One week away!

So as I finalize the roster, I think of the films of years past and try to compare them. They are always like comparing apples and oranges to a certain degree but I try anyway. I'm always excited to see the audience reaction to the films - and this year is no exception. We have happy films, documentaries, a really intense jousting film, a short film about an artisan in Somerville who makes these really amazing bike trailers (and is going to donate one for our auction!), a film about what it's like to bike the Iditerod trail. As usual, we're all over the map.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for our Movie Bike Tour on Saturday the 24th. We start at the home of Urban Adventours, where people can rent a bike if they need to. From there we're traveling to sites of movies familiar (Good Will Hunting, The Departed) to the not so familiar (The Surrogates - Bruce Willis' latest, The Town - Ben Affleck directed, with Jon Hamm), and we'll even point out where Cameron Diaz is staying whilst in town filming with Tom Cruise! The finger crossing is for the weather. I'm hoping we have a bright sunny day. Today looks pretty bleak - and I am sorry for the rowers doing the Head of the Charles! Glad the BBFF is not this weekend!

So come on down and support Boston's original bike film festival - all proceeds support cycling advocacy groups in greater Boston. They really need your support and we're hoping to plunk down a decent donation this year, so we need everyone to drag their friends to this event. We are having a wider variety of food and the Brattle has CBC on tap, so come on down and join us next Friday and Saturday!

BBFF < 2 weeks away!

And the fingernails were the first thing to go. Despite being in good shape (relatively speaking), I tend to worry about lots of details. So, this weekend, instead of worrying, I put it on the back burner and first went to the 'Cross Festival in Providence (well, I didn't completely put it on the back burner) and then went to see the Psychedelic Furs at Boston's House of Blues.

I've never seen cyclocross live, so I was very excited and the racing certainly lived up to the hype. The course was insane, and the riders were so good! I never could have done this, but my new New Year's resolution is to become a better rider - starting now! And the Interbike East expo allowed me to do a lot of networking and let people know about the Festival.

As far as the Furs - another first. I'd never seen them, and knew they had been my best friend's favorite (or one of her favorite) bands, so as an early birthday present, I got tickets. They certainly did not disappoint. Richard Butler's voice is just as true as it was 30 years ago, to my untrained ear at least. And his energy level was pretty high as well. It made me want to run out and buy all their reissues! Are there any? I was also pretty stoked about seeing Happy Mondays, which had been a favorite of mine and was opening for the Furs. They were pretty good, but, except for the lead singer, all the members seemed to be fairly young, so presumably new members. And the bass level was so high that it felt as though it was going to make my collarbone explode. I'm not sure why that was the case, but it returned to a more normal level for the Furs. Thank you to the inventor of foam earplugs - your eardrum's best friend. A great night of live music and a good time was had by all. Back to the festival angst at the next post!