steveb leatherworks: the blather

Want to pay props to the Vista market for their outstanding beer selection. I am surrounded by all manner of “lick her” stores” an for the most part – they all suck. I am sure they are good stores, but I don’t drink much but beer these days – and their beer selections stink. They vary in terms of cost by a buck of two but there are really only two stand-outs when you want something other than a Curs, and I for one, never want to drink that shit..(unless it is ICE cold and hot as hell out) – BevMax, this sorta kinda chain store with a “big store” presentation. The have wine reps doing tasting and all kinds of shit on a regular basis and their prices are pretty cheap. I’d be on the BevMax gravy train if it weren’t for two things.

The first is that  I like to avoid what me and the Boss call “crazy town”, a wacky and kind of psycho part of town where car insurance is optional, as is English – and guess what? BevMax is damn near in the epicenter of Crazy Town…niiiccce..a-ight..boyeee??. Looking at the cats driving in Crazy Town, you’ll see 5th or 6th owner Accord’s, Camry’s and Maxima’s. You dont want to spend much time in crazy town if you don’t have to. The other reason I am not diggin on BevMAx is that none of their guys drink beer, or can tell you about a brew or make a recco. I am all about trying something new, but a knowledgeable recco is a good thing and I don’t mind paying a few bucks more at a store if they know their shit and know my taste in a brew. Feedback is pretty important if you want your beverage guy to make good recco’s…know what I mean? The English language barrier thing is kind of a bummer and I am not going to learn SpanChingLish so I can order beer, know what i am saying?…

So the Vista Market is in the middle of nowhere (in Vista actually, just south of Squirrel Country, as the crow flies) and has a rocking adult beverage selection. Not the biggest cooler, but an absolutely stellar and broad selection of all kinds of Micro’s from hither and yon…very cool…AND THEY SELL BEER ON SUNDAYS..ha – ya cant friggin beat that…now canya, aye? So I picked up a 4pack of Midas, stuffed it in the tourpak of the Shiny Penny….and shot home…all good! Props to the Vista Store!

Trying to keep me knowledgeable on a national scale, my friends and readers send me info about all sorts of cool local happenings. I tend to be pretty much focussed on what is happening in line of sight from the end of my nose and the East Coast in particular, so these missives really help and I thank all of you for them. I like to poke my CalI friends with a sharp stick due in part to their silly fixation with the “perfect weather”, so Bill forces me to take the high brow view and focus on something that I haven’t seen much of here in “da East”…a multi-day, successful group ride that has a broad range of machines in attendance. Bill writes in from the Western Shore:

We just finished up our 7^th annual “Chrome on the Coast” ride we do every May.  This is about a 1500 mile trip up Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Monterey Bay for one night and then on to Santa Rosa – about an hour north of SF.  We cruise the wine country of Napa and Sonoma Counties, the Russian River and the coast line from Point Arena Lighthouse down to Bodega Bay.  We spend about 6 days riding – this year with 28 bikes.

So – here are some pics of the event. Looks like fun and there sure is a wide range of machines in attendance, must have made group riding in the hills fun – Indians in full skirts next to TwinCam Softails…cool!  Thanks Bill and hey you louts – send in your stories, it’s only fair we all share…right?

Just cant get enough of producing flame belts..telling ya! I love making them and have been mashing-up this  flame style for awhile now, kind of a small-C, tribal thing going on. Hope you like ’em. Get in touch if you want one! 

Truth be told, i didn’t come up with the idea…actually Fast Eddie made something like this which was the inspiration. I saw his construct in Sturgis last year and had been meaning to do something like it since.  Well, I finally got around to it, and after rigorous testing, I have to admit – this piece is ready for prime time… come and get ’em!! They carry really nicely, the tools are held all snuggly…. perfecto!

Of course, this personal  prototype is made from scrap and you can see the clamp marks on the flap that covers the Leatherman- rest assured yours will be finely finished and exhibit none of this roughness! Come to think of it……I really need to rethink my using scraps for my own pieces…

Anyway – I am offering these with and without tools, so if you are looking for a very smart and practical way to carry your Maglite and Leatherman….consider this as a possible solution.!!

LEATHERWORK ALERT> I am offering one-off’s, pre-made and in stock, ready for immediate shipment. Perfect for a gift or when you just have got to have it now. No piece will be duplicated and stock will rotate often, so check back regularly! Click here to see current inventory

So – in this spot there was once a beautiful waterfront neighborhood filled with great homes..kind of like this. Huge Industry moved in, devastated the ecological environment with its detritus, scuttling of neighborhoods and creation of hamlets of indigent and factory poor.

Interstate 95 then cut the neighborhood in half stranding folks on one side and ruining a local culture…the skells and creeps moved in…the indigent moved in… taxes weren’t paid, the govenrment wound up owning the land and did what int does best – demolished it, leveled the site, threw a fence up and left it for a day when fat cats and rich folks (developers) could turn it into something to make them and their ilk money. They squat on the land letting it sit until it is “ripe”. Great, really good for the neighborhood and local culture – this creates scenes like you see here….  nice huh? Folks woke up JUST as the LAST house was being tee’d up for demolition and decided to “save” it – by moving it to a new location.

Is this saving it? Aren’t we like 30yrs too late? Do I sound like a pessimistic asshole?

I am not big on just knocking stuff down for the sake  of clearing space. Growing up in NYC, i grew up with the tenet of “got here first” and with that status comes some special consideration. Considering everything our generation makes turns to shit in a day and a half, we should be more respectful of those that came before us – that made things better and of higher quality. I truly believe that modern man has an ego the size of the Titanic that allows him to think that everything he does is smarter, everything he makes is better and that his way is THE way.

Talk about ego, oy, modern man is such an asshole. If modern man was in the bar of life, he’d be the dick we’d all avoid. He’d be the creep that dings peoples car in the parking lot and doesn’t think twice of it…modern man sucks.

So I wish that we would as a culture , give some more respect and thought to that which came before us – it wasn’t all dirt and shovels, it wasn’t all low tech. If it was  – it doesn’t mean it was crap, in any event.

I’ve made some handy stuff for myself since I’ve been involved in leather craft. When I travel, i prefer a paper map, so have usually wound up getting at least one of those big pain in the ass Atlas type books every season or two. They take  a beating because of their size and so wind up getting tossed after a bit. Seems I had no way to manage “my favorite type of maps, i was always stuffing them here and there…

I prefer the traditional AAA maps – and so some years ago, made myself a map case for the 6-8 maps i need most often and allowed room for a highlighter and my old “pointer/ talking stick”. Used to be a group of us would huddle around a map, someone would outline a route on the map with the stick and we would mark it in highlighter. This stick has seen so much route and trip planning, it is worked smooth.

So Jason saw my case (and even got to hold the talking stick) and asked if I made them, to which i responded – hell yea – and you can see a selection of them below. They hold a  few maps, your highlighter and a pen (you’ll have to make your own stick) and some index cards. perfect as a gift – for a saddlebag, tourpak or glove compartment. See them here

Well, courtesty of my Northern-most good friend and fellow operative Jason (Ironthread fame) you’ve seen the Green Mtn’s of VT in the Fall, winter and now Spring. Jason writes…

Steve,
Our backyard view changes every minute penidng weather. Here is a afternoon shot last week after a high ele storm.

i love it, i get to be both all salty and “in your face” with the title of today’s post, but at the same time, i get to teach you all something..!  ha – home run! Took a beautiful 200mi.ride up North and back for a family dinner last night and left early enough so I could do some sightseeing and poodle along like a tourist, up this country super slabby kind of road – a dream on the big bike…it’s called Route 8.

Route 8 is a 2 lane winding slab, good pavement (a rarity these days) that shoots straight North from near the secret location – and it just so happens North is my favored travel direction in most regards. Harley’s love a solid 28oo-3000rpm and Route 8 allows you to just lock-in…a good road to meditate upon as you head North.

Fortunately for me, all of my family lives in a Northerly direction..how cool is that?

So i was in the vicinity of Satan’s Kingdom (park!!) and decided to check it out. Satan wasn’t in, so it was pretty quiet and there was no cover charge as sometimes happens in parts of this heavily taxed land… albeit, usually after “memorial day”… Satan wasn’t looking for chump change today, lucky me.

The shiny penny freshly bathed got to pose for the lens, and sir turkey sauntered by the lens later on that afternoon, as slow and casual as could be…

One of my favortite past times – people watching in NYC
One of the best places to do it on a sunny Spring day – Bryant Park, 42nd Street and 6th Avenue.

When i first began working in NYC in the early 1980’s – this park was a rat infested, overgrown hangout for the homeless, and a lunchtime get-high spot for office workers. As with all things that have an edge to them, it needed to be cleansed, fixed and made habitable for the economically desirable masses… for the most part a good thing in this one specific case.

I am a big fan of the Japanese two-wheel street scene. There is a cut&paste art component attached to this culture and i think it is great. These guys are so rowdy, smart and subversive – i cant help but smile when i see their work! We need some more  of this in NYC, methinks… The art they put up in their urban environments rocks and show huge care and thought as well as attention to detail. Props to motomotoyanyan and the NFK crew for capturing these images and sharing with the rest of the world.

yea, huh?

Yea, the best laid plans can turn out not-quite-right sometimes and the past week is an example of yours truly being a turkey and not testing the “auto-publish” feature on my blog. Ya see, I have been away for the past couple of days on a multi-day, multi-state two-wheeler road trip that I was going to tell youse about when i returned…which was today.

Before I left, I put together a weeks worth of scintillating blog posts that were going to keep all of the \ faithful thinking i was here at the shop, pecking away at the keyboard, pounding cowhide and basically being a productive soul  – but no – I didn’t test the “feature” on my blog that lets me do this and so, all of this wonderful content has sat, on my server, making it appear I was asleep at the wheel… which i guess i was ….ha.. so much for being diligent and planning!

So anyway, I am back from this 2000mile wonderful, head clearing excursion and I have stories, pictures and a whole lot of bullshit to regale you all with – so stay tuned and forgive me – but then again

yea, i know

… screw it, we all need a break sometimes.

Piece by piece this beast is coming together.

Well after yesterdays vitriol regarding the vandalization of Pleasure Beach, I figure I will pay my faithful readers back by turning you onto a special treat of a place and lightening the mood a bit- the Traveler Book restaurant it is an unusual spot that ALWAYS satisfies. You can read some of the sordid details in my pics on my flickr site, but i will topline the big goings on at the Traveler.

I love to read and am drawn to anything book store related and I am also a diner and Americana fan, and so 20+ years ago me and the Boss were making a trek East to either visit Boston, go to the Cape or some other activity that demanded we head East and we stopped at the last exit in Connecticut on the Massachusetts border, the town of Union – and got introduced to this place…totally by chance as is the case with so many good things….

Every time I head past this place, i always stop – i recommend my personal favorite the fish fry, and the burgers rock. The pie just kicks unholy booty (and increases the size of said booty’s size if consumed in mass quantities). The New England chowdah is fantastic with Little chunks of red tater.

The staff is great- super attentive and ya know,  the book selection is great. Home Run for the Traveler.

So, I like investigating and recording the state of all sorts of sites, from industrial wastelands to residential oddities. Finding these locations is tricky and getting images of them is often even trickier. I was told about Pleasure Island, a nearby site from another photog who has a great deal of experience in working with these sites and given a heads up to see it soon, if i was planning to see it at all. In advance, I did a little research using Google satelite images, Windows LIve Picture maps and some blog sniffing. Read some of the articles this talented young lady has collected on the place…

http://designedbreakdown.com/photo/p_beach/index.htm

So,my friends now you’ve got some background. This is one hell of a story that never really got much play  – i thought it strange. I felt like I had to take a look-see. First kind of decent day weather-wise- I made my way to this location and wanted to share what I found and how it made me feel…my take away..per se.

First off – getting to this place is a slog, it is an adventure, it is a hike. 25min into the hike – I realize I left my water in the car…nice! As I approached the town, i felt my spirits sink into a glum funk, that stayed with me for a day or two after my visit. What did I see? A fantastic secluded beach side community that at one time had been a real, genuine chunk of heaven.

Today? – a number of structures have been burned (there are about 60 houses left intact and standing), all have been deeply vandalized and many of the structures are terminally ruined due to weather penetration – since all of the windows in every structure on the island have been broken.  Knucklehead idiots have spray painted their idiocy’s all over the island, lending it the air of a teen party gone horribly wrong. Every single structure has been ripped up, apart, broken down and out…it is a really sad and pathetic sight that has left me wondering….whose lovely kids did this? What parents imbued their little Johnny’s, Alex’s and Randy’s with such a poor sense of right and wrong that they felt compelled to break into homes whose owners had lovingly maintained them for generations and simply trash them… because they had been dealt a cruel hand and were vulnerable.

I know who these assholes are…they are the same punks (and no, they are not “poor” kids who dont know better) that torched and abused our cat Beano when she was a helpless 3oz kitten, these are the kids that throw rocks off of overpasses on busy highways to see the effect  and power they can execise, these are the kids who steal even though they are spoiled rotten at home and want for nothing. In a word- they are OUR kids. Let me tell you folks – we got big problems coming from these young Sociopaths who lack conscience…..yes we do… if this is what they can unleash as kids…lets just see what they can do when they have “grown up”. I also point my crooked, wagging finger at the local government that let these young fuck-nuts do their dirty work for them. There is no going back for these residents now…the local government got its way….and the priceless land back firmly under their control.

It is obvious that a number of homeowners had take great pains to try and protect their property – nailing and screwing boards and tons of heavy gauge plywood, putting in lock boxes and safe rooms in these homes… all to no avail. The monkeys have been given the time, privacy and tools to crack these nuts open…. and they have. I wonder what they would say to the homeowners if confronted with the detials of the gutless rampages…“sorry”?

I am not going to drown you in these sorrows in harrowing detail – it’s stuck in my brain..but…a full record of this adventure is on my flickr site, if you are interested.

Karma…is a bitch and I can only hope she has the names and numbers of these shitheads. 

It’s all good in harley-land.

I made a special Journal for a special friend and very good person – Elisa – proprietor of Genuine Motorworks in Brooklyn  NY, purveyor of all things American and fashion. Used a few cool and unusual effects on this journal, from the beader blades cuts to the colors and custom adjustable pen loop, because as we all know – pens come in different “girth’s” and you want you pen held snuggly.

Seeing as how I am on a eat whatever the hell I want diet, I eat  whatever I want, pretty much whenever i want it. I am not on all the goddamn drugs that I will no doubt be forced to take at some point, so up until the time the sawbones says “B – you got to change your evil ways baby” I am going to keep eating the bad shit I love…like Sopressatta and other “bad for you” delights…Freddy is a true cohort in these culinary indulgences and we stuff face together as often as we can manage..amazing both of us arent twice the size we are considering the amount of shit we eat. We really take advantage of being in the epicenter of the best food in the world… despite the obsession with Hot Dogs..lol.

So anyway we both have a thing for good italian food and deli’s and frequent one of the best in our area – a small chain called A&S with like 5 locations around our home turf…”conveniently located” as they’d say back in the day. I recommend A&S if you are ever in the area. For all you poor saps landlocked in a culinary wasteland, get in touch and lets see if we cant  get you fools some H&H Bagels and A&S Deli goods, its only right that we East Coasters share the great shit in our backyard. 

I’ll admit it up front…I am a fan of the Grateful Dead. I used to go to alot of shows, I travelled large distances with my friends when i was in college to see shows. Really, I was more of a Hot Tuna fan if the truth be told, but found a warm place in my heart for the Dead, especially after going to some of their 1970’s era shows and digging into their earlier Blues influenced music. I wasn’t so into the hippy-ness (long hair does not a hippy make) of it all, but I liked the music and the live shows were really something very different…

Bass-wise, I was always more of a Jack Casady fan and never related to Phil Lesh’s bass mumblings – but seeing the Dead live was a memorable treat. Two shows stand out for me right now – one was a 1980 New Years show, in Oakland Cali, that i went to when i lived in Oregone. and the other was a show i just saw, a few days ago.

The Oakland show was memorable because of the tumultuous nature of my life at the time, the place i was living (my VW van..lol) and the fact that of all the shows for a Deadhead to see – a New Years show in the bands backyard was a real treat, kind of like visiting Mecca for those who subscribe. It really was a pilgrimage, and few East Coasters I knew had ever been to a New Years Show. Getting to the show required I put myself through all kinds of insane traveling due to the fact that my  grandfather Max had a stroke and was really in a bad way on the East Coast – and me 3,000 miles away back in the day when air travel was pricey and not a common occurrence……ugh…not good times, but i made it to that damn show and had one good night even if it was book-ended with shit.

The show in New Jersey a few days ago was the first time i had seen them in many a long year. I had given up seeing them for the most part when i returned to NYC in the 80’s, because, in fact – seeing them many times in Cali t had spoiled me- i just didn’t want to deal with the east coast crowds and scene. Well I went to this show last week – and it was great – a good time for sure. You cant go back, but this was good!

BUT – i have one observation and a comment. It is directed at the new breed of “hippy-travellers-flower children” I do not groove on these scammers at all – the hustle of it all smacks of Pacific Northwest Runaway culture and skateboarding/death goth metal gone bad. I dont even think these youngsters really even like the music. I have seen first hand there is no peace and love with these young dirtbags, rather it is about scamming the “squares” and oldsters for money so they can get high and drink Everclear, keep their kids in papooses and their dogs roaming free. In this day & age, even the music groupie culture has been corrupted. But the show was good, Warren Haynes rocks and the band sounded tighty tight. Attending with the Greek and Pupkin made it even better.

Technically, Swanky Franks  is a restaurant and not street meat, but – so what?

Basketweave wallets rock, especially when they are partnered up with a nice brass chain and fancy fob. 

Took a good look at what is happening on the roads. In a word it is, disturbing. 

Doing work for artists and creative people is always a bit intimidating. Mike is a painter who sent me one fuzzy scan of a picture and instructions to do what I do…perfect!

I favor photography as a form of creative expression as much as writing, painting, drawing or even leatherwork. Many folks will say that photography is just “snapping pictures” and yes, it has an element of that undisciplined  “it’s all about the gadgets”,  casual-ness to it, but the gadgetry will only get you so far.. and in my experience, the gear doesn’t get you very far at all. Gear obsessions are endlessly deep and complex and expensive, but at the end of the day, it’s kind of like giving a fine pen to someone who cant write….its a cool but useless, underutilized thing.

I went through this phase years ago where i tried my hardest to complicate the shit out of things, really gave it my all, and did a fair job too. I collected lots of crap I didn’t need, upped the tonnage of the karmic baggage i was toting and basically saddled myself with a whole buncha shite.

So, after having my nose rubbed in the poop of my folly, I began to shed myself of all the vestiges of shite-i-ness I had collected. Sold off junk and excess stuff, ditched or gave away what i didn’t use or need and got  to living “slimmer”, well at least as “slim as i could manage. It’s taken alot of effort and thought to get slim..the Boss is “expert” at living “slim” and i’ve been slowly learning. By the time I am dead, I will be optimally slim..ha!

So part of the “simplification” and slimming down was a stoppage of photographic activities for me. I have absolutely TONS of photo albums, pictures, posters, artwork, framed stuff, etc, etc.  I mean, I have run out of wall in my office…and thought – geez, I really do not have room for much more of this stuff. So I back shelved photography as a creative pursuit and used it more to simply record activities: family events, bike trips, parties, etc. I did not pursue the creative side of imagery, just defaulted to my journalistic side. This was like 20-years ago.

This last summer, I was in Sturgis SD just pooping around, without a booked agenda or calendar and jsut wandered around town…which is uncharacteristic for me -usually i am on a mission and have a clear purpose..but not on this trip. I had my little point&shoot Nikon digital with me and began taking pictures again, for the hell of it… I had nothing better to do and part of the purpose of this trip for me, was to shake the tree a bit and clear some cobwebs..so I indulged myself.

and i fell back in love with photography, years after shelving it.

Well, the little Nikon did me fine up to a point, and i squeaked some killer shots from my litle $300 pocket camera. Used it for years, really didnt think i needed to upgrade, everyone loved my shots and i got a private thrill by using my little pocket cam to produce these “wonderful images”…ha!

Then last fall i picked up a new camera (thanks Seabass), a real camera – a DSLR – didn’t even think of film at this point as i lead a wholly digital life and film just doesn’t fit. I had come to the point where i needed some more pixels, better processing controls and most of all – i needed control of the evil twins of photography: aperture and shutter speed – i needed them to perform for me – and the little pocket cam just couldn’t do it.

So I got a Nikon D90, one of the new breed of prosumer units. I did more research than i cared to, but i wanted to make sure i committed to the right system, because once you committ – your in – there is no turning back due to the costs of lenses, the learning curve  – etc.   I used to be a Pentax guy back in the film days, but opted for Nikon over Canon for reasons not wholly clear.  I think i liked the logo better….it made me feel better about myself – and my choice.

Well I have had the camera for awhile now and am learning how to use it – but more to the point, I am out and about – once again actively seeking the subject matter that interests me. I seek out new places, looking for what captures my interest…I am continually location scouting which has made life much more interesting and an adventure….I am hunting for things to see. I love that, i didn’t know how much i missed that sense of adventure and mission. I LOOK to get lost.

I have lots of things that interest me from a subject matter perspective, but I am particularly captivated by Industrial Demolition, Dereliction, Abandonment and Destruction. I am in a part of the world that still has some vestiges of this industrial past above ground, not plowed over …so I’ve been following my camera where it takes me…and it has taken me some really interesting places…. you can browse my flickr site for a deep dive – but i will also begin featuring, every now and then some of my “demo & destruction” photography.

I hope you like it and as always – look forward to your emails and comments!

Say bye to April, hello to May. In celebration here are some tasty bits from the past month  to keep you engaged [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBfnZHeSjjM[/youtube]