A good way to tell that someone isn't from around here

When they see us standing next to our tall bikes... but still ask us where we are parked.

Friday commute to Pie Spot for a show, then bubble bomb the Bagdad.

oliveanddingo.com

I was in the circus my senior year

Went to the first H.S.graduation I ever saw in my life the other night . It was cool. I was glad I brought dark glasses. 
They were perfect for when I was tearing up as my family member walked the stage
 and just as useful for sleeping through he other several hundred kids that i never met till this moment. Congratulations all who made the grade!

Pondering what my favorite part of yesterday was.

Riding my bike and having fireworks thrown at us from a moving car, or standing buck naked in my livingroom at 2 am squaring off with a man who had walked into our house while we were in bed....ok I'm marking every other thing that happened yesterday as my favorite. Big time glad yesterday is over. Olive was shook up by both but she was glad to see I can be not too confrontee in some situations and extremely confrontational in others.

Fun footage from "The Behemoth's" side camera during the lit and loud ride.

I love all the sounds on this video so much. I make videos not as shows but like a window. I like documenting our cities landscape, culture and traditions. It's important in a world that is so subject to change. It's date night for Olive and Dingo, we decided to meet tons of folks at Irving park for the loud and lit bike ride.

Just a little late night jaunt with thousands of friends.
People from all quadrants of town filtered into the park like tiny rivers. Then we lay in the grass, take it in, and shake our booties until time to migrate en mass.
It was great night for a ride, not too hot, lots of darkness to be lit up and loud in. There were bikes and lights as far as the eye could see in both directions. We thought we were in the middle but waiting for some long moments we still could see no end. Some car people got a bit grumpy but most waved, smiled, high fived us, one group of women standing outside a bistro even proudly displayed their chesticles as we passed. Impressive, I would do that if I had those too I bet.
Some may say "Isn't blasting music late at night and delaying traffic kind of obnoxious"?
I will give you that, it can be very obnoxious...but not nearly as obnoxious as a freeway. The hood is dead quiet, them amazingly lit and loud, then quiet again. That's just a tiny fraction of the obnoxiousness of a 24-7 freeway and with 0% of the asbestos particles (from brake pads) and toxic fuel fumes (from tail pipes). Now that is what I call value.

Big thanks to Jon Dutch and Brian Sysfail for working this grand party out. Great seeing Kamikazi Karl riding Pac Man and all the folks who went all out to deck those bikes and wagons out.  Big ups to all our friends who demonstrated great cycling skills while tightly packed. I hope you guys enjoy this. oliveanddingo.com

T.B.T. early 90's, somewhere in Texas.

 I was hitch hiking cross country and ended up on a little road in the hill country. I didn't have a map (or even water) but I did have three kinds of fudge. It was dusk (or maybe dawn) I stopped to find the fudge and when I stood up a strange thing happened. I forgot what direction I was going. The world looked identical in both directions. I tossed a coin and eventually ended up in Florida.

I was looking for Portland from the gate. I just didn't know where it was or what it was called. One thing I learned in my many travels is to leave with nothing. First time out I went with top grade gear and lost all of it the first week. You get stuff along the way...like too much fudge and the oz. of useless pot I had..I was gifted the green from a business man who needed an extra driver. He slept in the back seat with a magnum across his chest and dropped the fat sack as a reward a few hundred miles later. As I marched the fudge slowly melted down my front giving the impression that my belly button had diarrhea. I had to ditch my clothes and give away as much weed as possible before the county Mounties found it on me..Outside a Piggly Wiggly off I-10 I traded a huge handful of weed for some gross overalls, milk, peanut butter and a loaf of white bread. The ganja was useless to me because paranoia and hitch hiking don't go together very well at all. Ya like how I was looking for Portland but struck out in the perfectly opposite direction? coins, only right half the time.

Ever hear of the Crocker spite fence?

Back in them early Victorian era days, rich guys would buy whole blocks of houses to demolish and build mansions. One railroad baron called Crocker started his big house before all the homes were secured. The last house was a German undertaker called Yung. The offer was $6000 for the property but Yung wanted a price adjusted for inflation so asked for 12.000. Rich dude refused to pay any more. After many ploys by Crocker to annoy Mr. Yung out of his home, he has a 60 ft. wall built around 3 sides of the Yung house. Yung still wouldn't sell even though he and his fam fam had to see by candle light during the day time. It became a tourist attraction to go see the monument to capitalist dickery. Then after a few years of this a funny thing happened...well maybe not so funny, both dudes died. The decedents of Yung sold the property to the Crocker people, the wall came down, then a couple of years later...the great San Fran Earth quake leveled the whole property. Epic win, by our favorite class M planet, leaving the final score at Earth 2-Apes 0

http://www.mistersf.com/notorious/index.html?notspitefence06.htm

Great pic from Annie, taken at Pie Spot Pie shop

Taken at our weekly Friday 3:00 showThank you Annie Bosworth Foley.   

oliveanddingo.com

Quick heads up, the Ghost Bike monument for the cyclist struck by a motor vehicle...was itself struck by a motor vehicle.

Last year during the W.N.B.R. we found it a real hoot, to photograph people who were photographing the naked cyclists.

Last year during the W.N.B.R. we found it a real hoot, to photograph people who were photographing the naked cyclists. This gent was having a blast silently waiting and every time some nude women crossed the street he was taking dozens of pics. He was smiling really big until his lens found Olive smiling back and growing larger as she was approaching while taking just as many pics of him. Needles to say, he got real huffy. Leaving Olive to say "What? are we acting in a manner that is contrary to the spirit of what you have going on? Wow better write your congressman and tell him of your privacy invasion". I hate when people treat our town like a fishing pier. Just because you "can" do something, doesn't mean they "should".  Sitting in a car, exploiting a bike protest-fest is all kinds of messed up.
We got lots of photographs of photographers, one lady yelled "Please disrobe clowns, I came all this way". We yelled back "Sorry lady, we have diarrhea" the crowd around her erupted with laughter as did she with her cute defeated smile and ginormous camera.  I'm looking forward to some  more photographer photo safari this

oliveanddingo.com

Luckily we don't work there or this situation would be very awkward.

We are both hard workers but we do distract each other sometimes  (I'm spraying the clock while Olive is washing dishes with a stick of margarine).

A good way to tell that someone isn't from around here; when they see us standing next to our tall bikes but still ask us where we are parked.

oliveanddingo.com

guitar clinic

Got interviewed about guitarness.
I'm pretty good at it and i like talking shop.
I was approached by a fella who started by saying he saw one of our shows and noticed i was throwing down a lot of guitar.
He finished by left hand-complimented me by saying he liked my "Garage band" style. Garage band? What does that even mean? Is he saying my music is perfectly good enough to play for vehicles, seasonal decoration boxes and Granny's bike that she won't ride anymore?

Then it got weird. He asked "What are your guitar influences for the kid music?"
lol I honestly say
Kerry King, Jerry Cantrell, Mary Cardin, Nick Blumstedt and anyone who's last name is "Maiden" or "Surfers".
Then he wanted to know what type was my first guitar; I had to admit it was a coat hanger.
I was first shown the language of guitar by a fellow who was ancient in the 80's. His name was Jesse James Cayce and as a really young kid he lived a few doors down.
He showed me old school country style.
I got into punk and metal very young so all that went out the window. I have been in lots of bands and played a lot of shows since then.
He then wanted to know if I have any advice on how a aspiring guitarist could up their guitar game.
I said a good way that works for me;  is to eat a piece of greasy fried chicken right before you play and don't wash your hands. I found that out on accident. Works like a charm.
So cool how you learn about yourself by talking to others. I would hae told him more but his bus came.

anti-Monsanto march 2015

Off on some do=gooder crusade to protect the planet.

Good noisy time in Puddle town. People were great to us. Lots told us they came when they found out we would be there. It's our honor to be the spear head.
Portland was very patient and kind as the waited for us to go by.

I got a complaint for cracking jokes during my remarks to the crowd. There was a question if clowns undermine how serious the issues are. Well I have been protesting this issue in that spot for over 15 years in clown drag. Street theater is a huge part of getting the folks to see your side. When it's all anger; protests get the opposite effect.

I had no idea I would be asked to speak at all and I did the best I could on the chilly morning while folks grappled with technical issues and featured acts not showing up on time.

The cops were really cool. I'm sure that would have changed if I careened into the back of the squad car I was tailing. I have been at this so long, lots of the police know me by name and me them. "Dingo, your Bike's paint job is way better than in past years". "Thanks officer Bill, we are slowing down a bit so the old folks can catch up ok".

I wish I had battery life to tape all the speeches. Here is my wild footage off the bike's traffic cam.
https://youtu.be/B9fv-VKoJ-c

Power to the people (not the companies).