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Catch Me If You Can: A Mystery Bicycle Ride
Benefiting the Pablove Foundation.
Featuring DJ Sets from NO MSG and The Mae Shi and Live Performances from The Headhunters, The Intricate Machines, Kissing Tigers, and Daedelus.
Open Bar, Free prizes, Raffles for a brand new bike, Gold Sprints, and Fun!
Bicycle Ride Details:
WHEN: Sunday August 2, 2009 4 PM - 8 PM
WHERE: Orange 20 Bicycles - 4351 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029
WHAT: There will be a flat bed truck parked in front of the shop. This flat bed truck will be traveling from Silverlake to Downtown as you follow it on your bike. The Headhunters will be performing live on the back of the truck while you laugh and love your life.
The mystery ride will include games, prizes, raffle tickets, fun, and clues to the location of the after party
Secret After Party Details:
WHEN: Sunday August 2, 2009 8 PM - 12AM
WHERE: Location TBA, Open Bar, $5 dollars with Wristband/RSVP $10 without.
LOCATION OF THE PARTY WILL BE RELEASED THE DAY OF THE RACE.
RSVP: catchmeifyoucanrsvp@gmail.com.
WHO: NO MSG, The Mae Shi (DJ Set), The Intricate Machines, Kissing Tigers, and Daedelus.
RSVP to the email and they will send you the information on where the party will be.. its somewhere in LA.. and at the start of the ride you should get a wristband :)
A mention of Pablo, the 6 year old child that died june 27, 2009 of cancer would have been nice to hear. The pablove foundation (www.pablove.org) was the beneficiary of the event and all I heard from 1 guy on the mic was money collected from the raffle tickets was going to the foundation.
Pablo was an awesome kid and put up a big fight as well as his family, friends, doctors, nurses, and well wishers. His dad is an incredible writer and you really should check out the blog documenting Pablo's struggle and the lives of his family.
Yeah i just help book the bands, so I didn’t have anything to do with the rest of the event but i agree it would have been nice for them to mention Pablo .. and go more into depth about the organization and how it came to be.
alsoo the route SUCKED it was shorted then pier pressure i imagine, the person who planned the route obviously does not ride bikes.. but in general the day was fun
The route was horrible...I wasn't gonna bring that up since it was a benefit ride for the Pablove Foundation.
I asked the guy with the glasses on the mic why Pablo's name wasn't mentioned and he just stood there and lied saying he mentioned Pablo every time he made announcements...I wasn't gonna argue with him....it was just very disrespectful of him.
barleye responding to a comment by Thegirlinglass
08.3.09 - 9:57 am
the whole event was chaotic and unorganzied, from the ride to the event. they never mentioned Pablo's name i was keeping an ear out for it.. aslo you'd think the girl representing the company would have given a speech about it.. thanking everyone and giving a background on the foundation and of Pablo himself and giving more depth to why we were all there and where all our money was going.
if they ever do this again.. i understand they have sponsors.. but
1) if you have a big group.. don't have us stop on a tiny sidewalk blocking the pathway and businesses...
2) make the route longer .. a LOT longer and live up to the description of the ride... how the hell was this a mystery bike ride? epecially since they were emailing out the locations of the next stops..
3) Have a better band play.. or people with actual talent perform at the stops (no offence headhunters. but not pleased).. the Mae Shi were supposed to play at the stops.. i don't know what happened to that
4) MENTION WHO/WHAT the foundation is that we are riding for/donating money to.
5) open bar usually implies mixed drinks.. not soley free beer
other than that it was fun! ahah
thank you Lane, Justin, Phillip, Jeremiah and Ariel for starting the dance party with be throughout the night :)
This was the blog entry for June 25, 2009.
2 days before Pablo passed away.
No More Fighting
Pablo is sleeping. He's nuzzled up to Jo Ann's bosom, something he has done since the moment of his birth. To see Pablo and Jo Ann in this embrace is to see one of the beauties of human life. The mother gives the child life, then nurtures the child. through her breast, and the child returns for comfort, for solitude, for safety. The child returns to the life source. Makes sense.
Pablo has been in this position for over 24 hours. Once in a while he lets Mommy sneak out, and I jump in. Or Nana does. my usual position is to snuggle up behind him, creating a family cocoon. That's where I am now. I can't sleep, so I'm writing. That's what I do.
The nurses were kind enough to move the empty roommate bed where I slept last night next to Pablo's bed. Now we have a giant family bed, like we do at home, and we can be together as Pablo pushes his little lungs to do a job they were never meant to do: oxygenate his blood while one of the lungs is being strangled - nearly filled - by fluid.
Pablo's breathing is labored in the extreme. Laying next to him, he sounds mechanical, like gears grinding on an old car. His heart rate has been north of 150 for 24 hours. His heart has a lot of work to do to keep that system going with a troubled lung. By comparison, my heart rate is at 155-160 when I'm riding my bike at 20 m.p.h. on a flat road. And P's is that high when he's laying in bed. For sure, kids' hearts beat faster than adults, but not that much.
My head is spinning, so I'm not going to attempt to walk you through the medical details. The basics are: there's a massive amount of blood in the wrong places of Pablo's body. He lost an entire unit of blood in a 24 period. The origin of the blood can't be pin pointed, but it comes down to the tumor in the right lung growing massively or dying or eroding a blood vessel. The blood he vomited last night in the ER was the largest volume. Three smaller amounts came up today, the last of which was two hours ago.
Pablo is my best friend in the world. He is my son. He is Jo Ann's son. He is Grady's brother. He is a person who brings light and love to all who've ever met him, or spent time in the same room with him. He has lit our way since Jo Ann and I went to her doc's office and found out we were pregnant. Pablo is...a special kid. I love him so much that I can say without the slightest hesitation, I'd jump in front of a bus RIGHT NOW if it meant he'd be OK. I'd certainly shove his I.V. needle in my arm RIGHT NOW if I knew it'd cure him and kill me. F***. Those are no brainers. And they are great fantasies and nothing else.
The truth is, Pablo is dying.
There are no medical options left. Nothing can be done to better Pablo's condition without either causing further harm or simply putting us back at the same dim crossroads. Pablo's doctors never claim omniscience. When I asked them how much life Pablo may have left, the answers ranged from a couple days to a week. This internal bleeding stuff is irreversible and vicious.
Jo Ann and I have had a palliative care plan for a long time. Today is the day we had to enact it. The plan is simple: we want Pablo at home in his final stage of life. This afternoon, we sat down with Grady and told him the details of Pablo's condition. As a family, we decided to enact the home / hospice plan. It was the hardest thing I've ever been involved in. Yet it was so simple. It was all about heart. Logic was nowhere in the room.
Higher than our hearts is Pablo's: all three of us know Pablo wants to be home. In our bed, where he has slept since birth, where he has a view of his tree house in the back yard. With his dogs Chili and Beans. With his toys. Enveloped in the love of his family. Trust me, we don't even have to ask him.
Tomorrow morning, we will take Pablo home. Dr M and his colleague Dr Marcio and our case worker Patricia Rios arranged hospice care for Pablo. The woman who will lead our hospice is universally loved here at CHLA. We will meet her tomorrow and then she'll meet us at our home.
Two basic medical devices will be delivered to our home: oxygen and an I.V. machine that will drip morphine into Pablo's body. No meters, gauges or electronic gadgetry. Our focus is only on Pablo's comfort. He deserves to be without pain in his final days, no matter how many they may be. Pablo is a child. Children should not know pain. This child has known enough challenge, and has soldiered through it all.
Pablo has never complained. And if he had, who would blame him? Through chemo, surgery, radiation, endless appointments - Pablo has just sailed from all that crap straight on to happiness and smiles and fun.
I leave you with this image intentionally. Please hold up only your fondest, happiest Pablo pictures and memories. He deserves that too.
We ask that you pray for Pablo's comfort and serenity. No more fighting. That's all done. We have to elevate our game to get to where Pablo's at.
barleye responding to a comment by Thegirlinglass
08.3.09 - 10:35 am
*gets out a box of tissues* Man after reading the first sentence my eyes started welling up with tears.
I used to work with kids who were going through chemo, teaching them art, reading to them, playing games.. anything and everything to get their mind of what is happening to them.. anything to even if for a single moment make them realize that they deserve and need to have fun and let their inner kid come out and shine. I also have had family members pass away from cancer and i can semi-related to this.. but it's a different pain when its a child, your own child for that matter going through something that no one ever should feel. Kids are supposed to be full of innocence and never feel pain
we tend to forget from time to time of how short life really is and how much of a precious gift we have to be able to wake up each morning, and how we should never take a day that goes by for granted.
i think if they even read part of this last night, everyone would of felt the power of the father's words, felt the power of that being there they were doing something benefical.
I won't post anymore of the blog after this...Hopefully some of you reading this will read them on your own.
======
The day Pablo died:
Early this evening, we rode in honor of Pablo. I rode the 'connect bike' that P and I ride all the time. His saddle is symbolically empty. Now I will ride alone, with Pablo guiding me and watching over me. And so will Grady. We plan to do Reservoir rides regularly, and I will ride with Pablo's connect bike on all those rides.
Grady and I were joined by Polly, Peter, Dean, Tony, Acacia and our lovely and sage neighbor Laurence Frauman. It was a wonderful way to honor Pablo—doing something that he loved, something that we did a lot of in the last couple weeks of his life. When we passed Silverlake Park, we stopped and did Geronimo jumps off the granite wall, just as Pablo would have done if he were with us. I will post Peter and Tony's great pics of the jumps tomorrow when they email them to me.
Let me tell you what happened before the ride....
At around 6 p.m., Jo Ann, Grady and I carried our beloved little boy Pablo in our arms. We picked him up from our bed and we carried him up the stairs, out the door and into the waiting transport from Forest Lawn Cemetery. We took slow, deliberate steps. We carried him with dignity and care and love. How else could we do it? We were scared. And we knew were doing it the way Pablo would do it for any of us. Nobody ever sent us a road map, so we are making this part up as we go. And, so far, using dignity and love as our coordinates, we're doing alright.
Pablo's physical self laid in our bed all afternoon, receiving kisses, snuggles, and gentle caresses from us and our family and close friends who were at the house. We talked to him, as if he were still in that body. We believe that Pablo can hear us now, and that he is part of the Universe and that he is with us, in us, around us.... We also believe that Pablo is in Heaven, and that once he left the plane where we exist, he went to this higher place. While we spent our final hours with Pablo, Peter and Brie began making arrangements with Forest Lawn, where Pablo will be laid to rest next week. (We will host a giant memorial and celebration of Pablo's life; the next day will be the funeral. Details will be posted here late Monday). P + B did everything so that we could spend all our time with Pablo. A handful of other friends were here too, keeping things safe and sacred within our home while we wept, laughed, hugged, talked, reminisced, and continued telling Pablo that we love him and that he is a brave boy and that we will be OK. We told him these things a thousand times in his final days, hours and moments of life.
In fact, the second last thing Pablo said was 'Say something!' He said this because, for a brief moment, there was a lull in our telling him that he was going to be OK, that we love him, that it's OK for him to stop fighting and rest.... He just opened his eyes for a second, then screamed 'Say something!' What an amazing person. Even with his second last breath, he told us exactly what he wanted and needed. We love him even more for this.
I want to tell you what Pablo's last words were. Listen carefully, because this is the greatest testament to Jo Ann and her wonderful motherhood, and how wonderful motherhood can be with the right child and the right mother. Pablo's last words were 'I want Mommy!'
And her response, as always, was 'You've got me Pablo. I'm here.' He had been in her arms for hours when he said this. He would wake up from his Morphine-induced naps, and, we believe, he would wake up scared. And every time, he would scream the same thing: 'I want Mommy!'
Jo Ann is that kind of mother. That's why we love her. That's why Pablo knew he could call on her. She is his cornerstone of safety and warmth and all that is good in his life and in his world.
Now, the next step begins... And, so far, it is every bit the emotional roller coaster the past 13 months have been... Except it hurts in a much, much different way. With Pablo gone from our physical lives, and with his physical self no longer here, and the fight to keep him alive no longer here, it immediately feels like we are floating in space, dodging chunks of emotional asteroids. When I say 'dodging,' I don't mean avoiding. I mean getting hit with the full force of memories, Pablo's toys, clothes, pictures, videos, energy that cover every square inch of our house.
We have all wept and wept and wept. At one point I thought I was going to pass out. But this is the purpose of crying and weeping and letting go, isn't it? It's about clearing out. It's about finding the bottom and scrubbing it clean with the tears, the breath, the tornado of release. There is no doubt the sorrow and mourning and tears and gut-wrenching will go on for a long time. But there's also no doubt that our acceptance will grow and take on color and shape and dimension. We're nowhere near that today, of course. But we know that this is the promised land for a family who has lost a boy named Pablo who lived exactly six years and six days.
All these memories are wonderful things that, today, feels so so so bittersweet. No memory of Pablo could ever be painful for us. We want the memories, and his belongings, and his energy. We want to keep Pablo in our hearts and lives. There's no way this won't happen. No way. He was not the kind of dude whose light can be diminished. And we're not the kind of family that forgets.
We really do not know what tomorrow will bring. Or if we'll even be able to sleep tonight. Part of being hopeful, for us, meant that we would not dwell on what it would be like if we lost Pablo. I can't recall a single conversation Jo Ann and I had about this. So, tomorrow will be a new start. Am I scared? Hell yes. Do I want Pablo back? Oh my G, yes! But do we accept that God + the Universe had a different plan for our precious little boy Pablo? Hell yes. Simple as that.
barleye responding to a comment by Thegirlinglass
08.3.09 - 10:59 am
youre killing me here brad.some really heavy stuff.i didnt know what this whole ride was about .i would have made it out to it if i knew.and yeah the organizers should feel a little bad for not doing it properly ,i thing barleye did a better job of getting their point acrross with just a few posts
mandingo responding to a comment by barleye
08.3.09 - 11:40 am
I haven't read all the blog posts yet but my B.I.L. says he can't read them for more than a few minutes at a time cuz he keeps crying.....
ya, they really dropped the ball on this one event. Pablo's family is in Europe...so it was up to the organizers and they blew it....
I overheard one guy say "damn $5 for a raffle ticket...that's beer money"
If they had read either posting above over the mic...that beer money would have been put towards a raffle ticket no doubt.. The Pablove.org offices are 3801 Sunset blvd @ Lucile (1 block east of hyperion) at the sunset junction.
barleye responding to a comment by mandingo
08.3.09 - 12:10 pm
+1 on the weak route planning. The best ride leg was after the official ride that ended at Bar 107. That leg was to 2323 Olympic. About 2-3 miles away. The after party wasn't too bad, but they didn't mention Pablo either. At least they didn't up to 10:30. They dropped the ball on giving this boy a memorial ride he deserved. Sad cause there was alot of really nice people I've never met on this ride.
Oh yeah, open bar? paaallleezzzzz
User1 responding to a comment by barleye
08.3.09 - 3:24 pm
yeah i hadnt realized it was a childrens benefit i was just along for the ride. my little sis had lukemia 3 times and passed a few years back. its gonna be a rough ride. all the stuff youre talking about man, i TOTALLY know. it never stops but it gets a little easier to deal.
I kinda wished the maker of the vid would've put more emphasis on the purpose of the ride. I guess they at least showed the pablove logo at the end... but I don't know if this was an official vid. I wasn't on the ride but reading that stuff about Pablo is tough.
the whole ride strayed away from Pablo.. never menioned what the ride was for.. never explained about who Pablo was and why we were all there.. and never talked about the orginization was about.. even the representative from the foundation didn't speak about it.
it was sad
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Ridazz Roulette!
pablo ----->
I won't post anymore of the blog after this...Hopefully some of you reading this will read them on your own.