Tuesday, September 22, 2009

My bicycle will have a good home when I die

Since the early 1980s I have ridden the same Schwinn ten-speed bicycle many thousands of miles while simultaneously playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar, sometimes with a small battery-powered amplifier clamped to the seat post or carried on a rack over the rear wheel. I'm pushing fifty years old now, and thought to contact The Bicycle Museum of America yesterday to see if they would be interested in preserving or even displaying my bicycle after I die.

To quote the Wikipedia article about this place:
The Bicycle Museum of America is a small museum nested inside the village of New Bremen, Ohio, United States. The museum, one of the largest private collections of bicycles in the world, is located at 7 West Monroe Street.

I was delighted when Annette Thompson of the museum wrote me back within a couple of hours. She said:
This would make an interesting story for our museum. Yes, we would enjoy having the bike.

I forwarded her email to one of my sisters and I am posting this blog entry as well to make my wishes known. Of course, this assumes I don't die ON the bicycle. If I do, it might not be a pretty museum display! I am locally famous, but if my fame ever spreads my bicycle may end up in the Smithsonian or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Even if that doesn't happen though, I rest easier knowing my bicycle will be well taken care of after I am gone.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

We're getting good!

The last two nights my new bass player Rocky and I sounded really good in our jam sessions. Several of his songs are coming together nicely, and he is getting better at playing bass to some of my songs too.

This reminds me of the time I was hanging out with Peter Griffin of the Family Guy cartoon television series: