Manny T. Moto

You ever have one of those crazy days where so many incredible things occur? That was my day.

It started when I saw that the Dallas Morning News had posted the video of our Bonnie and Clyde bike ride. We did this a couple months back, but they are just now posting it in commemoration of the ambush's anniversary. After that, I received an email from a Transportation Planning Professor in Boston who congratulated us on our recent work at Bike Friendly Oak Cliff. At the end of the email, he mentioned that he was going to tell our story to his transportation engineering classes. Then I received a call from Channel 4 News saying they'd heard about our effort to get local businesses to offer discounts to people who bicycle to them. They want to follow us around and film a segment in the next few days. Then the highlight of the day occurred when I received a call from an older man asking for details about the Bonnie and Clyde film we're showing on Saturday at the Texas Theatre. After giving him the details, he said..."Do you have a second? I'd like to tell you something I think you might find interesting....When I was four, I remember going to my Grandmother's house at 233 W. Jefferson Blvd. Do you know where that is?"

I stopped and thought, then said, "well, the theatre is at 231 W. Jefferson...was it next door???" He said her house was right there, and was torn down to build the theatre in 1931! He then went on to tell me that his mother's maiden name was McFarland. As in "Spanky" McFarland's Aunt! I'm a HUGE old movie buff, so knowing this guy was related to one of the original Little Rascals was momentus for me. He went on to talk about how he's actually Spanky's older cousin by 8 years, which was even harder for me to fathom.

All in all...a pretty surreal day.

The Happy Bullets - "Herbert Had a Dream" from geoff johnston on Vimeo.

Sorry...I've been off LJ for a while now. With all of the various community endeavors going down, some life trauma, and more, it's hard to remember to post stuff here. I've been pretty active with the Bike Friendly Oak Cliff blog, and the theatre is trucking along. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up the pace. Here's a quick low-down of recent thoughts, ideas, etc, that I probably would have posted over the past few weeks:

The Jeffers (Jessica and Chris), finally got their local outdoor market off the ground. It's going to be a regular (monthly) occurrence, and I was so glad to see it so well attended. All of the vendors ran out of goods. That's such a positive sign for our area. They had everything from local honey, chocolate, coffee, to pies, natural beef, and salsas.

I was able to meld two of my loves recently, by setting up discounted pricing at OC vendors for anyone who rides a bike. We're going to unroll it in the coming weeks, with schedules dates and time. I'm really excited about the potential for this idea in terms of getting more people out on the streets, and broadening awareness. I went ahead and scheduled the silent film Hunchback of Notre Dame w/Paul Slavens & his orchestra. We're going to give discounts to bicyclists for this one as well. Should be awesome!

The Bonnie and Clyde bike ride was incredible! 300 people showed up, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. If these rides continue to double in size, we're going to need to hire police escorts.

While talking to my mailman the other day, I came to the realization that our postal carriers were the precursors to Twitter. Our guy would always tell me, "Hey, you should talk to Joe over at 104 Briscoe! He orders the same magazines you do, and I'm always delivering him musical parts." Sorry...that was random.

The recessions taken a bit of a toll on us, as Andrea has been out of work for a few weeks, and we've been adapting to living on less. It's not been as bad as we feared, although we have had a few challenges. In the end, though a part of me is nervous about how we move forward, another part of me is excited about the return to commonality and practicality...all things which serve our community well. Those things that our depression-era grandparents did well, like sewing their own clothes, farming, and not taking possessions for granted, are things which we all could stand boning up on. The ideas I've been championing regarding community, walkable transit, and local goods, actually thrive in this environment. If anything, I see this as the ultimate test of the infrastructure I've been working hard to promote.

On that note, when I was asked by someone recently why I've been taking on all of the community endeavors I have, I struggled to come up with a good response. After walking away and thinking about it a bit, I realize that all of the work I'm putting together is to allow people a sense of belonging. What I'm hearing most often from people at the bike events, theatre showings, art events, etc., is people saying "I've been looking for something like this for so long!". I was saying those same things 10 years ago. After a while, you realize that sometimes YOU need to pick up the torch and let everyone know that you're willing to champion something, and people will rally...or at least people who share a vision, which are the people you're looking for anyways. At this point, just getting everyone in a room together and conversing can be as satisfying as the project itself. We saw this at the BarCamp that was put on a few months back. People were just grateful to share ideas with likeminded people, and to collaborate...and most importantly, to not feel alone.

In my mid-20's, I missed out on much of the typical college life, had few friends, was in a longterm relationship where we were both unmotivated, and was fairly disconnected out in the farthest flung suburbs. Days were spent at work, afternoons in traffic, evenings watching television, nights going straight to bed...rinse, wash, repeat. It wasn't a life. My big realization on what was needed to feel "complete" was a sense of belonging. There were things I wanted to pursue like music, community involvement, and more, but I was locked down far away from any sense of connection. After the relationship slit up and I met Andrea, everything changed. We pulled up stakes, moved to the OC, formed a band, started delving into major art projects, and placemaking projects, and began forming a community. That sense of belonging not only felt right...it's what I should have been doing all along. I sincerely hope everyone becomes an activist for whatever it is they love. It's important. That's what all of THIS is about.

(photo by Brian Green)

Yesterday's group bike ride was AMAZING! I was hoping we'd have 30 people show up. As soon as I arrived, I saw over 100 bicycles resting in the grass in front of the Sixth Floor Museum. I looked over at Andrea and said, "Are they hear for our ride?!".

The Dallas Morning News followed us around, and Channel 33 news came out and did a segment as well. The full story in the DMN came out this morning here. We had know idea it would be the lead story on the front page of the Metro section! Waaaay awesome.

The picture above was taken by Brian Green. Watching 130 bicycles cross the Houston Street Viaduct was surreal. Just getting everyone gathered at each stopping point was a feat into itself, but overall it was inspiring. The weather was unbelievable. 65 degrees, light wind, and no clouds. We couldn't have asked for a better day. When we arrived in Bishop Arts, Eno's had about 3 people sitting down. I called the owner on Saturday and said we might have 20 to 200 people show up, so he may want to add some bartenders. I think we completely drove their sales numbers up in one short hour, and probably gave them the best Sunday they've had. I can't wait for the next one.

More pics here.

The Happy Bullets request your presence (and everybody you know!) on Feb 13th @ SPACE, for the filming of our latest video, "F&*# Yeah, I'm in Love with You!". We'll be working with Hal Samples to BREAK A WORLD RECORD: to film THE most people making out in one place at one time! Hal is bringing in his friends from the guerilla improv troupe that brought Dallas the Santa Rampage, and the outdoor pillow fight on Greenville. Tell everyone you know, and bring someone you love! You will be filmed, and we're needing some ultra-passionate kissing.

More details soon. There's a facebook event online now, and we'll also include a link with more info shortly.

There will be LOVE in the air!

(photo by Ange Fitzgerald)

Luck just happened to shine down on my schedule today. farfisalovie mentioned that Victory Plaza would be broadcasting the inauguration on the giant jumbotrons outside in our ArtCon meeting last night. This morning I headed out to my first client...a law firm on the 48th floor of Fountain Place tower, downtown. I decided to throw my bike in the back of the truck in case I had a moment to slip away to check out the event. When I arrived at my client, my contact asked if I could fragment my schedule a bit because someone I needed to work with wouldn't be in until after lunch. The perfect opportunity to duck away for a bit!

When I arrived, the plaza had approx. 300 people all looking up at the giant screens. trixieskips spotted me, and I was able to meet up with everyone else. My emotions ran the gamut upon seeing all of my friends, and getting to share the historic moment together. Half of us were teary eyed, and just excited to witness what was unfolding. It was overwhelming and I can't describe the hope and change in tone everyone felt the moment Obama began taking the oath. It reminded me of the scene in Pleasantville when everything Black and White slowly started changing to color.

All in all, an amazing historic day.

Stopped by my friend Shannon's new place of business this morning to take a look at his brand spankin' new coffee roaster. He went from roasting out of his garage on weekends to officially cutting the cord at his fulltime gig to pursue his passion of roasting. He and his wife are awesome people, and just had a baby. I'm so excited to see them building this business from the ground up.

The smell reminded me of my roasting days a few years back. I had a similar idea for a roasting business, but didn't have the diligence or patience to really see it through. Now I get to live vicariously through Shannon!

You can order his beans, and have them delivered fresh to your door at www.oakcliffcoffee.com

I've been toying with the idea of doing a historic bike tour of the OC, and after talking it over with my fellow BFOC members, it looks like we'll be pulling this one off on Feb 1st (weather permitting). More details, including the time, location, and map are located here.

Speaking of BFOC, we had a photo shoot on Friday at Bolsa and close to 20 people showed up. It was after work, so several members had to drive over, but the bulk of the group rode out for the evening. We were really pleased with the turnout on such short notice. Our facebook group has 88 members now. If we're ever able to get everyone out at once, we'll have a decent little critical mass!

I love our new restaurant Bolsa! They not only serve awesome food, but have incredible bands play, and are really helping to put the OC on the map. They recently were on the cover of D Magazine and received a coveted best of nomination. I went up there earlier in the week and was talking to the co-owner, Chris Jeffers, who's also on my board of directors for the Texas Theatre. While chatting about all of the recent fanfare and business, he told me, "you know, the reason why I was able to get the investors lined up to back me in this building and location was because I pulled out the article with you in front of the Nodding Dog talking about brining the streetcar back to Oak Cliff."

I. was. shocked.

When planning the alignment and gathering our data, we had noted that areas which had revived their streetcars had received a major boon in economic development, and I even hypothesized that our initial planning could very well inspire folks to consider bringing more business here. BUT, this was the first example that someone had actually told us our work was a direct influencer in bringing a successful restaurant. I grabbed Chris by the arm and said, "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US?!?!"

Our city will back projects based primarily on economic development. We've just proven that merely the possibility of a streetcar line is bringing business. Imagine what a fully functioning system will do.

I was talking to my boss this afternoon, and we were both astounded that this recession has actually not hit our industry (knock on wood) like the past couple. Specifically, the dot com bust made me and others involved in IT scramble for any position available. I remember having a pit in my stomach every time I heard another friend's new company go under. Prior to that bust, everyone speculated that the web was going to take over the world, and that brick and mortar businesses were on the ropes. Obviously, it was well too early for everyone to begin adopting that drastic of a change in their lifestyles, but it appears that the early expectations of the web are slowly becoming apparent with this bust. I remember a lot of friends saying downloadable mp3's were the way of the future in 1999, but hardly anyone was buying them. Now, with the iPod's ubiquity, I'm watching the cd sections in bookstores and big boxes, get smaller and smaller. The old industry stalwarts like the printed newspaper, will be gone in my lifetime. They just don't make any sense anymore. They're outdated in moments, expensive to produce, not environmentally friendly, and require a massive distribution network. I think magazines can do fine, or even weekly papers that are more story than news related can survive, but a daily paper news source has far too much competition. More evidence to me that we're seeing the expectations of the dot com era come to life are that October and November, the months following the stock market drop, were our best in 5 years. I've been on more new business calls in the last 6 months than I recall going on over the last two years. Marketing companies (at least our clients), which are usually hit early and hard in a recession, don't seem to be taking as big a toll. Maybe it's just because most of our clients deal with web advertising and not print.

None of what I'm detailing here is new, and has been written about ad nauseum, but I think the fact that it's effecting the exact opposite industries as the past is pretty telling.

Well, that didn't take long. After 24 hours of screenprinting, I figured we might as well share the love:

My Etsy Shop

The profit's are pretty paltry, but anything sold goes back into bicycle infrastructure/awareness projects for the Cliff. If you're a close friend, I can probably be talked into making one for the price of a beer and the cost of a shirt ;-)

We picked up a screen printing kit for the kid's this morning, and went to work on making some shirts later that night. We used our BFOC group's logo, since it's simple and one color.

Speaking of BFOC...the new bike racks are up at several of the restaurant. Belmont is now going to create a bike rental program next door to their cafe, and we're going to create a points of interest map of the OC which connects all of the locations we dropped off racks. Very exciting!

This month's Advocate Magazine (formerly CliffDweller), published an excerpt on our Stevie Ray Vaughan statue effort. If you pick up a paper edition, it includes a rendering. I think you can grab them up in the Bishop Arts District at the new coffee shop. The online edition is here: http://www.advocatemag.com/oak-cliff/magazine/Overheard_in_Oak_Cliff.html?c=y

I'm really excited about this project, and have already been contacted by friends of SRV about helping with the fundraising effort. Victor Rangel, the sculptor/artist, is pulling quotes from the foundry in Oklahoma this weekend. They'll be the ones who cast his final work in bronze. I'm planning on documenting his entire process here, from rendering to clay model, to life size.

I've got a handful of ideas for community and personal projects in 2009 that I'd like to tackle. Some are already in the works. Here's the quick list:





1) Stevie Ray Vaughan Statue in Lake Cliff Park. I commissioned an old friend who's an artist and sculptor for renderings of a potential SRV statue here. The Cliffdweller is going to run a piece about it next month, and Bolsa has mentioned that they'd help with a fundraiser on its casting. Stevie was born in Methodist, which is across the street from the park, so I think it would be a fitting tribute. I'm really excited about this project, and think it will go far to create a strong iconic image for the OC, that also honors our area's past. Dallas tends to overlook its history, so I'm trying to push for things that will highlight the rich blues tradition here.



2) Solar Race and Green Symposium on Jefferson Blvd. - I've gathered the names of the various physics departments in all of the High Schools in South Dallas to pitch an idea to have the kids run a solar race, similar to the state wide one sponsored by Dell at Texas Motor Speedway. I think South Dallas schools in general get berated more than necessary, and I love the idea of highlighting their science departments, and hopefully sparking excitement in the kids to continue down the path of green engineering. Part of this idea comes from many late night conversations with our friend Mark, who won the Washington DC Solar Decathalon in 2005. Of course, his competition was based on homes, but I think vehicles would allow for a modern day soap box race. Imagine these things swerving down Jefferson Blvd. We could also invite speakers to the theatre afterward. This one is partially in the works, but I'm thinking it can't take place until late April.



3) Booksale for the Texas Theatre - I've entertained the idea of opening a bookstore in the past, but I realize they are rarely profitable, and I fear that with the major advent of digital books, they're less likely to survive the test of time. Of course, I think the way to make one succeed would be to do what half price on NW Highway, and Powell's in Portland have done, and that is to make a Third Place for people to browse books, drink coffee, co-office, allow children to play, offer classes, and have a place to just people watch. This was a former Eckerd that is right across the street from the Theatre. I want to pitch allowing us to use it for a weekend booksale, and to have the proceeds go to the Theatre renovation. I've had several teachers say they'd be willing to rally friends and neighbors to provide the books. I think it would be an awesome community led effort. Plus, my hope is that people will also see the potential of the space as a retail outlet. It's been sitting vacant now for years, and it always depresses me to see no activity in such a prime retail apace. AND it's got those beautiful big sidewalks. They're just begging for outdoor seating!



4) AFI Film Festival at the Texas! - I don't want to hold my breath, because the economy is not in the best shape, but I've met with these guys, and they're very interested in using the Texas as a potential space for 2009's festival. This would be incredible on so many levels.



5) Blues, Bandits, and BBQ Festival - 2009 marks the 75th anniversary of the Bonnie and Clyde ambush in Louisiana. Since they happen to be a couple of locals, and their story is deeply meshed into international pop culture, I wanted to do something to highlight the date. So far, I've scheduled to show the movie Bonnie and Clyde on May 23rd. I've also been contacted by a friend of Jimmie Vaughan about him performing at a potential fundraising show. I don't want to hold my breath here either, but it would be so incredible if this one works out. Also, I wanted to block off the street and hold a BBQ competition, since you can't have blues without brisket! I think Lone Star beer would be a perfect sponsor as well. No matter what, at the very least, we'll show the movie.

6) Acquire a screen and high end projector for the Texas. 'nuff said. We also need to be well on our way with a capital campaign by summer.



7) Dia De Los Muertos Parade - The Ice House Cultural Center is moving into the space next door to the Texas Theatre in 2009. They usually have a DDLM event, but I wanted to also look at having a parade, and making it a combined folk art/cultural festival. I think it would be the perfect annual event in OC. Greenville has the St. Patty's parade, and Uptown has the Halloween one, so this would be a uniquely OC happening. The Chamber has already signed off on this one, so I'm confident it will roll out in early November.

8) Get OCTA's phase I alignment in the 2010 Bond Package. This is already in the works, and I'm pretty confident we'll have something setup for people to vote on when the time comes. I'm adding it because it's probably my largest to-do of the year. Fortunately, I have a great team working with me on this one.

9) Release three records. The Happy Bullets one is 90% complete, and we've booked the first weekend of January to wrap up loose ends, so I'm very confident with having it out soon. The Escalator Maintenance Society stuff is complete, but needs to be recorded still. Lastly, the duo-pop side project with Andrea, The Dreamies. The latter is going to be lo-fi, and very kitchen sink when it comes to instrumentation and production. I have a ton of leftover 2 minute pop songs that I've been looking to get out, but didn't want to use the HB's as the outlet. I don't have a lot of major plans for this record, outside of just getting the stuff out and recorded so I can keep the creative juices flowing.



10) Landscape Architecture Competition on Jefferson - I got this idea from my clients at SWA. They held a weekend competition between their offices on a blighted block in San Francisco. Each office took a section and went to town building some incredible landscaped areas which included LED lighting, solar equipment, and more. The project got a lot of great press, and did a lot for an old opera house that's surrounding area was falling apart.



11) Sidewalk seating pledge drive - The bike rack pledge drive was an overwhelming success, so I've been trying to think about something that would be equally noticeable, and beneficial. I've been reading Sucher's book, City Comforts, and he outlines little things to be done to make an area more walkable and people friendly. Among the list is the simple "Give people a place to sit", that breaks down why it's important to add benches in an area. Obviously, there's the worry that people will sleep on the benches, but I think downtown has introduced several options that include railing to prevent that from happening.

12) Get Tom Hanks to help with the Theatre renovation! - I know that sounds far fetched, but he's supposed to begin filming a retrospective for HBO on the Kennedy assassination. I know he'll be needing in the Texas, so don't think I won't be hitting him up for a colossal favor!

13) Tour the West Coast - So far, we've played throughout the Mid-West, South, and East Coast, but the West Coast has remained elusive. Not in 2009! I'm planning on at least performing in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. After that, I'll be more than happy to stick close to home...though a European tour would be mindblowingly amazing.


There's other events that are more related to fundraiser's for OCTA, and films, but those are ongoing. The one's I listed are bigger in scale, so I wanted to break them apart. Part of the reason I'm writing this list is for me to come back to in several months to make sure I'm following through on the original goals. I can't guarantee that all of them will get done, but I do think there's a good chance to knock out well over half.

I finally got a chance to run over to the warehouse where our bikeracks have been awaiting my pickup. We were able to get 7 total after our successful, socialmedia led bike rack pledge drive.

They were bigger than I anticipated and very solid. It was fun being Santa Claus and dropping all of them off at various businesses around Oak Cliff. I've still got two left at the house, and another two which are larger, being donated by another individual. We'll decide on who gets the last few over the coming days.

Now, we have to get everyone from the Chamber, and BFOC gathered up for a picture.

Well, I may have made my favorite things of 2008 list too soon. Last night, Ballet Folklorico and the Oak Cliff Coalition for the Arts put on Las Posadas del Pueblo (the Inns of the Town) at the Texas Theatre. It's a traditional Mexican holiday event celebrating the walk of Joseph and Mary while searching for an Inn, done with an awesome Mexican flair which includes mariachi's, great food, and dancing. The stage is set up with a long table where special guests sit, and are thrown a party while the audience sings and many festivities take place. We had 500 people attend, and free food was given to everyone! Also, we were surprised to find out that we had been included in the list of special guests, so Andrea, I, and the kids got to witness everything from the stage itself! It was crazy...at one point we even got to dance!



The night began with mariachis and children on stage acting as innkeepers singing out to Joseph and Mary, who were walking down the aisle with their own mariachis behind them. They'd take a few steps, and sing out for a place to sleep, and the innkeepers would sing "no dormir aqui", until they reached the stage, and were finally given a place to rest. At this point, we were asked onstage and given Mexican punch (a warm, cider drink which included cinnamon and bits of apple). Tamales were passed out and dancers wearing traditional garments would take turns performing. After the dancing, children are brought on stage to whack a giant pinata.



At the end of the night, 4 little girls went on stage and danced in beautiful white dresses while balancing a small candle on their heads. It was incredible and very moving to hear the audience sing along at certain moments. I was truly honored to be on stage with people like city councilman Salazar, and representatives from Balet Folklorico. The whole night I kept thinking, had we not just taken the small initiative to open the doors on this old theatre, these amazing events would never be taking place. I'm so proud of my little team, and the community for rallying around this old building. It's more rewarding than any job I've ever undertaken.

Not all of these were released in 08, but it's what I spun the most:



1) Parenthetical Girls - Entanglements

This one is heart achingly beautiful, with rollercoaster melodies, and lush orchestral arrangements. They make Rufus Wainwright sound like an underachiever.



2) Volunteer Pioneer / Volunteer Pioneer - I mentioned this one earlier in the year, and probably played it nonstop over the summer. San Francisco band, reminds me of Neutral Milk Hotel making out with Wolf Parade. Wonderful lyrics like "Don't tell me you love me, that's extortion!". It's only available as a download, and is pretty much an Extended EP (nevermind the redundancy).



3) Bobby Patterson / Soul of the Man - Stuart gets a shout out here for recommending this local legend. Getting to meet him, and having him perform at our fundraiser was a highlight of the year. Asher sings the song "Quiet! Do no disturb" all of the time now.



4) Muddy Waters / His Best: 1947 - 1955 - I was never a huge blues fan growing up, but I think it was due to not listening to the right records. When all you hear of blues is 80's era Eric Clapton in school, then you can see how it can be a turn off. Obviously, listening to early Stones records gets you in the right train of mind, but what sealed the deal for me was listening to Tom Waits triple album last year, and his take on some post-war blues. Most of that stuff was more Little Walter, distorted harmonica stuff, but this album fell in my lap after doing some more research. I'd listened to a few Muddy tunes in the past, but for the most part, passed over post-war in favor of pre-war Robert Johnson and the like. This one was like a jolt. Giant whiskey soaked voice, old tweed tube-amp on the verge of distortion, and a great backing band.



5) She & Him / Volume One - First of all, M. Ward can do little wrong in my book. The man knows tone moreso that any guitarist I've ever heard before. Listening to him play reminds me of putting on my dad's old Chet Atkins records as a kid. Crystal clear, Gretsch hollow bodies with warm rivers of tone alongside the voice of Zooey Deschanel, who easily channels Petula Clark. There isn't any one standout track here, but they've definitely nailed 1965 in all its glory and bright colors.



6) The Poison Control Center / A Collage of Impressions - We watched these guys open for Apples in Stereo, and their stage show reminded me a lot of what we try to do at ours...which is just try to create as much joy and loud noise as possible. Their from Tim's home state of Iowa also! They were fans of our music too, surprisingly. I guess the world of E6 loving bands is pretty small, so it's inevitable that we've all run across each other either on the road or from friends passing along mixed-tapes. They were loose and playful...much like Pavement but with more sunshine.

Other mentionables:

Vampire Weekend. Everyone knows this record and I'm sure added it to their own list, so I'll refrain from a review. BUT, my one note is that this album reminds me a lot of the Tah-Dah's (Bright happy vocals, complex drum lines with afro-cubano rhythms at times), and makes me think that if the TD's had been from the East Coast, they would have been HUGE.

Little Joy. Josh got us to go to this show (which we left early, after being wiped out from a long day). Rich with ukuleles, and beautiful vocals. I'm kind of out of the sleepy-time music phase right now, since it's been well worn the past few years. After Elliot Smith, and Iron and Wine, it's hard to listen to more records that follow the beard-rock mantle. Not that they aren't deserving, it's just a very busy field right now, and separating the wheat from the chaff requires more time than I had at my disposal this year.