Weekly Roundup: How Much Would You Pay For A BLAZAR Edition

Last year, I bought the Spaceman Effects April Fools' pedal, the Sonic Void. I knew it was a joke but I figured (correctly, as it turns out) that it would be hyper-rare. Zak ended up making five of them. This year's joke pedal is the BLAZAR, a "reverse noise gate" that injects noise into the amp signal any time you are NOT playing. It might be worth buying just for fun, although at $333 it's far more expensive than the $149 Sonic Void.

It reminds me of a day about sixteen years ago when I was sitting around at work talking about men's clothing with one of the other sysadmins. I was explaining to him that a Zegna sportcoat usually cost at least $1900 or so. That was back before all three quantitative easings, which bumped the price to the $2795 at which non-Trofeo pricing starts today. So Pete, my friend, turns to this hillbilly from rural Ohio who had somehow gotten a job as a Windows server admin. We called him "Dishong" because that was his last name.

"Dishong," Pete said, "how much would you pay for a blazer?" Dishong leaned back in his seat and thought about it.

"Depends," he replied, after some consideration. "Is it two or four wheel drive?"

Okay, let's roll the tape.

Bark educated TTAC readers about why sexy does't sell. He helped a reader mourn the eventual demise of their Grand Prix and recommnded a Miata to a double-minivan owner.

For that same site, I reviewed a Toyota Matrix with a six-speed transaxle swap, showed you a Civic that pulled a Sho-ryu-ken on a motorcycle, delivered a eulogy for the Transparent Factory in Dresden, and told the sad story of an incompetent deputy who killed somebody by doing 106 in a 35. Last and probably least, I wrote the VW EcoPlus letter that was part of Mark Stevenson's April Fools' post.

At Road&Track this week, I handed out some tips for first-time trackday drivers and discussed the role that automobiles play in our personal stories.

Yes, that was seven feature articles in a week where I also worked 40 hours at my day job, played two sandwich-shop gigs, got my annual motorcycle parking passes from the cluster fuck downtown impound office, and spent an evening playing music with my pal "G". Also, I have the flu, I think. Yes, I'm tired. Thanks for asking. But I'm also grateful to have the chance to write all of this and to share it with all of you. Thanks for tuning in. No fooling.