Last October, I went kayaking in Desolation Sound with a group of friends-of-friends, who became better friends on the trip. Paddling along, I learned that one of my fellow travellers had been on the road, paddle and pedal powered, for seven years!!!! And he had no intention of settling down.

In 1999, Josetxu had left Madrid with three friends, intending to cycle around the world. Since then people have joined, others have dropped off, and Bicicletos has raised consciousness and money on six continents. Having overwintered in VanCity, and recently returned from cycling to Inuvik with several other Bicicletos, I caught up with Josetxu via email.

My last spontaneous encounter with bike culture ended a few weeks back, cycling quietly through the 2 am streets with a flotilla of superheros, their shiny, sparkly capes flowing behind cruisers and tall bikes.

I had tagged along on a 'performance ride' earlier that evening and wound up partaking in a superhero tomato fight; experiencing a portable dance party in the woods with a dj booth run on a pedal powered-generator; and witnessing several fabulous bicycle-based performances scattered across abandoned industrial lots and ritzy public plazas throughout the city.

It was a lot of fun. Now some of the folks behind this ride are teaming up to put on Rouge et Noir, a bicycle cabaret at the Western Front. The B:C:Clettes, this city's premier ladies bicycle dance troupe, is heading on tour this summer through Washington, Oregon, and California, ending in Los Angeles. To raise money for their trip, they're hosting three cabaret nights.

If I were a little less tired, I would wax rhapsodic about Francis Cabrel, who plays the Stanley Theatre tonight. In his native France, Cabrel comes out somewhere between Bob Dylan and Mercedes Sosa in the lineage of folk music giants.

Like Etre et Avoir, or John Berger's Pig Earth, Cabrel's music has a magical, elusive, yet simple quality. As if the world of the French peasant -- the good part of that world, the constancy of fields and one room schoolhouses, of people falling in love, having children, growing old -- were timeless and stable, something solid that comes into being whenever he plays.

In the end, it is somewhat lucky that at this moment I am lacking in eloquent prose. Why? Because I have to undermine my own admiration of Cabrel's understated, elegant lyrics. I can't resist linking to this, a vintage 70's Cabrel appearance. The quaking mustache!! The open-necked, brilliant orange shirt!!

I'm glad Stefan raised the issue of BC's mineral exploration system. Few are aware of the huge financial liability this system places on the BC taxpayer, or the enormous role it has played in inflaming regional conflicts with northern BC First Nations. Fewer still know of the groundbreaking work of Vancouver-based West Coast Environmental Law (WCEL) in challenging the system.

How much has 'free entry' cost BC taxpayers? Well, one quick example is the Tatshenshini-Alsek Wilderness Park, established in 1993 and later declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the Commission on Resources and the Environment (CORE) process determined that a park made for the best long-term economic prospects for the region, BC taxpayers had to pay out $103.8 million dollars in compensation for area mineral claims. Under the 'free entry' system, prospectors had paid small administrative fees to stake claims to hundreds of square miles. Once these claims had been staked, the government had no legal recourse to prevent mineral development, except to buy the claim owners out at enormously inflated prices. Stefan's look at mining stock promoters may further explain how this price inflation happens.

The last fundraiser and lead-up event before Queeruption 10 is happening tomorrow at Centre A. Begun in 1998 in London, Queeruption is a roving, multi-day gathering that shifts shape with every city that hosts it --though each event remains rooted in radical, DIY, and queer politics.

From 12-5, the Centre A floor is given over to an information fair for radical and DIY groups and projects. The evening features a cabaret including puppetry, burlesque, drag, DJs, live music and radical performance art.

Ah, Crab Park. The Downtown East Side's only beach. Just like a west side beach, except for the aural assault: the incredible boom and rattle of railcars that shake the whole earth; the planing of seabuses whining across the water; and the throttle and moan of seaplanes taxiing into Coal Harbour.

And the scenery's a little different. There's still ocean and the velvet green of the north shore mountains. It's just flanked on one side by gritty cement skyscrapers of the old downtown core, and on the other by the containers and enormous, scraping red cranes of the Port of Vancouver. Even the beach gravel is a coarser grain, jagged and grey.

But really, Crab Park is pretty special. Crossing the overpass at the foot of Main and Alexander and into Crab Park one is greeted by a hidden oasis of greenery and open space. It's the only beach downtown and eastside residents can really call their own. To celebrate Crab Park's twentieth birthday on July 1st, the community is throwing a party for adults and kids. Local co-op radio show BANDCOUVER has helped put together a great musical line--up, which include Bocephus King's first local show in many moons.