being a live performer; it allows you t o have great experiences like that, that one can share with the audience and remember for the rest of your life (or at least until you mind goes ). Virtually no one in the bike world has ever seen me play the drums. T he buzz was that no one knew what to expect. Most of my friends know I p lay but no one, including JB or my helper Carlos, knew what to expect. A pparently a number of people were rather surprized.
Tremendous relief for all of us once it was over and by the time the gig was finished Bill had warmed up to me and he had to admit he had a good time and was also pleased with the outcome under the circumstances. By all accounts I have heard the music went off well. Paul and Bill are gre at players and fun to work with. Afterwards Paul and I were standing aro und when the bartender came up to us and asked if we had a business card for our band. He said "you guys are one of the best bands we've had her e. You play different stuff than most groups. You wouldn't believe some of the wannabe bands we have around here". The guy thought we were jokin g when Paul told him this is a casual get together and that that was the first and only time we performed together. Paul had to assure him we we ren't kidding. Another good laugh.
I'll cover the rest of the show in the final report. This covers most of the fun stuff. The rest will deal with the elements of the show that I feel could stand to change in order to make the show and (if one chooses to participate in awards and such) the awards more meaningful and pres tigious and something the builder earns. Allowing the public to judge a nything beyond "Peoples Choice" if foolishness and will shortly errode t he integrity of these awards if it continues. A panel of judges that are knowledgable and impartial that are following some basic guidelines is the proper way. It's unfair to the builders who make down to earth, simp le, practical, and functional bicycles, the essence of what a bicycle is , to let only the famous and the super fancy get recognition. It sends t he wrong message to the public about what handmade bicycles really are i f the winners of the catagories are the most extreme and least available (if available at all to the public) and most over the top and impractia l bike in the catagory. There needs to be recognition for good design an d engineering, which the public is not capable of knowing the way a pane l of experineced experts can. It wasn't obvious last year for reasons I' ll explain later; but this year it was clear there needs to be a drastic change in the system or there will be no value or integrity in the trop hies and the builders will lose interest if they don't have something ov er the top and almost rediculous to get peoples attention. The good soun d builders, and the small guy, and the clever thinkers and designers wil l get trampled on by the fancy framebuilders. We can't allow this to hap pen. "novelity" bikes should all be in one catagory. The frame show will end up being a freak show of over the top bikes. I believe this to be o pposite of what the essence of the bicycle is. I'll explain all this and my reasoning and supporting information next. I'm sure some of you will be surprized what I have in mind and figure I have motives and prejudic e of my own. I believe I can demonstrate I do not. I'm only looking for a fair, practical, and meaningful results that will benifit everyone and our businesses. We do not want to see this show become cliqueish or int imidating to younger and inexperienced builders. Everyone should belong, but we will have to work at it a bit, I'm sure.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA