More biking!

Just lettin' yall know there's a couple great alleycats coming up, on Saltcycle, as always. Here's the most upcomingest! Read More......

Art this weekend an' beyond!

I got a chance to check out the 337 Project's Mini-Golf Course at the Art Center last night, everyone has to give it a play, some really impressive stuff! I wrote a little preview of things to come this weekend over on the 337 Project Blog, including the arrival of Banksy's film at the Broadway. Sweet! Read More......

The internal world

The internal world
Originally uploaded by Der Blaue Reiter

A hive of infrastructure, rarely seen or understood by the throngs of
consumers it's intended for. Thousands of people, thousands of hours,
years of individual expertise resulting in a sprawling entity
that boggles comprehension.

Why can we build this mecca to buying things we don't need with the
seriousness and focus of an army of ants, yet we're incompetent,
incapable on so many other levels? Everyday people seem fine, and
kind, and genuine, especially if you extend your kindness first, but
their popular culture and political actions at large seem monstrous,
shallow, or selfish. 1 in 4 women are raped in situations so grisly or
so urbane that both seem impossible and outside of my scope of
experience. A medical emergency is enough to debilitate my fragile
world of self-sufficiency, living like a monk in the most excessive,
affluent nation on earth. Oil spills destroy the world for Nigerians
every day and we can barely care on an individual level when there's a
spill near our shores. How do I fit in to all this? I work,
volunteer, and organize community things every day, supposedly
sharpening my skills and effecting things for the better, but for all
I know I'm making things worse. Should I only care about the things
within the scope of my comprehension? Keep my head down and quietly
work on bikes at the collective, spreading enthusiasm for this thing
called art that has no tangible benefits? Or should I care about
everything and do everything I can to destroy this overgrown system of
pointless excess and eroded interpersonal relationships? Or should I
strap on a hard hat and fight for a city that reflects my values?

I don't know. I do know I'm tired, and I have some emails to write,
and I've got to eat dinner tonight and I hope I can summon up the
energy to insure it's not processed garbage. I'm not unhappy with this
situation, I'm just trying to be as realistic and effective as possible.
Read More......

I'm always in need of more hats.

Not real hats though, they don't suit me. What I mean by that charming bland colloquialism is that I do lots of things. I'm a man of hyphens, for better or worse. My most entertaining title right now (well, maybe more entertaining than iphone-dumpsterdiver) is: Davey Davis, Art Truck Driver/Docent. Along with my job showing a strange travelling installation piece to diverse little (and big!) people around the state, I also now blog for the 337 project! Check out my seminal blog post on my life as truckdriver/art teacher over here. Read More......

Tools and limits.

Blake, via Wendall Berry on the proportion of just control: "No bird soars too high if he soars on his own wings." Only when our acts are empowered by more than bodily strength do we need to think of limits. Think of the axe. Before the tool, a fight between two people could be healthy. Harm could be caused, an issue subdued in physical form, a dance of fists ending with lasting pain, but rarely death. Suddenly a simple hatchet appears, and the force that goes into, say, a slap, ends in a decapitation. The invention of tools led to a very real need for restraint.

In all phyiscal activity I often find myself coming back to something I first realized skiing. The model of human body I was delivered is capable of about 12-18 MPH unaided, and is built to sustain a fall of 12 feet or so from a little cliff. Into soft things, like dirt and foliage. Something to remember when zipping through a city of concrete grids in between 2 ton chunks of metal on a bike at 25-35 mph. It's a little bit like cheating. A psychological balance, a suspension of disbelief. The high that comes with playing this game is not unlike the experience of an urban Icarus. Except in place of something ambivilant and poetic, like the sun, on a bike you're snuffed out by a trucker with an eagle tattoo and a penchant for Rush Limbaugh.

This is the talisman of restraint, the quiet check and balance that keeps me alive. It is renewed, from time to time, with gruesome stories floating in from friends or the web. 6 cyclists in Montreal scattered like bowling pins. A friend with no memory. An acquaintance with no face. Life is a normaling network, days strung together, how quickly it changes. I consider myself fragile, consider myself lucky. Read More......

Fight like hell until it changes.

In 2010, 4 dark skinned women in aprons shine the shoes of 4 light skinned men in suits.


Outside my window well dressed men are imploring a woman they don't know to perform a handjob on the man she's with.

Burn it all down. Read More......

Done and Done

Cein Watson... A poet and a saint, a ruddy-faced smiler, even his bitterness is sweet. We're losing him to the backwoods of Vermont, where he plans to camp on his newly-acquired land until he builds himself a studio and a treehouse. Will you let us visit?


Check this out if you need a reminder about how great this guy is. Read More......

Don Giovanni Premiere Recap

Spoiler: It went incredibly.

(clicky make biggie, thanks Greg!)

I'm one of those people that's hard to please, as a general rule. But I can firmly and happily report that if not one more thing came from this entire movie project I'd be satisfied. Everything went off without a hitch, and exceeded my expectations. From the turnout to the weather to help from strangers to my two best friends winning the race, I was blown away. My only worry is how I'll ever top it, in terms of things I organize and in terms of personal satisfaction.


The alleycat swelled to 67 people, which I believe is a record for Salt Lake. It was a scramble downtown then up to the theater, check out the manifest here. At one of the stops Cory, Mark, Mark's friend and Meera decided to make a little high art with the help of the racers:

Pretty talented bunch, I gotta say. After that they got photo-shot by Tom Fleming halfway up the hill, here are some of the best ones:

Tony was first up the hill, and apparently took Tom by surprise.

Joergen's suffer face.





For more alleycat awesomeness check out this great little video shot by John Schafer. Thanks John! Check this shot of Heather and JC he nabbed through the Sketch Alley:




Once people started to accumulate up top we gathered up and went inside to watch the movie. Full house! 250 people came out to watch the inaugural screening! They were very kind and energetic and appreciative as an audience, they laughed in all the right spots and made me feel pretty great about the movie. I had to laugh, because as a filmmaker it probably never gets any better than an auditorium full of your closest friends and family. That experience will stick with me for quite some time, I imagine, I'm thankful for it.


Afterward I got to announce the alleycat winners and give them their prizes in front of a roaring crowd! Must be nice... We got some GREAT prizes from our sponsors:

For the top Women's Prize we got a brand-spankin' new pair of Outlier's Woman's 4Season Pants and a Pink Damselfly Saddle from Terry for runner up. We got a ton of great stuff from Pikey Bags, Blaq Design, Archive Bags, Discrete Headwear, Lifetime Collective, Velo City Bags, and Hold Fast. Schwalbe sent in 2 sets of Blizzard Tires, and Peonfx gave us a wild riding hoodie I wanted to keep.

But the top of the toppest, the best prize, by far, came from Burro Bags out of Jacksonville Florida. They sent us Salt Lake City's First EVER champion/bragging-rites bag, custom-made for the event:

And gawd damn it's beautiful.




Speaking of, this gawdy creation will rest on the shoulders of Alex Haworth whenever he feels like stepping his hipster-cred up a notch. Not only is this Al's first Alleycat win (He's placed second twice before, I believe), he's also my best friend and the Director of Photography on Don Giovanni! I swear I was surprised as everyone else when he won the race, even though between that and what comes next I should be accused of rigging it.


Because little Jessica Gilmore, my girlfriend, accomplice, and stunning supporter, won fastest woman and 7th Place overall. You go girl.

I can attest that she wanted the win BAD, going so far as to strap a map to her handlebars for the logistics of the race.

I felt great organizing this event, and extend my sincere thanks to all the friends, family, groups and organizations that helped me along the way. Off the top of my head I'd like to thank Dima, who helped land all the prizes for the race.

friggin' cutie.

Lindsey's Mom, who stepped in to help me sell tickets, otherwise I'd have been swamped. Greg Hebard, who is a good friend and puts up with me making mistakes. And for all of those who toiled, lent, waited, froze, and worried for me these past several months, I cannot thank you enough. You know who you are.

Here's the rough placement for the cat:
1st (Overall, 1st SS, General Badass): Alex Haworth (DP/Editor, Don Giovanni!)
2nd (Fix): Patrick Beecroft of Legal Messenger Inc.
3rd (Fix): Tony
4th (Fix): Joergen Trepp of Jason's Deli!
5th (Fix): Chase
6th (1st Geared): Greg Hebard of Jason's Deli!
7th (1st Woman's Fix, Overall, and Stubborn as Hell): Jessica Gilmore
8th: Max Hoagland
9th: Nate Borganicht (Birthday Boi!)
10th: Adam
11th: Lindsey (1st Woman Geared, 2nd Overall) (Plays Bike Punk in Don Giovanni)
12th: Benji
13th: Nate
14th: Peter Andersen
15th: Max Goldsmith
16th: Inacio Lopez (Plays Ottavio in Don Giovanni)
17th: JJ of LMI
18th: Zach Pina of Salt City Couriers
19th: Gary of SLCBikeCollective
20th: Tobi (3rd Woman)
21st: Dima Hurlbut (FLATTED, better luck next time :P)
22nd: JC of U of U Bike Collective
23rd: John
24th: Raphael
25th: James Miska (Musician on Don Giovanni)
26th: Matt Delporto (who designed our movie poster!)
27th: Luke Williams (Main Musician on Don Giovanni!)
28th: Connor Rickman (Producer, Don Giovanni!)
29th: Heather (4th Woman)
30th: Suzi (5th Woman)
31st: Gudrik
32nd: Skyler Chubaks
33rd: Simon Williams (UPM on Don Giovanni!)
34th: Matt
35th: Cat
36th: JD
37th: NOPE (First Tallbike!)
38th: Chris Rugal
39th: Vinnie of Jason's Deli! (He's a Car Driver, relax :))
40th: Al
41st: Lexie (DNF)
42nd: Joellen Morisson.
DFL: Matt Lemmons (Maybe?)

NOW, let's keep this sort of thing happening. Alleycats all around, everyone plan one. I don't care if there are no prizes and the stops are manned by pieces of paper, let's DO it! I'm waiting to hear if this movie gets into the Bicycle Film Festival, in the mean time lets make some more. I wanna ride in one! Thanks Salt Lake, and good night.


All the pictures we've seen and TONS MORE (Like EVERY SINGLE RACER GOING UP THE HILL) can be seen on my flickr page. Thanks to Tom, Al, Greg, and Zach Pina for the photos. Read More......

Caravaggio, remembrances from 2006.

I was a better writer then.

Caravaggio's La Madonna dei Palafrenieri

"Three figures, light from the ambiguous front and an overhead window.
Mary is so attractive, so innocently evil, as she compels her
strangely halo-less son to crush the skull of a snake beneath his
feet. In the face of danger for the child, Mother insists, aids, yet
shields his body with her own foot. The snake's fragile, roping body
reflects the spin of the obscenely thin halos, its impotent
expiration a quiet indication of Christianity's tendency to dominate
and destroy nature. A momentous painting." Read More......

Beautiful Don Giovanni Film Poster

Back before we started shooting I commissioned Matt Delporto (one of the voices behind the Salt City Rag) to do an epic, hand-drawn movie poster for the film. Sketches, re-draws, character studies, plot reads, rejected ideas and many, many desk hours later we have the official Don Giovanni Movie Poster:

Full screen that sucker!

I love what he did with it. I'm charmed and pleased to have such a good record of the film. For our next ambitious art project we're trying to replicate/recreate the image in a high-quality multi-layer screenprint that will be available hopefully at the gallery roll and also to reward some of our cast and crew for their hard slave labor work. Be sure to come out to the alleycat, premiere, and general bike revelry on April the 24th. Read More......

LA Marathon Crash Race

When Jessica and I were in LA last week we raced in the Wolfpack Hustle's Crash the LA Marathon Race. Several videos have been made of the event but this one's the best so far.


That first shot really shows the insanity that was 350-400 people racing in the middle of the night. You can spot us at 0:24, incidentally :) Read More......

Announcing the Tale of Don Giovanni Premiere

It's time to screen this bad boy!
Anyone who's been following this blog knows how long this film has been in the making, it's incredible, really. So now, more or less, I'm done. More words after the jump, but first I'd rather let the work do the talking. I give you the Trailer! (full screen that sucker):

Vimeo not working? Here's a REALLY crappy youtube version.

So, quickly, to recap: The Tale of Don Giovanni: That Indomitable Hipster is my first narrative film and a romping bike adventure. It's around 24 minutes long and has more scenes than a drunken prom date.

It is the story of Don Giovanni as told in Mozart’s opera, adapted into a hyper-exaggerated bike hipster vs. anarcho-punk world on the streets of Salt Lake City with updated sexual politics. Wackiness ensues. There are fixie riders, mountain bikers, flashy hipsters, smelly punks, a transvestite or two, many instances of the word f**k, a sex scene, a rape scene, and lots and LOTS of bikes. There's a dumpsterdoven BMX called the monarch and a man getting hit by a bus. The soundtrack is completely local and completely inspired and I weep to think of what I would have done without talented friends.

It took a tremendous effort to make and the work of many, many people, all of whom deserve way more credit than I'm able to give them. This project rallied people from all aspects of my life, and I was horrified I'd let them down. I don't think I did. I hope you'll come ride in the alleycat (which won't be nearly as hard as the one we shot for the film) and attend the premiere with your fam and friends. Please distribute this flier far and wide, I want to fill the post and possibly overflow to do multiple screenings. This community rocks and I'm happy to be a part of it.

See you on the 24th. Read More......