Harmonica?

Accidentally stood-up Kyra and Tully last night. . . Somewhere between 4 pm when I told a friend how I was enjoying playing with them, and that I had a practice that night, and 8pm, when I was supposed to show up, it up up and awayed it's way out of my head.

Willem would say, "These things happen."

I said, "stupid idiot, goddamn it!"

I'm meeting a new student this week, Tim tells me he wants to learn the harmonica. . . Or, rather he's been learning, from the words and pictures of the great Mel Bay (who, despite being dead, manages to hold on to his publishing empire). So I'm going to step up to the plate. Let's all hope it's a blues harp. 'Cause if he pulls some Stevie Wonder chromatic action, I'm just going to lay down my cards and plead ignorance.

Trying times in the sleep department. Peja is a strong willed kid. If she ain't happy, ain't no one sleepin', and that's just the way it's going to be.

Google Analytics shows this little free blog beats the hell out of the real band site (see the blog header for link). So, I guess I should start updating it. . . I need a Karl Koch.

Take care, sleep for me,

Jay.

The $0.03 Commute. . .

As I've mentioned many times, I worked out in the township (note for non-kingstonians -- Kingston is vaguely divided into a few sections, like New York or wherever, and I live on the north side of downtown, which is very old, like downtown; all the new stuff, i.e. the horrible box stores and the like, are out in the new areas of suburbia, a.k.a. the Township), and last winter I just drove the car. This spring, I ruined myself a few times and biked it.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got my Ebike built. I wanted to have a picture gallery of the process, but the first time I tried, the motor didn't fit, and I got pissed, and the 2nd time I wasn't so hopeful and didn't take any pictures -- so, there are no pictures of the successful transformation.

How it works -- my front wheel has been replaced with an electric hub motor, which looks very much like a wheel, but has a large mental casing (oh, hell, just go to www.ebikes.ca for pictures) around the hub. This motor connects, via a little black box, to a battery mounted on the back. When I turn the throttle (attached to handlebars), it goes. How fast? Well, it's sort of like driving a car stuck in 3rd or 4th gear, the pick-up off the line could be better, but with very little pedaling help, you can average 30 km/h, which is damned quick on a bike without sweating. It tops out (on the flat) at around 40, 45km/h on the flat.

F.A.Q. --
1. how far will it go?
2. isn't that something for old people?
3. how much does it cost?
4. how much does it cost to charge?
5. really, can't you just bike?

F.A.Q.A.
1. It will travel 30 km on a charge. I've been doing my commute, 13.6 km round trip, at full throttle, and it's still got a lot in the tank when I get home.
2. This one pisses me off. I ride my normal non e-bike more than almost anyone I know, and generally, the person asking me has driven a car, possibly an S.U.V, to wherever they're asking me. The mind-set you need is that it's not a replacement for your bike, it's a replacement for your CAR.
3. I spent, with shipping and tax and everything, a little under $700 for all the parts.
4. It costs (depending on utility charges) about $0.10 to charge. That's it. One dime. In 30 km of riding, you'll probably pass one or two dropped dimes.
5. Damn it, yes, I can bike. I do bike! But getting to work sweaty and ruined, not to mention if I get a cold, or am injured, or am late, or it's windy, or whatever other shitty thing drives me to take my car instead of my bike, the structure of this sentence has broken down. I can take the Ebike and get to work refreshed, and happy. It costs me $0.03 to get to work. The bus is $2, my car would be around $5, and a cab would cost $20. The extra food I would have to eat to make up for the calories I burn biking there would cost $4-$5 and likely would've travelled to Kingston 1000 miles using gas transportation.

I really encourage anyone who has a medium distance commute (5-20 km) to consider this option. It's great for the world, it's great for you. If you want a workout, it's still a bike, and you can pedal as hard as you want, and if you're tired, you can just relax and get there. The bike will pay for itself in gas savings very quickly. I estimate I'll need about 100 commutes to break even in gas savings alone.

This blog entry isn't nearly as cohesive as I hoped, but I wanted to post something about ebikes, and if there are questions I haven't answered, please post in the comments and I'll respond. Or, shoot me an email at jayandthebarnflyz@hotmail.com.

The rock will return shortly.

the one before the one about the electric bike. . .

When I'm home with the kid -- i.e. most of the time -- we have tunes going about 95% of the time (5% of the time we're choosing the new tunes after the cd/record ends). When I go to put something on, Peja always runs over and says "I want to pick the music!" I ask her if she wants a record or a cd, and then give her 2 or 3 choices. Lately, I've started asking her if she wants something mellow or something that rocks -- and generally she picks in accordance to the mood of the moment. This morning, though, she wanted something particular. She asked for Jay and the Barn Flyz. And my day was made.

Spent yesterday over on Wolfe Island helping fix up the Summer Dock Studio, formerly run by our Australian Friends, run this year by our friend Deirdre. Winter was cruel to the studio, as a gaggle of chickens spent the winter calling it home. . . We moved them out and started scraping. This summer, you'll be able to our cd and maybe some merch, and probably catch an occasional live show / signing thing at the studio. Just get off the ferry, turn right, and look for the signs.

Tune in next time for a full recounting of the tales of the now awesomely functional electric bike.

Waaaahaaaaa!

Jay.

What's a Leopard Frog?

Spend the weekend getting a cold to replace the flu. . . Good trade, but still a burn -- thankfully, I've been a drummer lately, and with enough cold medication, I can hit the snare on 2 and 4.

Went out to the studio on Saturday with Tully from Kyra and Tully, set up my drums (snuck in some extra gear). On Sunday we laid down what are known as "Bed tracks" -- keeper tracks of bass and drums (hat-tip to Rob on the bass -- fun guy, great player). The click-track gave us some headaches, but overall it was very productive, and Chris at Leopard Frog was really awesome -- if Jay and the Barn Flyz had any sort of budget, I know where we'd spent it.

The Studio is in Battersea (sp?), which reminds me a lot of home. Quiet lakes, trees, animals, the whole deal. Lots of wood and tile in the house; just beautiful.

Tim at Dorian got a call from the people that run the Wellington Street Theatre -- an old downtown church turned theatre, and apparently their rates start as low as $200 -- with lights and sound and the whole deal. Tim's going to go check it out, I'm going to try and tag along and see if this deal is really too good to be true. Otherwise, I think Jay and the Barn Flyz and Kyra and Tully might do a double-headlining show there late summer/early fall.

Peja and me stopped by and picked up my copy of the tracks yesterday (kindly welcomed by Popsicles and tea) and even in an unmixed and rough form, I'm quite proud to be a part of this project.

Pray for clear lungs,

Jay.