The underground has approximately 10 million faithful while the government-sanctioned Church has only 4 million.
Speaking of To-shi-O, that guy has been talking about building a critical mass bike-stereo, practically since I have known him. It finally debuted on Friday.
There are plenty of bike stereos at any given critical mass, the most ambitious of which are powered by car batteries, toted around in carts, and audible from a block away. Sonically speaking, competing with those fuckers is a fool’s errand. But it’s a huge mass with plenty of room for riders with more modest arrangements, like To-shi-o, a little guy with a big dream to share his playlist with the masses–his indie rock alternative to burning man techno.
With the enlistment of Alfonso, who works in a professional sign shop, the project took on a new level of ambition. Mostly, the stereo ended up looking a lot slicker than I ever imagined, complete with vinyl decals and an iPod holder. Also, I was impressed that the thing ran off of eight AA batteries and used sheets of foam core to amplify the sound (the same way a homemade speaker works with a paper plate: move larger surfaces of air, get more sound). The excitement before the ride was palpable: