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Hi, Bruno has send me a small portfolio with his newest baby: the Furia Replica. I haven't got any details so far for availability, prices and so on, just a few (quite blurry) pictures.... If I learn more, I'll keep you updated of course.... download the pdf

...but not as good as the Rah Band there should be a phrase saying something like "if you do remember the sixties, you weren't there BUT if you remember the eighties, you wish you weren't" Like Lipps Inc or not, they have write a classic but we're a looooog way from rock n roll here

As (it seems) usual, Jeremy Clarkson has again succeeded in mixing up entertainment with blatant disregards for honest journalist ethical work and decided to do his own mise-en-scène while filming a "race" between the californian Tesla electric car and the Lotus Elise. The Tesla had the Elise in a corner, outpowering it totally on the straights and really owning the english beauty...until they film the Tesla slowing down, and having to be pushed to get its batteries (more than 6.000 of them) being recharged. It turned out that the Tesla didn't slow down, but it was a theorical situation to explain what would happen if it did, and being able to throw in in the fact that the Tesla needs 16 hours of charge to be fully on again. This said, the Tesla got a very good review from Clarkson, but Clarkson's means are despictable at times. Top Gear test on Youtube (while it lasts...) The Guardian article

i'm not sure the generation gap really does exist when you're still involved in things that needs passion and you can "let go". I do point my kids to emerging tendencies sometimes, i think it's only a matter of wanting to stay informed or not. i do have no "problems" with most forms of new art being made, and actually lots of new music is very very exciting, except the notable exception of techtonic (which is only the bastard son of old skool rap mixed in with some Daft Punk and Electro Funk). To come back to rock n roll, these girls (even if it's basically funk) can really, really rock: http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=k2FM4qPr6e0

you can really hear The Stooges in the MC5.

very important band, the MC5: they were among the hard-rock pioneers...

And that's the INTERMEDIATE list ? :-) Now we're talking ! (love the Sigur Ros track btw)

some coooooOOOol bands in your list ! If there's one person who never was in the 60's, it must be Lemmy

Good question... He's one of these guys who made bridges between genres, and helped create rock n roll, but he was more a R&B person than a blues person, even if his roots are blues. And his use of electricity and fx blurt even more the situation. So, I would say his hands are playing RnR while his feet are using R&B rythmic patterns. On a (not too) side note, I have been drafted by a university/private co-funded business company as they want to make some kind of hush hush project about the history of music but the point is that i have been spending last week listening to Jimi Hendrix's albums (starting with only the official ones or the list never ends...) Electric Ladyland is...far out man. I'm too young to have been tasting him first time around but what strikes me about Hendrix, besides his fingers obvious ability, is the harmonies he was using: he was decades ahead of his peers and he still is in a league of his own and a true, true genious. Yesterday and today are/were The Stooges and Iggy Pop days I can tell ya, The Idiot, beautifully produce by Bowie, is one of the best rock album ever. imho. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it

agree on that, the digital age allows thousand of bands to exist (for a very short while, until they discover painfully they cannot go above the noise level caused by the zillions of bands outhere). I couldn't help notice that in the '2000s bands named three bands who are blatantly copycats of the sixties/seventies (The Stripes, Wolf' and Amy, who's stuff i really like actually) and a band fronted by a producer who's solo records are terribly bad and unoriginal: sometimes a little change in the formula makes everything stick so much better The Presets are great.

5 ? David, this is IMPOSSIBLE. So, as far as this evening goes: "No Fun" by Iggy Pop. Actually, just about anything he did as/with The Stooges. Plus his Berlin period with Bowie and Eno. Cos it just vibrates of all the right elements found in rock music: sex, drugs and that unreal false sensation of immortality. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=hmI9iCiH-SE "Sunday Morning" by The Velvet Underground. Arguably one of best rock band ever. No especially this song, just anything from the Lou Reed era. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=0cWzxJvgWc8 "Fight The Power" by Public Enemy. The best rock song ever was probably written by a Hip Hop band. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaoLy7PHwk "Creep" by Radiohead A girl you can't get, some self underesteem and a guitar. You will never have another better chance to write a rock song. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpblnsJEWM "Into My Arms" by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Cos when you found out that sex, drugs and that fake sense of immortality were just illusions, and that the only action you did get was by screwed politicians, you do need songs for your soul. http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=8owifmb8n2s

Altough I really do appreciate the tech help from you two guys, and the MP frenzy, this fast reminder on how it was when Ratchet and D were battling really reminded me how much I DO NOT miss your political fights Now, where can i get Miata, i love these small devils !

It's just that the Japanese get totally owned in this category by the italians and KTM, and rather than sticking to it and welcome the challenge, they want to copy Flamini's Supersport and sell by the same token their 600cc road bikes. It's a disgusting move by Dorna who are just giving in to the big 4, as always. First consequence: the 250cc grid next year may not have more than 14 bikes...

Thanx for the tips. Unfortunately (?), the deal is for a Stone, not an EV...

Hi, A friend of mine may get a 2003 Stone California Limited edition (it has twin brakes and stainless exhaust over the 'classic' model). It isn't the hydraulic valves system but it has the bad black paint. What should he look for in that model, what are the small (or big) problems he may face with that specific model ? Is it totally the same engine as the V11 or different cams and different gearbox, etc...? thanx for all the (constructive) input!

I had two Ducatis prior to the Ghezzi and both bikes ( a 1989 750 Sport and a 93 Superlight) where exhilirating bikes to ride and not too temperamental - altho the Superlight is very much like the V11 in the sense that you have an arm long list of things that WILL go wrong (and they do). Personally, my main reason to switch to Guzzi has more to do with wanting to keep the valves down to 2 per cylinder and having a less nervous ride frame wise (I thought the two ducati were too nervous and frenzy in the frame departement when ridden fast while the Ghezzi -or a V11- is more planted)

This is so sad Godspeed, Gyles.

Tiens bon, Gyles !

I don't think that no one would go "scrambling" off road with it, it just looks great (imho) and should be a blast as a city motorbike: light and nimble, easy engine, cooler than cool look (and I had two Ducati's prior to my actual bike).

That scrambler looks amazing !

lol...quite true indeed! Some concerts back then (i'm speaking 70's while the expression David uses is a quote about the 60's but that's fine by me) would be completely smoked by the people in the concert hall that, even if you were a non-smoker, you ended up very stoned indeed... but actually, I do remember a Toots And The Maytals concert in Finsbury Park (London) where the air would be just one giant ganja cloud... I'm pretty sure Jaap or any of the dutch riders here could tell us funny stories about gigs in de Vondel Park or at the Melkweg

i agree: superb looking bike.

I guess everybody has personal views about what bikes are coolest, most important, etc... so, in my own little world, a few bikes do occupy the top spots. here are three of them. the first really dedicated sport bike I rode, not a street bike with stickers, no, a real racebike with lights and indicators. I have experienced two different motorbikes periods. One before i rode a 851, and the one after...(ok, after there are a few sub periods ) see a pattern somewhere ?

wow. being on that rolling road must have been rather stressful....

Totally. that harmonic distortion brings life to the recordings. CDs sound pristine but they do miss something... I also think the passage to CD, as a musician, meant you did loose the "dramatic" impact of placing the songs in just the right order and using the two sides in an elaborate way to ensure maximum enjoyment of your songs for the happy fan And having about 1 hour of music, without any pause is, for me at least, too much time. Now, with an Ipod on random order, Pharell can play a song and might be followed by Alicia Keys or Underworld. It's interesting but makes albums less like a full experience. And the digital download era has killed the idea of the album anyway (people buy two, three songs at most). Yeah, analog sounds better