Red Riding Hood Productions

From Times Up
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TWO NYC CYCLISTS KILLED THIS WEEK!

Carl Nacht, 56, was killed by an NYPD tow truck making a right turn
across the Hudson River Greenway.

Derek Lake, 23, was killed on Houston
Street while trying to maneuver around a dangerous construction site.
Come out and remember these two cyclists and help draw attention to
unsafe
conditions for New York cyclists. Please bring flowers.

Thursday, June 29, 6:30 p.m.
West Side Greenway at 46th Street (in front of the Intrepid)

From Food Not Bombs in Tomkins Sq Park... To the ticket to Australia... and beyond!

to organize the GoldSprints at the Sat night party!

It was a tough race between Megan from LA (on the right) and Sarah (pictured below in the purple jersey) from San Francisco. They are super well matched and it was a really close race, but in the end, Megan got the medal (that she's wearing in this photo) and the ticket!

They killed it in the team races!

Alex from team FortyNine16 won the ticket to Australia at the Encino Velodrome this past weekend!

It was hot.
It was tough.
It was beautiful to see Alex take that win.

Congrats many times over, dear Alex.
Tonight we party in LA.

The Bicycle Film Festival is going to be AMAZING this year in LA!!! I'm so excited for it I can hardly contain myself!

Anyway, here's an interview/article that I wrote about Brendt Barbur (founder and director of the BFF) and the Festival.
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I called Brendt Barbur last week.

"So Brendt, do you think we could hook up when you get into town so I can do this interview?"

He seems a bit distracted. "Yeah, sure. No problem." and then "Hey Ashira, do you think people are going to come?"

I've been through this with Brendt countless times before. In fact I think I've been through this every single time I've talked to him in the last month. I bite the urge to ask him if he's kidding, because I know he's not. Instead I say "Yes Brendt. People are definitely going to come."

"So you think people have heard of The Bicycle Film Festival?" He asks.

I don't understand how the 35 year old founder and director of a film festival that has been known to sell out consistently in cities around the world seems so markedly unsure. I make a note to ask him about that.

When I caught up with Brendt last Saturday afternoon, we talked a little about that. We also talked about why he loves bikes so much, and how The Bicycle Film Festival, now an international event in only it's sixth year, is going to change the world.

"People in the bike world, especially people who have been in the bike world for a long time, they've really seen the bike movement happen. And it's tripled, quadrupled - it's way bigger than it's ever been." We're in Griffith Park behind some bushes, near a low bent tree, off a narrow foot path. Brendt is sitting cross legged, trying to brush away the many bugs that we've interrupted by sitting down. "It's way bigger than it's ever been, however it's not that big. In my daily life, when I'm trying to make things happen and I'm dealing with (non-bike) people, they don't get it. I have to tell them." He stops for a second and then continues fast, in earnest. "I mean, I enjoy it, because I looooove talking about bikes and the bike movement. But sometimes I get caught up in it and I'm like - Wow! This is so big compared to what it used to be - but we haven't seen anything yet!" He starts to laugh. "You know?"

We're supposed to meet up with Dorothy somewhere near Griffith Park. Dorothy is a road racer who organizes criteriums and she wants a bunch of Bicycle Film Festival programs to hand out to fellow road racers at a big race that's happening on the following day. Brendt has 450 programs to give to her, but we haven't been able to reach her yet.

"You know, I didn't ask her to give these out." He says "She just wanted to." His tone is somewhere between awe, disbelief and gratitude. "She did it last year too!"

I know a little bit about the history of the Festival. It played exclusively in New York for the first three years, but in the last three years, The Bicycle Film Festival has grown at an unbelievable rate. In the Festivals fourth year, Brendt flew across the country to take the Festival to his hometown of San Francisco. "San Francisco was a cinch" He laughs "You know, I'm from there, so we did it there. We've sold out most shows since we started there." This year it will play in nine cities around the world, including London, Sydney, and Tokyo. "In London (last year) we had to do extra screenings." Those screenings played immediately after the screenings that were sold out and the extra screenings sold out as well. Brendt says that he gets emails from people all over the world asking, sometimes begging, for the Festival to come to their town. "What's happened is that people all over the world have caught on and are like Can we have it? Can we please have it here?"
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Read the rest at: www.redridinghoodproductions.com

RUMBLE THROUGH THE BRONX!!

RACE: SAT JUNE 17th 2006

IF YOU IN NYC - YOU BETTER BE THERE!!

CLICK HERE FOR PROMO VIDEO!!!

yumyumyumyumyum.

Avocado ice cream cake from SCOOPS!!

who knows "JIM" (the ghost)? He's a friend (and NYC food delivery co-worker) now back in San Diego soon (maybe already?) back to NYC I think... anyways, he's a great artist and his latest t-shirt art is dope and the rest of the show (featuring great and silly puffpainted clothing) was awesome also!

The show was at SCOOPS, which seriously makes the *best* ice cream in town!! They have flavors like 'white chocolate wasabi" and 'brown bread'. They have delicious vegan ice cream also and sorbets. My favorite that I've tasted so far though is 'beet' - which is what I'm eating in this picture.

But the flavors change all the time so don't ever expect to get the same flavor twice!

Thai (don't know if I'm spelling his name right - sorry) is the ice cream man and he's super nice and takes flavor suggestions, and will make amazing special order ice cream cakes like nothing you've ever seen or tasted before!!

He is really an ice cream artist. And he's really the only ice cream artist I've ever met.

SCOOPS is on Heliotrope, just off Melrose, right next to The Bicycle Kitchen in Los Angeles! Visit SCOOPS soon and get some yummy ice cream!

weird!! They painted over the rat and left the words... Bummer.

Because 6 is my favorite number and has been since as long as I can remember.
I also like numbers divisible by 3, but not 9, unless it's 18, which is divisible by 6, 3 times. I like numbers divisible by 18 also and I like at least 2 6's in my numbers, but I also like the number 26 - even though it is not divisible by 3.

Is it the Chinese who say that redheads with green eyes are the devil?

in Sydney, Australia

Friday, March 10, 2006

ACMC's

Australians and Australian Messengers are some of the nicest, most awesome people I've met. This writing is seriously long, long overdue and all I can say is it's been a hectic few weeks since I've been back.

First a little backround: I went to Australia in Jan. for my little brothers wedding. He married an Aussie girl in Melbourne. Of course when I found out that they were getting married and that I'd be going to Australia, the first thing I did was email Macca in Melbourne and Smokin' Joe in Sydney. I let them know when the wedding was and when I would be there and they let me know that I would be in Australia for the Australian Cycle Messenger Championships, and that I better be there!! What luck! Good timing little brother! In true Smokin' fashion, he invited me to stay with him in Sydney even though he had no idea where he would be living at that point. There really is something to be said about Australian hospitality.

Getting through customs was a pain in the ass. I mean, I know all the eco-dangers of bringing in foreign dirt and fruit and stuff, but these guys (actually they were girls) sliced open my bike box on the side with a box cutter. Why they couldn't just open it up the regular way on top I don't know but they sliced open the side, practically ruining the box I needed to keep my bike pretty during the rest of my travels through Oz, and back to the US. I yelled at them, and they told me there was no need for profanity. I disagreed. Then they took my bicycle to be washed, and searched each of the 10 suitcases my family brought (we were 6 people traveling). We were stuck in customs for an extra couple hours. Whatever. Free bicycle cleaning.

First stop was Melbourne and a hectic week of family parties, the wedding, and 110 degree (f) heat. It was awesome. My little brother's friends did all they could to make sure my unmarried siblings, our cousin, and I were having a great time. It was a very busy family filled week but after convincing my Mother that I would be just fine riding on the other side of the street, I took off on my bicycle to meet up with Macca for a minute as he painted a wall. On my way over to meet him, my beautiful Campagnolo left toe cage broke. I was bummed, but no major deal, because Melbourne is flat. We rolled over to his studio that he shares with a bunch of other amazing artists where I met messenger-artist Rick. Rick had hung out with some of my friends in NYC when he was there a few months ago, and he and his roommate rode part of the way home with me. On the way they gave me a mini tour of a certain art filled street (you can see the photo's on my flickr page). Melbourne is filled with good street art. Although I was slowly getting the hang of riding on the left side of the street instead of the right, I still kept looking the wrong way before turning or crossing. It was very sketchy especially when tired and/or drunk.

I have an old friend living in Sydney who I know from when I lived in Israel 10 years ago. I hadn't seen her in about 6 years and we had barely been in touch. She's married now, with two adorable kids, and when she found out I was coming to Sydney, she invited me to stay at her house in Bondi, right near the beach!

I got into Syndey on Australia Day, Thurs night, and went to my friends house. We had a great barbique, and caught up on all sorts of stuff.

I met up with Joe and the rest of the messenger gang on Fri night, right around after work. On the way over, my other toe cage broke. So now I was riding a track bike with both cages broken, with no brakes, on a gear ratio I'm used to riding on flat streets (read: too heavy for the Sydney hills which bring Seattle and SF hills to mind). It made me nervous. But Macca, who had come in with Rick that morning from Melbourne, told me he'd rig something up for my pedals.

Along with the Melbourne crew was a whole slew of messengers from Adalaide. We rolled over to a bar, where I met a bunch of people, got beer spilled all over me, and found out that I would most likely be the only girl the whole weekend since Kate, who I think is the only girl working in Sydney right now (I could very well be wrong) had a wedding to attend back in Adalaide and was leaving Sat morning. That kinda made me sad because I love hanging with the ladies, especially awesome ladies like Kate, but I knew the weekend was going to be super fun no matter who was around!

Joe told me I was staying at his parents house with him. I was a little sceptacle, because I didn't want to impose on his parents, especially after he told me that his Grandmother had just passed away the night before (may she rest in peace). I told him I had absolutely no problem with finding another place to stay, and could very well go back to my friends house in Bondi beach, but he assured me it was completely fine and insisted that they were expecting me. We got back to his house and I saw that his Mom had set out sheets, blankets, pillows, towels, and even a foam mattress for me! In the morning when I woke up, his Mom Libby made me coffee and told me to help myself to toast or whatever else. I can see where Joe gets his warm, sweet personality from. I couldn't believe that he brought me, some random bike girl he met at the Worlds in NY this past summer, back to his parents house at all, let alone given the circumstances! And I wasn't the only one he brought back - over the course of the weekend there were about 6 other messengers that stayed there too! That's Australia for ya - hospitality like no other place!

Joe had a bunch of stuff to do Sat morn, so we met up with the Adaliade boys, Macca, and (the one and only) Jimmy James. We rode around hot hot Sydney, and with the Sydney harbour waters beaming out at us from every side, a few of the boys decided it would be great to jump off the Pyrmont Bridge into Darling Harbour. So they did (again - pictures on my flickr page).

Now if 4 boys were to jump off a bridge in a very populated, touristy, part of NY, there would be cops waiting to arrest them I'm sure and I did hear one security guy say into his radio "4 guys just jumped off the bridge" but then noone did anything! The boys simply swam back to shore, put their shoes back on and we left. No one batted an eyelash in any serious kind of way!

The Poker Race, first race of the weekend, was in a couple hours. We rode to the starting point, a park that I forget the name of, and on the way Macca and I stopped at a bike shop. Of course they did not have the cages I needed but Macca rigged up some plastic cages inside my metal ones using lots of electrical tape. They definitely worked better than what I had. I rode the race with a Melbourner whose bike was also in mishap function, and we picked up a Japanese messenger somewhere along the route. We got a little lost but not much, and had fun, and made it back to the finish line at the same park. Then there were skids competitions. The skids were great because it was all bike inclusive. You could skid on whatever bike you were riding, whether track, road, mountain, or BMX. There was even a little kid on a super small BMX bike who competed! The smell of burned rubber filled the air, and there was more than a few scrapes and bruises. Next we had a mass ride to a little park with a nice big blacktop over in Newtown. We killed the remaining daylight hours with trackstands, backwards circles, and bunnyhops competitions, as well as a few games of bicycle polo which turned into footdown which turned back into bike polo and back into footdown.

At some point during all these competitions I looked up and saw (oh my god!) another girl!! Now don't get me wrong, I was having an awesome time with all these awesome guys, who were so very sweet to me, and made sure I was taken care of and never left behind, and waited while I found real bathrooms, and gave me sunscreen, and beer, and smoke, but seeing Catt was beautiful! I walked up to her and introduced myself and as it turns out, she had just moved back to Sydney from London, and knew a bunch of my London friends. We hung out as her man took the title for most backwards circles and bunnyhops.

Then as it got dark we were off to the amazing Gallery Jack in Surry Hills for the grand ACMC party!


(anyway - I'll write the rest later)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

OZZY! OZZY! OZZY! OIY! OIY! OIY! that's battlecry in Australian. I finally caught up with Aussie Macca last night! He was painting a wall somewhere in Melbourne about a 40 min. bike ride from where I'm staying in St Kilda. He's got a rad studio with a bunch of lovely awesome incredibly creative other artists of his kind, as well as a print shop, some skate ramps, plenty of space, TONS of Aussie eye candy, and good energy all around. The kind of good energy I've seen in Australia since the second I got here. THe people I've met here have been nothing but incredibly warm and open and friendly. No pretentiousness at all, just accomodating, and easy going, and brilliantly gorgeous. Riding on the 'other' side of the street is totally weird and kinda hard, But remembering to look first right and then left, is harder. I almost got hit last night riding home lost without a map, (just a couple of stinkin' blocks from home of course) forgetting to look the right way. But thanks god - almost doesn't count. Every time I get on my bike out here - I just keep singing in my head "Go LEFT young man" So maybe I'll remember to stay on the left side of the road, and not drift to the right like I'm used to. It's hard to break patterns, huh? Seriously though. If you are even considering (or not considering) coming out here for the CMWC's in Oct. - DO IT!! Get your ticket, make your financial comittment, don't leave it for the last minute. Come out here!! It is one of the most RAD places I've ever been!! I love it. I don't want to leave (and I'm still here for a week)! They even have 7/11 slurpies, and lots of different kinds of Cadbury chocolate. yum! I leave for Sydney and the Aussie Cycle Courier Champs tomorrow (which is also Australia Day - read: party super hard day). My flight arrives in Sydney at 4:20pm HAHA!!

This morning.

This morning I was in some kind of lake, in an inner tube, floating around and having fun. I was maybe 4 or 5 years old and my Grampa was there. He looked like he was in his early 30's. His face was clear and serene and full of smiles. We were having so much fun and we were laughing, and I felt so good to be with him.

Then there was a blaring noise and he was gone and I woke up to my alarm clock.

I was dissappointed when I woke up. I wanted to go back to that dream. I miss hanging out with him so bad, even though it's been more than 20 years. But I'm happy to at least have had that simple split second of sweetness.

I had another dream about him once.

I was on a bus and he was there. I had a movie camera like the one he gave my Dad 30 years ago. It was in a bag next to me. He was sitting a couple rows ahead and I saw him. My older brother was on the bus also, but he was on the other side and a few more rows ahead. My brother was a little blurry somehow and I couldn't really see him so well, I just sort of knew he was there. In the dream I knew my Grampa wasn't supposed to be there (He died when I was 7). So I said "Grampa, what are you doing here?" and he said "I'm going fishing." So I asked if I could come with him and he said yes. We got off on the next stop and I realized I had left my movie camera on the seat on the bus. I told my Grampa and he got all annoyed and said "Now we're going to be late."

Then I woke up.

It was like somehow the second I thought about the camera, and having to get it back, my dream was over and my Grampa was gone. Like the camera somehow made me aware of the boundries of this world even while I was still inside the dream. Like if I could only have not thought about the camera I could have hung out with him forever.

Thing is, I realized all of that in my dream, but the second I realized it I was awake, left only with this palpable sort of sad sweetness of seeing someone for a second that you never want to go away, after you havn't seen them for an unbearably long time.

When I told my brother about the dream, his first question was "Why didn't *I* go fishing with you and Grampa?" I think my brother was really pretty hurt that he didn't come with us in my dream. I don't know why he didn't. It was all sort of a magic moment. Like if I breathed wrong it would be over like it never existed in the first place.

I really just wish my Grampa would visit me more often.
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Tonight:

I told my Mom about the dream I had this morning and she told me that when she was a kid they used to go somewhere in the summer where she would play in the lake all day, floating in inner tubes. She said my Grampa loved the lake. He would always be playing and swimming in the water with her and my aunt and uncles. She said he would always be smiling and having fun.

She told me she was talking to my Bubby (yiddish for Grandma) this morning about those summers and how much my Grampa loved them.

My Bubby has some kind of senile dementia (sp?) and usually can't remember most stuff, but my Mom said she's had a good week. I'll call her tomorrow.