David Byrne's Bike Diaries – Berlin to Istanbul
Former Talking Head Tours World, Writes Travel Cycling Book
Oct 21, 2009
Anyone who knows the name David Byrne simply as the former lead singer of the great 1970’s and 80’s band Talking Heads knows only one of Byrne’s considerable talents. In additions to songs such as “Psycho Killer” and “Road to Nowhere,” Byrne has written several books, the latest of which is Bicycle Diaries. (Viking hardcover, illustrated, 297 pp. $25.95)
An avid urban cyclist, Byrne has become a spokesman (pardon the pun) of sorts for the ever-expanding community of adults who get where they are going by bike, rather than by car (or public transportation.) This book is part bicycle advocacy, part memoir, detailing how Byrne got into bike riding as his main means of transportation and what experiences he has had riding bikes in cities all over the world.
In his introduction, Byrne presents his impressive bicycle street cred: “I’ve been riding a bicycle as my principal means of transportation in New York since the early 1980s…. it felt good even here in New York. I felt energized and liberated.”
Bikes Not Cool in Byrne's Baltimore
Growing up in a Baltimore suburb, Byrne rode a bike as a child, but he gets points for using one as his mode of transportation long before bikes became hip in the Big Apple. “I discovered that zipping from one place to another by bike was amazingly fast and efficient. So I stuck with it despite the aura of uncoolness and the danger, as there weren’t many people riding in the city back then. Car drivers at the time weren’t expecting to share the rode with cyclists….”
These days he takes a folding bike when he goes on the road for musical gigs or art installations. (Byrne is also a visual artist who has designed some amusing and useful bike racks for New York’s Department of Transportation.
Byrne Loves Berlin Bike Lanes
For music fans, value of this book is Byrne’s commentary on clubs, collaborators and issues like the fate of the CD, which are sprinkled throughout his chapters on Berlin, Buenos Aires and elsewhere.
For fans who admire Byrne’s bicycle activism, his observations on riding in difficult cities—including New York – are pointed and often deadpan funny.
For example, Berlin: “No cars park or drive in the bike lanes, and the cyclists don't ride on the streets or on the sidewalks either. There are little stoplights just for the bikers, even turn signals!....Needless to say, most cyclists here do stop for these lights. Pedestrians don't wander into the bike lanes either! I'm kind of in shock -- it all works so well. Why can't it be like this where I live?"
New York is becoming a bicycle-friendly city but isn’t quite there yet. Byrne asks rhetorically if "part of the thrill would go away if urban cycling became safe. But that might be the price to pay if it eans more people will start using bikes to get around.... Living in New York used to be a lot more dangerous in general, but that's hardly something to get all nostalgic about."
Byrne Bicycle Diaries!
Recommendation: Read Bicycle Diaries, especially if you can recite the lyrics to “Cities.”
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