GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

"Where's Steve?" Fran Lebowitz channeling the famous Steve Haring I've been attending a lot of art shows of late. It's a way to feed the right side of the brain (for most of us, the left lobe gets hammered daily, right? ).   Read about iton my ChelseaGallerista blog .

VIDEO:  Shot by the Galfromdownunder on the corner of 23rd St and 8th Ave NYC.  Music by Honest Charlie, sampled live in Tucson, AZ.  THERE'S a perpetually problematic corner on 23rd St and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. And I'm not referring to the stalwart sales associates handing out the Rite Aid and eyebrow threading leaflets either.  In torrential rain, this corner becomes a deep, impassable twin lake, causing pedestrians to walk an extra block, give pause, or if they're lucky to be wearing the ubiquitous Manhattan Hunter rubber boot (women only), slosh smugly right on through. When it snows, it becomes a glacier and lake combined - necessitating some mini mountain climbing (see video). Squint your eyes to block out the buildings, street and yellow cabs and you can almost imagine you're in watching National Geographic documentary on Greenland - before global warming set in. I have no idea why the city hasn't brought in a truck with some concrete to build t...

NOTE: This post, and future posts relating to the Yoga/Pilates for Cyclists project in collaboration with Karin Fantus will now be continued on this blog: http://yogapilatesnyc.blogspot.com Following our sold-out  Yoga/Pilates for Cyclists Sampler  class in Jan 2011, Karin and I have found a cozy space to continue the series. Judging by the feedback  the New York Cycle Clubbers found our class very interesting and beneficial. (OK, we did hand out 85% dark chocolate with the anonymous feedback sheets). Here's a movie tour of the space: Tour around the space above - and apologies - I couldn't help but tickle the ivories a little, despite a traumatic childhood involving piano lessons and a book of mindless  Czerny Etudes  that resulted in teethmarks on the piano ... A musical space indeed: a 72nd St location - with cushy new carpet - for around 8-10 participants (when we stack the chairs) "What a tangled web we weave ... " It's called the Otello ro...

THE MOVIE (15 mins):   http://www.galfromdownunder.com/movies/handmadebikes On Facebook:   http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=491446521589 Shot with  Galfromdownunder CrayolaCam (8 mp point & shoot camera, iMovie, no really) THE STORY in MOMENTUM MAGAZINE (Jan/Feb 2011, begins page 29): http://momentumplanet.com/magazine  specifically:    http://momentum-digitalmag.com/JanFeb2011 Thanks to Babbling Brook Productions for this very nice comment on YouTube:  This is a great video that really captures the experience of appreciating handmade bicycles. From describing the artistic details of handmade bikes such as the head tube badge, lug work and paint, to the experience of having a bike built for a specific riding purpose, this tells the story. The time spent with the builders in their shop really lets you in to the work of hand building bike frames. If you're interested in hand built bikes, this video nails it!!! TO...

SIGN UP for this workshop here or if you can't abide Facebook, here . Caught mid Warrior II on Arizona Desert Camp 2010, where I taught a daily Yoga for Cyclists class.   See a shot clip . By cyclists, for cyclists ... I'm going to be doing a workshop in January in collaboration with Pilates teacher and cyclist Karin Fantus. For the yogaphobic and pilates-curious, it's a little back-to-back intro for newbies that demonstrates flexibility techniques (yoga), resistence techniques (pilates) and core strength (both). Karin Fantus with a client in her pilates studio Details below. It's sponsored by the New York Cycle Club, which is always coming up with fun and interesting ideas for its members - the last one was a group visit to the Bespoke Handmade Bicycles Show at MAD. You can sign up on my Facebook Event page , which will simply help organize responses and let you post questions and comments ... or, if you can't access that for some reason, there...

‎*** WARNNG: Parental Guidance Alert! Santa Spoiler! *** Visiting the Macy's Santaland on the top floor of this iconic NYC retailer in 2009, with Bike Friday customer Brenda Carlton. When I was a kid, there was just one Santa, needless to say, me and my nosy camera were hustled out of there ever so nicely by the tireless, velvet suited  elves - they deserve a great Christmas tip! Merry Christmas everyone! Santa's Elf 1: beats folding t-shirts! Santa's Elf 2: tip this man!  Scenes from Macy's Miracle on 34th St puppet show. Bear Crossing!  My advertising bent: putting the Macy's branding front and center The final scene from Miracle on 34th St Everyone gets this cute little badge

Continuing my "tales of the uneggspected" in CountyKerry: having been dismissed from my first ever waitressing gig, I now prepare to talk my way into a serious stint on the steamy side of the swinging door...  r ead "Doing the Dishes in County Kerry" Part 1 Head chef Bruce co-assembles the Taster Plate,  a personal smorgasboard of all the sugary offerings al dia . "You need to turn it around in under 2 minutes," said sous chef Tommy.  My life as a trainee chef Mulcahy's Restaurant and Bar, Ireland 1998 After my three-week waitressing career sank like a lead meringue I found myself out in the drizzling rain looking for a new job, and more pressingly, a new place to sleep. Kenmare suddenly took on a grey, miserable pallor, a trick of the brain when life takes an awkward turn. Bummer. I was still frazzled by being fired, though it wasn't the first time in my life. I argued that really, I never wanted to be a waitress; it was just a wa...