Cops, Violence & Porn: Peeling Back the Chamois

Happy news day to us! Bike Smut has had a few excellent media moments, basking in the sunshine of GQ Italy, being on the front page of Malmo, Sweeden's daily paper, and an excellent article in a publication in Spain. But while all of these are great for their own reasons lightning has just struck twice for one talented writer who intrinsically "get it"

Cops, violence & porn, Rachel Elizabeth Jones of Seven Days peels back the chamois.
(this is not the actual title, but it probably should have been because unlike in every other previous media engagements this was not the first time Bike Smut talked with this writer.

For the 2nd time Ms Jones has stepped up to the plate for Bike Smut and also the 2nd time she has knocked it out of the park. Her 1st article appeared in Bone Shakers Magazine in 2012, covering the fabled "Orgasm Trail" a choose-your-own-bikeporn-adventure.  It has long since sold out (Bones Shakers is an excellent publication; you should definitely subscribe to it) but the archive PDF is free here (go to pages 34-39, then read the rest) so you can see the article and also some fantastic photographs from Bike Smut in Madrid, Spain; Graz, Austria; Tucson, Arizona; Lyon, France and Bucharest, Romania (whew! that was a good tour!)

Bike Smut takes bike culture and the fetishization of the bicycle deeper than ever. Reverend Phil’s call for “better transportation and better sex” is irresistible, as are the Bike Smut pillars: joyful exploration, shameful flirtation, and radical honesty – after all, shouldn’t social change be orgasmic? Follow the tour here.

A shorter version of that boneshaker article is also still available on the Creosote Journal's website

This photoshoot is a recreation of original art drawn for our "Bikexploitation" Tour

Now Ms Jones is back! Due to her previous masterful handling of the topic we gave her more intimate access to our founder, Reverend Phil* for a more serious chat about the history of this plucky film and performance festival.

At first glance, Bike Smut could be easily dismissed as trite, and a mere distraction. We don't mind idea from individual viewers so much. There are a lot of ideas about sexuality and mobility (hello wheelchair porn!) presented during a show and viewers who want to think about them can. Those who want to just enjoy it as something silly and playful can do that too. Not every bit of artistic media has to have such complex flavors that challenge the mind. Sometimes you just wanna ride your bike and that's good enough.

We are not even that bothered by lazy media. We know how difficult writing can be and doing it under impossible deadlines can make for some slapdash work.  No what we really bristle at is manipulation of ideas to fit a perceived audience.  Our noble efforts can be easily twisted to appear as a freak show either by editors with an agenda (looking at you Vice!Mag). This is the kind of click bait that leaves readers feeling duped and wanting to avoid engagement altogether. Its an impossible scenario. Good journalism has been devalued in favor of high volumes of vapid stories and writers so often told that exposure will make up for the lack of actual compensation that doing good work has become a virtual impossibility.



Thankfully some writers care a little more,  dig a little deeper and the results show. In this article Ms Jones shows some of the challenges to running an ethical porn film festival on no budget and why it sucks being Tazered and arrested and prosecuted days before a World Premiere is a rough way to start things. Many of our strongest political leanings are not explicitly commented on but simply made into the structure of Bike Smut. Bike Smut's form of distribution, our not distaste for abuse of power, or the drive to keep our footprint (or tire tread, if you will) as small as possible while still having a significant impact!

Bravo to Ms Jones! Please tweet at the fabulous writer of TWO of the best articles ever written about Bike Smut: @ratbabyjones

* whose stories can verge on the epic... either being unbelievably overwhelming or just too fucking long

Feel the chill... the empty void without bike porn... Burlington

Following an amazing show in Boston, Bike Smut is getting ready to press on to the rest of the lucky parts of New England, Canada, the Rust Belt and Great Lakes. First up Burlington, Vermont!

We are fortunate the amazing venue, Arts Riot has played host to Bike Smut for the past 3 years. They have the space and equipment to make a show that lights a fire under the mostly mild-mannered butts of Vermont's capital city. Plus we have some really exciting local artists who are making some excellent live performance too!

the first time we blended enthuistically

Featuring: Songbird, Lauren Lauren Larken and Dj Beet Pilgrim, Steve Scuderi

This little blurb is a big part of why we are so excited Larken is partnering up with Bike Smut... again:

Larken creates art campaigns that initiate crucial dialog about gender issues and community building. As a founder of HollabackNYC and Radical Performance Group, she has designed, created, and performed on behalf of community groups such as The Alliance Against Sexual Assault, Times UP!, and Freegan Info. Intended to supplement her Danish Fulbright application, this short piece shows her using an interactive artistic approach to complex social issues, making activism fun, free and sexy.

 SO HAWT!

Plus one of the best writers that ever published an article that right is now working at the local weekly, 7 Days, which we assume will have people dancing in the streets!

blame this photo on Times Up, NYC

Get your advance tickets now and save 30% off the door!

Bike Smut 9: Science Friction
Thursday, Aug 25
Arts Riot - 400 Pine St
7:30 Doors
8:00 Show
$6 presale | $9 Day of
With Live Performance
ADULTS ONLY

http://sevendaystickets.com/events/35062788/bike-smut-9-science-friction-the-final-new-england-tour-or-something

So how much do we love New England? A BurlingTON!

THATS IT! MY LAST VERMOUNT JOKE! I WILL MOCK THIS NEW ENGLAND TOWN NO MORE FOREVER!

Come Again, Burlington!

This is normally where we make a humorous quip about the city or state hosting Bike Smut, usually involving their name, or motto into some sort of play on words.

In the past we've said, VerMOUNT (as in, to see you get on) and I think we also tried a Voldermount joke once, although its hard to out-parody the self-referential internet. Burrrrrlington made more sense when we came through a snow storm 4 years ago.  But none of those are popping and we are only into the freshest recycled humor.

So fuck it, we have a show at Arts Riot, a totally excellent space in Burlington, Vermont and we are stoked about it! Plus we are donating part of the door to Pride VT, who on top of throwing a great festival celebrating the joy of sexuality, also encourage the responsibility of healthy behaviors to keep you safe!

Bike Smut 8: Come Again
Wednesday, May 6
Arts Riot
400 Pine St, Burlington, VT
9pm - $5 advance tickets

hey! don't forget to put on some shoes, those pedals will tear your sensitive feets!

If you are gonna wave your wand around like that it might as well be used to fuck the patriarchy... Like Hermone, "the girl who gave literally zero fucks".

Riding Across Your Border

Soon we return to the good old (possibly even not bankrupt) United States. One country down, two more to go and this northern half of the hemisphere is done! (Assuming you don't count the other 20 countries in North America... Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is that a fucking band?  Oh actually, it is)

We have more smiles, joy, oral health pamphlets and porn to deliver as The Porny Express rides on!

No use crying

Burlington, Vermont
Monday, October 21st
Arts Riot
400 Pine St
8pm
Adults Only

Sponsored by RU12? ("Are You One Too?" for the tracially unhip) Testing, Educating and Celebrating sexuality with all of Vermont! photo credit

Pappas got a brand New England bag!

We have reached the Bikesexual zenith! At least in a northeast geo-political sense. We will be able to explore any more Canadian Providences on this Tour de TriXXX. Thank you Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. We hope our joyful expressions of bikesexuality will keep you warm all winter long.

But we may linger no longer. Today we turn South and begin the long, hard and sometimes throbbing road down to Mexico.

Tonight (Thursday the 18th)!  return to the US to run old glory up and down the pole. (if ya know what im sayin)

Burlington 

Thu Oct 18
The Firefly
200 main st. Burlington, vt
doors at 8pm
$5    18+  

Hey Paul, Forget the embarrassment of what happened when you put your sex tape online. There is no shame going on here. You can ride through every town, middle-sex and farm screaming "the pornographers are coming!" and no one will thing anything less of you for expressing your desires. Tomorrow (Friday the 19th) we travel to the original American capital of radical behavior:  

BOSTON!

The Video Underground

385 Centre Street

3 shows @ 7:30 9:15 and 11pm

$5  +18

 

Spread your legs and ride, we don't get no break! As long as there is a place where the fun is not between our legs we must strive to bring more joy and liberation to sex and transportation! The next day (Saturday the 20th) we press on to the smallest US state, Rhode Island, where we will decree ourselves sovereign, sexy and self powered in

Providence!

Dungeon C in Olneyville

underground show, email libertalia401@gmail.com for address

9pm    

$7 - no one turned away    adults only

The day after (Sunday the 21st) is kept sacred. If its porno, its polo, and if its not polo is some other ball and if we are playing with balls you are probably invited. We shall not travel further than necessary to deliver this powerful scripture of self-determined boundaries on obscenity. Not having to go to another city is almost a break because we are doing a second screening in

Providence!

Libertalia    

280 Broadway Room 200    

6pm    

$7  - no one turned away    adults only

Whew! That's a lot of New England packed into 4-day weekend. Join us! Share us! Rejoice!

Turning TriXXX in Burlington

We are coming back home!

Well not our home exactly, Canada feels more like Cascadia than the rest of the United States, but if we are gonna have certain inaliable rights somewhere it might as well be here. Besides US citizens probably need more bikesexual liberation than just about any other people in the non-pornographer-beheading world.

Plus, Vermont might just be the closest thing to Oregon on the east coast! Sure Maine has the original Portland, but there loads of ways OR and VT stand out. Politics: lefist, laissez-faire... well these terms probably don't mean much because so many ideas have become twisted so many ways. But nonetheless Burlington is directly south of Montreal, we are going to stop, drop (some porn) and roll (out afterward).

Shaking bones at the Old Spokes Home

Thu Oct 18
The Firefly
200 main st. Burlington, vt
doors at 8pm 
$5    18+  

We hear there is a ride beforehand! Stay tuned!

Yes! We are home! Makes ya wanna sing something uplifting!

I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN WHERE AT LEAST I KNOW... hrm what was that about suspending habius corpus and indefinitely detaining people without a trail?

Something unconstatuti-something...