Bruner Blog

Robert Granoff leaving with my Strida

Hard to believe, but somehow I never really blogged explicitly about owning a Strida folding bike. I guess it’s because I owned the Strida for about two years before I became a blogger, so by the time I was blogging, I never really had an occasion to gush about my beloved bicycle. I did, however, give it mad props every day in my old blog design, with a free lovemark ad in the lower left column of every page.

The bike is, quite simply, the best folding bike design out there. Folds in 2 seconds (literally), and you can roll it when folded. Those two features alone distinguish it from virtually every other folding bike out there. Plus, it’s got a cool Kevlar cogwheel and belt instead of chain and gear, which means, quit practically, no grease. And, best of all, it’s got a design so original the biggest downside of the bike is you have to answer questions about it at every traffic light.

I originally bought it because I had a train commute a few times a week to Conneticut, and it was perfect to get from my house to the train and the train to my office and vice versa. Then, after that job ended, I would use it as my neighborhood bike, because I could store it in a corner of the apartment and it was easy to just hop on and run errands when I didn’t feel like unlocking my steet bike from the laundry room. But now, I rent an extra room in our building that I use partly for storage and partly as a workout room. Anyway, I keep my street bike in there now, so no need to unlook it in the laundry room. As a result, I now hop on the street bike for errands. So I haven’t ridden the Strida in about a year.

I’ve been thinking of selling it for a while. Then the other day, I got an email from Robert Granoff, a photographer in Brooklyn who apparently has a tiny apartment (though ironically his specialty is photographing big beautiful ones). He apparently found my mention of the Strida on my blog while googling the topic of folding bikes. A couple of email exchanges later, and he’s the proud new owner of my beloved bike. Treat her well, Robert! I wish you many years of happiness together.

*sniff*

Dear Dad,

I am sorry I couldn’t be there with you to raise a glass in celebration of your 80th birthday in person, but I am lucky to have friends such as Steve who can help extend these best wishes on my behalf.

I’m proud to call you my father. You are truly a great man, and I’m sure all those in the room celebrating with you tonight will agree. I’ll try to keep this short, so as not to monopolize the evening, but let me recognize just a few of the countless riches I’ve inherited from you through your love, teachings and example:

A love of language and the craft of writing

An unquenchable curiosity and thirst for discovery and adventure

A striving to seek justice and defense for the rights and dignity of all people

Unqualified encouragement for all my creative ambitions

A spirit of youth undefined by age

Your frugality with money is countered in opposite proportion to your generosity of spirit. The irony is not lost of me that through your example I feel I have learned to embrace the Christian value of the Golden Rule better than most, despite being raised as a devout atheist.

The milestones in my life in which you played a role a too many to count, but here are just a few: guiding me to the University of Montana, the source of much self-discovery; helping me land my first job at the BVI Beacon, where I learned to support myself through hard work; tempting me to the life of an expat in Budapest, which incomparably opened my view of the world; co-founding with me (and Steve and the others) the late, great Budapest Week, some of the best years of my life; introducing me to Pam Clarke, who in turn introduced me to my wife, Adrienne, my eternal love; introducing me to Steve Carlson, one of my most faithful friends.

If only I had inherited also your diligence and time management skills, I would have started this toast earlier and made it perhaps a more deserving tribute. But I know you love me unconditionally, as I do you, and so I hope you recognize in these hastily typed words the sincerity with which I thank you for being a great dad, a great friend and a great role model.

Much love,

Rick

Sadly, Miki and Wayne are again taking a year off of their fabulous 4th of July party this year. Damn.

It’s well known by now that New York City has these days one of the lowest crime rates of any city in Amerika (earlier this year, Malcom Gladwell, whom I briefly met at a party the other day till some nutty Peruvian chick frightened him off, wrote in the New Yorker, “On a list of two hundred and forty cities in the United States with a population of a hundred thousand or more, New York City now ranks two hundred-and-twenty-second in crime, down near the bottom with Fontana, California, and Port St. Lucie, Florida.”)

But how’s this for a new twist: out of 35 large international cities, Reader’s Digest just concluded that New York is the politest. To those of us who live here, it’s no surprise. Anyone who doesn’t hold a door open for you in this town is obviously a tourist. (My beloved Budapest, BTW, is 11th.) San Francisco isn’t on the list, but haven’t lived there for four years, I would be surprised if it would have made the top 25. Don’t let all of those smarmy smiles and “How are you doing?” tripe fool you for a minute: they really couldn’t give a shit.

For tourists and recent California transplants, New York Magazine helpfully just came out with an urban dweller’s etiquitte guide.

I thought we learned the lesson after the Dean Scream not to let tapes with only the mike track out on the Internet. My favorite part is her grunt as she lifts herself off the piano.

My friend Monica Hoenig is looking for a job. She’s terrific. Please hire her. She’s looking for jobs as either a director or producer for film or advertising video commercial. Find her filmography and resume below:

• Filmography
• Resume

BTW, the date on this page is not correct. I uploaded this in April 2006; I just backdated it so it wouldn’t show up on the blog homepage.

My friend Melina Hammer (whom I’ve mentioned here before) is a talented artist, specialized in jewelry and other metal work. Recently, she took the plunge and quit her day job to pursue her artwork full-time. To take her private work to the next level, she’s trying to get a high quality media kit produced, but as a struggling artist, the $3,000 cost is a strech.

So, she’s come up with a creative solution: she’s created a raffle where for contributions of $50 or $100, you stand a chance to win a piece (or two) of her jewelry. I bought a ring from her for Adi for Christmas, and everyone who sees it asks Adi about it. Really one-of-a-kind stuff. Highly recommended. (And it costs more than $50-100 for one of her rings, so you’d be lucky to win for that price.)

You can see an illustration of what the media kit would look like here. I’ll let her explain the rest of the details:

I have been designing a graphic object media kit with another artist since the beginning of 2006, and I am finally ready to go to print. After an initial heart-attack price quote (no kidding, really), I have found someone I believe can do a quality job, for less than a fifth of the original price. That does not mean it comes cheaply however (a $3000 price tag), and I am writing to you all to ask for your generosity in helping fund this valuable project. This media kit is essentially my cover letter and resume in visual, dimensional form, which I am sending to all the people I have dreams of working with!

I left my job some months ago, and have since been exerting my creative muscles more, relying on them entirely to sustain myself. I am looking at these media kits as the opportunity to leap some major hurdles that lie between the touch-and-go life I’m currently living and a place where I could be working with some of the best talents around. Naturally I’m thrilled by the possibilities this presents, but the cost is certainly daunting. I’m turning to you all in the hopes that your support, while individually reasonable, could when combined help me achieve success.

In exchange for your support, I would like to offer you all something in return. I am creating a raffle: one for donors at a rate of $50, and one for donors at a rate of $100. For the $50 raffle, the winner receives a necklace from my new limited edition line–hollow formed iconic-shaped pendants: striking, and easily worn for every experience. The winner of the $100 raffle receives their choice of both limited edition earrings–bold, sinuous, feminine–and necklace (similar to above), or, a custom-created ring. Need I say, your chances of having your own melinahammer.com original improve with buying more raffle tickets!

You can make donations through http://paypal.com to melinahammer@hotmail.com (please be sure to add their 5% surcharge to your donation), or you may send me a money order or personal check via snail mail. Raffles will be held on June 30th. A minimum of 25 donations at the $50 level, and 15 donations at the $100 level need to be met for the raffles to be possible.

If you haven’t visited http://melinahammer.com in a bit, please do! There are many lovelies to behold, and be sure to check out the media page, where you can view event footage and other fun snippets.

Thank you everyone for your gracious support, and I look forward to sharing my progress with you all.

Shout to Stephan Spencer, founder of NetConcepts, an online marketing firm, and a contributor to a site I created, BusinessBlogConsulting.

Aside from all from all of that, which is well and good, he recently started a blog called ChangesForGood.org, which has a mission of nothing less than changing the world for the better:

The idea for starting this blog came to me one night when my brain was brimming with ideas for changing the world for the better in various ways (environmental, social, health, etc.). I kept trying to fall asleep, yet for two and a half hours I kept getting up over and over again, jotting down idea after idea. It occurred to me that nothing will come of any of these ideas unless I share them. How better to share them with the world and invite discussion than to blog about them! But I didn?t feel that my personal blog was the right venue. A new blog was required ? this blog! Of course I don?t have a monopoly on (hopefully) good ideas ? this should be a group blog. Want to be contributor?

Sign me up, Stephan!

A Bruner Blog exclusive! A friend who was there last Friday/Saturday when cops raided the grand opening of the Bulgarian Bar in its new location reports:

Don’t know why they raided, but there sure were a lot of em. We were downstairs at the dance floor which really could be better spot than the old location. Upstairs is to be determined, it’s so chic, i can’t see ugly people getting laid on those lit up counter tops. but downstairs it was vintage writhing serbian music. I was with friends from out of town and a New Yorker writer, we were drunk, smoking dope inside, it was great. Asses in our faces, boobs. And then Christy noticed a few burly guys with batons standing behind the blue haired guy in the fishbone shirt. And then the lights went on, the music went out and there were 20 cops and 20 batons, yelling they were closed, to move upstairs and out. Upstairs there were a few firemen, ushering everyone out onto the street.

I tried to ask a cop on the sidewalk what was up with raid. He said
and I’m quoting exactly: Don’t touch me and move over there.

that’s about all I know.

Ludlow at that location is crawling with bars, why they singled out
the Bulgarian bar, I couldn’t figure. Do you know if they plan to
reopen?

No, I do not, but I’m eager for details.

Scientists determined that you can counter-act the liver damage from drinking lots of alcohol by drinking lots of coffee. Why can’t we wake up to news like that every day?

How odd. Tommy Ramone, the only surviving member of The Ramones (and a Budapest-born Hungarian, I might add), has a new band called Uncle Monk (CD) that plays “alt-country punk-bluegrass.” Ramone, the drummer from The Ramones, plays mandolin, guitar, banjo and dobro in the new band. They’re playing tonight at CBGBs, but sadly I can’t make it.

Last night’s concert was all I’d hoped for. Much slam dancing was had by all. Kultur Shock, visiting from Seattle, was a pleasure to see in person, at last, but their set was too short. The crowd at Irving Plaza loved them and insisted on an encore. I have to say, however, hometown favorites Gogol Bordello really did rule the night. Since my earlier post previewing this concert, I picked up a couple of their CDs (Gypsy Punks and East Infection), and they are both great. But for the full effect, you just have to see this band in concert.

UPDATE:
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: I wasn’t there to witness it, but apparently the Bulgarian Bar was shut down by the cops the night of the concert (after Gogol lead singer Eugene Hutz plugged it from the stage) for too much fun being had by all. It was the Bulgarian’s first night open again, in a new location, after a few months’ haitus. How is that for street cred?

Here’s a further update on the police raid.

Suppose you were a 25-year-old man, and your hair was naturally bright red and curly. Why would you then grow it into a solid afro and compliment that with a brush mustache? Seriously. Don’t you have mirrors at home?

I wish I had posed that question to the fellow in the elevator just now. I’m going to be thinking about it for weeks.