so today was generally a Good Damn Day. it was absolutely beautiful out. my grandfather had bought a chain and spike for the dog, so i chose a spot and put it in the yard and had an extended play session with Matty. she sure is bitey. she’s an Australian Cattle Dog, which is rumored to be part dingo (!!), so it’s bred into her. most dogs lick, and sometimes bite. she bites, and sometimes licks. she also chokes a lot, because she can’t seem to stop eating grass. talk about a cow-dog. she freakin’ grazes. poor thing. she’s got a cold, too, so her little puppy nose is snotty and crusty, and she even sneezes blood i think. poor little baby puppy dog. also, it’s now been one full week since i’ve talked anything other than baby-talk. i have to tell you, i am absolutely ridiculous about doggies. i’m getting better. or trying.
anyhow, i also drove the car around to warm up the transmission (“tri-mission!,” as Ria jokingly calls it in her hilarious hick accent), then put in a quart and a half of fluid. then, stupid me, i started to change the oil. i got about 2-3 liters out (of a 5.2-liter engine), before realizing that i forgot to run the engine first. it had been a coupla hours since running it, so the oil was only a little warm. it’s still draining right now. i’ll probably just have to put up with having only a little over half new oil in it until the next change. i can’t believe i let the oil change go for so long that i actually forgot how to properly do it! what a dumb ass. and i call myself a motorhead! actually, that’s not quite true, either. most things about car work i find too daunting to take on myself. anything involving fairly serious dismantling i avoid like the plague. i’ve done some work myself, and the engine is fairly Flintstone. but things like that busted passenger-side wiper motor i won’t go near. i also pounded out the dents made by getting stuck on a guy wire that night when i took Tony to his girlfriend’s place (i woke his ass up and told him we were stuck, and he got out and pushed like hell, apparently unaware that i was screaming at him that we were hooked on a guy wire!). the moulding around the wheel isn’t half bad, but the damage is still noticeable, especially on the underside. pretty bad surface rust there, too.
so yeah, tomorrow i finish the oil change. i was thinking about sacrificing a couple qts of oil and running the engine for a few minutes… but i’m just not sure how dumb that idea really is. i don’t want to fuck it up, but i HATE having gritty, black oil in my baby.
my Mopar wish list: a 4bbl Carter carb, headers, and dual exhaust (these models – Dart SE – actually CAME with dual exhaust, believe it or not. they’re much badder than they look). and a serious paint job. like non-Maaco. i mean a real GOOD paint job, by people who love old muscle cars as much as i do.
ALSO i received in the mail my extended version of the new Fleetwood Mac album. allow me?
i have to admit, and i hate this, but i honestly didn’t think they could recapture the Magic(k) on this album, especially since Christine McVie is no longer a member of the band (though she is credited as an “additional performer” – i wish the credits were more detailed, like say, Peter Gabriel’s, because i really want to know just how involved she was on this).
i should have known better, especially since The Dance was so phenomenally good.
this album is absolutely incredible. not exactly classic Fleetwood Mac. well… in a way. let me just say that Stevie is still doing songs in the “lost little girl” vein. they’re frankly pretty mediocre. in fact, i was disappointed in her lyrics. she’s lost her edge and appears to be just singing her thoughts out loud as they occur. some of her lyrics are just trite and sophomoric… real odd when you consider that she actually fookin’ wrote “Landslide” – and 30 damn years ago, to boot. Lindsey, on the other hand, has firmly sealed his role as mad genius and all-around musical god, as if he already hadn’t done that several times over already. there’s plenty of his ultrafast fingerpicking. there’s a ton of skronky weirdness and his classic, demonic-sounding, shrieking tenor. his lyrics and his delivery are, as always, quite mad. in short, his contributions are manic, bizarre, mind-blowing, frenetic, often confusing, and always exhilarating. Mick Fleetwood has expanded his “boom-WHACKA” style by leagues. in fact, he’s the only one who makes them sound like they’re not really Fleetwood Mac. i guess they were trying to be more modern and update their sound. and for once, an aging rock band actually pulled that trick off quite well! they sound totally invigorated throughout most of the album (which is 18 songs wide, btw)! John McVie is, as always, John McVie. he never changes, because he has it down and is always tight. one of the most underrated bass players out there. not phenomenal, but very together and tasty.
to put it plainly, this is an album worthy of being in your deck right now. it is, against whatever odds, a really very interesting rock record. it sounds new, and yet timeless and classic. and you can actually remember the melodies to several songs and hum them later, unlike the vast majority of records! truly an amazing feat. they still have it in them. definitely run out and buy this one. the expanded version has a Dylan cover, an extra song, and two perfect, live versions of songs already on the album. in my opinion, unless you’re a huge Dylan fan, you can go with the regular version.
