This past Sunday goes down as a great day for biking in Madison. From 8 am to 2 pm, Madison closed off major avenues to cars, and opened up a whole new public space.

Dangerous intersections became car-free zones. Art projects clogged the streets. Cyclists, and at least one skeptical skateboarder, owned six lanes of traffic rather than the measly strip of concrete between moving cars and parked cars or the curb.

It was our first ciclovia!

Bogotá, Colombia, is often credited with starting ciclovias, which means “bike path” in Spanish. Every Sunday more than 70 miles of Bogotá’s streets are off limits to cars from 7am to 2pm. The city of Madison marked off 6 miles, including the scenic John Nolen Drive, which lies between Monona Bay and Lake Monona.

Shakespeare, as in Robbie Shakespeare, of Sly and Robbie fame, rocked the Barrymore Theater on June 10. Sly and Robbie have been the backbone of Jamaican reggae for more than thirty years. But their influence is felt worldwide.

According to Allmusic.com, “Their rhythms have been the driving force behind innumerable songs — one statistician estimated that together they’ve played on approximately 200,000 tracks, and that doesn’t count remixes, versions, and dubs. As a production team, the pair has been the equivalent of a creative storm, the cutting edge of modern dub, ragga, and dancehall.”

They’ve played on and produced albums for a variety of artists including Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Bunny Wailer, Ben Harper, No Doubt, Serge Gainsbourg, the Rolling Stones, Gilberto Gil, and Carlos Santana.

Sly Dunbar was on drum kit and Robbie bounced the heavy bass lines, with a top-notch back-up band. (The rhythm guitarist bore a striking resemblance to Nelson Mandela, which was kinda cool.)

They started out playing “Liquidator Dub,” which is the opening track to their excellent album “Masters of Dub.”

For people unfamiliar with the genre, dub music is a form of reggae that features a throbbing bass and drums sound. Often older tunes are remixed into a dub style. So, for example, “Liquidator Dub” is a remix of the 1969 hit, “The Liquidator,” with lots of echoes and reverb.

And it’s this remixing that Sly and Robbie are so good at. Unlike other reggae bands, Sly and Robbie take old songs and make them sound fresh. I saw Stephen Marley, scion of Bob Marley, a few months ago at the same venue and was disappointed by the weak Bob Marley medley Stephen threw in. Sure, the audience expected it, but did it seem stale.

Sly and Robbie drew from reggae hits from the past and performed current ones, too. They played a pared down version of “Welcome to Jamrock,” a recent hit by Damian Marley (another progeny of Bob Marley).

And when Robbie sang the old dancehall tune, “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No),” I wanted to melt. It’s one of my favorite songs, ever. And to see it performed live by the Masters of Dub was truly memorable.

Robbie looked like a samurai, dressed in a long, black sleeveless coat hanging over his jeans and sneakers. He wielded his bass like a sword. I could feel the bass line in my chest. As a friend said, he could play the same note for 100 measures in a row and still make it sound interesting.

Sly Dunbar was amazing on drums. It resonated on the dance floor.

After nearly 2 hours of groove, the band bid farewell. Robbie was the last one on stage. He sang and played a long meandering solo on his guitar. He left the stage while still playing his bass.

After all these years, they didn’t dial it in. They even came to the lobby and smiled for photographs. I happened to be right there at the merch table and snagged an autograph.

I was one of fifty or so hungry bicyclists who lined up at a makeshift commuter station that was set up on the bike path on Lake Monona this morning. The draw? Free bacon.

It’s Bike to Work Week here in Madison. Events are happening all over town, with inducements that range from morning treats to after work happy hours. A few local businesses, including Planet Bike and Just Coffee, sponsored this morning’s commuter station, which was

photo by newlow

stocked with bacon, coffee, fresh fruit, bakery, and bike repair. How cool is that?

At lunchtime I wandered over to the farmers’ market and found another Bike to Work Week event at the cement park in front of an ugly state office building. Machinery Row workers were on hand to fix people’s bikes.

Courtney Klaus, who works for the Department of Natural Resources, was taking advantage of the opportunity. She was getting her brakes looked at.

Klaus is a fan of Bike to Work Week. “It’s great. I’m an all-year-round bicyclist, but I enjoy hearing my co-workers talk about it,” she told me. “My boss rode to work for the first time yesterday and he liked it. He’s going to try it again-and he lives in Verona.” (That’s quite a haul–around 10 miles away.)

“It’s really good for bike advocacy,” she added, “especially when they fix your bike.”

We need more advocacy for bicycling these days. In early June, GOP Representatives John Boehner and Eric Cantor proposed to end funding for many bicycle projects. The GOP wants to cut the Safe Routes to Schools program, which helps kids learn basic bike safety rules. The Republicans want to kill a program that pay for crossing guards, bike paths, and new sidewalks. We can fund never-ending wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but teaching our kids how to bike to school breaks our budget?

Andy Clarke, President of the League of American Bicyclists, says this attack on bicycling and walking is “short-sighted and out of touch with reality.”

Even here in Wisconsin we have to fight for crumbs. For the first time, $5 million has been added to the state’s transportation budget specifically designated for bicycle projects. That may sound like a lot of cash-until you realize this amount accounts for less than 1/10 of 1% of the state’s proposed $6.5 billion transportation budget.

According to the Bike Federation of Wisconsin, Wisconsin currently ranks nearly last in total dollars spent on bicycle infrastructure, even though bicycling is a $1.6 billion industry in the state. The Bike Fed points out that “40% of all trips made by automobiles are two miles or less. Improved bicycle infrastructure alleviates congestion, eases wear on existing roadways and reduces pollution.”

Biking is good for the Earth and it’s good for the soul. Now about that bacon . . .

Weird, huh? Had to take a closer look. Guess what’s inside–mulch!

Providers of low-income housing that are fighting to keep their tax-exempt status organized a rally and mini-tent city at the Capitol in Madison yesterday. About 100 people gathered at lunchtime under beautiful sunny skies.

Organizer Dean Loumos, executive director of Housing Initiatives, said that by not guaranteeing tax-exempt status, the legislature will make  “affordable housing unaffordable, which increases homelessness.”

Increased homelessness is the latest in a string of Wisconsin woes.

“According to the city’s Community Development Block Grant office, the estimated homeless population increased 17 percent in 2008 to more than 7,500,” reports WISC-TV. “Officials said that the number of people served by county shelters rose 13.5 percent, but shelters turned away more than 3,600 people—a 22-percent increase. The number of children in homeless shelters also rose 55 percent, which is the highest level in a decade.”

And 2009 looks like it could be worse: The Bureau of Labor Statistics says Wisconsin has lost a record number of jobs in the first three months of the year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report says Wisconsin companies cut more than 14,200 jobs in the first quarter.

Barb Lindsay, director of social services at Salvation Army in Dane County, told WISC-TV that, “People are coming in. They had jobs, they don’t have jobs now or they just can’t get a job. It’s getting harder and harder,” she said.

So why create policies that will lead to an increase in homelessness now? People are having a tough time as it is. And it’s the most vulnerable people who will end up homeless.

“One of the biggest reasons people with disabilities have been forced into institutions is the lack of affordable housing,” said a wheelchair-bound Steve Verriden of Wisconsin Adapt, a disabled-rights activist group, reports Isthmus. “They’re taking away one of the only tools we have left.”

Loumos and his crew of “citizen lobbyists” planned on speaking to elected officials after the rally. “We don’t have the suits. We don’t have big checkbooks,” Loumos told the crowd. “And they’re not going to get a dime from us. We’re not going to give them nothing to ask them to do what’s right.”

April 18 marks Record Store Day. I’m looking forward to strolling down to MadCity Music Exchange, my local independent record store. Dave Zero, owner of MadCity, is planning on giving away lots of free stuff—CDs, vinyl—and I’m guessing some local musicians will play in the store, too.

Record Store Day is happening allover. Hundreds of independently-owned music stores are celebrating their unique place in our communities.

There is a certain beauty to the local music store. It supports local artists and local artists supports it. But what I like most is that Dave Zero always steers me in the right direction. “Have you checked out this Sharon Jones album?” he asked me last year. I hadn’t. When I got home, I played it over and over and over.

MySpace has made tons of music available online, but it’s overwhelming for me. Yes, bloggers can make recommendations. Or even dig out long lost vinyl LPs. That’s not my style though. I’d rather drop by MadCity and see what Dave suggests.

I love the physicality of a record store. It’s a place where dozens of genres share the same space. I can buy Pavarotti’s arias and ?uestlove’s beats. Record stores—the good ones at least—contain multitudes.

Record stores are a place of discovery. I make a point of checking out local music stores (or shacks) when I’m traveling. And I’ll never forget album shopping in Venice Beach. I found London Calling by The Clash and Horses by Patti Smith. Even though it was the 1990s, the music sounded fresh to me.

Finding music is part of growing up. I realized this a few days ago when my fifteen-year-old niece came to visit. She had fun looking around MadCity Music Exchange. I bought her PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. (And I sent her home with a copy of London Calling.)

I could’ve sent her the MP3, but I took her to the record store instead. “Record stores keep the human social contact alive. It brings people together,” says Ziggy Marley. “Without the independent record stores the community breaks down with everyone sitting in front of their computers.”

So on Saturday, turn off the computer and walk or bike down to your nearest record store. They’ll been giving away cool, exclusive releases made especially for Record Store Day. You might find something new.