TODAY the Chronicle Chamber site in Australia posted my Q&A, the follow-up I wrote after not showing for the February 8 recording of the podcast with my partners Mike Manley and Jeff Weigel. The Q&A is for Phantom diehards. Not sure how much interest it might hold for a general audience.
I was sorry to have missed the event. Jermayn, Steve and Dan had promoted it on their site.
Another lovely 40F yesterday. I rode the iron piggy to Miriam Hospital for weekly blood labs. My blood labs, that is. Here’s 20 seconds of the piggy idling in a primo on-street parking space. I love love love love love everything about this well-traveled old hog.
Today was an IV day at Miriam, so I’ll just post a few pics and get back to sleep. When I get home on IV days I sleep and eat. The steroids really light a fire under the appetite. Sleep, wake up, eat, do a little more sleeping, follow up with some eating… Good thing that lasts just a few days.
People have been sending me aphorisms, mottoes, whatever you want to call them. Can’t remember who sent these two but I wholeheartedly identify. Refresh my memory if it was you.
On Saturday I rode the 650 piglet down to North Kingstown, to my buddy John’s shop. We put new bearings in the table saw spindle I had dropped off there in the fall. Finally getting around to it.
This thing here. My table saw and joiner have had a hard life. They live on the shed deck out back.
With the new bearings installed, I left the unit at John’s. It’s heavy; too heavy to haul around on the piglet’s top box. You can see how much higher she sits than the rack on the iron piggy.
A word about books and I’m out of here. This week it’s highbrow plus lowbrow, hope to average out around middlebrow. I’m halfway through a biography of Erasmus, the Augustinian monk and Renaissance humanist who did battle with Martin Luther in the Reformation. Got a little reading done this morning before they pretty much knocked me out in the chair.
And then there’s this hilarious thing, entirely too funny, can’t get anything else done when I reach for it. An old 64th Street pal sent it. We came up in the sixties among the lost boys of West Philly. Italian Without Words, a photo guidebook to Italian-American provocations, otherwise known as everyday communication with everybody you meet. Complete with appropriate hand gestures.
For the record, vafancuolo does not mean Up yours. Up yours is a sanitized PG facsimile of what it means. When I was 9 or 10 years old I asked my Uncle Mike what it meant. He said, Don’t go around saying vafancuolo, kid, that’s what it means.
You can read the Chronicle Chamber Q&A here, if you’re so inclined. My part of it was the text. The Chronicle Chamber selected graphics, added them here and there so it wouldn’t be just a big dull gray block.
Now I’ll get a little shut-eye. Before it’s time to get up and eat and turn in for the night. Which is to say, until 2 in the morning. When I’ll wake up because it’s time to eat.
Tony DePaul, March 5, 2025, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Hello Tony,
Thanks for keeping us posted on your treatments; I’m praying these treatments do their job and that you’re done with them asap.
The video of Piggy is cool, it lets us listen to the sound of her heartbeat. You really can use that bike like a truck, what with hauling around pieces of a table-saw on her.
I recently put a new voltage regulator and battery in the Kawasaki I rode up to your place, she should now be able to handle the heated gear I’ve been wearing. I also added an auxiliary fuse box to handle all the bits.
Thank you for continuing to write, in spite of your treatments.
Ha! ‘Twas I that sent you the two motivational photos.
Brothers in Bikes, and in Cancer Survival.
Duane
I don’t know how I didn’t guess that, D, or remember in the first place. I must have been IV-fogged on both ends.
You sound like yourself. That’s good. Girlfriend Diana and I are going to Tybee in June. Y’all want to meet up?
Tybee would probably be a stretch, amigo, but you and Diana are always welcome to turn up here. The guest quarters are yours. Rhode Island has wonderful beaches 30 minutes south of here.
We’ll be hosting CCjon this summer. He’ll be up from Houston, passing through to the national sidecar rally in Maine.
Remember Jeff Day from the original garage? He might be riding up through New England from Tennessee.
Coordinate with the bride! We’d love to see you and meet Diana.
Wishing you the best Tony. Hang tough.
I’m gonna. Thanks for reading, Robert.
Give me the heads up if there’s any chance you’ll be riding in the East this year.
Tony,
thanks for that link, and the excellent answers to some very interesting questions.
I imagine Kit & Heloise to be closer to university age than your 17, but I can appreciate your age freeze at that developmental stage.
Digital product seems the new reality, though I would love to see your tales redone as printed graphic novels. Tangible and ready to pass on to the grandkids. It is hard to archive digital.
You are in our thoughts and prayers for a successful treatment outcome.
Thanks again…
Thank you, Roger. I meant to post the link to the podcast as well as the Q&A. Mike and Jeff did a good job.
Here’s the Chronicle Chamber link. You can watch the podcast there or click the button that takes you to their youtube channel.
https://www.chroniclechamber.com/post/x-band-phantom-podcast-300-phans-chat-with-mike-manley-jeff-weigel