An acquaintance of mine got his bike stolen this afternoon. It always frustrates me because of my fear of losing my own bike to a thief. So I turned it into this post, which is kind of therapeutic, except that this wasn’t a big trauma, just a downer. I do think one solution to trauma is creating something. It turns your attention outward, which I think is always the solution for pretty much every problem. People become too self-absorbed, they turn IN when, in reality, the solution is OUT. Creativity is one way of looking out, helping other people is even better. Anything that will shift your attention.

I have a strange brain, in this way: Situations, words, phrases, will always trigger a song for me. I have a song for every situation. “There’s a party in my mind / and I hope it never stops” describes my inner music perfectly. I always have a song playing in my head and I switch tracks depending on the stimulus. So the bicycle thievery made me say, “Thief”, the first word to the Lil’ Louis song. And that was that. The turntable was spinning.

And, of course I had to show The Bicycle Thief trailer. I know it’s a classic. I think I fell asleep while we watched it in film class, so I’ve never seen it. . . and I kind of don’t want to. I’ve read synopses, and it sounds depressing in that special way that I really hate: The downtrodden are trodden even further. I know it’s a reflection of life, but seeing it on film makes me want to jump in and start punching. That’s not my kind of entertainment. One day, maybe. It looks gorgeous, and I recognised parts of Rome immediately.

I should start entitling my photos. This man’s style is so point-on. He is rocking some cigarette, sì? The necklace, the shoes, the pose. He looks like an updated version of one of the characters in The Bicycle Thief. So, in honour of this post, we’re gonna call him “Riga Blocca”.

PS: It’s not available on Spotify, but Apple Music has the entire Lil’ Louis LP Journey with the Lonely. All of it is incredible.