updates to end another year with

Friends! Thank you for being with us for 2008 as we performed at Portland’s first ever Sunday Parkways (a 6-hour car-free 6 mile loop in N and NE PDX!), held a fabulous Bicycle Bash after-party for the Multnomah County Bike Fair, toured the west coast with Tour de Fat, and showed our hot pink and black spirit around Portland and Vancouver, B.C. We were part of a group that organized and put on an international Bike Dance Symposium where we created the B!ke CASCADIA community of bike dancers and activists. Go CASCADIA!! Go dance!!

In other news, the six year old across the street got his training wheels off the day after we did some maintanence in his bike at my place, but then his bike got thrown away when he got a flat tire. I’ve been spending some of this holiday vacation fixing up a completely rusted-out 12-incher I found in a free pile this fall. The pile was comprised of various sizes and styles of decrepit kids’ bikes left over from a Time-Based Art event in NE PDX. I grabbed three of them. I didn’t see the bike-art event, but my guess is art and performance with tiny bikes is likely to be unlimited in its capacity to intrigue audiences.

And in other In Other Words news, Portland’s feminist bookstore reported some amazing success in fundraising recently.  They are working on restructuring things to support their long-term sustainability. A quick update: “We will be able to pay back our short-term loan and begin digging ourselves out of debt. As phenomenal as this, we still need to raise another $8,000 by the end of February to meet our second goal, which will enable us to pay down our expiring line of credit. We are still encouraging our supporters to make tax-deductible donations if they’re able. We also encourage you to come buy 50% off books at our After Solstice Sale, which will be running January 12th-February 14th.”

See their website for more news and information regarding the organization, their fundraising, and how they got their roof fixed after it caved in with snow.

Those are some tidbits of things going on outside Sprockettes. As for what’s going on inside, we’ll let you know soon as we know!! Thanks to the Brutal Snow, Freezing Rain, And Ice Storm Extravaganza of 2008, Sprockettes had to cancel our last two practices of the year. None of us had DOT-approved chains for a our bike tires so we couldn’t make it to our practice space.  We hope that everyone is warm, safe, peaceful and cozy and ready to wrap up 2008.

We’ll see you in the new year!

Please help In Other Words stay afloat!

We know the economic downturn is hitting us both globally and locally in very significant ways. Now more than ever, we need to think quite carefully about where we spend our money and who benefits from purchases and donations that we choose to make. Please read the following letter from an important local shop, In Other Words.  We are posting it not to guilt anyone into spending money but to support a local business that shares many values in their mission with the Sprockettes.

Dear friends,

In Other Words, like so many of our fellow bookstores, has fallen upon incredibly hard financial times. With the decline in our current economy, we have experienced severely decreased revenue. If we are unable to raise $11,000 by the end of December, In Other Words will have to close its doors.

We desperately need your help. We are confident that if everyone who cares about In Other Words makes a contribution, large or small, we will meet our goal. Please give as generously as you can to save the last remaining non-profit, feminist bookstore in the country: the place where so many Portland artists, activists, organizers, readers, writers, political thinkers, musicians and poets find their voice, their power, their community, and their political home.

Our community cannot afford to lose In Other Words, please help us save her!

You can make your tax-deductible donations on the In Other Words secure website, or by stopping into the store.

Please forward this widely to your community, we need all the help we can get!

Sincerely,
The Board, Staff and Volunteers of In Other Words

Bicycle Film Festival is back in its 8th year!

This is for all lovers of all kinds of bikes! Check it out:

The Bicycle Film Festival is coming to Portland for the second year in a row! The fest is taking place at Cinema 21 on Friday, December 12 (screenings at 7pm and 9pm) and Saturday, December 13 (screenings at 5pm, 7pm, and 9pm). The BFF closing party takes place at Holocene on Saturday night. Beyonda will DJ, with a few other guests, with $2 PBR all night long.

What is this, you ask?

The festival is filled with films and parties – all bike themed. The films have been hand selected from hundreds of submissions from around the world. All BFF related events include free bicycle valet parking.

The Bicycle Film Festival, founded by Brendt Barbur, was born out of the urban bike culture of New York City. Celebrating the bicycle, the fest is about all styles of bikes and biking. If you can name it we’ve probably either ridden or screened it. What better way to celebrate these lifestyles than through art, film, music and performance? We bring together all aspects of bicycling to advocate its ability to transport us in many ways. Ultimately the Fest is about having a good time. Now in its eighth year, the festival has expanded to 16 cities, including: New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Minneapolis, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, Portland, Milano, London, Vienna, Zurich, Tokyo, Boston, Melbourne and Sydney.

Plus! Sprockettes will be performing at the Saturday night closing party at Holocene. Come celebrate the bike with us, late night style.

B!ke CASCADIA

Contingents of 1st International Bike Dance Summit

What a wonderful weekend to get to know members of so many different bicycle dance troupes.  Represented were the Sprockettes, B:C: Clettes, Velo Vixens, Bicycle Belles, Bottom Brackettes and Chain Reaction.

We all decided that if we weren’t going to tour together that at least we would combine efforts and all umbrella ourselves under the same name or mission.. titled B!ke Cascadia… casadia is our acronym for Collectivley Achieveing Sustainable Communties And Dynamic Inspirational Activism.. “its a mouth full and a feeling”.
We wanted to include our ladies of the bay, so at least on Wikipedia, Cascadia can include the bay. [But now rumors are stirring that a new team in NYC may be on the rise...]

Over all the atmosphere was exciting and new and I felt like we were role models for the Bicycle Belles and the Bottom Brackettes.. I was wondering what it must be like to be new to this whole movement and be able to meet up with other troupes at some random cabin in the woods!!
We danced, we cooked, we had tons of discussions and workshops and some of us even took the canoe out on the lake..

{Agent Pulse}

International Bike Dance Symposium, part I

This weekend, bike dancers from Oregon, Washington, and Canada will be taking to the forest to meet for the first international bike dance symposium.  We’re really proud to be part of this group of female and male bike dance troupes getting together for skill shares, meetings, and all around revolution planning. Big plans are afoot. Stay tuned for stories and updates. Only amazing things can happen when dozens of advocates and activists get together to dance with bikes in a cabin in the forest.

Kids

Right as autumn begins to creep up, a bunch of kids just started riding their bikes.

One of us Sprockettes lives across the street from a house that seems to be inhabited only by kids and a lot of them. It’s kids year round, outside, playing and running around until the sun sets, no matter what time that is. This summer, I painted my Sprockettes bike in an empty lot next to the house, and one of the kids spent the afternoon watching the process. Never having seen a grown woman spray paint a kids’ bike before, he asked rapid-fire investigative journalist-style questions about Sprockettes. The interview went on so long, I thought he was looking to bring us in for show and tell.

Last weekend, the boy stopped by to show off his new bike, helmet, and cable lock. He regularly walks over to my place to ask me about Sprockettes, but this was the first time he’d pedaled over. The boy (whose name is still a mystery, after 2 ½ years on this street) had earned his bike and gear by attending a Community Cycling Center after-school Bike Club. The club is for 9-12 year olds from low-income families. They learn, they work, they earn a bike. He told me all about it. This kid was so proud of his bike, especially because his wheels were bigger than my Sprockettes bike 20 inches. He marched into my garage, pulled out some tools and started making adjustments to his ride. The next day, he and his 4 year old sibling showed up looking for air for the younger one’s 12-inch wheels. The older boy and I took apart the bike, cleaned and lubed the chain, filled the tires, and had a heated debate about training wheels while a horde of other young family members pedaled over and messed around with their bikes using as many of my tools as they could get their hands on. I’d never even seen these kids on bikes before.

A rare occasion, practice was cancelled this evening. The older boy saw me in the front yard just after dark and came tearing across the street to find out why I wasn’t at practice. I didn’t even know the kid liked bikes that much, and he’s never seen us perform (he thinks we do BMX tricks, but how do I explain bike dancing to a kid who hardly even rides?), and I’ve certainly never told him I had practice on Wednesday nights. But suddenly he has become Sprockettes’ biggest fan, even to the point of memorizing our practice schedule, and he is now the proud owner of a beautiful, rebuilt bicycle that he earned by becoming a knowledgeable and capable rider.

Sprockettes support anyone interested in pursuing bicycling whether for sport, commuting, fun, zoobombing, ridiculousness, or just because it makes you look and feel fantastic. If you’re not a bicyclist yourself, there are a lot of locally-owned and cooperative shops around Portland to get you started. You can also access some very handy Oregon Revised Statutes on bicyclists’ and motorists’ legal rights and responsibilities in “Pedal Power: A Legal Guide for Oregon Cyclists” at http://www.stc-law.com/bikepower.html.

Enjoy your ride.

Roller Derby National Championships November 14-16

If you’re up for seeing some ladies with a slightly more competitive edge AND hard plastic wheels, come check out the Northwest Knockdown at Portland Expo Center this weekend.

PLUS

equals some serious fun.

For info on events and tickets, check out http://www.northwestknockdown.com.

Sprockettes will be shaking it on Sunday afternoon, sometime around, but not during, the final match.

bike dancing at Howl for Howl-oween

And if Last Thursday just doesn’t quench your thirst for some seriously raucous bike dancing, come on out to Howl on Friday night. Chain Reaction and Sprockettes will do a short performance around 11:30pm. But! Come early!

Come early!

Come early!

Don’t be caught in the hour-long line if you show up at 11pm. You’ll miss the bike dancing. You’ll miss the music and the vibe and the costumes and the mayhem! You might miss our beloved brothers and sisters in March Fourth Marching Band, who will be producing some spectacular Halloween music at 10:30.

320 SE 2nd, 9pm-6am
21+ w/ID

Last Thursday rain or shine

Last Thursday season is wrapping up soon. We’ll be out on October 30th to celebrate both the gathering of local artists and the coming of the spooky season.

Meet us at NE 24th and Alberta at 6:30pm and again at 7:30pm. Special treats will include performances with Portland’s all male bike dance troupe Chain Reaction and the unveiling of an ultra spooky Halloween number.

hunkering down for autumn

It might look like the Sprockettes go to sleep when the rains come, but fear not, bike dance fans! This autumn is a busy one for us. We have three new members, and some updated photos will be on the site in the next few months with the current cast of dancers. Be sure to check back to the site periodically to see when we have some upcoming chilly, rainy performances. There will be a few. And we’re going to hunker down to explore more deeply what it means to work as an all-female performance collective. There are some revolutions brewing. Enjoy riding in the rain. We’ll be out there too.