Autumn Playlist - 2020

December 18, 2020 Paul Misencik

As 2020 winds to an close I think we can all agree we’re ready to see the end of it. We’ve all suffered. We’ve all struggled. We’ve all had our share of ups and down, fears and stresses. But some of us more than others, and to all of those who have lost loved ones this year, to COVID or anything else, I want you to know our hearts are with you, full of sympathy and encouragement. Life throws us curveballs. All we can do is dig into the box and get the bat back up, ready to swing at the next pitch.

There have been a lot of lonely days at the shop this autumn, working alone or with a skeleton crew, as we yo-yo between pandemic restrictions and misfiring reopening efforts. And working on the cars have been a kind of therapy. A release. A way to clarify the mind, focus the brain, and exercise (exorcise?) the body. And this is what we’ve been listening to.

Enjoy. Happy Holidays. All the best in 2021.

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Summer Playlist - 2020

August 18, 2020 Paul Misencik

Summer, 2020

Pfewf. I think we can all agree this summer has been, well… different. The ups and downs keep on coming, but the breeze is still blowing and the waves are still lapping the shore, the mountains are still towering over the valleys, and life keeps goin’ on.

Here is what we’ve been listening to to get us through these long, hot, lonely days and nights.

Enjoy.

Listen on Spotify: The tracks that are getting us through this most unusual of summers...

First Overland: A Brief History

May 26, 2020 Paul Misencik

It’s Land Rover lore, but when it’s all boiled down to its essence, it was just six college kids doing something epic for no real reason whatsoever. And that’s about as cool as life gets…

What is a Land Rover Santana?

April 28, 2020 Paul Misencik

Spring Playlist - 2020

March 20, 2020 Paul Misencik

It’s a mixed up world, isn’t it? COVID-19 is raging around the planet, markets are in turmoil, entire countries in lockdown, and the idea of enjoying a relaxing springtime at the beach seems a long, long way off.

So maybe it’s an opportune time to release our latest playlist. Ready to give up on distance-learning for a bit? Ready to turn off the news for a couple hours? Ready to stop starting at the stock market ticker? Good for you. Find a quiet space in the house, pour yourself a glass of pot-distilled rum, and listen. You have two hours of good stuff here.

And remember, as Winston Churchill once said: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Epiphany In The Eye Of A Needle

February 24, 2020 Paul Misencik

In one of the many boxes of stuff that I had shipped over from Northern Virginia to Spain when I moved here nearly six years ago now, I recently discovered a small cache of vinyl. Twenty five or thirty albums. A weird smattering of the old days. Squeeze. ZZ Top. The Alarm. The Smiths. R.E.M. The Mirrors. The Doors. The Police. The Kinks. All at least 30 years old. Some older. So I brought them to the shop, scootchied my beloved solid-state Marantz receiver over a little to one side and made room for a turntable, plugged it in and started playing. And… wow. Something clicked…

Days of Dakar

January 10, 2020 Paul Misencik

When I was growing up in Northern Virginia I wasn’t like the other kids. I didn’t have much interest in American football or college hoops or the Indy 500. I was more interested in my beloved Formula 1, the World Rally Championship, and the 1000km of Monza. And when it came to the Paris-Dakar I was an early adopter. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to watch the (pathetically incomplete) coverage of the early events which were occasionally rebroadcast from English stations onto our local early cable channels. I was hooked right from the off…

Winter Playlist - 2020

January 3, 2020 Paul Misencik

2019 is a rapidly disappearing speck in the fender mirrors and 2020 is stretching out ahead of us, like a long, winding, inviting stretch of logging road. So let’s warm the damn glow plugs, drop the clutch and get to it, people!

In the spirit of things, here’s what we’re been jamming to in the Den of Adventure of late.

What’s here? Ah, man. All our favorites, including the standard inclusion of a tune from The Connells, one of our “desert island” bands (and due to drop a new record this coming year, mehears…) Also some throwbacks in the form of southern rock’s most forgotten greats, a cavalcade of 80’s pop classics, newish bluegrass tunes and even some trippy-ass Spanish punk rock.

If this doesn’t get you through those long winter nights, our only other suggestion is tequila. Lots and lots of tequila.

Memories of Maroc

November 26, 2019 Paul Misencik

I heard my co-driver John shouting instructions over the roar of the engine, and I kept my attention forward on the surface, always scanning, trying to pick up the irregularities that signal the next hazard. We knew we were running behind, risking late penalties at the next checkpoint, still more than 100 kms away, somewhere, in this godforsaken terrain, and the pressure was high to avoid them. A little voice in my head continually repeated the same phrase over and over again. “Keep pushing. Keep pushing. Keep pushing…”

Sports Bars, Spanish Style

November 25, 2019 Paul Misencik

*A typical table of Spanish youth football fans, grabbing a bite to eat inside the concession stand at the municipal soccer field in Almoines, Spain.*

You will never see someone walking briskly down a sidewalk, quickly sipping on a 30 oz. “to go” cup of coffee, or hastily gnawing on a sandwich behind the wheel of their car in traffic. These things are simply NOT DONE here. You want a coffee? Fine. Sit down and calmly enjoy your coffee like a civilized human being. Want a sandwich? No problem. Pull up a chair and someone will make you a sandwich. It’s not that you can’t get a sandwich to go, you can. It’s possible. But no one actually does it...