And so begins the Pleasant Revolution
11:05 pm, by adminHey ya’ll! We’re outta here! Wanna come along? Following a whirlwind odyssey on the Clif Bar’s 2-Mile Challenge, The Ginger Ninjas, along with Shake Your Peace!, photographers, journalists, radio programmers, and a slew of Xtracycle road warriors, are laying rubber to the road! After rocking an awesome kick off Halloween show at the home town Willow Springs community, we head straight for the Yuba river, then to Peaceful Valley Farm Supply for a Friday afternoon show (Nov 2).
That evening, join us at SunSound Studios for the release of our new EP “Pleasant Revolution”. This is the first Ninjas record to feature the Eco love and we’ve been really stoked at the heart rich response. You can sample the sampler at our new snocap store (on our myspace and pleasantrevolution.net), but of course we’d rather see you in person!!
Next week the Pleasant Revolution crew will be through Auburn, Fair Oaks, Davis, Berkeley, and San Francisco. Check out our route and show dates at www.pleasantrevolution.net, and let us know if we’ll catch you along the way! Do you have a great venue idea? Do you know any righteous, peaceful, rocking, green, bike-culture, conscious-minded events happening? Check the itinerary and get back to us at info@gingerninjas.com
big big love out to all familia. hoping to see you down the road somewheres…
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 enagaging 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.
www.pleasantrevolution.net
www.gingerninjas.com
www.myspace.com/gingermyninja
www.shakeyourpeace.com
www.getoffyourgass.wordpress.com
www.xtracycle.com
www.worldbike.org
www.2milechallenge.com
November 10th, 2007 at 9:23 am
The Revolution rolled through my town the other day, Fair Oaks. We were going to have a marching band and 50 beefeaters at the gates, but settled for rolling up the American River Bike Trail on my Xtracycle valley bike. As expected, upstream met downstream in Folsom, and we were enjoying an extended joyous greeting when the radio call came, “man down.” Dante hit the trail with his head. He was taken to Mercy San Juan Hospital for 7 stitches, and was picked up and delivered to Rudolph Steiner College in time for the evening’s festivities. Dante’s tough.
The music gained a voice in Fair Oaks. Mazy’s enchanting fiddle is weaving into Shake Your Peace and the Ningas. Last I knew she was on a borrowed bike, looking for permanent wheels.
Monday’s ride began with pancakes for all at my house. The pancakes continued and continued and continued until all surrendered. Most of the ride on Monday was on the exquisit American River Bike Trail. The sun was out, the Revolutionaries were showing their big spirit and the vibe was tops all day.
Monday evening the Domies in Davis rollled out the red carpet, served up some delicious food and extended their collective arms around all of us.
“The road goes on forever and the party never ends.” Robert Earl Keen Jr.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:32 am
C’mon, y’all…
What, when, why, who, where and how?
Kipchoge and I are not the only two with internet access…
C’mon, y’all…
Rob
November 24th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Hey there…
i just learned about your tour and sounds like great fuN! if you need or want a place to play/stay in beautiful VENTURA, i’ve got a supernaturalspace known as “the artbarn” a creative music/art/nature endeavor which is a block from the beach, downtown, and doubles as a crash pad for out of town-ers. i’d be delighted to host you and invite people over to enjoy some of what you have to offer!
let me know if this sounds good to you! i’m open for the 24th/25th/26th.
: ))))
lynne