Bicycle Diaries

I finished Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne at Rustica. This was one of my travel books for the trip to San Francisco so I was happy to read at least a portion of the epilogue at a place I actually biked to.  I had given this book to my brother-in-law Otto, an avid bicyclist last fall.  David Byrne was in Minneapolis at an event celebrating the inauguration of a bike sharing system - "Nice Ride".  I needed some books for traveling so I ordered it and it came in time for the trip to San Francisco.  The book is a distillation of his journal; I had followed this for a while and have bookmarked it again.  For me, the journal sometimes gets confusing: many of the postings are on contemporary art and I really don't have enough knowledge of the subject to put his musings in context.  However the book benefits from some good editing and reads something like an old fashioned travel memoir.

Bryne takes a folding bike on most of his travels and likes to get at the essence of a city by 'biking around'.  He is NOT a sports bicyclist and usually bikes around in street clothes (he owns no spandex!).  Although I appreciate the exercise I get biking (and the improved blood sugar readings I get), I have been trying to fit it more into my daily life.  We'll see how that goes.

Byrne's point is more at making cities livable then just 'biking' and he cites some city planners and others who have been part of the movement to get us out of our cars and 'on the street'.  I have done some casual reading on this and am glad to see that Minneapolis is starting to become one of the leaders. The epilogue explicitly goes into this - much of the book actually goes into projects, concerts and people that he has worked with.  You don't have to be 'into biking' to enjoy this.

When I worked at the Black Forest Inn during the 70's and 80's, David Bryne was a 'regular' one summer during a stint at the Walker art center - some Google searching indicates that he was working on The Knee Plays, which was 'produced' in 1984.  Although I didn't follow the Talking Heads at the time, I have since bought  a few albums (Vinyl from Ebay) and reading this book has kindled an interest in his more recent projects.  Although Bryne spent much of his childhood and high school years in a Baltimore suburb he was born in Scotland -- surely a good thing.

More on David Byrne: Web Site  Wikipedia