Bicycle Music Tour of the Pacific Northwest
Of course there's really no way to communicate the exquisite experience with words. The Pleasant Revolution Bicycle Music Festival Tour of the Pacific Northwest was a success beyond all reckoning in it's richness of human powered spirit adventure/art.
A veritable explosion of creativity rolled along through Oregon, Washington, and on into Canada on magic bicycles. A yogathon, a non stop musical coming together, blending, and outpouring of epic proportions, an athletic feat and adventure rare, a freegan fruit feast full of blackberries, blueberries, apples, pears, plums, melons and all the edible splendor of the Goddess herself. The urban festivals in Eugene, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver were so much fun, touched so many people with personal human power, and gave all of us cause for hope, the kind of hope you can feel in your body as opposed to the kind you can intellectualize out of stories you may have heard. The spontaneous shows in Ashland (thanks to Wellsprings resort) and Bellingham (thanks to Jan Peters, musician and old buddy extraodinaire) were a chance to play with good friends in intimate musical spaces. The camping out along the way with late night music, stories, feasting and laughter abounding. The ride, ride, ride, the glide of my two wheeled earthship along with the clicking of gears shifting from the bikes around me as we crest another hill victorious as the morning mist rises off the Puget Sound. Words fail. The exhilaration persists.
Check out this video of me doing a "live on bike" performance in Eugene Oregon and maybe you can catch a little taste of the excitement of bicycle music in action. Here's a big fat slice of love for the whole crew: Little j (time traveling troubador), Heather Normandale of Stitchcraft (banjo playing yogini and songstress), Grace Tea (spoken word goddess), Kipchoge Spencer (ninja one), Michael (it's the vibes, food fun), Cara (communicator, bliss spreader) Jared May (bass monster and comic relief), Terry Miller (baddest drummer on two wheels), Michael (guitar magic), Laughter Medicine (clarinet playing weaver of hats and visions) , Kern Houghton (load hauling baba from the backwoods), Lucia (multi-talented blazing ball of fire), Tomas (wizard and tunester) Cello Joe Chang (Zen and the art of belly laughing beatboxing bikecrashing all night party animal), Aaron (fixer and rider of many a strange bike) Padme (keeper of golden bubble, promoter and sweet rider), Ginger (sure pedaling guide) Una (canine companion of sure pedaled guide), Carl (swiss army escort).
Many local acts contributed to the awesomeness of the bicycle music festivals, my bike helmet is off in tribute to them!!! If you are going along in life and you happen to see a group of long bikes hauling drums, guitars, speakers, maybe a cello, baskets full of food and other items of good fun, and the people riding these long bikes are laughing and singing and generally living it up, please note that Bear Dyken heartily suggests that you drop what you are doing as quickly and safely as possible, and join the Pleasant Revolution with all the haste and gusto you can muster!
|