As the nightshades slowly filter into a new, temporary Bushwick layer for the Fall, we have been looking to learn about the Brooklyn spots (hidden or hot), meet new rad people who love bikes and I think this Tour de Taco is just the thing! Going down on October 9th at 11am under the Grand Army Plaza Arch, Brooklyn. RSVPs are open, but limited to 75!
What a great way to welcome Namtron into the city!!? Tocos and Bikes!
Big Red, Namtron, Cannibal Vixen and MegO will see you there!
A hero of mine passed away on Sunday. Wangari Maathai died of breast cancer at the age of 71. She is a real life Jonny Apple Seed, planting trees, ideas and inspiration in the hearts of millions.
"Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai started the Green Belt Movement in 1977, working with women to improve their livelihoods by increasing their access to resources like firewood for cooking and clean water. She became a great advocate for better management of natural resources and for sustainability, equity, and justice."- Greenbelt Website
Plants are the source of wealth. Not the stupid autistic stock market. Not balanced spreadsheets. Not subsidies and banks. That's a new contrived system that's only about 500 years old.
Plants are older then time and the workhorses of the planet. Evolutionary wise, we owe plants everything, as turned a hostile environment of carbon, methane and gaseous turmoil into a livable planet to support the evolution of life. If you are a creationist, it's one of the first things God created and called good. Plants turn the energy from the sun into energy we can use to eat, make into into electricity, and in the process creates the air we breath. Forests hold together the soil, put water back into the air along with oxygen, cooling the atmosphere through transpiration. Green makes you happy and relaxed. Being in nature heals the soul calms the mind.
I'd like to see a balanced budget spreadsheet do THAT. [That was for you, Mr. Harper and Rob Ford.]
The world is getting so crazy and complicated we are forgetting the basics.
Wangari was great because she recognized that the solution for complicated issues can come from simple truths... Plant a tree. She didn't listen when others said she was crazy. She spoke and lived her truths, and was rewarded with a Nobel Peace Prize. Read more here in this New York Times article from 2004.
She did it out of love for her fellow women, love of children, love of this planet, a love of the future. Greatness and strength come out of love, not fear, power or greed. Looking around the world it seems a lot of us have forgotten this.
Do yourself a favour and plant something in her memory. I'm in NYC and I'm not sure how and where to do this, but it's going to happen. Greatness lives on in the hearts and actions of the future. For our future, do the simplest thing and be a Jonny Apple Seed. Or as Wangari said, be a humming bird.
Exciting times as I got to represent the Nightshades at Interbike 2011, as a contributing artist to the ARTCRANK exhibit. Pretty happy being kept in the company of Chris Piascik & Farizwan Fajari, among so many other fantastic artists! Next year I'll have to get down there myself!
So DNS is currently coastal in the USA. With Big Red & Meg-O in the big apple, Namtron & I were just in Portland, OR.... and instantly fell in love. From Biketobeerfest at HUB Brewery, to actually running into CarrieBrownstein (HA), to Zoobomb. Oh man. Zoobomb.
Zoobombing is officially the new favourite sport of the Nightshades (forget polo - although East Van’s Medal to the Pedal was quite fun). Imagine riding transit inside of a mountain with your bike (the weirder the better, or a pile of mini bikes are available for anyone who failed to bring their own). Then ascending in an elevator to a park high above the city, where you arrive at the Portland Zoo, and proceed to trek to an undisclosed location in the middle of that lush pitch black park. Once there you make a ton of new friends, hang around for a while, thennnn....
....BOMB EN MASSE THE BEST HILL OF YOUR LIFE. It’s a neverending stream of blinking red tail lights, yelling, unlit switch backs through Washington Park, the surrounding neighbourhoods, and back into the downtown - where you hop back on transit and do it all over again.
We also witnessed the first night of Zooprom - where this is done in party dresses.
Dear Portland - You were exactly what we expected you to be, and way way better. (maybe minus that weird mime clown who executed an awkward acrobatics routine to a remix of Rammstein. Not okay Portland, not okay....)
So far Cat and I have taken over NYC with a storm of seafoam glitter.
It's been like a combination of this:
(Woop! Anyone else spot the Cog sticker on the door? Good authenticity there set designer.)
and this
and a bit of this
Last night we went to a Chrome Party at their rad rad store after visiting both Kaight Boutique for a Prairie Underground trunk show and then the Polo Pit.
So the last Style Spin for the year is upon us, and we're going out with a bang! So much so, the BBC has decided to ride along with us (!!!).
So, meet us this Friday, on the patio of the Drake Hotel at 6pm for cheap Mill St. beers & free give aways from Atelier & Levi's Commuter Denim. Then we ride en masse at 7pm for a behind the scenes look into the best of Parkdale - including Carte Blanche, Vintage 69's concept store 'V', & private screenings of Stylist Desire Kaniki's motion editorials.
Then we spin back to the Drake Underground to dance the night away. As usual.
Also, in the spirit of stylish riding and all things Nightshades - Check out these rad photos friend & photographer Nathan Mills snapped of us a little while ago. (And, yes i rode in those shoes...)
Better late then never right? Gonna be posting some highlights from Toronto's Bicycle Film Festival, over the next little while. So fun! Thanks again to our sponsors, Cap C, Cervelo, Crumpler, Orontas, YNOT, Dandyhorse, Bikes on Wheels & so so many others.
And an even bigger thanks to all our friends, family & the bike community of Toronto for coming out to our screening of FABRIC BIKE. The response & love was overwhelming. And if you're in Vienna, San Francisco, Lisbon or Sydney - FABRIC BIKE and the BFF are coming your way over the next month!
T-Pick is a good friend from Vancouver. It's seriously funny, and has many guest appearances by some rad bike peeps out here in Vancouver. Roadie culture here is a million times more intense then back in Toronto. F**king roadies...
DA: We can see her, a Deadly Nightshade and Man-shade out of their natural habitat of Vancouver, up in the valley of Pemberton BC, stalking their meal on their bikes.
DA: The Deadly Nightshade discovers Monkey Nuts at Ice Cap farms. Hand-crafted cozys made out of coconut shells.
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DA: Blackbird Bakery in Pemberton is the best bakery there ever was. It is said that when you toast their Potato Bread with butter it's like eating heaven. YES! They combine the best parts of breakfast (potatoes and toast) and put it in one delicious form. This is a bakery sent to us by the gods as some sort of gift upon us mortals. The Nightsahdes starting off their Pemberton ride with one of these amazing muffins, which gave a good precedent for the rest of the fun-in-the-sun-biking-in-a-beautiful-valley day.
DA: We see here a Deadly Nightshade stopping along side a swarm of other cyclists at Riverdale Farms to take in the food, beverages, artwork and culture that abounds in the Pemberton Valley. She makes a sign to let others know she comes in peace.
DA: Strange message. What are the locals trying to say to the outside world?
DA: Behold the kinetic Bike Art. We see these Pembertonians positioning themselves in the bicycle tribe, by paying homage to Pemberton's vehicle of choice.
I went to this event Papergirl in Vancouver and it was fun. Although it was also an example to event planners: When you cover an event, make sure you answer "who, what, when, where, and why" in all your promotions, have have signage at the event. Nothing like showing up to an event and being disappointed you can't take the free art home.
I went with Rupert, a friend from England who was introduced to me by our beloved Danielle Meder who took off to England, where she met Rupert and for some reason told him it was a good idea to come to Canada. Thanks Daniel. Next time, try to keep the English in England! :p
Rupert wrote a funny thing about our experience here on his blog Solo Hobo. You should read it.
(Also FYI boys, a girl's heart melts a little when she's found a guy who'll secretly steal art from zee Germans for her.)
The Zenga's presented some amazingly edited visuals of what seemed to be of them growing up, and a lot of antics. They did this to beautiful live music by great musicians. It was awesome.
Lead act Saintseneca was mindblowingly amazing. They made you want to dance and cry and laugh and love all at the same time. If you can see them, go. I got their 12" and free download and I feel like I'm the luckiest girl ever to see them in such an intimate setting.
Then after there was the Decentralized Dance Party. I went from Crab Park to Third Beach were there was a massive (and legal) beach rave set up. There were many a fun stop along the way.
ARTCRANK never ceases to amaze me. Especially when they begin to move beyond bike posters to bike frames.
As the ARTCRANK show at Interbike is looming, I spent the last week in a hectic round of poster making at my family's cabin north in ontario - between swimming & campfires of course. They're now somewhere in the depths of the Canada Postal system making their way down to Vegas. So if you're at Interbike this month, don't forget to check out the poster show running Sept 14-16 at the Sands Expo Center & look for mine!
