While I’m away at another music festival this weekend–that being Wanderlust near Lake Tahoe–I’m eager to hear about experiences at the Bicycle Music Fest in SF taking place day and night this Saturday. A non-profit project of the SF Parks Trust, the self-proclaimed world’s largest 100% bicycle-powered music fest is to include a 2,000 watt pedal-powered PA system and 15 bands on “bike-haulable” stages. With likeminded organizations from the SF Bike Coalition to the volunteer-run repair shop Bike Kitchen, this won’t be just your average cruiser con boombox.
Thanks to David Pescovitz (he of BoingBoing and Institute for the Future) for the reminder.
Archive for July, 2010
Worth Riding >> Bicycle Music Festival
Solarthon to Outfit Area Homes
The Bay Area will be joined by San Diego, Fresno, LA and other cities in hosting summer “solarthons”–solar installations and block party fundraisers hosted by GRID Alternatives. The idea behind the events is to gather teams of work crews to install solar electric systems for low-income area families (who work alongside the amateur installers). While volunteer spots are all spoken for for this weekend, the endeavor can still use your cash. Consider it karma to get morning sun in SF?
Mission Mercado, Edición Dos
San Franciscans need not wait until the weekend for farm fresh comida thanks to a new Mission Community Market on Thursday nights. Today marks the second week for a non-profit marketplace that includes products from Yerena Farms, Rubber Ducky Soap, Twin Girls Farm, and Rainbow Orchards among others. Musicians will be on hand tonight to celebrate Peruvian independence, though, as @MissionMercado will tell you, you’re on your own for pisco sours.
Out Side Art Block Party Benefit
I recommend visiting the culture collective The Skeleton, whose art and music coverage is the brainchild of Monikka Delazerda, a young developer I had the pleasure of interviewing at a Ruby workshop for Mashable. It’s hosting a family-friendly benefit this Sunday that will include Plant*SF public greening and (knock on wood) fries by Fritz.
Make Mine a Mint Slope
If it’s anything like FolSoMa, its recent neighborhood event for SF proprietors, local magazine The Bold Italic will host a heckofatime at tonight’s Mint Slope get together. I love their tongue-in-cheek approach to naming “microhoods” and then rounding up great area businesses for hundreds of planned visits. The area from Market Street that runs through the shadow of the Federal Mint building between Octavia and Guerrero streets will get the treatment this Tuesday from 6 to 9. Consider $5 tapas from Pisco Latin Lounge and Destino, free beer at Get Lost Travel Books and Gear, and $5 bang trims at Metamorphosis Salon. That is, if you can get beyond Triple Crown’s Taco Tuesdays.
Guerrero Gallery Looks Good with No. Five
Boulder-based pal Micah Baldwin turned me on to Guerrero Gallery’s “Weight Perception Show” that opened this week at Andrew Guerrero’s 19th Street space. Artist Andrew Schoultz curated the gallery’s fifth show (and now to work by a few of the participating artists, including Ben Venom, Casey Jex Smith, Glen Baldridge, Harley Lafarrah Eaves, Kevin Taylor, Laurie Steelink, N. Dash, Shelter Serra, Thomas Øvlisen, Vanessa Blaikie, and Kyle Ranson).
Your Chance to Be Playa Famous >> WDYDWYD?
I’m regularly struck by San Franciscan Tony Deifell’s idea for a worldwide community art project intended to answer the question “why do you do what you do?” (and not just because he presented it at Ignite Bay Area but because it includes crowdsourced combinations of motivation, images and ideas). Through Monday, respondents can join the likes of Gloria Steinem and Harvard Business School students in answering the easy (or incredibly challenging) question for a chance to be included in an exhibition on Burning Man’s prehistoric lake bed.
I won’t paraphrase Deifell’s reason for starting the project. In his own words:
I was in my office late one night in 1999 not wanting to be bothered. The phone rang, and I wanted to ignore it . . . but I felt compelled to answer. Before I could start, a child’s voice blurted, “Why do you do what you do?”
It was the last thing I had expected to hear. more
New Jewish Filmmaking Project at Castro Theatre
I’m intrigued by Half-Remembered Stories, a multimedia exhibit exploring Jewish heritage that’s launching in partnership between local production company Citizen Film and the SF Jewish Film Festival. The latter is turning 30 this year and celebrating by presenting 50 shorts and 11 multimedia collages by artists 15 to 25 years old around “half-remembered” aspects of their cultural history. Think a Zombie day of Antonement, a great-grandmother’s infidelities, and time travel with a Moroccan sage and you’ll get some insight into Saturday afternoon’s programming at the Castro Theatre.
Dancing Yoga into Schools
Just as the cool summer weather starts to warm and Kombucha makes its way back to store shelves in SF (a girl can dream), Flavorpill is planning a dance party this Saturday at YogaWorks on Divisadero. The $15 fee for Get Your Dance On will benefit Headstand.org, an organization that brings yoga into Bay Area schools (per previous coverage of the non-profit, it looks to “provide access to yoga in the place where these students spend the most time: school”). It will also get you organic wine, raw chocolate, and a week of free yoga classes. Alxndr of False Profit and Ecstatic Dance will be hitting the decks as you make your way to the floor.
Welcome Design Bureau
As ALARM Press introduces its newest magazine title at Chicago’s Glessner House Museum tonight, I’ll be scouring the book for work including a white Moleskine for Yoox, graphic hand printed stockings, and Joshua Tree’s most compelling rentals. Style arbiters and creative pros take note: Design Bureau is “dedicated to delivering honest global dialogue on design from diverse disciplines” and will be offering both a print magazine (covering packaging, products, travel, architecture, et al) and The Intelligencer, an e-newsletter that promises weekly inspiration.
IMOW
