David Byrne: Coming to Portland, will release bike book this fall

David Byrne (R), with transportation
advocate Noah Budnick.
(Photo: Streetfilms)

David Byrne, NYC resident, former Talking Heads front man and biking’s coolest celebrity endorser/advocate, will be in Portland this summer and he’s got a bike book set to be published in September.

Byrne — a daily bike commuter for 30 years — has made a big name for himself in biking circles for (among other things) his advocacy and involvement in the New York City bike scene. He collaborated with the NYC Dept. of Transportation to design a series of art racks, and in February 2007 Byrne joined carfree advocate Gil Penalosa and staffers from NYC’s Transportation Alternatives for a bike ride that was captured by Streetfilms.

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One of the racks designed by David Byrne. Can you imagine this in the dog-centric Pearl District?
(Photo: DavidByrne.com)

On June 23rd, smack dab in the middle of Portland’s Pedalpalooza bike-fest, Byrne will be in town for a tour stop at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. That news has local bike-funnists scheming about how to wrangle Byrne into enjoying the Pedalpalooza festivities.

Now comes word from PR folks at Viking/Penguin that Byrne has written “Bicycle Diaries”, a new book set to hit stores in September. The book will be, “a travelogue that chronicles Byrne’s journeys in cities around the world from the perspective of a bicycle.” (We’ve got an advance review copy on the way.)

Any David Byrne fans out there?

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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Amos
Amos
15 years ago

Best Pedalpalooza Dance Party EVER!

Dan
Dan
15 years ago

super stoked for the book and the show!

Tony P
15 years ago

Huge fan. I wish I knew how to get in touch with him. It would be super cool to get him on a Pedalpalooza ride. Doesn’t look like he’ll have a lot of time based on his tour schedule. Actually, he has a week off after his stop in Berkeley…maybe we could get him to come to MCBF? Who knows him?

brenna
brenna
15 years ago

I can’t think of anything better than a Pedalpalooza dance party with David Byrne as our guest of honor.

Anonymous
Anonymous
15 years ago

This year’s WNBR could benefit from some music to accompany the merry riders…maybe there could be a bike-towed float with Mr. Byrne as parade leader.

Tell the Viking/Penguin PR rep that it would be an unbeatable way to celebrate and raise awareness around the impending book launch, not to mention an unprecedented kind of PR/marketing opportunity to leverage world-wide. I know from past art business experience that Mr. Byrne is supportive of creative acts of performance art…hmmm

😉

todd
15 years ago

Any fans… Is there another bike shop out there streaming his playlist every month, whose site has a long-standing link to his journal, a blog with two posts featuring his music, and who snapped up 2nd-row seats for the whole family? Whose kid’s favorite is Stay Up Late?… I can go on.

miguelaron
15 years ago

i challenge byrne to a race on my bike commute.

Dave
15 years ago

How’d I know Todd would be commenting on this one… 🙂

todd
15 years ago

what ever could you mean, dave?

Dave
15 years ago

I don’t know, I must have had a momentary lapse of reason 🙂 I can’t imagine how I would have gotten that idea…

Sascha Siekmann
Sascha Siekmann
15 years ago

Starts making sense!

sabrina
sabrina
15 years ago

Incase anyone does find a way to get the ear of his publishers…what do you think of this idea: Just like for the Harry Potter books, people could sign up to pay in advance. First sign up for a copy could be at the multnomah county bike fair booth staffed by Mr. Byrne!

metal cowboy
15 years ago

huge fan – I’ver many a quote in my books from Byrne and his previous bands- especially when my middle son quotes him to a war vet about to sic his dog on me – “This Ain’t No F–King Party,” announces the vet. Enzo replies with “This ain’t No Disco, this ain’t no fooling around. ” my son’s quote stops the vet and dog in their tracks. other personal favorites include Nothing But Flowers, Lifetime Filling Up, And She Was.. hell, all of it from his solo stuff to the worldbeat – can’t wait for the summer of Byrne. saw him a few summers back – at the zoo – he performed in an auto mechanic’s jumpsuit.

peejay
peejay
15 years ago

Maybe we could recruit Mr Byrne to help us defeat the CRC!

christopher lee
christopher lee
15 years ago

meh. he hasn’t released a good album in years and he rides a hybrid.

Michael R
15 years ago

He’s been a regular bike commuter for 30 years. What difference does the bike make?

LoneHeckler
LoneHeckler
15 years ago

His Portland stop will be the third of four shows I will have seen on this tour (heading to Seattle for the following night’s performance), so yes, thank you, I am a fan. My wife and I love reading about his biking exploits and grooving to his tunes – new and old.

Let’s hope he gets a taste of our excellent bike culture – maybe a group ride with the bikeportland faithful?

a.O
a.O
15 years ago

Jonathan, what are you waiting for?! Call his publicist and see if we can get him in on a ride….

sh
sh
15 years ago

…and he rides a hybrid.

Scathing! The utter derision of that line cracked me up.

Some people get a pass, Christopher Lee, because they created seminal albums and have influenced countless others in the music and art worlds.

Who cares if David Byrne rides a hybrid and his bike rack designs are a bit goofy; he’s still David Byrne! He’s aging gracefully AND he’s creating dialog around bikes -that’s pretty cool.

Jordan
Jordan
15 years ago

Bowie vs. Prince vs. David Byrne…live! Who’s got a bike-towable stage for him?

solid gold
solid gold
15 years ago

ha! i hung out with david byrne when he played the ZOO a few years back, and was going to bring him ZooBombing, but he had to leave early a.m. the next morning. however, if he’s got the same bike, be on the lookout for some ZOOBOMB stickers on it!

todd
15 years ago
Dave
15 years ago

David Byrne giving an acoustic concert on a Nijland while being pedaled around downtown… if it happens, make sure we all know about it 🙂

Man, public music is just way too rare in the US. I’m getting weepy remembering street concerts (even though they weren’t very good) and pedaling beer bars (basically a conference bike type of thing set up as a mini bar) and such from Lithuania.

180mm_Dan
180mm_Dan
15 years ago

I’ve got 2nd row seats too! re June 23 show

Re-listening to Catherine Wheel circa 1982 recently, I can hear some of the new album in it…