Chari & Co (175 Stanton Street, NY, NY), the new track bike boutique on the Lower East Side, opened with a party last night. The store specializes in high-end Japanese track frames, components and accoutrements, which are even nicer to look at with a cold beer in one hand and some sushi in the other. Keirin track frames line the gallery-like space (which was previously an art gallery), while fancy components, track bike jewelry, and a Supreme charm bracelet fill the display cases. The super friendly owners, Ken and Yuki, have a good-looking store with some really nice bikes in stock. They don’t build or repair bikes, but if you’re looking for a fancy Japanese track bike, it would be a good place to start.

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On Saturday, the Fourth Annual Bicycle Fetish Day took place in Williamsburg. Hosted by the City Reliquary, the block party drew all sorts of bikes and bicyclists out to show off their rides and compete for prizes in categories such as Best in Show, Best Vintage, Best Small Wheel, Ugliest Bike, among others.

Click here for more photos of the The Fourth Annual Bicycle Fetish Day.

Here’s another account and more photos of the day.

UnionDocs presents a photography and video installation by Brooklyn-based artist, Sam Falls. Please come to UnionDocs on Friday, May 9th and enjoy the opening night shindig. Party time is 7-10pm.

In a departure from traditional studio portraiture, Falls uses expansive natural settings as the backdrops for carefully constructed portraits. The large color photographs in many of his series depict eerie scenes in which the viewer feels an unavoidable tension between the stillness of the landscape and the urgency of the protagonist.

Falls’s large color photographs depict an instant within a longer video piece–or vice versa–the video footage documents the process of taking a still photograph. For this installation, Falls recorded video footage of the same scene that he then photographed with his medium-format camera. The installation requires the viewer to literally stand between the static and the dynamic images, and in doing so, it urges the viewer to question notions of time and space in relation to photo-documentation.

Friday, May 09, 2008 At 07:00 PM
Location: UnionDocs 322 Union Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11211 USA
http://uniondocs.org/blog/sam-falls-art-installationopening/

In celebration of its current exhibition “Making It Together,” The Bronx Museum of the Arts will host “A Day of Collaborative Performance” on Saturday, May 17, 2008. Organized by guest-curator Carey Lovelace, the event will feature continuous carnival-like performances by contemporary and historic collectives including The Brainstormers, Guerrilla Girls, Inc., Spiderwoman Theater, Ridykeulous, Broadband, Christal Brown and INSPIRIT, 6+ and The Waitresses.

“A Day of Collaborative Performance” is the live-performance component of the exhibit “Making It Together: Women’s Collaborative Art and Community,” which explores an important chapter in recent history when women artists, inspired by the 1970s Feminist Movement, worked collectively in new ways to engage communities and address social issues.

12:00-12:30pm – The Waitresses “All Waitresses Marching-Band Parade”. A march up the Grand Concourse from 161st St. to the Bronx Museum of the Arts’ North Wing Entrance

12:00-2:30pm – Christal Brown/INSPIRIT with “Project: Becoming: On Display.” Group forms living sculptures; featured interacting with exhibited art works. Location: North Wing lobby and galleries.

12:00-3:00pm – 6+: “Walking Bethlehem”. An interactive travel tour via webcam of the Holy Land. Location: North Wing 2nd Floor Alcove.

12:00-6:00pm – Ridykeulous: “That Looks Really Cute On You!” Group builds plaster and found-object sculpture, with various interruptions, constructions, presentations and surprises and accompaniment of the band Legends. Location: South Wing lobby.

1:00-3:00pm – GuerrillaGirlsBroadband “Feminist Recruiting Center”. Anti-war counter-recruits will be enlisted and given ID cards. Location: North Wing lobby.

1:30-3:30pm – The Brainstormers (in collaboration with GuerrillaGirls). Satiric demonstration in front of museum protesting gender inequities. Location: North Wing entrance.

3:00-3:15pm – Christal Brown/INSPIRIT and Project: Becoming perform. Location: North Wing - 2nd Floor.

3:15-4:00pm – Spiderwoman Theater Retrospective performance. Location: North Wing - 2nd Floor.

4:00-5:00pm – The Waitresses “Unhappy Hour”. Serving drinks and snacks. Men pay $1, women 77 cents. Location: North Wing 2nd Floor.

5:00-5:30pm – Ridykeulous: “That Looks Really Cute On You!” Group destroys sculpture. Featuring: Legends, Dr. Laurie Weeks, Nicola Tyson, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer and special surprise guests. Location: South Wing lobby.

For full schedule of events, please visit www.bronxmuseum.org/programs/public.html

Saturday, May 17, 12 – 6pm
The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx, NY 10456

From the inbox comes word that a new track bike boutique is opening on the Lower East Side. The new shop, Chari & Co, will “specialize in selling and consigning Japanese track bike frame and other bike parts.” They’re opening this Sunday with a party at 175 Stanton Street, between Clinton and Attorney Streets. Interestingly, that’s about eight blocks from Trackstar, New York City’s first shop dedicated to fixed gear bikes and until now, Manhattan’s only. As of now, the shop is empty and the website has just two frames for sale, so we’ll have to wait and see what they offer on Sunday.