The Road Show Motorcycle Podcast - bmweerman's Blog - Bakersfield.com

The Coolest Place We Never Went

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:17:26 PDT

This is just a little ditty of a tale starting with an early morning train ride from Bako to San Fran to pick up a car. I had not taken a real train ride before, and I do not know if it was because it was early or just because that is the way it is, but there were not a lot of people on board.

The gentleman manning the dining car slept most of the way and when I asked him for a Red Bull he said he was out and then reached under the counter and gave me one of his. Cool.

Walking between the cars, that is pretty freaky though.

The train took us most of the way and then a short but ride dropped us downtown.

I was fascinated by some of these shapes....

The main thing I wanted to do was have lunch at Moto Java...

Of course they were NOT OPEN....even though they said they would be!

Good Mural Though!

And, BTW...we could use your contributions to the Road Show Asthma Walk Team.

The easiest way to contribute is to go to

www.roadshowmagazine.com

Clicky on the banner at the top which will take you directly to the American Lung Association page.

Just Do It....

Thanks

BMWeerman...out

This is so cute I want to puke...;}

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:17:46 PST

Hey everybody.

Road Show Media just finished a job photographing a bunch of sheep for a Chinese client. During the shoot we found some two day old babies. Here is a short video of Patti interacting with them.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.........

BMWeerman@out

The Abuse of Power by Doctors and a Desperate Gamble

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:57:34 PST

This blog post does not have a clear beginning or a foreseeable clear end. It does, however, have a clear now.

For those readers who do not know that story, on May 14th 2007 I was horribly injured in a freak motorcycle accident on a desert road on the Arizona/New Mexico border. I was miraculously rescued and, in fairness, have to thank the doctors who saved my life and put me back together.
However, since that time, doctors with their over-medication, career and life-damaging reports which they refuse to take responsibility for, and mercenary financial tactics have brought me to a desperate place.

That desperate place is right, here, right now.

There is a specialist at UCLA who several months ago wrote a report, based on hearsay, that prevented me from returning to work and is about to make me lose my drivers license. In this report she brought into question my my cognitive functioning. Since that time I have been to another specialist at great expense to myself personally to have my cognitive functioning tested. (Oh, by the way, no thanks to my psychiatrist, who has consistently over-medicated me and then refused to take any kind of responsibility for the implications of that.)
The cognitive testing shows me all normal.

IN SHORT, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME THAT WOULD PREVENT ME FROM DRIVING OR PERFORMING ANY OTHER TASK AND I CAN PROVE IT. HOWEVER, NEITHER THE SPECIALIST AT UCLA OR THE PSYCHIATRIST WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THIS!!!!!!!!

Worse still, their foot-dragging and buck-passing cost me a months work and a months disability which cost me my truck. We are now down to just motorcycles and on March the 2nd I lose my drivers license unless a doctor will sign off on my medical

MY PSYCHIATRIST REFUSES TO SEE ME AND THE SPECIALIST SPECIALIST AT UCLA WILL NOT RETURN MY URGENT PHONE CALLS. HOWEVER, IN THE BACKGROUND, THEY CONTINUE TO PASS THE BUCK AND DESTROY MY LAST OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A LIVING AND DIG MYSELF OUT OF THE HOLE THAT HAS BEEN CREATED.

So, here is my desperate gamble-when I finish writing this and posting all over the internet, I am going to get on a motorcycle which needs a new clutch and new rear-end bearings and driving to UCLA. This is a distance of about 120 miles over some difficult and dangerous mountain terrain. I am going to do whatever it takes to confront this doctor and/or one of her superiors and get them to take action.

At this point I am not naming names and I am keeping this report in the domain of blogs and private e-mails. If I survive the day and do not get some satisfaction I will start naming names and start using my position as a member of the press to spread the story far and wide.

I have nothing more to lose at this point.

Wish me luck.

J. Cameron Weckerley Aka BMWeerman ....out

Looking for other Kern County Podcasters

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:43:28 PST

Greetings Bakersfield Denziens. I have a chance through Bakersfield Magazine to give Bakersfield and Kern County podcasting a shot in the arm, but I need to hear from you.

Please contact me at

kerncountypodcasters.ning.com

http://groups.myspace.com/kerncountypodcasters

or just get back to me here.

Thanks

Cameron

aka BMWeer,am

Lines in the Sand...The ALL MUSIC episode of Road Show

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:26:10 PST

As many of you already know, on May 14 of this year I succumbed the cumulative effects of several days in the high-desert and drove my BMW1100RT off the road with horrific results. That is old news to anyone who knows me or follows this blog.

What is less known is the amazing experiences I had on that ride prior to the crash. I haven't written a lot about my experience of that journey, instead I went back to my old art form of music and made an effort to express those experiences through that medium.

This podcast features full-length tracks from the entire album with explanatory material during the intros and outros. Nevertheless, I would like to take this opportunity to add some more information about each composition.

Lines in the Sand

1) Sunrise in the Mirror. That particular phrase is one of my favorite pieces of imagery from Neil Peart's book Ghost Rider. For me there is nothing like heading west into the desert at dawn with the day rising up to meet you from behind. I would like to thank my long-time friend and ace musician Michael Ferenci for contributing the guitar and bass tracks to this tune.

2) The Red Road. I was firmly on my way east on I-15 marveling at how far out the hype for Las Vegas begins. The slab outlines the northern edge of the Mojave National Preserve for many miles, and I desperately wanted to visit, but I was commited to making Durango, CO before nightfall. I thought I had made it safely past the preserve when at the last moment I spotted "The Red Road." The road was literally bright red from the local materials mixed in the asphalt.

I simply could not pass that up. Once on the road I saw glimmering at the top of a small desert hill the dot of a town. "I will go only that far," I told myself. It was as far as I needed to go. I had discovered the delightful little town of Nipton, Ca. and I was hooked.

3) Under Stars. If you have ever spent the night in the desert you will understand this tune.

4) Among Giants. The next day, after a late breakfast, I pointed the Beeemer even deeper into the desert to explore the Mojave National Preserve. It is high-desert, almost alien terrain created by both volcanic and tectonic forces. The remnants of ash-cones and the upthrustings of rock are truly remarkable and huge. One feels as if one has entered the land of the giants.

5) No Mans Land. After exploring the desert sanctuary I headed east along one of the more barren stretches of Route 66. It is truly a "No Mans Land."

6) The Ravening Sun. This is a very different and strange tune. My attempt at musically creating the detrimental and hallucinatory effects of extended desert exposure. For me this signals the beginning of the end.

7) Off The Edge. Due to an egregious navigational error I ended up that night in Page, AZ rather than Durango, CO. The next morning I succumbed to the heat and at 100 MPH drove the big BMW off the road into a rocky field.

8) Beemer Babe. Many of you will recognize this as the them music to Road Show. It was originally composed for my lovely wife, "The Wrench Wench," and is dedicated to her for sticking by me through a long recovery

The Picture Book

As an experiment I put the photography and story of this journey in a picture book/comic book format available for free viewing at.

http://www.highslab.com/lines1.html

Please visit our websites...

www.highslab.com

www.roadshowmagazine.com

for much, much more.

We Need You!

We are always on the lookout for contributors to Road Show Magazine.

If you have something to contribute e-mail

editor@roadshowmagazine.com

You can also contact us at the podcast at...

roadshowpodcast@gmail.com

Thank and ride safe.

Beemarman and crew

Ok this is the REAL demo....

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:09:50 PST

Sorry I posted that bad demo....I did not realize it had double tracked.

I have attached the really album demo to this post.

Thanks for you understanding.

BMWeerman

P.S. I also forgot to mention the album is for sale for charity at.

www.highslab.com/our_music

Visiting the SideStrider home base....

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:24:00 PST

It was an unexpectedly eventful trip today.   The day started out as a simple drive to Van Nuys to follow up on a lead we got at the side car show the other day.

Descending the hill into Castaic we a great deal of smoke and just wondered if it was left over from last weeks fires. It smelled like brakes though which is not unusual on that part of the freeway.   As we got closer, it did indeed look like it might be a brake fire.

Then a little further down the road it became stunningly apparent that it was indeed a brake fire, and a bad one at that...

Fortunatley for us traffice was not too tied up and we continued to make good progress toward our interview.

Binghams shop is located in a non-descript industrial park in an unremarkable part of Van Nuys. Easy to find though with this parked out front.

Bingham has been as this same address since 1964 manufacturing and modifiying sidecares to his own and his clients specification.

Above the Wrench Wench and Doug Bingham discuss Hacks

'When not designign or wrenching on sidecars Bingham is out racking up an impressive array of awards and other honer for himself.   He is the recipient of several emmy awards for his work as a camera platform driver, he has performed stunts in the movies, has been inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame as an MVP, and the list goes on.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Bingham has big plan for what he sees is the next wave in motorcyclcing.

We'll keep you posted.

BMWeerman...out

P.S I am adding a little video just for fun

36th Annual Griffith Park Side Car Show

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:22:21 PDT

Yesterday, on something of a whim, we jumped in the truck and headed south to check out the Griffith Park Sidecar Show. We knew where Griffith Park was, but had only a vague idea of the whereabouts of the show. Fate was kind t because as we neared the exit for the park a motorcycle with attached sidecar appeared in front of us.
Not a hard guess where they were going. Sure enough the old game of "follow that sidecar" soon led us to the Crystal Springs Picnic Area and a sea of classic, unusual, and just downright bizarre sidecar rigs.

The show was started almost by accident by Doug Bingham 36 years ago. Bingham is owner of Side Strider, Inc. and the first event was held just on the suggestion that he and his customers get together for a picnic. When over 40 rigs showed up Bingham knew he was on to something.

Since then the show has grown to include 300-400 entries and thousands of visitors each year.

Richard Williams poses with his Vintage BMW sidecar rig which has original paint and stripes.

Some entries were wilder than others..."calling Buck Rogers."

Please see the photo gallery for many more pix of the event

Frankenbike lives

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:56:53 PDT

For those of you have been following this bike rebuilding saga

Yesterday the BMW cavalry showed up.

It wasn't pretty but it had to be done. Could the scattered piles of BMW parts populating my garage ever be a bike again?

To answer that burning question required calling in the experts....they came from the north and from the south and wrenched and puzzled and wrenched and puzzled.

At the end of the day the one proud Black Beauty was running again but has now been transformed into Bride of Frankenbike. There were other names proposed, but the less said about that the better!

Here Richard aka Benecia RT performs the brain transplant.

Having a couple of other bikes to refer to was enormously helpful too.

Of course some hidden secrets were revealed

BeneciaRT revealed that he is the Dog Whisperer

And here Jamie reveal his need for a chocolate intervention.

I will keep you posted as the story progresses.

Cameron

Road Show Has a Birthday and and Album is Born

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 08:08:24 PDT

Last week we released episode 50 or The Road Show Motorcycle Podcast

Which means, amazingly, we have been "on-the-air" for almost a year.

At the same time my new album is almost done. It sort of harkens back to the late great '70's in that it is a concept album chronicling the journey I have been on these last few months. The songs are modern, but the concept of string a number of disparate elements together to tell a long form story has not been with us for some time.

This is not the album cover but it is a general concept of the feeling of the album.

I have also included an mp3 file of a tune called "Under Stars" which is on of the very different things on this collection.

Most importantly, however is we would like to invite you to the double birthday party, we just don't know when or where yet.....sooo will keep you posted.

Enjoy.

Cameron
www.highslab.com

The Spiritual Lessons of Motorcycle Building

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 03:05:31 PDT

I know a couple of you have been following along with the progress of the Beemer rebuild. I have just about completed her brain surgery: (Rewiring the front panel) and got to put the front fairing on for the first time today. Just for laughs I threw on a side panel halfway to see what the color scheme would look like...

Not too bad....but I think what is really important are the practical spiritual lessons I a learning along the way.

Lesson number 1: Keep your attention focus on what CAN be done at any given moment. I can't tell you how many times over the last few days I have been focused on one particular task or area of the bike, only to be thwarted by missing pieces, misfits, etc..

My habitual pattern under such circumstances is to become agitated and start frantically looking for things amid making mistakes and just generally making things worse. What I am learning is that a more effective way to deal with such problems is to just move to the things I Can do. Once I have done that , the missing bolt or the needed insight will appear at precisely the right time.

Now if I could only apply the same principles to my life overall!

The Sacred and the Profane...well...ok. Just the Profance

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 06:33:33 PDT

I know this doesn't look like much progress but it is a turning point. The new steering heaed is on an the new front subframe. As you can see instruments and new parts and being added to the front again and now they are at the proper angle not all pushed out.

The profane part is now I have to transfer BMW's unholy wiring system over...and I do mean unholy..yeee haaa....

As Neil Peart would say, "One little Victory/"

The Force and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:43:24 PDT

I know this is probably only interesting to me, but it helps me to write about it.

Thanks to Random;s advice I strapped on my metaphorical light saber and went back to work on my giant, two wheeled jigsaw puzzle with a renewed attitiude. The first task at hand was to remove the front steering apparatus-forks, wheel, handlebars, etc..

In removing the front wheel I found, not really much to my surprise, the front axle was bent.
However Random, I used the force and did not become disheartened.

This morning I got to break out the the serious metal cutter, just one short step away from being as cool as blowing something up, and finally got the old steering head out. Which is really the guts of the issue.

If you notice the two red circle parts the one on the left is intact...the one on the right is not. That is a stout piece of metal and that's what i broke flying over the front of the bike.

Be glad to get rid of it.

BMWeerman ...out

On Hope, Dark Matter, and Busted Motorcycles

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:50:35 PDT

I just finished reading Sage Fever's post on Hope and rather than hijacking that post here are my thoughts.

Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Dave Barr at his home. Barr is a double amputee who holds to Guinness World records for motorcycling...with two prosthetic limbs mind you! As I was leaving, he pulled me aside and gave me some strong advice "cripple to cripple" as he put it which I could not have heard from anyone else, Much like one friend of Bill talking to another. And, it gave me some of my mojo back.

"God" however you want to frame that concept, puts the things you need in your path when you need them but that assumes you are putting one foot in front of the other in "faith"

(Please excuse the use of the words God and faith as I use them in the same sense as the Big Book of AA..."A God of your own understanding."

To wax even more metaphysical....and hang in there with me for a second I give you the following quote.

In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. According to present observations of structures larger than galaxy-sized as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter accounts for the vast majority of mass in the observable universe.

From Wikipedia

I have a friend who believes that dark matter is the energy of God flowing through the universe....hey who am I to argue with that.

What this is all leading up to though is, of course, my motorcycle. The patient as of today looks like this....

Although I consider myself a somewhat advanced motorcycle mechanic I have never rebuilt a beemer from the sub-frame up and it is a daunting task. I almost lost hope today, but as Steve said, "To try is to have hope, so I will keep plugging away.

Thanks Sage and Steve!

BMWeerman....out (to the garage that is)

Fun with PhotoShop...my new hobby

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:21:21 PDT

These are very early attempts at creating fantasy photgraphs, but I wanted to show them off anyway.

Stratoguitar

Ghostriders

The Ecstasy and the Agony

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:46:49 PDT

I know everybody is probably sick about hearing about my motorcycle accident by now. However, the part that gets left out is that the four day ride leading up to that event were great. I am experimenting with an alternative way of telling the story. Sort of a semi-comic book form.

Here is a sample page. At the bottome of this post is the link to some more pages. I will be adding them regularly so keep checking back.

Enjoy.

BMWeerman

http://weckerleys.smugmug.com/gallery/3409808#190836867

Havng Tea With a Legend

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:16:49 PDT

I got to go on a little adventure today...finally. I sold a motorcycle magazine the idea of doing a feature on our little known local hero and legend Dave Barr.

Barr is a double amputee having lost both of his legs to a landmine in Angola in 1981.

A lifelong motorcyclist it was not until after losing his legs that Barrs motorcycling adventures really began. He holds the worlds record for being the only person to ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle around the world. An 83,000 ,mile trek chronicled in his book, "Riding the Edge."

This is just one of his many accomplishments.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of driving up to Bodfish and spending a delightfula afternoon with Barr and his family chatting it up and life, the universe, and everything, and drinking South African Tea.

Next week he will be our featured guest on Road Show, but in the meantime here is a short video interview.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=586439440842833973

Black Beauty Returns Today

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:52:55 PDT

Well friends, today is the day my wounded metal steed returns from New Mexico courtesy of a brother in the BMW club. I have already assembled as many parts as I thought I was going to need, getting most of them salvage.

Here is my thought...

These are the two side and front body panels...I was going to have them painted black...but maybe two-tone would be kind of cool!

On the Search for Meaning

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 06:27:37 PDT

In Victor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning," the Austrian Psychiatrist recounts his long imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camps. He observed that each prisoner went through three distinctive phases. The first, of course, being shock and horror. These feeling gradually gave way to a profound sense of apathy and resignation. Finally, after liberation they found themselves bitter at the receptions they received in their home towns.

I have experienced a little bit of this during these last few months. Certainly not the torture or the humiliation, but the sudden loss of my self sufficiency, and being virtuall a shut in. Patti asked me last night if I would like to go out for coffee and I said no. She pointed out to me that I had gotten way to comfortable being isoloated in the house so we went and it was great. Today we are off to visit friends in LA.

To keep me sane and to find meaning in this twighlight zone part of my life, I am continuing to work on the road music album. I have attached some more excerpts to this post and would love your feedback.

Thanks BMWeerman

Publishing my Novella...a sneak peek

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 06:50:35 PDT

Since I have been laid up this last few months, I have taken time to work on the Novella that has been banging around in my head for a while. My unique spin on it is to present it in powerpoint format with original music.

Unfortunately at this time I have not been able to figure out how to attach the music to the Power Point files in a portable format so please forgive me for making it a movie.

I have presented here an abbreviated version of the prologue.

The complete novella will be published in "Horizons Unlimited" soon.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!

BMWeerman