Austin360 blogs > Almost Urban > Archives > 2006 > July > 05 > Entry
Pedicabs + Mariachi = Bikerachi
Bikerachi multimedia
It was Jennifer Acosta, violinist from Mariachi Revolución who hipped me to the concept of Bikerachi. Bikerachi, the brainchild of Alan Burrows, who first produced the event for his own birthday, is essentially a group pedicab excursion through Austin with a 4-piece mariachi band escort. The mariachi plays throughout the ride, and also will follow party-goers into bars and stop for curbside serenades. Because a Bikerachi party consists of ten or more pedicabs riding together, the event takes on the feel of a private parade throughout the city.
The whole thing sounded like an insane amount of fun, so I conned Alan into allowing me to ride along on his final trial run before packaging the party for the public. To fully capture the experience Statesman videographer Jorge Sanjueza-Lyon and photographer Kelly West rode with us.
Without further ado, I give you the Almost Urban blow-by-blow report of two and a half hours of Bikerachi madness that took place on June 29, 2006.
9 p.m. The gathering begins at Alan’s spot in a warehouse on East Fourth Street. This space used to be the Austin Daze magazine compound. I’ve been to parties here. Pedicabs drift through the front gates while the band tunes inside. Alan stocked the fridge with a couple 12 packs of beer before the shindig started and folks amble about the expansive front porch drinking cans of Tecate and chatting.
I bump into Jennifer. She chopped off her traditional full-length skirt a couple hours earlier to debut her mariachi mini-skirt tonight. Hemmed by a friend’s girlfriend in a spontaneous fit of fashion ingenuity, she’s still getting used to it.
“I felt naked leaving the house,” she tells me, furtively glancing over her shoulder, “like people might think I’m the mariachi ho.”
With go-go boots and an ample amount of leg on display, she actually looks fabulous.
9:45 p.m. The party was scheduled to leave at 9, but no one seems terribly concerned that we’re still at the warehouse. The band plays, standing against a corrugated tin wall draped with honeysuckle and strands of white lights, while Alan runs around coordinating the pedicabs. Couples on the porch sway in time with the soaring harmonies. It’s nice.
10 p.m. After brief deliberation about the mariachis’ specific pedicab needs we load up and we’re off. We ride through East Austin double file with the two pedicabs carrying the mariachis leading the excursion. It really does feel like a parade. Our party claps along to the music and people on the streets shout and wave.
“I’m not too heavy for you?” asks first the female and then her male companion in the cab next to me.
“You are both light like butterflies,” quips their driver.
10:15 p.m. We descend on the 2nd Street restaurant district, pedicabs swarming the sidewalk. The mariachis disembark and serenade diners at Crú, who pile into the street to investigate the commotion. Everyone is cheering and jovial.
10:30 p.m. We round the corner to head down Congress Avenue, with the mariachis playing at the lead of our caravan. A girl in a Chevy rolls down her window. “Y’all rock! This is awesome!” she calls out.
The trumpet player brings the song to a shimmering finish and a kid standing at the bus stop at Seventh Street and Congress Avenue calls out for an encore in Spanish — “Otra!”.
We pause at the State Capitol. Couples get out and dance on the sidewalk while a Capitol police officer eyeballs us dubiously.
10:45 p.m. Alan wants to see if we can convince a DJ to work the mariachis into a set so we pull up to Hi-Lo (the nightclub formerly known as Oslo) and bum-rush Underground Transmissions, a weekly electronic music event. DJ Manny is working the wheels and he’s game to play along.
“Uh, this is the first time I’ve jammed with a mariachi,” he warns the crowd. The mariachis start up a song, playing against an electronic beat. Halfway through Manny adds a tentative scratch pattern. It never quite jells but no one seems to care.
11 p.m. One of the pedicabs suffers a broken chain on the way out of Hi-Lo. His passengers are forced to climb out and squeeze into other cabs. It’s the first and only Bikerachi casualty of the evening.
11:15 p.m. We loiter around the patio of Little Woodrow’s on West Sixth street where the manager was kind enough to move a barricade in the front so our pedicabs could park. In all of Alan’s Bikerachi experiences club owners have proved to be very accommodating, and tonight has been no exception. With the pervasive influence of Latino culture, highly centralized entertainment district and passionate embrace of all things weird, Austin is perhaps the best city in America for this sort of an event.
Over frosty brews Alan and a friend toss out a series of Bikerachi slogans I could include in this piece:
“This is how we roll” (the official Bikerachi tagline) “Tonight we ride” “Alan is a god among men” (Alan’s favorite)
11:30 p.m. With a full day of work ahead of me and a ridiculous amount of fun under my belt, I decide to hop off the Bikerachi train and take a cab back to the warehouse. The Bikerachi pulls out heading for Tambaleo with a scheduled stop at Club DeVille on the return trip still in the works. I can hear the band playing and passengers clapping as they pull off into the distance, creating a merry commotion on Nueces Street as they go. That’s just the way they roll.
All photos by Kelly West/AMERICAN-STATESMAN.
For more Bikerachi info, visit Bikerachi.com.
Comments
By jennifer acosta
July 6, 2006 02:57 AM | Link to this
Great story on a great time! Thanks so much for covering it Deborah! The pics and video were awesome!
By Willis
July 6, 2006 07:53 AM | Link to this
This is possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
By Tarvin
July 6, 2006 03:56 PM | Link to this
God I hate mariachis! Especially in restaurants. There I am, trying to get my bean and ‘rita on and they’re blaring away causing my guts to go into turmoil.
Although putting them on bikes makes them less offensive.
By Teena Conklin
July 6, 2006 10:19 PM | Link to this
I happen to think this idea is ingenious! Would have never thought to do this myself. I happen to know David Hernandez personally for about 12 years or so, he’s an awewome musician, can sing, play trumpet, and vihuela (sp)? as well as being a super cool guy. He’s a very good friend of mine. MY LAST COMMENT: BRAVO, MY MEXICAN HAT OFF TO THEM! La Teena, aka “BANDS BEST FRIEND”
By Jennifer, the mariachi
July 12, 2006 04:31 PM | Link to this
Maybe Tarvin should move to a different city so mariachis don’t bother him while he’s trying to get his bean and ‘rita on. We’re not trying to bother you, dude. We’re here to “enhance” your meal and save you from boring conversations with your mom.
By Jacy
July 17, 2006 07:45 PM | Link to this
I did that the first time and i had an awesome time…