http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png http://jalopnik.com/tag/mike watt http://jalopnik.com/tag/mike watt

Friend to Jalopnik, living punk rock legend (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Dos, The Stooges, etc), personal hero of mine and all around good guy, Mike Watt, is now 50 years old — damn! Even though our Pedro office shuttered its doors, we still keep our eyes and ears open for the latest Wattage. Above is a picture Davey G took of Watt in his Ford Econoline E-350. Yeah, it's got a V10. Like sacks in the NFL pre-Laurence Taylor, no one really keeps track of how many times musicians travel back and forth across the US. Mr. Watt has done the deed at least 50 times, which is a hell of a lot of driving. And that's not even counting Europe, Japan and where ever else he sails. Anyhow, here's wishing Watt 50 more tours and at least 50 more years. Happy Birthday, Watt! (Check out Davey's post on Watt's vans) More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=336335&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's funny to us that one of the more enduring things associated with Charles Bukowski is his old Volkswagen Beetle, given the man's extra-manly reputation. This is not a photograph of his dash, but rather a 200mph speedo that a Herbie replica aficionado installed in his own '64. Then again, if we had Buk's Beetle, we'd likely splurge on a 200mph speed-gauge ourselves, while leaving everything else intact. Somehow, we think the erstwhile Hank Chinaski would appreciate the irony. Also, Minuteman, fIREHOSEr, newest Stooge and San Pedro's ambassador to the world, Mike Watt, just interviewed Linda, Bukowski's widow. Totally worth a read. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=267422&view=rss&microfeed=true On the occasion of the day after D. Boon's birthday, and having had all manner of fuel scents drift in from the harbor over the last few days, we started wondering why what we yanks call "gasoline" has so many names around the world. The Germans refer to it as "Benzin," based on the fuel's benzene quotient. The Italians have been known to sell cars, such as the 308 GT4, in North America with a "benzina" gauge to measure the amount of fuel in the tank. And of course, the Brits, their former subordinates and Americans with a penchant for affectation refer to gasoline as "petrol." Which one is coolest? Watch the Minutemen play "Jesus and Tequila" out on San Pedro Bay while you decide. Godspeed, D. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=248930&view=rss&microfeed=true

Maybe, just maybe, if Toyota had introduced the Picnic on these shores... Maybe just maybe, if they had introduced the Picnic on these shores twelve years earlier... And maybe, just maybe, if D. Boon had been riding in one instead of sleeping in the back of a van on a fateful December night in Arizona back in '85... Well then, maybe, just maybe, D. Boon would still be alive today. Realizing this, after the Picnic's discontinuation in 2001, Toyota unit Daihatsu produced the Boon X4 in tribute, our badly-photochopped version of which was pronounced "a trip" by none other than Boon's old bandmate Mike Watt. Sure, a Boon ain't no Picnic, but really, what is? – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=231211&view=rss&microfeed=true

We're blasting the Brawlers disk off Tom Waits's new audio triptych Orphans and we hear Tom cough out, "It's a big old Lincoln Continental with the suicide doors." Reflexively, instinctively, naturally we stabbed the go-pedal of this week's Dodge Nitro (super review potential — wait for it), causing the 4.0L V6 to burst into life. And we started thinking. Driving music matters. Fine, if you are rich enough to listen to the "mellifluousness symphony" of an F430's V8, have at it. But for most of the people most of the time, a great album is what gets you through the long haul. Furthermore, in the age of iPod, albums are beginning to go the way of the straight eight. Everything is shuffle-this and Jack FM-that. Obviously, we had to rush right home and via the power of teh internets register our complaint throughout the world in the form of a list. And yes, we hope we're dating ourselves with these choices. Jump for the list. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=230171&view=rss&microfeed=true

And then it it all comes full circle... There's little we enjoy more than reading Watt's (increasingly) unique Pedro-speak concerning all things that exist in the form of Watt. But, given the "energy diversity" that all the big carmakers are struggling to achieve, well, this is time and place appropriate to us car-blogging types. As the Stooge's Icelandic tour driver explains; More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=228576&view=rss&microfeed=true

We really thought the Loverman would nail this one, but apparently, commenter ParanoidAndroid07's taste in experimental rock ranges beyond mopey Brit-types and into at-all-costs San Pedro corndogs obsessed with politics, poetry and brevity. Here's the winning comment: "Because it is the Daihatsu Boon and has a D on it. D Boon." Now, Android, all you have to do is find David Johansen, tell him that you heard he was looking for a kiss and that Jalopnik sent you. Good job, son. As Lance Hahn of J Church once sung, "It's my turn to play a tape. I feel like hearing the Minutemen. 'Cause everything old is new again." More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=193471&view=rss&microfeed=true

Is this a Burberry cross-promo car, or is Mercedes planning to give Mike Watt a free car so he can save gas money by not solely feeding his E-350's V10? We're hoping it's the latter. We wanna see this ridiculous thing around Pedro. [Spotted by reader Al in the Mercedes-Benz parking lot.] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=172698&view=rss&microfeed=true The prodigal West Coast blogger has returned after a week of Ann Arbor-outsourcing his posts to the the highly capable Mike Austin, whose deftness with a Bloom County reference knows fewer bounds than y'all could ever understand. I got lots of rest, drank plenty of fluids, and am back to proclaim May Day for all working men by um, er, working. And well, since Reverend Dave seems to have gone YouTube-loopy in my absence, one more vid can't hurt. So here's "King of the Hill" by the Minutemen, a big "Hey ho!" from San Pedro, and well, possibly the best rock video of the 1980s. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=170739&view=rss&microfeed=true

Look, I' ll admit it, punk legend Mike Watt and his brand of Pedro-Speak have been a part of this site since the day I came aboard. Plus, like Watt, I' m a sucker for old California maritime towns. Combine that with my desire to have a garage, hardwood floors and not live in the ghetto for under a grand a month in a location that was roughly central — and by the the water — in a sprawling megalopolis, and well, Pedro, man. Pee-droh! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=142653&view=rss&microfeed=true