Death Race! And Swimming in the Bay

Death Race!

In 1976, my sister and I both had that morbid fixation that many teenagers had, with the added twist that we were both very well read. And one day, while reading the LA Times, I saw a negative article on the video game Death Race. 

Compared to modern video games like Grand Theft Auto, it was pretty tame. In graphics that seem only a shade more sophisticated than Pong and not as advanced as Asteroids, the objective was to run over people walking on the screen. Adding to the challenge, when one of the people was hit, a tombstone immediately popped up, necessitating using reverse to continue with the killing. The more people you ran over, the more tombstones and the more difficult it became to achieve the objective.

Look out, running stick figures!

The manufacturer claimed that it wasn't people, but 'gremlins' that were being run over. No matter, only a handful of the games were manufactured, and once the AP picked up the story, many were removed amid protest. It looked like I would never be able to play one. 

Some kids spent all their time in the arcade back then, playing favorite games for hours seemingly on the same quarter. I wasn't very good, though, seldom earning the extra life or ball or whatever. The value to entertainment ratio was low-I seemed to go through a lot more quarters than everyone else did, and generally preferred to spend my money on records and other things. Still, the idea of Death Race fascinated me and I searched all the local arcades. Finally, probably in '79 or '80, my Mom took my sister and me to Knott's Berry Farm, and in the arcade we saw it-Death Race. My sister and I quickly changed our dollars and set about on mass mayhem, gleefully running over the figures, laughing as we got stuck on the tombstones and had to shift into reverse, both trying to get past 'Bone Cracker' (4-10 kills) and 'Gremlin Hunter' (11-20 kills) in the allotted minute of time. I don't think either of us made it to 'Expert Driver' (which could possibly be a reflection on our current driving skills).

I think I've seen the game at one other place, but I don't recall where, and whenever I'm someplace with older arcade games I have a quick look to see if Death Race is around. According to the Arcade Museum website, though it was reasonably popular, only about 500 or so consoles were made. Again, the graphics are very primitive, and I can't imagine a high demand to play. But it does have that nostalgia appeal to me, recalling a day in Knott's Berry Farm when things were going pretty well in my life.

In San Francisco I was walking by the Musée Mécanique on Fisherman's Wharf, and thought I'd take a quick look around. Most of the things in the building seemed like scary fortune telling machines and creepy mechanical marionettes, the kind of things that start bad horror movies. There were a few old pinball machines and a couple of mechanical player piano type things, but in the back, hidden along a sidewall, was the holy grail-Death Race, looking like a well cared for machine. I immediately pulled a quarter out of my pocket, and dropped it in and it all came back to me in a hurry-running over a figure, a tombstone immediately sprouting up and having to shift into reverse. I had forgotten that as you run over a figure, the others on the screen move faster, making them harder to catch. They'll also duck behind the tombstones or run up on the 'curb.' 

I settled for 'Bonecracker' before continuing my day.

 

Swimming in the Bay

Aquatic Park with Alcatraz in the distance

 

In 1991 I competed in the 'Escape From Alcatraz' triathlon. I was in my late 20's and in one of my peak physical condition phases, having done the San Francisco Marathon the previous spring and competing in Master's Swimming events. I thought doing a 1.5 mile swim, 20 mile bike ride through the city and across the Golden Gate and following it all up with a 18 mile run through the Marin Headlands would be a good time, 

It was a good time, actually, and I learned something important about my athletic ability. I was a great rough water swimmer-I was out of the water 10th overall, in sight of all the race leaders (Mike Pigg, who won, and Scott Tinley) and I think I could have gone faster except that I didn't have my glasses on and really couldn't see. I'm an okay runner, but I'm a terrible bike rider. I felt like the entire race went past me on the bike, and it was a bit demoralizing. I wasn't really tired, but I definitely had a weakness.

I had some other memories, too, of that swim. The temperature was in the mid 50s, and I did it without a wetsuit. I remember going to a mandatory meeting of all the triathletes (and staring at the legs of legendary triathlete, Paula Newby-Fraser, far and away the best legs I've ever seen) the day before, and them recommending you swim that day so you'd have an idea of what you were getting into. I went to Aquatic Park and calculated that the swim should take me about 1/2 an hour. I jumped in, and the wind was knocked out of me. It was a good 10 minutes before I could breath normally. That lasted about 10 more minutes, and then my toes went numb, which spread to my feet and hands. At 30 minutes, my jaw also went numb, and it was time to get out.

In the race the next day, the same thing happened in the same sequence, and as I had calculated, I was out in about 30 minutes.

Every time I've been in San Francisco over the 30 years since, I've looked at Alcatraz and think to myself, "I could still swim that."

The last time I was in San Francisco, I notice a few people swimming in Aquatic Park and asked a pair of older women, both in wet suits, sitting in the stadium if they had just swam. 

"Oh yes, it's a lovely swim, lots of people do it." I chatted with them a few more minutes and made plans to swim it the next time I was in town.

Last week, I brought my swim suit, and since I was staying in Cow Hollow, walking distance from Aquatic Park, I told myself if it was a sunny day I'd give it a try. But it's not an easy thing to decide. The water is cold, there's no lifeguard, and if I go under, no one would know. I woke up at 5:30 AM, thinking about it, and again at 6:30, staring at the ceiling of the motel I was in. At 7 I decided to look up whatever information was on the internet, and found a few suggestions, among them to bring warm liquids to warm up the core, which continues to drop in temperature even after getting out. 

The water temperature was a chilly 59, okay for the air but very cold in the water. I decided that I was going to do it, so I through on my trunks, some shorts over that, a sweat shirt and some shoes. I brought $10 with me to buy coffee on the way back, and headed toward the water.

I had a thick cap and prescription goggles, and walked to Aquatic Park. When I arrived, a well insulated woman was putting her stuff on the bleachers preparing to get in. I asked about swimming etiquette, and she said that there was plenty of room for everyone. I saw people swimming counterclockwise around the buoys, and before I could talk myself out of it, I headed to the water.

It was cold. Very, very cold.

But I dove in before I could talk myself out of it, and after about 10 minutes, started to swim comfortably along. I chatted with some people in the water, and commented on what a beautiful day it was for a swim. At the end of 30 minutes, I was thinking maybe I should get some stroke work in before getting out, but told myself that my goal was 30 minutes, and 30 minutes was what I had done.

The chills didn't hit until I was in the bleachers drying off, and they rippled in a way that I never felt before, from somewhere deep inside of me. It was intense, and I understood what I had read before about core temps. 

But while sitting there, a man walked up and started to prepare to swim. He asked how the water was, and I told him that all things considered, it wasn't that bad, but that now I was getting chills and wanted some coffee. He said that he only swam on days that were like that, clear, sunny, warm and no wind. He also suggested I head up Polk Street to St. Frank's Coffee. A walk to thaw sounded like a good idea.

What I didn't realize is that Polk Street is all uphill.

My feet weren't quite responsive due to the cold temps. The warm sunshine felt good, but the actually walk turned out to be challenging-not because of the hill, though I'm sure that didn't help-but because chills were still rippling through my body for the next 15 minutes, about the time it took to get to St. Franks.

The shop looked very cool, and the coffee was good, but not amazing, and priced a touch on the high side. I wouldn't not go if it were the only shop nearby, but I wouldn't make a special walk either. I still prefer Philz, which actually was on the next block. 

After the swim, though, I'm thinking sometime soon I will conquer the swim from Alcatraz once more.

Ventura Music Hall

X rocking the Ventura Concert Hall

 

 

 

The Ventura Music Hall opened a few months back in the space that once held The Ventura Bowling Center and then Discovery Bowl on Thompson, walking distance from my house. No more bowling, now it's a straight concert/club venue.

A variety of acts have played the venue and are on the upcoming calendar, and I had given serious thought to seeing both Flogging Molly and Bob Mould, but the thought of seeing long time favorites X was just too much to pass up-especially with a ticket price of $25.

The venue itself is pretty nice. Discovery Bowl had cleaned up the bar area in the front, and the bar served a nice selection of local micro-brews. The ceiling, if you get the chance to look up, is an interesting lattice work of wood-the building itself was built during WW II, meaning that there was no steel used in construction.

 

I first saw X in 1981 at the Roxy in Hollywood, and I remember that show was crazy-it scared me a bit. The mosh pit was huge, and I learned how to stand at the edge and push people back in or twist my shoulders to send people flying-whatever was needed. But this crowd looked to be my age or older-X drew an older crowd then the other bands I saw back in the day-and those same people were probably here. That meant that when the mosh pit broke out, it would last about half a song.

Back in the day, even slow songs got a slower moving mosh pit-that didn't happen here. X never liked stage divers, so of course there was none of that in the geriatric crowd that I watched the show with.

The sound mix wasn't great-the vocals were buried. The instruments sounded awesome-Billy Zoom's guitar lines rang true, and you could feel the power of DJ Bonebreak's drumming, but the harmonies make this band, and John Doe and Exene's vocals were low in the mix. The instruments locked into their groove, playing as well as when I saw them in the 80s. The songs from Alphabetland fit in well-the title track sounded like a vintage X song. For whatever it's worth, however, I miss Billy Zoom's Gretsch Silver Jet. He appeared to be playing a Gretsch Country Gentlemen, but I'm not an expert and could be wrong.
 

X does tour with an additional player, Craig Packham, who comes out when Billy Zoom plays the saxaphone or DJ Bonebreak plays the vibraphone. It's obvious, because DJ usually plays more complicated drum parts then the 4/4 that is being played when he moves to vibes.

Check the ceiling woodwork!

Hopefully, the sound mix was an anomaly, though it was a bummer to not get John and Exene's full harmonies. But the venue was good-good site lines all over the house and not too big. I'll see X again when they come through, and I'd happily see people playing at the Ventura Concert Hall.

Still With Watchgang-Grayton

I'm still getting Watchgang watches, and a few that I've written about have moved into my regular watch rotation. On the other hand, a few are still in their boxes because for a variety of reasons they haven't struck me as watches that I need to wear.

I was thinking about canceling my subscription-I've been buying a few watches off of eBay and Goodwill and I only have so many places to wear them. I did scale back to getting a watch every two months instead of every month. I wasn't really thrilled with what I was being sent, and I have too many watches.

I noticed that the Watchgang bill hit my credit card last week, so I figured I'd get a look at this one, and maybe stop if it didn't appeal to me.

The usual white envelope held a box from Grayton. I'd never heard of them before, which again, doesn't mean a great deal. I've discovered that there are several micro-brands out there, and a quick internet search turned up an online only watch brand that specialized in mechanical watches. They describe themselves as 'urbanites,' taking their design cues from the great cities of the world.

Opening the box revealed this pretty nice grey flannel watch sleeve.  I guess I could use it for sunglasses or just to carry this watch in when I travel. I don't travel that much, but the thought is nice.

The watch was well packed, with the usual clear cellophane type plastic on the front and back, and some extra tissue where the band met the case. The leather of the band was thick but supple, something that I prefer over metal bracelets.

The back is clear, showing the Seiko NH35 movement. It's nice to see it, but there's nothing really special about it. No unusual looking jewels or anything, just a movement ticking away. Interestingly, every watch sent by Watchgang has been running when I open the box-even the automatics, which means someone at Watchgang winds everything before it goes in the mail.

It's a 40mm watch, my favorite size, and had a tag with an msrp of $280. Back on their website, the watch is Elegant Sport Leather Bourbon. Checking eBay, this watch wasn't up, but there were about 40 Graytons listed, ranging in price from $20 to $350 for something really fancy. Their website has an interesting dial within a dial that tops out at $620, with their least expensive being $195.

The watch felt really nice on my arm. I think the 40mm is a good size for my wrist, the leather wrapped on my arm well and though it feels solid, the watch isn't heavy. I don't know that I would have picked a brown watch-the second brown faced watch that I've received from Watchgang and now the second one I own, but it's supple on my wrist. The watch looks clean-not too fancy but clearly better than a Timex or Armitron.

I don't think I'm going to collect compliments or comments on it, but I put it on and have been wearing it the last few days. It is very comfortable and easy to read. The lume isn't very good, so if you plan on looking at your watch in the dark, this won't be the one for you. I don't really think it's the type of watch that loans itself to that type of wear.

The short version is that I like it. The brown face has grown on me, the band is comfortable and it's simple and clean. The G on the fancy clasp is a nice touch-there's a G on the crown as well, the number markings are simple, and the shape of the hands is classic. The red second hand provides enough contrast to be easily seen, and though the date isn't magnified, the numbers are big enough to be visible. It's quiet for an automatic, too.

I don't think that I'll rush and buy another Grayton anytime soon-I've got many watches already that fill the 'classic automatic' niche in my collection, and nothing on their website really jumped out at me-but it's a good value for an automatic watch.