The Black Label Bike Club (BLBC) is an international freak/mutant bicycle organization specializing in tall bikes and choppers. [1] It is known for organizing the annual Bike Kill event.
The Black Label Bike Club (BLBC) is an international freak/mutant bicycle organization specializing in tall bikes and choppers. [1] It is known for organizing the annual Bike Kill event.
BLBC was founded in 1992 as the country's first "outlaw bike club" by Jacob Houle and Per Hanson, under the name "Hard Times Bike Club", in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [2] [3] Inspired by Victorians who used tall bikes, called lamplighters, to light the streetlamps, BLBC are credited as the originators of tall bike jousting, and one of the main contributors to the rise of the tall bike culture. [3] [4] [5] The club has since grown to include chapters in New York City, [6] San Francisco, [7] Reno, Nevada, Austin, Texas, Oakland, California, New Orleans, Louisiana, Tokyo, and also includes a nomad chapter known as "Nowhere". [7]
Bike Kill is a long-running BLBC Halloween tradition in Brooklyn, held yearly on the last Saturday in October since 2003. It operates in the form of a block party that celebrates various mutant bikes built by BLBC members, including tall bikes, "short-tall" bikes, tiny bikes, wooden bikes, lowriders, and other unique designs. [8] [9] It is often held in different spots each year, with the location not being publicized, instead spreading through word of mouth. [8] [10] The 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [11]
The New York chapter was featured in a full-length film titled B.I.K.E., produced by Fountainhead Films in 2006. [12] The film was directed by Anthony Howard and Jacob Septimus, who spent over two years following the club by going to their parties in New York and Minneapolis, as well as the protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention. [13]
In 2018, photographer Julie Glassberg published a photography book documenting the Black Label Bike Club's New York chapter, which she titled Bike Kill. [7] [14]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, commonly abbreviated as TMNT, is a media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers trained in ninjutsu who fight evil in New York City. The franchise encompasses printed media, television series', feature films, video games, and merchandise.
Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.
The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, incorporated as the American Outlaws Association or its acronym, A.O.A., is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Founded in McCook, Illinois in 1935, the Outlaws MC is the oldest outlaw biker club in the world. With 441 chapters located in 43 countries, and a membership of over 3,000, the club is also the third-largest in the world, behind the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. Outlaws members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
A tall bike is an unusually tall bicycle often constructed by hobbyists from spare parts. Typically, two conventional bicycle frames are connected by welding, brazing, or other means, one atop the other. The drive train is reconfigured to connect to the upper set of pedals, and the controls are moved to the upper handlebar area.
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or bikie club, is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the biker group.
SCUL is a Boston-area bicycle chopper gang that builds and rides mutant bicycles, chopper bicycles, and tall bikes.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 is a 2007 American horror film and the sequel to the 2006 film, which itself was a remake of the 1977 horror film. The film follows several New Mexico Army National Guard comrades as they fight for survival against the mutant people living in a military base in the New Mexico desert. It stars Michael McMillian, Jacob Vargas, Flex Alexander and Jessica Stroup. The Hills Have Eyes 2 was directed by German film director Martin Weisz and written by father and son team Wes and Jonathan Craven. A graphic novel titled The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning was published by Fox Atomic Comics to accompany the release of the film; it was released July 3, 2007.
An independent music scene is a localized independent music-oriented community of bands and their audiences. Local scenes can play a key role in musical history and lead to the development of influential genres; for example, no wave from New York City, United States; Madchester from Manchester, England; and grunge from Seattle.
Harry Joseph Bowman, also known as "Taco", was an American outlaw biker and gang leader who served as the international president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club between 1984 and 1999. During his tenure as president, the club had chapters in more than 30 cities in the United States and some 20 chapters in at least four other countries.
Cyclecide is an American bicycle club based in San Francisco, California, composed of clowns, altered bikes, and a traveling show called "The Bike Rodeo", which is a public performance, and not a bicycle rodeo, a children's bicycle safety clinic.
C.H.U.N.K. 666 is a tall bike and chopper bicycle club based in Portland, Oregon and Brooklyn, New York. They formed in the early 1990s and were active into the 2000s.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a superhero team created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, have appeared in seven theatrical feature-length films since their debut. The first film was released in 1990, at the height of the franchise's popularity. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a commercial success that garnered two direct sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in 1991 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993, both of which were modest successes. An animated film titled TMNT was released in 2007.
Laughter in Hell is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Pat O'Brien. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films. Adapted from the 1932 novel of the same name by Jim Tully, the film was inspired in part by I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and was part of a series of films depicting men in chain gangs following the success of that film. O'Brien plays a railroad engineer who kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and is sent to prison. The movie received a mixed review in The New York Times upon its release. Although long considered lost, the film was recently preserved and was screened at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood, CA in October 2012.
Bicycle jousting is jousting while mounted on a bicycle rather than a horse.
El Forastero Motorcycle Club (EFMC) is a one-percenter motorcycle club which was established after being turned down for a chapter by the Satan Slaves MC. The El Forasteros are well known for their criminal activities, and are considered by law enforcement to be among the many second-tier, after the "Big Four", outlaw motorcycle clubs.
Jeffrey Glassberg is an American biologist and author. Following a distinguished academic career he pioneered and patented work in DNA Fingerprinting. Later he founded the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) and is the leading proponent of moving interest in butterflies from hobbyist collecting and nets to butterflying with binoculars and cameras. He has written a number of field guides as well as numerous articles.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a 2023 American animated superhero film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. A reboot of the Turtles film series, it was directed by Jeff Rowe and co-directed by Kyler Spears, from a screenplay and story written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Rowe, with Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit also credited to the former and Brendan O'Brien to the latter. The film stars an ensemble voice cast with Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon as the titular team, alongside Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, John Cena, Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Natasia Demetriou, Giancarlo Esposito, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, and Paul Rudd. Mutant Mayhem follows the Turtles, who, with the help of their new ally April O'Neil, go on a hunt for and face off against a mysterious crime boss, Superfly, and his gang of mutants.
Dead Baby Bikes Downhill, also known as Dead Baby Bike Race or Dead Baby Downhill or RaceDay, is an annual Seattle-based bicycle race and street party that occurs on the first Saturday of August. The bicycle race often has no defined route, just an origin and an ending point, and has historically not been permitted, even though the accompanying street party has been permitted.
The Wheels of Soul Motorcycle Club are a multiracial one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club. Although they are active nationwide in the United States, they are primarily based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With chapters in at least 25 states across the US, the group claims to be the country's largest mixed-race outlaw motorcycle club.
Ryan C. Doyle is a visual artist known for his large-scale fabricated sculptures, parade floats, art cars, and sculptures, sometimes involving robotics, animatronics, pyrotechnics, and military technologies. He is from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and resides in Detroit, Michigan, where he has contributed to permanent installations at The Lincoln Street Art Park and Recycle Here! recycling center.