THE Best Bikes at Burning Man! Bikergo!!
There are soooo many grreat bikes at Burning Man.
Too many to show–to name–to describe here.
Take this bike, pictured. I love the contrast of the octo ferns in Maxwell’s bike basket with his hot pink outfit I sooo want that outfit! and the bike! and do you see his bike baskets in the back? !! Maxwell, you must bring this bike on a First Friday ride soon! I know I know, this First Friday you’re sitting the Artists Union Gallery which is showing some of your very HOT blacklight artwork!
But really, folks, this post is NOT all about Maxwell and his awesome Burner self and really cool bike.
Not at all.
This post is about the BEST BIKE I have EVER ridden in my life.
Really.
No kidding.
And I rode it at Burning Man this past year.
See, after one of the wine tastings I hosted on the Playa (I know I know I need to write THAT post!), I rode off on my 1986 hot pink 3000 pound mountain bike to join my family to watch the Rocket blast off.
You know–this rocket–the Gothic Raygun Rocket, my son’s favorite artwork out there? In fact you can read his post about it here–and watch a video of it blasting off with plenty of fireworks! (Please do! He loves to check his stats!)
So I was riding around on my pink bike with our 12′ high tie-dyed Ganesh on a bike banner on the back, wearing Nila’s purple cowboy boots and who knows what else fun funky and sparkly, looking for them. My son was in a Superman outfit riding in the Burley behind the Big Monkey on Toni the Tiger’s tiger furred bike.
Turns out there were probably 10,000 people there also waiting and watching. Or more–maybe 20,000 people. It seemed like EVERYONE on the playa was there.
Quickly I realized the futility of my exercise. There were so many people I couldn’t even ride my bike. So I stopped. Straddled my bike and walked around. And looked around.
Two guys were standing by their bikes and we struck up a conversation. They are both REALLY into bikes, and a wind storm came up so I gave them both bandanas with Ganesh on a bike, which they appreciated. I admired Deacon’s blinking star necklace and Deacon offered me one but they were back at camp. He then gave me some bee lip balm he had handmade.
I told them I was looki
ng for my husband and son. Believe it or not, they described them both to a T saying they were both wearing their bandanas and they even said the boy was wearing a Superman outfit!
I knew then they were my true friends, in the way that you know certain truths on the playa, and that it was meant to be for us to hang out together that night.
So there we were, hanging out on the Playa, waiting out the duststorms, waiting for the rocket to launch, talking about biking and all kinds of crazy stuff. We were laughing hysterically all the time about totally silly stuff. They were a riot. I totally love these guys. They are my brothers. And they loved me too, they kept saying they were hanging with the coolest mama on the playa.
The other guy, Matt, had this crazy lemon yellow bike. I didn’t get it, get why, but he made it out to be something special. Then some other guy came up, introduced himself, and they talked about this bike, and he went for a ride on it. I guess he’s some seriously famous cyclist guy, but I had no clue who he was even after Matt and Deacon tried to explain.
He came back with the bike an
d raved like he’d never been on a bike before so then I had to try it. “Promise you’ll bring it back!” Matt said as I rode off.
“Of course!” I yelled back. But by then, honestly, I had a serious case of the giggles.
This bike was soooo much fun to ride I couldn’t stop laughing and giggling to myself!
Really. I have never ever ever been on a bike that felt so good, moved so smooth, made me feel so joyous and happy inside
I never ever wanted to get off this bike!
Riding this bike felt like fooling around–no kidding. Cruising around felt like those long, fun kisses, full of life and love and longing to let loose and roll! Oh, I was soooo in love with this bike!
But I didn’t want Matt to worry, so I figured I’d better head back. Except I had been so enamoured, so infactuated, so darn right in love with this bike that
I lost my head!
That’s right–I lost my sense of direction–I had no idea where I was! Read more…
Santa Barbara Aeolian Ride Thurs Oct 1: Come ride or come see!
Aeolian: Relating to or caused by wine + Ride : to be carried or conveyed , to travel over a surface.
Paging David Byrne: DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?
There will be an Aeolian Ride TOMORROW in Santa Barbara California!!!!
THE AEOLIAN RIDE IS 52 PEOPLE IN 52 HANDMADE WIND-INFLATED-SUITS RIDING BICYCLES THROUGH CITIES AROUND THE WORLD.
NYC 06.05.04,
SAN FRANCISCO 10.10.04
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA 01.15.0,
LOS ANGELES 09.10.05
MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA 03.11.06
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 09.10.06
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 09.08.07
MILAN, ITALY 11.27.09
TOKYO JAPAN, 05.16.09
BRIDGEPORT, CT, 05.30.09
Santa Barbara 10/01/09!
START POINT: DWIGHT MURPHY FIELD; MEET & SUIT TIME: 3pm; RIDE BEGINS: 4pm DURATION: 1.5 hours. END POINT: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo–refreshments and footage from the event as part of the Downtown Organization’s First Thursday. Online sign up and showing up on time gives you priority for a suit. The ride starts at 4 PM, but due to an overwhelming response, arrive around 3 PM to receive a costume and for set-up time. First come first suited. Riding without a suit is also allowed and super fun. *YOU MUST BRING AND WEAR YOUR OWN HELMET *BRING YOUR BIKE! *DO NOT BRING/WEAR LARGE BAGS BACKPACKS OR PURSES – they rip the suits *PLEASE PRINT AND SIGN & BRING THIS WAIVER www.aeolian-ride.info/waiver.pdf Rain date: Friday, October 2nd. More info: www.aeolian-ride.info
We’re going to have to have one of these around here! Watch for news about one in March!!!
Oct 2: David Byrne’s “Bicycle Diaries” or First Friday ArtRide?
I’ve been experiencing some conflict. Serious conflict.
AND this Friday at 8pm David Byrne, one of my heroes, is speaking in Los Angeles. And he’s speaking about bikes. And talking about his new book Bicycle Diaries about creating bike oriented communities. You see, he’s really into bikes. He actually rides them, adn has been into getting around by bike since the 1980s. He even designed and made some artsy bike racks which were installed last month in NYC. And he’s got a new book about the subject of bikes–oh yeah, I mentioned that already.
The Mouse wants you to give back!
Answering President Barack Obama’s National Call to Service, Disney says, beginning JANUARY 1, 2010, when you sign up here to volunteer a day of service with a participating organization (and your service is completed and verified) you’ll get one day admission to a Walt Disney World® or Disneyland® theme park, FREE!
With this program, in 2010, Disney wants to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service.
The bad news is that in 2010 you won’t get into a Park for free on your birthday like you could in 2009. But hey, for those of you with birthdays coming up between now and December 31, you don’t have to give anything except your birthday to Disney to get a free day! Register here to get in free on your birthday.
Here are some other specials for when you go.
Even though I live about two hours away, and a good friend works for the Mouse and could get us in free one day, I haven’t been to Disneyland in at least 20 years–22 to be exact. Both the Big Monkey and the Small Redheaded Boy have birthdays coming up so we should change that soon! The Small Boy, 5, has never been. Guess it’s about time–this year and next! Disneyland, here we come!
What to do after LA’s Burning Man Decom Party Saturday? Go to Space Island!
All dolled up & nowhere to go after the LA Decom party closes down at midnight? Space Island presents: The Decompression After Party!
Fresh off a successful launch of the Wench back onto the playafied seas of Burning Man, Space Island is back, and throwing THE LA Decompression afterparty only 10 minutes from The Cornfield in Downtown LA: google map where Decom is being held this year. It’s an all nighter all right: 10pm – 6am, you’ve gotta be 21+ and it’s $15 for all night with 2 large indoor areas & 2 large outdoor areas + THE WENCH (SI’s Pirate Ship Art Car).
Check the line-up and all the info at: SpaceIsland.org. If you can’t get to Decom OR this afterparty, you can at least check out the site and put on your own party–bring the Burn Home!
PS If this wasn’t enough to draw you to LA, consider this: the moon will be awesome full!
Burning Man Decompression Parties 2009: LA 10/3, SF 10/11, NYC 10/17
OK so you didn’t go to Burning Man because
1) it’s too hot
2) you need an RV
3) you had to work
4) whatever lame excuse you came up with
Guess what? You’re in luck!
You can BRING THE BURN HOME!
A version of Burning Man is coming to a city near* you SOON!
* near if you live in California or in the vicinity of NYC…although there are regional Burns and events going on ALL year, these three ARE the BIG ones! Read more…
Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment August 2, 2009: A facility with language
The Professor had all the
Big Words on his side
of the plate.
And he was pushing
pushing pushing her words
around with his fork.
It remains to be seen
what it was they were
really arguing about it
It always starts with the words
and goes downhill from there.
Who it was who really had
the facility with language
And who it was who was going to
eat who’s words
Those words rolling around the plate
juicey like a blueberry
meaty like a pea
She could feel them
waking on her tongue
slip away.
c. Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator
3:15am August 2, 2009, Ventura CA
I am working in earnest (finally!) on a manuscript of my 3:15 poetry from 2001-2009, titled Love and Terror at 3:15am. It will have 100 poems from nine years of doing the 3:15 Experiment plus one intermezzo poem per intervening year, to total 108 poems in all. The book will have an introduction which discusses the experiment (I’m hoping Danika Dinsmore who started the Experiment in 1993 will do the honors!) and an afterward about Night Terrors which will include a few posts about them from this blog.
My goal is to have it completed before the year is out. Since the writing is already done, and I plan to organize it in chronological order, it’s just a matter of selecting which ones. Many of the poems in the book have already been posted at one time or another on this blog; the ones that haven’t yet, I will probably put up as part of the Monday Poetry Train (where poets from around the globe post links to recent work–go for a ride and check it out!)
As I go through them, debating the various merits of each, I plan to ask you, my loyal reader, for your opinion about which ones I should include or not. I hope you will participate!
So here’s a start–I hope you will take part in this quick poll to let me know whether or not you think this poem should be in the mss (manuscript) or not. Thanks!
Go ahead, click on this image, make it bigger, read the facts for yourself. I dare you.
To sour your milk even more, go here. Or read this article, which is where I found the chart.
Had enough? Find your local CSA — consumer supported agriculture–and sign yourself up for locally grown, locally owned vegetables.
This summer we’ve been getting our vegetables from a CSA in the Ojai area, Rio Gozo Farm. Subsequently, for less that $25 a week, we’ve eaten more and different vegetables, sometimes struggling to eat them all before the next batch comes. Usually, it’s the equivalent of two shopping bags but it depends on the output of the farm what and how much we get. Since August, we’ve been splitting our box with another family and it’s much more manageable, especially since we grow some of our own vegetables as well and have access to oranges, lemons, avocados and more.
While you’re finding your CSA, locate and patronize wineries local to you also! You’d be surprised how much quality wine is being made all across America these days! I know I am!
I realize now I should be taking pictures of some of the crazy team building, morale building, life changing hi-jinx I get my students to do. So of course then I can post them.
Early on this semester, for example, I gave pairs of my students bandanas I had tie-dyed for Burning Man gifts. One person was blindfolded and the other led them around campus, following my lead. I took them blindfolded across campus to a small garden in the art area, full of wonderful shapes, textures, and smells. (“Are you Gwendolyn Alley?” asked one person one day. “DO you lead those art rides?” asked another then “Are you the art predator? What are you doing here?”
Then, they switched partners, and we traipsed through and past a construction zone to the horticulture area and an adjacent outdoor classroom where we finally settled in to do some Natalie Goldberg style writing practice, before we found our way back to class.
On Wednesday, following Tony Robbins inspiring keynote at 140/The Twitter Conference (see my love blogging post about it here, I spontaneously found myself sharing some of what I learned from Tony Robbins that morning:
“Stress is the over-achiever word for fear,” I said.
“Motion creates emotion,” I said.
“You can change your state,” I said.
“If you just listen, you’ll only remember 10%. If you write it down, you’ll retain 30-40%,” I said.
It was warm, and they looked a little dazed. So I told them how Tony had everyone get up and massage each other’s shoulders, shake their bodies, move around and meet people. So I went for it. I stopped talking about what he’d said and we put some of his ideas into practice.
Now it’s one thing to put on the syllabus a request to bring a smile along with texts to class, Read more…
Tony Robbins Talks on TED: get some inspiration from the master himself
Tony Robbins makes some big money off of his talks so I can understand why he keeps a tight wrap on video from his presentations like the one he gave at the Twitter conference. So I was pleased to find this talk he gave on TED. Fo now, it’s a link. I know there is a groovy way to put TED on WordPress so when I find that info, I will post it in a more groovy way. IN the meantime, ride the Tony Robbins wave!
http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html
Who’s Tony Robbins and why should you watch this? Believe it or not, I knew practically nothing about him until the other day when he spoke at the Twitter conference.
art predator 