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I’ve recently gotten two more websites up and running. One is a small placeholder website for our St. Louis based fire performance group, Pandora’s Matchbox. We spin poi and staff, do fire eating, fire breathing, fire devil sticks, rope darts, fire painting, etc. We even have flame throwers! Fun stuff! We get hired around St. Louis for parties, events, art galleries, stuff like that. The webpage is just meant to be a way for people to get in touch with us if necessary.

The other webpage is the store. A few of us in Pandora’s Matchbox make our own gear, and are now selling it. The storefront is still in progress, most products still need images, etc. However, it is up and running, and you can, in fact, buy our gear online. The shop has been cleverly named Pandora’s Toolbox. Cute, huh?

And as long as I’m plugging stuff, I’m doing a little work with my friend’s new business, Sunflower Solar. My friend Will has been working up to this for a while, and it is really starting to take off. They do solar power installations around Colorado, mostly around Boulder. They have focused on simple, easy to implement systems that qualify for the maximum rebates from the local energy company, XCel, and the maximum tax credits for renewable power. That means they do grid-tie systems, that don’t use batteries. They install panels on the roof, an inverter that converts DC to AC in the house, and then they back-feed that into your existing breaker panel. During the day, your house makes more power than it uses, and the electric meter spins backwards. At night, or when it’s cloudy, your house uses more power than it makes, and your electric meter spins forwards. At the end of the month, either you owe a little to the power company, or, if your meter ended up farther back than it started, they owe you a little, and will actually cut you a check. Cool, huh? The process is called net-metering, and is available in about 30 states.

Will and his team have been installing like crazy, and are quite busy, so I’m doing some basic engineering work for them, preparing diagrams for building permits, etc. It’s a neat process, and I’m glad his business is doing well.

I finally saw one of my favorite hip-hop legends of all time, DJ Shadow. DJ Shadow was one of the pioneers of the ‘sample’ style of hip-hop, where music is made from scads of tiny snippets from other things. His 1996 album Outrospective is actually in the Guiness World Records for being the first album made entirely of samples. It’s an incredibly good album, too.
The whole concept of ‘sample based’ music is strange. At first, it sounds like a cop-out. “I can’t make my own music, so I’ll just sample other people’s, and call it my own.” And I admit, sometimes that happens. But in the tradition of Andy Warhol, it is possible to see the cultural ‘noise’ of our world as just another medium. Every day you hear hundreds of songs, snippets of radio from other people’s cars, music in stores, music at home, etc. I bet most people listen to at least a tiny bit of up to 100 songs a day. Most of it you just forget, but they leave an imprint on your mind. When you listen to some of DJ Shadow’s music, you hear things you recognize, a quick quote, a drum loop, a quick guitar riff, etc. But you don’t know where you heard it, or when. Thats the art of it, its something new, made out of familiar pieces. Like using leaves in a painting, or building sculptures out of old car parts. It takes our cultural noise, and uses it as raw material.

It was great to see him live, and he puts on a really good show. He has a lot of custom visuals playing along with the music, things that really go along with the tone. He had a few guests who sung vocals on some songs, including Chris James (from Stateless) who sung one very sad soulful tune, and another angry, loud song with intense beats. DJ Shadow also did a few songs with Lateef the Truth Speaker who also was the opening act. Lateef definately has a lot of energy, and is a very skillful rapper, it was great to see him in action with DJ Shadow.

Shadow’s set was a mixture of old things, and new things from his new album, “Outsider.” He noted, during the show, that he loves all kinds of music, but that he came to them through hip-hop. He loved hip-hop, and then realized, through that, that he loved jazz, and through hip-hop, that he loved rock. This is very clear in his songs, and the fusion of styles is relentless and amazing. There will be a techno synth, a hip-hop breakbeat, a jazzy horn, and a cello playing classical music, and for some reason, it all fits perfectly. His mixes are simple and perfect, nothing seems out of place, and nothing is added without reason. Very deft.

Anyway, it was his first real tour through St. Louis, and there was a huge crowd. I hope he comes back, and maybe we’ll get some other great artists, too. I’d sure love to see Blackalicious, for instance…

I just finished building a new longboard deck. I had cut and shaped the deck several months ago, and then it proceeded to sit lonesome and unused until the other day when I started work on it again.

The deck is made from two sheets of 6mm Baltic Birch plywood laminated together, for a total of 10 plies of hardwood birch. The laminating is done by taking two planks, about 50” by 12”, and gluing them together with a layer of Titebond III glue. While they are gluing, you clamp them together in such a way as to induce a shape. In my case, I made a bunch of clamps out of 2×4s with bolts on the ends. They slip over the glued planks, and bolt down. By slipping bits of wood spacers and shims under the clamps in various places, I induced a shape. In this case, a little bit of concave (the deck curves up a bit at the edges, hotdog style), and a bit of a kick tail. No camber (an arched middle of the deck, like my last one).

When the deck is dry, you pull it out of the clamps, and cut it to the correct shape, routing down the edges, and sanding it smooth. Then you mark and drill the holes according to your template. I drew up the template in Adobe Illustrator, and printed it out on many sheets of paper so I had a life-size pattern to work from.

Next, I needed to apply a layer of fiberglass to the bottom for stiffness. I used 6oz S-Glass, which is a special fiberglass formulation for strength. I used the less-toxic Epoxy resin with it, instead of the traditional Polyester resin used in boat making. I had intended to use a vacuum bag to secure the fiberglass, which is a large bag like those ‘food saver’ bags that allows you to squish the fiberglass onto the deck with the force of air pressure. Unfortunately, my vacuum bag lost its seal, and I couldn’t repair it in time. Once the epoxy resin is mixed and layed down, you don’t have a choice, you must proceed.

So, I was forced to proceed using traditional clamps and weights to smooth the fiberglass. It turned out less smooth than I was hoping, but thats OK. I also used the opportunity to apply graphics. I printed out designs on rice paper, and then laminated them under the fiberglass. Rice paper turns transparent when it is soaked with the epoxy resin, so it looks like I printed right onto the deck. The top of the deck got a coat of resin as well, mixed with silica sand, so it would have texture and grip. I added a graphic to the top as well.

After a good wetsanding, I put down a final coat of exterior polyurethane for UV protection. Then, I began the grueling 48 hour wait to allow everything to harden up before assembly.

The trucks are Original, which use a very unique mechanism involving two rigid saddle-shaped bushings to create an unbelievable turning radius, and a very unique feeling of control. They take a bit of getting used to, but are really incredible trucks. The wheels are big 76mm Gumballs, they present a lot of urethane to the ground, and are very large, so they roll over anything. Plus, they are bright green.

The deck rides very nicely. It is a bit flexy, but has some snap to it too. The trucks carve very deeply, and as you turn, the deck gets lower, and your weight compresses the deck, changing the truck angle, and making them turn tighter. Hence, it feels like it ‘dives’ into turns, which is a fun feeling. Longboard enthusiasts say that when you’ve got three decks, you’ve got a ‘quiver’. I’ve got another set of plywood blanks in the basement, so soon enough, I’ll have a quiver of my own.

The little guy is the Bodhidharma, the Buddhist monk who founded the Zen school of Buddhism during the 6th century in China. In Japan, they make little dolls of him called Daruma Dolls. They are round little things, with no arms or legs, and his trademark eyebrows. When you buy the doll, it has no eyes drawn in. You fill in one eye when you make a wish, or a resolution for personal improvement. When it comes true, you fill in the other eye. My Daruma has only one eye filled in, because I’ve got a lot of wishes, and I don’t expect them to be fulfilled any time soon.

The calligraphy is by Hakuin Ekaku, a very influential monk in Japan who founded the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism, and is considered to be the monk who made Zen what it is today. The calligraphy reads, “Zen points directly to the heart; see into your nature, and become Buddha.” It sounds cheesy, but it’s true. You don’t need other people to make you spiritually enlightened, it’s already inside you, you just need to see it.