We gather today to mourn the death of an idea.

Specifically, the idea that you could buy a stainless steel trapezoid and everyone would immediately recognize you as the smartest, toughest, most independent thinker in the Costco parking lot.

The Cybertruck promised us the future. Evidently, the future was a commercial ice machine with custody of the kids every other weekend. And people made it their entire fucking identity.

You couldn’t just own one. You had to become its attorney. Every parking lot became a press conference. Every conversation became a shareholder meeting. Somebody would say “That thing looks stupid,” and suddenly you were 20 minutes into a lecture about manufacturing efficiencies delivered by a man who looks like a sentient triglyceride.

“I get a lot of attention.”

Oh, I don’t doubt that. Know what else gets a lot of attention? A racoon with his scrotum stuck between two pickets in a fence. Attention is not an achievement.

But we should remember the good times. The reels captioned “Doing truck stuff” showing a load that could have been transported in the trunk of my old Ford Fusion. (With the back seats up.) The tactical accessories. The owners dressed like they were about to liberate a subdivision from its homeowners association. These men were prepared for anything. Societal collapse. Civil unrest. A slightly awkward question about depreciation. Okay… Perhaps not everything. They imagined themselves crossing the wasteland, defending the last freshwater supply. And through it all, that magnificent declaration of unconditional satisfaction:

“Still love the truck.”

Carved into the headstone. Printed on the funeral program. Whispered through clenched teeth while the estate attorney explains what’s left.

Of course, the real tragedy is what happens to the owners now. Somewhere out there is a man whose profile picture, wardrobe, political philosophy, and relationship with his adult children all depend on this fucking vehicle. You can’t simply hand him the keys to a used Camry and tell him to develop a personality of his own. There needs to be a transition program.

So what comes next? What replacement vehicle will the chuds wrap their entire personality around?

My money’s on a lifted diesel dually. One glance at an exhaust stack and they’ll forget they spent the last three years explaining why internal combustion was obsolete. By Tuesday, they’ll be back to calling electric vehicles a woke scam, just like they were doing before the Cybertruck arrived.

But I suspect the true successor hasn’t arrived yet. Somewhere, a billionaire is drawing a refrigerator on tank treads and figuring out how much extra to charge for the Freedom Package.

Rest easy, Cybertruck. Your owners will find something else. We’ll know when they update all of their profile pictures.

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As I write this, I’m in Toronto to catch up with friends for my high school reunion and will fly back to Tampa tomorrow morning.

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After three weeks on vacation in Japan and the Philippines, The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century is back with the weekly collection of memes, pictures, and cartoons floating around the internet that I found interesting or relevant over the past couple of weeks. There are 750+ images in this special picdump!

Share and enjoy!

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If you’re voting in the U.S. midterm elections this Tuesday, last week’s Last Week Tonight episode on the Republican Party and the Far Right should be relevant to your interests.

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The store is located in Harajuku, right in the middle of where Tokyo’s various youth subcultures hang out, and where tourists (admittedly including myself) come to check out all the quirky shops, especially those devoted to kawaii.

If you’re an electronic musician and in Tokyo, this store is a must-visit…

It was the last hours of our last day in Tokyo, so we were short on time. That meant that I had to stick to the main floor (the synthesizer floor), and that’s why my photos are of.

The entryway featured the hot new boutique synths of the moment:

• The Jupiter-08, a “boutqiue-sized” digital recreation of the 1981 classic, the Jupiter 8
• The n/vision, a “boutique-sized” wavetable synth

Both were so new that they weren’t going on sale for a couple of days. The display models were there to give prospective buyers a chance to try them out, and they sound great!

A tour of the first floor

This was a last-minute stop, and we were pressed for time, so I stayed on the main floor with the intent of maybe buying one of the “Aira” series of compact synths.

Here’s the back wall of the first floor:

A view from the back wall:

And here are the display Aira units:

There was a guy ahead of me who was trying to choose between the S-1 (which I wanted) and the J-6 (nice, but it’s more of a chord machine with less sound tweakability, and I know how to play chords).

He went with the J-6, and when it became my turn to talk to the staff, it turned out that there was one S-1 left on their stock shelves that day. I took it as a sign from the synth gods that I should buy it then and there.

At the current exchange rate, I got it for $100 cheaper than I would’ve had I bought it in the U.S., and I bought it at the mothership!

Unboxing pics

As a foreigner, I was able to buy the S-1 tax-free, but that meant that I couldn’t unbox it until I left the country. So I unboxed it and tried it out on the flight to Manila.

Following internet tradition, here are my unboxing pics…

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I’m heading to Japan soon, and while researching places to go near Gotokuji, the temple that gave the world the maneki neko (the lucky beckoning cat), I found out about a burger place called Easy.

I may have to check it out, considering their creations include the “Midsummer Burger,” which is topped with:

• Lemon zest
• Lemon marmalade
• Cream cheese

At that point, the thought that came to mind is “Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”

They also have a pineapple mozzarella burger…

…a maple fried butter chicken sandwich……and the “Blow Ya Mind Burger”…

…whose toppings are:

• Maple syrup
• Strawberry jam
• Cream cheese
• A hash brown
• Bacon
• Cheddar cheese

For the curious, here’s Easy’s page on Japan’s restaurant site, Tabelog, which is like a mishmash of OpenTable and Yelp.

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If you’re looking to get into the erotic waffle business on a limited budget, there’s a seller in Tampa who has what you need!

Each press sells for $150. Links to their Facebook Marketplace pages are below:

• Male version
• Female version

Some men may require instructions on how to consume the female waffle. A strategically-placed Hershey’s Kiss might help.

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Innovation Road is Yamaha’s interactive museum, packed with instruments that the legendary company has made over the past 130+ years. And yes, you’re allowed to play them, because the museum is meant to be a hands-on experience.

I hoping to at least see, if not play, the Yamaha DX1 (pictured above), a synth of which only 140 were ever made, and one that I’ve never seen in real life. For any synth players out there, it’s basically two DX7s in a single keyboard, and with much better displays. In 1983, it retailed for $13,000 (alomst $44,000 in today’s money):

Here are a few tunes you’ve probably heard that feature the DX1…

I happen to be the owner of a couple of vintage Yamaha keyboards — and they’re hard-to-find ones, too! One of them is the DJX, released in 1998, and the other is the DJX 2, released in 2000. The ones pictured below are mine…

Here’s a little bit of noodling I did on the DJX:

…and here’s a quick thing I put together on the DJX 2:

In addition to their famous synths, it’s also home to a lot of pianos…

…guitars…

…and all sorts of instruments because in the music world, Yamaha seems to make everything:

Here’s a tour from 6 years ago:

…and here’s a short video from a month ago:

And oddly enough, admission to Innovation Road is free! You just have to reserve one of the 150 spots they make available every day from Tuesday to Saturday.

I’m looking forward to this one!

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How many kids did DOGE kill? Elon says “zero”, but he has this “tell” that gives him away when he lies: words come out of his mouth.

Adam Conover gets people who are good at math to do the math, and the number isn’t zero, or in the tens, hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. It’s higher.

Want to know more? The Banker, a part of the Financial Times network has this story.

I also subscribe to the Barry’s Economics YouTube channel, and this piece of his on your own influence ripples out farther than you might think:

If you’re looking for something to watch in a theatre, go and catch Forgotten Island, which was woefully under-promoted by DreamWorks, and is actually quite good!

Here’s an explainer of the Filipino culture and mythology in the film:

This one’s given me a lot to ponder, seeing as I’m both a software developer heavily immersed in the AI world and a musician:

Canada still wants America as a friend, unreliable as it is. But tell me: have you had a friend like that? I have, and I now keep them at arm’s length and take a more pragmatic, almost Macchiavellian approach with such fair-weather friends:

A very telling thing about the way women are viewed, even in the modern age:

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Because the accordionist pictured above, who could easily be a stunt double for my father-in-law, is none other than Krist Novoselic, the former bassist for Nirvana, performing two years ago.

Here he is in 2023 with Geddy Lee (I would love to hang out and jam with Geddy — and hey, Krist too!):

Another pic of Krist:

By the way, it pleases me to no end that a member of Nirvana has embraced the accordion. I’m glad to be in good company.

I haven’t seen a photo of him in several years, so until today, if you mentioned his name, this picture would come to my mind:

But we all get older. In 1992, the year the photo above of young Krist was taken, this photo of young me (and the band I was in, The Dangerous Kitchen) was also taken, and I certainly don’t look like that anymore:

Here’s to getting older. It beats the alternative!

The post THIS is the photo that made me accept that I’m old appeared first on The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.

This is a big step up: the building has three levels with a mezzanine and basement (basements are rare here) for nearly 11,000 square feet of floor space.

And yes, it has one of those classic bank vaults!

The building’s been empty for three decades, having been saved a number of times from demolition by its place as a historic building and community efforts.

It’ll take a while to get the place set up, and in the meantime, they’ll remain in their current location (1113 Central). I look forward to having one of their Flamin’ Hot chicken sandwiches in the vault room.

Readling list

• The Sourdough Co. website
• The Sourdough Co. Instagram
• The Sourdough Co. to relocate to 11,000-square-foot historic bank building in downtown St. Pete
• The Union Trust Bank: John Stadler proves new development can harmonize with history (from 2023)

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• Hollywood Reporter: ‘Forgotten Island’ Review: Dreamworks Animation’s Latest Celebrates Filipino Folklore With Dazzling Wit and Imagination
• Variety: ‘Forgotten Island’ Review: A Delightful Animated Celebration of Friendship and Filipino Culture
• Refinery29: Forgotten Island Is The Celebration Of Filipino Culture I’ve Been Searching For

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