[Sosfbay-discuss] [Fwd: [G-C-F] Please support The Pleasant Revolution - what?]

[Tian Harter]

The website shows them being at Stanford today, meaning Sunday the 11th.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [G-C-F] Please support The Pleasant Revolution - what?
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:43:41 -0800
From: Beth Moore <beth at ncws.com>
To: GPCA Forum <cal-forum at marla.cagreens.org>

Dear Greens,

You don't hear from me often, and this is a big deal, with a favor at 
the end. Kipchoge Spencer and the Ginger Ninjas are friends of mine,
from right here on "the ridge" in Nevada County. They've performed at
a number of my Earth Day events. Maybe you saw them doing  their
sustainable living thing on the MTV series last year; maybe you've
seen/heard their video "Dick Cheney Needs Love". At any rate they're
coming your way!

The Ginger Ninjas are embarking on a 5000 mile BICYCLE tour from N. Cal 
to S. Mexico. They will be playing music and promoting human-powered
travel along the way. IN fact, Ninjas leader Kipchoge is also co-founder
of the Extracycle Corp. - the super-bike each will be riding. And that's
not all - they will power their performances with a human-powered
pedal-driven 1000 watt sound system: 4 audience members at a time
pedaling to push that PA system! I first saw a baby version of this
system when I ran into Kipchoge at a San Francisco peace march a few
years ago. He was playing his guitar with a pedal-PA system right in the
street - singing marchers following him along like the damned Pied
Piper!

This group has a videographer and a couple other support folks along for
the Pleasant Revolution Tour. They are filming a documentary, too. They
have some places to stay, and some gigs lined up, and a LOT of miles to
cover. They are Green/green as can be. I sang and jammed with them the
night before they left, and next day they hit the road, 5 months of
road.

So, here's the favor:
If you have any gig location connections, or know of an enlightened bike
shop looking for a promo opportunity, or know of someone with a big
kitchen/backyard/living room/barn/HEART, they could probably use a
little support on the road. They'll mostly cruise the coast, but there
are a lot of miles and not all passersby will be friendly. Please check
their blogs for tour dates - these are rough estimates - and see if you
think you can fit them in. I told them I would appeal to the Greens
throughout California, who might be able to smooth the road along the
way, and help the group keep moving along!  They said, "We ARE the green
party!" They also just got a great write up in the Sacramento News and
Review.

Please be creative! Food Not Bombs? Local radio/TV stations? BBQ and
bike jam/camp in your own back yard? As Jesse said, "What we need is Not
Much!" Thank you very much for any assistance or connections you might
share with them.

~~ Beth Moore

For tour dates and blog reports, go to:
www.gingerninjas.com
http://pleasantrevolution.net/

*********************************************
Here's an excerpt...

OK, OK, imagine this:

Hundreds of cyclists are gathering at your town's biggest intersection. 
In the middle of the crowd are 4 bikes thumping James Brown like an
armada of lowriders-but the beauty is, there are no cars. Suddenly the
crowd thunders into unison motion, rolling loudly through the town,
turning heads, evoking cheers and applause. Over the music the onlookers
can hear:

"...This is the Pleasant Revolution people! We started pedaling on
November 1st, 2007 in the Sierra mountains of Northern California, and
we're going to keep pedaling over 5,000 miles, all the way down to the
ancient pyramids of Chiapas, Mexico. No sag wagons or cars to help us
haul our stuff - we're carrying it all on our bikes! Right now we're
riding to a FREE concert up on the hillside of your town, and this is
your invitation to come and watch the sunset with us! Rock the bike with
The Ginger Ninjas, Shake Your Peace!, and your local bands too!

You're invited to pedal our 800-watt human-powered P/A! That's right -
our sound system runs on YOUR leg power. Sexify your biking legs while
making some noise! Yeah - I said make some noise people! (crowd cheers)
Every song is an audience participation song! Bike culture's blowin' up
y'all - come find out how to do your 2-wheeled thing, and get in on this
Pleasant Revolution!!!!!" Up on the hillside the 14-person Tour Caravan
sets up incredibly fast, kicking their Xtracycle longbikes back and
engaging the pedal-power units. As the band strikes up, the crowd smiles
and knows they're in for a treat. In the cheering after each song, a new
audience member volunteers to take a turn pedaling one of the 4 bicycles
that run the P/A system. Everyone feels the magic in the air: "We're
doing it ourselves. This is human power. This is the Pleasant
Revolution.."

Promotion of the Pleasant Revolution will be people powered by community
and college radio stations along the journey south. We will be producing
a radio show and pod cast from the road, as well as networking with
other California stations for interviews and on-air appearances. The
tour will be the subject of a film by 21st Paradigm, as well as multiple
blogs. Traditional and online tour publicity has been arranged with the
help of a generous grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation.
The tour is a project of Worldbike, a 501c3 organization, Kipchoge
Spencer, founder of Xtracycle, and Gabe Dominguez of the Bicycle Music
Festival.

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-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
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