|
6/5/00
Tanner’s legacy post-dates him. On the Condor I found 3 gauges
missing, one gauge dented (of the total of eight brand new ones I
had), and still more little stuff that was just abortioned. I would
have been SO far ahead of it had I booted him out two months
ago. You all knew that.
We finally got the right gaskets for the aluminum, Dart/Windsor heads.
Amazingly, all the Dart/Windsor gaskets don't fit. The proper fit
comes from a Brodix wide-spread bolt pattern which I got from
SCE. Rick found the "rear main seal" leak: Tanner had run a
wire under the gasket of the left valve cover!
The surprises never stop.
I'm PRAYING that the head gaskets and torquing are OK. I'll retorque
after a few hours of running.
Did I mention he had three different plugs, nearly all loose, in the
motor? Oh, and he had shifted the driver’s side exhaust gasket about
half an inch so it was not only blocking the ports, but wasn’t even
touching half the manifold!!! Got leak?
As if this car crap was enough to depress, the business end is
crushing. Today was a bad day. I was just overwhelmed inside (still am
actually), and struggling to get mentally on top of the overwhelm
right now.
We are about to launch into the lifeguard thing, and I'm just going to
pay the prior idiot contractor who bailed on the project the full
money I offered for his parts instead of trying to work it backwards
and pay his (stiffed) subs ahead of him. He'll screw the two guys, and
that's too bad. Actually, one of them said forget it, just get the
stuff and get working. If it's fine for him, I'm cool.
Back on the Condor I've built a 3-gauge array on an aluminum plate at
the right front of the engine bay for water temp, oil pressure, and
oil temp. Looks cool. Now I'm searching through the morass of
parts for the gauge parts, trying to find out which sensors go where,
etc.
Utterly zero has been accomplished on the race car for nearly two
months. I'm waiting for the dough from the arbitration award, and I'm
grabbing $5K of it directly for the FC to cover tires, Lexan, and
paint.
Rick will have the headers on the Condor torqued down tomorrow, and
I'll fire it up again and see if it's quiet and
right. Still have to remount the fans, run some sensor wiring, and get
the Condor over to AutoRite transmission to
have Gene pull the pan and weld the temperature sensor bung in.
I am going to get the trans cooler on this car no matter what. The one
on now is in front of the AC cooler, not a good
thing, as that makes it three deep in that area (cooler, AC,
radiator).
Fortunately, there are few of these particular complications on the
FC. With the influx of green, perhaps I can get out of the red
momentarily, actually turn the car to yellow, and get out of the
garage for a lap. I’ve lined up John Jarnagin, one of my painters
and a crackerjack one at that (the VERY antithesis of Tanner), and
I’ve commissioned him to two weeks of paid work priming and blocking
the race car. I’ll do the minor bondo touch-ups at this point. This
will get it to the brink of Nick shooting it with single-stage yellow
from Mercedes, Nissan, or Ford. I’ll have to do color samples
against each other to decide.
Got a REALLY stupid note on the guestbook today from a total idiot. I
guess this means that the site is now reaching many more people, so
I’ve taken this as a good sign. It just amazes me that so many
dweebs exist out there who have nothing to do but run down, insult,
and deprecate the ENORMOUS hard work of people trying to put out some
value in life. I mean, look at the incredible amount of work Jim Maher
has pumped into the CIFCA organization and web site. Have you seen
some of the blithering bimbo mentality that has the insulting temerity
to check in and disrupt what has taken so much work to create?
Fortunately, I CAN edit my guestbook (and quickly), so no worries
here.
Yeah, yeah, where’s MY race car? I’m going to get Mike to help on
the blocking, and hopefully pull in a few people who have recently
re-expressed interest (Matt, Nick, Danny, etc. are you ready?).
In response to a warning I sent out correcting a hoax purporting
gov’t interference/taxing on the web, one which I had also
mistakenly passed on, my son Brian had this puzzling comment:
“The government is not against us Dick. The Republicans are
our friends.” You go figure.
In that vein of presumed humor, this is now one my all time favorites:
"Rabbi's Advice"
Man : Rabbi, something terrible is happening and
I have to talk to you about it.
Rabbi: what's wrong?
M: My wife is poisoning me.
R: How can that be?
M: I'm telling you I'm certain she's poisoning me, what should I do?
R: Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I'll see
what I can find out and I'll let you know.
A week later the Rabbi calls the man.
R: Well, I spoke to your wife. As a matter of fact, I spoke to her
on the phone for three hours. You want my advice?
M: Yes.
R: Take the poison.
6/6/00
Two ethical questions
Q1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three
who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had
syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?
Q2:
It is time to elect the world leader, and your vote counts.
Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:
Candidate A:
Associates with
crooked politicians, and consults
with astrologists.
He's had two mistresses.
He also chain smokes
and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B:
He was kicked out of
office twice, sleeps until
noon, used opium in
college and drinks a quart
of whiskey every
evening.
Candidate C:
He is a decorated war
hero. He's a vegetarian,
doesn't smoke, drinks
an occasional beer and
hasn't had any
extramarital affairs.
Which of these candidates would be your choice?
The answers will be about a page down (no peeking).
6/7/00
Remember I PROMISED to bogard about $5K out of that arbitration award?
So far, I haven’t gotten it. The payer has until June 11th, or I
take him to collection. His own attorney can’t get an answer back
from him after two calls. Is it any wonder this FC project is taking 4
years? On a more positive note, Tanner has not resurfaced (not that it
would do him any good around here). But his terrible methods keep
appearing. He had not only had run a wire under the gasket, but had
left off both rear valve cover bolts, and one was plugged with
silicone! Thank God I didn’t have him do anything on the FC!
Oh, I have a 6500-watt (110-volt) Onan for sale, including a new fuel
pump, for $1000. Spread the word.
We’ve got the Condor headers back on, cinched tight, valve covers
back on with all bolts (and washers). Ready to fire it up once again.
Randy and I were going over powder-coating colors and patterns
yesterday. He’s decided on a really cool silver/black mottled look
for his frame. I’ll probably go with a more silver-based similar
pattern. He’s had some problems, too. He took his header sleeves to
California Muffler to have the ends crimped, and the guy had the
rudeness to charge him $50 for doing it wrong. Randy was less than
cordial about it. The guy had made the sleeves with different lengths!
Now that would look real good, eh? I returned there, took a drawing,
and had him make up 4 new ones for a whopping $135! Unfortunately,
they are the only game in town for this particular detail.
Checked into Hoosiers for rear.
6/8/00
When the legendary salesman was asked his secrets of success, he gave
a humble shrug. "I’m sure you all know the cardinal rules: know
your product; make lots of calls; never take no for
an answer. But frankly, I owe my success to consistently missing a
three foot putt by two inches." Speaking of putz,
the “payer” called me threatening me with major hassles if I
didn’t just walk away. You must realize this is a nearly one
year long hassle that has been COMPLETELY resolved by agreement
through arbitration! I shmoozed him as best I could, and we lost
connection on his cell phone, with his last words being a repeat of
his threat. An hour later his attorney called saying “Your check is
ready.” So we’re finally going to see some progress on the race
car. As mentioned, we’re going immediately for: 4 tires, Lexan, and
paint. I’ll get it running before disassembling it for total
beautification. John Jarnagin, my ace house painter and worker
extraordinaire, has been commissioned to do the priming and blocking
for a two-week period. Nick will shoot it with a single stage paint.
We’re going to launch into setting Dzus fasteners on the side
windows ala McDannel. We need someone for the aluminum work on the
blower surround (it was majorly tweaked in 1996 in the blower belt
explosion), some lower panel stiffening additions, and some misc tin
work.
We’re cleaning up a bit in the garage (still no replacement window
for the Garage Mahal glass), and getting tools back into their places.
I’m adding a second level to some of the tool drawers, along with
boxing them with foam.
OK, here are the candidates:
Candidate A is Franklin
D. Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler
Oh,........and by the way:
Your answer to the abortion question, if you said yes, you
just killed Beethoven
6/8/00
As a contractor, I couldn’t pass up this wonderful story sent to me
by my webmaster:
This is purported to be an actual bricklayer's accident report that
was printed in the
newsletter of the English equivalent of the Workers' Compensation
Board. His eloquent descriptions far outweigh his judgement (pun
intended as you will see).
Dear Sir:
I am writing in response to your request for
additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I
put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked
for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be
sufficient.
I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working
alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my
work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later
were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by
hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was
attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung
the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and
untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the
240 lbs. of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that
my weight is 135 lbs.
Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost
my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say,
I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now
proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the
fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed
in Section 3, accident reporting form.
Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until
the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley
which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately
by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold
tightly to the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now
beginning to experience.
At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the
ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight
of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you
again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down
the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This
accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe
lacerations of my legs and lower body.
Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel
seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the
pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks,
in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories
above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of
the rope.
This pretty much sums up how I feel about
contracting on a good day.
6/10/00
Well, the birthday party was precisely as I predicted, and followed
last year’s numbers closely: 87 invited, 52 confirmed, 25 showed. So
at least I know the plan. It was pretty much the same story last year.
Randy Laur picked up his header sleeves, dropped of a pulley for the
dually (more on that in a moment), Bible Bob showed up wanting to set
a regular schedule for working on the race car, and Mike the welder
made it, but we talked no FC welding. The hit of the party was the
5-week old puppy (fortuitous bladder control, too). There is a LOT of
food left over from Millie’s tremendous culinary work (Brian will
wolf down the excess in micro-seconds), and my mom’s to-die-for
trifle. Bible will be getting the tires at Shelby’s in Gardena
probably next Thursday, and I’ll be ordering the Lexan MR-10 on
Monday from Cadillac Plastics.
Got some gas today at the corner, and a NASTY-something sports car
pulled in. I approached the elderly fellow and asked if it was a
Callaway Corvette. As I stepped closer, I noticed the Shelby logos.
The fellow said this was a new Shelby. I noted it could not be the
new-era Cobra. No, said he. It is the new car using a Formula 1
chassis and Oldsmobile engine. I asked, the overhead 4-cam? Yes. I
asked, and who are you. “Shelby” said he. I mentioned I was about
to get four tires from his Gardena store next week (for the FC) and he
brightened up a lot. I also asked if he was going to the Bothwell
Ranch Fabulous Fifties get together today. He was extremely grateful
that I reminded him, and hurried off to the event. He had noted the
car will sell for $100K for the first 30, then $118K for the remainder
of the limited 300-500 run of production. Someone has reported they
are all pre-sold.
Now to the dually: blew a crank pulley on the freeway yesterday. It
appeared to have taken out the new 4-core radiator (well 4 years new,
mostly unused), but actually tore out the bottom hose, lunched another
pulley, belt, etc. Long story short, I’ll have it together Monday.
Meanwhile, the Condor is about to get its fresh plugs, has now tight
headers with copper gaskets, and another chance at running. If all
sounds good, we’ll bolt on the fans, fill it with water, and see how
that goes. Hopefully no Tannering will bite us at that point. I saw
someone today who reported Tanner has continued his tricks, is back
with the insane ex-girl friend, ripping people off, and making more
enemies. Thank goodness I’m out of that. My clone Bird is in the
body shop getting a parking lot (hit and run) scrape repaired. Nick
said bring it last Tuesday, to have it ready on Saturday. As of today
there was ZERO done on it, but the promise to work on it “today”,
and see you at the party. No show at the party. We’ll see about it
being done tomorrow. I stressed no favors, just do it and charge me.
Subject: Mirror, Mirror
A brunette, redhead and blonde went to a
fitness spa for
some fun and relaxation.
After a stimulating, healthy lunch, all
three decided to visit
the ladies room. There they found a strange-looking woman
sitting at the door's entrance.
"Welcome to the ladies room,"
she said. "Be sure to check out
our newest feature - a mirror which will award you one wish if
you look into it and make a truthful statement. But, be warned,
if you say something false you'll be sucked into the mirror and
you'll live in a void of nothingness for all eternity!"
The three women were intrigued so they gave it a shot.
The brunette looked into the mirror and
said, "I think I'm the
most beautiful of us three girls." Instantly, the brunette
was
surrounded by a pile of money.
The redhead stepped up and said, "I
think I'm the most
talented of us three girls." Suddenly, the red head found
the
keys to a brand new Lexus in her hands.
Excited about the possibility of having
her wish come true,
the blonde looked into the mirror and said, "I
think..." and
was promptly sucked into the mirror.
6/11/00
Nick says he will likely be done with the clone bird late this
evening, after color-matching it. My money is on it NOT being ready.
Rob Anderson, mil-spec hifi whiz and other electronics areas genius,
did NOT make it to the party. True story: It seems his neighbor died
as they were about to leave. Bummer. ‘Course why should that have
stopped them, I mean he’s dead, right? Anyway, he’s supposed to be
here to do some hifi work today (No, not on the FC!). As of 1:44 PM no
show.
This is also supposed to be a true story:
Australian Police have been unable to recommend
a prosecution for the following scam:
A company takes out a newspaper advertisement
claiming to sell imported hardcore pornographic videos. As their
prices seem reasonable, people place orders and make payments via
check.
After several weeks, the company writes back
explaining that under the present law they are unable to supply the
materials and do not wish to be prosecuted. So they return their
customers' money in the form of a company check.
However, due to the name of the company, few
people ever bother to present these to their banks. The name of
the company: 'The Anal Sex and Fetish Perversion Company'.
6/13/00
A man rushes into his house and yells to his wife, "Martha, pack
up your things. I just won the California lottery!"
Martha replies, "Shall I pack for warm weather or cold
weather?"
The man responds, "I don't care. Just
as long as you're out of the house by noon!"
When it comes to the race car, the above seems
almost right on. My lovely wife, Millie, has little patience for the
seemingly endless money drain in the garage. “Why don’t you just
sell it? YOU tell her. Life is WAY short. She has a very long term
view, to the point of being miserly. I, on the other hand, am MAJORLY
into the moment, particularly regarding money and possessions. I’m
far past the point of needing some vast store of stuff. I’ve already
got it. What I’m working on is thinning it out, getting back to the
point of having only enough to control and ENJOY. Wash the car on
Saturday? Who’s got time? That’s just a damn crime. I want my
daily interface with the world to WORK, be functional, and I want my
air-conditioning COLD (particularly when it’s 110 degrees outside!).
I don’t enjoy the overload. She doesn’t quite understand my rabid
fanatacism with completing all the projects around here. She DOES get
upset about what SHE wants clean, though! As if from an angel, the
following message (which echoes my sentiments) floated in on the
e-mail. I find it VERY worth thinking about, and acting upon.
Subject: Miracles
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the yard and
admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm
spending more time with my family and friends and less time working.
Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to
savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now
and cherish them. I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good
china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound,
getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom. I
wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look
prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries. I'm
not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for
clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their
grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing,
I want to see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what others
would've done had they known that they wouldn't be here for the
tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think they would have
family members and a few close friends. They might have called a
few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles.
I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, or for
whatever their favorite food was. I'm guessing; I'll never know.
It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I
knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn't written
certain letters that I intended to write one of these days.
Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and parents often enough
how much I truly love them. I'm trying
very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would
add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I
open my eyes, tell myself that it is special. Every day, every
minute, every breath truly is a gift from God.
If you received this it is because someone cares for you. If
you're too busy to take the few minutes that it takes right now to
forward this, would it be the first time you didn't do the little
thing that would make a difference in your relationships? I can tell
you it certainly won't be the last. Take a few minutes to send
this to a few people you care about, just to let them know that you're
thinking of them. "People say true friends must always hold
hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the
other hand will always be there."
I don't believe in miracles. I rely on them.
A miracle in my life is the redoubtable Capt
Laur. The guy is just SO amazing. There is hardly an aspect of daily
life this guy can’t help me improve upon, and NOT in some bossy,
I-told-you-so way. He’s just there with the good idea. And even HE
gets screwed by inept vendors fabricating stuff for his race car.
Mil-spec Rob Anderson came by to briefly survey
the “damage” to my work truck hifi. He pulled the driver’s side
door panel and tweeter out and the voice coil was literally
“blown.” I mean the windings were falling out. The young
brain dead drivers (Tanner, Jason, etc.) have NO respect for a quality
piece of audio equipment. Now Jason respects HIS tools all right, but
everything else is just disposable to him. He’s offered to pay for
them, disclaiming that “others” have abused the system as well.
We’re still trying to get the garage to a state of real clean
up.
We’re missing some tools of mine already. Aggravating, to say
literally the least. Randy and Bible and I are scheduled to go to
CIFCA tomorrow night to keep our pulses on events, and promote OUR
interest. As the Lifeguard Tower project is THE money maker for now,
everything racing hinges pretty much on that. I still have the funds
I’ve earmarked for the FC, but pressure is building fast, so I need
to get some parts ordered and paid for QUICKLY. Fired the Condor up
for Rob, and he suggests either a lean carburetor or tight valves as
the cause for the backfiring. His thought is to get an old set
of valve covers, cut the tops off, and adjust the valves running. I
had the very same idea, which I professed to George Thomson, who
soundly rejected that approach. I think I’m going the open cover
route, as I see no reason for backfiring through the carb after
Thomson reworked the Holley 600 for a hefty price. The carb on the
work truck works great, and the Condor unit has a leak on the
secondaries, which Thomson will have to fix anyway.
6/14/00
Did you hear that Anheuser-Busch has taken over the Red Cross' public
relations?
Their new slogan is "This Blood's For
You."
This very definitely applies to the Condor. The
starter appears to have just let loose on it, and we haven’t even
gotten it out of the garage. It MAY be the flex plate, but I think the
backfiring, etc. may have lunched the drive on the starter. More fun
to explore.
As money is the source of all progress (as I have NO more time or
energy to expend), I have taken a loan for $50K, placing my house now
in a position of total indebtedness. Talk about rolling the dice on
the big one. I’m now leveraged BEYOND the hilt, past the lilt, into
massive guilt, on the brink on tilt, and I may get kilt if these next
jobs don’t pan out with the necessary gelt.
As Butch did not make the party last week,
we’ve had no crew chief progress to date. I was poised to send Bible
Bob to Goodyear for tires, and just made one last phone call to check
they had what we needed in stock. Good thing. They do have a pair of
34.5” tires, several options on the front tires, but NO safety
liners. Apparently, the liners are no longer made.
Problem: I don’t own a set of beadlock rims to run without the
liners. Beadlocks have gotten WAY pricey lately (and very scarce) for
this very reason. Interestingly, Pro Stock cars, running about the
same # as we do, use SCREWS only. So I did some questioning, and the
minimum recommended # of screws is 12, so I’m going with 16. After a
few hours of math and trial and error, I got an evenly spaced set of
holes using the recommended 13/64” holes on both sides of the rim.
Now I need to find 64 of them little critters, in stainless steel, and
grade 8 or better. First stop: Jeg’s Catalog……….. Done deal,
but only available in galvanized. No problem, I may have them colored
later.
Next item: get the tires dismounted locally and get the rims to a
polisher whilst they are relatively easy to handle.
Next: get the Lexan ordered and on the way
Next: Find an air-brusher for the graphics and tail and headlights.
Next: get John and Robert George on the FC body blocking and priming
Next: Set the new Dzus fastener system for the side windows
Next: Get Nick to FINALLY paint the damn thing.
Had a fortuitous moment of serendipity last
night. No, my wife didn’t get lucky. We have discovered that the
front gate is jimmyable, so I went out to weld some plates to prevent
this. Mind you, I have nearly no experience with the newly acquired
wire welder, had no land line cord to power it, and had never even
fired up the newly acquired generator (purchased for this purpose and
to power the trailer 220-volt AC). At about 9 PM I hooked up the
generator, set up the welder, ground down some areas for a good
ground, and lit the first arc when a guy ended up standing right in
front of me in the near dark. “Welding, eh?” It turned out
to be Danny the Welder! “Here, let me see how this works” and
grabbed the welder from my hand. Thirty minutes later, we ended up
running a cord out from a 220-volt plug, and it worked MUCH better.
Danny reiterated his interest in helping on the FC: “Hey, I just
live right down there” pointing a few houses down the street. Well
all righty then!! What a nice change of events.
The garage may not get cleaned out too very soon. Another client came
by today to look at our “cabinet shop”, and may have us building
another kitchen. I stress the MAY here. So we may have another two
kitchens if indications run true.
Monday will see me getting the starter out of the Condor (or Rick
doing it), and meeting with the incredibly shrinking brain of the
former Lifeguard Project contractor (buying him out to start the job
after months of getting him to see the light of my incredible gift of
$9K for something I could get for free).
Why am I doing this?
Because getting his partially built first unit greatly speeds OUR
process, and it allows me to get the two subcontractors he screwed
paid off and happy.
Love the work, hate the business.
The video surveillance system will be finally complete Monday
(actually, it took until Wednesday) as well, with some nice touches.
This place could be called Fort Knocks, given the setbacks.
The following is an example from the record biz, which shows pretty
much what I, as a contractor, feel like. You may substitute
“contractor” for “band” at every point in the following true
story.
The following is an unedited transcript
of Courtney Love's speech to the Digital
Hollywood online entertainment conference, given in
New York on May 16.
By Courtney Love
June 14, 2000 | Today I want to talk about piracy and
music. What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an
artist's work without any intention of paying for it. I'm
not talking about Napster-type software.
I'm talking about major label recording
contracts.
I want to start with a story about rock bands
and record companies, and do some recording-contract math:
This story is about a bidding-war band that gets
a huge deal with a 20 percent royalty rate and a million-dollar
advance. (No bidding-war band ever got a 20 percent royalty, but
whatever.)
This is my "funny" math based on some reality and I just
want to qualify it by saying I'm positive it's better math than
what Edgar Bronfman Jr. [the president and CEO of Seagram, which owns
Polygram] would provide.
What happens to that million dollars?
They spend half a million to record their album. That
leaves the band with $500,000. They pay $100,000 to
their manager for 20 percent commission. They pay
$25,000 each to their lawyer and business manager.
That leaves $350,000 for the four band members to split.
After $170,000 in taxes, there's $180,000 left. That
comes out to $45,000 per person.
That's $45,000 to live on for a year until the
record gets
released. The record is a big hit and sells a million copies. (How a
bidding-war band sells a million copies of its debut
record is another rant entirely, but it's based on any
basic civics-class knowledge that any of us have about
cartels. Put simply, the antitrust laws in this country are
basically a joke, protecting us just enough to not have
to re-name our park service the Phillip Morris National
Park Service.)
So, this band releases two singles and makes two
videos.
The two videos cost a million dollars to make and 50
percent of the video production costs are recouped out
of the band's royalties.
The band gets $200,000 in tour support, which is 100
percent recoupable.
The record company spends $300,000 on independent
radio promotion. You have to pay independent promotion
to get your song on the radio; independent promotion is
a system where the record companies use middlemen so
they can pretend not to know that radio stations -- the
unified broadcast system -- are getting paid to play
their records.
All of those independent promotion costs are charged to
band.
Since the original million-dollar advance is also
recoupable, the band owes $2 million to the record
company. If all of the million records are sold at full price with no
discounts or record clubs, the band earns $2 million in
royalties, since their 20 percent royalty works out to $2
a record.
Two million dollars in royalties minus $2 million in
recoupable expenses equals ... zero!
How much does the record company make?
They grossed $11 million.
It costs $500,000 to manufacture the CDs and
they
advanced the band $1 million. Plus there were $1 million
in video costs, $300,000 in radio promotion and $200,000
in tour support.
The company also paid $750,000 in music publishing
royalties. They spent $2.2 million on marketing. That's mostly retail
advertising, but marketing also pays for those huge
posters of Marilyn Manson in Times Square and the
street scouts who drive around in vans handing out black
Korn T-shirts and backwards baseball caps. Not to
mention trips to Scores and cash for tips for all and
sundry. Add it up and the record company has spent about $4.4
million. So their profit is $6.6 million; the band may as well be
working at a 7-Eleven.
6/19/00
There are some good things to report, and shockingly, some actual FC
progress. First, the starter on the Condor appears to have healed
itself in the dark over the weekend.
Secondly, Laur and I went to the LA Roadster Car Show and Swap Meet.
We NEVER got to the car show portion, after spending 4 hours walking
the HUGE swap meet area. I got 5 wheel spacers, bought two folding
chair systems (very trick), ordered two dash covers for the Condor and
Super Coupe, and oh yes, I bought a little hot rod. I mean little, a
75 AMC Gremlin X, perhaps among the ugliest cars ever made. This ugly
little duckling has a BEAUTIFUL 396 BBC sitting easily under the hood,
with a 350 trans, and 3.89 Ford 9” at the rear. This little buggy
HONKS (high 12’s at about 107). I got it way cheap, and I’m just
going to paint and upholster it, clean it up, and re-sell it still
cheaply to anyone wanting a great little hot rod for about 4 or 5
grand.
Bible Bob just returned from Goodyear without my $1200, but WITH 4 new
tires, balanced, ready for traction and action.
See? Progress DOES happen, if so very slowly. And it doesn’t come
cheap. I didn’t take the wheels to a polisher, so we’ll just do
some rubbing ourselves during the polish phase.
The transfer of the Lifeguard Tower materials
went smoothly today, and we’re on our way with our biggest job ever.
This poor soul who underbid the job was still convinced he could have
found a way to get the County to pay him for his huge screw-up. In
fact, the County was about to move the stuff off and he was going to
be out 100%. No matter. We’re in, he’s out, and we’re moving
now. We’re still not out of the garage and cabinet thing yet, so the
Condor is still locked in. The Gremlin will use a little of my hot rod
time the next few days to get the exhaust tightened up (done), get a
few tiny dings in the body smoothed, and get an appointment for the
paint.
You may not have noticed, but we have the thumbnail video working from
the Racing home page. I wanted sound and a bigger picture, but the
memory size would have made it prohibitively long for loading.
Meanwhile, you can enjoy a cool burnout.
6/22/00
Next on the agenda are:
drilling the wheel spacers for proper fit
getting the windshield and side windows material (MR10 Lexan)
setting the side window attachments
polishing the wheels and other aluminum, and on the trailer
resetting the collar on the body around the blower
priming and blocking the body for the last time prior to paint
getting actual paint on it
cleaning the underside of the body and spraying zolotone paint
running the remaining small bits of brake line and fire system tubing
and setting the nozzles
putting the driveshaft collars on (ordered and waiting)
altering the puke tank mounting only slightly
setting the puke tubes front and rear
adjusting the starter for proper engagement
lighting the beast off
clearing the trailer
mounting the new generator
checking the trailer air conditioning
making a lap at Palmdale
Little old lady to dog owner: "Is that your
German Shepherd outside?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Well, my cat just killed it."
"Ha, how could your cat kill my dog?"
"It got stuck in his throat."
The garage actually DID get cleaned, but not
cleaned out. My contractor/guest house renter Randy Howell (NOT Capt
Laur) is working on a project for DWC in the garage, and he and I hit
the cleaning hard for a bit and set a standard which is now being
followed nightly by Jason and helper Bob George.
We MAY not be doing more cabinets, as I’ve found a really cool
cabinet guy who can beat MY prices, and NOT tie up my garage. We’ll
see how that goes soon. See “Speedy” a little later in this
missive.
One job we’re close to finishing has declined for the second time
about $9K in repairs which they WILL need, now or later (like the oil
commercial).
Fine with me, I’ll just get out of there sooner. And REALLY fine for
them, as they’re also tired of us being there, disrupting their
12-unit condo lives.
I’m taking the little Gremlin hot rod to Cruisers Friday night to
hopefully spark a quick sale. My guess is that it will take a paint
and interior refurb to move it along.
The video surveillance system is essentially complete, with one more
camera to be connected (4 in all). I can see Jason and Bob sweeping
the garage as I type this. Ah, sweetness!!
Money is still tight (what’s new??).
I’m on the warpath to get crew members here on a regular basis. The
security guys are both VERY interested in getting on board. Look for
their bios and profiles in the racing “CREW” section soon.
6/24/00
Took the little Gremlin to Cruisers and parked it RIGHT in the middle
of the action with a for sale sign. Got a lot of interest, but only a
couple of tear-offs, though. It’ll just take one, that’s all.
Pulled the Gremlin plugs, all seem reasonable. It has a funny stumble
at minimum throttle. I’m getting a new set of wires from Laur on
Monday. The rear shocks are SO useless, so I’m hunting around for
some load levelers to keep the fenders from rubbing on the wide rear
tires. It really needs a change of rims to move the tires back inside
a few inches, but for now, it might suffice to do just the shocks.
Trying to save the bucks for the funnycar. While at Cruisers, I joined
the Rodfathers Car Club. Nice bunch of guys, awesome cars, no
meetings, no dues, just get together at will and have fun. I like
THAT.
The Tanner saga continues to play. Word today from his supposedly
crazy ex-girl friend (now back with him) is that she was majorly
beaten up in the last few days (broken teeth and lotsa welts and
bruising, as seen first-hand by Jason), and that Tanner intends to rip
me off before getting out of town in the next few days. I checked with
the guy (the next sucker) who gave him a chance after I booted him
out, and the story was a carbon copy: idiotic work methods, total
ineptness, stole tools, stole an antique Harley motor, offered to
steal my new dually motor out of my truck for this guy as payment for
damages caused (the fellow declined)!!! The girl friend says Tanner
has keys to the gates and the vehicles. I changed the gate codes
today, have an appointment with a locksmith to alter all the vehicle
and gate keys tomorrow (Sunday) at noon, and I’ll be swapping the
car alarms around and installing ignition kills to defeat that as
well. In addition, the 4-camera video surveillance system with 24/7
recording and 4-way desktop monitor is in place and functioning, thank
you very much. If the guy somehow manages to set foot on this
property, his arrest will be on video. Hey, maybe I can get a few
bucks on America’s Dumbest Criminals! Meanwhile, I should have done
ALL this about a year ago. Too soon old, too late smart.
Ran 32 screws into one rear wheel to secure the slicks using our
trusty air-powered impact wrench (whew!). It would be hard to
overstate the importance of the investment in that 6 HP 60-gallon air
compressor. I’ll put a little polish on the ring of the other wheel
before putting the screws in there.
Ran into Nick Pellegrini at Cruisers last night, and he is too busy to
be involved with the race car right now.
Another potential crew member was here today, a cabinet-maker,
innovator, and former drag race named Len Burgeson. He is the
cheaper-than-us cabinet-maker I referred to above. He had a
small-block El Camino he used for cabinet deliveries back 20 years
ago, that turned an 11.57 @ 137 on the weekend!! He likes the idea of
the race car, and is relatively local. His nickname is Speedy.
One crew member, Ben Holder, has declined going on the DWC payroll as
a supervisor. That is really a shame, as he is a crackerjack leader,
former fireman, inventor of numerous breathing safety apparatus, and
just a helluva guy. You’ll see his bio soon on the web.
One fellow who is definitely NOT going on the FC crew is my
air-conditioning guy, Pat Manley, He was here last week, and is
putting the specs together for an additional 6 tons of
air-conditioning, upsizing of ducts, etc. My goal is to hang meat in
here.
Capt Laur and I are getting more involved in the lifeguard project,
and we’ll meet our artisan/welder Mike Peery down there again on
Tuesday to get some serious work done. Mike will likely do some FC
welding a little later (later as in days or weeks). For now, he is
best utilized in the production capacity (read: money-producing).
6/25/00
Ray, the key man, is here (on Sunday) and working diligently away in
his organized van/shop out front. It’s just amazing what trouble one
dishonest slime (Tanner) can wreak upon an otherwise orderly and
family-type flow and system of trust. Yeah, I know, wake up to reality
bozo! OK, so we’re handling it and moving on, and forgetting about
the wicked witch. It is refreshing to get a handle on the keys and
security in general. Time for some funnycar watching on ESPN.
6/26/00
Gawain, Arthur and the Witch
Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the
monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him,
but was moved by Arthur's youthful happiness. So he offered him
freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur
would have a year to figure out the
answer; if, after a year, he still had no answer, he would
be killed.
The Question: What do Women really want?
Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable
man, and, to young
Arthur, it seemed an impossible query.
Well, since it was better than death, he accepted the
monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end. He returned to
his kingdom and began to poll everybody: the princess, the
prostitutes, the priests, the wise men, the court jester. In all, he
spoke with everyone but no one could
give him a satisfactory answer. What most people did tell him
was to consult the old witch, as only she would know the answer. The
price would be high, since the witch was famous throughout the kingdom
for the exorbitant prices she
charged.
The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no alternative but to
talk to the witch. She agreed to answer his question, but he'd have to
accept her price first: The old witch wanted to marry Gawain, the most
noble of the Knights of
the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend! Young Arthur
was horrified: she was hunchbacked and awfully hideous, had only one
tooth, smelled like sewage water, often made obscene noises . . . He
had never run across such a repugnant creature. He refused to force
his friend to marry her and have to endure such a burden.
Gawain, upon learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur.
He told him that nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to
Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.
Hence, their wedding was proclaimed, and the witch answered
Arthur's question:
What a woman really wants is to be able to be in charge of
her own life.
Everyone instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great
truth and that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it went. The
neighboring monarch spared Arthur's life and granted him total
freedom. What a wedding Gawain and the witch had! Arthur was
torn between relief and anguish.
Gawain was proper as always, gentle and courteous. The old
witch put her worst manners on display. She ate with her hands,
belched and farted, and made everyone uncomfortable. The wedding night
approached. Gawain, steeling himself for a horrific night, entered the
bedroom. What a
sight awaited!
The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him!
Gawain was astounded and asked what had happened. The beauty
replied that since he had been so kind to her (when she'd been a
witch), half the time she would be her horrible, deformed self, and
the other half, she would be her beautiful maiden self. Which would he
want her to be during the day and which during the night?
What a cruel question! Gawain began to think of his
predicament:
During the day a beautiful woman to show off to his
friends, but at night,
in the privacy of his home, an old spooky witch? Or would
he prefer having by day a hideous witch, but by night a beautiful
woman to enjoy many intimate moments?
What would you do?
What Gawain chose follows below, but don't read until
you've made your own choice.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Noble Gawain replied that he would let her
choose for
herself. Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful
all the time, because he had respected her and had let her be in
charge of her own life.
What is the moral of this story?
THE MORAL IS THAT IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR WOMAN IS PRETTY
OR UGLY, UNDERNEATH IT ALL, SHE'S STILL A WITCH.
6/28/00
See you on Update #21 
|
