Wednesday evening Serra and I met up with Vanessa on 46th and Broadway with our Xtracycles, homemade musical bike instruments, tons of glitter and a sign saying, “Just Quit” to help her celebrate her last day of service at American Eagle Outfitters. She began working with the retail clothing company at first in 2006 then lept to a leadership position in their most high profile store in Times Square where she managed a gorgeous multi-cultural crew who loved her. Her predecessors weren’t overjoyed to see her go- and left the door wide open for her return. We are so proud of you Vanessa, as you are venturing into a more integrative lifestyle combining your talents: musical, organizational, interpersonal, yogic, healing and culinary as your full time calling!
Serra attaching homemade bike musical instruments to the back of my chariot! Serra always knows how to make everything super uber duber special and beautiful.
Armed with abundant amounts of glitter we wheeled through the streets of hustling Manhattan with a musical trail of cans connected to the back of the Radish cargo bike which I was wheeling, Vanessa en tow….yelling, “Hooray! Hooray” (“Stop buying plastic!”) “Hooray! Hooray!” Some people saw the cans strung off the back of the bike and two gorgeous empowered women on the bike and smiled and waved: thinking that we were celebrating our very gay gay marriage. And in a way we were celebrating unification. A very happy Union, with Life. In the Merton’s, Seasons of Celebration, he describes the most classical way to describe worship as: celebrating in public.
“Hooray Hooray for Union with the Divine! Hooray from the tip top of our lungs!” The city sparkles when you create beautiful visions for people reminding them that spontaneous loud celebration can happen in the middle of an urban street. Band of Bicycles and the Pleasant Revolution really did a great job with that during the first ever NYC Bicycle Music Festival last week. We had a blast on our bike ride. Bike Rides, long ones around beautiful scenery are very healing.
Serra, Vanessa and I found our selves near the water on the West Side Highway at an amazing water park squeeling and running through the water with all of the little kids until we were soaked and covered in even more glitter! I cannot find information on this park anywhere online. I am starting to think I made it up. On the next hot day we must all bike ride there together. It’s like an art sprinkler extravaganza that was comissoned by someone genius and right next door there is a life size water factory with a pump and series of tubes and info-structure for kids to have a little water factory. The whole thing looks like life size collaboration with Tom Otterness with patterns of water squirting up from the labrynth and we the public are the dancing malleable interactive artwork.
Imagine that as a solution to America’s childhood obesity, Michelle Obama forgets the Nintendo Wii sports and proposes a collaboration to bring more interactive public art and water projects that encourage adults and kids alike to run around, enjoy the weather, and celebrate life in public!
Oh and she should also encourage folks everywhere to consume more local food! Our Band of Bicyclces, Director of Heavy Lifting is also, manager of two Bushwick Farmer’s Markets that opened this week! They accept food stamps! We are expecting veggies soon from the Bushwick CSA and Shira is a key organizer behind the Bushwick Food Co-Op and Buying Club.
Vanessa is allergic to gluten and couldn’t consume the amazing red velvet cake from Magnolia Bakery which was gifted to her so we decided to eat the icing and throw the cake around, and then run in the sprinkelers throwing glitter some more, because we were wet it stuck to us even more and I am still finding it in my shower, couch, clothing and sheets reminding me that it was an amazingly vivid dream. As we wheeled down the West Side Highway bike path, we found amazing friends, including quite a few very good looking young chaps. Then last but not least we stopped in and said hello to George and Jeff and Hudson Urban Bicycle Works, on 139 Charles Street.
We were connected to them through Nataki from the Madre Fuerza Tribe, and have been talking to them about cultivating a weekly bike in movie/radio show in their big open lot next door where we could roll out some astro-turf, and serve bike blended libations and listen to the film old fashioned style with radio transmitted soundtracks to ipods, “so as not to disturb the neighbors” and to increase the intimacy, like an old fashioned drive in movie theatre, for bikes. Maybe we could make mix tapes of the movie soundtrack, or perhaps have tons of mp3 players loaded with the track ready to go. Our friend Charlie Todd founder of Improv Everywhere has organized tons of amazing participatory public celebrations that transform reality for everyone, like their mp3 experiment. Jeff Stark and Todd Chandler who are building an Empire Drive In September 16-19th as a part of the San Jose Biennial, where they are radio transmitting, but you can catch them live on July 7th. Check our events for more details. I sent out a face book request to Tianna Kennedy perhaps with some collaboration from Free 103.9 we can figure it all out.
I am going to begin my days next week much earlier 3 days per week to pedal about 20 mile adventures. Now I just need a really fast light bike to really start training for the Triathalon that Gregg and I are competing in July 3rd. Know anyone who could loan me one? Or know of a store or shoppe who might want to sponsor us or barter for bike blended smoothie rental or gleeful bike ceremony?
Friday, June 11th