Band of Bicycles » larken

Bike Salon

larken — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:58:34 +0000

Monica Hunken in the Wild Finish at ABC NO RIO

larken — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:02:58 +0000

Monica Hunken is my favourite living actress and anything she does is not to be missed. You may remember her as the lead in Jeff Stark’s mesmorizing play, The Sweet Cheat, see her crooning with the Rev. Billy, Life After Shopping Choir, witness the fine moves of Heelz on Wheelz bike dance troupe or have caught word of her recent 6 month Revolution Ride across many countries including: Greece, UK, Poland, Syria and Bulgaria to gain research for her new play about revolution and sustainable living practices. In her trilogy of bike awesome plays, Wild Finish is her second masterpiece and it is a MUST SEE.

The Wild Finish Opens January 25 and runs through February 11

Wednesday – Saturdays, January 25 – February 11, 8:00 pm, Saturdays 9:00 pm | ABC NO RIO | 156 Rivington Street NYC (between Clinton and Suffolk) | Tickets: $10-$15 | For tickets log on to www.brownpapertickets.com

In this one–woman travelogue, Monica embarks on a bicycle journey across the vodka-soaked roads of Poland in search of Leonidas Dudarew Ossetynski, her grandfather. Resolving to hunt down the mystery of this enigmatic character, Monica sets off to an overland bicycle odyssey to understand the demon that still haunts her family. She squats with anarchist punks in old factories, barely escapes a knifing by Neo-Nazis, hides in churches and encounters a strange and amazing cast of characters: a sardonic filmmaker, Peer Gynt, the ghost of a beautiful, Norwegian bride, a clairvoyant, possessed dominatrix, and in the climax, Rena Mirecka, one of the last original members of Jerzy Grotowski’s theater company who leads Monica in a para-theatrical workshop guiding her into the wilderness of her mind, into the darkness of her past where she must face her family demons once and for all.

about ABC NO RIO

A legendary Anarchist Space is getting bulldozed after this play so this is their last hurray, a very Wild Finish indeed.

Check out more info here: The Wild Finish or just get tickets now!

bike crush

larken — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:03:06 +0000

Today begins the 365 Songbird Radio Project. Every day a new radio show in 2012!

Today we interviewed a fuzzy red artistic bicycles outside of Breakfast of Champions in San Fransisco, California.

This is a segment in bike love. What kind of bike you ride speaks to who you are. In this video we talk about the fun expressive components of this red rover and make conjectures about who the potential owner of this bike might be. We also noticed the Shadyville 2010 Plastic Water Bottle-which means that pretty soon we may find out exactly who this person is that we are Bike Crushin’ on toady on Bike Salon. If you have ANY INFORMATION leading to who the owner of this ferocious hot wheels is, then please encourage them to respond to this post with a short video.

Bike Salon Teen and Women’s 2 Day Bike Empowerment Workshops

larken — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:30:59 +0000

Dec ’11

9:00 am

Jan

9:00 am

Occupy Wall Street Needs Your Help with Pedal Power

larken — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:12:46 +0000

Dear friends who want to help with OWS Pedal Power,

This week is going to be huge and we are going to need a lot of volunteers on hand.

Tuesday,9am machinists and welders at Time’s Up!

we will need help to finish fabricating the stands at Brooklyn Machine Works. MEDIA PEEPS: this will probably be a beautiful stage to document. If you are free and would like to be there, let me know and I will put you on a phone list.

TUESDAY NIGHT: If all goes off timely, we will need all hands on deck. I want to bring the stands to Time’s Up! fit all of the charge controllers, diods, and wiring to the stands, and bike them down to OWS on our recycled bikes. When we arrive, we will be able to set up the stands and begin powering OWS in a big way. I would like to have the batteries and inverters staged at OWS so that when we roll up, we can plug in and power some lights and/or music. (Yes, I realize this will be staged, as the batteries will already have charge, but it will look cool).

We need general volunteers at OWS and/or on bike Tuesday all day to run errands on their bicycles and stage areas at OWS.

We need at least 10 capable electricians to bring their tools and help wire the stands at Time’s Up! on Tuesday night.

We need at least 10 strong cyclists to bike the stands from Time’s Up! to OWS.

And we need any interested media peeps to contact me about any part of this night that they want to document. We should have at least one cyclists (Peter?) to go with us the whole way, at least one person at BMW to document the fabrication, at least one person at Time’s Up! to document the massive wiring effort, and at least one person at OWS to document the finale.

We also need people at Occupy Wall Street tonight through tomorrow night to speak with the working groups starting NOW, to see who wants to house these bike generators when they arrive. We will then need people on-site tomorrow night to make sure those spaces are free and hook up batteries and inverters for when we arrive.

We need room for 15 bike generators by the end of tomorrow night! Can someone step up to bottom-line this on-site while I am working in Brooklyn?

If you can help with any of these things, please hit me up directly.

Love and Respect.

Chelseagracester@gmail.com

917-623-7804

ROCK THE BIKE @ PEDALFEST IN JACK LONDON SQ!

larken — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:42:17 +0000

Oct ’11

Ever wonder what it looks like when you can use a bike to make ice cream, pedal power a smoothie or even run an entire sound system off of bike power? Well you should come on down to Pedalfest this Saturday in Jack London Square and check us out. We are working with the Alameda Health Department to actually be legit! We cannot wait to show you how fun bike blenders and bike ice cream makers and bike sound systems can be! And we are getting our entire Health Department Approved Ice Cream, Smoothie Shop and Sound system to Jack London Square tomorrow by BIKE!

http://www.pedalfestjacklondon.com/

bike, solar and bio-diesel stages

larken — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 06:02:08 +0000

Life is Living, Rocked the Bike Love in my West Oakland Neighborhood…a full report here.

Shrimpfest 2011

larken — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:07:10 +0000

This past weekend I visited the Yuba River for the first time. Lopi has been telling me about it for years. It’s magic and ability to heal, but I had no idea what a treat I was in for or how much I would enjoy the longest bike rides uphill I’ve ever taken. Once on Friday with Paul Freeman from Rock the Bike and Cello Joe from The Pleasant Revolution. Then again with Gregg Osofsky from B& of Bicycles. It was mostly dirt roads and luckily my bike got a tune up from Aaron of Aaron’s Bicycle Repair, Inc in Seattle Washington before a bunch of us bike music freaks met up in Grass Valley to take the pedal powered system downhill to the Yuba River for a camp out. While our friends in New York are occupying Wall Street, we were occupying the land and filling it with the Pleasant Revolutionary sounds powered by bicycle music.

(((SEE PICTURES HERE)))

Big thank you’s to the organizers, engineers, and musicians especially: Kipchoge Spencer, Thomas Spellman, and Paul Freeman. I was extraordinarily touched by the words and wisdom of: Justin Ancheta, Gregg Osofsky, Laughter, Heather Normadale of Stichcraft, the hot beats of Cello Joe, and this incredible song by Obo Martin…which I belive is the new anthem to the American Revolution.

Chorus (Chords: C, G, A#, F)

We, We’ve got you Outnumbered
We, We’ve got you on the Run
We, We’ve got you Surrounded
We recommend you throw down your Guns

YEAH! STUCK ON EARTH REACHED IT’S GOAL!

larken — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:38:06 +0000

stuck-on-earth-going-where-no-band-has-gone-before…and I saw a preview version of the Ginger Ninjas first ever 5,000 mile bicycle tour through Mexico and it ROCKS!

INSERT_BIKE LANE_HERE

larken — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 02:44:12 +0000

Check out this awesome spray chalk art project! I am so sad that it is so temporary but it makes me so happy to see stuff like this on my daily commute as a bicyclist who wants to encourage climate friendly and sustainable neighborhoods! What else can we do other than keep biking?

It turns out the project taken on by a bunch of creative anonymous bikers who were inspired by the 350.INSERT_HERE campaign popping up all over the city (and the world) that was initiated through by designer, artist and Pratt professor Eve Mosher to help bring attention for the global day of climate action coming up on September 24th.

The INSERT_HERE idea is spreading like wild fire and other community groups have adopted the INSERT_HERE artwork to promote the climate savvy initiatives they are enacting in the community. Some other one’s I’ve spotted are:

Highland Parks/Ridgewood Reservoir working to preserve the 50 acres of wild land on the boarder of Queens and Brooklyn.
596 acres: 596 acres of unused land in the form of vacant lots.&
Liz Latona’s creative students from the Preston School in the Bronx are interested in eating more local and healthy food on a daily basis, so they talked with their school administration and will be starting a Farming Club and anticpate planting in the Spring!

Check out all the pictures on the INSERT_HERE website where you can find easy to download stencils and artowork for those with community climate initiatives they wish to announce!

So when it comes to INSERTING_BIKE LANES_HERE and INSERTING_CYCLISTS_HERE what should we do to make sure it actually happens and that the art becomes a bike lane not just a temporary installation? I know that Trans Alt, Times UP! and Recycle a Bicycle address all of these issues in various ways–if you are interested I think the best way to collaborate is to get a helmet, a bike, bright expressive lights, a lock, a sliding wrench, a multi-tool, a travel bike pump and patch kit and start riding seriously. Ride across all the bridges on a Sunday. Ride around your block. Just start riding and be safe, visible and self sufficient while doing it!

My personal answer: Get all this stuff for cheap from Recycle A Bicycle, then maintain your bike at Times Up!skill shares or or 3RD WARD classes and join Transportation Alternatives and meet other bike enthusiasts and take awesome group bike rides–like the Century Tour Ride which was today and went through all 5 boroughs.