out your back door, catazeen (issue 12)

8/14/2019 Out Your Back Door, catazeen (issue 12)

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/out-your-back-door-catazeen-issue-12 1/4

issue #11, $1celebrating affordable adventure

Out Your Back Door !

Greetings! So, what is OYB?The OYBScenes...

GeneralBikes

Canoes

Kayaks

Boats

Skis

Motors

Adventure

Projects

Gadgets

Animals

Garden

Travel

Culture

Fashion

Art

Reading

Thinking

Food

HealthMusic

Hook’n’Bullet

Books

Movies / DVDs

Bumperstickers

Gift Items

Luggage

Forums

grassroots culture for good times illustrated

Hi, I’m Jeff Potter and I herd the cats

here. Independent “DIY” culture is the

way to go for any “economy.” But most

indy media is so specialized that a big-

ger message is lost. OYB goes against

the grain and offers an “all-rounder”

view, using a personal, small-world

style, to give you connections, uplift,

and fresh ideas. ✓Now, I do most of

the digging, but people give me lots

of great tips. ✓Also, there’s a lot of biking here, but it’s of a sort

that opens to the rest of life. ✓To get this job done, OYB is both amagazine and a catalog. This here “catazeen” offers brief storylets

followed by catalog items. (If you like a storylet, the rest is at the

website.) And if any of the featured hard-to-find books or goodies

strike you, feel free to order away! Cheers! —JP

For hundreds of indy culture stories—plus books, mags, music,movies (and luggage!) visit OutYourBackdoor.com; 4686 Meridian Rd., Williamston MI 48895; (517) 347-1689; [email protected].

O u t Y o

ur B a c k D o or

4 6 8 6 M

e r i d i a nR d .

Wi l l i a m s t onMI 4 8 8 9 5

HOW TO ORDER FROM OYB? It’s easy to shop online at OutYourBackdoor.com.

We take credit cards & all the usual. Or mail

to the return address at left. Or call (517)

347-1689. Email [email protected] items postpaid in the USA; non-US pays

excess. Thanks! —JP

LazyGal! My wife Martha makes re-

cycled fabric art for shows and

shops. The ladies go nuts over

it. Here’s what she says: “My

studio is in my kitchen, so I can sew and cook. I love combining the

old and the new. The Gees Bend quilts really inspire my quilting.

For my other items, I use thrown-out sweaters—making something out

of nothing. And I get to go to thrift stores, which combines business with

pleasure! Sewing is fun because friends can get together to do it—what

could be better? I like my circles because they look like cookies, donuts

or candy. I think that’s why people like them.” More at LazyGal.biz.

Scarves$55

Birdies$15

TeeShirts$15

Potholders$12

Pillows$65

Blankets$220



AllOutdoors!

Momentum: Chasing the Olympic Dreamby Peter Vordenberg, $15, 200 pp, paperback, new. The only book about the XC ski racing life and sport culture. Explores why anyone would give theirlife to a sport where Americans don’t stand a chance, where the US has never won gold...ah, that’s why! Pete is now the US head coach. And runs the US XC website. And is a great writer—and photographer, too. And the team isclose to gold! Amazing! (...And no US XC drug busts.)

Unlimited: A Year in Outdoor Sport (DVD)by McMahon & Maloche, $30, 2-DVD set, new. The only movie about theyear in outdoor sport, showing the changes through the seasons. Great music

and fun-yet-civil (Canadian) masters-age athletes. Classy energy. Comes with XC ski how-to DVD.

The Cross Country Ski Look Cook & Pleasure Book by Hal Painter, $20, 150 pp, paperback, vintage. The only overall XC skiculture book. Has a lot of literary merit to it, too. A fine window into the60’s consciousness of outdoor sport culture. Written as exchange betweenguy and gal, with friends.

The Captain Nemo Cookbook Papersby Hal Painter, $20, 200 pp, vintage, hardcover. Share the adventures of twofree spirits as they mature into capable—if unconventional—sailors. (Ever wonder what happened to the 60s?) It’s a hilarious crew. Beneath the fun is aserious theme. Materialism infects boating—this is a reminder that freedomis the stuff of which real boating is made. A rare book that was burned by

its publisher! Perhaps the only boat book to get such treatment! (Publisherchanged hands to stuffy boat folk.)

Yukon Passageby Keith Tryck, $20, 200 pp, hardcover, vintage. Young guys save up, ditchtheir jobs and spend a year on a raft floating down the Yukon. Nice pics. They winter over, too, using raft as cabin. Much fresh young-person adventure,good history/culture, too.

Waterwalker (DVD)by Bill Mason, $22, new. Wonderful portrait of a canoeist and painter spend-ing a year on the northwoods waters, through the seasons. Mason’s work is world-caliber, Oscar nominated; soundtrack is early Bruce Cockburn.

How to Build a Tin Canoeby Robb White, $24, 180 pp, hardcover, new. White was a cranky, candid writer who showed us how small boats and outboard motors tied into all of life. A great window into life on the Gulf coast, today and yesteryear.

This summer I finally

attended the Great LakesPrimitive Skills Gathering

on Bois Blanc Island in theStraits of Mackinaw. What a great time! $115 a person; 4 days, 2 meals a day;

dozens of classes. Also, I paddled over in a seakayak like I always wanted to!At the event I was at first befuddled. What class to take? I came to realize that

it’s all good. Someone said it’s a myth that women gathered, men hunted andkids played: everyone did everything. And so could I. It was all of a piece.

This is the best campout I can imagine for the family. Kids, teens, college kids,

parents, singles, grandparents—everyone helping everyone. Flintknapping, cord-

age, flute-making, ceramics, weaving, plant ID, fire-making... [...more at OYB.com.]

VintageBike!

The Man Who Loved Bicyclesby Daniel Behrman, $20, 130 pp, hardcover, vintage. Its subtitleis: “the memoirs of an autophobe,” so there’s that. Wonderful writing about neighborhoods, as seen from a bike, in NYC andFrance in the 1970s...and how they disappeared because of thecar. Wonderful vituperation against the car. A big view.

The Need for the Bikeby Paul Fournel, $15, 100 pp, used. Great writing about bike riding.Fournel is a French avante-garde fellow—who loves riding. This ishis look into his world of riding. He covers all the senses, all the

needs. He’s a middle-aged rider but he brings us up as he came up.French riding, roads, scenes, food, wine and friends.

Bicycling: A Guinness Superlatives Guideby Wadley & Durry, $30, 215 pp, hardcover, 8x12, vintage. Theall-time best “allbike” book. This coffee table book from the early 80’s covers the lore of the world of bicycling better than all others.The best writing, best heritage and tons of classic photos of every (main) kind of cycling.

Richard’s New Bicycle Book by Richard Ballantine, $15, 350 pp, paperback, 7x9, vintage. Richardhas a few nice bike books, but his “Richard’s New Bicycle Book,”2nd ed., from the early 80’s is his best—and the best American bikeculture book. It’s full of bike art. It brings history to life and con-nects it to today and shows how the diverse cycling scene is really one spirit. Personable.

Bicycles: Le Biciclettefrom Chronicle Books, $20, 140 pp, paperback, 5x6, used. A lovely little art book of bike photos spanning the ages.

OYB 4-Way Leather’n’Canvas Bagfrom Jeff Potter, $35, 7x4x10. The world’s only 5-way bag: shoul-derbag, saddlebag, handlebarbag, backpack, pannier. Quality,modified mil-surplus, used. An ideal day-bag or man-purse. Lightly used, olive-drab. Great value and function (the stud-post closuresare superb).

OYB Classy Leather’n’Canvas Pannier from Jeff Potter, $45, 8.5x4x11.25. This is a classy, high valuesmallish pannier/case. Modified from superb quality mil-surplus.Light green, vintage.

This bike was an Xmas present for my wife Martha.My bro and I built her up this 1970 Raleigh Super Coursefor her daily erranding. She loves a rich bold green. Afellow online vintage bikes buff had this small frame for

sale for $50—steel, handmade, with Nervex lugs.Martha had been riding a hideous and too-large 80’s aluminum C’dale–every

day. She deserved a sweet ride and to show off a bike that put the cars to shame.One that inspired others to take up the wheel. That’s what class does!

So my bro and I took the parts off her old bike, took everything over to the com-munity bike reviving shop and rummaged thru old bins til we found everything.We spent much of a nice day together dialing it in. For good measure I topped it off

with a wicker basket and a $100 Brooks saddle. [...more at OYB.com.]

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out your back door, catazeen (issue 12)

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