DC taxicab Wisdom

In an effort to write something interesting from my DC visit on Tuesday and Wednesday, may I present, the transcript of a conversation I had with a cab driver at 2am in the morning:

BM: 12th street, I forget the number…
Driver: Is it the Shlomo building? (names and numbers changed for security purposes)
BM: It is actually, how did you guess that?
Driver: You’re talking to a human GPS, plus no one is left in this town and thats the only building that might have people.
BM: Everyone went home for vacation? No one lives nearby?
Driver: Man, you are talking to the only guy you’ll meet during your entire visit who is actually DC born and bred. Nobody is actually from this town.
BM: So they come here from all the corners of the country, why? the romanticism of being the nations capital?
Driver: It’s jobs. JOBS. This place is an economic engine on a scale you won’t find anywhere else.
BM: But there are unemployed people, right?
Driver: You’d have a hard time staying unemployed in this town, there’s simply too much work available. Even those who want to start their own business, this is the place to do it.
BM: So twice a year this place empties out and you’re left alone here?
Driver: I tell you where my place is, I save up vacation time, and I go directly to Rio de Janeiro, that’s my place. And I ain’t talkin days or weeks, I go for months at a time, I do it right….. well here’s the shlomo building…
BM: Thanks man. And hey, enjoy Rio when the time comes.
Driver: I will. And you should get down there soon, if you’ve never been.
BM: Absolutely. Cya.

A Philly Portrait Cause Im Busy

Just arrived back from DC, and I have plenty to talk about, but zero time to spare. I actually have a work deadline for tomorrow and I won’t be sleeping tonight. The fun-filled DC stories will come later tonight, for now I’m still reminiscing and looking over photos from my visit to Philly and how nice it was. Here are some photos to tythe ye over:


Leah and I riding bikes back from her work across from the Eastern State Pen.


The three men that gave me shelter, love, and internet during my time in philly.

bicyclemark90: Live from Philly

Here I am in Philly.. or actually.. uploading this from DC.. either way.. its me this morning talking about how and perhaps why Philly is changing. I also get into the NYC transit strike and how the media covers it, as well as a little on the new Bolivian presidente.

AudioCommunique #90(mp3)
29min+, 80kbps, 17Mb+

Im in a startbucks in Adam’s Morgan and I’m due at a party, no show notes, listen to it and maybe I’ll fix it later.

Brotherly Love Spilleth Over

Blamo – I’m in Philly. Blogging probably reads like teleportation. Amsterdam – beep beep beep – New york – beep beep beep – AC beep beep beep Philly.

What’s going on in Philly? I wouldn’t know.. I’m mostly indoors finishing work from Amsterdam that followed me here in my beloved powerbook. But I can tell you it’s loverly in this town. I think Jamie recently said to me: Philly is the new Brooklyn, meaning this place is becoming a destination for young hipsters yearning to leave swamps of Florida or the corn fields of Nebraska. For those who long to wear knitted scarves, corduroy blazers, and argyl socks. Oh wait, I just described all my friends and old professors.



The Leah, who’s café Im currently sitting in as the Death Cab plays on the stereo, said to me on the bike ride over here, that philly reminds her of Amsterdam in different ways. I never felt that in my brief visits, so I’m taking extra long looks at everything, trying to see it through her eyes and then visualizing the DAM. Slowly I can see some of what she’s talking about: Last night, after ice skating with some of the most beautiful ladies I’ve seen all vacation (no offense all ye other lady friends of mine), I marvelled at the fact that we rode away, all 6 of us, on bike! A peleton in Philadelphia, and we’re not even Team Discovery Channel. We then met up with other hilarious and wonderful guys and femeninas at an ice cream parlour. Thats right.. ice skating and ice cream, these people are either alternative to the bone, or secretly 10 years old inside.

Whatever the reasons they’re here, the people I’ve met here in Philly (Nocoin’s friends) are different in a great way. I wouldn’t call them MY PEOPLE as Im forever an outsider, especially living so far away. Still, they’re great, and I repeat: attractive, well-rounded individuals with a sense of community. Whether its brotherly love or sisterly love you seek, come to philly my friends, bm recommends.

Have you Been to Atlantic City

Growing up in New Jersey, you always hear about Atlantic City. Your town has buses that old people pile into and drive down to that mythical city where you can gamble your troubles away. Then, as you reach that legal age, you’ll hear friends talking about driving down to “AC” for the night, to roll the dice or play some blackjack, and come back north when the sun is rising. Like everybody else in New Jersey, I was used to hearing about the city every now and then, but somehow, I never went there.

So last night, as my family was hiding out for the holidays down in South Jersey, after eating fake-xmas-dinner one week early, it seemed like there was nothing left to do. Then my father asks — have you ever seen Altantic City at night? I admited I hadn’t. Minutes later, my father, my brother, and I piled into the car and drove to that mecca of shiney casinos, aging hotels, and utter poverty in its shadow.

From the outside, it is a modest sized collection of tall buildings with fun light patterns. Vegas lovers will say its nothing compared to their holy land, but the truth is, both offer the same horrendous features, in my eyes: gambling, extreme poverty, desperation, and addiction.

As we walked through the different casinos my brother pointed out the different games, the minimum bets, the profiles of the players.. it was all overwhelming. The place was in a frenzy, like a Portuguese flea-market on a saturday morning. Among the things I noticed were the people, all seemingly strange looking or suffering from some ailment. Maybe it was just sadness. maybe it was the unemployed blues. maybe it was their shitty walmart jobs… whatever the cause there wasn’t much smiling or laughing, just concentration mixed with frustration.

In typical bicyclemark style, I kept looking at the rows and rows of machines thinking — what a waste of money. You know how many hospitals could have been built instead. You know how many trips to different parts of the world these people could go on. and why oh why is such a rich industry surrounded by poverty all around it, outside those golden doors?

This morning some people asked what I thought of Altantic city with this expectant smile. If it wouldnt have been impolite I would have told him the truth — Im afraid of AC and the culture that finds this passtime appealling.

bicyclemark89: Playing Politics with Education in New Jersey, my Mother Explains

Im somewhere in South Jersey hell. Where the only wi-fi I could find was in the parking lot of this helliday inn. On the drive down here, with my parents, my mother started talking about the details of the presidents’s beloved No Child Left Behind initiative, and whats happenning to schools because of it.

AudioCommunique #89(mp3)
32min+, 80kbps, 18Mb+

Discussed:

Im sitting in a car in the parking lot, I can’t be bothered to write the highlights.

Music:

Bright Eyes – something from Digital Ash Digital Burn
Phil Ochs – Outside…
Joanna Newsome – Bridges and Balloons Dedicated to my roomate Amy

Next show Ill talk about the Vlog Calender and wouldnt you know it, IM IN IT!

Tomorrow: Philly!