Posts tagged ‘The Night Shines’
the day after
by the river
So what do you do the day after #330daysofbiking? C’mon … did you really think there was any other option? 😉
Two of the boys were home for a brief weekend visit, with the local Battle of the Bands being the driver. The boys’ band The Night Shines took the win this year (YAY!) – and they have a free download of their song Forest Fire on their bandcamp site, for anyone interested).
Ross and I had a perfect day to take a great ride up to and along the river. After all of the grey and rain of the past days, it felt so good to have the sun shining.
While I don’t intend to keep a running tally of how many days I ride over the next year or so, I may just keep a personal log of the days I don’t – which hopefully will be kept to a bare minimum.
The perfect cycling life lesson appeared in my friend Jim’s (@bikerly) blog today; it can’t be said any better than this:
bikes, the people I love, and a beautiful day - it doesn't get any better
intersections
The Night Shines
We arrive at intersections, in our lanes with others heading the same direction. We stop or slow down, some turn right, some turn left. People arrive from other directions and enter our lane, driving in front of us, or behind, but on the same bearing. We stay together for a while. We part. We merge and we move forward.
We’ve arrived at one of those intersections once again – the boys are heading back to school, moving forward, changing lanes. The summer has been kind of non-stop camaraderie between the boys, the band (The Night Shines), friends and family, and the partings can be somewhat bittersweet – a combination of excitement and apprehension. For the band, I think it is been especially so; they’ve shared the same lane for so long, it’s tough to turn off, to part ways for a while.
While I can never adequately describe or define their personalities, the silliness, the connections between them – I think the picture above caught a very brief spark.
For now, I have a few more days of riding with a couple of them before they, too, make the turn and head back to school. The story of the pink Caliente is still coming – hopefully later this week – when I can get some photos with the new owner.
The official #330daysofbiking count: have ridden 126 of the past 138 days (today will be day 127), with 229 (228) days remaining. Meanwhile … a couple of the photos.
#330daysofbiking Day 122, 8/12/10 ... in motion
#330daysofbiking Day 124, 8/14/10 ... pedalpuddle
#330daysofbiking Day 126, 8/16/10 ... Mason a la Lensbaby
#330daysofbiking Days 101 & 102: 1879 – nothing happened
... and in 1875, Hugh Martin explodes (?!) ~ sidewalk timeline, Dayton, TN
It has been a rather crazy couple of days — at least more eventful than 1879, in any case.
I know this is a biking blog, and I really do try to keep these posts about biking stuff … so forgive me if I lose the thread a bit with this one. There are bikes involved, I promise, but this is going to end up being a picture story. Bike stuff and non-bike stuff, I will forewarn you. (Hey – I am not making anyone read this, so I don’t want to hear any complaining… 😉 ).
Day 101 – Began the day with some bike commuting; a swim, some errands, and a stop at the bookstore for a new NYT crossword book (my brain needs more exercise than my arms and legs, trust me) and a glass of pomegranate green tea. Ahhh…
bike, tea, brain exercise
In the evening, we headed to Chattanooga ….
Chattanooga at night - Market Street
… because the boys’ band, The Night Shines, was playing at the Mosaic. Best show ever for them 🙂
Boaz (vocals), Grant (bass)
The Mosaic was a pretty cool place – music, original art, and … a bike.
(digitally manipulated) bike inside the Mosaic
Day 102. Headed to nearby Dayton, TN, home of one of the most infamous publicity stunts/evolution-creation circuses of the 20th century – the Scopes “Monkey” Trial. (I write this, hanging my head in, well … embarrassment). Also the site of the above sidewalk timeline (lol), evidence that plenty of goofy stuff apparently has happened – and not happened – in Dayton.
Each year on the anniversary of the trial, Bryan College and people of Dayton put on a big re-enactment of the whole show-down – which just happened to be taking place this weekend. Gah! Our only reason for going to Dayton today was for a stop at their local music shop – Grant was looking to buy a new bass guitar, and had found one here. The music store sits directly across the street from the courthouse where the whole Monkey Trial anniversary party was happening. It was, er, … interesting.
The Rhea County Courthouse - home of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial
high wheeler inside the music store - apparently the owner had been riding it on the street for the re-enactment festivities
Grant got his guitar and we headed back home – The Band had another show tonight in Cleveland, and Mark and I were heading over to one of the local vineyards for some blueberry gathering. It’s been a bumper crop this year; I’ve never seen the bushes so full. We picked about 13 pounds of delicious berries; just perfect for my favorite No-Bake Blueberry Pie (archives).
bountiful blueberries
a little post-berry-picking wine tasting at the vineyard
Came home (again), tired, but Mark and I decided to head out on the bikes for a dinner date … pizza and salad at our favorite little local spot. Nice way to end the day, riding home just as darkness settled – lights and plenty of Blinkies.
The end.
(For now, anyway… 😉 )
bicycle pizza date - Dovino's
#30daysofbiking Day 17: bikes, tennis, rock-and-roll
home again - front yard (boys say I am starting a collection of bikes-leaning-against-tree photos 😉
A long and very multi-faceted day. Grant left before 7am to attend the annual two-day HS tennis tournament at the Champions Club in Chattanooga. Mark and I spent most of the morning dropping off garbage; literally. Today was Household Hazardous Waste day, and we had a small pile of old paint, batteries, and miscellaneous “hazardous materials” to dispose of. Quite a line of people waiting to go through the drop (a good thing). We also made a stop at the landfill to drop off some recycling and a few other things. Sorry to say, it was too much of a load to attempt by bike.
quick 8.6 miles around my "block"
Mark was kind enough to let me sneak in a quick ride “around the block” while he finished up some yard work (that I should have been helping with). “Around the block” is basically the shortest loop I can make out of our house, and a nice little ride. A couple good hills, lots of woods. And also the requisite cows, a few mules, a few sheep, and a little white pony. 😉 Not much in the way of distance, but I simply had to stay faithful to the #30daysofriding.
We wanted to see Grant play, so we headed to the Champions Club just in time to see a great match – close, some wonderful volleys, but ultimately a loss. He played 6 matches over the course of two days, a few wins, a few losses. But one really great singles win – coming from behind to win in a tie-breaker.
Came home briefly to clean up and get ready for Round 2: the boys’ band, The Night Shines, were playing a concert at the Warehouse in East Ridge. I think Grant must have been pretty exhausted after 2 days of tennis, but it didn’t stop him. They sound better and better each time, and I think they’re ready to be some serious contenders in next weekend’s Battle of the Bands.
It was a very long day … but never any shortage of good entertainment!
Grant: he's a tennis champ by day ...
... and a crazy bass guitarist by night!
shebicycles 