pt at large

Ceremonial Rdes To Honor ALS Patients...A Tradition

November 26, 2022

Ceremonial rides To Honor ALS Patients

One way or another since 2004, Myke Farricker and I have created a commemorative event to honor ALS patients past and present.

Myke is co-owner of The Longfellow Club in Wayland, MA, the staging area for the first rides when the Positive Spin for ALS became a group event and  Ride To Defeat ALS, The rides have raised over 3 million dollars for the ALS cause.

The first were short ceremonial bike rides in Wayland in 2002 the day after the "Positive Spin for ALS", later renamed "Ride To Defeat ALS", was completed.

In years after that, we strapped our bikes onto  Myke's Prius, drove to Truro, MA, parked at a motel at the crest of Route 6 with a magnificent view of Provincetown, and pedaled about 9 miles to First Landing Park and the jetty at the very end of US Route 6A.

As in years past, we met with Susan Lyman whose husband Doug, a beloved EMT and volunteer fireman, died of the disease. We walk onto the jetty, the tangy smell of the salt marshes nearby, and in a moment of silence, honor the patients Myke and I have raised money for. For Myke, it’s personal. His brother Pete, known as Wheels" by his team mates, was a member of the Rude Boys 1982 UPA U.S. National Championship team,  lost his life to ALS in 2001.

The tradition continues to cement a bond between me, Myke, and Susan. The challenge of finding a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, first diagnosed in 1869, continues. So will the Ride To Defeat ALS.

Myke and I are proud that the “Positive Spin for ALS” is the template for seven "Ride to Defeat ALS" rides now sponsored by ALS Association chapters around the country. They’re currently held in California, Illinois, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts.

 https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/10/annual-post-spin-spin-myke-and-pt-hit-the-road-for-provincetown.html

 

Historic marker at First Landing Park at the very end of U.S. Route 6 A..behind the marker is.the jetty where we take moments to honor the men and women who contributed or whose names were sent with contributions to the Positive Spin for ALS then the Ride to Defeat ALS

Myke had the shirts and caps made for our ceremonial ride in 2008. Myke's brother Pete "Wheels" Farricker was on the world championship Frisbee team, The Rude Boys,  in 1982.

Every year we walk onto the jetty...moments of silence for every patient whose names were sent with contriburtions or who contributed themselves.

Mission accomplished November 26, 2022...

The MA Chapter ALS Association added this paving stone in my honor in 2002.

Myke, Susan and Paul at the paving stone honoring the rides made by Myke, Paul, and Sam Trumbo from the staging area about nine miles away in Truro, MA.

Susan Lyman has greeted us at every ceremonial ride...

November 26, 2022

Susan and her husband Ken Stebbins

Sam Trumbo made the ceremonial ride from the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham to First Landing Park with  Myke and me in 2007

https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/visitorcenters.htm

History...we keep on truckin' for the cause,

https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/als_positive_spin_for_als_stories/

More history...

2010 MA Chapter announement of 2010 Positive Spin for ALS

The event took place on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at the Longfellow Club in Wayland.  Now in its 16th year, the Positive Spin is The ALS Association Massachusetts Chapter's longest running event.  It began with just one rider - Paul Tamburello - and has since grown to include several hundred people riding in support of the fight against ALS.  The Spin offers a challenge for riders of all skill levels.  Whether you ride individually or as part of a team, it is an incredible day for all who participate!

 

https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2014/10/annual-post-spin-spin-myke-and-pt-hit-the-road-for-provincetown.html

 

 
 
 
 

Amy Kucharik and Tiger Moan, November 6, 2022

The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Davis Square, Somervllle, MA 02144

If this band was any tighter, it would implode.
Fronted by Amy Kucharik, they perform with the timing of a seasoned show band.

With a nod of the head by Amy, the trombone, keyboard, percussion, and stand-up base players reel off rich solos with the cadences of the blues, rock, shuffle or swing songs on the playlist…every so often punctuated by Amy’s wild card solos with harmonica, ukulele, and this thing she does by pursing her lips together, a labial kazoo, to pardon the expression, that simulates a muted trumpet and often stops dancers in their tracks trying to figure out where the horn is coming from.

This is a big-time dance crowd. It looks and feels like every blues dancer within driving distance is in the room. A 15-minute blues dance lesson given by a member of the Blues Union warms up newcomers in a low key and enticing way,,,it's fun watching them get their backfields in motion.

There’s nothing like blues dancing to call down the spirits in whatever shape, form or style dancers can imagine. Unlike waltz, foxtrot, salsa, or rumba, blues is free style and driven by this band that grasps layers of its gritty spirit. Their unique brand of musicianship beams dancers into a fourth dimension, channeling the music with the playful, passionate, fun-loving gusto and style that blues has always inspired…and Tiger Moan delivers.

Don’t come to passively listen to the music, as fine as it is. Come to have it be the oxygen that courses through your arteries, animates your spirits, connects us to each other, arm in arm, body to body, on a dance floor filled with couples of every orientation, expressing themselves in the slow syncopation of a righteous blues song, a kaleidoscope of jazz styles, blues styles on the floor during any given song. 

This is a collection of art forms in motion. If this were a museum, it would be a collection of modern art, American revival, and impressionist art forms. By the third song, the synergy meter pegs the needle.

With each song, the spontaneous energy of partners who have never danced before tests each other’s limits and possibilities.  The dynamic form, function, and synchronicity when they get it all together is a sight to behold. The dancers are mostly their 20s 30s and 40s. Men and women in their 50s, 60s and beyond break out their moves as easily as they breathe.

Sitting at the bar and observing this is like watching Pablo Picasso and Kara Walker pushing artistic boundaries to create an amalgam of the new and the old in 4/4 time.

Photo by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trick or Treat Transition

Halloween, October 31, 2022

Night has fallen. Streetlights have automatically turned on, pools of illumination under each. 

Around 5:30 PM, I hear chatter from down the street. First are the little kids, who can hardly contain their energy, dressed in their costumes, orange buckets in hand, politely chanting "Trick or Treat!," their parents standing on the sidewalk, smiling, probably relieved that the days of preparation and costume choosing are over. Some of the parents are pretty cool outliers in costume, sharing the fun moments as their kids, some for the first time, come trick or treating.

One of my neighbors, in solidarity with her daughter and loving every moment, is wearing a really cool T-Rex outfit as she shepherds kids from house to house.

Last there are the 12-14 year olds. They are too cool and too embarrassed to put on a costume but want to embrace this last piece of their childhood before letting go of trick or treating, not able to grasp that the next time they experience this ritual they may bs parents themselves bringing their own kids up a street on a cool autumn night for Halloween.

Photo by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.