Chris Williams from Burro Bags will be on Urban Jacksonville Weekly this Monday to talk about the current state of Springfield’s favorite messenger bag/t-shirt/accessory company. This month they’re hosting the second annual BBB Complex Art Show.

the BBB Complex Art Show features some of Jacksonville’s hottest artists customizing one-of-a-kind messenger bags, roll-tops, and hip bags. Artists have been selected and the date is set for December 12th.

We’ll talk about the art show and what’s next one of Jacksonville’s most innovative retail businesses. With a special guest appearance by Big Dunn in the studio.

Please be sure to watch the show live online at 9:30am. We’re testing new mic’d audio from the soundboard into the live internet stream, so it should sound awesome. Let us know what you think!

Watch Urban Jacksonville Weekly

www.urbanjacksonvilleweekly.com
9:30am Monday, December 7th
Send questions to Twitter and Facebook or txt me at 294-4800.

If you are interested in getting involved as a sponsor or to donate items for the raffle. It’s a great opportunity to get your company/store/restaurant/whatever name out there so let us know if you want to be involved (burrobags@gmail.com).

Burro Bags launched a new website and joined Twitter today. Big media day for the guys at 1521 Main Street. Congrats Matt and Chris!

Matt Bort and Chris Williams enjoy the more shanty things in life: cheap beer, second hand bike parts, old sewing machines and free meals. Chances are that if we aren’t available at our shop, we are supporting our favorite booze hole, Shantytown Pub, around the corner.

Copyright Jensen Hande

Burro Bags on Twitter, Flickr and of course BurroBags.com

If you walked up to me a year ago and told me on a weekend in early May Jacksonville would host a 2-day bike festival, Diplo and Black Kids all in the same weekend I would have called you crazy. But that’s exactly what happened last weekend. Jacksonville is growing up fast and it’s all due to people in the city making things happen.

Bury Your BIke Two

Here are some awesome bike tricks posted by the Urban Velo site. They also publish a magazine about urban bike culture called, hmmm, Urban Velo

Bootleg Sessions v.3 — Full Trailer from Ride/Relax Productions on Vimeo.

Fixed Magazine produces a top notch publication with great photos, layouts and art direction. You can tell they put a lot of effort into the design. You can download Issue 2 here. Issue 3 coming soon at fixed-mag.com

Finally you can see photos of track bikes and fixies from around the world on Flickr. Here are two good links:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/56662375@N00/pool/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/fixie/

Zombie Bikes and Burro Bags are throwing a massive 3-day rager to celebrate 1 year of bike service in Springfield. They’re printing a limited runs of tees, patches and posters to raise money for Zombie Bikes. This is the same weekend as Diplo at TSI so its shaping up to be a good weekend.

The Events!

May 1, Friday
Critical Mass leaving the BBB to ride through First Fridays. Ride out to a secret show. Then live bands at Shantytown. One-legged tandem bike race through Springfield’s alleys….and more

May 2, Saturday
Raging, bike games, scavenger hunt and race, tall bike race… Warehouse party with live bands and dj’s.

May 3, Sunday
Bike Polo. Grilling and chilling.

Stay up with the Zombie Bikes blog to hear about updates and additions to the schedule.

Last Year’s Bury Your Bike

http://www.urbanjacksonville.info/tag/bury-your-bike/
http://jaxscene.blogspot.com/2008/05/bury-your-bike-5408.html
http://www.bikejax.org/2008/05/bury-your-bike-allycat.html
http://picasaweb.google.com/bikejax/BuryYourBikeAllycat#
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanjacksonville/2459413922/

These bags rock and you can get one for $15.00 at the Native Sun Inside & Out Earth Day Affair this weekend. They are made from a recycled billboard by your hometown heroes, Burro Bags.

We’ll have approximately 100 bags for purchase at our Inside & Out Earth Day Affair THIS SATURDAY from 12 – 4pm at our Mandarin location. We expect these bags to go fast, so arrive early for the best selection.

Read more about the bags here: Native Sun Limited-Edition Burro Bags!. I love local collaborations, this is exactly the way things should work in our city. Local companies getting together to make the city awesome.

Inside & Out Earth Day Affair
Saturday, April 18 from 12 – 4pm
10,000 San Jose Boulevard, one mile north of I-295.
This event is fun for all ages and FREE to attend!

Update! I’m giving away a free Arturo shirt to the person who comes up with the best reason why it matters that Arturo is moving to Springfield.

Arturo Clothing, a local clothing maker and friend of Urban Jacksonville, announced on their blog they are moving operations to the BBB Complex at 1520 Main Street:

We are moving our screen printing supplies into the Burro Bags shop. This will be a great opportunity for both us and Burro to feed ideas off of each other and expand our companies!!

View Larger Map

This is significant because it not only increases the retail footprint of the BBB Warehouse, but of Springfield. Main Street can now boast four lifestyle retail businesses in one location. All thanks to the benevolent landlord SRG.

1. Burro Bags – custom messenger bags
2. Zombie Bikes – bike co-op
3. Royal Treatment Records – record shop
4. Arturo Clothing – hand screened shirts, bags and knitted hats

5 Reasons Why The Arturo Move Matters

Sure, you can chalk one in the win column for my 2009 Predictions (yes, I’m keeping score), but it’s bigger than that. Here are five reasons why the move matters:

1. More bodies on Main Street means more money will be pumped into local businesses like Chan’s and the BBB itself. It will also give the appearance of activity and set the tone that something is happening on Main Street.
2. It’s a vote for Springfield retail illustrating the environment in the neighborhood is favorable enough to pick up and move current operations.
3. Power in numbers demonstrates to the benevolent landlord that there may be something to this little retail experiment, encouraging them to keep it going indefinitely.
4. Concentration of creative energy keeps everyone inspired and makes it more fun. Working in a vacuum sucks.
5. Fill in the blank and tell me why you think it matters. Yes, I know it’s a cop out, but I gotta go get ready for work suckas. The person with the best answer gets a free Arturo shirt!

Here is a background of the BBB Complex and a link to the
Arturo Clothing feature on the Paper n Stitch blog.

There are lots of benefits to buying local: less packaging and package waste, no shipping costs, which uses less fuel and it promotes/supports the local community. Here are my gift picks for this buy local holidazzle!

The Royal Treatment Record Store

www.myspace.com/theroyaltreatmentdjs
1520 Main Street, Springfield

$30 – 3 CDs and T-Shirt make the Royal Treatment holiday gift pack! (pictured above) CDs: The N Word, Tough Junkie and Willie Evans Jr.

Deals on vinyl records too!

• Alligator (local St. Augustine band)
• The Smile Rays – Party Place EP
• Beastie Boys – License to Ill (still wrapped)
• Beck – Mellow Gold

Anomaly

www.anomalyfivepoints.com
1021 Park Street, Five Points
Recommendations from Emily, the owner

Mention you saw this on Urban Jacksonville 10% off of an entire purchase.

For the ladies
I love Molly M. jewelry. Everything is priced at $38 for the small pendants and earrings and $48 for the large. It’s laser cut wood and acrylic. All handmade in San Francisco. We’re also all stocked up on party dresses and other great sparkly jewelry!

For the guys
We’ve got great new tees from Upper Playground and Obey, as well as $20 artist series wallets by Poketo. These wallets are produced by Poketo but the images are designed by different artists from around the country and makes great pocket art!

For the kids
Allover print hoodies from Loyal Army are too cute! sized to 4T, $32.

For your friends
I really tried to get alot of $10 and under gifts this year. Our “saving up for good weed” bank ($9) is back and always funny! And there’s always the book of seriously bad baby names ($6) for the person that has everything.

Burro Bags

burrobags.blogspot.com
1520 Main Street, Springfield
Recommendations from Matt, co-owner

$65 to $130: Medium Burro Bag constructed of retired highway billboards
$12 Beard Bandana – Get your lady some facial hair for the holidays!

Arturo Clothing

http://arturoclothingco.blogspot.com
Find Arturo at Anomaly in Five Points, Kona Skatepark’s Pro Shop, and at Art Walk every first Wednesday of the Month

Arturo Clothing Co. is a DIY company that produces original, hand screened shirts and bags on the highest quality materials available. Shirts run at $15 and bags at $10. You can find our products at Anomaly in Five Points, Kona Skatepark’s Pro Shop, and at Art Walk every first Wednesday of the Month.

December 20th is the perfect day to buy local at the BBB Complex Art Show at 1520 Main Street where you can get Arturo, Burro Bags and The Royal Treatment Records pack. Along with local art and these other vendors:

• Heart of Gold – (Boca Raton) Clothing
• Hot Life – (Orlando) Clothing
• Robyn Crews – Pillowcases made of recycled materials

It’s a big week for bike events. This weekend is the Night Ride and they need volunteers:

Just an hour or two of your time is all that is required and most of it can be done while you are out enjoying the different festival happenings. None it requires anything in the way of labor or heavy lifting. If you can help out email bikejax@gmail.com

1. I need a couple of people to split time and help out at Fuel (festival central)
2. I need a couple of people to hawk raffle tickets throughout the day. (Can be done while out enjoying the fest.)
3. I am going to need several ride guides for The Night Ride itself.
4. I am in need of a couple of people with digital video cameras that would be willing to document the event in all of it’s glory.

Here is the massive Night Ride schedule. The Night Ride is a day long celebration of the bicycle and it’s rider. All events are Free to all that attend and are held throughout Riverside and Five Points.

• Bike Art Show – All Day @ Flux Galley – Creations of Local And Not So Local Artists Held at Flux Gallery.
• Bike Tour of Bold City Brewers – Noon to 5 PM – Celebrate the Opening of Bold City Brewery With a Tasty Bike Tour. Tours are on the hour every hour Noon thru 5 PM.
• Bike Film Festival – Starting 1 PM @ Fuel – Features and Shorts staring the bike and those who ride it. Films will be running thoughout the day starting 1 pm at Fuel in Five Points.
• Bike Polo – 1 – 2 PM
• Woman’s Workshop – 2 PM @ Jax EBikes – A ladies only workshop. Learn how to maintain your bike along with basic repairs from the gang at Zombie Bikes CoOp.
• Bike Polo – 3 – 4 PM
• Bike Maintenance Workshop – 4 PM @ Jax EBikes – A workshop open to all. Learn how to maintain your bike along with basic repairs from the gang at Zombie Bikes CoOp.
• 70′s Theme Costume Contest – 5:00 PM @ Fuel – Funkyist Male & Female Receive a hand made bomb proof Burro Bag.
• Raffle – 5 PM @ Fuel – Sweet swag from the fine merchants in Five Point and Jacksonville Area Bike Shops.
• The Night Ride – Ride starts 6:30 PM – The Night RIde is the culmination of our day long celebration of the bike. I hope you will make plans to join us on this epic event for and about cyclists. Where: Riverwalk Under the Fuller Warren Bridge When: leaving at 6:30 PM Oct. 11th
• 8:00 PM – Bike Films @ Fuel

On to other bike related events. Yes, there are more.

Burro Bags is planning a birthday party for this January
Movie Night! Tomorrow Night at Zombie Bikes: 12-4 and MOVIE NIGHT at the shop bring blankets/chairs we’ll be watching Quicksilver at 8pm

I got to thinking “why aren’t there any bike lanes on Main Street?” Seems like a no brainer, so I asked and here’s what I found out.

Main Street is a four lane, State and Federal Highway which carries so much more traffic than 8th Street that it is considered unsafe to allow bike lanes.

SPAR inquired about incorporating bike lanes in the Main Street construction plans, but the FDOT would not approve them. Jerks.

Update: Johnny’s Ghost Bike
The crossing signal where Johnny Jones was killed while crossing the street on his bike was faulty.Watch the video here. Within 20 minutes, the city sends someone out to fix it as WTLV is taping a story. Go citizen journalism!

What Can Jacksonville Learn from Portland, Maine?
Portland gives us the opportunity to see what an urban core can resemble when we work to improve our existing landscape, with affordable elements, such as clear wayfaring signage, well-design parks and most of all…. designing for the pedestrian first.

Burro Bags just posted a huge update on their blog. Highlights include:

• Yesterday we moved in a screen printing shop that opens up a lot of opportunity to make some damn good looking product.
• More ROOM – We are making our bags slightly larger in every size.
• Vegan friendly – Our original leather tag with ‘Burro’ hand burned into each one will be set aside as an option. We are replacing it with cloth tags.
• Adjusting straps – Adding finger loops to the ends
• Visibility is a concern – Screen printing our bags with reflective paint
• Screen printing – Handfuls of bag will be up with artwork by local artists printed on the outside and maybe inside. We’re going crazy with this.

Don’t forget the Dog and Pony show Sight Sound this Friday at the Art Institute

We’re having an opening THIS Friday from 5-8pm and we’ll be showing almost everything we’ve created since we started doing these awful screen prints in December.

Directions to the Art Institute
95 to Baymeadows.
West on Baymeadows.
Right at 2nd light (Baymeadows Way)
Right at 1st light (Baypine Road)
Follow that around to the parking garage, gallery is right there.

Nest Living is having a huge clearance sale from now until August 5th. Up to 50% off on floor model furniture and lighting.

Barack Obama Campaign Headquarters Grand Opening Party Tonight
I posted this right before I started writing this update, so I want to reiterate. Go Tonight and have Beers for Obama. Disclaimer: there may or may not be beers which you may or may not be able to drink.

Group art show at Bogda in Riverside this Saturday

Royal Treatment Records, Burro Bags, Zombie Bikes and gone, but not forgotten, Inertia. That’s what most people call 1520 Main Street in Springfield. Hardly anyone ever calls it The Buyers Market Lodge, but that was the original name, current name, future name, who knows. Tony Allegretti gives a nice history of The Buyers Market Lodge. Long live Main Street! Here are a few excerpts:

The Buyers Market Lodge was a concept/brainchild/idea that Triclops (owner of some bar on 6th – Shantytown) and I and our benevolent landlord (SRG) came up with to do three things. (1) Create a “place” on Main St, (2) create a few no to low paying green collar jobs, and (3) create a shopping experience of simple yet sometimes hard to find things the new urbanist (really any body, but it sounds sweeter) would want and need.

Matt and Chris (Burro Bags) hand craft these custom bags to your specs (if you wish) and they use recycled materials. Right now they’re kickin vinyl from billboards. Who said clear channel was rubbish? Now you can wear clear channel’s rubbish! They also pad bags for electronics/computers etc.

the real soft spot in my heart is the zombie bikes. These guys are solid. My daughters bike was swiped and she is just learning to ride. I dropped in to the shop (its like the taxi teevee show only greasier) and walked out with a spider man special. Under $20 and built to spill.

Thanks for the history lesson Tony!

More on The Buyers Market Lodge Complex
Polo Is My Life – Bury Your Bike Festival