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Indybay Feature
Freeway Fandanangos Ballet Troupe Launch Party (video & photos)
Fiesty and festive, bicyclists spread cheer and benevolent chaos throughout Berkeley and Albany, including a jaunt on the I-80 (un)freeway and a dance party over it.
(Berkeley/Oakland/Albany/El Cerrito)
Dateline: Friday, January 11, 2008
Fueled by FUN, for three hours and then some, a mysterious and unidentified group of creatures on two wheels swarmed through east bay streets, descending upon gas stations; biking through McDonald's drive-throughs demanding vegetables (Asparagus, in particular); chalking messages including bicycle lanes on sidewalks and streets; dancing to tunes emanating from a swift and strong ebony Snuffleupagus; singing along to the "read a book/brush your teeth" and SCRAPER BIKE rappers' delights, Judas Priest ("Breakin' the Law"), and more; climbing fences to share the road with the privileged motor-masters of this country on the multibillion dollar unfreeway separating life from the oil-spill-soaked Bay Waters; swirling echoing cheers in underground parking lots and whooping through tunnels; making good friends; waving and encouraging passersby; dumpstering bags of hard baguettes and feigning a pirate sword fight on two wheels for miles on end with the long crusty pan, recruiting fine folk at bus stops to join in the chaos; and, to be but(t) brief, MORE.
Two flags were burned on Telegraph Avenue by a lone marauder, commonly referred to as Your Next Mayor. The act confounded authorities who view the flag as their First Diaper. Y.N. Mayor's action was augmented by a bell-jingling chap who enjoyed skidding through the flames, and cheering bystanders, one of whom found it pleasurable to drape the flaming rag this way and that to best adorn the asphalt aglow.
An open microphone captured the spirit of all who loved raise their voice. A mom walking with her two kids on Solano Avenue gleefully proclaimed on the loudspeaker that Critical Mass bicycle rides uplift her and bring joy to her city. Note: Those on two wheels who did not wish to speak were chased and their cries of distress broadcast via microphones brandished in the outstretched arms of those who chased them. Casual diners in storefront windows cheered and waved.
In honor of global climate change and the endless fun weather in store for a world's people on the verge of suffering beyond comprehension, the aggregated mass of tufts as in cotton (super flocculus) swirled in major intersections, a bike tornado, a bike hurricane, a bike windmill and weather vane, to dispel the hard rain. Using bicycles in motion as a banner of multitudinous meaning, the spoken word broke through the mesmerizing merry-go-round music to tell of torture at Guantanamo Bay, of avoidable catastrophe, of modern complicity in mayhem of the most major scale.
As an antidote to sickness of war, health-promoting organic orange juice was wielded as faux anti-car missiles from dance lines across the bike ped bridge, whilst flashing lights engaged drivers below to move beyond their fuelish ways.
The Freeway Fandanangos, mythical hard core bicycle terrorist bedouins known for 80 mph ride hitching through the Arizona deserts, have lent their name to this inaugural event. Lane splitting ballet unfurled in future tale.
Despite the best efforts of privacy buffs and modern Luddites, a video recording device was sometimes used and the mangled results of it deign to implore your senses to think beyond the box. No video is ever a complete rendition of what occurred.
SPECIAL FUN PACK!
For those wishing to recreate this chaos for their own fun, the official Playlist will be available soon, along with a step-by-step rally race so anyone can recreate this magical night for themselves. Fun for the whole family!
HISTORY BUFF DELIGHT!
For those hoping to make sense of right wing rhetoric which seeks to crush the spirit of those who would live free in love for one another and this precious earth (even though it has perhaps only 5 billlion years of sun to go, they duly dance and proclaim it is worth preserving in all its glory great and small until then), a special historic background which relates to this first such collective (un)freeway ride in over 14 years my be worth a gander. Clearly the evening's theme included a righteous reclamation of a hefty chunk of equity in motion. Riparian reparations onna roll sweet devotion.
Enjoy:
http://www.bikesummer.org/1999/results/berkeleyCriticalMass.htm
Dateline: Friday, January 11, 2008
Fueled by FUN, for three hours and then some, a mysterious and unidentified group of creatures on two wheels swarmed through east bay streets, descending upon gas stations; biking through McDonald's drive-throughs demanding vegetables (Asparagus, in particular); chalking messages including bicycle lanes on sidewalks and streets; dancing to tunes emanating from a swift and strong ebony Snuffleupagus; singing along to the "read a book/brush your teeth" and SCRAPER BIKE rappers' delights, Judas Priest ("Breakin' the Law"), and more; climbing fences to share the road with the privileged motor-masters of this country on the multibillion dollar unfreeway separating life from the oil-spill-soaked Bay Waters; swirling echoing cheers in underground parking lots and whooping through tunnels; making good friends; waving and encouraging passersby; dumpstering bags of hard baguettes and feigning a pirate sword fight on two wheels for miles on end with the long crusty pan, recruiting fine folk at bus stops to join in the chaos; and, to be but(t) brief, MORE.
Two flags were burned on Telegraph Avenue by a lone marauder, commonly referred to as Your Next Mayor. The act confounded authorities who view the flag as their First Diaper. Y.N. Mayor's action was augmented by a bell-jingling chap who enjoyed skidding through the flames, and cheering bystanders, one of whom found it pleasurable to drape the flaming rag this way and that to best adorn the asphalt aglow.
An open microphone captured the spirit of all who loved raise their voice. A mom walking with her two kids on Solano Avenue gleefully proclaimed on the loudspeaker that Critical Mass bicycle rides uplift her and bring joy to her city. Note: Those on two wheels who did not wish to speak were chased and their cries of distress broadcast via microphones brandished in the outstretched arms of those who chased them. Casual diners in storefront windows cheered and waved.
In honor of global climate change and the endless fun weather in store for a world's people on the verge of suffering beyond comprehension, the aggregated mass of tufts as in cotton (super flocculus) swirled in major intersections, a bike tornado, a bike hurricane, a bike windmill and weather vane, to dispel the hard rain. Using bicycles in motion as a banner of multitudinous meaning, the spoken word broke through the mesmerizing merry-go-round music to tell of torture at Guantanamo Bay, of avoidable catastrophe, of modern complicity in mayhem of the most major scale.
As an antidote to sickness of war, health-promoting organic orange juice was wielded as faux anti-car missiles from dance lines across the bike ped bridge, whilst flashing lights engaged drivers below to move beyond their fuelish ways.
The Freeway Fandanangos, mythical hard core bicycle terrorist bedouins known for 80 mph ride hitching through the Arizona deserts, have lent their name to this inaugural event. Lane splitting ballet unfurled in future tale.
Despite the best efforts of privacy buffs and modern Luddites, a video recording device was sometimes used and the mangled results of it deign to implore your senses to think beyond the box. No video is ever a complete rendition of what occurred.
SPECIAL FUN PACK!
For those wishing to recreate this chaos for their own fun, the official Playlist will be available soon, along with a step-by-step rally race so anyone can recreate this magical night for themselves. Fun for the whole family!
HISTORY BUFF DELIGHT!
For those hoping to make sense of right wing rhetoric which seeks to crush the spirit of those who would live free in love for one another and this precious earth (even though it has perhaps only 5 billlion years of sun to go, they duly dance and proclaim it is worth preserving in all its glory great and small until then), a special historic background which relates to this first such collective (un)freeway ride in over 14 years my be worth a gander. Clearly the evening's theme included a righteous reclamation of a hefty chunk of equity in motion. Riparian reparations onna roll sweet devotion.
Enjoy:
http://www.bikesummer.org/1999/results/berkeleyCriticalMass.htm
For more information:
http://www.berkeleycriticalmass.org
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Noticing that the video player cuts off part of the video.
Download the Quicktime movie for highest quality and to see the whole thing.
It's also been posted to youtube, if you dare. It's currently the first video embedded at http://www.berkeleycriticalmass.org/
Download the Quicktime movie for highest quality and to see the whole thing.
It's also been posted to youtube, if you dare. It's currently the first video embedded at http://www.berkeleycriticalmass.org/
Where was the party held, the one over the unfreeway? Also, the titles at the beginning of the video were fanfuckingtastic.
That would be Berkeley's fantastic & relatively new bicycle & pedestrian bridge to the Berkeley Marina.
It was built after 9 or so years of advocacy and hard work by many people.
The big effort to provide equal access was necessary thanks to CalTrans (aka the DOT, the Department Opposing Transportation), who originally built a motor-only bridge over the unfreeway without providing for walking or bicycling. "Is Adventure Playground onlyfor people with CARS?" pleaded one dear gramma at the Berkeley City Council (see Wheels of Change, the documentary of the early energetic success of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition).
Police arrested 61 bicyclists and some skateboarders on July 9, 1993 on the original overpass after a freeway ride during Berkeley's 5th Critical Mass. The context: ongoing campaigns in opposition to CalTrans' illegally widening I-80, which was done in violation of two environmental laws (CEQA and NEPA) and above all in violation of good sense & responsibility. Numerous protests occurred at the overpass during the 1990s, and bicyclists often used it out of necessity despite the (questionably legal) prohibition which continues to this day. Do read the bikesummer account of what occurred there in August 13, 1999 (when the bikesummer.org site comes back up).
( Thanks to the National Mayors' Ride for the photo, http://www.bikeroute.com/ )
It was built after 9 or so years of advocacy and hard work by many people.
The big effort to provide equal access was necessary thanks to CalTrans (aka the DOT, the Department Opposing Transportation), who originally built a motor-only bridge over the unfreeway without providing for walking or bicycling. "Is Adventure Playground onlyfor people with CARS?" pleaded one dear gramma at the Berkeley City Council (see Wheels of Change, the documentary of the early energetic success of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition).
Police arrested 61 bicyclists and some skateboarders on July 9, 1993 on the original overpass after a freeway ride during Berkeley's 5th Critical Mass. The context: ongoing campaigns in opposition to CalTrans' illegally widening I-80, which was done in violation of two environmental laws (CEQA and NEPA) and above all in violation of good sense & responsibility. Numerous protests occurred at the overpass during the 1990s, and bicyclists often used it out of necessity despite the (questionably legal) prohibition which continues to this day. Do read the bikesummer account of what occurred there in August 13, 1999 (when the bikesummer.org site comes back up).
( Thanks to the National Mayors' Ride for the photo, http://www.bikeroute.com/ )
Wow. The numbers of people are pretty high for winter. I remember some mid-winter rides where there were about 7-9 people in the rain.
did you forget to mention the revolt of the christmas trees?
there's one tagging along on the video!!!
there's one tagging along on the video!!!
Ah, the numbers! First tour of Shattuck someone called out a count of 51. I saw two allies on bikes off to the side so perhaps we were really 53 strong. There was no rain.
Remember that February ride, tour of the creeks? Everyone brought masks and snorkels and swim gear? All 7 of us? Total downpour. Cops were quarantined from bikes so they lost us right away. Saw the Black Milktruck of Death (BMOD) parked outside a restaurant downtown. They were munching burgers!!! We smiled and waved in the windows and OH GOSH they had to get up and chase us again, only to get stuck in rainy traffic again. Work for those $$$THOUSANDS$$$ yo! Penultimate futility.
That was a fun ride. Probably February 2000.
Speaking of which, when is the next Leap Day Finger Puppet Action Night? This is a MUDDA PUCKIN' LEAP YEAR, people!
Remember that February ride, tour of the creeks? Everyone brought masks and snorkels and swim gear? All 7 of us? Total downpour. Cops were quarantined from bikes so they lost us right away. Saw the Black Milktruck of Death (BMOD) parked outside a restaurant downtown. They were munching burgers!!! We smiled and waved in the windows and OH GOSH they had to get up and chase us again, only to get stuck in rainy traffic again. Work for those $$$THOUSANDS$$$ yo! Penultimate futility.
That was a fun ride. Probably February 2000.
Speaking of which, when is the next Leap Day Finger Puppet Action Night? This is a MUDDA PUCKIN' LEAP YEAR, people!
Hey, there's some cool shee-ooo out there about leap day puppets!
http://leapdayaction.org/
http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0079017
http://lists.barringtoncollective.org/archives/announce/2004-February/000095.html
http://leapdayaction.org/
http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0079017
http://lists.barringtoncollective.org/archives/announce/2004-February/000095.html
For more information:
http://leapdayaction.org/
so maybe it was just a fluke, the video now plays to the end.
embed it for fun & prophet around the gl0be, kidd0z
embed it for fun & prophet around the gl0be, kidd0z
Are you referring to this? I almost forgot about that. It's hard to tell whether I was there or not.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/03/02/16721031.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/03/02/16721031.php
Hello!
All who are interested in leap day:
It occurs on the same day as SF critical Mass, keep updated with leapdayaction.org
or email leapdayaction [at] gmail.com if you have questions or an event
All who are interested in leap day:
It occurs on the same day as SF critical Mass, keep updated with leapdayaction.org
or email leapdayaction [at] gmail.com if you have questions or an event
that was so fun!!!
i saw a video about the albany bulb of a fingerpuppet action once, rampaging through the sf financial district.
does anyone know if that's posted? available?
i saw a video about the albany bulb of a fingerpuppet action once, rampaging through the sf financial district.
does anyone know if that's posted? available?
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