Our good friend Sean Milnes hit up NYC the other night to ride with John and the rest of the Peel Sessions crew. Photographer Andrew Temkin put his own skills to use capturing Sean’s innovative style and bravado- check out his Flickr for more from the evening…
Jahn from Cambridge Street Press just dropped off some of the first issues of the Inman Review, a homegrown literary quarterly featuring Cambridge and Somerville writers and photographers. I’ve been speaking with him over the last few months as he and his partners have been gearing up for the inaugural release and I was thrilled to see him come through the door with a bag of copies for us. Literary magazines live and die by the quality of their content and an engaged readership, and after paging though Volume 1, I’m sure that we can look forward to many years of this fine collection of new and established works gracing the coffee tables and cafe lounges of the area. If you creatives out there have submissions for these fine folk, direct them to inmanreview@gmail.com, and be sure drop by Open to pick up your copy- the first run was only 250 so they will disappear quickly…
In the book, The Creative Habit, written by Twyla Tharp, there is an entire chapter on Where’s Your “Pencil”? The question refers to our American Express, Don’t Leave Home Without It, tools that fuel our creativity. In our everyday lives, there exists a metaphorical pencil, which is the necessary puzzle piece that drives our creative hustles.
Every time I visit OPEN, Joshua’s hands are perpetually covered in bike grease. When I see him, we dance through our customary social greeting which habitually begins with him saying, “Sorry man, my hands are dirty…” — followed by a hand slap that tightens into a tug-of-war style embrace, which leads into a shoulder-to-shoulder connect for the finish.
The fact that Joshua’s hands are always grimy is comforting to me. His greasy hands are symbolic of Joshua’s creative passion for what he and Zack, both, hope to bring to the familial and collaborative space they have created with OPEN.
For Joshua’s hands, gloved in filth, hardened and sometimes scarred from a day spent repairing and building bikes, the grease represents his pencil and is the one tool that feeds [your] creativity and is so essential that without it [you] feel naked and unprepared (Tharp, The Creative Habit).
What is the pencil for your creative habit? For me, quite literally, it is a pencil. True to my hustle, it is called the perfect pencil. As a writer, my pencil helps capture the world around me through finished narratives, or by sharing the fractured elements of stories without a voice.
Where’s your pencil? What creative spark to your habit will it bring to keep your fire burning? I suspect that once you discover the tool, the only thing left to pursue is your passion. Like Joshua, with his hands perpetually covered in bike grease, this is one habit you will never have a need to apologize.
This last Saturday, Zack, myself, and an awesome crew of helpers officially welcomed the public into OPEN’s newly-renovated space in Union Square, Somerville. We cleaned the place up, hung the gallery, chilled the beers, polished the bikes, and made some spoke cards:
Early in the evening, the shop began to fill up- locals, racers, friends, couriers, frame builders, artists, out-of-towners, and a few dogs mingled amidst the shiny components and locally-crafted bicycles.
The latest custom fillet-brazed steed from Icarus:
3RRR owner and artist Nao Tomii:
A bit after 7pm, the enormous raw steel door that separates OPEN from the Chorus Gallery was raised. The gallery’s inaugural show, “Keep it Down,” is a new exhibition from local photographer Justin J. Keena that showcases the artist’s past and current work via a diverse range of study, and the public seemed to be enjoying the new space and the evocative photographs:
Shortly after the gallery opening, the video kicked off. There were a few technical hitches, but our man Jon knocked out some quick technical debugging and the show began, with people covering the floors, stairs, and furniture.
A short film we produced last winter started the series, followed by another short that showcased a day in the life of Geekhouse builder Marty Walsh. (Both films were shot and edited by local videographer Steve “Stebs” Shinnerer of Quarter Productions.) The Boston premier of Macaframa followed- the hi-def shots of smooth riding in warm air got everyone hyped up for spring. The movies went over well with the crowd and the party began in earnest. Dom, Maggie, and Stebs held down the bar:
Free Narragansett, Fisherman’s Brew, and Redbull & Vodkas kept the kids happy and everyone took turns playing records, dancing, and generally cutting loose:
We had a wonderful time, met a bunch of great people, and saw many friends we haven’t seen for the last 4 months as we’ve been building the shop. More events are planned for the near future- we’ll post info as it becomes available. Thanks to all that helped out and supported us; we couldn’t have done it without you!
Photo credits go out to Kirsten Tamme! (Yes, we gave Justin Keena the night off..)
Our pal Ben at Freeman Transport just posted a nice photo by Tom Robertson, so I thought I would pass along the great photography. I felt this first photo was fitting, given our shop is now lining up with repairs and some of the local frame builders are starting to hang out after hours:
Despite above, most of Tom’s work is inspired by things in motion, such as his passion for cycling and the local kick-ball league. He also portrays Montana in a very evocative, even almost mythical manor. I’ve never been to Montana, however after flipping through his photo collections, paired with conversation with Ben, its climbed to the top of my lengthy places-to-visit list. I spent a good amount of my childhood in Vermont, I’m thinking it might be similar in terms of the slower (than Boston) paced, relaxing lifestyle – I know Joshua and I could use a dose of that! Here is another one of Tom’s photos from his Altered Cycling collection:
So we’ve been working round the clock to get this build out complete and it’s so close we can taste it… or maybe that is the taste of sawdust and paint fumes lingering in the air and making us a bit light headed. As we put the final touches on the space and begin to see our vision gain more clarity with each new day we are hopped up on anticipation (and paint fumes).
Here are a few hints as to what you will find very soon when we “OPEN” to the world!
Urban Velo did a little article of the 2009 NAHBS outtake shots- pics of your favorite framebuilders looking, well, less that perfectly serious. Here’s the Geekhouse owner/builder Marty Walsh we know and love:
You know you want this man to build the bike of your dreams- call us and we’ll hook you up!
