Chicago lit up on Tuesday with a level of energy and optimism that was impossible to resist. I attended the Obama victory rally in Grant Park, and while the event itself was great, I was most moved simply by the relief, hope, and positivity of the crowd. People were everywhere. All happy, all chanting, all celebrating. It certainly felt like a transformative event, for Chicago, for America and, hopefully, the world as a whole. It was certainly reaffirming to see a campaign win primarily with a message of hope, which is such a contrast to the recent Karl Rove-run campaigns that had a foundation largely built on fear. Hopefully, I will have better seats when he hosts another victory party in 4 years!

The Snow G-ds shined on Chicago early this winter by delivering a Burton Flagship Store to downtown.  This is only one of five flagship stores in the world and its totally rad.  It’s three floors of new gear, new technology, and a very knowledgeable sales staff.  I figured it would take me 5 minutes to get in and out.  30 minutes later I was leaving with a catalog, and a need for a Burton Supermodel with a Carbon I-Beam.  If you like to ride, or your thinking about getting into riding, definitely check it out.

As you may or may not know, we are based in Chicago and are about 6 blocks from Wrigley Field and we are pumped for the Cubs playoff run.  You can bet that we will be watching the games, and perhaps slightly intoxicated.

But I doubt many of us knew how high on the “danger of death” list getting hit by an asteroid is! That is how I want to go. This graphic is from a speech given at the annual TED conference, where a room full of the best-and-brightest brainstorm about all sorts of interesting stuff. If you like Wired Magazine you should definitely check this out.

FYI, a long-long-time-ago, basically in the same place you are sitting right now a huuuuge asteroid hit the earth. It catapulted a huge chunk of molten rock into the stratosphere which we now call the moon. Violent stuff. Big boom.

In what perhaps maybe the greatest Seinfeld tribute of all time a group of criminals were smuggling cans from Ohio to Michigan to collect the 10 cent deposits. The real shocker is they were totally cleaning house on the operation. They were arrested with $500,000 in cash! Check it out.

Kramer and Newman’s can collecting song:
Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine bottle and cans in the trunk, nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine bottles and cans. At ten cents a bottle and ten cents a can, we’re pulling in five hundred dollars a man. Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight bottle and cans in the trunk, nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight bottles and cans. We fill up with gas, we count up our cash!!.

Now for the bad news, the boys in the band have been a little gun shy to release a second album. I suspect the critical acclaim may have ratcheted up the pressure to produce a world-beating second disk, not to mention that clearing hundreds of obscure samples must be a total bitch.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS! It seems like the new album is actually getting finished! You can go to the Avalanches website and listen to a 20 minute teaser of the album! Just click on the “Brains (TEAZER)” in the bottom right-hand corner and prepare to get hit with a mix that washes over you like a warm breeze. Free your mind and your ass will follow!