Hey I know there’s a lot of people reading this who have friends in Austin. So please pass it on! We’ll be debuting the new UMDJ, DJ Manny’s new performance rickshaw, and cruising downtown. Here’s the flyer designed DJ Manny himself.
Check out the latest build/ process photos from Austin on the UMDJ
I’m trying to keep our Flickr account well stocked with process photos from Austin. Check back in with this page — it’ll reload a random selection of process photos. Click any of the photos to learn more of what we’re up to.
www.flickr.com
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Down Low Glow as a rear safety light
Joining the 2-mile challenge tour
What’s up bike people? I’ve been riding like crazy over the past few weeks. Meeting some great people, hosting good street parties in the Mission District.
The new bike’s been handling so well. That’s my friend Lisa on the back in the picture. We were taking a photoshoot for the upcoming 2 Mile Challenge Tour, planned by Clif Bar. I’ll be joining my friends and fellow bike culture musicians the Ginger Ninjas on the tour. The name derives from the fact that 40% of car trips in this country are two miles or shorter.
In October and November, the tour will hit college campuses to promote the magic and logic of bicycling to students. I’ll be one of the entertainers on the tour. It’ll be our job to use our music, our art bikes, and our bike culture juju to persuade college kids of the righteousness and sexiness of bicycling, as they get prepared to make major life decisions — first home, first job, first commute.
Bike culture blowing up! Hope you guys get out and rock the bike this weekend!
Without you, bike culture is a ghost
One way or another, you have found yourself at Rock the Bike. I’m going to take wild guess here and say that you care about bikes, you love bikes. But why? What is it about bikes that we care about? What do they represent. A bike is just a bunch of steel, rubber, maybe a little leather here and there.
It’s bike culture, the magic of the bike, that we love. And it’s not the gear, the kit, the bike, the steel, the titanium, the electronics, that makes bike culture. It’s you. It’s your spirit, coming through the streets of your town, your smile, your creativity and light radiating to the eyes of children and onlookers, encouraging them to experience life fully.
Bike culture can be photographed and videotaped, but can it be experienced through a screen?
Without you, bike culture is a ghost.
The Southbay cruisers welcome “Fossil Fool” to Venice Beach, CA
Hosting an impromptu cruiser ride in Venice,CA, the Southbay Cruisers welcomed Paul Freedman, “the Bike Rapper” to Southern California. It was an awesome ride with Fossil pumpin’ up the jam with the “Choprical Fish”. We ran into a small crowd along the beach in Venice and Fossil entertained the crowd with a little Fossil Fool rap, while others in the audience pedaled away to keep the music alive. We also were fortunate enough to take part in a group rap session along the way.
Thank you Paul! You rock! Come back again soon!
B:C:Clettes touring from Vancouver to parts south (on bikes). Stopping for a performance in Dolores Park with SHAKE YOUR PEACE!
Posted by fossilfool
Time:
08/27/2007 – 17:30
The schedule so far is:
Monday at 5:30 PM ~ meet at Dolores Park next to the playground
6 -ish ~ “Antsy Pants”
6:10 ~ SHAKE YOUR PEACE!
6:40 ~ B:C:Clettes
7:10 ~ (((Ghost Family)))
7:47 ~ Sunset
Here’s a cool description of the B:C:Clettes —
We are an all lady, bike inspired, street-performance collective. Our performances are a celebration of bikes and those who like to ride them.
The B:C:Clettes are a Biker Collective, Creating Love, Equality, and Toughness Through Engaging Spectacle!
We will not be defined by words alone; instead you will find us perpetually in motion, taking back the streets for revolutionary use as bicycle ways and dance floors. We’re revolutionary, yes, like our wheels.
Hot, tough, and shiny — like the sexy steeds we tame and ride. Pedal, pump, coast and fly: we ride in all weather. Swing, shimmy, strut, and jive: we dance in all weather. We weather all storms as a collective, together.
We are artists, mechanics, scientists, students, designers, teachers, and writers, and baristas; jokers, inventors, leaders, neighbours, family, friends, and lovers, and sistas. This is a lifestyle of agility, sustainability, of respecting all ability.
Our bodies don’t end where our bikes begin. We’re beauty, we’re pride; we dance hard, roll fast, and tread lightly, loving life. We take risks; we’re a little different. We are a spectacle, a show, a delight. We are that giddy feeling you get riding pedal-powered for the first time: Exhilarated with newfound fun, you can’t wait to share your amazing secret with the world. We want to ride and dance and share our secret with you.
And one last thing: we won’t technically be able to be part of your dance-dance-party revolution, if there’s no bike parking available. So get on it!
When the local bike bar’s grill chef gets a pizza delivered
I really wouldn’t ordinarily post this, I like Zeitgeist, but my burger (supposedly hot off the grill) was cold. And they served with biodegradable forks, fine, but where do I compost it?
And then I saw this and had to post it.
Fossil Fool hits the road. In Santa Monica / Venice Beach this weekend.
photo: Paul McKenzie
I’ve had some serious wanderlust recently and decided to head to Southern California. I’ve been wanting to stuff a few things in my bag and travel as a street performer with the Choprical Fish.
The night before my train, I had a photoshoot for the upcoming Clif Bar 2 Mile challenge, along with Gabe from SHAKE YOUR PEACE! and his friends from Utah. The 2 Mile Challenge is an upcoming college campus tour to promote bicycling. After the shoot, I packed my messenger bag with clothes and we all rode to Embarcadero BART so I could sleep in the workshop. What an amazing send off. We cruised by the ball park, where a game was letting out. We sang a call-and-response song as we were threading our way through the crowd. Epic!
It was my first time really traveling with the Choprical fish, so I put in a long night getting the bike road worthy. I never got around to sleeping.
The next morning at 6 I rode to the Amtrak in Emeryville from the workshop. I don’t have many occasions to ride the Choprical Fish without music, so that morning was very sweet. I swear the birds were responding to the squeak of my disc brakes.
The Amtrak people were friendly and did non make me put my bike in a box. I dismantled the audio components and stowed them as luggage. In Bakersfield I transferred to an Amtrak bus, and the bus driver gave me my own storage bay.
The hardest part of the journey was figuring out how to get from downtown Los Angeles to the beach. I rolled the Purple line to Wilshire Western and rode from there — about 16 miles. It took about two hours. I ain’t built for speed!
Once I got to the beach, it wasn’t long before I found the 3rd Street Promenade and set up as a street performer. Put the bike into human power mode and pulled up people to pedal. A few guest rappers of diverse ethnic backgrounds rapped in a Spanish, English, and Japanese. Pretty sweet welcome.
Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper, on WIRED home page entertaining at Bar Camp Block with the Choprical Fish
From Wired online
“Off the Grid
DJ Fossil Fool provides the BarCamp soundtrack. Pedaling a wired-up bike, he generates the power needed to run his sound system and light show.”
Shot at last week’s Songbird party in San Francisco
Kipchoge shows up for a little late night rabelrousing with the Long Tall Salley.
Cruisin’ With the Southbay Cruisers – “The 60’s Bicycle Love Ride
Posted by Wild Johnny
Time:
09/21/2007 – 20:15
“THE 60’s BICYCLE LOVE RIDE!”
Grab your Tie Dye clothing, and hop on your bike! The Southbay Cruisers are taking a musical journey back to the grooviest and most colorful generation of all – The 1960’s! We will cruise on a 10 mile bicycle ride to Ocean scenes through the streets and neighborhoods of Redondo and Hermosa Beach,CA while we listen to some groovy tunes coming from the Soul Cycle Stereo system. Expect spontaneous singing and dancing along the way! Although not required, WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DECORATE YOUR BIKE AND YOURSELF for the occasion.This is one ride you won’t want to miss!
WHERE: Meet in front of the Lighthouse Cafe at:
30 Pier Avenue
Hermosa Beach,CA 90254
(The Lighthouse Cafe is on Pier Avenue Plaza right in front of Hermosa Beach Pier.)
WHEN: September 21st, 2007 Meet at 8:15PM/Ride at 8:30PM RAIN OR SHINE!
Don’t forget to bring a light, a blinky, and your 60’s dance moves! We ride at NIGHT!
Learn about the Southbay Cruisers at www.southbaycruisers.com or send us an email atinfo@southbaycruisers.com
Cruisin’ With the Southbay Cruisers – “The Creepy Cruise”
Posted by Wild Johnny
Time:
10/19/2007 – 20:15
“THE CREEPY CRUISE” Bicycle Ride
Halloween will come a little early in Hermosa Beach,CA this year as the Southbay Cruisers head off on their 10th cruiser ride – “The Creepy Cruise” This is one ride that you will want to come in costume for! We will cruise approximately 10 miles to ocean scenes through the neighborhoods of Redondo and Hermosa to some creepy halloween cruisin’ music coming from the Soul Cycle Stereo system. Details to follow. In the mean time, don’t forget to mark your calendars:
WHEN: October 19th, 2007; Meet at 8:15PM; Ride at 8:30PM
WHERE: Meets in front of the Lighthouse Cafe:
30 Pier Avenue
Hermosa Beach,CA 90254
(The Lighthouse Cafe is on Pier Plaza right in front of the Hermosa Beach Pier.)
Don’t forget to bring a light, and a blinky. We ride at night!
For more info see www.southbaycruisers.com or email us at info@southbaycruisers.com
We eat our own dog food
One evening I dropped off a DLG to a customer on 18th St. in San Francisco. As he opened his door and walked down his steps towards my glowing bike, he said “You guys really eat your own dog food.”
We are a bicycle based business. We do not have a company car. We use public transportation and bike to work. We ship our products on our Xtracycle SUB’s.
Being a bike based business has been a conscious choice. We’ve had chances to buy and use cars that were very affordable. And we do borrow vehicles occasionally for distant or especially awkward tasks, perhaps 4-5 times per year.
The main benefit of being a bike-based business is that we get to be out there in the bike community. It helps us connect with future customers and employees. And it feels good to carry your DLG orders to the FEDEX depot on our bikes.
Dozens of beautiful Bicycle Music Festival photos
A big thanks to all who pedaled and performed at the bicycle Music Festival.
More photos at Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bicyclemusicfestival&w=all
If you took photos at the BMF, make sure to tag them on Flickr with “bicyclemusicfestival” so that they’ll appear in this search.
Sanjay got on the Choprical Fish and started singing soulfully along with the JB’s.
Late in the evening, after Gabe and I had officially closed the Bicycle Music Festival, Sanjay got on the Choprical Fish and began singing very soulfully along with the music. I passed him the mic and he shredded the place!
Come out August 11th to Alemany farm 11am
I’ll be there playing to start things off for the bicycle music festival.
cheers,
Justin Ancheta
justin@sinclairband.com (I really want to get one of those cool portable music bikes) – anyone that can help out… I’d appreciate!
San Francisco’s Bicycle Music Festival to use Rock the Bike’s pioneering Human Powered P/A system
Posted by fossilfool
Time:
08/11/2007 – 10:30
The Bicycle Music Festival is distinct from every other summer festival in that its success rides completely on the sweat and leg-power of the community. With its trademark human-powered P/A system and Critical Mass-style bicycle party caravans between festival venues, the Bicycle Music Festival is the only festival where every song is truly an audience participation song!
The Bicycle Music Festival isn’t only the greenest music festival ever conceived, with zero use of cars and trucks to transport musicians and PA equipment, it also breaks exciting new ground in festival dynamics.
At the Bicycle Music Festival, the audience rides their bicycles to the next venue alongside both the stage-crew and the bands. With everyone arriving together the stage-crew works quickly to setup the human powered P/A equipment. As the bands get ready, enthusiastic festival-goers line up to pedal the P/A system, offering to pedal for a song or more. To help folks know how hard to pedal, simple displays of voltage and power sit on the handlebars. If a band is delivering an uninspired performance, a pedaling festival-goer can simply decide to stop pedal-powering the music, and if no one is feeling the music enough to replace them, the volume level will drop until the band is singing a cappella. With the power of audience veto built in to the festival, it quite literally puts all the power in the hands (and feet) of the audience: democracy at its healthiest you might say.
With this in mind the festival line-up includes the best bands and musicians from the bicycle-music culture, artists who are sure to keep festival-goers not only pedaling the P/A, but bouncing in their saddles.
With the nimblest festival infrastructure ever to roll, the bands slated to perform at the Bicycle Music Festival will play in one of several different spots selected throughout the city. After each performance, the audience, bands, and crew will all pick up, pack up, and roll out to the next location. The Caravan to the next stop on the festival schedule will be an outrageous mobile party, with “soul-cycles” (bicycles with mobile audio systems) rocking the block as it cruises by – promoting the next stop on the festival schedule to the public in mid-roll.
The Bicycle Music Festival and its pedal-powered PA system are not only wonderful ways for the community to quite literally empower itself, but also a wonderful way to remind ourselves as we generate electricity with one another, shoulder to shoulder, where power is ultimately rooted.
I wonder how it feels facing backwards
“The Southbay Cruiser Crazy Olympics” Ride
Posted by Wild Johnny
Time:
08/17/2007 – 20:15
The Southbay Cruiser Crazy Olympics Ride:
WHO ARE THE SOUTHBAY CRUISERS?
We are a group of recreational riders and bike commuters in Southbay Los Angeles. We’re not a pub crawl, or a gang-just a group of cruisers riding through the southbay. We host themed night rides on the third friday of each month. See our website at www.southbaycruisers.com for details.
WHAT: Our 9 – 10 mile ride will take us through the streets and neighborhoods of Redondo and Hermosa Beach,CA. We will have at least one bicycle with a Soul Cycle bicycle stereo system to provide some groovin’ tunes along our route. Our “Crazy Olympic” theme will have us take part in some unconventional olympic games along our ride. Should be fun! Come check it out!
WHERE: We will meet in front of
The Lighthouse Cafe
30 Pier Avenue
Hermosa Beach,CA 90254
The Lighthouse Cafe is located on Hermosa Pier Plaza right next to Hermosa Beach Pier.
WHEN: August 17th, 2007 Meet at 8:15PM/Ride at 8:30PM-RAIN OR SHINE
QUESTIONS? Send us an email at info@southbaycruisers.com or log onto our webpage atwww.southbaycruisers.com