¡Que Mas Da!

Congratulations to Mario and Kitty, Lars and Jeni Ladd, Danny Boy Smith and Lori Fish, Jay, and Kyle on their marriages (no, Jay and Kyle didn't marry each other but I have no idea who they did marry)! Congratulations to Liz Paul and Shawn Thornton, Daria and Chris Robinson, and Maria Schur and Chris "Nectar" Atkinson on their engagements. Eric Wilson moved to Milwaukee for medical school and will be back for the summer. Pamela Consulo went off to school in Monterrey. Natasha Parsons and Stan Stathes went back to report to their Canadian leaders-Stan's already back. SF messengers exchanged hostages with the Canadians for the summer: they got Joel Metz, we got Ethan Dale of Seattle. Farewell Lee Mesino and Lisa Ramsey! Welcome back: Cannibal, Robert, Cupcake, Grady Schnyder, Kyle Sheppard from Japan, Bob McG from his cross-country bike ride to Vermont. Good luck, Dumptruck and Doreen on their cross-country bike ride. I have no idea why John Nakagawa wants to move to Minnesota, but have fun!

Bicycle messengers have produced a variety of hard-core grass-roots zines which relate their special bicycle mentality. These include such comic books as Jay Joes' Messenger 29 (1989) and Ed Hilyar's Skidmarks (1992), and various newsletters, such as London's Moving Target, New York's I.C.A. Newsletter (which became Road Kill), and San Francisco's Mess Press and Mercury Rising. Mess Press was a one-off xerox zine listing its editor as Joe Courier, with assistance by the "peon" Mike Bessenger. The whole bike culture scene flowered in San Francisco in 1993, with Xeroxed zines such as Broken Spoke, Mud Flap, and Bicycle Siren. ­Bike Cult, p. 464

Ya gotta love any art show that downs 21 liters of Carlo Rossi within two hours and the piéce de r'esistance is a fully-outfitted shopping cart labelled "Bummy Power." The da da quotient ran high with pieces like "Fuck You," an altar-boy collage by Damon in which anyone who write their name on a card would get a piece of; "Canadian Menace," in which viewers had to tread on a Canadian flag to read about our exposé of the Canadian invasion; or "18th & Treat," Brewski's lovely photograph of a shit-stained pair of men's briefs marked by tire treads.

"Da" featured the art of 16 current and ex-messengers. Some only messengers would truly appreciate: treasured memorabilia including Erik Zones' 9-year-old flyer for the Harvey's Bust protest ride and Brewski's commemorative beer labels including one dedicated to Chris Crew. Spoo King, recovering from minor surgery, snuck in his pieces here and there: name tags with his trademark image of spoo. Not all pieces were bike-related, but Lance Schroeder and Thomas Miller both created art work from old bike parts
The reception went swimmingly. SF Art Institute students and bike coalition riders showed up early to lend the show an air of creditability. Lance Mitchell shared some Blade-Runner-esque instrumentals and later provided music for Damon's rendition of "The Bummy Song." Huge thanks to Melissa, Ramin, Damon, and Dave for helping set up. Thanks to everyone who contributed and showed up and thanks to Lightning, Western, and King for having the most culturally aware messengers!-A